Olbermann: McCain Plays Race Card
It was obvious to me, and apparently everyone else as Olbermann led with this, that McCain needed to drum this up into a story even though Obama had said as much weeks ago, in a much stronger fashion. McCain was getting attacked for being racist for his “Celeb” ad showing images of white women (Britney and Paris) juxtaposed with Obama. So they decided to flip it on its head and accuse Obama of being racist. You can watch Keith for the rest of the analysis.
Colbert Ducks Sebelius Challenge
Nary a peep from Stephen Colbert Thursday night after Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius threw down the gauntlet in response to his trashing of Canton, Kansas. One can only assume he is working on a response. We’re not letting him off the hook until he does spend a night in the Canton jail. Remember the FOX News Obama clock? We’re starting the Colbert Watch. We’ll see how much time passes before he deigns to respond to Sebelius and actually dares to set foot in the Canton jail. If you want to see Colbert in jail add a comment to this post!
Update:
Colbert has now trashed Canton, SD. When will this madness stop? He must be foiled. He still has a lot of Cantons to trash (and then later apologize to). (Number one in my book is Canton, MO. Gotta be a shithole.) We’re keeping track!
Canton, GACanton, KSCanton, SD
Canton, MO
Canton, AL
Canton, MS
Canton, TX
Canton, AR
Canton, CO
Canton, CT
Canton, IL
Canton, OH
Canton, IN
Canton, IA
Canton, KY
Canton, LA
Canton, ME
Canton, MD
Canton, MA
Canton, MI
Canton, MN
Canton, MT
Canton, NJ
Canton, NY
I personally think, in honor of the Olympics, he ought to insult Guangzhou, China. According to Wikitravel, this is sometimes called “Canton.” They even have a “Canton Fair.”
Vote in the poll on the right for which Canton you think Colbert should insult next!
Update:
I kid you not. Right after posting this about Canton, China I find a story about a people eating monster fish that’s living in a lake in Canton, China. Holy cow! That’s definitely a shithole!
Lewis Black Flipped Me Off!
I posted this question based on Phil Gramm’s “Nation of whiners” comment:
Are you yourself in a “mental recession” or are you a King among whiners?
You can watch the video to see Black’s hilarious response.
Obama’s New Website: McCain’s Low Road Express
Barack Obama’s campaign has launched a new website designed to counter McCain’s negative attack adds. It’s called the “Low Road Express.”
The site features news articles and political commentators attacking McCain for his latest bout of negative campaigning in which he (falsely) accuses Obama of not visiting wounded troops because no cameras could go and his ad that features Obama with Paris and Britney.
h/t: JedReport.com
Obama: That All You Got?
Obama responds to the McCain campaign’s attack on his “celebrity” with an “are you serious?” response.
Obama:
Given the seriousness of the issues. Given the fact that the decisions that we make right now are gonna help determine the future of not just the next generation but perhaps generations after that. Given the magnitude of our challenges when it comes to energy, and health care and jobs and our foreign policy. You’d think that we’d be having a serious debate. But so far all we’ve been hearing about is Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I do have to ask my opponent, “is that the best you can come up with?”Is that really what this election is about? Is that what is worthy of the American people? Even the media has pointed out that Senator John McCain who started talking off about running an honorable campaign has fallen back into the predictable political attacks, the demonstrably false statements. Here’s problem. And I’m not interested in getting into a tit for tat.
These negative ads, these negative attacks, spending all this time talking about me instead of talking about what he’s going to do, that’s not going to lower your gas prices. That’s not going to help you stay in your home if you’re falling behind on the mortgage. That’s not going to help you find a job if it’s been shipped overseas. It doesn’t do a single thing to help the American people. It’s politics as a game, but the time for game playing is over. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States of America.
McCain Camp Stacks Deck, Pushes Race Card Out
The McCain campaign, sighing in relief that they no longer have to pretend that they don’t want to make this election about race, accused Barack Obama (the man who could be the first African American President) of using the race card.
From Jonathan Martin:
“Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck,” said Rick Davis, in a statement issued from the McCain campaign. “It’s divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.”Yesterday in Missouri, Obama predicted McCain and the GOP would use racially-tinged attacks against him.
“What they’re going to try to do is make you scared of me,” Obama said. “You know, he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”
An Obama spokesman denied that the line about “dollar bills” was related to the Democrat’s race.
“We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid,” Obama said at the fundraiser. “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black? He’s got a feisty wife.”He’s also said something similar here. Guess what? He was right! The GOP can no longer afford to not emphasize that he is black. They clearly think his “celebrity” has gotten out of hand and are now trying to play to the very fears Obama predicted they would. To get all up in arms about this statement from Obama shows how desperate they are to start the race debate.
Update:
One more thought, the McCain campaign is also under fire today from some groups charging that his “Celeb” ad is racist because it juxtaposes images of white women with a black man. I think this says more about the people watching the ad than it does about the people who created it. Regardless, Mac has to push back and what better way than to draw attention to Obama’s “racist” comments.
Update 2:
Looks like I was right. The McCain campaign, per Ben Smith, tells Andrea Mitchell that their comments on Obama playing the race card were caused, in part, by allegations of the “Celeb” ad being racist:
Rick Davis tells Andrea Mitchell that inquiries from journalists — spurred, he claimed, by the Obama campaign, as well as claims on liberal blogs tht the ‘Celeb’ ad had a racial edge, helped prompt his allegation that Obama was playing the race card.
Davis also blames Obama’s campaign for the “liberal blogs” coming up with the idea that the “Celeb” ad was racist.
Colbert Report Insults Canton, Kansas
First Colbert insults Canton, Georgia. Now, he says he really meant to insult Canton, Kansas. This, after a tiny little complaint from the residents of Georgia.
Colbert:
Nation, I have to issue a rare apology. I’m sorry I just don’t say that very often. Evidently I offended some people – seems the mayor of Canton, Georgia was none too happy with me.Why did I call your lovely city crappy? A simple mix up. I actually meant Canton, Kansas. That place is a shit hole. You can smell that dump all the way from Topeka. You know what they say about Canton, Kansas? Nothing. Nobody talks about it. I would say we should convert it to a landfill but that would be insulting to landfills. If Dorothy was from Canton, Kansas she would’ve wished that the house dropped on her. That reminds me of a joke. How many Canton Kansas residents does it take to screw in a light bulb? None. They don’t use lights because they don’t want to see where they live. I’m glad I cleared that up because I wouldn’t want to offend anyone.
If you’re going to call any place a shit-hole it ought to be Canton, Missouri. I’ve never been, but it’s in Missouri. How great can it be?
Update:
Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has thrown down the gauntlet to Stephen Colbert: come spend the night in the historic Canton Kansas jail. According to the AP Sebelius mailed and faxed him the following letter:
My dearest Stephen:
Canton, Kansas is a town of about 800, located in McPherson County. Since you just missed the McPherson County Fair, where we surely could have gotten you bucked off something, and the yearly demolition derby is over, we’d like to invite you to visit the pioneer 1883 jail on Allen Street in Canton. Standard procedure is to view by appointment only, but in your case, the Mayor has assured me, we can get you an overnight booking anytime you are available.
Consider yourself to have a standing appointment. We hope to hear you’re coming for a visit.
Also, it’s funny you avoided picking on Canton, Ohio (population 80,000) and instead went after Canton, Georgia (population 7,000) and then decided to bully the quaint town of Canton, Kansas, picking on its 800 citizens. Next, you’ll surely be headed for Canton, Texas, (population 3,000) which is reportedly home of the world’s largest flea market.
I bet they can’t wait!
With warm Kansas wishes,
Governor Kathleen Sebelius
UPDATE 2
After Colbert failed to respond to Sebelius’ challenge last night we’ve decided to start the Colbert Watch. We’ll be counting the days until Colbert is brave enough to set foot in the Canton jail! Click on the Colbert Watch link and add a comment to the post if you want to see Colbert spend the night in jail!
UPDATE 3
Well, he didn’t spend the night in Canton’s jail, but he did apologize and gave Canton’s water towers good air time. Good enough. You can find the video of his apology HERE.
Daily Show: Songs of CNN
New Obama Ad: Low Road
Olbermann: "Obama accused of (gasp) popularity!"
Olbermann:
While the McCain campaign today began to back slowly away from its first dumbfounding TV commercial this week, it also dropped a trail of bread crumbs for when it has to climb down from its newest advertising stretch.
The McCain campaign’s operations director selling hardest the bizarre contention that Barack Obama is actually Britney Spears. Just a celebrity, not a leader. He was the campaign manager for the re-election bid of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the man elected governor straight from the ranks of celebrity-tude whose movie “True Lies” runs again this weekend on TBS.
On his website today McCain’s official blogger admitting that he got it wrong when he approved this message implying that Obama cancelled his [visit to wounded troops because the media would not be allowed in there with him.]
Quoting the backtrack, “It does now seem that Obama snubbed the troops for reasons other than a lack of photo op potential but the initial reports were not clear.” That’s right. Attack first. Check facts later. Blame the media last.
