Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm will play the role of Sarah Palin in Joe Biden’s veep debate practice rounds. That and the day’s other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.
TPM Reader EH …
I think I’m the first one to say it: “honorgate”. Presumably somebody will ask Obama about this today. I hope his response is something like, “look, I don’t know how Senator McCain defines honor, but it’s worth asking: is it honorable to characterize a bill to protect children from sexual predators as ‘teaching sex-ed to kindergarteners’? Is it honorable to accuse your opponent of wanting to lose a war to win an election? Is it honorable to repeat the same lies day after day on the campaign trail, long after they have been proven false?”
Needless to say I’ll be extremely unhappy if Obama does anything to distance himself from those comments or to come across as apologetic.
We’re still talking about honor with this guy? Face it. This guy is running the sleaziest presidential campaign of our lifetimes. McCain and Palin are out their lying their heads off. Liars have no honor.
Late Update: BL has an idea too …
I know responding to a scurrilous attack with a “he did it to” defense doesn’t help knock down the original falsehood, but why isn’t someone bringing up McCain’s past with women? The Chelsea Clinton – Janet Reno ugly joke? How about the gorilla rape joke? Leaving his crippled wife for a beauty queen? Dating exotic dancers – per Fred Thompson?
This man not only has no honor. He has no shame. He’s the prohibitionist who rails against the drink in public but gets wasted every night in private.
Normally it might not be appropriate for the press to dig into McCain’s ugly past with women. But when he’s out there like a preening fraud tossing out phony charges of sexism they really have no choice.
Late Update: Let’s remember, this is the same John S. McCain who had a good belly laugh with a supporter and called it a “good question” when the supporter called Hillary Clinton a “bitch.”
The latest out of Trooper-gate.
Remember that Palin’s Trooper-Gate scandal revolves around her apparent efforts to use her power as governor to have her ex-brother-in-law, an Alaska state trooper, fired from his job. The trooper, Michael Wooten, was in a long-lasting and bitter divorce and custody battle with Palin’s sister. (Once the state Commissioner of Public Safety, Wooten’s ultimate boss, wouldn’t do the deed, she fired him.)
Now it comes out that before she even became governor — and was in a position to abuse her power of office — Palin had to be warned by the judge in the divorce case that her harassment of Wooten amounted to “a form of child abuse.”
If her behavior was so abusive and over-the-line before she became governor (this was in 2005), can there really be much doubt she would have used all her power of office to get him fired?
From TPM Reader NH …
What alien invaded Mark Halperin’s body? On AC360, he trashed McCain/Palin for being phony and dishonest. Then he went after the press for talking about lipstick on the pig, for not calling Palin out on the Bridge to Nowhere, and for letting her get away with such tight press restrictions.
Hardball also went hard on the bridge to nowhere.
And TPM Reader BS too …
Shocked, absolutely shocked.
Watching AC360 on CNN, the last segment ~10 minutes in, Mark Halperin actually made intelligent points regarding the coverage of Palin. In essence, the other 3 candidates have been on the scene for months if not years. Sarah Palin is new to the scene and instead of wasting time on silly stories (putting lipstick on a pig), the real record of Palin has to be discussed.
TPM Reader JM not happy with McCain’s sleazy campaign …
The sex ed ad is literally worse than the Willie Horton ad, because at least the Horton story was true. But the bill Obama supported actually did the reverse of what McCain claims – it didn’t mandate more sex ed for anybody, it tried to toughen up existing classes by teaching the risks of STDs. The bill didn’t glorify sex, it highlighted the dangers of sex. It’s the most old fashioned sex ed there is: scaring kids straight. So now even THAT is anti-family?
Calling this “perverse” is a good first step, but the lie here deserves much, much more. It’s the disgusting act of a candidate who cares more about scaring people with lies than warning kids about the dangers of early sexual activity. Anyone who would oppose such
warnings is an objective supporter of unprotected, unsafe underage sex.So throw back the slime with a truthful attack: It’s McCain who wants more unsafe teenage sex, McCain who wants more kids to get STDs, McCain who wants more young people to get HIV. McCain would rather win a political campaign than protect children from sexual diseases.
That’s worse than shameful, worse than unpatriotic. That’s evil.
TPM Reader WS has some more to add …
Is everyone looking close enough at the McCain ad?
I just watched the ad again. There is one picture of children, all of them white (I think – can you tell?) And the next image is of Obama, looking down and over his shoulder, with a smile on his face.
But since when do campaign ads show your opponent smiling? It’s always a frown or a grimace, right? Not this time. What’s he smiling about?
It’s not subtle. And it’s not an ad about sex education.
A black man, sex, and children. I think this ad is more odious than is being acknowledged.
Take another look at it!
Couldn’t agree more. But let’s not be surprised. McCain is pure sleaze. Sound harsh? Sure. But any other interpretation of the man at this point amounts to willful obliviousness or an embrace of the fantasy that he somehow doesn’t know what his campaign is doing in his name. This is the race he’s decided to run. Now what do you do about it?
McCain tries to whip up outrage about Obama using a common phrase McCain used last year.
I mean, can’t he at least be happy that now he has someone who can go toe to toe with Obama for him?
At first it seemed like they didn’t want to let Palin out on her own for fear she’d stumble into some kind of trouble. But now it’s pretty clear McCain’s afraid to let go of her or go out alone without her.
Late Update: That’s interesting. It seems like more than a few people are just telling it like it is that McCain is lying as bad as Palin now. Now Ben Smith, like Ambinder, is giving the buzzer to McCain on his new lie about what Obama said.
Latter Update: Now Jake’s calling McCain out.
Still Latter Update: Melber on Lying McCain’s ploy. “McCain Camp Plays Gender Card with Pig Ploy”
New McCain ad: Obama wants to teach children about sex before they can read.
HJC To Consider Contempt Citation for Mukasey Tomorrow