Response To McCain's Pitiful Attempt To Address The Dregs Of The Republican Party

There was actually a genuine maverick moment in McCain's otherwise exploitive, turgid, boring speech last night: he defied the cease and desist order he got from Heart and played their song "Barracuda" when he was finished, as several men nearly as old as he is dosed off, dreaming happily of lower taxes and warm milk.

I'm speechless. I don't know what to say. His speech was the product of a confused, crumbling mind that is sure of 3 things: it's his turn, he's owed the presidency, and his lobbyists have assured him they can use self-righteous right-wing resentment to capture it for him... as long as he doesn't try sticking to any old-fashioned scruples. It made me want to hurl. There's nothing much more that I can say about it. Jesse, the son of an old college buddy IM-ed me while McCain was still spewing. He's in an Eastern European-style folk band called Which Way East that spans the cultural divide between Plovdiv and Brooklyn.

jervis03 (7:27:55 PM): this man is scary

A short time later I got an e-mail from another musician, Scott Ryser from The Units, a band that used to be on my San Francisco indie label in the late 70s. Scott felt the need to get his thoughts out:

I was having a hard time understanding the poor old codger at first …
The bad fitting dentures didn't help him any …
And of course he misplaced his reading glasses again, making it tough to see that teleprompter.
Kind of like feeling sorry for your dim witted, demented, war vet grampa …
(Sorry to break the news folks, but at my age we ALL have war vet grampas that we love … but wouldn't vote for … for fucking president)
Putting up with his grouchy bullshit ridicule cause you know he's not going to be around for long … and you don't want to piss off your mom or your girlfriend by telling the old asshole that he's lost his marbles.
But I think I get it now … I think McCane (as in walking stick) is like one of those old guys in the Indian tribes that knows that the best thing he could do for the tribe is to walk off into the wilderness and fertilize some trees … but he's not quite ready to throw in the Depends yet … so he figures if can keep telling us these campfire stories about how he was captured by that bad tribe … maybe we'll all feel bad for him … and we'll keep chewing his food for him for a while, so we can listen to his stories.  I know … it's sad.  He's really sad.  But is the personality trait “sad” a good reason to vote for the leader of the free world?
Palin's speech left me feeling like I had narrowly escaped a lynch mob.
McCane (as in walking stick) left me feeling sad … (poor old fella).
Gee … what a great ticket!
These two should really make the rest of the world envy and respect us again!

My neighbor down the street isn't a musician; her husband is the most famous drummer in the world though. She said if McCain and Palin were elected she would throw herself off Mount Rushmore. Hillary Clinton's reaction wasn't as colorful-- but it went right to the point of why McCain is going to lose in November by historic proportions:

"The two party conventions showcased vastly different directions for our country. Senator Obama and Senator Biden offered the new ideas and positive change America needs and deserves after eight years of failed Republican leadership. Senator McCain and Governor Palin did not.

"After listening to all of the speeches this week, I heard nothing that suggests the Republicans are ready to fix the economy for middle class families, provide quality affordable health care for all Americans, guarantee equal pay for equal work for women, restore our nation's leadership in a complex world or tackle the myriad of challenges our country faces.

"So, to slightly amend my comments from Denver: NO WAY, NO HOW, NO McCAIN-PALIN."

An Obama campaign spokesperson, Bill Burton went further in expressing frustration at McCain's utterly deceptive attempt to persuade Americans that he has some role in finding a solution to problems that he worked so diligently to create:

"Tonight, John McCain said that his party was elected to change Washington, but that they let Washington change them. He's right. He admonished the 'old, do-nothing crowd' in Washington, but ignored the fact that he's been part of that crowd for twenty-six years, opposing solutions on health care, energy, and education. He talked about bipartisanship, but didn't mention that he's been a Bush partisan 90% of the time, that he's run a Karl Rove campaign, and that he wants to continue this President's disastrous economic and foreign policies for another four years.  With John McCain, it's more of the same.
 
"That's not the change Americans need. Barack Obama has taken on the special interests and the lobbyists in Illinois and in Washington, and he's won. As President, he'll cut taxes for 95% of all working families, provide affordable health care to every American, end the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas, and eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years."

If you want to read a line by line refutation of all McCain's-- and Palin's speechwriter's-- lies, Fact Check at JustMoreOfTheSame.com lays it all out in well-documented irrefutable black and white. Political hacks like Karl Rove and John McCain count on people never bothering to read the facts-- and just swallowing whole the 30 second sound bytes and 60 second attack ads they're so good at. Two nights ago Palin spat out the nastiest speech of this campaign to date. Focus groups so far are indicating that other than the hard right dittoheads, people were mostly repulsed by her negativity. Last night McCain put the country to sleep. Oh, you'll hear insider partisan hacks who masquerade as legitimate journalists-- the David Broders, Rush Limbaughs and Liz Sidotis of the world-- paraphrasing Rove's talking points that were handed out before the speech was even given. But listen to a disappointed Michael Gerson, a former Bush speech writer: "The policy in the speech was rather typical for a Republican. Pretty disappointing. It didn't do a lot of outreach to moderates and independents on issues that they care about. It talked, about issues like drilling and school choice which was really speaking to the converted. I think that was a missed opportunity. Many Americans needed to hear from this speech something they have never heard from Republicans before. And in reality, a lot of the policy they’ve heard from Republicans before... Tonight was not particularly innovative, interesting or promising. It was the speech of someone who talked about being a past Maverick." And that's from someone defending him! David Gergen at CNN pretty much saw it the same way: "It was mostly a rerun, retread of a lot of old Republican ideas that have brought us to where we are now. I think the country is looking for fresh answers. It's hard to separate yourself out from President Bush when you essentially have the same economic policies as President Bush." Even GOP TV was making fun of him-- Chris Wallace: "It was a green backdrop behind him, it was a big lawn in front of a big house. You thought what the heck was that? It looked like it could have been one of the McCain mansions"

What Does Sarah Palin's Selection Tell Us About John McCain's Readiness To Lead?

I so do not want to write any more about McCain's reckless choice of a completely unvetted-- unless getting the thumbs up from religious fanatics is your idea of serious vetting-- candidate for a possible next president of the United States. I'm sure you've already read how she and her husband have been members of a fringe political party that was pushing Alaska to secede from the U.S. and about how she is embroiled in a scandal the media has dubbed "Troopergate," which she is attempting to coverup and derail.

People may be fascinated-- and even sympathetic-- by the train wreck that is Sarah Palin's personal soap opera, but what does it say about McCain that his first big-- and this is really big, given his age and poor health-- executive decision was made in such a shoddy, slipshod manner? This isn't about Sarah Palin's gender or her family. It isn't about alcoholism, a son busted for vandalism and drugs and then forced into the army to avoid jail, or sexual promiscuity, wild MySpace pages, a flip-flippin' career based on pork and earmarks, outrageous ethical lapses, or sensationalistic stories in the National Enquirer or Us Weekly. And it isn't about Sarah Palin's faith or even the whacky, anti-Semitic, crazier-than-Reverend Wright sermons she sat through. This is about John McCain's inability to live up to the most basic precepts of national leadership. People who know him best-- other than those like Lieberman and Lindsey Graham riding on his coat tails-- all say he has never exhibited any capacities for leadership. From the time he was in the Navy right through his time in the Senate, he was always judged to be severely lacking in leadership and executive abilities. The Sarah Palin debacle should not come as a surprise to anyone, just as another warning.

In case you were wondering what the right-wing talking heads really think about McCain's irresponsible pick, this clip catches GOP shills Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy, two phonies who should each be permanently banned from TV now-- inadvertently talking into open mikes during a break. OMG; this should be devastating. They think the Palin disaster is the end of whatever chances McCain had-- quite the opposite of what they say when the cameras are rolling:



And if you missed any of that, here's a rough transcript:

Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state government work. Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And these guys, this is all how you want to win a Texas race. You know, just run it up. And it's not gonna work.

Noonan: It's over.

Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

Todd: Its insulting to Kay Baily Hutchinson ??

Noonan: I saw Kay this morning

Murphy: They're all bummed out. I mean, is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives and (inaudible) the picture.

Murphy: Yeah, but what's the narrative?

Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at and they blow it.

Murphy: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.

Wishful Thinking From The Sinking McCain Camp

John McCain's most corrupt and highest ranking lobbyist, shameless campaign hack Rick Davis, has always been determined to make the presidential campaign about racism. His divisive and patently un-American game plan, turns John McCain's once respectable legacy into a pile of smelly crap. Today he admitted that for him and the GOP "this election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, saw it a little differently from the way they're looking at the election on the rapidly cratering Double Talk Express:

We appreciate Senator McCain's campaign manager finally admitting that his campaign is not in fact about the issues the American people care about, which is exactly the kind of cynical old politics people are ready to change. Senator Obama will continue to make this election about the big issues: whether tax breaks go to big corporations or middle-class families, whether we hand out giveaways to oil companies or invest in renewable energy, and whether we continue to spend $10 billion a month in Iraq or finally put an end to this war.

My friend Matt e-mailed me from St Paul. He said there are so few people at the Convention that he was in shock. He says there are very few candidates there and no excitement. I was just listening to MSNMC and they're saying the same thing-- small, empty venue, no energy, dismal vibe, etc. Now David Plouffe isn't exactly a Double Talk Express favorite. While Obama has strongly admonished Democrats to "back off" criticizing her family, Plouffe has tried to make the Palin story a story about McCain's terrible judgment and impulsive decision.

He said Ms. Palin's governmental record in Alaska is fair game for examination in the final two months of the campaign, but not her family.

"You have to assume that when you're making this pick-- if something happened to you-- you are choosing the 45th president of the United States," Mr. Plouffe said. "And it's a big decision."

...When Mr. Obama named Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. as his running-mate on Aug. 23, aides declined to offer a window into how Mr. Obama made what he called one of the biggest decisions of his candidacy. But as questions persist over the extent of vetting Ms. Palin was subjected to, aides to Mr. Obama reversed course Tuesday and sought to draw distinctions between the two vice presidential searches.

Mr. Plouffe said the selection of Mr. Biden came after more than two months of extensive examination that included separate meetings with a team of lawyers, the leaders of the search committee, top campaign aides and finally an interview with Mr. Obama. Mr. Plouffe said every immediate member of the Biden family, including his three children, his brother, his sister and his wife also met with members of the vetting team.

"If you're fortunate enough to win, this person could become president and you better feel comfortable you got that right," Mr. Plouffe said. "We have a history of vice presidents becoming president in this country. Hopefully, no matter who wins, that won't be the case, but I think the process and the thought that goes into this is pretty important to voters."

Earlier we looked at a poll that showed Obama's bounce had been greater than a typical bounce. Now that people have started questioning McCain's judgment in picking an inexperienced running mate with series ethical problems, bizarrely extremist policy positions-- she thinks contraceptives and condoms should be outlawed and she and her husband were activists for Alaska seceding from the U.S.-- and a messy personal life, Obama has just gone over the 50% mark for the first time in a Gallup tracking poll. Electorally, this scenario would leave McCain with a few sparsely populated western states, like Utah, Wyoming and Idaho and most of the Old Confederacy and Obama with the rest of the U.S.-- and an overwhelming electoral vote landslide.



Although McCain and Palin both have homophobic records and will set back gay families' march towards equality, the self-loathing Log Cabin Republicans endorsed the bigotted ticket today. Other gay Republicans-- the clsoeted majority-- are partying hearty. In fact, the best report from the HateFest comes from Wonkette, who's been reading through the CraigsList ads from "visitors" to St. Paul. Here are a couple of typically Republican ones:

Hey guys-
I’m just getting in town for the convention, looking for fellow convention attendees to fool around and have a good time.
No Log Cabin here, nobody knows, so must be discreet.
I’m 5′8, 165 lbs, professional guy, looking for similar. We can grab a beer and talk about why Obama sucks and then get it on.

------
Seeking Pig Bottom Republican for a Good Pounding - 33 (St. Paul)

------
am conservative, bi and in the closet.. but love a hard younger body for making out and oral action.
my stats
5-9″ - in shape, masc , 6″ cut
was planning on the IMS party for Laura Bush today but it cancelled. so would like to bust a nut and have some other fun.
can trade pix
thinking of mid afternoon get together
Happy Convention, everyone! And thanks to “Brett” for suggesting this post topic which, come to think of it, we should have thought of OH YEARS AGO.

Red Neck Nation

This piggy-wiggy hubby of Scientologist/Fox News thingamajig Greta Van Susteren just switched from Clinton to McCain, bitching that MoveOn.org has taken over the Democratic Party; if only! More likely this was the piggy-wiggy who didn't like his hotel accommodations for the DNC. Watch the video and you'll see how stupid and brain dead this guy. His reason, he says, for switching to McCain is because of McCain's position on torture. I'm guessing he doesn't even know that, in the end, McCain voted for torture for all his posturing. When they call him "one of Hillary's biggest supporters" I wonder what they mean?

I switched too, about two or three weeks ago-- from CNN to MSNBC. So I never see Jack Cafferty anymore. Fortunately a friend sent me this commentary about the Republican Party and it's much-diminished yawner of a convention:

This week the Republicans gather for their convention. For four days, they will labor under the illusion their party is still relevant. It's not.

It is entirely fitting that the headliner for this masquerade is a feeble looking 72-year-old white guy who doesn't know how many homes he owns.

It's more than symbolic that when a million Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure, the Republican candidate for president has lost track of his holdings.

McCain surrounds himself with people like former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm who called America a "nation of whiners" and said we are only suffering a "mental recession."

That's the same problem the Republican Party has. It has lost track of what it used to stand for: small government, a disciplined fiscal policy, integrity.

In a way, the perfect storm of a rapidly changing population-- old white people aren't going to be in the majority very much longer (and isn't that who most of the Republicans are?)-- has combined with the total abdication of principles, Republican or otherwise, of arguably the worst president in the nation's history to mark the beginning of the end of the Republican Party as we know it.

Republican Congressman Tom Davis of Virginia said it best: "The Republican brand is in the trash can. If we were dog food, they would take us off the shelf."

It is so bad that more than 10 percent of the Republican members of the United States Senate aren't even bothering to attend their own party's convention. They recognize dog food when they see it.

...Republicans stand to be turned out of office at every level-- from the U.S. Congress to governors' mansions and state legislatures. Republicans who remain in office will be rendered impotent by their shrinking numbers.

Republicans under George W. Bush have done a lot of damage to this country in the last eight years-- but they have done more damage to themselves. It will take a good long while and a great deal of soul searching before their brand returns to the shelves in good standing.

Don't look for it to happen in St. Paul, Minnesota. This week, Republicans will be happy in the land of make believe.

John McCain has no honor, no dignity whatsoever

But McCain isn't giving up without a fight! In fact he signed up someone he knows, from first hand experience is a fighter-- South Carolina smearmesieter Tucker Eskew. Former colleagues of McCain's were shocked and disgusted, mostly because Eskew smeared McCain and his family to high heaven in 2000. He's being put in charge of Palin. At least we know what we can expect from her now! Among the charges against McCain that Eskew used to help Bush win the GOP primary were that he was "the fag candidate," had a black baby and other illegitimate children and that Cindy McCain was a drug addict (which was true at one time, although she claims she is no longer addicted).

Levi Johnston, the nice-looking young man who knocked up Palin's 17 year old, Bristol, is a senior at Wasilla High School. On his My Space page he brags about being a red neck-- and then proves it.

"I'm a fuckin' redneck" who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes.

"But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some shit and just fuckin' chillin' I guess."

"Ya fuck with me I'll kick [your] ass," he added.

He also claims to be "in a relationship," but states, "I don't want kids."

Since the very backward governor of his state opposes contraception and any education about reproduction other than abstinence, it was inevitable that his red neck semen would impregnate some foolish and equally ignorant girl whose parents had let her down by keeping her in ideologoly-based-darkness. Ironic that it was the governor's own daughter. Fitting. More fitting is that what Cafferty calls a party in the and of make believe has turned itself, willfully into the party of the Red Neck Nation, one that feels perfectly comfortable nominating someone with bizarre, far from the mainstream views who was advocating that her state secede from the Union a few years ago. Forget about Willow and Track and Sarah and Levi and all these drunken kooks from Alaska. America needs to know more about McCain's vetting process. Can you imagine what he's liable to stick us with when it comes time for cabinet posts and, Heaven Forbid-- a Supreme Court post? (In fact, Jesus' General speculates on what McCain's all White Trash Cabinet would look like. Meet Earl J. Poteet, Chastity Screed and Malcolm Witherspoon.)

Right now, office pools around the country are collecting money on two bets-- what day will Palin drop out and who will be willing to replace her? So while Obama basks in his post-convention bounce, McCain's #1 strategist is reduced to calling Senator Joe Biden a doofus.

McCain Salutes The Troops-- And The Rest Of Us

I'm hearing anecdotal evidence-- lots of it-- that Republican-leaning American servicemen in Iraq are mighty pissed about McCain's choice of pot-smokin' Little Miss Sunshine to be backup Commander-in-Chief. But then I read she's undergoing a crash course in all things foreign one day this week from Neocon lobbyist Randy Scheunemann. Ostensibly this is to prepare her for her debate with Joe Biden. It's far worse that it's also preparing her-- just in case many unlikelies happen-- to take over the running of U.S. foreign policy. You see, aside from being McCain's chief foreign policy advisor and a notoriously corrupt lobbyist-- most recently credited with encouraging Georgia to start a war with Russia that helped no one but Vladimir Putin and possibly McCain-- Scheunemann is also credited with being one of the 3 or 4 men most responsible for dragging the U.S. into attacking Iraq. He's the president of the treacherous, and probably treasonous, Neocon group the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and was a major player in the shady neo-fascist conspiracy, Project for the New American Century. He is a very close associate of Iranian spy Ahmad Chalabi and routinely sells access to top right-wing American officials like Cheney, McCain and Condoleeza Rice. And he's explaining the world outside of Wasilla to someone one heartbeat-- one very old heartbeat-- away from the presidency. The GOP has lost its mind to a pack of medievel religious fanatics.

John Kerry was on with George Stephanopoulos this morning who made the point that McCain's attempt at proving he's a maverick only shows, once again that he's dangerously erratic. Kerry:

With the choice of Governor Palin, it's now the third term of Bush-Cheney, because what he's done is he's chosen somebody who actually doesn't believe that climate change is manmade. He's chosen somebody who has zero-- zero-- experience in foreign policy.

The first threshold test of a president of a nominee in choosing a vice president is to prove to the American people that the person that you've chosen can fill in tomorrow, that they come with the requisite experience to lead the nation in foreign policy and in national security.

You know, she may be-- I mean, I'm sure she's a terrific person. I'm not attacking her. I think John McCain's judgment is once again put at issue, because he's chosen somebody who clearly does not meet the national security threshold, who is not ready to be president tomorrow.

...Do they think Clinton supporters supported Hillary only because she was a woman. For Heaven sakes, they supported Hillary because of all the things she's fought for, because she fights for health care, which John McCain doesn't support; she fights for children and children's health care, which John McCain voted against; she fights for a windfall profits tax on the oil company, which John McCain opposes.


I mean, for Heaven sakes, the people who supported Hillary Clinton are not going to be seduced just because John McCain has picked a woman. They're going to look at what she supports.

The fact that she doesn't even support the notion that climate change is manmade-- she's back there with the Flat Earth Caucus. And I don't see how those women are going to be fooled into believing-- I think it's almost insulting to the Hillary supporters that they believe they would support somebody who is against almost everything that they believe in.

Did McCain Just Throw A Dart At A Boardful Of Republican Pols To Come Up With Palin?

Campaign ad by Jesus' General

Palin endorsed Pat Buchanan in the 2000 GOP primary (and this year preferred both Willard and Ron Paul)-- over of John McCain. And McCain doesn't even know her-- neither do any of his close associates. Lindsey Graham seems to think that she's qualified for a job that puts her a heartbeat away from the presidency because "she hunts moose at 3 in the morning." He's one silly, silly goose, giggling like a little girl.

Kay Bailey Hutchinson, a very conservative and distinguished Texas senator who McCain passed over to pick the little known and extremely inexperienced favorite of religious extremists, said that she doesn't know anything about Palin but implied that since the state of corruption among Alaska Republicans is so intense, it's probably better that she doesn't know anything about her!

She's just a fresh new face for the same old failures. Is it a gimmick? Is this John McCain's best judgment? He may feel invincible but he's old and in bad mental and physical shape. Was he just thinking about how it would enthuse evangelical ground troops or was he thinking about what would be best for the United States of America? Give me a break! He's been running all over the country like a chicken without a head screeching that Obama is too young and not ready to lead? And Sarah Palin? Did he ever even talk to her? Did anyone vet her? This is scary. And it's not about Palin; it's about McCain. He's lost his mind.



The Palin split in the Republican Party is lining up like this: the Neocons think McCain just shot himself-- and their cause-- in the foot. The religionist extremists, bigots and lobbyists love her. David Frum (like lots of Americans) asks, "If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?" Ralph Reed, the embodiment of religionist extremist, corrupt lobbying and bigotry, is "beyond ecstatic... This is a home run. She is a reformer governor who is solidly pro-life and a person of deep Christian faith. And she is really one of the bright shining new stars in the Republican firmament.'' Yeah... Spiro Agnew meets Dan Quayle with a dash of Harriet Miers.

Other Republicans-- not the Ralph Reeds, not the grasping lobbyists or the giddy silly ones like Lindsey Graham-- ones for whom "Country First" is more than just a cheap campaign slogan, are uncomfortable with this choice, not just because Sarah Palin may turn out to be the next Tom Eagelton but because it throws into very serious contention the state of McCain's ability to lead. We just came through 8 years of George Bush being persuaded he was always right because he was always sure. Many people now see he was never either. This McCain selection, the most important indication of his ability as a head of state, is looking like it could be indicative of a reckless old man who thinks he can make snap judgments without thinking things through. Many thoughtful Republicans, realizing she wasn't vetted, are coming to the conclusion that bold isn't necessarily smart. McCain has a sordid history-- one he has gone to great lengths to keep from the public view-- as a reckless, high-stakes gambler. That's not what this country needs. He's not right for the presidency.


UPDATE: MY BRILLIANT FRIEND DANNY

He's a truly wonderful writer but when it comes to technology... not so much. He couldn't figure out how to post this in comments, so I figured I do it for him. And I added a link to AmericaBlog that is truly amazing

Oh, why all this wondering what happened with the Palin selection? It seems quite simple: John McCain was listening to a newscast whilst falling asleep, which could be at any time, and heard someone say ...."and presidential candidates often tend to consider a running mate from a Big State, someone likely to put him over the top in a tight race...."

  And John McCain jumped up and said to himself, "Big state, big state...hmm."  
  He then asked a flunky for that handy NatGeo Atlas that he uses to see,for example, where North Dakota is compared to South Dakota; and besides the colors are pretty.

  "Now I'll see for myself what the BIG states are, and by the way, who left this goddamn book open to the Caucasus? I hate fucking caucuses anyway, everyone is always taller than me, ah, here we go...

  "Say, this Alaska is SOME big state!! Bigger than asshole Texas and frigging Montana put together, if you ask me! Whoa, didn't I meet some Marian-the-librarian from Alaska once, like within the last year?

  "I knew it! Go now and find out where she stands on abortion-- WHAT?! she has five children including an enlistee and AND a little tiny Mongoloid that she let be born?!

 "Get her on the phone! Bring her here,wherever the hell we are. Better yet!--ask Cindy to pick a house. And bring me there, and her, what's her name?  Now!"

McCain-- Like Hope... But Different

Let's take a short break from celebrating Sarah's celebrity and listen to a different take on a musical treatment you might recall from last February. After all, it's John McCain's birthday today (sorry to bring Sarah up again.)

The Hail Sarah Pass Open Thread

Picking Sarah Palin was a real desperation move on McCain's part-- and it's going over badly. I'll keep updating all day. Even Rahm Emanuel gets this one right:

"After trying to make experience the issue of this campaign, John McCain celebrated his 72nd birthday by appointing a former small town mayor and brand new Governor as his Vice Presidential nominee. Is this really who the Republican Party wants to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency? Given Sarah Palin's lack of experience on every front and on nearly every issue, this Vice Presidential pick doesn't show judgement: it shows political panic."

And it's no wonder McCain was so antsy about leaking out an "exciting" name to get the attention off Obama. Over 38 million people watched Obama's speech last night.

Nielsen Media Research said more people watched Obama speak than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, the final "American Idol" or the Academy Awards this year. Obama talked before a live audience of 80,000 people in Denver.

His TV audience nearly doubled the amount of people who watched John Kerry accept the Democratic nomination to run against President Bush four years ago. Kerry's speech was seen by just over 20 million people.

Obama's audience might be higher, since Nielsen didn't have an estimate for how many people watched Obama on PBS or C-SPAN Thursday night.

Although the McCain campaign is busily re-writing history to make Palin sound like she opposed the corrupt earmarks that have landed Ted Stevens and Don Young in hot water-- particularly their "Bridge to Nowhere" that McCain is always railing against-- Palin was always a big supporter of the Bridges to Nowhere and all the criminal pork Young and Stevens were bringing back to Alaska. In 2006, when she was trying to make the leap from runner up in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant and mayor of Wasilla (population 8,471) to gubernatorial contender, she was asked how she felt about the Bridges to Nowhere. According to the October 5th, 2006 Anchorage Daily News she replied. "I do support the infrastructure projects that are on tap here in the state of Alaska that our congressional delegations worked hard for." In fact, she then started complaining that the federal money for the two horrible projects weren't coming in fast enough!

In fact, Palin has always been a pork-crazed maniac, the kind of straw man McCain loves to bash on the stump. This year Alaska received nearly $100 million more In pork than any other state ($379,669,715). According to the Senate Lobbying Disclosure Database, Palin employs the lobbying firm Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates to seek earmarks for the state of Alaska. You think the vetters missed that when they were looking into her past? If so they also missed this: According to that same Senate Lobbying Disclosure Database, Palin paid the lobbying firm of Hoffman Silver Gilman & Blasco to lobby on behalf of the City of Wasilla while she was mayor and according to Citizens Against Government Waste, in 2000 the City of Wasilla received a $1 million transportation earmark for the Wasilla Intermodal Facility for bus and bus related facilities while Wasilla's Life Quest Community Mental Health Center gobbled up a $500,000 earmark, same amount as the town's emergency shelter, although less than the $600,000 earmark for the Wasilla city bus facility. Meanwhile Wasilla received a $1 million earmark for the Wasilla Regional Dispatch Center, a $1.5 million earmark for water and sewer improvements, and a $2.6 million transportation earmark for an alternative route project. And back then only 5,000 people lived there. Now that's pork. So, as inexperienced as she is about everything else, she sure knows how to rook the federal government out of boucoup taxpayer dollars. I wonder if McCain will still be screamin' and hollerin' about earmarks and Bridges to Nowhere now that she's on his ticket.

My friend David said this reminded him of Bush's ill-fated choice of Harriet Myers for the Supreme Court. "They can't judge women... (Or pick women judges... ) They're at a loss when they have to leave the country club and cigars and hang with" real people. Jonathan Singer goes further and sees Spiro Agnew in her.

It has been forty years since someone as inexperienced as Sarah Palin has been put on a national ticket, and surprisingly enough there are some real similarities between Palin and her unprepared predecessor, Spiro T. Agnew, who also had been governor less than two years at the time Richard Nixon picked him to be his number two and who also had a corruption problem lingering in the background that would end up causing his running mate problems.

...But the comparisons between Palin and Agnew do not end there. Just as a corruption scandal from Agnew's time as Maryland Governor plagued him throughout his Vice Presidential tenure-- in the end forcing him to resign-- so too does Palin have a corruption problem brewing in the background. What's more, her corruption and abuse of power problem is one easily understood by voters: She allegedly attempted to have fired a state trooper in a custody battle with her sister.

...Do we really need to put another wildly inexperienced, purely political choice into the White House, only to see issues from that candidate's past potentially stain the Vice Presidency?

On To The Nutter Event-- McCain Throws A Hail Mary Pass

Not Britney; not Paris-- it's the GOP VP nominee, Sarah

Republicans were horrified by Obama's eloquence and by his effectiveness in delivering an analysis tying their policies-- and John McCain's championing of those policies-- to the dissatisfaction most Americans feel about the direction the country is headed. And offering his clear and compelling vision about how the country can proceed. McCain media surrogates like David Brooks in the NY Times and Charles Babington at A.P., as well as the hyperbolic far right McCain blogging brigade and the wind-up extremist propaganda rags like the Wall Street Journal editorial page and the National Review came out swinging, if limply and ineffectively, to trivialize it. The Republican Party official response was incoherent, banal and quickly forgotten as they quickly floated the idea of postpoing their own convention (ostensibly because God sent Hurricane Gustav to plague them, although Rove thinks he needs to run a few million dollars in more negative campaign ads sliming Obama) before McCain can face the nation without being laughed off the stage.

McCain will take the stage today and introduce Sarah Palin, his surprise VP nominee. He's following Obama's appearance before a sold out house of 80,000 people at the Denver Bronco's Mile High Stadium with a little show of his own at the Nutter Center-- what name could be more appropriate?-- in Dayton. The Nutter rally, which hold 12,000 people but is unlikely to even reach half capacity, kicks off McCain's sadly pathetic "Road to the Convention tour" of Little League fields and minor league stadiums where he'll be offering 4 more years of disaster at the homes of the Washington (Pa.) Wild Things of the Frontier League, and the River City Rascals of O'Fallon, Missouri. Even though the vaunted McCain hype machine is promising to unveil the running mate, interest is minimal, excitement is nonexistent and they can't give the Nutter tickets away.

While many thought that Seamus was strapped to the roof of the family car, and what has been widely feared in the fractured and severely divided party-- that they're being saddled with flip flopping vulture capitalist Willard Romney-- turned out to be incorrect. Pawlenty, once thought to be the only hope of many Republicans to stop the pushy Willard, ended the sham this morning and admitted he's not #2. So... turned out to not be someone from James Wolcott's list of sad-sacks. What did Willard in-- aside from how thoroughly McCain detests him?

Last week McCain's campaign delighted in running ads featuring Hillary Clinton campaigning against Obama in the primaries. They certainly knew the Democrats had prepared similar ads featuring himself and Romney bashing each other. I always liked this one, where Willard did the Democrats' job for them:

“I understand he’s anxious to try and see if he can’t get the topic away from the economy. But I’m going to remind him of his statements time and again about his lack of understanding of the economy,” Romney said. Reporters asked the presidential hopeful several questions on a range of topics, but he brought back most to his rival, John McCain going after him on his lack of experience and understanding of economic policy.

“I simply don’t think, I simply don’t think that the people of Florida are gonna say the nominee of our party ought to be a person who on more than one occasion has expressed lack of understanding of our economy at a time when the economy is the number one issue that people are talking about here in the state of Florida.”

And it wasn't just Floridians that Mitt warned about what a disaster McCain would be. Here he is telling people in the battleground state of Michigan, which Rove claims-- rather incongruously-- that Romney will help McCain capture in November, that McCain will be a catastrophe for the economy:

"I know that there are some people who think, as Sen. McCain did, he said, you know, some jobs are leaving Michigan and they're not coming back. I disagree. I'm going to fight for every single job, Michigan, South Carolina, every state in this country, we're going to fight for jobs and make sure our future is bright," said Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts whose family has deep ties to Michigan.

I guess the oft-repeated lines of attack Romney used to define McCain, had something to do with why McCain says his skin crawls when he's in the same room with Romney, who he personally detests. He's a little prickly and didn't appreciate hearing variations on these themes every day:

Republican Mitt Romney wound up his Florida primary campaign on Monday with his most bitter criticism yet of rival John McCain, saying three signature bills the Arizona senator pushed in Congress aimed the country on ''a liberal Democrat course.''

The former Massachusetts governor said the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law ''hit the First Amendment'' with its controls over advertising spending.

He labeled last year's failed McCain-Kennedy immigration bill ''the amnesty bill'' for a provision that would have allowed illegal immigrants to remain in the country indefinitely. And he said a 2003 McCain-Lieberman energy cap-and-trade bill would have increased energy costs for the average Florida family of four by $1,000.

''If you ask people, 'look at the three things Senator McCain has done as a senator,' if you want that kind of a liberal Democrat course as president, then you can vote for him,'' Romney told campaign workers who would be manning his phone banks before Tuesday's primary vote. ''But those three pieces of legislation, those aren't conservative, those aren't Republican, those are not the kind of leadership that we need as we go forward.''

Palin will be a more difficult target. It's funny that for all McCain's carping about Obama's supposed lack of experience, Palin really has none whatsoever. I mean, talk about a "readiness gap!" Of course, she had more judgment than McCain himself-- having praised Obama's energy plan. (She has now tried to scrub her praise for Obama's energy plan from her website, very 1984 creepy.) CNBC, which had been all gung ho on Willard was in shock. "This is utter madness, absolutely insane," said political analyst Greg Valliere, who then ran down McCain's age and all of his health problems. "This woman makes Dan Quayle look reasonable." When asked about Valliere's assessment, John Harwood responded, "[it's] basically a nightmare scenario for the Republican ticket." On the other hand, this will sure up McCain's recent slide in Alaska.

Does anyone know if the rumors about the Rubi Girls warming up the crowd for McCain at the Nutter Center are true? Supposedly Giuliani persuaded Jonathan to do a few numbers. Only in Dayton or on the whole Road to the Convention Tour?

You Think Obama Just Won The Presidency?

Earlier I mentioned how s pack of bloodthirsty Cossacks chased my grandfather out of his small village when he was eleven years old. He hid in a forest and then he left Russia and came to America. Watching Barack Obama take the stage tonight brought tears to my eyes and all I could think of was "can this man save us from a national nightmare that has brought our country closer to authoritarianism and absolutism that my grandfather fled from when he arrived in NYC penniless and alone at the age of twelve.

I want so much for him to rise to the challenge of the catastrophic mess we're being left. I want him so much to be Franklin Roosevelt. And what I heard tonight allows me to believe that that's more than just a hopeless dream.

I'll append the YouTube to this as soon as it's ready. Meanwhile, here are some of the lines that made everyone I talked to so far-- and apparently the MSNBC anchors-- that Obama just added 10 points to his bounce. It won't surprise me if the GOP decides to put its convention off so they can run a week of negative campaign ads smearing Obama before they dare face the American people.

1- This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he's worked on for twenty years and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news. 

We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes. 
 
Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land-- enough!  This moment-- this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough." 

2- ...the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time.  Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time?  I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change. 

3-The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives-- on health care and education and the economy-- Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made "great progress" under this President. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisors-- the man who wrote his economic plan-- was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."
 
A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners. They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. These are the Americans that I know.

4- Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement? 

It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.

5- For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy-- give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is– you're on your own. Out of work?  Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps-- even if you don't have boots. You're on your own. 
 
Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.

6- Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

7- America, now is not the time for small plans.
 
Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American-- if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.
 
Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

8- And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.

9- We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans-- Democrats and Republicans-- have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.

Meanwhile, Associated Press has decided to create its own "news" in the service of electing John McCain. They should be ashamed.

If you missed it, here's 45 minutes of history:

McCain And The Integrity Problem

One of my old friends is as easy to read as a book. His deepest fears and self-doubts, the ones he'd never share with even his closest friends or his wife and children, come out as accusations against everyone around him. He's so big on projecting that all you have to do is sit back and wait and sooner or later he'll tell you all about himself-- in his criticism of others. Today's Washington Post has a much talked about piece on how Obama will stand up to the barrage of smears coming from McCain, his lobbyists and the arms-length surrogates like the execrable Jerome Corsi, who may not ever get an invitation to a State Banquet but who still is a vital part of the McCain campaign.

At one time McCain, suggested they run a respectful campaign. It only took minutes for him to come around to his advisors' perspective that that wouldn't work and that if they were to have any chance of success, it had to be all about smear and racism. McCain took to it like a duck to water. And the relentless attacks say far more about McCain than they do about Obama.

McCain showed no signs of letting up his attacks Monday, charging that behind Obama's demand to end the Iraq war "lies the ambition to be president."

Even the most ardent Republicans in the land know that there is no politician in America, not even a Clinton, whose ambitions to grab the White House is more all-consuming than McCain's. McCain will say or do anything to be president. There's never been anyone like him in our political system before. Once he said he thought building a wall was idiotic but if the idiotic voters wanted a wall and that's what it took for him to get into the White House, he'd say he'd build them a wall. Once McCain said that tax breakers for the richest 10% was a disgrace; today he's promising tax cuts for the rich that will almost make Bush like progressive! This is what the L.A. Times reported on January 4, 2000:

Sixty percent of the benefits from his tax cuts go to the wealthiest 10% of Americans-- and that's not the kind of tax relief that Americans need... Gov. Bush wants to spend the entire surplus on tax cuts. I don't believe the wealthiest 10% of Americans should get 60% of the tax breaks.

Well now he does-- or says he does. Many Democrats want to see Obama come out swinging. Others think McCain is painting himself so ugly with his own brush that it isn't necessary. They're wrong. It is. At Pastor Rick Fest on Saturday, the audience preferred McCain's shallow memorized lines to Obama's thoughtful attempts at real dialogue. Should you ever feel yourself underestimating the naiveté and desire to be pandered to by any democratic electorate, just remember this-- even if Bush stole both 2000 and 2004's elections, as seems likely, many millions of people voted for him.

This morning CNN is offering more than just Jack Cafferty's incisive look at McCain's wretched shallowness. Their business show lays out the startling relationship between McCain and Big Oil special interests.

If cash equals friendship, then John McCain and the oil industry are best friends.

The Arizona Republican has taken $1.4 million from oil industry employees in the 2007-2008 election cycle, more than any other politician, according to CRP.

That's over three times as much as Barack Obama, who ranks just below Hillary Clinton as the highest Democrat recipient.

Those numbers are consistent with how employees in the oil sector give overall - nearly three quarters of their money usually goes to Republicans, although they have been leaning a bit more Democratic in the recent election, according to CRP.

With gas prices near record levels and the public clamoring for something to be done, now is a dangerous time for any politician to be taking money from the oil industry.

People Who Know McCain's Mettle The Best Are The Least Likely To Vote For Him

And we're not just talking about ex-wives and abandoned children and other shunned family members and the fellow Republican senators who loathe and distrust him. Sure Thad Cochran (R-MS) famously told the media that he's worked with McCain for over 30 years and that "the thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me." But it is the people who have served with McCain who have watched him puff himself up and exploit his military serviced who are the ones most eagerly flocking to Obama. You may have read last week that troops deployed abroad have contributed 6 to 1, Obama over McCain. They know McCain is an irrational warmonger itching for a fight and that he doesn't have the temperament to be Commander in Chief.

Dr. Phillip Butler went to the Naval Academy with McCain and was also a prisoner of war with McCain in Vietnam. Butler was a prisoner for 8 years. He is a highly decorated combat veteran who was awarded two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merits, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Heart medals. He has mixed feeling about McCain. "He is a man," writes Butler, "I respect and admire in some ways. But there are a number of reasons why I will not vote for him for President of the United States. For anyone who feels the nation made a mistake allowing a drunken, incompetent ne'er-do-well like George Bush become president, Butler has similar feelings dating back to when he and McCain lived across the hall from each other at the Naval Academy. "Believe me when I say that back then I would never in a million or more years have dreamed that the crazy guy across the hall would someday be a Senator and candidate for President!" Like Bush, McCain is also a lifelong ne'er-do-well who lives for the thrill of breaking rules, although his rule breaking has cost hundreds and American lives and tens of millions of dollars. Butler reminds us that he very nearly didn't graduate from the Naval Academy, calling his graduation "unbelievable" and pointing out what anyone familiar with the background will tell you: he graduated-- 5th from the bottom of his class of 800-- because his father and grandfather were distinguished admirals. Butler spills the beans on McCain for real today:

John's treatment as a POW:

1) Was he tortured for 5 years? No. He was subjected to torture and maltreatment during his first 2 years, from September of 1967 to September of 1969. After September of 1969 the Vietnamese stopped the torture and gave us increased food and rudimentary health care. Several hundred of us were captured much earlier. I got there April 20, 1965 so my bad treatment period lasted 4 1/2 years. President Ho Chi Minh died on September 9, 1969, and the new regime that replaced him and his policies was more pragmatic. They realized we were worth a lot as bargaining chips if we were alive. And they were right because eventually Americans gave up on the war and agreed to trade our POW's for their country. A damn good trade in my opinion! But my point here is that John allows the media to make him out to be THE hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals.

2) John was badly injured when he was shot down. Both arms were broken and he had other wounds from his ejection. Unfortunately this was often the case-- new POW's arriving with broken bones and serious combat injuries. Many died from their wounds. Medical care was non-existent to rudimentary. Relief from pain was almost never given and often the wounds were used as an available way to torture the POW. Because John's father was the Naval Commander in the Pacific theater, he was exploited with TV interviews while wounded. These film clips have now been widely seen. But it must be known that many POW's suffered similarly, not just John. And many were similarly exploited for political propaganda.

3) John was offered, and refused, "early release." Many of us were given this offer. It meant speaking out against your country and lying about your treatment to the press. You had to "admit" that the U.S. was criminal and that our treatment was "lenient and humane." So I, like numerous others, refused the offer. This was obviously something none of us could accept. Besides, we were bound by our service regulations, Geneva Conventions and loyalties to refuse early release until all the POW's were released, with the sick and wounded going first.

4) John was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart for heroism and wounds in combat. This heroism has been played up in the press and in his various political campaigns. But it should be known that there were approximately 600 military POW's in Vietnam. Among all of us, decorations awarded have recently been totaled to the following: Medals of Honor - 8, Service Crosses - 42, Silver Stars - 590, Bronze Stars - 958 and Purple Hearts - 1,249. John certainly performed courageously and well. But it must be remembered that he was one hero among many-- not uniquely so as his campaigns would have people believe.

John McCain served his time as a POW with great courage, loyalty and tenacity. More that 600 of us did the same. After our repatriation a census showed that 95% of us had been tortured at least once. The Vietnamese were quite democratic about it. There were many heroes in North Vietnam. I saw heroism every day there. And we motivated each other to endure and succeed far beyond what any of us thought we had in ourselves. Succeeding as a POW is a group sport, not an individual one. We all supported and encouraged each other to survive and succeed. John knows that. He was not an individual POW hero. He was a POW who surmounted the odds with the help of many comrades, as all of us did.

I furthermore believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate.

Most of us who survived that experience are now in our late 60's and 70's. Sadly, we have died and are dying off at a greater rate than our non-POW contemporaries. We experienced injuries and malnutrition that are coming home to roost. So I believe John's age (73) and survival expectation are not good for being elected to serve as our President for 4 or more years.

I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button.

It is also disappointing to see him take on and support Bush's war in Iraq, even stating we might be there for another 100 years. For me John represents the entrenched and bankrupt policies of Washington-as-usual. The past 7 years have proven to be disastrous for our country. And I believe John's views on war, foreign policy, economics, environment, health care, education, national infrastructure and other important areas are much the same as those of the Bush administration.

I'm disappointed to see John represent himself politically in ways that are not accurate. He is not a moderate Republican. On some issues he is a maverick. But his voting record is far to the right. I fear for his nominations to our Supreme Court, and the consequent continuing loss of individual freedoms, especially regarding moral and religious issues. John is not a religious person, but he has taken every opportunity to ally himself with some really obnoxious and crazy fundamentalist ministers lately. I was also disappointed to see him cozy up to Bush because I know he hates that man. He disingenuously and famously put his arm around the guy, even after Bush had intensely disrespected him with lies and slander. So on these and many other instances, I don't see that John is the "straight talk express" he markets himself to be.

Why Not McCain?

In the end McCain will ask Americans to vote for him based on one thing and one thing only: that Obama is the anti-Christ. There are people who will buy it. But not enough.

McCain Would Rather Lose The War Against High Gas Prices Than Lose The Election

The Republican Party Energy Plan

For handsomely bribed Big Oil shills and congressional circus clowns like James Inhofe (R-OK- $1,076,573), Michael McCaul (R-TX- $107,934), Mike Pence (R-IN- $150,950), John Culberson (R-TX- $301,961), Eric Cantor (R-CA- $159,250), and John Shadegg (R-AZ- $119,495) the response to the energy crisis may be to dress up like Indians at the Boston Tea Party and wave an air tire gauge over your head, or to send gas receipt bills to Nancy Pelosi. But for members of Congress worried about their constituents' financial situations-- or at least their constituents' ability to take out their financial situations on them at the ballot box in November-- this is obviously a time for either something sensible or, more likely, working out a compromise that both Democrats and Republicans can accept. Senator Obama has led the way when he declared a couple weeks ago that if there was no other way to stop GOP senators from obstructing legislation that would bring down gasoline prices than to agree to some of their demands, he would be flexible.

The "Gang of 10" energy plan was described by Fox News as aiming "at producing more domestic oil via offshore drilling, reducing energy prices, and aiding the troubled economy."

The plan also would require automobiles to be more fuel efficient and would provide research money for improved batteries to move away from petroleum-products in cars: the plan calls for 85 percent of vehicles to run on non-petroleum-based fuel in 20 years.

Senators said the bill also would promote more renewable energy sources and nuclear energy, as well as carbon capture techniques to reduce greenhouse gas production through tax and other incentives.

The ten senators are mostly conservative Oil Industry shills: Saxby Chambliss (R-GA- $199,242), Mary Landrieu (D-LA- $612,244), John Thune (R-SD- $477,772), Ben Nelson (D-NE- $145,455), Lindsey Graham (R-SC- $115,525), Mark Pryor (D-AR- $133,150), Johnny Isakson (R-GA- $144,564), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR- $260,875), Bob Corker (R-TN- $273,850) and Kent Conrad (D-ND- $267,003). So the self-appointed committee has scarfed up around $2,600,000 in bribes from Big Oil. Doesn't exactly inspire my trust. And I'm not alone. McCain's not buying in either-- but for very different reasons.

Even though his own little Mini-Me (R-SC) is helping draft the compromise, McCain is worried that a solution will throw a monkey wrench into his plans to gain electorally by trying to blame high prices on the Democrats. It's a risky strategy that several endangered Republican senators-- including Graham and Chambliss-- are not eager to gamble their careers on. McCain would rather lose the war against high gas prices than lose the election, kind of like that idiotic Iranian swimmer who opted to not participate in his event in Beijing yesterday rather than swim with an Israeli athlete.

Republican Sen. John McCain is not ready to embrace a bipartisan energy plan that could complicate his presidential campaign if Democrats advance the bill weeks before the November elections.

...If McCain opposes the bill, it could appear that he is standing in the way of a compromise to soaring gasoline prices.

But if he backs it, McCain could cloud a clear distinction between the two parties on the issue that Republicans believe can swing the elections.

What's Going On In Georgia And How Dangerous A Game Is McCain Willing To Play With War & Peace?

For the last three days I've been trying to make heads or tails out of the situation in Georgia, not in the southern U.S.-- which is puzzling enough-- but in the small former Russian and Soviet province that is now a feisty independent republic, straddling the oil pipeline from the Caspian oil areas to the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea. Parisian Kos diarist, Jerome, knows more about this than almost anyone writing about it who I've found-- and far more than the superficial imbeciles at the NY Times, let alone CNN-- so I'd recommend his latest post at Daily Kos. Short version: see the map above-- oil pipelines is why Washington cares about this... plus an opportunity for some ritualistic anti-Russian moves. (Remember how well that worked out for us and the world in Afghanistan?) Today's Times, whoring itself out, as usual, as the mouthpiece for self-serving Insider opinion from DC, expressed shock that this could happen. It was entirely predictable.. if not entirely provoked by the naive armchair warriors who dragged this country into Iraq and are currently promoting a war with Iran. Jerome:

[O]ur claims to have the moral high ground are totally ridiculous and need to be fought, hard. This is not about democracy vs dictature, brave freedom lovers vs evil oppressors, but a nasty brawl by power-hungry figures on both sides, with large slices of corruption. The fact that this is turned into a cold-war-like conflict between good and evil is a domestic political play by some in Washington to reinforce their power and push certain policies that have little to do with Russia or Georgia. That needs to be understood.

The other place to turn for real information-- rather than Infotainment-- on the Confrontation in the Caucasus is the blog Lawyers, Guns and Money, where Robert Farley is doing a stupendous job of putting the whole thing in context. I'm old enough to remember when investigative journalists worked for TV news departments so I appreciate Farley's commentary. He is less sympathetic to the Georgian case because he thinks that "escalating the war (and providing an excuse for Russian counter-escalation) was a damn stupid thing for Saakashvili to do, and a remarkably damn stupid thing for him to do absent an extremely compelling cause. Small, weak states living next to abrasive, unpredictable great powers need to be extremely careful about what they do; in most cases, their foreign policy should, first and foremost, be about avoiding war with the great power. This is what Saakashvili failed to do. The war didn't need to escalate; it was a Georgian decision to move from the village skirmishes that were happening on Tuesday to the siege of Tsikhinvali on Thursday."

But with the Russian Army so much bigger and more powerful than the U.S.-trained and equipped Georgian army, what did Saakashvili and his NeoCon allies in Washington have in mind?

[T]he war will not be fought between the full Russian and the full Georgian militaries; rather, it will be fought between the Georgian and whatever forces the Russians can get to South Ossetia and keep supplied there. And that may have been the crux of Georgian strategy. As Doug Muir notes, there is only one road between Russia and South Ossetia, and no substantial airfields. Doug:

There was always this temptation: a fast determined offensive could capture Tsikhinvali, blow up or block the tunnel, close the road, and then sit tight. If it worked, the Russians would then be in a very tricky spot: yes, they outnumber the Georgians 20 to 1, but they’d have to either drop in by air or attack over some very high, nasty mountains. This seems to be what the Georgians are trying to do: attack fast and hard, grab Tsikhinvali, and close the road.

It looks right now as if that strategy has failed. The Russians seem to have been able to deploy a substantial armored force in South Ossetia, and also seem to control the sky. Of course, we don't know what things will look like tomorrow, but right now they don't look good for Georgian efforts to close the road. And if the Georgians can't close the road, they are in very serious trouble. Indeed, even if they do close the road they might be in trouble; the other way that the Russians might get into South Ossetia is to go through Georgia. That would be an escalation, but the Russians might be tempted by their overwhelming theater superiority, and by the stakes.

The NeoCon miscalculation is that politically Putin and Medvedev can't afford to lose this war. Period. So they won't-- even if they have to obliterate Georgia. (The role of the NeoCons in this kind of reminds me of what Bush's father did to the Shi'a and the Kurds after the First Gulf war. He irresponsibly and uncaringly urged them to rise up against Saddam-- and then he did virtually nothing to prevent the inevitable slaughter that followed-- unless you count his clueless son's murder of Saddam and his family and destruction of his country justifiable payback.)

Moreover, it's not just the downside of defeat that will drive Russian behavior; the Russians really want to win because they will see serious gains from victory. Putin will likely be able to dispense with the Prime Minister nonsense after pounding Georgia to dust, because the Russians will elect him God King, or at least "discover" that he's actually the heir to the Romanov throne. The Ledeen Doctrine works much better for Russia than for the United States, because people understand that Russia really doesn't care; she will destroy you without troubling her conscience about democracy. Russia gets to demonstrate her power, solve two of the Frozen Conflicts (the Georgians are never getting Abkhazia back if Russia wins here), and humiliate the United States, all at the same time. They hit the trifecta if they win this war.

The sooner NeoCons are driven out of Washington, the better for the whole world. It is worth noting that McCain's response to the conflict has been to immediately look to use it for political domestic gain and to adopt the NeoCon position entirely, one that has been pushed by one of the top lobbyists McCain has scarfing up money for him, potential war criminal Randy Scheunemann,a paid employee of the Georgian government. While Obama, NATO, the European Union and even Bush are taking a balanced position, McCain sounds like he'd like to expand this into a conflict between the U.S. and Russia. He's out of his fucking mind and a truly dangerous little jerk who no one should take seriously as a candidate for anything except a comfy retirement home.