It's the New & Improved Hip Mitt

Via the FAUX News blog (and don't forget to watch the video):

Governor Romney paid tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. when speaking to a group of employees at Gate Petroleum today and then shook hands and posed for photos with African-American families at a parade.

The presidential hopeful met a friendly crowd at the Martin Luther King, Jr. parade here. The former Massachusetts governor often runs back and forth across streets during parades to greet people and today was no exception. He shook hands with ROTC members, tiny beauty queens, police officers and many parade-goers, including children screaming his name. He jumped off the Mitt Mobile to greet a waiting crowd, took a picture with some kids and young adults and awkwardly quipped, ”Who let the dogs out? Who who.” [If you watch the video, you'll notice he said that surrounded by a group of black women - ouch. -catnip]

He took pictures with many in the crowd and greeted one baby wearing a necklace saying, “Hey buddy! How’s it going? What’s happening? You got some bling bling here!”

[insert cringe here]

Not everyone was hip to the new Mitt though:

Romney even received some hugs, but some Obama supporters held up signs and one woman yelled, “Mitt Romney go home. You are holding up the parade!” Once the parade did start Romney hopped back on the Mitt Mobile and headed to his next stop.

Where I'm sure he'll entertain the crowds with his new-found love of break dancing while he eats grits. Word.
 

Video: Romney Refuses to Call Waterboarding Torture

From Wednesday nite's Republican debate. Watch as John McCain's head almost explodes:



Now, as much as people would like to believe that McCain is the moral authority on all things torture-related since he was a torture victim during the Vietnam war, they should also remember that McCain favoured immunity for CIA agents do the torturing

September, 2006:

BLITZER: What about on the issue of torture, as it's called? Right now the U.S. military has specific guidelines, it's been made public. There seems to be a separate standard for civilians like those in the CIA. You're not happy about that.

MCCAIN: Well, the Geneva Conventions have a -- are generally for those in uniform and the treatment of "POWs." There is one provision that applies to people that are prisoners which is much lower than that of POW status, but still some rights are preserved. And what we are seeking is to make sure that the Geneva Conventions covering these circumstances are not changed, because if we amend the Geneva Conventions, then other nations will to their liking. And several letters, including that of General Colin Powell, could put American lives at risk.

Common Article 3, by the way, is what it's called. We will and want to give immunity, both criminal and civil immunity, to those in the CIA who are involved in this. And we would want to protect them in every way. The difference is, is whether you amend the Geneva Conventions or you do as we want to do, and that's to amend or change the War Crimes Act so that these situations are covered under the War Crimes Act, telling them what they can't do and also then giving them the immunity that they need.

McCain - just another Republican hypocrite.

Romney - just another Republican who wants to hide behind secrecy and American exceptionalism to justify torture.
 

Random News & Views Roundup

- When the going gets tough, the weak run to Baghdad for a photo op. Although, Bush and Cheney may just be hoping that Abu Gonzales runs into one of those pesky IEDs. Then they can literally kill two annoying birds with one stone: the Gonzales problem - gone - and they can blame Iran on top of it. Oh no, I'm starting to think like them...must be a virus...I'd better take some medication. There is medication, right?

- Mitt "Ken Doll™" Romney won the Iowa straw pall on Saturday. What a manly man:

AMES, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney won the first test of the 2008 White House race on Saturday, using a big wallet and broad organization to muscle aside a field of second-tier rivals in a low-turnout Iowa straw poll.

Hell, that description's almost porn film worthy. Show me your big wallet and your broad shoulders, muscle man. (Not that I've ever actually seen a porn film. *cough*)

- Some kind of beam was installed on the space station today. I think they may be planning to make the Canadian astronaut walk the plank. I hear he's been telling a lot of Bush jokes up there.

- Yasser Arafat was poisoned?

- The Bush administration is nervous about Musharraf's future - so much so that it's assessing Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Not only that:

Musharraf controls the loyalty of the commanders and senior officials in charge of the nuclear program, but those loyalties could shift at any point, officials say.

The United States is not certain who might start controlling nuclear launch codes and weapons if that shift in power were to happen.

That's comforting, isn't it? Musharraf tried his best to provide reassurance on Saturday, which might actually mean something if he wasn't in the middle of huge political mess (of his own creation).

- Gordon Prather: Challenging Bush’s Reality (on Iran).

- Ben Tripp: On Fleeing the Country (a good read)
 

Boos at UMass for Andrew Card

This is what happens (and what should happen more often) when you're a shill for the Bush war machine:

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) -- President Bush's former chief of staff Andrew Card was loudly booed by hundreds of students and faculty members as he rose to accept an honorary degree at the University of Massachusetts on Friday.

The boos and catcalls - including those from faculty members who stood onstage with Card - drowned out Provost Charlena Seymour's remarks as she awarded the honorary doctorate in public service. Protesters claim Card lied to the American people in the early days of the Iraq war and should not have been honored at the graduate student commencement.

Card smiled slightly while Seymour spoke and raised his hand in thanks, then sat down without speaking.

While he turned one hundred shades of red...

The protests were mainly contained to an area in the back of the campus arena, though many of the faculty members onstage joined the three- to four- minute outburst.

One faculty member onstage held a sign: "Card - no honor, no degree." Another sign said, "War criminals go home."

Chancellor John Lombardi declined to comment on the protests or Card's honorary degree.

Before the commencement ceremony, about 100 faculty members and students sang anti-war songs, handed out leaflets and waved signs outside the arena.

It's excellent that so many faculty members were involved. Takes the "it's just angry kids" meme away from the right-wing apologists.

Why Massachussians... Massacitizens... Massachusettsians... whatever... ever elected Republican automaton Mitt Romney for Governor, is beyond me. They have since come to their senses though.

Kudos to the UMass crowd for relegating Card to the dark dustbin of history where he and his fellow war criminals belong.

Update: Bonus video of the ceremony (h/t Marie)