McCain Campaign Avoids Obama’s Aunt

Well duh. It would just draw the attention from all the Loud Dobbs of the country about where McCain really stands on immigration.

How do they explain Sarah Palin’s latest…. um…. interesting interpretation of the Constitution, that the First Amendment is intended to protect politicians from criticism? For surely some enterprising young political journamalist is more interested in the Constitution than Guilt By Association Story Number 432.

Mike…?

It also would invite questions about which member of the Bush administration leaked this to the London paper owned by Rupert Murdoch illegally.

What word put me in moderation? “Constitution”? Or “journamalist”?

What about Joe McCain’s illegal use of 9-1-1?

“It also would invite questions about which member of the Bush administration leaked this to the London paper owned by Rupert Murdoch illegally.”
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trifecta:
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I think this is yet another aspect of “certain stories” that GOP pundits have put on ‘relentlessly ignore’.

Well, I concur that there would not be much for them to gain in highlighting the story, since McCain’s instincts on illegal immigration are similar to Obama’s anyway, but it is good on them that they are reacting this way.

So can we all move on now ?

They freaking planted it. Don’t you know anything?

Michael — you are a complete disgrace. What do we have to do to get you fired?

Did you not read the AP piece wherein it was suggested that this was planted by the Bush admin and/or McCain campaign?

It takes Mexican immigrants to get the base whipped up into a hate frenzy. Kenyan immigrants? Not so much.

@jarais – I don’t know. I find that if you take your time and open your heart, you can find a lot to hate about all the peoples of the world. I also believe the children are our future.

How do you expect to maintain any credibility in your traditional watchdog function when you don’t even know when and how often you are manipulated. The Bush administration leaked this story on behalf of and to the benifit of the McCain campaign — what difference does it make if they speak to it — the goal was to get you to speak to it.

YOU ARE DOING A TERRIBLE JOB AND SHOULD BE ASHAMED

jarais,
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Areed AND it doesnt appear she was working as she was living in public housing. So since she wasn’t “taking” anybody’s job the Lou Dobbs folks will leave it alone. Now the WingNuts are gonna go batsht crazy over it. On Politico threads theya re saying Obama wants to spread everybody else’s wealth but he wouldnt spread his own to help his family here and in Kenya. Par for the course stuff but stuff none the less

OMG…..Sarah Palin got prank called!!! A must listen!!
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MONTREAL – A Quebec comedy duo notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state has reached Sarah Palin, convincing the Republican vice-presidential nominee she was speaking with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In the roughly six-minute telephone interview released Saturday, Palin and the pranksters known as the Masked Avengers discuss politics, pundits, and the perils of hunting with Vice-President Dick Cheney.

“We have such great respect for you, John McCain and I, we love you,” Palin is heard to gush to comedian Marc-Antoine Audette, masquerading as Sarkozy.

Palin doesn’t seem to realize she’s being tricked until Audette tells her at the end of the interview.

“Oh, have we been pranked?” she says. Seconds later, Palin’s aide can be heard before the line goes dead.

Throughout the conversation, Audette drops plenty of clues that something’s amiss.

Story about prank

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/USElection/2008/11/01/7275526-cp.html

My Uncle once took out a flask at a Shoney’s Breakfast Bar at 10:00 am and started drinking. I will never hold public office.

“Swampland – TIME.com
Saturday, November 1, 2008 at 4:07 pm
McCain Campaign Avoids Obama’s Aunt”

Can sainthood for McCain be far behind?

Thanks, Michael and Jay, for putting up 2 posts on this silly matter instead of combining them into one as other news sources did.

This is so fascinating. I hope you both will many more updates on this game-changer over the next few days. That would be fantastic and valuable.

seriously you guys have to click on the link to listen to Sarah Palin getting prank called. She thinks she is talking to French President Sarkozy. And she doesn’t get it even though they say some off the wall stuff.

SG,

It is real apparent she is not listening to what is being said. When he mentioned the documentary Nailin Palin she said thank you very much!!!!

I said something in moderation. The documentary the pranksters mentions goes right over Sarah’s head.

Why would the McCain campaign have to say anything about this at this point? They already have you morons covering every angle of this deeply important story.

@sgwhite – Sounds like a soundboard to me. Verified?

“seriously you guys have to click on the link to listen to Sarah Palin getting prank called”

That wouldn’t be serious journalism. Serious journalism involves repeating stories that were planted by the McCain campaign.

That and writing tortured obits about post-modern writers.

Oh, John McCain is my hero. I will now vote for him.

Everything I said about the call is stuck in moderation.

What the guys said about the documentary to sarah was halarious. She missed it by a mile.

Is there a moderation guide for dummies avaiable yet?

pourme listen to the whole thing all the way to the end

I did; still not convinced. Verified?

McCain is full of surprises. The voters will choose between an Obamanation and an Abomination. …………..

http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/11/01/obamanation-or-abomination/

gysgt,
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go through and replace letters in almost all words with characters. The tricky part is that many times the word the mod is catching is inside a bigger word like Cla$$ic has a$$ in it and there for it will kick out the whole post. What I do now when I get caught in mod is just cut and paste the whole thing back into the comment box then go though and replace letters and try again

I wondered if the call was real. It certainly sounded like it. Particularly the end.

Coffee,

There I put up a link to a story done on it, but it’s stuck in moderation.

@sgt – Verified. Wow. Sorry for doubting you, but … just wow.

SG,

That sounds like a lot fun. Boy we should have advanced on this board.

pourme,
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Ill send you the source from the place I got it from.
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http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/USElection/2008/11/01/7275526-cp.html

gysgt,
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I agree we SHOULD have advanced but seeing as how we have like 3 major days left at this point we just have to find a way around the mods because not blogging isnt a option for most of us.

You may have missed KT’s comment where she said the Sheriffs hope to have the moderation fixed by Monday.

Yeah, they avoided it, other than that whole illegally using DHS to find this out and then leak it to Murdoch’s paper. But other than that, though, yep, they avoided it. Very classy of them. And very nice of TIME’s resident genius to give them kudos for that.

sgw, thanks for the link to that prank call! What a hoot.

@sgwhite – “Betsy” isn’t a very good Press Secretary, is she?

pourme,
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Betsy I am sure has been fired by now. Did you notice Sarah asking for the call numbers to that radio station? Ill bet she was PI$$ED when she found out it was a Canadian station so she can’t do anything to them. But my question is how do you hear someone saying that kinda sh!t and not realize you are getting pranked? The guy talked about having sex with his wife and singing a song about JTP. Give me a break!

Can you imagine VP Palin saying thank you very much while Putin says we are invading the U.S. Pay attention governor!!

Daily Kos has a transcript of the call for anyone without speakers.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/1/163922/235/763/649110

I am now worried that we could get into a nuclear war over something the Z-92 Morning Zoo Prank-n-Spank team do. God save this country.

FNS: I must say, Governor Palin, I love the documentary they made on your life, you know, Hustler’s “Nailin Palin.”
SP: Oh, good, thank you. Yes.
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FNS: That was really edgy.
SP: [Laughs] Well good.

“The McCain campaign has declined to make an election issue of reports that Zeituni Onyango, Barack Obama’s aunt”
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And yet here we are discussing it. How did that happen I wonder?

You know, I guess I am going to be the killjoy here, and you can all flame away at me as you wish, but …

I dislike Sarah Palin’s politics as much as anyone and think she has neither the intelligence, experience or perspective to be anywhere near a position of national importance. She’s said any number of things that worth deriding (1st Amendment, Role of the VP anyone?). However, this sort of prank situation just seems mean-spirited. As anyone who has been prank called knows, even while your B.S. meter is going through the roof, you have to maintain some semblance of diplomacy just in case.

Anyway, mocking her for this? I don’t know. That just seems like a rather Republican thing to do. We’re better than that, yes?

You know, I guess I am going to be the ki11joy here, and you can all flame away at me as you wish, but …
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I dislike Sarah Palin’s politics as much as anyone and think she has neither the intelligence, experience or perspective to be anywhere near a position of national importance. She’s said any number of things that worth deriding (1st Amendment, Role of the VP anyone?). However, this sort of prank situation just seems mean-spirited. As anyone who has been prank called knows, even while your B$ meter is going through the roof, you have to maintain some semblance of diplomacy just in case.
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Anyway, mocking her for this? I don’t know. That just seems like a rather Republican thing to do. We’re better than that, yes?

mapguy,
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So let me ask you this. At what point would your BS meter have gone off the charts. Let me tell you when mine would have. When a sitting President of a country that my running mate derides from time to time calls me via cell phone and not through official channels. Thats when my antennae would have gone up immediately. The Joe The Plumber song would have called a BS meter implosion. Say what you will but the average person would have called bullsht about mid way through that call. Now what do you want to bet that the person who took the call to begin with was an alumni of Wasilla High? BTW they just played the call on Hardball on MSNBC. Sux for her

mayguy23, I’ve heard other calls by the same people – I believe they also pranked Queen Elizabeth – and the general pattern is that they start with very subtle jokes, like the Hallyday one that’s hilarious for those of us who know he is, but perfectly understandable for her not to get. Gradually they make the jokes/clues broader – “I love killing animals,” for example. Then they take it up a notch, until the person finally catches on. And it’s always way before they talk about someone being great in bed and saying they can see Belgium from their house. Only an idiot couldn’t see through that. And I haven’t been criticizing Palin’s intelligence until now, I’ve been blaming her gaffes on ignorance. But seriously, if it were Obama on that phone call and he were as gullible, I’d start thinking about Nader.

Let me try rephrasing my comment to escape moderation…
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mayguy23, I’ve heard other calls by the same people – I believe they also pranked Queen Elizabeth – and the general pattern is that they start with very subtle jokes, like the Hallyday one that’s hilarious for those of us who know he is, but perfectly understandable for her not to get. Gradually they make the jokes/clues broader – “I love ki!!ing animals,” for example. Then they take it up a notch, until the person finally catches on. And it’s always way before they talk about someone being great in bed and saying they can see Belgium from their house. Only an idiot couldn’t see through that. And I haven’t been criticizing Palin’s intelligence until now, I’ve been blaming her gaffes on ignorance. But seriously, if it were Obama on that phone call and he were as gullible, I’d start thinking about Nader.

All I’m saying is that for those of us who have been sick at the mocking tone of Republicans during this campaign (and for many years in the past), it is a little hypocritical for us to then turn around a revel in a trick. If you want a politics of the high road, then you’ve got to stay on the high road yourself. There’s plenty to laugh (and cry) at with regards to Palin without needing stupid pranks.

All I’m saying is that for those of us who have been sick at the mocking tone of Republicans during this campaign (and for many years in the past), it is a little hypocritical for us to then turn around a revel in a trick. If you want a politics of the high road, then you’ve got to stay on the high road yourself. There’s plenty to laugh (and cry) at with regards to Palin without needing stoopid pranks.

(Is “stoopid” really a moderator catch???)

There is an interesting angle to this story that might have been written: the release of pent-up demand it represents for right-wingers who McCain has given no outlet for their immigration rage. There’s a good long article there with rich implications for the campaign and governance.

mapguy,
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Are you saying we have to walk around with a stick up our azz so as not to be like Republicans??? lol Sorry but im going to go ahead and laugh when something is funny to me. And THAT was FUNNY!!! I don’t know why some Democrats so revel in taking the high road. Sure helped a lot in the last 8 years didnt it? I don’t endorse going deep in the mud but I do endorse hitting back with extreme prejudice but none of that has anything to do with this prank. Canadian radio comedians pranked Palin not somebody from the Obama campaign. And yes she came out looking like an incompetent idjut. It is what it is.

@sgwhite & mapguy – Furthermore, I would never shoot Dick Cheney’s friend in the face, but I would and did laugh about it. I am not helping you with your point, am I sgwhite? Carry on.

mayguy23, I guess the difference is that I think she was dumb to fall for it, and her responses were inappropriate even if she was determined to not appear doubtful or skeptical. It’s not a matter of falling for a trick, it’s about crossing the line from polite to gullible to stupid.
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And I understand your point about the mocking tone of politics. I’m also uncomfortable with that, and I’ve actually defended Palin from a lot of unfair attacks. Again, I just don’t think that applies here. Maybe we won’t reach an agreement on this, but would you agree that in theory a politician could miss so many obvious clues on a prank call that it would be fair to conclude that they’re not qualified for high political office?

mayguy23, my response to you has fallen into moderation for no reason. I’ll skip to my question: Maybe we won’t reach an agreement on this, but would you agree that in theory a politician could miss so many obvious clues on a prank call that it would be fair to conclude that they’re not qualified for high political office?

Well sg, I guess we are just going to have to agree to disagree on this.
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I happen to believe pretty strongly in the idea that you reap what you sow, and in fact, I’m fairly convinced that the Democratic Party is now in a position to enjoy unparalleled national support (at least in my lifetime) as a direct result of more and more people disavowing the Republican politics of the lowest common denominator. Yes, it is a strategy that takes patience, but hopefully it will pay off in long-term dividends. If that perspective makes me appear overly uptight, well, I’m sorry.

@rose … most certainly a fair conclusion, but not one we really needed to reach via a prank call, is it?

This is governed by the Banana Peel Rule: not okay to leave one as a trap, but mandatory to laugh at someone who slips on it. No exceptions.

@rose … what I meant to type was “one that we didn’t really need that prank call to reach.”
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@pour … ha. Is that similar to the Crotch Shot rule? Nothing’s funnier than someone getting hit in the crotch, so long as that someone isn’t you. (smile)

mayguy23, I think what the prank call shows is that ignorance is not her only problem. Again, if Obama behaved in a similar way on a prank call I’d be horrified. It’s also interesting to see how she would interact with foreign heads of states – the beginning of the call where she talks about how they should time her entrance on phone calls in the future is amazing. If she were to become VP, there is a significant chance that she could become President, with Sarkozy as one of her closest allies. And in that relationship, she would be the leader, as she would be in every political relationship. That’s what being President of the United States is. Of course now she’s just the Governor of Alaska. But Obama’s just the junior Senator from Illinois, and he projected authority at his press conference with Sarkozy.
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Palin could possibly be leading the free world in 3 months. And that’s how she talks to the President of France? Being concerned by that doesn’t mean that you’re embracing Republican-style trivial and mocking politics.

@map – Yes. It’s not debatable whether it’s appropriate to laugh at a candidate for VP talking about a porno movie starring her. It’s not only appropriate, it’s required. I insisted it was a fake at least three times it was so lame. Now, all I want to do is get her number and call her with this.

pourme,
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My sentiments EXACTLY!

@map – Yes. It’s not debatable whether it’s appropriate to laugh at a candidate for VP talking about a movie starring her. It’s not only appropriate, it’s required. I insisted it was a fake at least three times it was so lame. Now, all I want to do is get her number and call her with this.

pourme,
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movie=porno
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you wont find nailin-palin at the regular movie theaters

pourme,
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movie=p0rno
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you wont find nailin-palin at the regular movie theaters

@sgt – I enclosed the word porno in html brackets thinking they would get moderated and that had the effect of just taking that word out. This is hard work outsmarting the bot.

@sgt – I used that word and put it in html brackets but that had the effect of causing WordPress to ignore it. You must have snuck it in because it thinks movie=porno is one word.

All right, I’m not flogging this to death and, truly, the mocking of Sarah Palin is pretty far down my list of social justice issues, but here’s one more thought – presumably our faux Sarkozy was speaking English with a French accent (well, Quebecois accent). Maybe she just couldn’t understand every third word he said and so she laughed in hopes of not being caught out. She isn’t that well traveled, you know.
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Ha, that reminds me of a phone interview I once had for a temp position with an NGO in the UK. One of the three interviewers was a Scot, and I swear I couldn’t figure out a single question he was asking me. I would sort of repeat the question back, and invariably, the Londoner would have to restate the question for me. Worst interview ever. (I did get the gig though; it turned out none of the other Brits could figure out what they guy was ever saying either).

All right, I’m not flogging this to de@th and, truly, the mocking of Sarah Palin is pretty far down my list of social justice issues, but here’s one more thought – presumably our faux Sarkozy was speaking English with a French accent (well, Quebecois accent). Maybe she just couldn’t understand every third word he said and so she laughed in hopes of not being caught out. She isn’t that well traveled, you know.
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Ha, that reminds me of a phone interview I once had for a temp position with an NGO in the UK. One of the three interviewers was a Scot, and I swear I couldn’t figure out a single question he was asking me. I would sort of repeat the question back, and invariably, the Londoner would have to restate the question for me. Worst interview ever. (I did get the gig though; it turned out none of the other Brits could figure out what they guy was ever saying either).

Everything I type gets moderated. After further consideration, this is the board I want to call Palin with.

Note .. I didn’t listen, just read the transcript. All right, I’ve spammed his thread enough.

mapguy,
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you are officially full of sht! How can you argue against something you havent even listened to?

Well, sg, I guess it has something to do with my ability to read (the transcript). I could very well be full of sht though. Don’t dispute that.

mapguy,
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I was saying that with a smile not in a menacing way. But yes listening to the call adds a whole lot to the context. They have played parts of it on MSNBC several times tonight and are about to again so you can catch it that way. But trust me listening to it you wouldnt be able to stop yourself from laughing no matter how high minded you wanted to be.

It just adds to the CHAOS of this week.

Uh, I’m sort of with map. There is something “mean” about the whole thing that rubs me the wrong way.
But my reputation for fair play is long established.

Tim Dickerson at Rolling Stone speculates on who at Immigration leaked the info. He makes a compelling case for Bush political appointee Julie Myers.

http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/index.php/2008/11/01/leakgate-did-julie-myers-leak-obama-aunts-immigration-status/

Yeah, I hate Palin with every fiber of my being, but I gotta agree with mapguy on this and say that prank call from some Canadians was kinda offensive. First, Palin’s staff should have screened these a**holes way before it got to Palin. The fact that they let it through without checking that it was Sarkozy is pretty lame. It’s not Palin’s job to catch stuff like this. Her staff either did it deliberately to embarrass her, or they are totally incompetent and should be fired and never let near another politician again.

Second, it’s one thing for us to make fun of her, but a couple hack Canadian DJ’s? No frigging way. It’s not like all of their politicians are a bunch of rocket scientists. And I’m pissed that these morons are making me sort of defend her. She’s an idiot, but even she doesn’t deserve to be punk’d by a couple foreign halfwit DJ’s.

I’m getting moderated too. Bummer.

Thought I’d see if there was any open free discussion on Swamp. nibblybits answers me, thanks, won’t waste my time.

Thanks for that link, nib. That’s a a piece of good reporting that apparently the likes of Jay Newton Small and Michael Scherer is incapable of doing, or even thinking about doing.

Don’t miss the link to Wikipedia to see what kind of a c0ckr0ach this Julie Myers really is.

‘step aunt’?
my!
1) It is said that Cindy McCain denied a member of her family.

2) It is said that on average, an American family moves once every five years. Are we to understand that Americans keep track of the movement of ALL their relatives – however distant?
Do you know where ALL your (close and distant) relatives live?

3) Surprise! There are millions of “illegals” in USA.
BTW, How many Italians were denied residency in USA this year? How many Israeli? British? Nigerians?
[How much crude oil does USA import from Nigeria? UK? Israel? Italy?]
[Maybe Pat Buchanan would care to remind us the reason for the discrepancy,]

Against all odds, McCain has been upbeat lately about his chance of pulling off an upset win – as if he knows something we don’t.
Is this the smear that McCain has been banking on to catapult him into the presidency during these waning moments of his presidential campaign?
[It seems to fit into his MO in campaigns.]

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[...] is steering clear of the issue.  Time’s Michael Scherer, a former reporter for Salon, writes that McCain aide Mark Salter said, “It’s a family matter” and declined further [...]