I Hate What You Just Said

This is the perfect metaphor for what John McCain will have to do before Tuesday:

Man votes to authorize the torture of individuals in clear violation of international law, causing the humiliation, suffering, madness and even death of human beings in US custody.

Then man jokes in a prepared speech that a candidate running for president has ads so boring that they’d be considered torture under the Geneva Conventions.

People were hanged at Nuremberg for less.

Only three days left, America.

Barack Obama’s top marginal income-tax rate is 39.6 percent.

John McCain’s top marginal income-tax rate is 35 percent.

Who knew that only 4.6 percent separates capitalism from socialism?

I connected to the series of tubes this evening to discover that Ted Stevens has been found guilty on all charges. 60 Senate votes is starting to look reachable.

Vote for John McCain or Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and Harry Reid will force you to watch their roiling, unholy and “dangerous” threesome.

The crowd actually erupts in cheers when McCain mocks nuclear safety. What is wrong with these people?

I’m sure many of those in the crowd could remember the partial meltdown of the nuclear plant at 3 Mile Island in the late 70s.

Or the devastating explosion of the Chernobyl reactor in the former Soviet Union in 1986.

Although McCain maintains that naval ships are safe, just last August the Navy was forced to admit that the USS Houston submarine had been leaking radioactive water for months before it was detected. In 2000, the Russians lost all hands on the nuclear sub Kursk. In fact, many nuclear-powered subs from both the Russian and US militaries lie on the bottom of the world’s oceans, posing an unknown threat to human and animal life.

And the comprehensive list of all military and civilian nuclear-related accidents is pretty damn sobering.

Or what about the threat of nuclear proliferation, or “dirty bombs,” or disposal for millions of years?

Blah, blah, blah.

I think this really sheds light on John McCain’s judgment. Why would he continue to be brothers with a man who would do something as un-American as this:

Early this week, Sen. John McCain’s brother Joe, while in Alexandria, VA, called 911 because he was irritated with traffic. When the operator asked him if he was really calling the emergency line to complain about highway conditions, Joe McCain responded, “F–k you” and hung up.

The transcript of the call:

Operator: “911, state your emergency.”

Caller: “It’s not an emergency but, do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95 traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic’s coming the other way?”

Operator: “Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic?”

Caller: “F–k you.”

When the operator called the individual back, she was greeted with the following message:

“Hi this is Joe McCain. I can’t take this message now because I’m involved in a very (inaudible) important political project… I hope on Nov. 4th we have elected John.”

No, seriously:

Al-Qaida supporters suggested in a Web site message this week they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the U.S. as a way to usher in a McCain presidency.

The message, posted Monday on the password-protected al-Hesbah Web site, said if al-Qaida wants to exhaust the United States militarily and economically, “impetuous” Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is the better choice because he is more likely to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This requires presence of an impetuous American leader such as McCain, who pledged to continue the war till the last American soldier,” the message said. “Then, al-Qaida will have to support McCain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, Bush.”

Sarah Palin’s understanding of her role as a state executive isn’t just limited to the exercise of personal vendettas and rank nepotism. It also includes bilking hardworking Alaskans of the tax dollars they earned canning salmon and trucking on frigid ice roads.

In a lengthy report the AP discloses that Palin’s sense of entitlement to public funds was almost unlimited:

Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters’ 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls. [. . .]

What Alaskan wouldn’t be proud that their income taxes helped young Willow and Piper Palin help with this critical act of governance:

In January, the governor, Willow and Piper showed up at the Alaska Symphony of Seafood Buffet, an Anchorage gala to announce winners of an earlier seafood competition.

“She was just there,” said James Browning, executive director of Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which runs the event. Griffin said the governor’s office received an invitation that was not specifically addressed to anyone.

When Palin amended her children’s expense reports, she listed a role for the two girls at the function — “to draw two separate raffle tickets.”

In the original travel form, Palin listed a number of events that her children attended and said they were there “in official capacity helping.” She did not identify any specific roles for the girls.

Or pay for this little junket:

In July, the governor charged the state $2,741.26 to take Bristol and Piper to Philadelphia for a meeting of the National Governors Association. The girls had their own room for five nights at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for $215.46 a night, expense records show.

Or this precious week of bonding:

In October 2007, Palin brought daughter Bristol along on a trip to New York for a women’s leadership conference. Plane tickets from Anchorage to La Guardia Airport for $1,385.11 were billed to the state, records show, and mother and daughter shared a room for four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House hotel, which overlooks Central Park.

The Palin family has also been shaking down the RNC to pick up some swanky new outfits. Politico reports today that

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

The cash expenditures immediately raised questions among campaign finance experts about their legality under the Federal Election Commission’s long-standing advisory opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use.

I’d like to hear some folksy common sense from Joe the Plumber on all this since Palin’s bill at Saks alone is almost identical to his yearly income.

Perhaps he’d change his vote if he knew that Obama resoles his shoes.

McCain’s voicemail to The New York Times, Barack Obama, and Sarah Palin.