Posts by Cliff Schecter

Cliff Schecter blogs at Brave New Films.

McCain's Infidelity Haunts Him on the Trail
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Firedoglake on June 4, 2008 at 11:35 AM.

As you'll see in the video to the right, from a town hall meeting in Nashville, Tennessee Monday, mixed in with platitudes about gay marriage, we get a nice little comment from this questioner on the sanctity of marriage in McCain's life--or more to the point, sanctimony. Here is a rough transcript of her question to The Morally Righteous One, which comes at the beginning of the video (it includes McCain's answer to this question and a previous on on Hillary Clinton):

My second and final question, you talk a lot about the character issue...and...like you, um, I was opposed to gay marriage, I was in always in favor of civil unions but the basic definition of marriage....but, then I get to thinking, that is based on what we consider to be the sanctity of marriage. There is nothing....you see long-term couples splitting up, it's, it's just crazy...I know that you, your own situation, you're going to have to address that in the campaign. Infidelity is just a terrible cancer on this country....and I think if we're going to talk about...gay marriage, it has to be in the context of the preservation of marriage...which I just don't see it, I think we need to make it more difficult for people to get married, or whatever we need to do..if that's...if we're going to be consistent.

McCain ignored that part of the question, of course.

h/t Mike Rogers for providing the video

Update: From The Real McCain:

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Newt Gingrich: Republicans Face Real Disaster
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on May 8, 2008 at 4:30 AM.

What? The hyper-organized, disciplined, get-out-the-message, self-righteous Republicans are in trouble? Quick! Call for help! Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… it’s … ::cricket, cricket::

Shellshocked House Republicans got warnings from leaders past and present Tuesday: Your party’s message isn’t good enough to prevent disaster in November, and neither is the NRCC’s money.

Oh no! What’s a Republican to do? Ooo! Ooo! I know! Pick me! Solution: Every man for himself!

The double shot of bad news had one veteran Republican House member worrying aloud that the party’s electoral woes — brought into sharp focus by Woody Jenkins’ loss to Don Cazayoux in Louisiana on Saturday — have the House Republican Conference splitting apart in “everybody for himself” mode.

This is one dire situation. There’s gotta be a superhero around here somewhere. Wait! Who’s that undressing in that phone booth? Why, it’s Newt “Looks-Unappealing-In-Tights” Gingrich!

In a piece published in Human Events, the Republicans’ onetime captain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, warned his old colleagues that they face “real disaster” on Election Day unless they move immediately to “chart a bold course of real reform” for the country.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Bush Flunks Reading First Program
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on May 2, 2008 at 4:01 AM.

They should have tried the program out on the Dunce in Chief first. If it could teach him to read, it could teach anyone:

President Bush’s $1 billion a year initiative to teach reading to low-income children has not helped improve their reading comprehension, according to a Department of Education report released on Thursday.

The program, known as Reading First, drew on some of Mr. Bush’s educational experiences as Texas governor, and at his insistence Congress included it in the federal No Child Left Behind legislation that passed by bipartisan majorities in 2001.

Wait… Bush had educational experiences? Who knew?

It has been a subject of dispute almost ever since, however, with the Bush administration and some state officials characterizing the program as beneficial for young students, and Congressional Democrats and federal investigators criticizing conflict of interest among its top advisers. […]

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and President Bush have consistently extolled Reading First as a highly effective program.

Yes, so effective that it hasn’t improved reading comprehension. Then again, comprehension isn’t one of Bush’s strong points, so there’s some logic there, albeit twisted.

Then there’s that whole cronyism thing. I’m sure Bush comprehends that just fine:

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Iraq: US Has No Claim to Oil Boom
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on May 1, 2008 at 1:27 PM.

Even though Colin Powell never really said it, it’s still spot on. “You break it, you bought it.”

BAGHDAD — As Congress gears up to debate the Bush administration’s latest request for an additional $108 billion in war funding for Iraq and Afghanistan, Iraqis are fuming at suggestions being floated by lawmakers that Baghdad should start paying a share of the war’s costs by providing cheap fuel to the U.S. military.

“America has hardly even begun to repay its debt to Iraq,” said Abdul Basit, the head of Iraq’s Supreme Board of Audit, an independent body that oversees Iraqi government spending. “This is an immoral request because we didn’t ask them to come to Iraq, and before they came in 2003 we didn’t have all these needs.”

Gates says 2nd carrier in Gulf is ‘reminder’ to Iran
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on April 30, 2008 at 3:35 AM.

Nervous? Me?….

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf could serve as a “reminder” to Iran, but he said it’s not an escalation of force.

No, no, of course it isn’t. We trust Gatesy completely.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Mexican leaders, Gates said heightening U.S. criticism of Iran and its support for terror groups is not a signal that the administration is laying the groundwork for a strike against Tehran.

Just because I’m holding a gun to your head and shaking my fist in your face, why in the world would you think that’s intimidating? I’m just reminding you that you will feel intense pain and might possibly notice severe bruising. If you’re at all concerned that a bullet could find a way into your skull, well, that’s just you being all paranoid and stuff.

Still, he said Iran continues to back the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Still, it would be all your fault if the gun went off. Not mine.

Gates played down the addition of a second carrier to the Gulf, saying that the number of ships there rises and falls continuously. He said he doesn’t expect there to be two carriers there for a long time.

Don’t think twice about the switchblade I just pulled out of my shoe. The number of weapons I bandy about rises and falls continuously, depending on my mood. I don’t expect there to be a gun and a knife there for long. Just the gun. And my fists. Or maybe the knife and my fists. Decisions, decisions. Gosh, you know me, good ol’ trigger-happy Laffy! Expect the unexpected! Aren’t I the most adorably unpredictable psycho ever?

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McCain Is Heckled During MLK Speech
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on April 4, 2008 at 10:32 AM.

What a surprise. Who knew that would happen?

And why would such hostility be foisted upon such a swell gent? Could it be his vote against making MLK Day a holiday in 1983? His dalliance with the Confederate Flag on the presidential trail in 2000? His friends in low places, such as racial progressives Trent Lott and Terry Nelson of those wonderful Harold Ford ads in 2006? His wish to send more Americans to Iraq who joined the National Guard to get an education and defend their country from REAL threats, not die to undermine our security (at no fault of their own, but due to leaders like McCain)? His willing ignorance on issues such as health care and mortgage foreclosures?

Really, what does that crowd in Memphis have to dislike about McCain.? I don’t get it.

Via Think Progress:

Today, John McCain spoke to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Memphis to commemorate the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. As ThinkProgress has noted, as a congressman in 1983, McCain voted against legislation creating MLK Day.

Most Republicans (including then-Rep. Dick Cheney) supported the bill, later signed by President Reagan. McCain complained it "cost too much money, that other presidents were not recognized." He eventually came around to supporting the holiday in a 1990 Arizona referendum that failed.

In his speech today, McCain tried to explain his misguided vote by stating, “We can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing”:

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Six Years Since An American Gulag Was Created 90 miles Off Our Shore
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on January 11, 2008 at 11:42 AM.

Yesterday, we got to "celebrate" the ill-advised surge in Iraq, or as they called it back in the Vietnam days, escalation.

While a couple of pipe-heads like new NY Times golden boy Bill Kristol and his BFFs McCain and Lieberman prattle on about how this was a success--because now only fewer American troops are getting killed for there to be no political solution as opposed to say, NONE--the truth is that this war has been a disaster for U.S. foreign policy any way you slice it.

Which brings me to Guantanomo. Today marks the 6th Anniversary of when our democracy was officially put in shackles under cover of the night. Six years since an American gulag was created 90 miles off our shore. No, not hyperbole, or the plot to the next sci-fi thriller, but our present reality.

How ironic, don't you think, that our justification all those years for trying to take out Castro was that we were attempting to bring freedom to Cuba. Instead, we brought a "black site.":

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Fox News Caught Rigging Their Focus Groups [VIDEO]
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on January 8, 2008 at 12:00 PM.

Wow, I don't think we all had intended to make today about Fox. But damn, if they don't provide the material.

They've shown their true colors to all Democrats, Ron Paul supporters, Huckabee supporters, etc. Everyone is simply beginning to realize they are corporate whores who support one political party because it forwards their business agenda and the wealth of the owner/executives.

That's why they have no time for anti-war candidates like Ron Paul or religious conservatives who've raised taxes like Huckabee. Everyone's finally catching on. It's going to be an exciting year...

P.S. And to whoever made this video, thanks for the Outfoxed plug!

Giuliani Abandons 9/11 Heroes
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on January 6, 2008 at 11:46 AM.

Sadly, you already know much of the real story about The Real Rudy. That he chose to put his anti-terrorist command center in the only spot in New York City that had been hit by terrorists before, against the advice of every professional and his own people, because The World Trade Center was more convenient for him.

Furthermore, you're aware that his inaction in updating the radios used by firefighters who perished that day borders on the criminal. He knew the radios didn't work at least 8 years before that day, and when he finally chose to replace them, did so in grand Bushian style with a no-bid contract for radios that didn't work.

Yet, these were not even the worst aspects of Giuliani's 9/11 record. He completed this triumvirate of tragically inept behavior by ignoring the health of the very heroes who toiled day and night at Ground Zero after the attack. Nothing I could tell you here could prepare you for what you're about to watch--once healthy human beings now suffering from a range of illnesses that are a direct result of a toxic brew they inhaled in downtown Manhattan, while Rudy was telling them everything was safe and sound from his perch at Yankee Stadium and they were spending sleepless nights trying to save lives (often not wearing respirators because The Giuliani Adminstration ignored that federal requirement).

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

New Footage of The Bhutto Assassination Proves the Musharraf Government Is Lying [VIDEO]
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on January 2, 2008 at 12:01 PM.

This is that strange thing that furners do on their news channels...you know reporting and stuff. I know, I also don't know how they fit it in between videos of Britney Spears giving birth while driving on a fifth of Scotch. Oh wait, you mean they don't show that stuff...

In any case, this is important. It is disturbing. And it is necessary to watch. I know we don't care much about "Stans" over here, but we might want to know what's going on in one where there is the potential for loose or preemptively launched nukes.

(h/t Bob Cesca's Goddamn Awesome Blog!)

2007: The Deadliest Year In Iraq So Far
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on December 31, 2007 at 2:55 PM.

Yes, we're fighting them over there so we don't have to...let our soldiers survive and prosper over here?

Violence did go down the second half of the year, however. And conservatives will triumphantly tell you. So if we keep adding to the number of troops there (while all our allies pull out) and institute a draft, perhaps we can keep violence down just enough for no political solution to be reached while we ignore domestic issues and keep averting our eyes from unimportant places like, say, Pakistan...

The Pentagon, meanwhile, will increasingly look to the uneven Iraqi security forces to carry the load in 2008 as demands for an American exit strategy grow sharper during the U.S. election year.

Perhaps the next surge can be manned by the mercs of C.R.I., who appear in the cool video? They couldn't do any worse than Blackwater, CACI or Halliburton...

You can get more on this uplifting story here.

Britain, the main U.S. coalition partner in Iraq, is gradually drawing down its forces and other allies, including Poland and Australia, are contemplating full-scale withdrawals in the coming year.

Groovy. Wait, I have another idea (besides sending in the entire editorial staff of The National Review). How about we just suit up more mercs, because their record has been so stellar!

Lee Camp's Pranktivism: Where Comedy And Activism Meet [VIDEO]
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Brave New Films on December 30, 2007 at 1:25 PM.

This is a great idea by the Lee Camp that has been promoted by the fine folks at Laughing Liberally.

Camp, our comedian in this bit, does a report on sweatshop labor. Something that only a comedian, and a progressive one at that, could make funny. And he most certainly does.

Check it out for a few laughs and a bit of insight.

Fox and Private Equity: Perfect Bedmates
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Brave New Films on December 27, 2007 at 7:15 AM.

Via Nicole Belle Via Greatscat!, we learn the following:

From Reuters yesterday afternoon:

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp [..] will sell eight U.S. television stations to private equity firm Oak Hill Partners for about $1.1 billion.

I couldn't help but wonder who was buying up TV stations in an election year, so a quick check of Texas billionaire worth approximately $5.46 billion as of 2006.

Bass was born into an extremely wealthy family with an uncle, Sid Richardson, worth $810 million. He and his three brothers Lee, Ed, and Sid Bass all attended Yale University, where they solidified their moneyed and political connections. Ed Bass was a classmate and personal friend of George W. Bush, and the brothers, especially Lee Bass, helped Bush financially both before and throughout his political career.

Ta da, I give you another way in which ultra-rich, private equity profit-gorgers-cum-beneficiaries-of-Bush-tax-policy buy up media organizations from other Bush friends so they can promote Republicans in 2008 (thankfully no Bushes...yet). But Rudy has bought into the oil pipeline down there, and got could he use some good coverage! So let's see what happens....

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

$38 Billion in Bonuses for Wall Streeters, Home Foreclosures for Regular Folks. Really?
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Brave New Films on December 25, 2007 at 5:09 AM.

Yes, really. More sickening greed for you from the Kravisization of Wall Street via the AFL-CIO:

While executives at the top five Wall Street firms are getting a record $38 billion in bonuses this Christmas season, millions of working families are worrying whether they will lose their homes in the New Year-in the wake of the nation's mortgage crisis.

The AFL-CIO called today for major mortgage lenders to impose a one-year moratorium on subprime mortgage foreclosures. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, in a letter to the largest subprime mortgage lenders and underwriters, writes:

Wall Street seems to be giving unprecedented cash rewards to the very people whose conduct threatens to strip millions of Americans of their homes and drive our country into recession, while at the same time refusing to take the actions necessary to address the crisis.

Yes, this is the America that has been created by Bush, his Republican cronies and too many corporate Democrats. You want more holiday spirit? Well, our friend Ohdave reminded me of this in the comments:

The Bush administration has thwarted Gov. Ted Strickland's plan to expand Ohio's popular children's health insurance program to cover middle-class youngsters.

"What this means is that thousands of needy Ohio children will be deprived of access to critical health-care coverage," Strickland said.

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The Grinch Who Stole SCHIP [VIDEO]
Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog on December 22, 2007 at 4:00 AM.

This is really funny and, of course, makes the point. I have ranted on about this subject many a time, as I think anyone who could vote to raise their own pay and give tax cuts to corporate crooks while denying kids healthcare is not qualified to be called human. So this time, I'll spare you. The video gets to do the talking...