Today's Links (9/22)

[Italicized comments are my own and not from the referenced article.]

John McCain and the Lying Game
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1842030,00.html

Q: How do you know when McCain is lying?
A: You don't have to know -- because he always is.

The Pain in Spain Falls Mainly on McCain
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1842156,00.html

If elected, McCain's first move would be to have our troops cross the border and invade Australia.

For Obama, Race Remains Elephant in the Room
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1841109,00.html

I understand that Barack doesn't wish to appear as "the angry black man," but I don't think there's too much of a risk of that. He manages to put his passion out front without making it appear like anger ... although I'm sure he's as angry as the rest of us are about the direction in which this country is headed. The sad thing to me that we have to talk about his race at all.

Barack Obama, John McCain and the Language of Race
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/opinion/22observer.html

On this date in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863. So many years later, the important thing should not be Obama's race, but rather his vision for this country -- a vision that John McCain lacks.

Palin's policies in Alaska weighted toward development
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-palinenviro22-2008sep22,0,7742661.story?track=ntothtml

Palin is like 95% of Republicans -- she doesn't give a flyin' rat's behind about the environment.

The Bush Doctrine?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-kenney22-2008sep22,0,4816338.story?track=ntothtml

This is a little funny, but it's even more sad. Palin makes Dan Quayle look like a Rhodes Scholar.

'First Dude' Todd Palin Illustrates Alaska's Blend of Private and Public
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/21/AR2008092102546.html

Republicans went nuts when Hillary Clinton was involved in her husband's administrations in Little Rock and Washington. Why aren't they screaming now?

Steering the McCain Campaign, a Lot of Old Bush Hands
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/21/AR2008092101608.html

Ummmmmm ... haven't Bush and his people gotten us into this mess?! Why in the hell would we want to go down this road again?! And this is even more proof that McCain has sold his stinkin' soul in an attempt to win this race.

Overhauling health care: Two divergent visions
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26761504/

Health care should be a right of all Americans, not a privilage. Duh.

John McCain Goes Through the Looking Glass, Becomes an Economic Populist
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2008/9/19/john-mccain-goes-through-the-looking-glass-becomes-an-economic-populist.html

McCain isn't an "economic" anything -- except a flip-flopper.

Palin's town charged women for rape exams http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/21/palin.rape.exams/index.html

I know that other places still follow this practice, but that doesn't make it right. It is absolutely cruel to make a victim pay for rape exams and there is no excuse for it.