McCain's View Are Racist

I'll take time to explain. Not to give any hype or pub to the guy who published these two videos on youtube.com, but it's the material I need.

Here's the thing to keep in mind when considering wealth redistribution and the Black Freedom Movement. A form of slavery, on author Douglass Blackmon calls neo-slavery, continued well into the 1950s. That's not to take into account the how little money was spent on black education, the educational pursuits blacks were prevented from attempting, the unequal pay for more work given to blacks and so forth. Not to mention the redlining, the FHA loans and GI Bills that benefited and grew predominantly the white middle class. Let's not pretend that the "ghettos" just popped out of nowhere and consider the money spent on highways to help the new white middle class along with new jobs move to suburbs.

Yes, we're starting to talking about reparations. Barack Obama is correct in saying that's something the BFM missed out on. In fact, if you remember, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was in Memphis marching with striking black union workers for better pay when he died. There are many companies and businesses even now that at some point was involved in slavery and neo-slavery.

And there is no doubt that while the income gap had been closing, the wealth accumulation gap has been increasing.

See, what you have to consider is a number of things. First of all, slaves were never given in reparations and after maybe a sip of freedom, found themselves again drowning under white male control. Thousands of black men were lynched. Probably thousands, if not tens of thousands, of black women and children were raped. No reparations. Finally, the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s were passed, and no reparations were paid.

And before open housing laws even passed, white Chicagoans were demanding the right to sell their homes to whomever they chose.

So, let's then add the discrimination and inequality that occurs today. The poor schools in poor majority black neighborhoods. The job discrimination, pay discrimination, the discrimination in the justice, so forth and so on, McCain's views, are in short, either ignorant, racist, or both.

John McCain 10/27



Now, let's walk through this. If your parents own their home and have more money to help with college or buying your own home, as most whites did and do by comparison to most African Americans - then you don't have to take out as high a college loan, if you have to take one out at all. You have help with a mortgage down payment. In short, you have a head start in accumulating your own wealth.

And while those who propagate racist ideas and notions would lead you to believe that blacks are fiscally irresponsible, facts show that blacks are as responsible if not more than white Americans. One large difference is that blacks do spend more money trying to help out more family, but that again points out to a gap in wealth accumulation that started decades and centuries earlier.

The radio interview.


So McCain and the guy who posted this videos need to learn more about American history. And McCain cannot be trust to stand up for equal rights for all. Period.

And we haven't even gotten into the discrimination in health care or sub-prime lending. Or even all the, "Kill him!" cheers and neo-nazi plans of assassination, or the fact that I guess McCain remains proud of all his supporters.

Oh, and by the way racially resentful white person who believes affirmative action is reverse-racism - black people don't have your money; rich white people do. (That's why Rev. Jeremiah Wright wasn't talking about all of you and is not an anti-white racist.)

Update: Colin Powell Endorses Obama for President

Update: These videos speak for themselves.

The video speak for itself. Secretary Power answers every question concerning his motivation.

I'm Trying to Wrap My Mind Around This

I'm being earnest.

You know how McCain's been bragging about his families long history of service to the country? He's left out his families history of owning slaves even after the War.

Don't get me wrong. I can understand why. What I'm having trouble with is how he has so much pride for one (which I don't consider much of a reason to be proud. But that's just me.) and the shame of the other. Is he ashamed of the other?

To Sen. McCain, "How the Teoc descendants have served their community and, by extension, their country is a testament to the power of family, love, compassion and the human spirit." It is, he added, in a statement provided by a spokesman, "an example for all citizens."

And according to the article, the white McCain's were known for their fair treatment of the blacks they dealt with. But . . . the money they made? McCain doesn't even bother taking a public position on reparations. It's such a foregone conclusion that he would oppose it that no one has even bothered to ask him about it on the campaign trail.

What I don't understand is why hasn't he mentioned this in the midst of calling Barack Obama out for every little association he's ever had, no matter how tangential.

And kudos to Obama for not bringing it up. It wouldn't have added anything of substance to the debate. But, I'm still thinking, the whole thing . . . it gives me a lot to think about. Not just where McCain is concerned. But there is no white person is all of America who hasn't in some way benefited from slavery. I think I'm not the only one conflicted about this. I think the whole country is.

Oh, but back to my usual self, as far as I'm concerned, McCain has just dug himself even deeper in the hole of disrepute.

Kill McCain! He's a Terrorist!

Yeah. That's right. I'm an Obama supporter and I'm shouting "Kill McCain" and "He's a terrorists" and "Assassinate him!"

Yeah. That's right. Soak it up conservatives. Let that marinate for a minute.

Oh. I'm not finished. He is a terrorist. And not a very good one at that. We had no just cause to go into Vietnam. In fact, from what I recall, we never declared war. We just there killing innocent Vietnamese and dying by the thousands. That makes his as much a terrorist as any "Arab." And that makes the US as much a "terrorist state" as supposedly Iran and Syria.

So chew on that conservatives. How does that feel? How does that sound?

Now, I don't actually think of McCain as a terrorist, or at least not yet, and I don't wish him to be killed or anything like that. But for McCain to say this morning that he's proud of all his supporters, even the ones who think Obama is a single-cell Arab terrorist who should be killed . . . I can't even put it into words. Honestly, I was already upset that McCain spent much of the debate last night lying. I certainly didn't like his stance on the "health" of the mother in the case of abortion. And I honestly didn't think my opinion of him could be any less. I thought it hit rock bottom last night. But this morning, when he declared his pride for all his supporters, McCain dug a hole and fell right into it.

And for all that guy on Hardball said, John McCain has not corrected people shouting "kill him!" and "he's a terrorist!" concerning Barack Obama. And like the guy on Hardball is saying now, John Lewis is absolutely right: it only takes one crazy person to assassinate someone. So, McCain pride is just repulsive.

And that reminds me of something else. Let's drop this illusion that Ronald Regan is such a good president for having ended the Cold War without spilling blood. That's a lie. Maybe he "ended" the Cold War. But he personally called for the spilling of Grenadian blood as part of the "Cold War." The Vietnam Conflict was about the "Cold War." Osama bin Laden earned his bonafide as a mujahudeen fighting for Afghanistan in the "Cold War." The Congo is in the mess it's in partly because the US assassinated Patrice Lumumba, helped support the cleptocracy of Mobutu Sese Seko. And now, over 5, maybe even 10 million people have died and millions of women are raped daily over a conflict that started because of the "Cold War."

The notion that the Cold War ended without blood shed is not only a lie - tens of thousands of Americans died - it's racists - millions of people of color died.

I Got Some Good News & Some Bad News & Some Personal Thoughts

First, the good news, mostly because I can make sense of it, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, which has been inundated with complaints and questions, will roll out a massive advertising campaign starting today and running until Election Day to inform voters of their rights and to try to dispel misinformation.

Here's the bad news, or at least questionable news about McCain. But, apparently McCain's transition chief lobbied for or had something to do with helping lobby for Saddam.

And here's a word for my white brothers and sisters in Christ. Previously, I was studying Proverbs. I'm presently studying Romans. Now, in my online explorations and chats, I've come across atheists and agnostics who care about the poor and choose peace over unnecessary war. I've come across Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists who feel that everyone and everything is an image of God.

Yesterday, or rather, last night, or . . . my last post, I displayed the youtube video of the preacher praying for a sort of "God-off" between our Christian God, Islam's God (because Arab Christians also pray to Allah), Buddha, and I suppose Krishna?

Now, the point I wish to make comes from Romans 2:17-24, and here it is: claiming to serve the "best" God or "the only true" God means nothing if you don't obey and follow the mandates of that God. Now, being Christian, while I believe that all religions have something true to offer, I also believe that Christ is the truth, the way, and the light. I'm not backing of that. I'm not obfuscating what I believe.

But also, I aim to be a force for justice and righteousness. In my personal life, I love God with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, and all my strength. At the time, I don't have a lot of physical strength, but I love God with all that I have. Also, I receive God's completely forgiveness and unconditional love with relief and gratitude. And here's the part that I find most miraculous. The more I open my heart to God's love and grace and mercy, the easier it becomes to love others the way I love myself. Cause essentially, I accept what God says about me as truth. In Ephesians, he says I'm his masterpiece! I'm not going to argue with God about that!

The more I give up trying to earn God's love, the easier it becomes to overlook other people's faults and try to meet their needs. For example, the so called "Islamofascists." They don't hate America. What they hate is their poverty. What they hate is not being able to provide from the families. And, well, whose domination of the world has led to the circumstances in which they live? . . . If you guess themselves, you're wrong. The correct answer is US, and I mean that as a double entendre.

So, I urge all my American brothers and sisters in Christ to emulate Christ, to imitate God their father as dear little children. Otherwise, and the Bible says so, you will be judged for causing unbelievers to blaspheme the name of our God. Oh, and please, you should probably stop taking his name in vain, as well. Just using God's name to do something ugly and hateful makes it no less, but in fact all the more, ugly and hateful. And if you're curious as to what I mean be ugly and hateful. Check back later. I've been meaning to write a post on abortion. Maybe now would be a good time to tackle such a topic. Because not even Biblically does life begin at conception.

McCain Can Be Such A Baby

I'm linking the article. But suffice it to say this - Remember when McCain said that Obama was overly sensitive, or some such thing, whenever his record was challenged? Remember how McCain just went of the hinge when Obama challenged his record of supporting vets? Now, here we have Rep. John Lewis criticizing McCain for allowing such a hateful and angry atmosphere take hold at his rallies. And, just like a hit dog barks, McCain became "overly sensitive" and accused Rep. Lewis of sowing division.

Yeah, right, Mac.

"We Don't Hide from History"

Something real egregious just happened. John McCain claimed that America isn't a country that runs from history, "we make he history," he boasted.

What a lie!

If America didn't run from its history, we wouldn't have such racial and ethnic struggles. Barack Obama wouldn't be the first African American presidential candidate of a national party. If we weren't running from its history, poverty wouldn't be so pervasive. Inner-city neighborhoods would be the social quagmire that it is.

If we didn't run from our history, conservative "Christians" wouldn't be in such a push to force the Old Testament into our legal system.

If we didn't run from our history, we'd stop acting like we're the greatest country in the world and confess to the crimes of humanity we have committed across the world.

If we didn't run from our history, we'd stop electing Republican presidents who continuously make the economy worse for average Americans.

"We don't hide from history," indeed. Well, I guess there is some truth in that. We just outright ignore it.

The only absolutely honest thing he said as that, "Change is coming." Barack Obama will be our next president.

But on the Other Hand, More Good News about Barack

Barack Obama's audience for his acceptance speech likely topped 40 million people, and the Democratic gathering that nominated him was a more popular television event than any other political convention in history.

More people watched Obama speak from a packed stadium in Denver on Thursday than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, the final "American Idol" or the Academy Awards this year, Nielsen Media Research said Friday. (Four playoff football games, including the Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots, were seen by more than 40 million people.)

Now, of course, the McCain camp will say it's all part of Barack's "celebrity." Then, with contradictory logic, argue that Johnny Mac's the one who can inspire Americans to do the things necessary to secure a better future for our posterity. :snicker: Good luck, Johnny Mac, inspiring upwards of 270million people when hardly 10thousand even wanna hear you speak.

Here's My Analysis of the McCain's Pick for VP

Isn't That the US Calling the Kettle Black?

We should all be aware of the Russian invasion of Georgia.

I've been listening to the coverage and no one's connecting the dots. In fact, Pres. Bush and John McCain are rattling sabers at Russia. McCain wants to throw Russia out of the G8. They're just writing checks they can't cash!

Two quick points.

1. The US is hardly in a place to "condemn" Russia's invasion. I mean, how exactly did the illegal Iraq Occupation begin?

2. The reason we can't do anything more about the crisis is that we're in . . . Irag!!

If what you have to say doesn't make these two points, just shut up.

For his part, Barack Obama pressed for strong diplomacy.

Vote for Paris!!

You knows how I do. First, I gotta stick it to John McCain.


What happened?


Ummm, yeah. McCain hasn't supported equal rights his whole career. He was public with his opposition to the Ledbetter Act just a few months ago. Take note, while the central issue is women's rights, the rights of minorities to receive equal pay is involved as well. But. Guess you can't blame the Alitos and Bushes and McCains of the government for being against such a bill. Not only will companies be forced to account for pay discrimination in the last generation, they may also have to account for all that "discrimination" from decades past.


Now for the woman of the hour. The incomparable Paris Hilton not having sex but still telling John McCain to . . . er . . . um. Let's just say she tells McCain not to accuse her of being vacuous anymore.

Slavery Wasn't Abolished in Actuality Until 1951

I have a lot on my mind. Bill Clinton's, "I never made a racist comment." Geraldine Ferraro's lame notion that if Barack Obama chooses any woman besides Hillary Clinton, it will be an insult to both Hillary Clinton and her supporters. I wrote about that a couple of days ago.

I'm also thinking about Obama's lead in a recent poll with the white working-class. I also wonder how long Pat Buchanan will be treated like a respectable voice on politics, race, and the politics of race. Video on all that below. Perhaps I'll post about that later. And I did see the phallic symbols. And white people don't always "see" racism.

What I know I'll address is this complaint from Republicans that they can't criticize Obama and engage in regular political discussion because any criticism of Obama leads to charges of racism. That complaint is unfounded, and I will certainly take it apart later. But for now, I have another issue on my mind.

What's on my mind is the fact that slavery wasn't really abolished until 1951, when Congress finally made clear that "any form of slavery in the United States was indisputable a crime" (Douglas A Blackmon. Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. New York: Doubleday, 2008.) The forms of slavery engaged in at the time, and by slavery I mean illegally enforced involuntary servitude, included peonage and the chain gangs. It included the illegal use of the justice system whereby a black man would be charged with some crime he either didn't commit or committed simply by virtue of being black and out in public; then he'd be charged with all kinds of fines he couldn't pay; a white man would pay the fines and have the black man as essentially a slave to work off his "debt." Then the so-called prisoners would be beaten and whipped and forced to live in condemnable conditions all the while chained. If a prisoner died, no one was charged with murder. Even if it were clearly murder.

Then there's the rape and sexual abuse of black women. White men felt access to black women's bodies was a birthright and used it frequently. With their lives being economically dependent on white men and no legal or extralegal recourse, neither the black women nor their families were in a place to fight back much. A preacher was even killed because he encouraged black women to say, "No" (ibid. 243).

Yes, the North had its issues. There were lynchings and redlining. But, there was no slavery. That's why so many African Americans left the South like children leaving school at the end of the year. The "Jim Crow" era would be better called "the age of Neoslavery." That's Blackmon's idea, but I like it.

That may not be of great concern to you. But it's something that always got to me. Before, questions about the Great Migration and the difference between the North and South would essentially end with the notion that Northern whites were equally racist as Southern whites, but on the whole, Northern racism was easier to deal with. But now, I know that Northern racism was easier to deal with because it wouldn't lead to forced labor. Of course, there remained the sexual abuse of domestic workers. But, there was no slavery.

I'll have more about Blackmon's book in the coming days. I don't know if I'll be writing a book review so much as I'll be going about my usual rants with more evidence.

John McLiar

Update #2: Here's Bob Herbert going off on the McCain campaign. Er . . . uh . . . whoa.

You knew something was up back in March when, in his first ad of the general
campaign, Mr. McCain had himself touted as “the American president Americans
have been waiting for.”

Oh, there's more.

Update: The NY Times editorial board takes McCain to task and brings up an issue I hadn't even considered. The first time we hear of the "race card" being played from the "bottom of the deck"? . . . OJ Simpson. How's that for playing the "race card"?

John McCain, in a press conference today, said that he didn't bring up race in the campaign, that Barack Obama did. I disagree, but that's not the lie I'm referring to. The lie I'm referring to is McCain's insistence that Obama retracted the comments that started the debate. Obama hasn't. And he shouldn't.

There're also some dillusional comments McCain makes about his running a respectful campaign. Here's a pretty good assessment of the issue:

From TPM Election Central -

McCain: Our Campaign Isn't "Negative In The Slightest"
By Greg Sargent - August 1, 2008, 4:38PM

John McCain just held a presser in Florida. Here are the, er, high points:

• Said "I don't think our campaign is negative in the slightest." There are negative McCain ads running as we speak, and in the very same presser, he attacked Obama for injecting race into the campaign again.

• Blamed Obama for bringing up the issue of race in the campaign, and repeatedly said that Obama had "retracted" his charge that McCain is using race. It was obvious by the repetition of "retracted" that this was a cooked up talking point, and it was apparently a reference to the fact that the Obama campaign said it didn't think McCain had used race in the campaign.

But this wasn't a "retraction" at all: The Obama camp hasn't conceded he said that in the first place.

• Said he wants to move on from the race debate. But his campaign manager Rick Davis aggressively attacked Obama for allegedly playing the race card just today.

• Described a new Web ad implying that Obama believes he's the Messiah as "having some fun."
Is it happy hour yet?

Obama responding to the issue, "There was nobody there who thought at all that I was trying to inject race in this."

Where's McCain's Substance?

Admittedly, I got the idea from Jon Stewart. But after I started thinking about it, I actually wonder . . . where's John McCain's substance? What's his experience and qualifications for being president of the US? Where does he stand on the issues? And that stance, is that today, yesterday, or are you guessing ahead for tomorrow?

I was gonna google McCain and his flip-flops. But, wow! Some, I already know. He's flipped on affirmative action and taxes. He says he disagreed with Bush on war strategy, but that took awhile to kick in. He's flipped on oil-drilling and energy policy.

So, McCain's substance? Get back to me and let me know.

Sorry, Obama

I pretty much gotta side with Ludacris on this one!

Ain't I a Woman

Err, uh, yes. I am.

Admittedly I infrequently tackle issues of importance to woman. I have my reasons for this, maybe I'll post on them later. But there are somethings concerning women's rights that just gets to me.

Let me put a few things out there (or, skip foward to * and read this):

1 - I hardly believe there's some "ambition gap" between the sexes. Income gap? Sure. Domestic responsibilities gap? You betcha! But "ambition gap?" Please. As the saying goes, "Every woman needs a wife." That includes me.

2 - I know "W" was supposed to stand for "Women for Bush," but right now, "W" pretty much stands for, "Why?" or perhaps even, "What?!" This recent administration has been bad for women. Court appointees. Reproductive rights. Equal pay. Healthcare. Family leave. War. Any issue of which women have some special concern has been given the enemy combatant treatment. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that McCain would be to women's rights what Bush has been to America's civil rights. Similarly, there's not doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will do as much if not more for women than he will for people of color.

3 - I used to be anti-abortion, even through Women Studies 050 - Intro to Women's Studies. I felt abortion was something women did after having been stupid. Then I took Black Women's History and learned about slavewomen's infanticide. Lord knows I would not have been mad had my slavemother killed me. And sometimes, it wasn't infanticed, but the shear dearth of resources that led to an infants death. Even though slaveholders didn't like their money being manipulated by the free-choice of property, they certainly couldn't prove that a baby died because his/her mother killed him/her. That made me think of society's impact on women's decision to have abortions.

Plus, there was the fact that I used to respond to the issue with this: Don't step in mud and expect me to clean it up. It finally dawned on my at some point that a woman's decision to have an abortion had nothing to do with me at all.

4 - Hillary Clinton is not champion or symbol of women's rights. Her campaign was basically about a woman's right to act like a man. And although that argument does have merit, it's just not an argument I find compelling enough to draw any passion. It's much like the actual fact that racial equality is more or less black people's rights to act white. Doesn't exactly do it for me.
________________________

That said.

*Now, the Bush administration is trying to pass off some cruddy reasoning as "conscience" for basically restricting a woman's access to contraceptives in an emergency situation, rape for example. Read up on it. A woman who's been raped has a right to contraceptives, and it's not for anyone to make the decision for her. Should she end up pregnant against her will, it amounts to being raped all over again.

What a Joke!

Update: I was just reminded of John McCain's "The American President Americans Have Been Waiting" for ad. Others think McCain's "Celeb" ad plays the race card. And also, since I'm a fan, here's Tim Wise on "the race card." And for the record, I agree with Wise's assessment.


A day after Democratic candidate Barack Obama warned that Republican rival John McCain would to tell voters "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills," McCain's campaign on Thursday accused Obama of playing racial politics.

Obama "played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said in a statement. He called Obama's remarks "divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."

Let me say after the last few attack ads from the McCain campaign, Rick Davis is embarrassing himself with this. Now, McCain has practically accused Obama of treason, has said Obama is too inexperienced, has compared him to celebrity airheads, has said Obama would raise taxes on electricity and wanted to import more foreign oil. McCain accused Obama of snubbing the troops and of being an "elitist," whatever that means. McCain challenged Obama to travel around the world, then complained when Obama did. McCain accuses Obama of being wrong on national security, then co-opts Obama's ideas.

So, if I were Rick Davis - and we can't be sure he or McCain, or who for the matter, speaks for the McCain campaign - I'd worry less about the particulars of what negative attacks McCain has made. The fact is, millions of Americans are worried about Obama's blackness and his name, and the Republican news outlet, Fox, is always bringing it up. McCain has flip-flopped over affirmative action, an issue certainly covered in concerns of race. And let's be clear, a lot of McCain criticisms, especially the lack of personal regard and the whole idea of teaching Obama, seem to be coming from a less than "color-blind" place.

The McCain campaign is also arguing that they're just responding tick-for-tack to accusations coming from Obama. Personally, I'd like to see what attacks Obama has made of McCain that are so shallow and untrue as what McCain has been saying about Obama. I'll not hold my breath.
So, quit joking Davis, and run a serious campaign.

McCain Tests The Waters Of Race As Campaign Issue

Grrrrrrrrr! I'm so angry, I could e-spit*!! In fact, yes, I'm e-spitting right now! Not just me, either. Field negro is e-spitting, too!

Read the article from Huffington Post. Basically, McCain's in favor of ending affirmative action programs.

I don't know which is worst: McCain stance, McCain's flip-flop, or Ward Connelly deceitful and hurtful campaign.

Again, let me repeat some facts.

1 - Affirmative action works.

2 - It helps white women more than people of color, male or female. And the husbands and children and communities of white women, the overwhelming majority of whom are also white, benefit from white women's being paid more than what they'd earn otherwise and being promoted more than what they would otherwise.

3 - Neither white students nor workers are displaced by affirmative action programs.

4 - It is illegal to hire a person of color or a woman unqualified for the job over a white person or a man.

5 - Discrimination still exists. Affirmative action is still necessary.

6 - Affirmative actions help ensure a meritocracy.

7 - Using "socioeconomic" affirmative action instead of race/gender based affirmative action only aggravates existing racial/gender disparities.

Here're some more facts: The backlash against affirmative actions began as soon as the programs were legislated. The backlash that exists today is as based on ignorance and whites' racial animosity as it was then. African Americans are not the primary beneficiaries of affirmative action; and, the idea that we are is only effective in opposing affirmative action because of the racism that remains today.

And since I'm not in the great of a mood about this, let me point out something else. White America is not in the position, not even objectively, to comment on the necessity of affirmative-action. I'm sure you all would like to pat yourselves on the back for being so "color-blind." At the turn of the 20th century, the South wanted a pat on the back for not returning Negroes back to wholesale slavery even though it openly ignored the civil rights of African Americans, flouting the Constitution, including habeus corpus.

And now that I think of it, what is it with white people and their premature self-congratulatory pats on the back?

*e-spitting is something I just came up with. I'm sure you get the idea.

Memo to (Mc)Cain: Obama Is NOT Abel

John McCain's camp is running a sleazy ad about the fact that Barack Obama had to cancel a visit to a military hospital when he was in Germany. I'm not going to show it here, but you can find this video of a Cain campaign ad and another tacky ad in this HuffPo link.

Here's the truth. Obama made plans to see the troops. But, his congressional staff returned to the US before the stops through Europe. A day before Obama was schedule to visit the military hospital, the Pentagon called to raise questions about politicization and whatever, so Obama cancelled the trip. Now, the Pentagon is saying they talked to the Obama campaign but didn't tell them they couldn't visit the military hospital.

But the Pentagon works for the same administration whose embassy in Germany forbade members of the foreign service to attend Obama's speech in Berlin. So, we know its higher ups aren't on the up and up, as it were.

To really get the feeling for how shady McCain is being, you gotta check out Huffington Post's converage. I'll give you a few quotes.

"When viewed alongside the 900 days that elapsed between visits to Iraq, and his symbolic vote against one round of funding for the war, the McCain camp now hopes the canceled visit in Germany provides a three-act structure to their dramatic imagining of a conflict between Obama and the troops.

Of course, in one particular aspect, McCain's playwrights have resorted to wholesale fiction in order to craft their narrative. However complicated the issue of Obama's canceled troop visit has become, no one -- not the campaign, and not the Pentagon -- has cited a prohibition on "bring[ing] cameras" along with Obama as a reason for the trip's scuttling.

In another distortion that could be viewed as funny were it no so manipulative, McCain's video editor selected footage of Obama sinking a three-point shot to represent time spent at the gym instead of with troops. Of course, that footage was taken in Kuwait, not Germany, at an event for ... troops."

They even quote Cain himself.

""How can we possibly find honor in using the fate of our servicemen to score political advantage in Washington? There is no pride to be had in such efforts. We are at war, a hard and challenging war, and we do no service for the best of us-those who fight and risk all on our behalf-by playing politics with their service."

In June, McCain apologized for using the image of Gen. David Petraeus in a political mailer, saying that politicization of the military would "not happen again" in his campaign.""

Just so you don't forget, HuffPo also has the two disreputable videos of Cain's.

John McCan't

Full disclosure, I first saw this video on prometheus6.org. But, I wanted it on my blog for easy referencing.