Day: 6/19/2008

John McCain: I Didn’t Really Love America Until…

Posted by on June 19, 2008 at 9:48 pm. 16 Comments :

Dan Abrams has uncovered a video of John McCain saying…

“I really didn’t love America until I was deprived of her company.”

This has the potential to upend this campaign. Given the criticism of Michelle Obama’s remarks about pride, how can the right still press the patriotism of the Democratic candidate’s wife when the Republican candidate himself has made remarks that are arguably much worse?

The quote of McCain came from an interview with Sean Hannity:

Hannity: You spent two years of this five-and-a-half-year period in solitary confinement. What does that do to a person, to spend that much time in solitary confinement?

McCain: I think it makes you a better person. Obviously, it makes you love America. I really didn’t love America until I was deprived of her company, but probably the most important thing about it, Sean, is that I was privileged to have the opportunity to serve in the company of heroes.

Is anyone surprised that Hannity didn’t challenge McCain’s statement?

It doesn’t matter what McCain meant to say in these comments. What matters is that he and his surrogates have to cease their despicable slander of Michelle Obama’s patriotism. After all, If Cindy McCain can get away with saying, “All I know is that I have always been proud of my country,” can’t Mrs. Obama just as rightly say, “All I know is that I have never stolen from a charity to satisfy my drug habit.”

This crap has to stop. And if there is a silver lining to the new McCain dialog, it is that this might lead to the end of these childish attacks.

Bill O’Reilly Wants ALL Of Iraq’s Oil

Posted by on June 19, 2008 at 2:51 pm. 2 Comments :

As if Bill O’Reilly hasn’t given us enough evidence of his stupidity, he is now advocating a plan of his own design that, in effect, calls for Iraq to turn over 100% percent of its oil production to the United States.

“So far, the American taxpayer has forked over more than $500 billion – $500 billion – to give the Iraqi people a chance at freedom. That country’s now pumping 2.5 million barrels of oil a day. So why isn’t Iraq giving the USA an oil price break?”

OK, pay attention Bill. The U.S. consumes about 20 million barrels of oil a day. So if Iraq sent ALL of its oil to the U.S. for FREE, it would only meet about 10% of our needs. So how will a mere price break on just some of their oil impact prices? Obviously it would be insignificant. And that says nothing about the need for Iraq to use the revenue from their own natural resources to rebuild the nation that we destroyed. Without that revenue, who do you think will pay for that reconstruction? American taxpayers, of course, who have already footed the half trillion dollar bill that O’Reilly is so outraged by.

The media, as usual, is failing to provide context to this story. They continue to confuse rebuttal with balance. Juxtaposing facts with lies does not advance the practice of balanced journalism. So when it is factually reported that all of the untapped domestic offshore oil reserves would produce only 18 billion barrels of oil, and that that amount would last for just two and a half years, and wouldn’t even come to market for twenty years, it is irresponsible to counter those facts with the partisan statement of an ignorant president who asserts, without foundation, that new offshore drilling will result in immediate relief from our current gas price dilemma.

Plainly the media has no problem being irresponsible. And O’Reilly is the poster child of The Misinformation Generation.