Main media whores notwithstanding, the speeches last night by Bill Clinton and John Kerry were truthful and powerful.

Clinton, much to those who earn their livings from a kneeling position's chagrin, smoked his speech last night….and The Reverend inhaled and declared it all good. This was the Clinton politician we remember from the 90's. He made it clear that he, his wife, and his daughter will do everything they can to make sure that Barack Obama is elected president. The ex-president urged all 18 million of Hillary's supporters to do likewise. He insisted that Obama was ready to lead and mocked the ignorant barking by corporate media whores and their customers, Republican powerbrokers, pointing out that the very same criticisms thrown out like so much vulgar bile at Obama were thrown out at him in 1991. One of Bill's strongest lines placed his and Barack Obama's respective campaigns for the presidency…"on the right side of history".

Hillary and Bill Clinton, on successive nights, have proved to the American people that today's corporate media stenographers for the GOP are either comfortably tucked into bed with the powers of the last eight years…or…are completely full of dooey. You decide.

So much for the Clinton-Obama bloodfest predicted by those who allegedly are in the know….you know, the experts….with the emphasis here placed on the 'spurts' syllable of the word.

Special Blog-Interruptus Comment: Those in the stable of media whores found to be luring unsuspecting customers into their bordellos of bullsh*t during this Democratic Convention include the MasterFreak of NBC, Brian Williams and the I-wish-he-had-stayed-retired asshole, Tom Brokaw.

John Kerry gave a very powerful speech last night. His listing of John McCain's incoherence on policy was compelling and persuasive. McCain may once have been an independent politician who dared kick against his own party….but no more. Now McCain, hopelessly self-conflicted to demonstrate his loyalty to a bankrupt and failed political party, doesn't know anymore, what he stands for. Kerry surgically excised that ugly cancerous truth and put it on display for all Americans to see. The Massachusetts senator mocked the upcoming performances in the debates by McCain, pointing out that before McCain debates Obama, he must first finish the debate he's having with himself.

Tonight, Barack Obama, preceded by the elected president of the 2000 presidential race, Al Gore, will inspire American voters, at least those who are not reflexively racist, to take back their country from the destructive and criminal hands of the neo-conservative maniacs. All distinctions with the failed GOP will be clearly made. The Democrats will leave Denver recharged, united and ready to sweep November's election.

The Knee Pad line? The wisdom of corporate media whoredom?

"Barack Obama is a celebrity." My God, what insight.

The Reverend's Special Prayer:
God save us from the red light district media, the stiletto heeled streetwalkers with their suggestive political STD selling, those that kneel down and hook-up like vacuums to the powerful who pat them on their heads. Lord, deliver America from the propagandistic prostitutes for power….for they lurk behind every teevee corner and newspaper byline…seeking out those who they might mislead into the carnal sin of voting for more of the same old heaping pile. Defeat these evil corporate media enemies of all things just and moral, Oh God, and send them back into the dark recesses of back alleys and shabby crack-addict hotel rooms…where they belong…..is my urgent prayer. Amen….and E-V-E-N Amen.

Update: Also read this fellow believers take.

Those Americans planning on voting for an unprecedented third term of the Terror Twins in the 72 year old person of John McCain, are sad this morning.

Hillary Clinton didn't cause any trouble for Barack Obama last night.

You see, corporate media and rogue government loving Bush/Cheney/McCain hacks encouraged Republican voters, as we moved closer to the Democratic Convention, suggesting that Barack Obama's campaign for president would collapse after Hillary and her "voters" raised unholy hell in Denver this week. Predictions of doom continually rolled off the tongues of the usual suspect propagandists.

Alas, the dumbasses were wrong. Imagine that. Not only did Hillary Clinton and her "voters" not cause Obama any trouble last night…..Mrs. Clinton made it abundantly clear that she supports Obama, unequivocally, for president. She spoke directly to those who voted for her in the primaries and instructed them carefully that now is the time to join her in putting Obama/Biden in the White House. To Hillary, there are no other options.

No narcissistic, self-absorbed drama…..no call to splinter the Democratic Party……no sign of disunity. None of it. Hillary, along with a host of other intelligent, well spoken Democrats of both sexes and of every color and background, paraded to the podium one after the other last evening all speaking with one voice…..elect Barack Obama as the next president.

Sadly, this morning, McCain supporters are sad. They know that unless something significant changes the "playing field"…..their candidate is going to have his POW ass handed to him in November. These GOP bitter-enders were pipedreaming about some 1968 sequel playing out at last night's convention…..anxiously awaiting an intravenous bag of Democratic bickering and fragmentation to hook up to their dying party and pitifully poor candidate…..and to give them a reason to go out and vote for one of the weakest GOP presidential candidates in recent memory. It never happened.

Last night Ohio's Dennis Kucinich told not only Democrats, but all Americans, to wake up. His animated "Wake up America" talk brought the crowd to it's feet for a standing ovation. Governor Ted Strickland told Americans about how George W. Bush was born on third base, thought he had hit a triple, but then proceeded to steal second. Not bad for a, you know, Reverend. Mark Warner, ex-governor of Virginia and the next senator from that state, showed Americans why he's a rising star in the Democratic Party and more than likely will succeed Obama in 2016.

And then Hillary put the final nail into the GOP coffin by delivering a very good speech, not only reaffirming what she and the Democratic Party stand for….but encouraging all Americans to focus now on putting Obama/Biden into the White House….to keep the dream of America alive. Well done, Hillary.

To those sweating out the polling data that will be released this weekend….to those saddened by such a strong showing of unity by the Democrats….to anyone downhearted because they found out last night that Hillary….I know it's a shocker….is a full blooded Democrat….let me offer you a lightning rod to run your sadness to ground.

George W. Bush and Richard Cheney.

While the Terror Twins, who had shirked military service themselves, were snarling and grabbing their adolescent big-boy crotches sending Americans to die in a hoax…while the CEO Bush administration was financing the cost of wars of choice through the childish and reckless cutting of 7-home-owner's taxes….while we watched "compassionate conservative" policy worked out in the abandonment of poor minorities in Louisiana….the backlash was building. That now mighty backlash, whose energy will crest the first week of November, was brought on by the incompetent, cynical, permanent-majority-dreaming maniacs who touted that they would "restore dignity to the presidency."

Once more I offer my condolences to faithful, though misled, Republican voters. Today's Bush/Cheney/Rove/McCain Republicans have proven once and for all that they cannot govern America in a modern age. They put on one heckuva "mission accomplished" theatrical show….but they didn't accomplish much for American people, and what was accomplished, was destructive. They talked proudly of a "humble foreign policy", and then had to eat humble pie when their WMD imminent threat hoax crumbled right before America's eyes. They painstakingly preached about stimulating America's economy through counter-productive tax relief for those who didn't need it and which only brought more pain to working families, stimulating those same families to rise up and vote for Democrats this time.

Fellow Americans of the Republican persuasion: Take today's sadness off your psychological backs and place it where it belongs….not on Hillary, not on the Democrats….but on those very bad men and women in the Bush/Cheney administration, who, through their criminal and reckless approach to governing, have insured the permanent minority status for the political party, ironically, that they sought to make a permanent majority.

Just as the ancient Jewish priests, in an annual Day of Atonement, placed the sins of the people, symbolically, on the head of a goat and sent him out into the wilderness….Republicans need to cleanse themselves of the worst executive administration in American history. Republican voters, take that sad feeling you are experiencing this week, the pit-of-the-stomach thing that happens when bitter disappointment finally sets in, and dispose of it….lay all that sadness at the neo-con men and women's altar of propagandistic fantasy…and come join the new movement to restore the nation we all love.

The next first lady of the United States of America.

Former Republican representative from Iowa, Jim Leach, telling America why Barack Obama should be our next president.

"The way today's Republican Party has broken with it's conservative heritage…" at 5 minutes into the video.

Leach: Today's GOP "regulates values", has "taken us to war with a country that did not attack us", has "undercut treaties crucial to the defense of the earth", has "abdicated it's responsibilities in the face of global warming", and has "doubled the national debt….in an undisciplined effort to finance a war with tax cuts".

Leach was persuasive in his calm presentation in support of the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. He was no nutty, red-faced and shouting Zell Miller. The Iowa Republican laid down the best case I've heard recently of how the Republican Party of 2008 has lost its way.

Opening night stellar performances other than Leach's clear and present Republican danger talk…

Jesse Jackson Jr…..great.

Katrina video with Jimmy Carter….great.

Caroline Kennedy and Ted Kennedy….great.

Michelle Obama….fabulous.

What the gasbags have been farting out of their mouths over the summer quickly dissipated like so much foul smelling methane….after about one minute into Michelle's speech. The fraud that is today's main media was exposed in one speech….the most powerful speech by a candidate's spouse I've ever witnessed.

Barack and Michelle Obama will do America proud as our next president and first lady.

A couple of months ago, immediately following Barack Obama's primary win, I predicted that the KPM (Knee Pad Media) would spend as much time, if not more so, leading up to the conventions, talking about Hillary and Bill Clinton as they would Barack Obama. My prediction was relatively accurate and remains so on the first day of the Democratic Convention.

Think how much time has been spent, from the traditional kneeling position, bloviating and bullsh*tting about Hillary's chances of becoming Obama's VP pick. Still today, the totally asinine whining goes on. Why, how dare Obama! He didn't even vet Hillary to be his VP….my goodness, get out the smelling salts and the fainting couches. Once again….there's nothing to the alleged story. Hillary told Obama if he wasn't going to consider her in the top tier of VP candidates…she would just as soon not go through the vetting process. No story here at all…..yet the lamebrained, pushers of propaganda…..those who are in the, you know, know,….will push that phony story all week long.

The media doesn't like it that Obama is the Democratic nominee. That's why they keep telling us stupid sh*t, like, "we just don't know who Obama is" and "is he really one of us?" They preferred Hillary because there's just so much more empty, meaningless, and distracting biographical material to work with….with the Clintons.

Listen and watch for the totally phony narrative being spun, starting today, about the Clintons. The more time wasted on the Clintons, the less time left for them to cover Obama and his policies of change. Already today the "big" news is that Bill Clinton's feelings are still hurt. Someone call a Wammbulance. Already today, the threat by the alleged Hillary voters to eff stuff up this week is being given "breaking news" exposure.

Here's what I think: It's all a steaming pile.

The Clinton's will speak highly of Barack Obama….they will encourage all Democrats, Independents, and non-winger Republicans to support Obama with everything they have. Hillary and Bill may have their own unique characteristics….but let's get this one point clear….they are Democrats. They are not George W. Bush/J.Sydney McCain Republicans. The Clintons know that four years of J. Sydney McCain would be too much of a threat to America. More imperialistic wars, the end of a woman's right to choose, the further hollowing out of the middle class, more Americans without health coverage, more tax breaks and giveaways to the already wealthy and powerful.

Here's something else I think is total bullsh*t: Hillary voters are just so effing upset over Obama's candidacy….they will vote for McCain. Those Hillary supporters who actually say this….are not Democrats. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that most of these folks are actually Republicans…trying to game the system ala Fatso Drug Addict Limbaugh's campaign urging Republicans to go out and vote for Hillary in the Democratic primaries.

Having said all that….here's what to listen for from the Knee Padders this week. The job of the Knee Pad Brigade is to portray the Democratic Party as hopelessly fragmented and fatally at each others' throats. That's what the slobbering bloviaters have been doing all summer….they won't stop now. No matter what the Clintons say this week….no matter how powerful their calls to unite behind Barack Obama….the narrative will continue to be one of disunity and backbiting.

Democratic policies laid out this week will be given short shrift by those who earn their livings staring at the crotches of the powerful. Instead, every word uttered by Bill, Hillary, Pelosi, Carter, Warner, Biden and Obama will be microscoped for atomic particles of Democratic Party disunity.

Listen and pay attention if you have time this week. See if America's most imminent threat, corporate media, doesn't continually seek to portray the Democrats as a broken party, fighting amongst themselves, and unable to unite to defeat the weakest and most discombobulated Republican candidate in The Reverend's lifetime. Count how many times the suck-job artists talk about Obama's "trouble" with white working class voters. Count how many times Hillary's name is invoked to denigrate Barack Obama. Count how many times the mindless chant of "Americans just don't know who Obama is"….is spewed around like so much vomit.

One thing you won't here much about from the stenographers for the powerful this week….is the total clusterf*ck resulting from electing Republicans to the presidency and a majority in Congress starting in 2000. Those who type up the powerful's propaganda don't dare speak of the mess Republicans will hand to the next administration. They haven't spoken much about it for the last eight years, why would they start now?

The many talented Democratic speakers in Denver will lay out the total failures of GOP policy channeled through George W. Bush. The Democrats will clearly explain the failed GOP policies, both at home and abroad. The Democrats will speak coherently and persuasively about just how out of touch 21st century American conservatism is with the American people. The economy, health care, Iraq, pre-emptive wars, torture, Constitution violations, obstructionism, activist neo-Supreme Court Justices…..the entire ugly, rotten and disgusting lot.

The Knee Padders will have no interest in any of it.

They just can't quit Hillary and the Clenis.

Since the only pick the Presidential candidates make before the election is the Vice-President pick, I end up putting a lot of emphasis on it. A BIG part of the President's performance is based on the people he surrounds himself with. (I think the American public would be better off if we insisted the candidates announce their choices for the Cabinet before the election)

With that in mind, Barack Obama selected Senator Joe Biden to be his running mate.

It's a good choice. Maybe not an inspired choice, but rock-solid. A Vice Presidential candidate should fill four qualifications for the Preisdential Candidate:

1- If anything should happen to the President, could the VP step into the office and take over the duties as President?

2- Does the VP help the President with any perceived weaknesses of the Presidential candidate?

3- Will the VP nominee hurt the Presidential candidate?

4- Can the VP nominee help the Presidential nominee get elected?

With Biden, his experience definitely hits the "He can take over" criteria. He also helps with (2)- Obama's biggest weakness is experience, and Senator Biden has been around for years.

He doesn't help with (4)- Delaware was already going Obama's way. (3) is the question mark- Biden has a reputation for running his mouth off. He withdrew as the Presidential nominee in 1988 based of accusations of plagarizng a speech, but I don't think the public will hold that against him. On the other hand, if you have to pick a flaw, "Constant talker" isn't the worst one to pick.

Thinking it over, I think Senator Bayh might have been a better pick, just because he had the same advantages and could put Indiana in play. But overall, a good pick for Senator Obama.

McCain campaign official Brian Rogers responding to a question about McCain's numerous homes….

"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison," referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War. Link

I mean, come on old dude….it was forty years ago, right? It simply cannot be the response to every one of your embarassing situations or eff-ups. The former prisoner of war stuff, I mean. All Americans take their hats off to veterans, POW veterans even more, I suppose. But good granny…..how in the blazes can something that happened 40 years ago be the answer to every contradiction, every flip-flop, every embarassment, today….to the point where McCain is now using his POW experience to respond to the question of how many homes he and Mrs. Buffalo Chip own.

Now correct me if I'm wrong for, you know, asking. …but does McCain's 1968-1973 stint in North Vietnam have anything to do with the 8 homes he owns now? Does the real estate company Cindy McCain uses go by the name of POW Realty, or some similar, like, coincidence?

Or is McCain and his Rovian sacramentalist campaign…..angry….because of those very bad people who asked Mr. Maverick how many homes he owned? Could that have been the reason why McCain's campaign responded with the default "POW" answer? How dare those little people ask how many homes he and Mrs. Straight Maverick Talk Regular American, own?

Barack Obama has taken a lot of flack about his speeches. "All he can do is give speeches." Remember Hillary saying, "All Obama did was give a speech"? Well….all McCain and his campaign can do is talk about something that happened 40 years ago, which has nothing whatsoever to do with his qualifications to become president. And sure as hell, that POW time has nothing to do with McCain's ownership of 8 expensive homes. Those 8 expensive homes are the answer to the question, "Is McCain a regular guy?" Kind of obvious, isn't it? A regular guy doesn't own 8 homes. McCain, like Bush before him, is said to be America's "everyman" by GOP hacks and compromised Knee Padders (redundancy?), in spite of the total ridiculousness of such a statement.

Here's Rogers again from the out-of-touch McCain campaign….

"In terms of who's an elitist, I think people have made a judgment that John McCain is not an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type based on his life story."

Dangerous, don't you think, for a campaign to talk about "pointy heads" when their candidate has one jowl of his face the size of Rhode Island?

Tell me, what "judgment" will Americans make about McCain when they find this out….

The McCains increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain’s tax returns. Link

So, how is it that a, you know, regular American, got to the point where he spends more money on butlers and maids per year than 4 average American families, combined, EARN per year?

Ross Perot would later say, "After he came home, he walked with a limp, she [Carol McCain] walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona [Cindy McCain, his current wife] and the rest is history."

McCain, an elitist? No, hell no. What McCain really is…..is a burnt-out, cynical opportunist, like W., who never liked bookwork or learning (5th from bottom of his class), couldn't fly planes very well (crashed four), had and still has a bad temper, didn't honor his marriage, divorced and married a fortune, and now is running to become president to make up for his utter failure to become an admiral like his daddy and grandaddy.

McCain is a more dangerous George W. Bush rerun.

I have no idea who Barack Obama will pick as his vice-presidential running mate….but I think today may be the day he announces his pick. Knee Padders of every network and cable teevee channel think they know who is on the "short list" for Obama's V.P., and they have been telling us about that short list, nauseatingly, for weeks. I hope Obama chooses someone else…..just to demonstrate how full of sh*t the media morons are.

Speaking of waste and morons…..I caught quite a bit of Suzanne Malveaux's CNN hitjob on Obama last night….ominously titled, "Obama Revealed". The 1980's sleazy porn music which played in the background of CNN's hitjob on the Democratic candidate for president….was extra special.

Malveaux followed the Knee Pad script to the letter….minimizing Obama's strong points while majoring on guilt by association nonsense. The program was so slanted, it could easily have been written by Karl Rove…and who knows….maybe it was. After all CNN is the Most Busted Name In News.

CNN, following in the footsteps of other "news" networks like FOX and ABC, has morphed into a shameless and disgraceful conduit of propaganda. Just stating the obvious.
________

I see Rachel Maddow got her own 9PM show on MSNBC starting the first full week of September. The 8-10PM MSNBC nightly programming slot will be the only refuge to be found from the neo-con hurricane of lies and disinformation swirling around us. Rachel is excellent….and in many ways she is better, even, than Keith Olbermann. I predict she will be the first to allow liberal bloggers (gasp) to be heard on teevee. Olbermann was the only actual progressive on cable or network news prior to Maddow's hire.

________

Very sad to hear about Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Democratic representative to Congress form Cleveland. She was the same age as The Reverend. Tubbs tragic death should remind all of us of how fragile our individual lives really are.

________

I'm hearing some rumblings from Johnny Mac Daddy that he may pick a pro-choice running mate, like Ridge or (Jesus) Lieberman. What a hoot that would be, huh? And speaking of hoots…..have you watched any of the video clips of Rush Limbaugh recently? Rushbo ain't happy with the thought of a pro-choice running mate for Straight Talk McDraw and he's saying so……but did you look at Rush's eyes? I'm telling ya'…..he's on the little blue pills again……and no, I ain't talking about Viagra.

And just think….recently the president, vice-president, brother of the president, and the president's daddy…..all called Rushbo up and congratulated the propagandist on a 20 year-long-knee-job well done.
_________

About Joementum. Joe Lieberman is a miserably distasteful man. His self-righteousness is palpable, disgustingly so. His neo-con-itis is maniacal. His desire to set the middle east on fire for the sake of Israel borders on treason. Lieberman is not a Democrat, no matter what comes out of his mouth. His speaking at the GOP convention will mean the end of Joe Lieberman as we've known him…..and not a moment too soon, either. Holy Joe will be a politician without a constituency, without a political party, and without any committee chairmanships. It's what he deserves for aiding and abetting a treasonous administration guilty of multiple felonies.

When Holy Joe speaks in Minnesota representing the GOP alongside of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, he will be where he belongs…..neo-conservative, anti-American traitors of a feather and all that. The GOP Convention's clean-up crew will need extra shovelers just to remove the deceptive bullsh*t left behind by Connecticut's own disgrace.
__________

And then there's Condi. Scott McClellan talks about Condi Rice in his book about the White House. Scotty saw her as a sycophantic failure. One who was willing to tell Decider what he wanted to hear, no matter what. She was, and is, a criminal administration facilitator.

With McClellan's viewpoint in mind…..it's pitiful to hear Condi be so void of self-awareness in her stupid words about the Russian/Georgian situation. Russia is berated by Rice…..Russia is chastised for invading a sovereign country, etc, etc,. Rice seems hopelessly oblivious to the fact that her boss is guilty of exactly the crimes Rice accuses Putin of doing. America continues to this day to militarily occupy Iraq, a previously sovereign country. Putin is dealing with a backyard dispute with separatists…..Bush sent $1 trillion worth of American military might halfway around the world to control any "separatist leaning oil reserves".

I must say that McCain and Rice have been way over the top about this Russian issue…..as has the Knee Pad Media. I suppose that the neo-con American traitors must respond to, you know, facts on the ground…..even if those facts are never portrayed…ummm….factually. Responding, exaggerating, and inflating a border dispute into World War 5, you must understand, is good for the GOP candidate.

I don't know how in the hell that equates…..after Iraq….but there it is.

From today's Beacon opinion piece by former George W. Bush speech writer and now McCain cheerleader, Michael Gerson…..slobberingly entitled "Authentic John McCain".

"…. the Warren forum demonstrated how difficult it will be for Obama to appeal to religious and conservative voters as the campaign proceeds. His outreach to evangelical voters is obviously sincere, but he doesn't actually agree with them on much." Link

I thought about Obama appearing and taking questions from Rick Warren, mega-church pastor and Jesus salesman extraordinaire. Barack Obama was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. If he didn't, the worn-out-knees media would swear Obama IS Muslim. The wingnut, Michael Gerson, demonstrates in his piece today why Obama was damned if he did.

Democrats, and therefore the Democratic presidential candidate, are pro-choice. No surprise there. Democrats believe strongly that it is a woman's right, not a black robed man, not a white preacher, not a wingnut writer….to choose her own reproductive course. Puffed-up charlatans and feel-good psycho-Jesus-babble salesmen who continue today to strain at gnats in discussions of zygotes and fetuses while simultaneously swallowing camels of wars of choice, have absolutely no vantage point to speak from when it comes to morals or ethics.

Michael Gerson knows this fact…and so he goes all "common sense" on us….

"His (Obama's) whole manner smacks of chalkboards and campus ivy. Issues from stem cell research to the nature of evil are weighed, analyzed and explained instead of confronted."

You see, Obama wants to analyze and explain and weigh the facts about stuff first before making important decisions. Seems like the normal way to go about things in the 21st century…..but not to Gerson. Gerson likes confrontation. You know, common sense confrontation…..like, say, Iraq. Why analyze and weigh facts when common sense confrontation is all that's necessary?

Because Obama is intelligent enough to not be compromised or tricked by a psycho-babble religion salesman asking whether he believes in the existence of evil or not…..Michael Gerson translates all of that into the hillbilly assumption that Obama would be too busy analyzing, weighing and explaining facts to be able to "confront" such evil. Gerson, himself, has never been able to "confront" the evil of George W. Bush's administration. Gerson can't comprehend the evil under his own nose….but what he can do…is recognize authenticity when he sees or hears it…..

"Asked by Warren about his greatest moral failure, McCain's response — "the failure of my first marriage" — had an abrupt and disarming authenticity. The account of his hardest decision — refusing release from captivity ahead of others who had been imprisoned longer — remains shocking in its valor. And McCain's habit of understatement — he described the excruciating rope torture he experienced in Vietnam as "very uncomfortable" — makes his stories even more effective."

Gerson isn't impressed by intellect….he's impressed by phony biographies of self-adulation. "The failure of my first marriage", Gerson says, was authentic in a disarming and abrupt way. I didn't here McCain confess that that "failure" was because he started f*cking women he wasn't married to and acting like he wasn't married at all when he came home from Vietnam. That would have been some "disarming authenticity", huh?

"The failure of my first marriage"….is no suggestion that McCain failed. So even here, McCain can't be straightforward and honest. Yet, Gerson, in what he has to call his Knee Pad Delight, found that non-answer disarmingly authentic.

To Gerson, doing what a naval officer is supposed to do while being held captive….is "shocking in it's valor"……and who didn't shed a tear when Johnny Mac recited his "very uncomfortable", yet "effective" story of torture? Notice how McCain's hardest decision wasn't about sending hundreds of thousands of people to their death with his Iraq vote…..instead McCain's hardest decision just happened to be in harmony with his own Rove driven campaign talking point, which features the only endearing quality McCain has….he was a prisoner of war 40 years ago.

Michael Gerson, like many Republicans this year, are depressed about their chances in November's election. They should be. People like Gerson can try and try and try to spin gold from straw all they want…..but straw will be all they will get. Obama will not receive the votes from evangelical wingnuts. That's true. A Democrat will never get those votes. However, thinking Americans…..those who analyze and weigh the political facts on the…umm…chalkboard…..will be voting for the intelligent, thoughtful candidate…..not the say-anything-in-front-of-winguts with "disarming authenticity", candidate.

Vote for change…..real change….we've had enough common sense, bullsh*t, authenticity.

Setting aside for now the far right Supreme judges a president John McCain would pick…..the Arizona senator's most disturbing quality is his neo-conservatism. The phony ambivalence we've seen and heard when McCain addresses the issue of George W. Bush should be a red flag to voters. Without doubt, the evidence demonstrates that McCain supported virtually everything George W. Bush placed on the table. Nowhere is this as transparently clear as it is with the Decider's war of choice. John McCain has always been in favor of attacking Iraq…..as well as other middle eastern countries….

[A]fter Mr. Bush declared he would hold responsible any country condoning terrorism, Mr. McCain called his leadership “magnificent” and his national security team the strongest “that has ever been assembled.” A few weeks later, Larry King of CNN asked whether he would have named Mr. Rumsfeld and Colin L. Powell to a McCain cabinet. “Oh, yes, and Cheney,” Mr. McCain answered, saying he, too, would have offered Mr. Cheney the vice presidency.

Even during the heat of the war in Afghanistan, Mr. McCain kept an eye on Iraq. To Jay Leno in mid-September, Mr. McCain said he believed “some other countries” had assisted Osama bin Laden, going on to suggest Iraq, Syria and Iran as potential suspects. In October 2001, when an Op-Ed page column in The New York Times speculated that Iraq, Russia or some other country might bear responsibility for that month’s anthrax mailings, Mr. McCain interrupted a question about Afghanistan from David Letterman on that night’s “Late Show.” “The second phase is Iraq,” Mr. McCain said, adding, “Some of this anthrax may — and I emphasize may — have come from Iraq.” […] Link

Calling the embarassingly weak Condi Rice, and the burnt-out, cynical, maniac, Donald Rumsfeld, part of the strongest national security team "that has ever been assembled"……and stating that Lucifer's own spawn, the traitor Richard Cheney, would have been a president McCain's VP as well….tells you almost everything you need to know to conclude that a John Sydney McCain III presidency….would indeed, be a third W. term.

It would appear that only about 28% of American voters would re-elect W. this November, you know, if given the opportunity. That 28% will be given just such an opportunity with the neo-conservative candidate, John McCain. Johnny Mac has made it perfectly clear that he would have not done anything differently from what George W. Bush's "magnificent" team did, when it came to the middle east and Iraq.

"The second phase is Iraq", McCain told Letterman. I ask,….the second phase of what? The answer, sadly, is….. the second phase of establishing permanent American military bases in the middle east through regime change. What McCain didn't tell Letterman about that night was the third phase….Iran and Syria. A president McCain will almost certainly follow through with the treasonous neo-conservative plan to attack Iran.

Hey, if endless wars of American imperialism are, you know, your thing…..then a third term of W. is made to order in the person of John McCain. If, however, you are one of the 70% who disapprove of W's presidency and think that unilaterally attacking countries which pose no threat to America is….umm….unhelpful…..then a third term of the Crawford Counterfeit Cowboy isn't what you're looking for.

Vote Obama this November. At least TRY to save the country.

My friends, let me give you some straight talk.

The GOP presidential candidate, John McCain, not the sharpest utility blade in the pack, takes advice, mostly, from lobbyists. Lobbyists like Randy Scheunemann.

John McCain's chief foreign policy adviser and his business partner lobbied the senator or his staff on 49 occasions in a 3 1/2-year span while being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the government of the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

On April 17, a month and a half after Scheunemann stopped working for Georgia, his partner signed a $200,000 agreement with the Georgian government. The deal added to an arrangement that brought in more than $800,000 to the two-man firm from 2004 to mid-2007. For the duration of the campaign, Scheunemann is taking a leave of absence from the firm.

This helps to explain why McCain has been acting like Dr. Evil, waxing all crazy-like with his over-the-top wild-eyed nonsense about Russia and what big, bad, and bankrupt America was going to do about Russia's breach of Georgian sovereignty.

McCain is being advised by a neo-con charter member who has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from…..surprise…..Georgia.

Scheunemann's lobbying firm is one of three that he has operated since 1999, with clients including BP Amoco, defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. and the National Rifle Association.

Big Oil, Big Defense and Big Gun. When McCain picks 'em, he doesn't want to leave any doubt about what in the hell he and his radical, extremist neo-conservatives stand for. Randy Scheuenemann is one of the original neo-conservatives….

Scheunemann is part of the community of neoconservatives who relentlessly pushed for war in Iraq.

In the months before the war began, Scheuenemann ran the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, set up in November 2002 when public support for the looming invasion was eroding.

Before that, Scheunemann was on board with the Project for the New American Century, whose letter to Bush nine days after the Sept. 11 attacks pointed to Iraq as a possible link to the terrorists.

Scheunemann was among the letter's 37 signers, a Who's Who of neoconservative luminaries including William Kristol and Richard Perle. Link

McCain has picked Scheuenmann as one of his foreign policy advisors. Scheuenemann believes and espouses the neo-conservative, pre-emptive wars of choice doctrine first implementd by Mr. 28%. Scheuenmann is a signee of the PNAC letter demanding an unprovoked attack on Iraq in 1999. He had to wait a few years until George and Dick fulfilled that demand, finally accomplished by propagandizing and lying to the American public.

Now candidate McCain is taking foreign policy advice from a neo-con lobbyist taking money from Georgia which leads to McCain waxing all belligerent and threatening in his words towards Russia, another oil rich country…..just like Iraq.

Much was made by the Knee Padders in the main media about Barack Obama's relationship with his pastor. Even though Obama distanced himself repeatedly and decisively from some of the Rev. Wright's more excitable diatribes….it was never enough….and I'm certain we haven't heard the last of this relationship, either. But a glaring conflict of interest by John McCain's head foreign policy advisor…leading to McCain's bellicose and insane threatenings…..not to mention McCain's presumptuousness, acting like he's the president…..is, somehow, mysteriously explained by those same Knee Padders as McCain being strong on foreign policy.

If Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and William Kristol are your idea of what patriots look like….then by all means….vote for the maverick neo-con lobbyist lover, John McCain, this November. If, however, you believe that those men listed, have done immeasurable damage to America with Iraq, preventable damage…..and therefore should never control our foreign policy or military ever again….then vote for Barack Obama.

John McCain…."In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations."

We're only 8 years into the 21st century. Not that much history to remember, even for a 72 year old cancer victim like McCain. A little over 5 years ago, John McCain and a host of other neo-cons, joined by the uninformed and the duped…..voted to invade another nation.

So….I have no idea what McCain was talking about here. Anyone else understand this?

Of course nations invade other nations in the 21st century…..and America leads the way in doing just that. In the 21st century, according to, you know, the Project for the New American Century, whose thinking Johnny Mac agrees with, that's exactly what America does and will continue to do…."invade other nations."

Perhaps McCain missed his medications. Perhaps he is just befuddled in the head. Perhaps he doesn't speak for his campaign….I mean, after all….he's only the candidate.

What's even more interesting….and confusing…is coupling what McCain says here about the 21st century with his own "there will be more wars" comment a few months ago.

I think I understand McCain's incomprehensible 21st century comment. What John means is that "other" nations don't invade nations in the 21st century. Why? Because that's America's job now. To invade and occupy other nations…..especially if they have lots and lots of oil.

The Soviet Union collapsed under it's own weight back in the late 80's and now there is, allegedly, only one 'superpower' remaining….us. Radical anti-American conservatives saw the fall of the Soviets as an opportunity for America to flex it's muscles and take what it needs for the 'new century'. The middle east was and is the first region targeted by these neo-con extremists. Their plan was to invade other nations in the 21st century, especially middle eastern nations.

So when the ole' maverick man says stuff like "nations don't invade other nations in the 21st century", Mr. McCain is not including the United States in with the word "nations". We're not like other nations. We're THE nation…..the good and exceptional nation who only invades other nations in the 21st century if those nations pose no threat to America and have the gall to have placed all that sand overtop all that oil that needs 'liberated'.

That's what the "straight, but a bit confused, talker" was getting at. Bush has had his numerous imbecilic outbursts, and Bush couldn't even lead the proverbial horse to water. Now, the GOP is offering up a muddled and erratic old white guy who can't even state the rogue Republican Party's platform correctly.

I expect that McCain's campaign, which speaks for the candidate and not the other way around, will issue a correction on Johnny Mac's statement.

"Words from the candidate do not necessarily reflect the views of the campaign nor the Republican Party. Furthermore, recently, the candidate has stated that, "in the 21st century, nations don't invade other nations." The campaign wants to correct any misimpressions about the candidate's words. John McCain, and the Republican Party, have long believed in invading other countries…..because other nations have assets and stuff America wants and needs. Because America is an exceptional nation….John McCain was not including America in with all the other 21st century "nations". Proudly, the campaign and the GOP, are now restating our policy concerning other nations….."

"America invades other nations in the 21st century, as required. No other nation can invade any other nation in the 21st century. America is the only nation who can be trusted to invade other countries and do it from a pure-as-snow motivation. While we agree and stand behind the words of Senator McCain that there will be "more wars"…..those wars must only be started and carried out by the United States. We hope this explanation clarifies the campaign's, and the Republican Party's, position on invading other nations."

It is a fact of American election life that voter fraud has never been a threatening problem to the election process. I challenge any conservative naysayers to produce evidence otherwise. Just like WMD in Iraq were a non-existent threat to America….so too voter fraud.

However, Republicans never take facts for an answer. And just like I've been predicting….GOP'ers are running around in swing states shouting "voter fraud". By shouting about something that doesn't exist, like WMD in Iraq, Republicans, then, can feel justified in going forward with their shock and awe voter rolls reduction campaign. Eliminating newly registered Democratic voters in the process. Obama has attracted many new voters to the process….and Republicans must do their unlevel best to eliminate as many of those new voters as possible…..from voting for Obama.

Republicans are moving to examine surges in voter registrations in some states. A Republican lawyers group held a national training session on election law over the weekend that included campaign attorneys for Sen. John McCain and other Republican leaders. One session discussed how party operatives can identify and respond to instances of voter fraud.

Republicans said they are particularly worried about prospects for fraud in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and are beginning to comb thousands of new registrations in those states for ineligible applicants. In some cases the huge numbers threaten to swamp their efforts — and those of state and local governments to verify and process applications. Link

"Particularly worried" about "prospects for fraud" in Virginia and Pennsylvania. No reason is given for the "worried" part. The reason these GOP'ers are "particularly worried", I suggest, is because a whole bunch of new voters registered to vote for Obama, not McCain. Reflexively, that means that there are "prospects for fraud". The only "fraud", of course, is the party complaining about being "worried". Because there are so many new registered voters in places like Virginia and Pennsylvania, most of them Democratic registrations, the GOP Party of Vote Suppression is just being "swamped" trying to keep up with the invisible fraud.

The Three Stooges on crack.

How many times do American voters have to witness this same old voter suppression game by Republicans before they throw their undemocratic asses out permanently?

Note: The only recent election that was stolen…..was stolen by the 7-2 Republican appointed Supreme Court.

In the general election campaign, I mean.

Other than an occasional policy difference being discussed by the two presidential candidates, this summer's general campaign has been nothing if it hasn't been substance free. Substance free, just as the GOP and the Villager Media want it. Majoring in trivialities in order to avoid discussing the serious failures of the last 8 years of a rogue Republican regime, Knee Padders everywhere have focused, instead, on the most moronic and juvenile material yet offered up as "reporting".

I suppose it's fitting for this presidential campaign to have evolved into nothing but a bad theatrical performance. After all, America is known for it's entertainment, even though most of it is poor, mindless and tasteless.

Based on what we've witnessed thus far, I have some observations concerning what we'll witness leading up to November.

The Olympics will give us all a much needed break from the nonsense….any disturbance around the Olympics will be explained as good for Republicans….because, you know, the Republicans have such a strong record of protecting the country. Only two terrorist attacks on America under their guidance.

It is possible that around the time of the Democratic Convention at the end of the month that some GOP staged event will be rolled out to detract from the scene of those 70,000 Americans (not Germans) gathered to hear Obama claim his candidacy. The GOP is good at staging fake events,(Florida 2000, forging documents, Iraq is a threat so we must attack and occupy), so look for something big and phony.

September will usher in the GOP 527 sleaze machine complete with sequels of distraction featuring Wm. Ayers, Rev. Wright, ugly attacks on Michelle Obama and more exciting and meaningless subterfuges. The Knee Padders for the Establishment will spin them over and over for the sake of the hapless militarist maverick.

September will also bring us, I suggest, more voter disenfranchise plans from the GOP. Voter rolls will be culled in key swing states to reduce the big advantage the Democrats have built up in the last couple of years. Voter ID scams will be rampant. It's just what the Republican Party does.

With Rove pulling the strings, not only within McCain's campaign, but also now within the media…..he'll be able to control the narrrative. Funny, how an unindicted co-conspirator in a multiple conviction felony case can still run McCain's campaign and spout off in the media and never be called to answer for any of it.

There has been a renewed focus by the Bush administration, of late, on Afghanistan/Pakistan. I wouldn't be surprised if Zawahiri or even Bin Laden is taken down before the election. October surprise, and all that. All things are political to this group of criminals….there is no shame….so virtually ANYTHING is possible.

The GOP badly needs something big to attract the wingnut evangelical voters, to give them a reason to come out and vote. McCain is not religious at all (actually a good thing) but as we've already seen with Hagee and Parsley, and with Joementum Lieberman with Hagee, the 72 year old Arizonan is not above pandering to the anti-science radicals.

It is possible that none of this will happen and that the GOP will simply take their lumps and then step up their game of playing obstructionistic defense in January. However, the GOP machine prides itself on being a bunch of, you know, fighters. Resolute fighters. We've all witnessed over the last 8 years how that translates……the Republican Party can put on a good entertaining (albeit vapid) show. They can't tell the truth, they can't defeat America's enemies, and they can't govern….but with the devoted efforts of the Knee Padders "keeping it real"….they can sure put on a spectacle of emptiness (Mission Accomplished).

It's not what's true that's important, it's only the perception.

ABC News can't find stuff fast enough to support the tired, hollow presidential campaign of John Sydney McCain. ABC News, as we have seen recently in the anthrax letters story, does whatever it has to do in order to please establishment Republicans….even if that means spreading Bush lies and then swearing to them…..as they did in assisting America's rogue leader in leading Americans to believe, wrongly, that Iraq presented a threat to the U. S.

The new GOP Leader is Mr. McCain, and so ABC News is quick to spread McCain's silly and moronic lies, yukking it up as only empty-headed morons can…..

McCain has found a groove — and with those tire gauges already scattered wide, remember that no one can push a message (or make a quote famous) quite like a united Republican Party. Link

No one can push an empty-headed, moronic and lying message quite like the Republican Party. Of course, the Republican Party can't push an empty-headed, moronic, and lying message without the help of Knee Pad folks, like ABC News.

And here I thought when Mr. McCain offered up his wife Cindi to compete in the Sturgis topless contest today, he had found his groove.

ABC News' Bret Hovell reports: Obama's energy plan, as framed by the McCain campaign, can be summed up with one small giveaway to the press: a tire pressure gauge.

I realize that Republican voters aren't in the top half of the high school graduates out there….these dimmer bulbs have that in common with the presidential nominee for their party this year….with McCain coming in 5th from the bottom academically out of a class of 800. Shiny and stupid symbols are what amuses this dimmer group. You know, purple heart bandaids of mockery, flip-flops held up by fat and sweaty Republican women….and now shiny tire pressure gauges that sparkle in the light.
One thing you can say about Republicans…..they are amused easily. I attribute that to the often cited "common sense" they all have instead of high GPA's.

McCain senior adviser Mark Salter came to the press section of McCain's plane Monday morning to hand out the gag gifts: gauges that read "Obama's Energy Plan", a reference to the presumptive Democratic nominee's recommendation last week that Americans make sure the tires on their automobiles are properly inflated in order to maximize fuel efficiency.

Who better to amuse so easily than the Knee Pad Media members….recognizable by their glazed donut icing drippings on their chins, compliments of the Straight Talk Express. With so many lies, f*ckups, confusion and flip-flops by the Arizona cancer victim…..it's now become a challenge to keep McCain's base, the media, from criticizing him. What better way than with a gag gift? Gag gift….Knee Pads…you do the math.

ABC's lone line of redemption…..

Experts have heralded Obama's suggestion — that Americans tune up their cars and fully inflate their tires — as one that could save up to 292,000,000 barrels of oil a year. Link

For those not so easily amused by shiny objects:

The issue under consideration is what can be done that would have an immediate impact on gasoline prices. John, Big Oil, McCain says the answer is drilling. Of course, McCain the joker, only flipped to this moronic answer after Hess Oil officials and other oil industry folks gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the maverick. Bush's energy department says that drilling won't have an impact on gasoline prices for 10-20 years. And then when that oil reaches the market, it won't lower oil prices one thin dime. Now there's a funny story for ABC to report on….but what fun would that be when shiny objects of stupidity are out there to, you know, report on.

Obama's answer of tune-up and tire inflation would immediately cut America's demand, thus in principle, lowering crude prices. But see who states this stuff? "Experts." Who needs experts when morons are so much funnier….and they are just oh-so-good at pushing a moronic message, aren't they? Experts with facts and studies and empirical data are soo zzzzz…..I mean, how fun would it have been if the morons hadn't lied us into attacking and occupying Iraq? How many amusing moments would we have lost if the Republican morons only relied on facts and studies and empirical data concerning Iraq? Much more amusing just to tell moronic stories in order to blow up Muslims, don't you think?

And so it is with tire pressure gauges handed out on the Flat Tire Express. They're all shiny and, you know, fun….and Knee Padders can wave them around under the light while they're servicing the owner of the bus.

Mainstream media has been covering for John McCain ever since the general election campaign began.

When I say "covering", what I mean is that the mainstream "news" people have refused to cover McCain's many, many flip-flops, errors, mistakes, contradictions, and hypocrises. If, in a moment of weakness, these same media creatures must cover one of McCain's unavoidable embarassments, they do so in an apologetic manner, never really faulting the Arizona senator, and always finding some justification.

If these same "newspeople" treated Barack Obama similarly, then, the incompetence would at least be equally distributed. However, that's not the case. Every word that Obama utters is being microscoped for it's potential "gaffeness".

I've been mentioning this problem here and there….but now, there's a study out that proves that my observations are quite accurate. The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University conducted the media study. Their study of the first six weeks of the general election campaign news coverage (ABC, NBC, CBS, in this case), reveals that while positive comments by newspeople towards McCain happened 43% of the time, Obama only received positive coverage 28% of the time. While McCain garnered negative comments 57% of the time in the media, Obama garnered negative comments 72% of the time. Source

I expect McCain voters will simply dismiss this study and this evidence that the "liberal" media has been favoring McCain. Inconvenient facts have a history of being ignored.

The media coverage I absorbed from last week's Obama trip is indicative of the problem. Virtually every news program picked apart Obama's trip. The same talking point, that Obama was being "presumptuous" by traveling to these many countries and speaking, could be heard on every network news show. I've never witnessed Andrea Mitchell, of NBC and MSNBC, so bitter. She had to cover Obama's trip….and her bitterness over Obama's successful trip was palpable. At times, I thought she was going to swear into the microphone. David Gregory spent a lot of time on his show spinning Obama's successful trip in a negative light. Brian Williams of NBC, donning his McCain campaign hat, arrogantly asked Obama, "Senator Obama, isn't it time for you to say you were wrong about the surge?" Kitty Pilgrim of CNN said on Saturday that Obama's words on McCain and Bush's surge were "outrageous". Just a tiny sampling.

Once again, if these same media folks would apply the same microscopic pressure to John McCain's boatload of incomprehensible rhetoric…then that would be one thing. But that hasn't been happening. There is only one media justification I can think of. The Knee Pad justification.

Could it be that the main media already knows Obama will more than likely win in a blowout and they're just trying to help McCain keep it close for the sake of ratings? If the media doesn't bias the election news towards McCain, and instead, does something they rarely do, ….tell the truth……the possibility is high that American viewers will turn off their news shows more frequently, having reached an understanding that an Obama presidency is all but a done deal.

John McCain served his country in Vietnam. But John McCain, especially at his age, is not a good presidential candidate. McCain's base, the media, knows that. So I'm sure McCain's base just wants to help their accessible buddy out a bit, you know, to save him from too much embarassment.

Problem is….the media's "helping out" of McCain is no longer distinguishable from propaganda.

Here's the Countdown clip from last night dealing with this subject….

disenfranchise(v.) - to deprive of a franchise, of a legal right, or of some privilege or immunity; especially : to deprive of the right to vote.

Michigan, you've won! And Florida, you win again!

Democrats of Michigan and of Florida, you have been denied the right to vote by the Democratic party...not the national one but the one of your own state. It was THEIR idea to move the primaries ahead against the wishes of the national party. Whether the state governments were complicit or not, the Democratic Parties of Michigan and Florida effectively disenfranchised every Democrat in those two states.

Smooth move, dorks.

I smell class action...

As far as delegates, I think that a number of delegates equal to the number of delegates that would have been assigned to Michigan and Florida should be picked from the other 48 states and DC to represent Michigan and Florida. So what they aren't from Michigan or Florida. Citizens of those states only have their local party to blame.

Howard Dean, don't succumb to them. I know you are made of sterner stuff.

Charles Wade Barkley...

I recently read his Barack Obama chapter in his book "Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man" and I really appreciate the chapter. I think that Charles Barkley is a very straight shooter and the best power forward ever. I think that seeing Barack as president would do wonders for the self-esteem of some of the kids out there with no hope.

I love Barkley's take about judgemental conservatives as "fake Christians". When Wolf asks him if he feels comfortable about his stance, he says, "I don't work for them." Classic.