Candidates Return to Virginia This Week

MoonHowler

Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama will return to Virginia Tuesday, October 28. He will hold rallies at Harbor Park Stadium in Norfolk and James Madison University in Harrisonburg. This will be the candidate’s 9th trip to Virginia since he secured his party’s nomination.

Change We Need Rally
with Barack Obama
James Madison University
Convocation Center
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
Tuesday, October 28th
Doors Open: 3:15 p.m.
Program Begins: 5:15 p.m.

Information

http://va.barackobama.com/HarrisonburgChange

The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required; however an RSVP is strongly encouraged. Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For security reasons, do not bring bags and limit personal belongings. No signs or banners permitted.

Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin will appear in Leesburg today. She will also hold rallies in Fredericksburg and Roanoke. Tickets can be picked up on line or at Victory Centers throughout the state.

Tickets and Information:

http://paxalles.blogs.com/paxalles/2008/10/governor-sarah-palin-in-virginia-monday-october-27th.html

The attention and the wooing from the candidates are just amazing after being ignored for so many years.

The New PWC Hero: Tito the Builder

MoonHowler

It looks like there is a new Republican working class hero: Tito the Builder. His name comes up now in all the Republican speeches and has been a rallying cry all week.

He is almost a home grown hero, discovered right here in Prince William County last weekend during the McCain rally.

The irony is staggering. Tito the Builder is actually Tito Munoz, we assume from Prince William County. Tito came to the rally dressed for the part of new Republican icon. The irony? Tito is an immigrant from Colombia. I guess he doesn’t know that Corey Stewart and John Stirrup belong to this same Republican party as Senator McCain?

According to Trailhead, the campaign blog in Slate:

Munoz showed up at a McCain rally in Woodbridge, Va. last weekend dressed in a yellow hardhat and orange surveyor vest, decked out in McCain-Palin flair and sporting a sign that read “Construction Worker for McCain-Palin” on one side and “Media—Tell the Whole Story!” on the other. During McCain’s stump speech, Munoz was behind the candidate, alongside “Phil the Bricklayer” and “Rose the Teacher.”

The video shows a verbal argument, mainly aimed at the press and led by Tito the Builder. It is hard to believe all this was going on in Prince William County. Expect to see Tito as the new mascot for HSM.

Hit it, Tito!

Some of this stuff you just can’t make up.

[sarcasm button on]

Folks Just Need to Behave!

MoonHowler

Today’s MJM is just full of stories about misbehavior and vandalism– basically, people not having respect for other people’s property or other people’s opinions. Major vandalism happened in the Virginia Oaks neighborhood in Gainesville, where spray paint was used to write all sorts of unattractive epithets about Senator McCain on people’s homes. The vandals also spray painted Target, Giant and Best Buy in the nearby shopping center.

Back in Manassas, the vandalism went the other way(see picture above):

Residents in and around the city on Friday lamented that this year’s presidential race has drawn such passion that placards are being destroyed or snatched from yards under the cover of night.
Charlotte Boynton, who’s lived at the corner of Fairview Avenue and Tudor Lane in Ma-nassas for the better part of three decades, erected a handmade sign bearing the message, “Real patriots do not steal signs,” after thieves swiped an Obama-Biden sign from her front lawn.
A Quaker, Boynton had previously put up an anti-Iraq war sign that stated, “War is not the answer.” It fared better than the Democratic candidates’ sign, which she noticed Monday was missing.

Is this vile behavior just kids doing a little pre-Halloween vandalism or is this nastiness rooted in partisanship? I would like to think it is just kids out who need far more supervision. Surely adults don’t think this is the way Americans act or that their candidate will fare a bit better by stealing a yard sign.

Racist and Redneck: Divisive Words Surface…

MoonHowler

And have the potential of biting a 17-term congressman in the butt.

The Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha saga continues. He can’t seem to quit putting his foot in his mouth. The Democratic congressman first got in hot water last week by explaining “There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area.”

Quite understandably, his constituents from Western PA didn’t think much of this description. Rep. Murtha tried to clarify his statement by explaining that the older folks weren’t really racist, just redneck.

That should have reassured those constituents in question. {{sarcasm button on}} Still, Murtha predicts an Obama win in Pennsylvania.

According to ABC news,

The 17-term Democratic congressman told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a story posted Wednesday on its Web site: “There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area.”
Murtha said it has taken time for many Pennsylvania voters to come around to embracing a black presidential candidate, but that Obama should still win the state, though not in a runaway.

One Nation, according to Johnny Cash

MoonHowler

As we duke it out these last 2 weeks, trying to get our candidate to the White House, it can be difficult to see ourselves as having a darn thing in common with those who don’t support our guy. Stolen signs and divisive words seem to rule the day. Democratic red, white, and blue is somehow different from Republican red, white, and blue.

Johnny Cash somehow reminds us that most of our goals are the same, regardless of party or other things that divide us. Perhaps Cash is the real Uniter.

PWC McCain Supporters Squelch Hate Propaganda

MoonHowler

“At a John McCain rally in Woodbridge, Virginia, three people handed out “Obama for Change” bumper stickers with the Communist sickle and hammer and the Islamic crescent, saying Obama was a socialist with ties to radical Islam. Several moderate McCain supporters, Muslim and Christian alike, struck back – relentlessly bombarding the group distributing the flyers until they left the premises.”

(ANP)

A huge thank you to Fontbonne for finding this video and for bringing it to my attention for posting.

Several video threads have been posted about outrageous speech coming from McCain supporters. Well, here we go again, you might be thinking.

Not so fast. You will get to see McCain supporters running off 3 someones who are peddling hate. It really made me proud, Prince William Proud, to see these moderate McCain supporters standing up for what is right.

Enjoy, This is a good one and thanks again Fontbonne.

American News Media Called on to do a Penetrating Exposé of Congress for UnAmerican Views

MoonHowler

I thought McCarthyism was a relic from the past. I thought McCarthyism was a post-WWII overreaction by some zealots to the perils of communism. I thought McCarthyism was dinosaur thinking whose imprint was left back in the late 40’s and the decade of the 50’s. Looks like I was way off base. It is alive and well as evidenced by an interview with Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann.

Congresswoman Bachmann is calling for the American news media to do ‘a penetrating exposé of Congress for un-American views.’ Would this be the same Mainstream Media all the darlings of the far right howl about on daily basis?

MSNBC pit-bull Chris ‘Hardball’ Matthews tries to hone in on exactly what Ms. Bachmann really means when she uses the terms ‘liberal’, ‘leftist’, and ‘anti-American’. Congresswoman (shudder) Bachmann is wound up tight and has her talking-points microchip all energized as she withstands a good grilling by Matthews. She doesn’t miss a beat while she castigates Presidential Candidate Obama as one who ‘pals around with terrorists.’

You have to see it to believe it.

Good news. Yes, there is something you CAN do about this outrage:

Petition for Congress
http://www.censurebachmann.com/

More good news. Bachmann is being challenged by a guy named Tinklenberg.

Bachmann’s challenger on Nov. 4th (trailing by single digits)
http://www.tinklenberg08.com/

Chicago Tribune
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/rep_michele_bachmann_tells_chr.html

Will the ‘Real Virginia’ Please Stand Up?

MoonHowler

Talk about gaffes. McCain’s adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer told viewers that McCain had a good chance of taking Virginia because of his support in ‘Real Virginia,’ rather than Northern Virginia. MSNBC host Kevin Cork gave her every chance to get off the ledge. The lady blew her chance.

You just have to see this one. A picture is worth a thousand words:

ABC news for entire story

Ugly in America

MoonHowler

 

Don’t say it doesn’t exist. See it with your own 2 eyes. What amazes me is that some people feel this is an ok way to talk in public. We all know of people who say things like this in private, but public? Is that what makes this so different?

Most people don’t feel many of these behaviors are appropriate. Was John Murtha right or was he out of line? He said that Western Pennsylvania was a racist area. Then he backed off a bit, and said that some of the older people were.

Should we expect Prince William to have this kind of performance tomorrow? Absolutely not. Prince William County, despite our rather tumultuous past year, is better than this!

America has a ways to go, it seems. A long way to go. Seeing something like this sort of leaves a person speechless.

[Disclaimer: This activity was outside and NOT part of any inside rally. The behavior was not condoned by Governor Palin.]

McCain Rally at McCoart Complex Saturday

MoonHowler

John McCain will speak at McCoart Complex at Saturday, October 18 at 2:00 p.m.

Sean Connaughton Plaza
Prince William County Complex
1 County Complex Court
(Located off the Prince William County Parkway)
Prince William VA, 22192
Blockquote>

Supervisor Stewart has sent emails out to many constituents announcing this rally:

I wanted to make sure you received an invite to join our next President, John McCain, at a rally in Prince William County this Saturday at 2 p.m. (doors open at 1 p.m). Senator McCain’s time is a precious resource, and his presence in Prince William reinforces our status as a key battleground county.

Traffic is supposed to be a bear so if you don’t have to be in the area, don’t be.

Once again Prince William County is the rally site for a presidential hopeful. Long ignored in presidential races, Virgina is a battle ground state during this election cycle as both candidates and their running mates hope to acquire the holy grail of all elections: President of the United States.

Prince William has been particularly blessed with a visit from both candidates. We were Obama’s first stop once he accepted the nomination of his party.

Will voters turn Virginia blue? Will Prince William be the pivotal county in the presidential race? With all the attention we have received, it is becoming more evident that we are more than just a blip on the radar. I wonder why that is?

It’s hard to be humble with this much attention.

Click for story and link to

Washington Post

McCain calls comments by Georgia Democrat ‘shocking’

MoonHowler

When is enough enough? It seems this election cycle is the new shock jock entertainment, if that’s what floats your boat. The Cultural War seems to be escalating.

According to CNN, Senator John McCain has called on Senator Obama to ‘immediately and personally repudiate’ remarks made by Rep John Lewis, D-Georgia.

Rep John Lewis issued a statement after several days of what he perceived as attention-grabbing attacks on Barack Obama during McCain/Palin campaign rallies:

“What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse…

George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.”

Senator McCain, who has previously sung the praises of Rep. Lewis, responded with:

“Congressman John Lewis’ comments represent a character attack against Gov. Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale,…

The notion that legitimate criticism of Sen. Obama’s record and positions could be compared to Gov. George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign. I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I’ve always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track…

I call on Sen. Obama to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America.”

Good grief! This rancor and contentiousness is just getting out of hand. I do hope everyone remembers the sad fate of Governor George Wallace. He ran for president as a third party candidate and was shot down in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Laurel, Maryland in 1972. Wallace was permanently paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. Evil and careless words lead to evil deeds.

Oddly enough, Wallace had become a born-again Christian and had apologized for his segregationist vitriol of earlier years.

BREAKING NEWS….Obama Is Not ‘An Arab’

MoonHowler

Attempts to sow seeds of terrorism fear about Obama may have backfired on the McCain Campaign. McCain himself has had to put out a few fires at political rallies where crowds have shouted out, ‘Screw Obama,’ ‘Terrorist,’ ‘Kill him,’ ‘Bomb Obama.’ and other horribly offensive types of language. One woman, as seen in the embedded video said she didn’t trust Obama because he is ‘an Arab.’

To his credit, Senator McCain took the microphone back and told the lady that wasn’t true and issued a few platitudes about Obama. It looks like Senator McCain and Governor Palin are reaping what they have allowed to be sown.

Are character assassination and attempts to associate Senator Obama with former Weather Underground leader turned education professor Bill Ayers going to pay off for The McCain Campaign or does this type of rhetoric just make his campaign look desperate? Has Senator Obama taken the high road?

Lastly, does any of this look vaguely familiar?