Dedicated to the memory of Sean Bell...Respect... ...VOTE...Fight, Fight the Power, You've GOTTA Fight the Powers That Be! (Thanks, Isley Brothers and Public Enemy)
Thanks, Debbie. We all need a laugh. Chuckle along folk!
Barack the Vote!! Register 10 people to vote; you'll know why after you read what is contained in the post below.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Very Long... A MUST Read, Two Truths By John McCain's Constituents
Dedicated to the memory of Sean Bell...Respect... ...VOTE...Fight, Fight the Power, You've GOTTA Fight the Powers That Be! (Thanks, Isley Brothers and Public Enemy)
Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert did not appreciate the nonverbal behavior of Sen. John McCain during Friday's first presidential debate with Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama.
The longtime movie reviewer took personal offense at McCain's body language, particularly the GOP senator's failure to even look at Obama.
The following is Ebert's blog in its entirety:
Guess who's not coming to dinner - by Roger Ebert
I do not like you, John McCain. My feeling has nothing to do with issues. It has to do with common courtesy. During the debate, you refused to look Barack Obama in the eye. Indeed, you refused to look at him at all. Even when the two of you shook hands at the start, you used your eyes only to locate his hand, and then gazed past him as you shook it.
Obama is my guy. If you are rude to him, you are rude to me. If you came to dinner at my house and refused to look at or speak with one of my guests, that would be bad manners and I would be offended. Same thing if I went to your house. During the debate, you were America's guest.
What was your problem? Do you hold this man in such contempt that you cannot bear to gaze upon him? Will you not even speak to him directly?
Do you think he doesn't have the right to be running for President?
Were you angry because after you said you wouldn't attend the debate, he said a President should be able to concern himself with two things at the same time? He was right. The proof is, you were there. Were you angry with him because he called your bluff?
During the debate, Jim Lehrer repeatedly called upon both candidates to speak directly to each other. Obama looked at you. He addressed you as 'John,' which as a fellow senator is his privilege. His body language was open. You stared straight ahead, or at Lehrer, or into space. Your jaw was clinched. You had a tight little smile, or a grimace, or a little shake of your head.
I had to do two things at once while watching the debate. I had to listen to what was being said. And I had to process your rigid and contemptuous behavior. If you were at a wedding and the father of the groom refused to look at or speak to the bride, how would that make you feel? Especially if you were the father of the bride?
You made a TV commercial showing the moments Obama agreed with you.
Everybody knows he did. Did his agreement show honesty, or weakness?
It is significant that you said it proved he was not ready to lead.
What is the better leadership quality: (1) Willingness to listen to your opponent, and keep an open mind? (2) Rigidly ignoring him? Which of the two of you better demonstrated the bipartisan spirit you say you represent? Was there anything he said that you agreed with? Could you have brought yourself to say so?
I'm not the only one who noticed your odd, hostile behavior. Just about everybody did. I'm sure many of your supporters must have sensed the tension. Before the debate, pundits were wondering if you might explode in a display of your famous temper. I think we saw that happen, all right, but it was an implosion. I have instructed my wife to exclude you from any future dinner parties.
Cheryl Y. English
Legal Administrative Assistant to Sharon Oras Morgan,
Leslie B. Spoltore and Danielle S. Blount
FOX ROTHSCHILD LLP
919 North Market Street, Suite 1300
P.O. Box 2323
Wilmington, DE 19899-2323
This shocking account was written by Ana
Dubey, a friend of my cousin and her husband, who have known Ana for
many years. Ana has a PhD in psychology and has a private practice
in San Francisco. My cousin's husband went to business school with
Ana's husband, who has since started and sold a number of successful
companies. Ana's husband is currently a Managing Director of a
private equity firm in the Bay Area.
Ana and her husband are not political activists and don't have any
personal ax to grind. In fact, in writing this account of her
experience with John McCain, Ana is acting outside of her own
economic self-interest as she and her husband are among the top 3-5%
of our population who would benefit from the McCain tax/economic policies.
(Please pass this on to anyone you know who might vote for John
McCain. Also please post it on blogs and send it to newspapers and radio
stations.)
MY HOLIDAY WITH JOHN McCAIN
It was just before John McCain's last run at the presidential
nomination in 2000 that my husband and I vacationed in Turtle Island
in Fiji with John McCain, Cindy, and their children, including
Bridget (their adopted Bangladeshi child).
It was not our intention, but it was our misfortune to be in close
quarters with John McCain for almost a week, since Turtle Island has a
small number of bungalows and their focus on communal meals force all
vacationers who are there at the same time to get to know each other
intimately.
He arrived at our first group meal and started reading quotes from a
pile of William Faulkner books with a forest of Post-Its sticking out
of them. As an English Literature major myself, my first thought was
"if he likes this so much, why hasn't he memorized any of this yet?"
I soon realized that McCain actually thought we had come on vacation
to be a volunteer audience for his "readings" which then became a
regular part of each meal. Out of politeness, none of the vacationers
initially protested at this intrusion into their blissful holiday,
but people's buttons definitely got pushed as the readings continued
day after day.
Unfortunately this was not his only contribution to our mealtime
entertainment. He waxed on during one meal about how Indo-Chine women
had the best figures and that our American corn-fed women just
couldn't meet up to this standard. He also made it a point that all
of us should stop Cindy from having dessert as her weight was too
high and made a few comments to Amy, the 25 year old wife of the
honeymooning couple from Nebraska that she should eat less as she
needed to lose weight.
McCain's appreciation of the beauty of Asian women was so great that
David the American economist had to move his Thai wife to the other
side of the table from McCain as McCain kept aggressively flirting
with and touching her.
Needless to say I was irritated at his large ego and his rude
behavior towards his wife and other women, but decided he must have
some redeeming qualities as he had adopted a handicapped child from
Bangladesh. I asked him about this one day, and his response was
shocking: "Oh, that was Cindy's idea - I didn't have anything to do
with it. She just went and adopted this thing without even asking me.
You can't imagine how people stare when I wheel this ugly, black
thing around in a shopping cart in Arizona. No, it wasn't my idea at all."
I actively avoided McCain after that, but unfortunately one day he
engaged me in a political discussion which soon got us on the topic
of the active US bombing of Iraq at that time. I was shocked when he
said, "If I
was in charge, I would nuke Iraq to teach them a lesson."
Given McCain's personal experience with the horrors of war, I had
expected a more balanced point of view. I commented on the tragic
consequences of the nuclear attacks on Japan during WWII -- but no,
he was not to be dissuaded. He went on to say that if it was up to
him he would have dropped many more nuclear bombs on Japan. I rapidly
extricated myself from this conversation as I could tell that his
experience being tortured as a POW didn't seem to have mellowed out
his perspective, but rather had made him more aggressive and vengeful
towards the world.
My final encounter with McCain was on the morning that he was leaving
Turtle Island. Amy and I were happily eating pancakes when McCain
arrived and told Amy that she shouldn't be having pancakes because
she needed to lose weight. Amy burst into tears at this abusive
comment. I felt fiercely protective of Amy and immediately turned to
McCain and told him to leave her alone. He became very angry and
abusive towards me, and said, "Don't you know who I am." I looked him
in the face and said, "Yes, you are the biggest asshole I have ever
met" and headed back to my cabin. I am happy to say that later that
day when I arrived at lunch I was given a standing ovation by all the
guests for having stood up to McCain's bullying.
Although I have shared my McCain story informally with friends, this
is the first time I am making this public. I almost did so in 2000,
when McCain first announced his bid for the Republican nomination,
but it soon became apparent that George Bush was the shoo-in
candidate and so I did not act then. However, now that there is a
very real possibility that McCain could be elected as our next
president, I feel it is my duty as an American citizen to share this
story. I can't imagine a more scary outcome for America than that
this abusive, aggressive man should lead our nation. I have observed
him in intimate surroundings as he really is, not how the media
portrays him to be. If his attitudes toward women and his treatment
of his own family are even a small indicator of his real personality,
then I shudder to think what will happen to America were he to be
elected as our President.
Mary-Kay Gamel
Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts
Cowell College University of California, Santa CruzSanta Cruz, California
95064
I don't need to add anything else. 'Nuff sed
Barack the Vote!! Watch the Vice Presidential Debate tonight. Register 10 people to vote!! If you're not scared now, you'll never be!
Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert did not appreciate the nonverbal behavior of Sen. John McCain during Friday's first presidential debate with Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama.
The longtime movie reviewer took personal offense at McCain's body language, particularly the GOP senator's failure to even look at Obama.
The following is Ebert's blog in its entirety:
Guess who's not coming to dinner - by Roger Ebert
I do not like you, John McCain. My feeling has nothing to do with issues. It has to do with common courtesy. During the debate, you refused to look Barack Obama in the eye. Indeed, you refused to look at him at all. Even when the two of you shook hands at the start, you used your eyes only to locate his hand, and then gazed past him as you shook it.
Obama is my guy. If you are rude to him, you are rude to me. If you came to dinner at my house and refused to look at or speak with one of my guests, that would be bad manners and I would be offended. Same thing if I went to your house. During the debate, you were America's guest.
What was your problem? Do you hold this man in such contempt that you cannot bear to gaze upon him? Will you not even speak to him directly?
Do you think he doesn't have the right to be running for President?
Were you angry because after you said you wouldn't attend the debate, he said a President should be able to concern himself with two things at the same time? He was right. The proof is, you were there. Were you angry with him because he called your bluff?
During the debate, Jim Lehrer repeatedly called upon both candidates to speak directly to each other. Obama looked at you. He addressed you as 'John,' which as a fellow senator is his privilege. His body language was open. You stared straight ahead, or at Lehrer, or into space. Your jaw was clinched. You had a tight little smile, or a grimace, or a little shake of your head.
I had to do two things at once while watching the debate. I had to listen to what was being said. And I had to process your rigid and contemptuous behavior. If you were at a wedding and the father of the groom refused to look at or speak to the bride, how would that make you feel? Especially if you were the father of the bride?
You made a TV commercial showing the moments Obama agreed with you.
Everybody knows he did. Did his agreement show honesty, or weakness?
It is significant that you said it proved he was not ready to lead.
What is the better leadership quality: (1) Willingness to listen to your opponent, and keep an open mind? (2) Rigidly ignoring him? Which of the two of you better demonstrated the bipartisan spirit you say you represent? Was there anything he said that you agreed with? Could you have brought yourself to say so?
I'm not the only one who noticed your odd, hostile behavior. Just about everybody did. I'm sure many of your supporters must have sensed the tension. Before the debate, pundits were wondering if you might explode in a display of your famous temper. I think we saw that happen, all right, but it was an implosion. I have instructed my wife to exclude you from any future dinner parties.
Cheryl Y. English
Legal Administrative Assistant to Sharon Oras Morgan,
Leslie B. Spoltore and Danielle S. Blount
FOX ROTHSCHILD LLP
919 North Market Street, Suite 1300
P.O. Box 2323
Wilmington, DE 19899-2323
This shocking account was written by Ana
Dubey, a friend of my cousin and her husband, who have known Ana for
many years. Ana has a PhD in psychology and has a private practice
in San Francisco. My cousin's husband went to business school with
Ana's husband, who has since started and sold a number of successful
companies. Ana's husband is currently a Managing Director of a
private equity firm in the Bay Area.
Ana and her husband are not political activists and don't have any
personal ax to grind. In fact, in writing this account of her
experience with John McCain, Ana is acting outside of her own
economic self-interest as she and her husband are among the top 3-5%
of our population who would benefit from the McCain tax/economic policies.
(Please pass this on to anyone you know who might vote for John
McCain. Also please post it on blogs and send it to newspapers and radio
stations.)
MY HOLIDAY WITH JOHN McCAIN
It was just before John McCain's last run at the presidential
nomination in 2000 that my husband and I vacationed in Turtle Island
in Fiji with John McCain, Cindy, and their children, including
Bridget (their adopted Bangladeshi child).
It was not our intention, but it was our misfortune to be in close
quarters with John McCain for almost a week, since Turtle Island has a
small number of bungalows and their focus on communal meals force all
vacationers who are there at the same time to get to know each other
intimately.
He arrived at our first group meal and started reading quotes from a
pile of William Faulkner books with a forest of Post-Its sticking out
of them. As an English Literature major myself, my first thought was
"if he likes this so much, why hasn't he memorized any of this yet?"
I soon realized that McCain actually thought we had come on vacation
to be a volunteer audience for his "readings" which then became a
regular part of each meal. Out of politeness, none of the vacationers
initially protested at this intrusion into their blissful holiday,
but people's buttons definitely got pushed as the readings continued
day after day.
Unfortunately this was not his only contribution to our mealtime
entertainment. He waxed on during one meal about how Indo-Chine women
had the best figures and that our American corn-fed women just
couldn't meet up to this standard. He also made it a point that all
of us should stop Cindy from having dessert as her weight was too
high and made a few comments to Amy, the 25 year old wife of the
honeymooning couple from Nebraska that she should eat less as she
needed to lose weight.
McCain's appreciation of the beauty of Asian women was so great that
David the American economist had to move his Thai wife to the other
side of the table from McCain as McCain kept aggressively flirting
with and touching her.
Needless to say I was irritated at his large ego and his rude
behavior towards his wife and other women, but decided he must have
some redeeming qualities as he had adopted a handicapped child from
Bangladesh. I asked him about this one day, and his response was
shocking: "Oh, that was Cindy's idea - I didn't have anything to do
with it. She just went and adopted this thing without even asking me.
You can't imagine how people stare when I wheel this ugly, black
thing around in a shopping cart in Arizona. No, it wasn't my idea at all."
I actively avoided McCain after that, but unfortunately one day he
engaged me in a political discussion which soon got us on the topic
of the active US bombing of Iraq at that time. I was shocked when he
said, "If I
was in charge, I would nuke Iraq to teach them a lesson."
Given McCain's personal experience with the horrors of war, I had
expected a more balanced point of view. I commented on the tragic
consequences of the nuclear attacks on Japan during WWII -- but no,
he was not to be dissuaded. He went on to say that if it was up to
him he would have dropped many more nuclear bombs on Japan. I rapidly
extricated myself from this conversation as I could tell that his
experience being tortured as a POW didn't seem to have mellowed out
his perspective, but rather had made him more aggressive and vengeful
towards the world.
My final encounter with McCain was on the morning that he was leaving
Turtle Island. Amy and I were happily eating pancakes when McCain
arrived and told Amy that she shouldn't be having pancakes because
she needed to lose weight. Amy burst into tears at this abusive
comment. I felt fiercely protective of Amy and immediately turned to
McCain and told him to leave her alone. He became very angry and
abusive towards me, and said, "Don't you know who I am." I looked him
in the face and said, "Yes, you are the biggest asshole I have ever
met" and headed back to my cabin. I am happy to say that later that
day when I arrived at lunch I was given a standing ovation by all the
guests for having stood up to McCain's bullying.
Although I have shared my McCain story informally with friends, this
is the first time I am making this public. I almost did so in 2000,
when McCain first announced his bid for the Republican nomination,
but it soon became apparent that George Bush was the shoo-in
candidate and so I did not act then. However, now that there is a
very real possibility that McCain could be elected as our next
president, I feel it is my duty as an American citizen to share this
story. I can't imagine a more scary outcome for America than that
this abusive, aggressive man should lead our nation. I have observed
him in intimate surroundings as he really is, not how the media
portrays him to be. If his attitudes toward women and his treatment
of his own family are even a small indicator of his real personality,
then I shudder to think what will happen to America were he to be
elected as our President.
Mary-Kay Gamel
Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts
Cowell College University of California, Santa CruzSanta Cruz, California
95064
I don't need to add anything else. 'Nuff sed
Barack the Vote!! Watch the Vice Presidential Debate tonight. Register 10 people to vote!! If you're not scared now, you'll never be!
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