Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
Remember all those rumors coming out of South Carolina in the 2000 race for the republican nomination? This one in particular:
During the 2000 Republican presidential primary, Senator John McCain was the target of a whisper campaign implying that he had fathered a black child out of wedlock. (McCain's adopted daughter is a naturally dark-skinned child from Bangladesh). Voters in South Carolina were reportedly asked, "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain if you knew that he fathered an illegitimate black child?". McCain would later lose the South Carolina primary, and the nomination, to George W. Bush.In addition, on the week of the nomination vote, dozens of radio stations were called on the same day asking talk show hosts what they thought of McCain's having fathered a black child out of wedlock.
McCain later said of the incidents:[1]
"There were some pretty vile and hurtful things said during the South Carolina primary. It's a really nasty side of politics. We tried to ignore it and I think we shielded [our daughter] from it. It's just unfortunate that that sort of thing still exists. As you know she's Bengali, and very dark skinned. A lot of phone calls were made by people who said we should be very ashamed about her, about the color of her skin. Thousands and thousands of calls from people to voters saying, 'You know, the McCains have a black baby.' I believe that there is a special place in hell for people like those."
The person largely responsible for those smear tactics is Tucker Eskew (from the ABC News article linked to below):
Eskew, along with Warren Tompkins and Neal Rhodes, were key members of then-Gov. George W. Bush's South Carolina team during the 2000 primaries. McCain and his team long held Bush, Tompkins, Rhodes and Eskew responsible for the various smears against McCain and his family in the Palmetto state during that contentious contest.
The special place in Hell is, apparently, helping Palin prepare for her role as McCain's running mate! Seriously! Check it out:
Eskew was brought on board the McCain campaign, it was announced Monday, to help prepare Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for her role as McCain running mate. Eskew will help Palin prepare for her Wednesday night acceptance speech at the GOP convention and for her stump speech as she hits the road, brief her on policy matters, and help her handle the media scrutiny a lifetime in Alaska does not necessarily prepare one for.
Call me speechless...
Edited for clarity.
Comments
You might have included the fact that Eskew had something to do with the rumors in your post instead of keeping that to the links (I assume, I haven't checked). Might make more sense to those readers just curious (but not too curious as to bother with the originals). Just my opinion.
Posted by: Badger3k | September 2, 2008 11:29 AM
I'm glad you brought up that lil' tidbit of a connection, Badger3k. I went to the link, actually, but I did not see Eskew there. I'm fairly familiar with the ol' Repub Dirty Trix, going all the way back to Tricky Dicky. In fact, I recall hearing my father say when I was a child that there was no such thing as a good Republican. I disputed the fact then. Fancy that! Back then, the Repubs used to demonize the Demos as "the party of war" too. My, my, how times have changed!
Posted by: DianaGainer | September 2, 2008 5:35 PM
Of course a classy guy like McCain would never make political hay by abusing the offspring of other politicians.
A joke too bad to print?
Posted by: Tegumai Bopsulai, FCD | September 4, 2008 9:02 AM
For Chelsea's sake, I'm glad the joke was not widely printed. That poor young lady has been the butt of far too many mean-spirited Republican jokes, even when she was no older than 13. It still makes me wince to think of what Limbaugh said about her when her father was first elected. However, I also recall FDR speaking out about such personal attacks during WWII -- it's okay to attack him, he said, to attack his wife, even to attack the kids. But, now, when the press attacked his little dog Falla, that was going too far! (A sense of humor skewers the opposition far better than outrage, my boys).
Posted by: DianaGainer | September 4, 2008 5:37 PM