Well, I'll be damned.
So I get home from work a bit ago (night shift nurse, me), and as is my wont, I grabbed a bite to eat and plopped down to check out the Internets for a few minutes before hitting the hay.
And I discovered something wonderful: Ladies and gentlemen, we have our meme.
My home page on Firefox is Google's News page. I suspect that's true of millions.
ALL of the following articles were on the front page when I opened up my browser this morning:
McCain Barbs Stirring Outcry as Distortions (New York Times)
Harsh advertisements and negative attacks are a staple of presidential campaigns, but Senator John McCain has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth in attacking Senator Barack Obama’s record and positions...
McCain Wrong on Palin Earmarks (Los Angeles Times)
NEW YORK -- John McCain got it wrong Friday when he asserted that his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, had not requested any earmarks, the spending directives lawmakers insert in spending bills that McCain has vowed to eliminate.
Palin, in fact, requested $198 million in federal earmarks in February, including such expenses as $487,000 to fight obesity in Alaska and $4 million to develop recreational trails.
McCain Lambasted for Inaccuracies (Seattle Times)
Sen. John McCain has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth in attacking Sen. Barack Obama's record and positions.
Obama also has been accused of distortions, but McCain is under fire for two headline-grabbing attacks. First, the McCain campaign twisted Obama's words to suggest he had compared GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin to a pig after Obama questioned McCain's claim to be a change agent by saying, "You can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig." (McCain has used the same expression to describe Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's health plan.)
He then falsely claimed that Obama supported "comprehensive sex ed" for kindergartners. (Obama supported teaching them to be alert for inappropriate advances from adults.)
Palin, McCain Contradict Each Other on Spending (San Francisco Chronicle)
In a televised interview Friday, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin defended her request for an estimated $200 million in federal projects from Congress - even as earlier in the day her GOP running mate John McCain insisted Palin had never sought money from Congress.
McCain Wraps Distortions Around One Truth (Washington Post)
THE AD
He was the world's biggest celebrity, but his star's fading. So they lashed out at Sarah Palin. Dismissed her as "good-looking." That backfired, so they said she was doing "what she was told." Then desperately called Sarah Palin a liar. How disrespectful. And how Governor Sarah Palin proves them wrong, every day.
ANALYSIS
This John McCain commercial, which contains two significant distortions, is part of a larger effort to rule criticism of his running mate out of bounds and to paint her as the victim of unfair attacks from both Democrats and the media.
Palin Reviews Are In, and Gibson Got a... (New York Times)
After taking in some of Charles Gibson’s interviews with the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, Paul Begala sounded ready to cast his vote.
"I thought one person on my television screen looked ready to assume the presidency," Mr. Begala, the CNN commentator, said by telephone on Friday. "It wasn’t Governor Palin."
Fact Check: McCain on Palin and Earmarks (Dallas Morning News)
For more on John McCain's incorrect claim that Sarah Palin has sought no earmarks as governor, click here. The Associated Press reports that Ms. Palin "asked for nearly $200 million in targeted spending for the 2009 fiscal year."
Along the same lines, McClatchy declares a new Republican ad "out of bounds" for its claim that Ms. Palin "vetoed nearly half a billion dollars in wasteful spending and cut earmark requests by hundreds of millions of dollars." While technically true, McClatchy says, the ad takes the remark out of context enough that its meaning is distorted.
***********************************************************************
They lean to their corporate masters, yes, but when they smell blood in the water, they just can't help themselves. I have NEVER seen such blanket unfavorable coverage of John McCain on the front news page of Google (and no, I haven't done any fancy gimmicks to my news page, just made sure it has a "politics" section.
The press are still, as Don Henley sang so long ago, mesmerized by "Dirty Laundry". And John McCain and Sarah Palin have given them an entire washeteria full of it.
We have our winning meme, and now we have the help we need to get it disseminated beyond our own echo chamber.
That meme is this: JOHN MCCAIN = LIAR.
Dig it all up and post it. Keating Five. Abramoff. Anything and everything. Repost those old McCain-smacking diaries. And everybody rec the HELL out of them. Rec this up while you're at it, so the word gets out.
That word is this: JOHN MCCAIN IS A LIAR.
If we keep that going and make it stick, we win. Period.
The feeding frenzy has begun, friends and neighbors. Let's help chum the waters today and give the bigger sharks more to keep biting on.
I gotta hit the sack. Do good work today, because with help from the MSM, of all freaking things--today is the day the tide turns.
Please help turn it.
One thing, and one thing only, should consume your thoughts, actions, and blogging this weekend:
JOHN MCCAIN IS A LIAR.
UPDATE: Two reasons this is the winning meme:
1.) It attacks McCain's greatest perceived strength; 2.) It's big enough, and there's enough there, to keep it going for many, many news cycles.
UPDATE TWO: First time on rec list. Thanks to you all. Yes WE Can.
UPDATE THREE: Whoa, TOP of the rec list! Now I really DO have to go to bed...my mind is swimming. Thank you Kossacks! And remember: JOHN MCCAIN IS A LIAR.