WATCH AS SARAH PALIN TELLS KATIE COURIC ABOUT ALASKA AND ITS RUSSIAN NEIGHBOR

In Pt. 2 of CBS' Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin, Couric asks the GOP vice president candidate whether she ever has had meetings with Alaska's neighbor Russia.

You won't believe how Palin answers Couric's question.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ezxqgDDND6Q&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

CASUALTY REPORT FROM IRAQ---THE FORGOTTEN WAR

For the past several months, and in particular the past week, the war in IRAQ has been totally forgotten and the American public hasn't got a clue what is happening in IRAQ because NOBODY in the media reports on the IRAQ WAR anymore.

The IRAQ WAR has become "THE FORGOTTEN WAR II." (The Korean War was the first "FORGOTTEN WAR.")

Below is an updated report on two US. soldiers wounded in AFHANISTAN and IRAQ and a series of bombings and killings in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN.

Click on any name or topic in "BLUE" to obtain more information:

Casualty Reports:staff sergeant Chuck Isaacson, 29, was paralyzed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. For Isaacson, a flight engineer on a Chinook helicopter, Feb. 18, 2007, was a regular day transporting service members from one spot to another in southern Afghanistan. But the aircraft suffered a mechanical failure during a snowstorm and the Chinook crashed, killing eight of the 22 people aboard. Isaacson woke up hanging outside the wreckage by his harness and realized he couldn't move his legs. Lying in 10 inches of snow, he waited several hours for help to arrive. He was the only flight crew member to survive. Isaacson's lungs collapsed, and his injuries included a broken leg, broken ribs, broken neck and three fractures in his back. Doctors fused his spine from near the top of his neck to his lower back. Months of rehabilitation followed. Now Isaacson, who is paralyzed from the waist down.

Cpl Joshua Hoffman, USMC 1st BN 24th Marine Regiment-Michigan was hit by sniper fire in Iraq in 2007 on his 3rd tour of duty. The sniper’s bullet severed his spinal cord at the base of his neck and left him a quadriplegic. After over a year in the hospital Josh still faces months, if not years, of physical rehabilitation and therapy as he strives to regain movement in his upper body and develop his language skills.

Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:#1: A roadside bomb wounded six people, including one soldier, in the Zaafaraniya district of southeast Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen killed a civil servant in a drive-by shooting in southeast Baghdad, police said.Gunmen shot an employee in the Ministry of Municipalities and Works on the main road of al-Rashid Camp at 8 a.m. Thursday.

#3: A roadside bomb near a police patrol wounded at least three civilians in eastern Baghdad, police said.A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol near al-Shaab Stadium in east Baghdad wounding three civilians.

#4: The U.S. army in Iraq denied on Thursday that its forces wounded Iraqi civilians by random fire in eastern Baghdad. “The U.S. forces did not randomly shoot any civilians in al-Fadieliya region in eastern Baghdad,” Abdellatif Rayan, the U.S. army's media adviser, told Aswat al-Iraq, describing such news as bare of truth. A police source had said yesterday that seven civilians were wounded by U.S. random fire when an explosive charge went off targeting the forces in eastern Baghdad.

#5: An IED placed in a dumpster near Maysaloon Square, east Baghdad exploded at noon Thursday wounding three civilians.

#6: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in al-Rabae Street the thoroughfare in al-Jamia neighbourhood, western Baghdad injuring four people including one policeman.

#7: A roadside bomb targeted civilians near al-Samarrai Mosque in Amil, southeast Baghdad at six p.m. Thursday killing two, including one child, injuring five, also including one child.

#8: Three unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad today by Iraqi Police; one in Karrada, one in Palestine Street and one in Doura.

Diyala Prv:Baquba:#1: update Iraqi police on Thursday raised the death toll in an ambush against Iraqi forces raiding a Sunni village northeast of Baghdad to 35, most of whom were police commandos sent to the area as part of a U.S.-backed military crackdown. A police officer in the provincial military operation center said 27 policemen were killed, raising the total to 35. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity.

#2: A roadside bomb targeted civilians in al-Kharab village, 4 km to the south of Baquba at 5.30 p.m. killing three people including one female, all from one family

.Kut:#1: Policemen found unknown civilian body in the wee small hours of Thursday morning in northern Wassit, a security source said. “A police force found the body in al-Dabouni district in north of Kut,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.“The blind-folded body bore signs of torture and was sent to the forensic medicine department in al-Zahraa hospital in Kut,” he added.

Sinjar:#1: The Iraqi army killed three gunmen in the district of Sinjar on Thursday, 390 km (240 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Brigadier-General Khalid Abdul Sattar, the spokesman for Iraqi military operations in Nineveh province said.

Mosul:#1: One civilian was killed and three others wounded when gunmen attacked a police patrol with rocket-propelled grenades in western Mosul 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Four civilians were killed or wounded in a missile attack in western Mosul city, a security source said on Thursday. "An RPG attack launched by gunmen from alleys in Bab Sinjar area, western Mosul, on a police patrol vehicle left one civilian killed and three others wounded, who were close to the scene," the source told Aswat al-Iraq. "None of the patrolmen was injured," the source noted, adding that one of the civilians was seriously wounded and another had his leg cut off.

#2: Three insurgents from the al Qaeda-linked group the Islamic State of Iraq killed themselves when police raided their house in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said. They included an Iraqi man, Malik Mohammed al-Jabouri, who Askari said was a senior commander of the group in Mosul. They died when a Saudi Arabian fighter amongst the three detonated his suicide vest.

Afghanistan:#1: Helicopter gunships Thursday pounded militant positions in northwest Pakistan along the Afghan border, leaving 14 Taliban rebels dead. “According to preliminary reports, at least 14 miscreants were killed and numerous injured in today’s shelling,” a security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, using the term Pakistani officials employ to refer to militants.

#2: On Wednesday, intense fighting in Bajaur resulted in the death of seven troops and 25 militants, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said. Dozens of fighters attacked the troops stationed at a government school building in the Rashakai area. The two sides exchanged rocket and mortar fire during the hours-long fighting, after which military helicopters and jets bombarded the militants.

#3: In one attack, a remote-controlled bomb blew up a police vehicle near the southern border town of Spin Boldak late Wednesday, killing two border policemen, Kandahar province police chief Mutiullah Khan told AFP.

#4: Another remote-controlled bomb blew up early Thursday in the nearby city of Kandahar and killed a civilian man who was crossing a road, a policeman at the scene said. The explosives, fixed to a bicycle, were detonated as a minibus carrying police trainers to work was passing, said the policeman, Gul Mohammad. The vehicle was only slightly damaged.

#5: NATO says Pakistani troops fired at their helicopters patrolling eastern Afghanistan, but no damage is reported. In a statement, NATO says its helicopters did not cross into Pakistan's airspace when they came under fire near Tanai district of Khost province.

BREAKING NEWS: 1 US SOLDIER, 43 IRAQIS KILLED, 35 IRAQIS WOUNDED

If the Presidential debate is held Friday, Sen. Barack Obama will have plenty to talk about in respect to the situation in Iraq. Here is what happened on Wednesday in Iraq.


Wednesday: 1 US Soldier, 43 Iraqis Killed: 35 Iraqis Wounded

Updated at 11:31 p.m. EDT, Sept. 24, 2008

http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=13500

At least 43 Iraqis were killed and another 34 were wounded in the latest violence. Among them were 35 security personnel who were killed in a bold attack in Diyala province. Also, the Department of Defense reported that a U.S. soldier died from an non-combat illness.

A contentious debate over a provincial elections law ended today when Parliament unanimously passed the law. The main stumbling block had been indecision over a power-sharing scheme for multi-ethnic Kirkuk. Elections there will be postponed until those specific issues are resolved, but lawmakers hope that polls will open elsewhere before the end of January.

Gunmen ambushed a number of security personnel in Dulaimiyat, killing 35 of them. The bulk of the dead were policemen and Awakening Council members.

In Uthmaniya, gunmen attacked a checkpoint killing three policeman and wounding five others.
In Baghdad, a bomb planted on a car killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded six others in Shabb.

In Fudhailiyah, seven Iraqis were injured during an attack on an American patrol. Gunmen wounded four people, including a brigadier general in the Interior ministry during an attack on their vehicle. A body was found in Ur. Also, 26 suspects were detained.

A bomb blasted a convoy carrying the security commander in Samarra. Six bodyguards were injured.

One policeman was killed and another was wounded during a raid in Khan Bani Saad.
Gunmen killed a school guard in Abara.

A roadside bomb wounded three policemen in Saidiya.

In Mosul, a roadside bomb wounded two Iraqi soldiers. Police arrested two men who threw a hand grenade at a checkpoint; no casualties were reported. Four suspects were detained.
A weapons cache was found in Basra.

A man was killed while trying to plant a bomb in Kirkuk.

Also, an Iranian news agency reported that about 200 Shi'ite websites have been suffered cyber attacks

U.S. IS GOING TO HIDE THE RISING DEATH COUNT IN AFGHANISTAN

'Grim' Afghanistan Report To Be Kept Secret by US
US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the situation as "grim", but there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before the election, according to one US official familiar with the process.

PALINTOLOGY: WATCH AS SARAH PALIN IS CLEANSED OF WITCHES BY HER 'WITCH HUNTER' PASTOR

Shocking Footage of Palin Praying With 'Witch Hunter'

By Max Blumenthal, MaxBlumenthal.com
Posted on September 24, 2008, Printed on September 25, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/100149/shocking_footage_of_palin_praying_with_%27witch_hunter%27/

Wasilla, Alaska

On September 20 and 21, I attended services at the church Sarah Palin belonged to since she was an adolescent, the Wasilla Assembly of God. Though Palin officially left the church in 2002, she is listed on its website as "a friend," and spoke there as recently as June 8 of this year.

I went specifically to see a pastor visiting from Kiambu, Kenya named Thomas Muthee. Muthee gained fame within Pentecostal circles by claiming that he defeated a local witch, Mama Jane, in a great spiritual battle, thus liberating his town from sin and opening its people to the spirit of Jesus.

Muthee's mounting stardom took him to Wasilla Assembly of God in May, 2005, where he prayed over Palin and called upon Jesus to propel her into the governor's mansion -- and beyond. Muthee also implored Jesus to protect Palin from "the spirit of witchcraft." The video archive of that startling sermon was scrubbed from Wasilla Assembly of God's website, but now it has reappeared.

WATCH VIDEO OF SARAH PALIN AS SHE IS CLEANSED OF WITCHES BY ALASKA WITCHCRAFT PASTOR:


http://www.youtube.com/v/kj-on3kfWuE&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

Read more here: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/100149/shocking_footage_of_palin_praying_with_%27witch_hunter%27/

BULLETIN: MARTIAL LAW EFFECTIVE OCT. 1. WATCH VIDEO

Amy Goodman of the Democratic Underground http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x197567 reports the 3rd Infantry Division is being brought back to the U.S. for crowd control beginning Oct. 1 as the U.S. enters a state of martial law.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/OvVAKx8E_r4&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

MESSAGE TO SENATOR McCAIN CONCERNING DEBATES: BRING 'EM ON!

Message to Senator McCain concerning debates: Bring em on!

By Mary MacElveen
http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2008/9/25/3899993.html

In these past two weeks since the stock market crashed two times within one week, it was Senator John McCain who said, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong” only for President Bush to say Wednesday night, “The economy is in danger” For the first time in these eight long years, it was President Bush’s words that I believed and that is not saying much since I have consistently written of his failed administration. By the way where was Bush when the first crash happened?

Being a heart patient and witnessing McCain’s erratic behavior during this crisis, my heart palpitated. It was only hearing Senator Barack Obama calmly state in a news briefing certain key points that must be included in this $700 billion dollar bailout did I feel the palpitations lessen. Such as oversight and taxpayers being treated like investors.

For McCain to dictate how the both of them should react to this crisis is a tone that only a dictator would use and we have had eight long years of Bush who once said, “I am the decider” It took guts for Obama to stand up to McCain and not blink concerning McCain’s call for a postponement of the debates and say, "This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama also stated, "It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once." In fact he has been in constant contact with Hank Paulson and others in congress to be kept up to speed.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee even chimed in saying, that, “Obama’s and McCain’s help was not needed.”

Bush even stated during his speech to the nation on Wednesday night which counters McCain, “We're in the midst of a serious financial crisis, and the federal government is responding with decisive action.” So, Senator McCain, let the debates go on or as Bush once said in the early days of the Iraq War while painting a target on our soldier’s back, “Bring em on.”

There were many other key words contained within Bush's speech that I feel will send some Americans into panic mode such as danger, collapse, and “some serious negative consequences" While the fault lies with an unbridled free-market system with little regulations which is the Republican philosophy when it comes to doing business, at least he was coming clean in how this will affect Americans. Unlike McCain who switched gears day-to-day last week and who became confused as to who the Prime Minister of Spain was.

If he thought it was imperative to go to Washington to become part of these proceedings, then why did he parade his running mate Sarah Palin around at the United Nations for photo-ops and a course in foreign policy 101? If he felt it urgent then he should have flown back then and suspended his campaign then. You do not do so two days prior to the debates. That could have been done early last week when the crash first occurred. I agree with Obama that Americans need to hear from who will be their next president since there will be a transition after the November elections.

In our own thoughts hearing them answer certain key and vital questions, we need to take them out for a test drive in our mind. In both their temperament and tone, Americans must witness how they will handle future critical moments as we go forward.

Again if there was a sense of urgency coming from McCain to return to Washington, this article reported, “McCain said he would return to Washington on Thursday after an address to former President Clinton's Global Initiative session.”

I think that on Wednesday, Americans got a taste of the matrix where one takes either the red or blue pill. In the movie ‘The Matrix’ the difference between the red and blue pill is as follows, “When Morpheus and Neo meet, Morpheus offers Neo two pills. The red pill will answer the question "what is the Matrix?" (by removing him from it) and the blue pill simply for life to carry on as before. As Neo reaches for the red pill Morpheus warns Neo "Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more." I do think that this was the moment in time where Americans needed to hear the truth for once. Like it or not, most of us have taken that red pill and we do not like what we see.

The late president, John F. Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” and this is directed at those Hillary Clinton supporters as well as the eighteen percent that was reported today who are undecided, it would be irresponsible to elect John McCain as the next president.

There was a clear disconnect between Bush and McCain which was apparent on Wednesday night. Also from what was reported today the Republicans were in disarray when it came to this bailout. We cannot have four more years of Republican’s controlling the White House. We need clarity and not confusion.

The article that reported that eighteen percent of voters are up for grabs, this one passage stuck out, "A large chunk of these voters say they are hurting on a personal level from the country's economic woes, and, like everyone else, they say the economy is the top issue. Most haven't decided who would best solve their problems as president; neither candidate has an advantage on handling the economy."

While the article expresses that, one only has to remember the Keating Five scandal which John McCain was embroiled in and where the senate ethics committee stated he “showed poor judgment” We must also remember that McCain’s economic advisor Phil Gramm wrote most of the deregulation laws that got us to this point.

In a complete 360 from last week, McCain stated of this bailout, "I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time," The same sense of urgency came when it came to voting for the authorization for Bush to invade Iraq and we all know how that turned out. This time, congress has to be sure for the American people that this time they get it right. I think in that statement, it showed a McCain in panic mode and we cannot have a president who sends the American people into panic.

Those that are still on the fence need to hear from these two candidates come Friday night. In fact we as Americans need to hear from Senators Obama and McCain as to who can lead us rationally into the future. Let the debates go on.

You may contact the author at this email address, xmjmac@optonline.net

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Message-to-Senator-McCain-by-Mary-MacElveen-080925-104.html

http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2008/9/25/3899993.html

WATCH AS KATIE COURIC ASKS SARAH PALIN THE SAME QUESTION THREE TIMES----AND SHE STILL CAN'T ANSWER IT

GOP vice president candidate Sarah Palin was interviewed by CBS' Katie Couric and in this video you will see Couric ask the same question three times and she still can't get a plausible answer.

It is worth watching the video just to see Palin's final answer.

WATCH VIDEO HERE AFTER BRIEF COMMERCIAL:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4476649n

NEW YORK TIMES: McCAIN'S TOP CAMPAIGN ADVISER PAID $15 THOUSAND A MONTH BY FREDDIE MAC THROUGH AUGUST

If the debate this Friday night is cancelled, one of the primary reasons could be because John McCain would be asked why his top campaign adviser, Rick Davis, was on the payroll of Freddie Mac to tune of $15,000 a month right up until the end of August.

McCain helped put the United States in this financial mess by following the lead of former President Ronald Reagan who deregulated all the agencies that were put in place after the Great Depression to safeguard a meltdown like we are seeing now.

McCain just last month said nobody on his campaign staff were involved with lobbying for any of the financial companies caught up in the financial mess.

McCAIN LIED.

McCain Aide’s Firm Was Paid by Freddie Mac

By JACKIE CALMES and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/us/politics/24davis.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1222286698-CsaSoA+fIfdwg7ZOsEqcbg

WASHINGTON — One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.

The disclosure undercuts a remark by Mr. McCain on Sunday night that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had had no involvement with the company for the last several years.

Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the two people said.

They said they did not recall Mr. Davis’s doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than to speak to a political action committee of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the approaching midterm Congressional elections.

They said Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, had been kept on the payroll because of his close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House.

Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis Manafort for the presidential campaign, but as an equity holder continues to benefit from its income. No one at Davis Manafort other than Mr. Davis was involved in efforts on Freddie Mac’s behalf, the people familiar with the arrangement said.

A Freddie Mac spokeswoman said the company would not comment.

Jill Hazelbaker, a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign, did not dispute the payments to Mr. Davis’s firm. But she said that Mr. Davis had stopped taking a salary from the firm by the end of 2006 and that his work did not affect Mr. McCain.

“Senator McCain’s positions on policy matters are based upon what he believes to be in the public interest,” Ms. Hazelbaker said in a written statement.

The disclosure comes at a time when Mr. McCain and his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, are sparring over ties to lobbyists and special interests, seeking political advantage in a campaign being reshaped by the financial crisis and the plan to bail out investment firms.

Mr. McCain’s campaign has been attacking Mr. Obama for ties to former officials of the mortgage giants, both of which have a long history of cultivating Democratic and Republican allies alike to fend off efforts to restrict their activities. Mr. McCain has been running a television advertisement suggesting that Mr. Obama takes advice on housing issues from Franklin D. Raines, former chief executive of Fannie Mae, a contention denied by Mr. Raines and the Obama campaign.

Freddie Mac’s payments of roughly $500,000 to Davis Manafort, the people familiar with the arrangement said, began in late 2005, immediately after Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae disbanded an advocacy coalition that they had set up and hired Mr. Davis to run.

From 2000 to the end of 2005, Mr. Davis received nearly $2 million as president of the coalition, the Homeownership Alliance, which the companies created to help them oppose new regulations and protect their status as federally chartered companies with implicit government backing.

That status let them borrow cheaply, helping to fuel rapid growth but also their increased purchases of the risky mortgage securities that proved to be their downfall.

The payments that Mr. Davis received for leading the Homeownership Alliance were reported in Monday’s issue of The New York Times. On Sunday, in an interview with CNBC and The Times, Mr. McCain responded to a question about that tie between Mr. Davis and the two mortgage companies by saying that he “has had nothing to do with it since, and I’ll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/us/politics/24davis.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1222286698-CsaSoA+fIfdwg7ZOsEqcbg

BULLETIN: McCAIN WANTS TO CANCEL FRIDAY DEBATE WITH OBAMA

MSNBC News just announced that John McCain wants to cancel his debate with Barack Obama this Friday and concentrate on the financial mess in our country.

My reaction:

Where was this SOB for the past 23 years when he voted to deregulate every safeguard there was to keep this financial crisis from happening?

It should be noted, President Ronald Reagan started this financial mess when he deregulaed all the watchdog agencies that were put in place after the Great Depression to keep anything like we are seeing now from EVER happening again.

McCain also wanted to privatize social security which would have put people in the horrible position of paying for their own medical needs and putting their money into the stock market.

McCain has also voted against any more funding for the Veterans Administration.

Meanwhile, McCain's veep pick, "Puss 'n Boots," Sarah Palin, has been running around the UN and spending 20 seconds or 30 seconds with various world leaders.

Palin's "in depth" meeting with Afghanistan leader Hamid Karzai was about his new baby.

WASHINGTON POST: YOUR TAX DOLLARS: $13 BILLION WASTED OR STOLEN ON IRAQ PROJECTS

$13 Billion in Iraq Aid Wasted Or Stolen, Ex-Investigator Says

By Dana HedgpethWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, September 23, 2008; A19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202053.html

A former Iraqi official estimated yesterday that more than $13 billion meant for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen through elaborate fraud schemes.

Salam Adhoob, a former chief investigator for Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, an arm of the Democratic caucus, that an Iraqi auditing bureau "could not properly account for" the money.

While many of the projects audited "were not needed -- and many were never built," he said, "this very real fact remains: Billions of American dollars that paid for these projects are now gone."

He said a report that went to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials was never published because "nobody cares" about investigating such cases. Many investigators, he said, feared for their safety because 32 of his co-workers have been murdered.

Adhoob said he reported the abuses to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an agency charged by Congress with helping to root out cases of waste, fraud and abuse in the nearly $50 billion U.S. reconstruction effort. SIGIR spokeswoman Kristine Belisle said her agency continues to "actively follow up" on Adhoob's information, but she would not discuss ongoing investigations.

Read more http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202053.html

EXCLUSIVE: MALIKI SUGGESTS BUSH PUSHED TO EXTEND U.S. PRESENCE IN IRAQ TO HELP McCAIN

Last July, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said U.S. troops should be out of Iraq “as soon as possible” and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) withdrawal plan. Obama “talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,” Maliki told Der Spiegel magazine.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/23/maliki-bush-mccain-iraq/

Days later, as Obama wrapped up meetings with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh reiterated his government’s stance, saying “the end of 2010 is the appropriate time for the withdrawal.”

Negotiating the post-UN mandate security agreement with Iraq, Bush argued for more time and both sides ultimately agreed that all U.S. troops would be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, not 2010, even though Bush has said previously that “if they were to say, leave, we would leave.”

Why did Bush go back on his word? A source tells ThinkProgress that White House communications staff were concerned that Maliki’s endorsement of the 2010 time line would damage Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign. Indeed, during an interview with Iraqi television last week (according to an Open Source Center translation), Maliki suggested that the U.S. presidential elections played a role:

Actually, the final date was really the end of 2010 and the period between the end of 2010 and the end of 2011 was for withdrawing the remaining troops from all of Iraq, but they asked for a change [in date] due to political circumstances related to the [U.S] domestic situation so it will not be said to the end of 2010 followed by one year for withdrawal but the end of 2011 as a final date.

In fact, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said that as part of the security agreement, Bush wanted U.S. troops to stay in Iraq even longer. “It was a U.S. proposal for the date which is 2015, and an Iraqi one which is 2010, then we agreed to make it 2011,” Talabani said.

But by endorsing Obama’s time line, Maliki indirectly slighted McCain, who has consistently and strenuously argued against setting a withdrawal date and has even said he wouldn’t mind having U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years. But Maliki’s new position has left McCain scrambling, first saying its “a pretty good timetable,” but then denying he used “the word timetable” and later settling on “anything is good.”

Despite Bush’s constant refrain that commanders, not politics, will decide the course in Iraq, it seems that trying to help his party retain the White House is more important.

COMMENTARY: IF YOU CANNOT VOTE FOR OBAMA BASED ON RACE, YOU ARE NOT A PATRIOT, BUT A COWARD

For those who would not vote for Barack Obama based entirely on the color of his skin, you must not believe in America. You must not believe in the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ and I invite you to read it in its entirety.

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible…With Liberty and Justice for all."

by Mary MacElveen on Tue 23 Sep 2008 10:56 AM EDT
http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2008/9/23/3897328.html

COMMENT: Mary MacElveen is one of the bright new op/ed writers who contributes articles to the media and this blogger. BILL CORCORAN, editor, CORKSPHERE

What part of that pledge do you not get? We are one nation, who are supposed to be a united people, who cherish our liberties and most of all justice for all. A little piece of history for you; it was George W. Bush, John McCain and many within the Republican Party who tried to separate us as a people during these past eight years.

Not to vote for a candidate based solely upon the color of their skin; you are anything but patriotic. In fact anyone who would not cast their vote for either Barack Obama or other candidates because they are black or a part of any other minority group, you do not deserve to pledge allegiance to our flag since it is obvious you do not believe in it.

If you are a part of this group who cannot vote for Barack Obama because he is black and if you do wear a flag pin, kindly take it off. You dishonor it by wearing it.

Many of our soldiers who came home dead from this immoral Iraq War, were African-Americans and the blood they spilt was colored red, white and blue. On the battle field of this war and in wars past, they served and died as one along side with soldiers of other races.

In not voting for a candidate because of the color of his skin, you are failing to honor these brave soldiers who stepped up to the plate and gave their life for God and country. They not you knew what true patriotism was all about.

Black men who die on any battle field do so to protect your freedoms and one of them is the right to vote. How dare you dishonor them and discredit their contributions to this country. They paid the ultimate price as you revel in your hate and cowardice.

I have to wonder if this race-card would even be reported had the Republicans picked former Secretary of State Colin Powell as their candidate. Think about it. Is it because Senator Barack Obama is a Democrat that we are seeing this reported in the news?

If Colin Powell became a Democrat and ran for president: Would these same people not vote for him because of the color of his skin? I would remind these people that Colin Powell did serve in the military protecting your freedoms. Even the freedom to be a racist.

If Colin Powell ran as a Democrat, would Ron Fournier of the AP who has had close ties to the McCain campaign and Karl Rove even have written that article? Would he have even written that AP article that started this fire-storm of hate had Powell ran against McCain?

To me, Senator Barack Obama encapsulates what it means to be a true American because he grew up believing that anyone can serve as the president of this country. As a father, he is showing his two little girls exactly what it means to be an American. Maybe one of his girls will someday become the first African-American woman to go on to win the presidency.

What must his little girls think of folks who would not vote for their father because of his race? I do not know if Barack Obama or Michelle Obama have told them some cannot vote for their father because he is black. Most likely they have not shared this with them, but I do suspect they know of it. How horrible it must be for them if they do know of this. Are they thinking these racist people also hate them? If so, what a thing to do to a child. Those adorable little girls deserve a country united and not divided by racists as all children do.

In growing up in the sixties, I saw as a child the racial tensions beamed into my living room each night on the news and was deeply horrified. I never looked upon my friends who were black as being lesser people, but just friends. Together we played and got in trouble equally if we misbehaved. I always dreamed of a better future and when I first heard Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. give his, “I Have a Dream” speech his words filled me with immense hope for the future and it angers me that racism still exists today.

I am so proud as an American that one of the presidential debates will take place in Hempstead, NY which was my home town while growing up. In fact one of the most productive mayors it has ever had is a Republican and his name is James Garner who too is an African-American. Garner was the first African-American to be elected as mayor on Long Island. I hope there is some cosmic connection to this debate being held in my home town. In governing all of us, Garner never saw us as being white, black, Hispanic, Republicans or Democrats, but citizens he was charged by oath to govern equally. Garner lived and breathed Hempstead as its mayor. He once told me at my uncle’s funeral while I did move away, I will always be a Hempstead girl.

I do see a connection between both Garner and Obama. I do not look upon them as African-Americans, but a patriotic Americans. As an American, I was proud to have voted for James Garner and I am equally proud to cast my vote for Barack Obama on November 4th.

I look upon Barack Obama with reverence because he is at least connecting with me emotionally and reminding me what true patriotism is all about. In the midst of so much despair this nation has felt in its short history, at least he is giving me some hope for a better future. I crave that future of hope and not of one filled with more wars as McCain promises us. To lead us into more senseless wars is anything but patriotic since it weakens us as a nation. Should John McCain call upon you who are racists to send your sons and daughters into these wars: Will you sacrifice them?

The night that he gave his acceptance speech at the DNC, was a night filled with hope. When I saw those fireworks going off at Mile High Stadium, our ‘Star Spangled Banner’ came to mind and specifically these words:

“And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air…Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there….O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave…O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave”

As a gift to you to help drown out this hate coming from others, please click on this link to hear our nation’s song sung by Whitney Houston. Did you happen to black soldier in uniform saluting our flag? The thing is, he only sees himself as an American serving our country proudly.

Are any of you who choose not to vote for Barack Obama clearly showing we are the home of the brave? Or will you allow the cowardice of your racism to seize the day? Are we a free people when racists will further imprison us as a nation?

If this report of Americans refusing to vote for Barack Obama based on race disturbs you as much as me, then it is up to all of us to get to the polls to outnumber them. Through that action we are telling them, their message of racism has no place in this country. We must be the ones to stand up to them and say, it is we who believe in these United States of America.

To those who would cast their vote based on race, and if John McCain goes onto win the presidency, your collection of votes could have stopped four more years of failed Republican leadership. You could have said to all Americans we choose another direction. If God forbid McCain wins all I will say is: Don’t blame me, I voted for Barack Obama and it is you who have sentenced us all to another four more years of misery. How un-patriotic of you.

You may contact the author at, xmjmac@optonline.net

BUSH CAN'T SHUT UP. HE TICKS OFF SYRIA AND IRAN IN FINAL SPEECH TO UN

President George W. Bush just can't keep his yap shut.

In his final appearance before the UN on Tuesday, Bush lashed out at Syria and Iran as countries that harbor terrorists.

Bush will NOT be happy until he has the ENTIRE world hating America.

Don't be surprised if Bush and Cheney try some underhanded way to go to war with either Iran or Syria before they leave office.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE

Bush lashes Syria, Iran as ‘terrorism’ sponsors

US President says terrorism ‘has no place in the modern world’ during his farewell speech to UN.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=28017

NEW YORK - US President George W. Bush accused Syria and Iran Tuesday of sponsoring terrorism and said that such violence "has no place in the modern world" in his farewell speech to the UN General Assembly.

"A few nations -- regimes like Syria and Iran -- continue to sponsor terror, yet their numbers are growing fewer and they're growing more isolated from the world," he said.

"Like slavery and piracy, terrorism has no place in the modern world," said Bush.
Bush told the UN General Assembly that it must enforce sanctions against North Korea and Iran over their nuclear programs.

Bush said UN members must uphold resolutions "enforcing sanctions against North Korea and Iran" and stressed "we must not relent until our people our safe from this threat to civilization."

WASHINGTON POST: PALIN, McCAIN DISAGREE ON CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING

No one, including Gov. Sarah Palin, questions that Alaska's climate is changing more rapidly than any other state's. But her skepticism about the causes and what needs to be done to address the consequences stands in sharp contrast to the views of her running mate, Sen. John McCain, and place her to the right of the Bush administration and several other Republican governors.

By Juliet EilperinWashington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, September 23, 2008; Page A04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202894.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Click on link above to continue reading.

LIMBAUGH REPEATS BASELESS OBAMA SMEAR: "HE'S ARAB...NOT AFRICAN-AMERICAN"

Rush Limbaugh, who along with FOX NEWS and many others in the media who are out-and-out RACISTS, continues to bash Barack Obama with lies and smears.

MEDIA MATTERS reports on what Limbaugh said here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200809220015?lid=617760&rid=14896938

WATCH LIMBAUGH ON VIDEO MAKING RACIST ATTACK ON OBAMA BY CLICKING ON MEDIA MATTERS LINK ABOVE.

Limbaugh repeats baseless Obama smear: "He's Arab. ... [H]e's not African-American"
Summary: Rush Limbaugh baselessly asserted of Sen. Barack Obama: "Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?" Limbaugh continued: "He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American."

On the September 22 broadcast of his syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh baselessly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is "not black," and went on to ask: "Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?" Limbaugh continued: "He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American."

Media Matters for America has previously documented that a similar claim was forwarded by Fox News contributor Monica Crowley when she guest-hosted the June 23 broadcast of The Laura Ingraham Show. A caller to the show claimed that Obama is "not really African- American. He's Arab." In response, Crowley said that "according to this genealogy -- and again, because I haven't done the research, I can't verify this -- but according to this guy Kenneth Lamb, Barack Obama is not black African, he is Arab African."

In a February 14 blog entry, "journalist, op-ed columnist, radio news-interview program host" Kenneth E. Lamb claimed -- without producing any evidence -- that "Sen. Obama is actually Arab-American" and that "Mr. Obama is not legally African-American." Lamb did not cite to any research or government documents, but invited readers seeking "proof" of his claims to "[r]esearch the Kenyan records for yourself," adding: "You will find that his father was officially classified as 'Arab African' by the Kenyan government."

From the September 22 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: These polls on how one-third of blue-collar white Democrats won't vote for Obama because he's black, and -- but he's not black. Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood? He doesn't have any African -- that's why when they asked whether he was authentic, whether he's down for the struggle. He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. He's not -- his father was -- he's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American. I guess that's splitting hairs, I don't -- it's just all these little things, everything seems upside-down today in this country.

REAL IRAQ WAR FOOTAGE: GRAPHIC: GREAT MUSIC

This is another in a series of videos showing what our brave young Americans are doing in IRAQ.

Unfortunately, the media in the United States doesn't EVER report on the IRAQ WAR anymore.

But we do.

WATCH VIDEO HERE: TURN UP SOUND FOR GREAT MUSIC.

http://www.youtube.com/v/aRQf1WDRJhU&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

WAR IN IRAQ. VIOLENT, GRAPHIC.VIDEO, MUSIC BY BLACK SABBATH

We continue to bring to viewers of this blog images from Iraq war no longer shown on American TV because NOBODY in the media gives damn anymore about our troops in Iraq.

WATCH THIS GRAPHIC VIDEO HERE WITH MUSIC BY BLACK SABBATH:

http://www.youtube.com/v/DoMtjJXL6e8&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN CENTER OF PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

FOOTAGE FROM THE IRAQ WAR: SOME DISTURBING IMAGES. GREAT MUSIC

This video is presented to remind everyone there is STILL a war going on in IRAQ and we still have 160,000 brave young Americans risking their lives every single day in this ill-planned war.

The are all indications the war in IRAQ is going to get a lot "hotter" in the weeks and months to come as differences in the fledgling IRAQI government become more and more apparent.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/8TH6AThWunA&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

BREAKING NEWS: VIOLENCE AND DEATHS ERUPTS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

The mainstream media in the United States is totally focused on the election, but in Iraq and Afghanistan the war is heating up and there are reports of more and more casulaties including US troops.

The war in Iraq is still costing $12 BILLION a month with no end in sight

There are still 160,000 US troops in Iraq and 30,000 in Afghanistan and they could be there for years to come if the Republicans keep control of the White House.

Here is what happend on MONDAY in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Monday, September 22, 2008
Source: http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

War News for Monday, September 22, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a a small-arms fire attack in a neighborhood of Baghdad on Sunday, September 21st. No other details were released.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from natural causes in a western province of Afghanistan on Sunday, September 21st. No other details were released. We assume this to be an American soldier.

CJTF is reporting the death of a U.S. - led coalition soldier in an IED attack in a southern province of Afghanistan on Sunday, September 21st. Two Afghani civilians were also killed in the attack.

Two U.S. military personnel killed in the Islamabad hotel bombing:US marines were the target of a massive suicide attack that left Islamabad's pride Marriott Hotel in flames, according to a senior intelligence official. (this article is worth reading)Reported

Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: A car bomb killed at least two people and wounded five others in the Karrada district of central Baghdad, police said.

#2: A mortar bomb killed one person and wounded four others in western Baghdad, police said."A mortar round landed on a main road near Adan Square in Baghdad northern neighborhood of Kadhmiya, killing a civilian and wounding four others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity

.#3: A car bomb wounded two people when it exploded near an Iraqi army patrol in Jamiaa district in western Baghdad, police said.Separately, two more civilians were injured when a car bomb parked near the Nafaq-al-Shurta intersection in western Baghdad detonated as an Iraqi army patrol was passing by, he said.Four civilians were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) stuck inside a civilian vehicle went off in western Baghdad city, according to the Iraqi police."An IED emplaced by unidentified men inside a civilian vehicle went off on the main road near Nafaq al-Shurta area, western Baghdad, wounding four civilian passengers," the source, who did not want his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#5: Another mortar round struck a house in Karrada neighborhood in central Baghdad, wounding four people and setting fire in the house, the source added.

#6: Sunday Police found three dead bodies in Baghdad neighborhoods today: two were found in Karkh bank; one in Dora and the other was in Amil. While the third one was found in Fudhailiyah on Risafa bank.

#7: The Iraqi army killed two gunmen and arrested 81 others in the last 24 hours in different parts of the country, the Defence Ministry said.

Diyala Prv:Khani Beni Saad:#1: The Iraqi government said on Monday its forces have uncovered dozens of bodies buried in three mass graves in the restive province of Diyala. The graves were found in the village of Khani Beni Saad, near the provincial capital of Baquba, after an "arrested terrorist gave information," a government statement said. A security official from the region said the bodies were being dug out from the graves but did not specify how many corpses were there.

Suwayra:#1: Police recovered a body showing signs of torture from the Tigris River in Suwayra, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:#1: Gunmen killed two brothers and wounded a third when they opened fire in a market in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, on Sunday, police said.

#2: At least two policemen were killed and more than 40 people wounded in a suicide truck bomb attack on a police commando base in the city of Mosul on Sunday afternoon, a provincial police source said. "A suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden truck into the entrance of a police commando base in southwestern Mosul and blew it up at about 5:15 p.m. (1415 GMT)," Brigadier Khalid Abdul Sattar, spokesman of operations office in Nineveh province, told Xinhua.

#3: A morgue in the city of Mosul received two bodies with gunshot wounds, police said.Al Anbar Prv:Fallujah:#1: A policeman was killed and another one was injured on Monday by U.S. troops near the city of Falluja, a police source said."A policeman was killed and another one was injured when U.S. forces opened fire at them in al-Halabsa region in northwest of Falluja," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq on condition of anonymity. "U.S. forces were trying to set up an ambush for gunmen in the region, when they suspected the two cops who were wearing civilian clothes," he added. No word was immediately available from the U.S. army on the incident.

Afghanistan:#1: Afghan Consul General Abdul Khaliq Farahi was kidnapped on Monday after his vehicle was ambushed by unknown gunmen, killing his driver here on Ring Road. The Afghan diplomat was on his way home after duty hours when some armed men intercepted his car just close to Hayatabad Township, an official of Afghan Consulate told APP. According to SSP Operations Peshawar Kashif Alam, the driver of the Peshawar based Consul General of Afghan Consulate Abdul Khaliq Farahi was killed in the shootout. The car of the Consul General was hit by volley of bullets as soon as it entered Phase-IV from Phase-III in Hayatabad. Meanwhile the kidnappers overpowered the Consul General and threw him in a car and fled from the scene.

#2: Pakistani officials say their troops opened fire twice to repel two US helicopter gunships which violated their airspace in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The incidents happened on Sunday evening in the North Waziristan district, where Pakistani forces are battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants. There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani military or the US-led coalition in Kabul.

#3: A roadside bomb ripped through a civilian vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing six Afghans and wounding four others, the NATO-led force said. The military alliance said the blast occurred in Tirin Kot, the capital of the southern Uruzgan province. It said a child was among those killed.

#4: Meanwhile, in southwestern Nimroz province Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint Sunday, sparking a clash in which nine militants were killed and three police were wounded, said provincial Gov. Ghulam Dastagir Azad.

#5: Taliban insurgents have abducted more than 140 laborers from a construction firm in Afghanistan's western province of Farah, the provincial governor said on Monday. The laborers were civilians and were involved in building an army base in the province where the Taliban and criminal gangs are active. They were seized by militants on Sunday while traveling in three buses on a road in Bala Boluk district of Farah, Rohul Amin told Reuters.

#6: The ISAF vehicle was driving from Mazar-e-Sharif to Kabul. In Aybak, a group of people unloaded a market wagon, when suddenly some people stepped onto the street. The driver of the military car could not avoid the group and hit some of the people. One person was killed and another injured. The injured civilian was taken to the local hospital in Aybak. The soldiers stayed at the scene to provide assistance until the Afghan National Police arrived.

ONCE ELECTED, PALIN HIRED OLD CLASSMATES AND PALS AND LASHED OUT AT FOES

WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

Palin has a voice like a Screech Owl, and she can be just as mean and vindictive.

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes

By JO BECKER, PETER S. GOODMAN and MICHAEL POWELL

http://tinyurl.com/3tf4dh

THE NEW YORK TIMES

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship.

A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

When Ms. Palin had to cut her first state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects.

And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.

“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”

Ms. Palin walks the national stage as a small-town foe of “good old boy” politics and a champion of ethics reform. The charismatic 44-year-old governor draws enthusiastic audiences and high approval ratings. And as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, she points to her management experience while deriding her Democratic rivals, Senators Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., as speechmakers who never have run anything.
But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

Read more http://tinyurl.com/3tf4dh

McCAIN'S 13 CARS---2 ARE FOREIGN MADE

Dems seize on McCain's 13 cars
Posted: 08:50 PM ET
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

http://tinyurl.com/4pvnl9

Democrats are seizing on a report the McCains own at least 13 cars.

(CNN) — Democrats eager to portray John McCain as out of touch with average Americans and as a flip-flopper seized on a report Sunday the Arizona senator and his wife, Cindy, own more than a dozen cars — including several foreign-made automobiles.

A Newsweek article published on the magazine's Web Site Sunday said registration records show the McCains currently own 13 cars — two of which are foreign-made: a Honda and a Volkswagen. That appears to contradict the Republican presidential nominee's past statements he only buys cars made in America. (Cindy McCain also drives a Lexus and daughter Meghan owns a Toyota Prius, but neither are registered to the McCains.)

Newsweek also reported Barack Obama owns one car: a Ford Escape Hybrid.

In a quickly-arranged conference call organized by the Democratic National Committee, United Auto Worker Union President Ron Gettelfinger — an Obama supporter — said the registration records show McCain is not being truthful with Americans and undermining autoworkers.

"The last thing we need is a presidential candidate who undermines autoworkers, and these days it seems that John McCain is doing just exactly that," he said. "When he's in the Midwest, he tells voters he supports the industry, when he is in other states he brags about buying a foreign car, as he did with the Prius." (It is not clear if McCain or his daughter bought the Prius)
Gettelfinger also pointed to comments McCain made in an interview with Detroit TV station WXYZ, saying, "I've bought American literally all my life and I'm proud."

"That's really a nice campaign line," Gettelfinger said of the comments. "But it turns out that John McCain wasn't being straight with the people of Detroit, or the state of Michigan, or our country as a matter of effect," adding later, "The American auto industry and the American voters deserve a president who will be straight with them.”

For the record, Honda has four major automobile and engine plants in the United States employing more than 25,000 Americans, according to its Web site. Volkswagen is scheduled to open a plant in Tennessee in 2011 that is expected to employ 2,000 people, the AP reported in July.

Brian Rogers, a spokesman for McCain, said "Barack Obama is more interested in childish political attacks than confronting the reality that his plans to raise taxes and close off trade will kill our American auto industry and the jobs of hardworking folks in Michigan and all around our nation."

Rogers also said McCain was referring to his own car in the WXYZ interview: "He drives a Cadillac today and has always driven American cars," Rogers said.

Newsweek's report comes a month after McCain now-infamously could not name how many houses he owned in an interview with Politico. The publication later reported he owns at least eight properties.