A hundred more years in Iraq? Let's kick John McCain's ass

The other day I received an e-mail from Howard Dean.  This is nothing unusual as I'm on the e-mail blast list for lots of politicians whose opinions I admire.  Aside from Hillary's notes thanking me for helping her win primaries, almost all of the mail I receive is pleading for donations.  There's nothing wrong with that.  I don't mind it one bit because that's how politics works.  Until it's no longer how politics works, I expect to be hit up for cash now and then.  But the mail from Howard Dean was different and that's why I'm blogging about it.

 

He confirmed what we've all known for weeks:  John McCain is going to be the Republican nominee for President.  And then he said some things that all liberals need to be armed with.  Let this be the launch pad for your talking points…

 

• John McCain is a media darling, but don't trust his carefully-crafted image - he's worked for years to brand himself. From Iraq to health care, Social Security to special interest tax cuts to ethics, he's promising nothing more than a third Bush term.
• After championing campaign finance reform and ethics legislation to score political points, he now has a staggering amount of lobbyists involved in every aspect of his campaign. In fact, two of the top three sources for John McCain's campaign cash are D.C. lobbying firms, and he looked the other way as Jack Abramoff bought and paid for the Republican Party and the Culture of Corruption.
• On immigration reform, he's run as far to the right as he can, aligning himself with the most extreme elements of the Republican Party.
• On the war, McCain scoffed at Bush's call to leave troops in Iraq for 50 years, saying "Make it a hundred!"
• On a woman's right to choose, McCain has vowed to appoint judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade.

I'm putting this one last in the hopes it'll help you remember it.  This should probably be the first thing you say when defending our nominee against John McCain:

 

• On the economy, one of the issues that the American people care most about, McCain has said: "I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

Dean's parting shots:  "We can't afford four more years with a President who drives the economy into the ground. We can't afford four more years with a President who fights an endless war in Iraq. We can't afford four more years with a President who gives tax cuts to companies who ship jobs overseas; with a President who can't get every American the health care they deserve; with a President we just can't trust."

 

McCain will be funding his smears with the money he's raised for his campaign.  The Republican National Committee will be propagating their lies with money from their own coffers.  (And there's plenty in there.)  What I'm talking about here is two separate, well-funded campaigns against the Democrats' eventual nominee. 

 

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