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Al is doing what's best for Al during the Denver Event:

Turns out that Al Franken had a chance to speak, if only briefly, at the Democratic National Convention next week in Denver. But he turned it down to squeeze in more face time with voters at the State Fair.

Officials with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) said that they asked Franken to join a handful of Senate challengers at the podium early next Wednesday evening. The convention has scheduled about 10 minutes...

The only thing I would consider worth more time at the convention is a nightly reading of the letter to his grandchildren from his latest book to a live audience.

That letter hits with people and I wish to Bast I could find my copy of the darned thing...

Posted by Earl at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And it can be summed up as simply as this:

Don't worry, Democrats, the worst of August is over.

Because it is true.

The old saying is haste makes waste, and it is also true.  There are times when rash action is necessary, but this isn't one of them.  The vote on AUMF before the 2002 elections was a rush job, as well as the rampup to the Iraq cluster**** after it.   Whenever W sees something he wants, it has to be in a hurry because he is a petulant little brat.

We're on schedule.  I've got approximately 1,762 hours until I step into the voting booth on November 4 and I'm enjoying it as best I can - by slowly coming to the realization that W has so poisoned the family name that the odds are good I will not have to worry about them anymore during my lifetime. (I know - wishful thinking!)

The polls will ebb and flow, the troops will be fully ensconced in their permanent Iraq bases in the sands well out of the towns and cities (Except, of course, for the ones that arrive home with great fanfare on the weekend prior to election day...), the price of gas will mysteriously drop in October (...and oilmen everywhere will be at a loss to explain it...), and even the saber-rattling will calm down until after the election (with the Iran invasion schedule depending on who actually wins the election..).

But we will make it there.  America will have an election on November 4, 2008 that contains the possibility of moving forward as a nation, into the land of grownups.

For now, enjoy the process and try to break free of the tyranny of immediacy.

Posted by Earl at 05:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Earl at 05:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

via email:

Dear Friend,

Great news: the latest Survey USA poll says we've gained six points on Norm Coleman in just the last month – and last week, a Rasmussen poll had the race tied at 45%!

Now, polls are just snapshots in time. But this recent data confirms what we've been seeing on the ground all summer: Al Franken has all the momentum – and Norm Coleman is on the run!

CLICK HERE TO HELP US KEEP THE MOMENTUM!

With the Republican National Convention coming to St. Paul in a couple of weeks, Minnesotans will have yet another opportunity to see Norm Coleman hanging out with his best friends: George Bush and the special interests.

That's the good news. The bad news is that Coleman will be raising unbelievable amounts of money while his buddies are in town – money he'll use to smear Al and, ironically, proclaim his own independence from George Bush and the special interests.

Coleman may out-raise Al, he may out-spend Al, but he'll never out-work Al Franken. And with your support, we'll have plenty of resources to counter his lies and set the record straight.

But we do need that support, and we need it today.

Not that you need to, but I would appreciate any support you could provide.

Posted by Earl at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you look at the donations made by the military personnel overseas, there seems to be a trend:

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain's haul.

So...Six times more and four times more than the man who would have us in Iraq for one hundred years.

Maybe they think it's time to come home.

Posted by Earl at 06:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

E. J. Dionne Jr. says it all with those two words, but here's a little more:

Yet some of the Clinton folks still think that Obama has not been respectful enough of the Clintons and their historical contributions. Bill Clinton is clearly put out. This perceptive politician has to be more aware than anyone of the mistakes he and his wife's campaign made. That makes the whole thing harder, for him and for Obama.

All this leads you to wonder who will write the new memo that would begin with the words: "STOP IT!" Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have a lot to lose if the spirit of the rest of the memos affects her thinking now.

If bad blood between the Clinton and Obama camps persists, it's highly unlikely that an Obama defeat this fall would lead inexorably to a Clinton nomination the next time. Consider Obama's shrewd announcement yesterday of Mark Warner, the former Virginia governor and current U.S. Senate candidate, as the convention keynote speaker. This not only gives a central role to a moderate Democrat from a swing state, but it also points to a future that transcends the Clinton-Obama feud.

Clinton must know that she could have won the Democratic nomination with a more coherent strategy. And her own campaigning for Obama suggests she understands that the actual nominee should not have to inherit her campaign's circular firing squads. Much depends upon whether she can now persuade her followers to grant Obama's nomination a legitimacy that her own campaign worked so hard to deny him.

I don't hate Hillary and think the primaries were a great deal of fun, overall.

But if she doesn't perform to my standards bringing her people across, I'm going to rethink my position on that...

(I know - she's shaking in her pantsuit at the thought..

Posted by Earl at 06:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Obama is darn close to (or actually is, depending on which definition you believe) a Gen Xer.

But the boomers seem to be hanging on:

"The older people just don't see Obama in these glowing terms," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "For older voters, a lot of the reservations really have to do with this experience factor, while younger voters see in Obama something much closer to themselves."

The generational split is on display in Lancaster, a city of 55,000 in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, a once solidly Republican area that is growing more mixed with an influx of Hispanic immigrants and urban professionals.

Change, for a lack of the correct term, is good.  Things that want to continue living evolve, to use the better term.

To stay exactly where you are is death.  The rest is just a clash of willpower and whining.

My opinion, of course.

But it happens to be true, long-range.

Posted by Earl at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Continue reading "Good Franken Commercial" »

Posted by Earl at 06:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To quote:

Our candidate believes in the audacity of bleak despair!

ROFLMAOWBBQS

Posted by Earl at 03:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Could have an effect on the election:

Recall: John McCain returned to the United States from Vietnam in March 1973. His wife, Carol, had been in a near-fatal car accident while he was gone. She was overweight, on crutches, and 4 inches shorter than when McCain had left. McCain ended up divorcing Carol for Cindy Hensley, his current wife.

So, when somebody brings up the former candidate's idiocy, that's the opening:

The Edwards news even gives McCain’s detractors a convenient pretext to raise the subject. So you heard about Edwards ditching his sick wife? Wait till you get a load of McCain …

It's a story that should be told.

Over and over and over and over.

Posted by Earl at 04:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

He would turn Minnesota in to a Senate powerhouse, and I agree with Amy on this one:

I don't need to tell you that we need change in Washington. That's why I'm so excited about working to elect Barack Obama as our next President - and that's why we need Al Franken in the U.S. Senate.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO HELP ME SEND AL TO WASHINGTON!

I've gotten to know Al well as he's traveled the state building a grassroots movement for change, and I know he'll be a champion for Minnesota families in Washington.

On issues like health care, energy, the war in Iraq, and our economy here at home, Al will reject the failed policies of the Bush administration and fight for change. In fact, just today Al offered some bold, common-sense solutions to strengthen Minnesota's schools. Al will never sell out to the special interests - he'll stay loyal to Minnesotans and advocate everyday to help the middle class.

But he needs your help to win this race.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO HELP AL WIN!

We need Al in Washington to join me in fighting for real change for Minnesotans. And I hope you'll join me by making a contribution of $25, $50, or $100 to help him build his campaign.

Damn right.

Please contribute for a better America.

The America your forefathers (and Your fathers) dreamed of.

Posted by Earl at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reagan-era GOPyness, when refined, distilled, and burned, equals Brand W GOPyness:

But now, seemingly all of a sudden, conservatives are the ones who are tongue-tied, as demonstrated by Sen. John McCain's limping, message-free presidential campaign. McCain's ongoing difficulties in exciting voters aren't just a tactical problem; his woes stem largely from his long-standing adherence to a set of ideas that simply haven't worked in practice. The belief system and finely crafted policy pitches that enabled the right to dominate the war of ideas for the past 30 years have produced a relentless succession of governing failures, from Iraq to Katrina to the economy to the environment.

Largely as a consequence, the public's attitude toward government -- Ronald Reagan's bête noire -- has shifted. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that, by a 53-to-42 percent margin, Americans want government to "do more to solve problems"; a dozen years ago, respondents opposed government action by 2 to 1.

We have seen the GOP promised land for the past 28 years.  Grampa McCain isn't going to be any different.

Plus, He seems older and more bitter every day.

Posted by Earl at 04:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After Grampa McCain's Damn Kids - Get Off My Lawn commercial went up earlier this week and Barack's excellent response, it was interesting to read today's Doonesbury.

Those darned natural advantages...

Posted by Earl at 05:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Earl at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Electoral-vote.com

I feel like the guy that jumped off the top of a tall building and mumbled "so far, so good" all the way down.

Remember, it's not the fall that hurts.

It's the sudden stop.

(Well, now isn't THAT optimistic?)

Posted by Earl at 06:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To the polls.

Those tantalizing, sexy polls:

Sen. Barack Obama now leads Sen. John McCain among national registered voters by a 49% to 40%, according to the latest Gallup Tracking Poll.

"The margin, coincident with the extensive U.S. news coverage of Obama's foreign tour, is the largest for Obama over McCain measured since Gallup began tracking the general election horserace in March."

Wheeee!

Posted by Earl at 08:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To believe the polls, that is.

Regardless, I am currently enjoying watching them.

All we need is a few more months of McCain actually opening his yapper...

Posted by Earl at 06:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More ads for Al.

I'm going to feel good voting for him.

Especially considering what the Coleman camp thinks of Minnesotans, with thanks to Cenk Uygar for this spot-on commentary:

Continue reading "Pushing More Al..." »

Posted by Earl at 01:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few quotes from this morning's Frank Rich:

History was on the march well before Mr. Obama boarded his plane, and his trip was perfectly timed to reap the whirlwind.

He never would have been treated as a president-in-waiting by heads of state or network talking heads if all he offered were charisma, slick rhetoric and stunning visuals. What drew them instead was the raw power Mr. Obama has amassed: the power to start shaping events and the power to move markets, including TV ratings.

*

This election remains about the present and the future, where Iraq’s $10 billion a month drain on American pocketbooks and military readiness is just one moving part in a matrix of national crises stretching from the gas pump to Pakistan. That’s the high-rolling political casino where Mr. Obama amassed the chips he cashed in last week. The “change” that he can at times wield like a glib marketing gimmick is increasingly becoming a substantive reality — sometimes through Mr. Obama’s instigation, sometimes by luck. Obama-branded change is snowballing, whether it’s change you happen to believe in or not.

*

“We have one president at a time,” Mr. Obama is careful to say. True, but the sitting president, a lame duck despised by voters and shunned by his own party’s candidates, now has all the gravitas of Mr. Cellophane in “Chicago.” The opening for a successor arrived prematurely, and the vacuum had been waiting to be filled. What was most striking about the Obama speech in Berlin was not anything he said so much as the alternative reality it fostered: many American children have never before seen huge crowds turn out abroad to wave American flags instead of burn them.

And, to finish it off:

The election remains Mr. Obama’s to lose, and he could lose it, whether through unexpected events, his own vanity or a vice-presidential misfire. But what we’ve learned this month is that America, our allies and most likely the next Congress are moving toward Mr. Obama’s post-Iraq vision of the future, whether he reaches the White House or not. That’s some small comfort as we contemplate the strange alternative offered by the Republicans: a candidate so oblivious to our nation’s big challenges ahead that he is doubling down in his campaign against both Mr. Maliki and Mr. Obama to be elected commander in chief of the surge.

The comedy continues for another 100 days. 

Posted by Earl at 08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At Sadly, No! we find that if a demmycrat is popular, he must have one hell of a body count:

This isn’t one of those snarky jokes we’re so often accused of making. It’s real, and it’s likely coming soon to an inbox near you (replete with nine-hundred AOL and Hotmail addresses in the ‘cc’ column).

You’ve heard of the Clinton Body Count, and now it’s time for…

The Obama Death List

And, again, Wheeee!

Posted by Earl at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

E. J. Dionne Jr. makes a point:

The conventional wisdom on certain subjects is so deeply rooted that no amount of evidence disturbs its hold. That's how it is with those dreary predictions that young Americans just won't vote.

Since the late 1960s, the same chorus has been heard from election to election: The young don't care. They're disengaged. They're too wrapped up in their music, their favorite sports and their parties to take an interest in politics. Predicting that the young will vote in large numbers is like saying the Cubs will finally win the World Series.

And bast knows that sports analogies are perfect and team curses never lie, but young people can be just as smart as the old folks once in a while.

Frankly, you don't need to be all that bright to see the road we're on.

Posted by Earl at 06:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I link to DaBr (Pronounced DAW-ber, like the moron in the TV show Coach) only because there's a shred of truth in the whole damn column.

And here it is:

Barack Obama is certainly a true American.

The rest isn't worth the read.

Posted by Earl at 05:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Continue reading "The Speech" »

Posted by Earl at 05:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ben Stein should know better than to say something like this regarding the coming Obama nomination speech:

I don't like the idea of Senator Obama giving his acceptance speech in front of 75,000 wildly cheering people. That is not the way we do things in political parties in the United States of America. We have a contained number of people in an arena. Seventy-five-thousand people at an outdoor sports palace, well, that's something the Fuehrer would have done.

As the post title suggests, Ben loses the argument as he states it.  Of course, he was on Glenn Beck, so there was no real argument between the two.

But, for just a moment, let's consider a simple question: If McCain were given the opportunity to speak to 75,000 idolizing fans at his convention, would he turn it down?  If McCain had the chance to speechify in front of 200k fans in Germany, would he?

I ask the questions because the following picture says it all to me:

Continue reading "Godwin's Law" »

Posted by Earl at 03:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good stuff!

Continue reading "KO Strikes Again" »

Posted by Earl at 03:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HansensDisease at FARK brings us some photoshop.

Yes, it's yet another shot at McCain.

Continue reading "Tasteless Post of the Day" »

Posted by Earl at 02:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

About a month ago I decided that cautious optimism is warrented.

The more the McCain campaign opens its collective yap, the more trouble people have with him.

Age is becoming a serious issue, frankly, because of the continuing gaffes, and more and more people are going to start talking about it if he continues to shuffle countries around the globe in his head:

Continue reading "Compare & Contrast" »

Posted by Earl at 03:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In response to the following Norm Coleman tv ad:

Continue reading "Al Franken" »

Posted by Earl at 06:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...but I know that Kansas could use a representative like him.

(Actually, I don't even know that but I like what I've read here.)

Posted by Earl at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I try to put a new political cartoon in the right column of the site on a (week)daily basis.

Today's selection by David Horsey is the GOP version of the nightmare magazine cover featuring John McCain.

Let's take a look, shall we?

1.  McCain is in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown.

Well, since we've had such a thorough vetting of his medical records, that can't possibly be true, right?  And since 71 is the new 45, age certainly isn't the problem, is it?

2.  McCain is murmuring the whole "Bomb Iran" thing.

Funny, isn't it?

3.  Cindy McCain has so many pills she can't even catch them all.

Again, this is funny...and true.

4.  There's a picture of Dick above the fireplace.

I cannot speak for the McCain's home decor, but it wouldn't surprise me.

5.  The U.S. Constitution is on fire in that fireplace.

It's at times like this that I have to remember the McCain is, as all GOPers are, W-Brand Republicans.  And it was that selfsame W who summed up his view of the rule of law in just a few words:

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

Yep.  There's a difference between The New Yorker's picture and Horsey's as well as a similarity.

One is 100% false.

One is 100% true.

I will leave to you to figure out which is which.

Posted by Earl at 03:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I will admit that I groaned when I first saw the picture.  It's all there, I thought, the funny-looking clothing, the huge afro on Michelle, the picture of Osama on the wall, and an American flag in the fireplace!  In other words, every false detail you can find in those endlessly-forwarded emails amongst the old people as well as the 27%.

Crap.

Then, of course, it was time to read a bit of the uproar.

The whole range of reaction was good to read, but I think Barack missed a good opportunity to sell even more of the historically-liberal magazine as well as himself to the American people.

There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.
        Brendan Behan

Imagine this, if you will:

My fellow Americans.  There's been a whole lot of rumor and innuendo about me and Michelle since we started our journey to the White House.

In this information era, I've had to set up a web page to deal with all of these lies, but that only works if people want to know the truth.

There's a new issue of The New Yorker out today with almost every whispered rumor and lie illustrated for all of us right on the cover.

I think it's one of the funniest things I've seen in my life, except for the American Flag drawn in the fireplace.

If we are going to move forward as a country, we've got to get over these false divisions.  We've got to learn to laugh at those who believe that I am a Muslim because somebody's nephew heard my pastor say it.

We've got to enjoy what a great nation we have because there is that optimism and opportunity for everyone, even a person of mixed heritage that was born in Hawaii.

So I would hope that everyone gets an issue of this magazine or, if you can't do that, get a copy of the picture itself and, when someone tries to pass of one of those lies to you, show them the picture and ask "Which lie was that again?"

You would probably even be able to point it out right there.

Thank you and God bless America.

Heck, I know it would never happen, but with the media frenzy going full-tilt on this today it would have been one hell of a large podium for Barack to speak from...

Posted by Earl at 01:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every once in a while, my brain seems to do a self-check and examine why it's thinking like it seems to be thinking.  A few days ago (NOT due to any specific event!) I started thinking about the reasons I'm supporting Barack and seem to want to believe. (cue theme from The X-Files)

This morning, Gail Collins may have something for me:

...if you look at the political fights he’s picked throughout his political career, the main theme is not any ideology. It’s that he hates stupidity. “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war,” he said in 2002 in his big speech against the invasion of Iraq. He did not, you will notice, say he was against unilateral military action or pre-emptive attacks or nation-building. He was antidumb.

Most of the things Obama’s taken heat for saying this summer fall into these two familiar patterns — attempts to find a rational common ground on controversial issues and dumb-avoidance.

You've got to admit, having someone who knows what fights to engage in and being anti-dumb would be a refreshing change from the past 8 years...

Posted by Earl at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm somewhat conflicted about the role of presidential candidates' spouses.  On the one hand, they're not running for office and they're not mentioned in the Constitution.  On the other hand, they can show some insight into the minds of the actual candidate.

So far, Michelle Obama has taken a huge lead in my mind because she believes in what she's saying:

Having grown up in a working-class family in south Chicago, she said she knows the realities of Americans who can't pay bills, afford to go to college or receive health care. And she sees the struggles of mothers who work more, earn less and still have the responsibilities of what she called the "laundry-doer, breakfast cooker and discipline hander-outer."

"To me, the policies that go along with supporting working mothers and families aren't just politics," she said. "These are personal."

Putting aside the fact that she's an attorney, I would rather see her more often than the apparently-cyborg $100 million heiress.

Posted by Earl at 05:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Earl at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jim Peterman IS a very good and proud American:

FINDLAY, Ohio -- On his corner of College Street, Jim Peterman stares at the four American flags planted in his front lawn and rubs his forehead. Peterman, 74, is a retired worker at Cooper Tire, a father of two, an Air Force veteran and a self-described patriot. He took one trip to Washington in 1989 -- best vacation of his life -- and bought a statue of the Washington Monument that he still displays in a glass case in his living room.

He believes a smart vote is an American's greatest responsibility.

So far, so good, right?

Then we get to the second sentence of the short paragraph and start to sense trouble:

Which is why his confusion about Barack Obama continues to eat at him.

On the television in his living room, Peterman has watched enough news and campaign advertisements to hear the truth: Sen. Barack Obama, born in Hawaii, is a Christian family man with a track record of public service. But on the Internet, in his grocery store, at his neighbor's house, at his son's auto shop, Peterman has also absorbed another version of the Democratic candidate's background, one that is entirely false: Barack Obama, born in Africa, is a possibly gay Muslim racist who refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

"It's like you're hearing about two different men with nothing in common," Peterman said. "It makes it impossible to figure out what's true, or what you can believe."

Our president once referred to this method:

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."—Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

Unfortunately, repetition works for the truth and non-truth, as well as complete and utter bullshit.

Unfortunately.

Posted by Earl at 04:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Apparently the metaphorical hand grenades were being tossed this morning:

Gen. Wesley Clark, acting as a surrogate for Barack Obama’s campaign, invoked John McCain’s military service against him in one of the more personal attacks on the Republican presidential nominee this election cycle.

*

“He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn't a wartime squadron,” Clark said.

“I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”

It's a valid point, I think.

As valid a point as just what kind of person comes out of five-plus years in the Hanoi Hilton:

On June 20, 1996, Senator John McCain allegedly assaulted a family member of a Vietnam War prisoner of war (POW) who was missing in action (MIA), as a group of about 15 family members of POW/MIAs watched in astonishment. Within about one month, five ethics complaints had been filed with the Senate Ethics Committee by five eyewitnesses. But the Senate Ethics Committee refused to investigate the matter.

So if half of the McCain hothead stories are true, do you really want a maniac like that in office?

I don't.

Posted by Earl at 08:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Scanning MoDo today, I found a couple of interesting things.

The insanity is still there:

This amenity did not stop the disunity. Carmella and her friends continued to cry, “Nobama!” “We love you, Hillary!” and “We need Hillary!” as Barack Obama sat onstage on a stool behind his former rival, his finger studiously at his lips.

Carmella was not impressed with all the kissing, laughing and whispering that Hill and Bam were diligently doing for the cameras, so that the moment could produce, as Obama press aide Robert Gibbs put it on “Larry King Live,” “a great picture.”

When it was Obama’s turn to speak, Carmella announced loudly, “I wish I had ear plugs.”

The morbid insanity is still there, as well:

Afterward, Carmella got her idol to autograph her sign, telling the smiling Hillary, “You’re going to be the next president.”

She told The Times that she and her friends were all voting for John McCain and that Hillary was just doing what she had to do.

“But I have a gut feeling,” she said with macabre faith, “that something’s going to happen so that she becomes the nominee.”

That is pathetic, annoying, and stupid.

Frankly, should "something" happen to Barack, I'm going whole-hog on the Draft Gore movement.  Not that I like the guy all that much, but I think he would have a better chance of winning the election...

Posted by Earl at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Frank Rich starts off with what was said:

DON’T fault Charles Black, the John McCain adviser, for publicly stating his honest belief that a domestic terrorist attack would be “a big advantage” for their campaign and that Benazir Bhutto’s assassination had “helped” Mr. McCain win the New Hampshire primary. His real sin is that he didn’t come completely clean on his strategic thinking.

In private, he is surely gaming this out further, George Carlin-style. What would be the optimum timing, from the campaign’s perspective, for this terrorist attack — before or after the convention? Would the attack be most useful if it took place in a red state, blue state or swing state? How much would it “help” if the next assassinated foreign leader had a higher name recognition in American households than Benazir Bhutto?

In my mind, that's only natural in fearmongering.  The guy that was really good at it, right up to the midterm elections of 2006, was Karl Rove:

That equation was the creation of Karl Rove. Among the only durable legacies of the Bush presidency are the twin fears that Mr. Rove relentlessly pushed on his client’s behalf: fear of terrorism and fear of gays.

...and now we're finding out just how long a population can live in fear before it says "ENOUGH!"

Hopefully, we can get past this BS...

Posted by Earl at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MoDo actually makes a couple of points that I agree with wholeheartedly:

This was Rove’s take on Obama to Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club Monday, according to Christianne Klein of ABC News:

“Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He’s the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.”

Actually, that sounds more like W.

Actually, W would be swinging a gin bottle around by the neck and snorting cocaine, since this is all supposition...

Conservatives love playing this little game, acting as if the “elite” Democratic candidates are not in touch with people like themselves, even though the guys doing the attacking — like Rove, Limbaugh, O’Reilly and Hannity — are wealthy and cosseted.

Haven’t we had enough of this hypocritical comedy of people in the elite disowning their social status for political purposes? The Bushes had to move all the way to Texas from Greenwich to make their blue blood appear more red.

Everyone who ever became president was in the elite one way or another, including Andrew Jackson.

It's actually a prerequisite, like it or not...

Charlie Black crassly argued in Fortune that a terrorist attack would “be a big advantage” for John McCain. And what’s scary is, Black is the smartest adviser McCain’s got.

It’s hard to believe that if Americans get attacked after all these years of getting strip-searched at the airport, they’re going to be filled with confidence at the performance of the Republicans on national security. And at least Obama wants to catch Osama and doesn’t think he’s getting his directions on war from “a higher Father.”

Do you recall who was president on 9/11?  Hmmm...If only they had been warned of some airplane plot afoot, perhaps they could have taken some preventative measures...If they had been paying attention.

Rove’s mythmaking about Obama won’t fly. If he means that Obama has brains, what’s wrong with that? If he means that Obama is successful, what’s wrong with that? If he means that Obama has education and intellectual sophistication, what’s wrong with that?

Many of Obama’s traits are the traits that people in the population aspire to.

We can only hope for real progress as we work toward it, of course.

It looks as if Rove is on the verge of realizing his dream of creating a permanent position for the Republicans.

Unfortunately for him, it’s in the minority.

...and we will continue hearing about how oppressed they are.

Funny.

Posted by Earl at 06:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The life of the presumptive nominee, I guess

Posted by Earl at 06:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The question remains: If this

is where they're starting, what type of frenzy are they going to be in around October-November?

Posted by Earl at 06:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was only a few days ago that a certain meme infected the internet.  A certain level of comedy was achieved.

Now we have Mark Soohoo, John McCain's "Internet Guru" trying to adapt to the comedy that is his candidate (via Politico):

"You don’t actually have to use a computer to understand how it shapes the country,"  [Soohoo] says.

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"John McCain is aware of the Internet," says Soohoo. "This is a man who has a very long history of understanding on a range of issues."

Well, at least the word traditions wasn't used...

Posted by Earl at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Continue reading "This Is Dedicated to the CM-IC*" »

Posted by Earl at 04:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)