Response to Mayhill Fowler II:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ ma...tml#postComment

This is the second column of yours that I've read. First of all, I'm glad Hillary almost always knows where she is. I know she's not where I am as a voter almost always. She's closer to Joe Lieberman, James Carville, and the DLC than she is to Howard Dean and the DNC. Barack, on the other hand, is running his campaign by Dean's playbook page for page.

Frankly, I'd take Obama's association with Wright and Ayers over Clinton's association with Carville and Lieberman in a heartbeat. I really liked Hillary when she ran for the Senate here in NY. I just can't stand the people she surrounds herself with and I sure as hell don't want them influencing White House policy.

Obama/Dean
Accept no prostitutes!

Subway's Obama Campaign Limericks

The laughter, I just can't contain!
Never thought such a dame could campaign,
And bolster her fight,
With 'points' from the right,
Each day she sounds more like McCain!

And what the hell happened to Bill?
To his dear wife, again he's a pill!
If you want to bring your spouse,
Back into the White House,
You should try not to be such a shill.

When the Gopers anointed McCain,
They knew they'd be missing the train.
They'll soon be in trauma,
When Barack Obama,
Flushes their dreams down the drain!

Our candidate's name is Barack.
He'll come under right wing attack.
But he'll win the day,
Standing far from the fray,
If Howard Dean's watching his back!

Iraq: Six Months at a time

(h/t Crooks and Liars)

Response to Mayhill Fowler @HuffPo

I saw this at the Huffington Post this afternoon in a thread by Clinton supporter Mayhill Fowler:

Last night at a fundraiser in San Francisco, Barack Obama took a question on what he's looking for in a running mate. "I would like somebody who knows about a bunch of stuff that I'm not as expert on," he said, and then he was off and running. "I think a lot of people assume that might be some sort of military thing to make me look more Commander-in-Chief-like. Ironically, this is an area--foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Senator Clinton or Senator McCain."

"It's ironic because this is supposedly the place where experience is most needed to be Commander-in-Chief. Experience in Washington is not knowledge of the world. This I know. When Senator Clinton brags 'I've met leaders from eighty countries'--I know what those trips are like! I've been on them. You go from the airport to the embassy. There's a group of children who do native dance. You meet with the CIA station chief and the embassy and they give you a briefing. You go take a tour of a plant that [with] the assistance of USAID has started something. And then--you go.

"You do that in eighty countries--you don't know those eighty countries. So when I speak about having lived in Indonesia for four years, having family that is impoverished in small villages in Africa--knowing the leaders is not important--what I know is the people. . . .

"I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college--I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. . . .

"Nobody is entirely prepared for being Commander-in-Chief. The question is when the 3 AM phone call comes do you have somebody who has the judgment, the temperament to ask the right questions, to weigh the costs and benefits of military action, who insists on good intelligence, who is not going to be swayed by the short-term politics. By most criteria, I've passed those tests and my two opponents have not."

My response to this article didn't make it into the comment section of this thread, so I'm posting it here:

I've been saying it for several months now. McCain is such a weak candidate that Obama doesn't need to flow with the conventional wisdom. What Obama needs is someone who is ready to be President from day one. He needs someone who can help solidify the base of the Party as he reaches across the aisle. He needs a pit bull who can help him remain above the fray as he goes up against the right wing noise machine this fall, someone who's itching for the fight.

He needs to be able to take that fight to all 50 states. He needs someone who isn't beholden to the DLC, and who is a rock solid member of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. It's sad to say it in the 21st Century, but if he's going to be the first black President of the United States he needs a Vice President whom the right wing fears more than anyone else, just for that extra measure of safety that the Secret Service can't provide That man was endorsed by Al Gore and Jimmy Carter in 2004. His name is Howard Dean.

"Great American Hypocrites" A New Book

I just got finished reading an excerpt from Glen Greenwald's "Great American Hypocrites" which is currently threaded at the Huffington Post. Here's a taste of that thread:

It examines the deceitful, personality-based election tactics the Right uses to build absurd cults of personality around their leaders while demonizing liberal and Democratic candidates. Accompanying that, as always, is the vital role the establishment press plays in disseminating those vapid though powerful themes. This excerpt is from the chapter concerning John McCain's candidacy and how those themes will be deployed by the right-wing/media monster to transform him into a principled, honor-bound American icon.

Folks should read the article and buy the book, or at least order it in your local library so that the Department of Homeland Security can have a record of it. My comment made it into the thread.

First of all Thanks to Mr. Greenwald for another home run.

My concern is that there is compelling evidence that indicates that the Bush/Cheney cabal was never legally elected in the first place, and the mendacity that Glen relates to makes me wonder what most folks consider unthinkable. If in fact these high offices were stolen, what makes anyone think they just intend to hand those offices back to the people when they're times up? As Andrew Sullivan rightly put it, these guys will be tried for war crimes if they leave the country. In fact, the only thing standing between these people and serious prosecution here at home is their current address. These folks have already made it clear that they have no problem with losing a major city. They laugh about it when they think the cameras aren't looking, and they do it in front of high ranking journalists at Gridiron Dinners to boot. The very people who should be telling us about the laughter, so that we can show our outrage. I believe that between now and January, this Nation is on perilous ground. Who's to stop them if they decide not to leave, Gen. Petreus? Michael Mukasey?