Almost as volatile as the "race" issue in this year's election is the issue of age. It is as equally impossible to ignore the reality of McCain's age as it is to ignore Obama's being black. The media and most pundits have tip-toed around this subject for months. I doubt that there is anyone out there who hasn't had a parent or grandparent, aunt or uncle who as they advanced into there seventies began to exhibit signs of diminishing mental ability. It's just a fact of life. It's not a stigma. It's not something you whisper about. It is something you become concerned about that's all.
"I only regret that I have but one life to give my country." - Nathan Hale (Patriot)
One of the greatest sacrifices one can give for their country is to serve it in uniform. Despite right wing claims to the contrary; those of us on the left understand, respect and honor the service of every man and woman who has served in the armed forces. It is a deadly job. The risks of which far out weigh the pay. Indeed not only did most of the Iraq war proponents not serve, but most of their Democratic counterparts actually did!
Furthermore it's worth pointing out here at the start that Democratic Senators like Cleland (D-GA), Kerry (D-MA), Kerrey (D-NE), Robb (D-VA) and Hagel (R-NE) actually defended John McCain when he was smeared in 2000 by George W. Bush. Couple that with the parties votes on Veterans issues and there should be no question about whether or not the Democratic Party supports the troops.
He's Bush's Third in every way imaginable, even when it comes to speaking in public. In fact, he's WORSE than Bush:
I knew it was bad, but watching this video put it all in prospective for me, well in better prospective. He really doesn't seem to be competent, which is making this grading curve the media is providing all the worse.
Sen. John McCain's campaign is returning about $50,000 raised by a Florida oil executive because some of the funds were collected by a foreign national and came from donors who may not support the candidate, aides said yesterday.
This is my first diary ever on DailyKos. I was inspired to write about the book/cultural zeitgeist "The Secret" because I realized it has unsettling parallels to the Republican style of control of the collective unconscious. I realize I jump from topic to topic quite a bit, but these are just some musings I'm having this Thursday evening with a quantity of red wine, and I'd love to hear some other Kossack opinions.
Did yall read Mcane is givin prizes fer spammin librul sites? This is my plee to you libruls...
SPAM THIS YALL! PLEESE I NEAD HELP REEL BAD!
I need SPAM reel bad! Pleese spam this thred!! Libruls if yall are reely not commys I cud use yore help NOW
Since Mcane got on the intarnets I figgered I should to. Do you no how long it took to find this site? DalyCuz...NO! DaleyCuz....NO!Is KOS French or somethang? Rush said they help terrists. Anyhoo it took me a hole day. The DOT thang cornfuzed me. Finaly tiped a . and YAHOO! I was on the intarnets here like my boy Mcane
Id even vote fer Obama if yule spam fer me (never you mind my feleny....Long storey...)
Anyhoo my stove dont werk cause I shot it one day. Rush tolt me libruls was tryin to rune the cuntry. Licker and libruls and me dont go together to good.
Yikes. I'm in Missouri this summer. I just saw 3 anti-Obama ads during this single commercial break alone. All three used the "Obama Chant" background noise and two referred to him being the biggest celebrity in the world. I hadn't seen the last one - "Will the biggest celebrity in the world help your family".
Man, this has got to stop. They are just terrible commercials, but yet I can see them being effect. With the chanting, etc they are fairly haunting.
Obama needs something more cutting edge to fight back!
[Note: This is a new version of a previously published diary, updated to reflect the results of the primaries.]
Talking Points (a full description below the fold):
- Linda Ketner is a liberal Democrat running against a solidly conservative and ethically questionable Republican in a district that is itself highly conservative.
- Linda Ketner is fundraising at an unusually prodigious rate for a Democrat in this district, trouncing the incumbent Republican.
- Prospects for the Democratic party are high enough this year that Linda Ketner has a real chance of winning, but only if South Carolina Democrats put their all in.
- The DNC needs to support Ketner, so Democrats should make sure they’re doing their part.
I'm currently aiming for 25 contributors, so please give what you can afford. It may only be a few dollars, but I still remember Barack Obama's reference to a woman who sent him $3.01. Every little bit helps.
Are liberals a bunch of self-loathing and self-sabotaging idiots? I will surely have stones thrown at me, but I don’t care, because I am getting really frustrated with more and more liberals/democrats behaving stupidly.
Depending on whose results you look at, Obama's lead is anywhere from +1 (Rasmussen) to +7 (CNN), with a median, according to RealClearPolitics, of 3.6% (unless of course you happen to like Gallup/USA Today, which must have been sampling McCain's relatives because it has him up by 4%).
What does any of this mean? Not a whole heck of a lot, I guess. The election, as Keith Olbermann continues to remind us, is still a whole lot of days away. And besides, we all know that the GOP has the ways and means to steal it anyway. They've done it before.
But maybe--just maybe--this time such theft might not be possible. Take a look below the fold for the reason.
Most cable shows that feature "guest panels" are almost unwatchable, in my opinion. Guests are chosen for their combativeness, and the thought is that screaming and arguing are the only ways to make the shows interesting. With her guest hosting on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow is proving that the host sets the tone, and, in doing so, is showing that she is more qualified than David Gregory to be hosting that show.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune allowed Sen. Norm Coleman to excrete some Norm-speakTM on their op-ed page today. It seems that Norm has decided to make the Republican lie "Drill Here, Drill Now" a central part of his campaign.
Nothing is more urgent or of greater significance to the American people than solving our energy crisis -- it is an issue that hits to the core of family budgets, our economy and our national security. From my travels across this state, it is clear that Minnesotans are united in the belief that any solution to our nation's energy crisis that doesn't produce a single drop more of oil is half-hearted. And rather than staying in session to address the rising cost of fuel, the U.S. Senate simply allowed time to expire to August adjournment without accomplishing a single thing. [emphasis mine]
(Star Tribune)
I learned a lesson in law school, more than thirty yeas ago, which has proven correct time and time again in every debate, argument, or conflict, whether legal, political or personal.
The person or party that defines the issue wins.
A few weeks ago, Obama's tour de force of Europe had the media swooning. The narrative was that Obama had risen to the challenge on foreign policy issues. The media images of Obama showed world leaders and battlefield tours. McCain's images featured "Mac 'n Cheese."
Obama "won" that week because the narrative was centered on how everyone from Maliki to Bush was now adopting Obama's policies, such as a "timetable" for Iraq. The focus was Obama's entrance to the world stage.
Last week, McCain's ads reframed an Obama success into a debate on "Is he too presumptuous" "Is he a shallow celebrity" etc.
Follow me below the fold and let's discuss two things Obama can do to reframe the issues and change the media narrative.
The economy is still tanking. Big pillars of the banking industry, the dow jones industrials, the mainstreet retailers are all posting big losses and write downs. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck - it's a duck. Economists will argue over whether it's a Recession. But unemployment is up, markets are stagnant or down, inflation is up, we're more and more beholden to our debt service and foreign interests. And, this economic state hasn't changed that much in about a year now.
This Presidential election will be won on Economic issues.
"Government is too big, he wants to grow it. Taxes are to [sic] high, he wants to raise them," McCain said. "Congress spends too much and he proposes more. We need more energy and he's against producing it. We're finally winning in Iraq, and he wants to forfeit."
How can I NOTspread the word about how great John McCain's ass backward policies will be for ruining this country for years, nay, DECADES to come?
I mean, all I have to do is sell out my soul, er, astroturf because there are no real McCain supporters out there, er, troll progressive blog sites, er, (swallows hard) proudly support a man who has done nothing really of note since coming back from Vietman, I mean, is hawking cheap crap on his campaign website if I promise to copy and paste talking points into blogs in the hope that even brainless people won't notice that I am a new user with no diary or commenting history.
Talk about an opportunity that can't be passed up....
Yesterday I posted a news item about Hillary's attack on the Bush crony contracts. Today I found an item about her senate bill on federal aid to local transit authorities.
