The Hollywood Liberal

Loaded Questions
We dug into the internals on the latest Fox News poll, and some of the questions might surprise you (or might not, since it’s Fox). Example: Have you heard any of your friends and neighbors say there is something about…

Obama in Greensboro earlier today

I don’t want to say or even suggest that Senator John McCain lost the race for the White House last night in the first presidential debate, but I will say he really didn’t help his cause. He spent most of the debate trying to flash his experience and trying to belittle and label Barack Obama. He was forceful and serious. He railed against earmarks. As if eliminating earmarks would solve all of our problems. It won’t.

One of the most frequent lines that John McCain used last night was that he knows how to cut government spending and how to cut government waste and will do that as president. My question is this: John McCain has been in the Senate for 26 years, so why hasn’t he cut government waste and government spending in those 26 years? He is a Republican senator. Republicans have been in power for approximately 28 years. He has had sympathetic presidents in Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush I so where were all the spending cuts? He is telling us that he has all of this leadership ability yet we have never seen him “take the weed wacker” to earmarks and government spending.

Barack Obama clearly laid out his plan on economics and on foreign-policy. He stood up and pointed out the flaws in John McCain’s logic and presented an alternative to business as usual. I think, overall, the debate was a draw.

Here’s Senator Barack Obama discussing what he saw in the debate. John McCain did not mention the middle class once. John McCain did not offer any plan to help the middle class. He did not back away from tax cuts for the rich.

After Obama’s appearance in Greensboro, North Carolina he made an appearance in Virginia. He drew a huge crowd which stood in the rain to hear him.

Prager asks Howard: ?Why is it that English-speaking countries tend to share values and fight evil??
On his radio show yesterday, right winger Dennis Prager asked former Australian prime minister John Howard, “Why is it that English-speaking countries tend to share values and fight evil…more readily than it seems other countries?” Howard said that it is because “nations like Briatain and America and Australia share a lot of values.” He then […]

On his radio show yesterday, right winger Dennis Prager asked former Australian prime minister John Howard, “Why is it that English-speaking countries tend to share values and fight evil…more readily than it seems other countries?” Howard said that it is because “nations like Briatain and America and Australia share a lot of values.” He then claimed that “many of those values are instinctive.” Listen here:

Transcript: (more…)

Guantánamo Detainees To Be Heard Before Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

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Presidential Debate Liveblog Part 3
What we’ve learned so far: all we need to do is cut earmarks and spending and everything will be awesome. The Surge is awesome. Wind power is awesome. Tax cuts are awesome. Petraeus is awesome. I did like Obama’s series of “you were wrongs” about Iraq. But generally I think he’s letting McSame getting away with way too much bullshit.

What we’ve learned so far: all we need to do is cut earmarks and spending and everything will be awesome. The Surge is awesome. Wind power is awesome. Tax cuts are awesome. Petraeus is awesome.

I did like Obama’s series of “you were wrongs” about Iraq. But generally I think he’s letting McSame getting away with way too much bullshit.

Stylistically speaking, Obama seems to be speaking a bit too quickly, and McSame generally appears to be having a better time. I don’t know how that’s translating out there in TV land, but it’s worrisome.

We’ll see how they close.

How to Talk to Teens About Sex
There are many ways of helping young people navigate these years of sexual exploration. Just don’t forget you were once a teen yourself.

Franken Ad: “I’m Not Proud Of Every Joke I’ve Ever Told”
Check out this new ad from Al Franken, responding to an attack ad from Republican Sen. Norm Coleman that hit him for telling “tasteless, sexist jokes” and writing “juicy porn” as a comedian: “Look, I’m not proud of every joke…

Don’t Hide the Fudge!
Okay, this one’s just for fun. You know, John McCain’s been having a rough few days on the image and message front. Had to cancel the visit to New Orleans and the Gulf Oil rig because of the recent oil…

Leadership! Experience! Change!

Good thing McCain dropped everything to go to Washington:

Mr. Boehner pressed an alternative that involved a smaller role for the government, and Mr. McCain, whose support of the deal is critical if fellow Republicans are to sign on, declined to take a stand.

Grueling Prep Work Precedes Critical Clash
At 9 p.m. tonight, John McCain and Barack Obama will stride across the stage of the University of Mississippi’s performing arts center in Oxford, shake hands and take up positions behind lecterns whose height was negotiated by the two candidates’ lawyers. Jim Lehrer of PBS will ask Obama, stage l…

Two Bills Aim for the Skies
As it prepares to adjourn, Congress is close to passing and sending to President Bush two bills aimed at keeping American astronauts flying to the international space station during a five-year gap when NASA will have no manned spacecraft of its own capable of reaching the $100 billion orbiting…