Dark Pegasus

So it seems that McCain doesn’t know who the Spanish Prime Minister is. But that’s okay because he’s so knowledgable and experienced with foreign policy.

From TPM:

We wanted to give you an update on the post below where we described Sen. McCain’s latest gaffe in which he seemed to suggest that he might not be willing to meet with Spanish Prime Minster Zapatero because he is among those world leaders who want to harm America.

The story is already getting picked up pretty quickly in the Spanish press. And the way it’s being interpreted in the Spanish press is that McCain got confused about the fact that Spain is a country in Europe, rather than a rogue state in Latin America.

Sigh.

Even if he didn’t know you’d think he might look this up before meeting with someone from the Spanish press. This from a man who may become president.

Audio and translated text of the interview here

Translated version of another Spanish Article

Translated version of a Spanish Article describing the gaffe

Awesome. Google is now doing audio indexing on videos. So far it seems they’ve just started with political videos and not general youtube videos but still. Damn! Very cool stuff. I wish I was that cool…

http://labs.google.com/gaudi

At this point, much of their material writes itself. A few jokes inserted to keep it flowing between clips and the people they mock do the rest.

Covering McCain’s Acceptance Speech

McCain’s transformation from the McCain of 2000 to the McCain of today.

Republican comments on Palin vs Democratic candidates

PUMAs

It seems some protestors at the RNC are being charged with terrorism charges… This is frightening stuff.

http://cliffschecter.firedoglake.com/2008/09/03/eight-rnc-protesters-face-state-terrorism-charges/

This is even more frightening considering the FBI wants to investigate people without basis for suspicion, the St. Paul police beat a protestor (photos), arresting journalists and photographers under charges of conspiracy to riot, using pepper spray, tear gas and flash bangs to break up protests… And most of that is just this week. Combine that with the FBI planning to spy on peaceful protest groups and it all paints a very scary picture.

Crap like this isn’t supposed to happen in our country…

Pure win. It is great to see a democrat willing to say something this blunt and funny. Obama said it in response to the jabs taken at him by various Republicans and pundits about his suggestion to keep car tires inflated properly. On top of that he explicitly called out their statements as lies. Way to take the FUD spewed out and throw it back at them. I hope he keeps this up and only wish Gore and Kerry had done the same.

Choice quote from the Huffington Post:

Speaking to a crowd in Berea, Ohio, Obama went off on a riff, laughing at Republicans who are isolating his call for tire inflation as the linchpin of his energy plan. After noting that his energy policy has a lot more to it, Obama circled back to wonder why Republicans were choosing to mock an idea, small though it was, that could actually help matters.

“Now two points,” Obama told the crowd. “One, they know they’re lying about what my energy plan is, but the other thing is they’re making fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by three to four percent. It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.”

Obama was responding to a question when he mentioned the tires. The man asked what can we as individuals do to reduce our dependency on oil. This wasn’t the central part of his plan as it has been portrayed.

For the record keeping proper inflation is an easy way, among others, to improve the mileage of your car. There is a government website which lists several ways to improve your mileage. Just that could increase your gas mileage by 4%. Changing your driving habits is more dramatic – up to another 50% difference. According to another government site the average car drives 12,000 miles per year and gets 25 mpg. Combining that with one estimate that there are 143 million cars on the road the current consumption is about 68.5 billion gallons of gas per year. I’m just spit-balling here but assuming the average car could get a 10% boost on it’s fuel economy by making some simple changes we’re looking at almost 7 billion gallons of gasoline saved per year. That’s an impressive amount.

Taking pride in being ignorant indeed.

The Washington Post is reporting today that one of Bush’s executive orders was enough to even get some republican congressmen upset at him:

Although the revamped order had been in the works for a year, its formal unveiling prompted a rare revolt from congressional Republicans, some of whom walked out on Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell during a morning briefing. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (Mich.), ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee, led several GOP colleagues to the exit after complaining that the administration had made the changes secretly without consulting with congressional overseers — part of a pattern dating to the beginning of the Bush presidency, Hoekstra said.

“Given the impact that this order will have on America’s intelligence community, and this committee’s responsibility to oversee intelligence activities, this cannot be seen as anything other than an attempt to undercut congressional oversight,” Hoekstra said in a statement afterward.

After seven years of providing little to no oversight on the president they get upset that he’s trying to undercut oversight? Wow. They really are trying to distance themselves from the President in time for elections.