With all concern troll portions excised:

What is [   ] with the Obama Campaign?  Don't they know that [   ] means they don't have [   ]?  It's no time to [   ]!  Just because it's August doesn't mean [   ].  

If it were my campaign, I would [    ] immediately.  I would also [   ], fire [   ], and generally [   ].  I mean, there's no choice now but to [   ], even if Obama prefers to [   ].

How can you let McCain [   ]?  Even if [   ] happens, we still have to [   ], because [   ], [   ], [   ] and [   ] are at stake.

Several superfluous pictures, then jump, with what I really think.

Andrew Sullivan makes an excellent point.

In all the discussion of John McCain's recently recovered memory of a religious epiphany in Vietnam, one thing has been missing. The torture that was deployed against McCain emerges in all the various accounts. It involved sleep deprivation, the withholding of medical treatment, stress positions, long-time standing, and beating. Sound familiar?

According to the Bush administration's definition of torture, McCain was therefore not tortured.

Cheney denies that McCain was tortured; as does Bush. So do John Yoo and David Addington and George Tenet. In the one indisputably authentic version of the story of a Vietnamese guard showing compassion, McCain talks of the agony of long-time standing. A quarter century later, Don Rumsfeld was putting his signature to memos lengthening the agony of "long-time standing" that victims of Bush's torture regime would have to endure. These torture techniques are, according to the president of the United States, merely "enhanced interrogation."

No war crimes were committed against McCain. And the techniques used are, according to the president, tools to extract accurate information. And so the false confessions that McCain was forced to make were, according to the logic of the Bush administration, as accurate as the "intelligence" we have procured from "interrogating" terror suspects. Feel safer?

Crazy, huh?

It has become a constant theme in McCain’s speeches.  Taxes are not too low; spending is too high.  If we just eliminate “pork barrel spending” we can cut taxes and balance the budget – “no pain, all gain.”  Republicans have long loved claiming that the budget can be balanced without any sacrifice on the part of anyone.  In order to make his point, McCain has taken to constantly referring to 3 million dollars spent to study the DNA of bears in Montana as an example of government waste.  So what are the facts about this study?

CROSSPOSTED AT STRATEGY08.

I don't find much to quibble with on Slinkerwink's post critical of the Obama press machine (though I think the calls to fire Burton are premature). To my mind, the Obama Camp has been suffering though a number of missteps since returning from his overseas trip:

So over at the post announcing the launch of my book, I saw a couple of people freaking out -- freaking out!!!! -- that McCain has the lead in some national polls.

So I sauntered over to Pollster.com to see what all the hoopla was about, and clicked through to their national polls page.  Then I rolled my eyes when I saw that the poll causing such aneurysms was ....

A Zogby poll.

Some people are frackin' hopeless. Really. At the same time, a new Q-poll has Obama up five, Gallup has him up three (after being tied a couple of days ago), Ras has him up two, as does Bloomberg/Times.

Look, the race is tightening at the national level, but it's much less tight when you look at the state-by-state numbers that, you know, actually decide the presidency. So while it's not exactly a cakewalk, freaking out over single polls from shitty, discredited pollsters like Zogby is pretty pathetic.

We've got the veep announcements and the conventions to get through, and then the race will start in earnest. Be zen. Freaking out over crappy pollsters is just lame. Keep your eye on the composite -- Obama still leads that by 1.4 percent -- and maintain perspective -- McCain has never crossed the 45 percent threshold while Obama bobs between 45 and 50.

I'll be officially worried when McCain shows the ability to break that barrier of support. If he suddenly starts hovering in the upper 40s, then we might have trouble. But ultimately, this is a state-by-state battle. And in the electoral college fight, Obama still has a solid lead -- without even taking into account the ground machine Obama is building (pollsters aren't).

Like many others here, I have been loudly "encouraging" Barack Obama to physically attack the geezer, John McCain.

But, no.

Obama is all "pacifist" and shit and he, apparently, doesn't think knocking the snot out of that old goat is "the right thing to do."

Well, I have news for Mr. "I'll-play-nice" Obama:

                                   Nice guys finish last.

(And, yes, Obama camp, feel free to use that quote I just made up.)

When is Obama gonna', literally, punch McCain square in his pre-cancerous-scarred beak?

(more)

Someone who can call out to the throngs of disaffected and disenfranchised people; Democrat or Republican, black, white, brown, red, yellow, rich or poor, young or old.  Those who are completely and utterly fed up with the current political system.

The revolving door in the White House has ruined politics, ruined countless lives due to the malfeasance of the people in charge, ruined the hopes of lower middle class and lower class peoples who want to better themselves, ruined our national reputation among our allies overseas, ruined our ability to back up our words with actions when need be.

What we are witnessing today isn't the result of George W. Bush's mistakes and utter disregard for the rule of law.  On the contrary, this country has been on a slow downward decline and it began not just 8 years ago, but over 40 years ago when Nixon was running for office in 1968.  

These days you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an article speculating about potential vice presidential running mates for Barack Obama or John McCain. But today's entry from the New York Times does include one line that's worth noting, when the concerns of social conservatives about the possibility of McCain choosing the pro-choice Tom Ridge is dismissed by other conservatives who said:

...that Mr. McCain’s recent public flirtation with Tom Ridge, a former Pennsylvania governor who supports abortion rights, was as much to give the appearance that Mr. McCain had an open mind on the issue as it was an embrace of Mr. Ridge.

So, these anonymous conservatives cheerfully admit that McCain willingly misled people about a possible running mate to "give the appearance" of an open mind. There's some straight talk for you.

As you know.. This election has been close as heck.. A big Obama lead has slowly crumbled as people turn to their old fears of terra terra terra and greed and want of instant gratification..

I have noticed the Republican fans running from forum to forum touting democratic weakness, I have seen ads attacking on taxes and so on an so forth..

So while I had shunned Obama and supported Clinton after he backed down and voted for telecom immunity.. McCain's recent boldness has forced me back into the game..

I will discuss my views on the situation and what I think we need to do about it..

    Rasmussen released new Ohio results today showing McCain up 5 in the state. While this represents an improvement since the last Rasmussen Ohio poll which had McCain up with a 10 point margin, it's hardly cause for celebration.

    For one thing, the last Rasmussen poll had been dismissed in DKOS punditry circles as an outlier. It's much harder to dismiss this one, coming on the heels of a (D-leaning) PPP poll that shows the race dead even in Ohio. More disturbing, virtually all the polling shows that Obama is doing significantly worse in Ohio than in the comparable states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and even Michigan. Ohio is trending with Indiana, which is not where we want it to be.

   I did predict this -- consult my numerous diaries. I come not to gloat but to reinforce the message that fundamental changes need to be made in the Ohio campaign, and we are running out of time.

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DOOD. Whr R U?

wtf?

what u mean, wtf? we r takng off!

wtf?

oil rig. chopper. etc.

FAHK! that was 2day?

nvrmnd. Im going. u owe me.

tx.

On his blog, Michael Moore has posted a letter to Caroline Kennedy!  He urges her to "Pull a Cheney"!!

I'll let the inimitable Mr. Moore speak for himself...

Note: I posted this late yesterday, but I felt the need to post it again because this is that serious to me and hopefully to you. Thank you for any rec's and reading, and have a good day.

"The Best Political Team on Television", huh?

"The Most Trusted Name in News", huh?

"CNN= Politics", huh?

"More News than Other News in the Morning", huh?

Having a show that is "smart and independent", huh?

And finally, the kicker of all kickers: "We’re Keeping Them Honest," HUH?!

Cable News Network, correction, the neo-Cable News Network,  instead of saying you’re keeping someone else honest, I have a simple request for you:

Why DON’T YOU KEEP YOUR DAMN SELF HONEST!

And so it begins. Via Ben Smith:

Scott McClellan advises Obama, in an interview with my colleague Daniel Libit, not to investigate the Bush administration — because it would, McClellan says, damage Obama's image. (Not that former Bushies have anything at stake in that choice.) [...]

[W]hen asked what advice he would give to a President Barack Obama or Democratic Congress on the matter of handling former Bush officials, McClellan speaks now of the perils of probing the past.

“If Obama were to win,” he said last week, “that would be an issue his administration would have to face early ... because he’s pledging to be a uniter, not a divider — without saying those exact words we campaigned on in 2000. He’s pledging to change the way Washington works, and if Congress were to pursue that, it would be very divisive.”

He continued: “That could be very problematic for his presidency right off the start.”

Investigations would be "divisive." Good Lord. I'd praise myself for predicting that exact sentiment weeks ago, but it's just too damn obvious.

I have no doubt that every pundit in America will be echoing that line come January. No doubt whatsoever. The Bush administration is over, let's just forget all about that stuff and get on with our lives.... screw torture and DOJ scandal, the Democrats have to rise above such divisiveness and petty thoughts of, you know, accountability for illegal acts. Blah blah fucking blah.

Accountability is for little people. That's the be-all, end-all message of the Bush administration. From Enron to Plame to FISA to the DOJ to torture, there is no larger philosophy at work. I'm in charge, so fuck you. And the odds are that the Dems will go along, Obama included, because that's the easier path.

Am I the only one here who's been slowly devolving into the feeling that this whole "trying to make government better" thing has been a useless exercise, at this point? Nothing like repeatedly being told by the press, the pundits, the government, the political opposition and your supposed political allies that any talk of good government, or rational decision making, or even, fuck it, consequences for illegal acts is just cruel partisanship and/or pie-in-the-sky dreaming.

I expect members of the Bush administration, McClellan included, to make frequent and urgent-sounding arguments that members of the Bush administration shouldn't be investigated after they've left office. But I almost can't wait to see how many of the usual "serious" hacks and lifelong politicos go along with it. You know, just to make sure it's not "divisive."

There is a new moveon.org ad that hits McCain for not voting to decide if $13.5 billion tax breaks for big oil should go towards alternatives for oil, money that could have gone towards wind and solar. There needed to be 60 votes and they only got 59. John McCain chose not to vote.

As a result, instead of powering millions of homes with clean energy and building next-generation solar technology, ExxonMobil and other companies are getting billions in tax breaks at a time when they're already making record profits.

BENEATH THE SPIN    • ERIC L. WATTREE

The Crabs Are On The Move

Well, they’re at it again, y’all.  A small minority of Black people are hard at work doing everything they can to undermine the Black community.  This time it’s in the guise of trying to drag down Barack Obama by promoting Cynthia McKinney’s dead-on-arrival candidacy with the Green Party.

I removed it, most of you infants can now get back to sleep with your pacifiers.

I thought I would get a mature response with some criticism, but you guys, sheesh...you give the word "intolerant" a new meaning, is there a special uniform you wear or something?

I read this paragraph today, with a quote from Bill Burton, the Obama spokesman, to Fox News:

"The convention will offer a series of contrasts and comparisions of the McCain record so voters can see how clearly the choice will be in November," Obama spokesman Bill Burton told FOX News. "The convention will also introduce Senator Obama to the country, but it will make sure to convey strongly the differences and choices Obama’s campaign presents over McCain’s."