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Seen at Brilliant at Breakfast.

Colin Powell Begins His Climb Out of the Gutter

Vote

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Ooops

Throughout Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, the Republican nominee has wrapped himself in the mantle of U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, proclaiming himself the leading advocate of the former commanding general in Iraq who devised last year’s controversial troop surge. Yet during a talk Wednesday about Iraq at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington policy organization, Petraeus repeatedly made statements that bolstered the foreign-policy proposals of Sen. Barack Obama, McCain’s Democratic rival, or cut against McCain’s own lines.

  Washington Independent

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Brian Williams Will NEVER Get an Interview with Sarah Palin

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Get Your '08 Vote Shirt

http://www.thatone08.com/

http://www.cafepress.com/xerotopia.315025991#

In case you didn't see the debate, this will explain it.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Town Hall

What I'm wondering is what crawled up Tom Brokaw's butt and died. The "debate" is about what you would expect between an intelligent man and a GOP pimp. But Tom keeps harping about the abuse of the time limit by the candidates. Interestingly, each time he does it, he does it immediately after Obama speaks. And also interestingly, he often says, "Thank you very much, Senator," after McCain speaks (and sometimes chuckling at his lame jokes), and has not yet once said it to Obama. Is there something I don't know about Tom Brokaw?

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

There You Have It

Update Keep your eyes open for this kind of thing.

And this kind of thing.

And this is pretty much the summary that nails it.

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McCain-Palin or Obama-Biden.

Or Osama BinLaden as the meme is out now - do you think Obama is trying to tell us something with his choice of last names in VP???

At any rate, I won't be watching the Republican Convention, because frankly, I cannot stand to look at or hear the voices of these crooks. And I admit that I haven't even heard Ms. Palin. The only reason I watched the Democrats was because at least with them there's a tiny shred of hope for this country's future. Not much, but a shred. With the GOP, there is nothing. Zilch. Nada. We just keep going down the drain. We already know what they'll be offering.

So, good luck to you all. And especially you, New Orleans.

I'll probably quit blogging, unless the Democrats take the WH, at which point I might actually start spreading the word on the weasely things they do. But if we get more Republicans, well....I'll just be fiddling, eating, drinking and being merry, because, you know.

....but hey, you do what you want....you will anyway.

Thanks for your support and comments these past few years. May you learn to make magic.

Convention Over

And this final night was quite the spectacle. And I must say, Barack Obama gave a very fine speech. I hope you got to watch - or hear - it.

The Race Card

A McCain ad aired on Fox News channel with the words "HANG" in the background along with a photograph of Barack Obama has sparked outrage after being noticed by a reporter at a local Fox television affiliate.

The words "HIGHER TAXES" are transposed on an image of Obama standing in front of a crowd. The background is blurred at the edges so that the words from Obama's signature theme -- change -- has been cut down to the word "HANG." The shot appears for about a second.

  Raw Story

A picture of the shot and the ad here.

Believe me, it's going to get a lot uglier.

DNC Convention coverage: Dude!

Who was that fired-up speaker in the John Kerry suit? Who knew?

And, as only he can, Bill Clinton said all the right things. And he said them about Obama. Joe Biden has a couple of tough acts to follow.

If you're not watching PBS, you missed a conversation with Walter Mondale. Too bad we don't have more politicians like that these days.

Update Apprently the networks didn't show all of Kerry's speech. Too bad. It started out rather Kerry-like, but he got wound up really good and made a very good speech of it. If you didn't see it, check it out from TPM's YouTube clip.

I was thinking about Bill's speech a little more. What struck me as surprising was that he said the words Hillary wouldn't say: Barack Obama is ready to be president. He only said one thing about Hillary - that "his" candidate didn't win - and then he went on to say that Barack Obama is the right man for the job. Interesting. He also said that people the world over were more impressed by the power of our example than the example of our power. David Brooks (PBS commentator) said that was a pretty slogan but he didn't think Putin or Ahmadinejad were impressed by the power of our example.

And then I was thinking about the claim that McCain has it over Obama due to experience. I wonder why the Democrats haven't taken up the Freewheelin' Franklinesque mantra that good judgment can substitute for experience, but experience cannot substitute for good judgment.

(You don't know Freewheelin' Franklin? Then be sure to check the "mantra" link.)

Campaign This

Not that I have any faith in the DNC knowing what they need to do, but here's the guy the DNC should have out there every day of the week until November: Dennis Kucinich at the convention courtesy Crooks & Liars.

(YouTube below - lots of trouble lately with YouTube, so Crooks & Liars for you if you can't play the clip below - note, however, that Crooks & Liars is shortened.)

Kudos to Hillary

Hillary doesn't do anything for me, but tonight was probably her finest hour. She stepped up, and I don't think anybody could have asked for any more from her.

Now all those fools of her supporters who think John McCain is an acceptable substitute for her should do nothing less than to follow her lead.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

The Difference

A comment from a TPM reader:

Obama would raise McCain's taxes by roughly $800,000; McCain would cut them by about $200,000. That's a million dollar spread. No wonder McCain is so hostile to Obama's economic agenda.

But here's what's really interesting. Obama's proposals would raise his own taxes by hundreds of thousands of dollars, in order to cut the taxes of people who are less fortunate than he is. McCain would cut his own taxes even further than they've already been reduced. And that's everything a voter needs to know about these two men.

I haven't clarified in my mind the conflicted appearance of the American public's desire for a presidential character. There's a lot of talk about whether someone is "elitist" or "rich" or "one of us". While I think a huge portion of voters may react to those ideas, I think they also tend to have a false sense of their own ability to rise above their station and are still enamored of the King/Queen, Prince/Princess idea, and that they're just as likely to install a "king". Witness George.

At any rate, I think Obama and Biden will have to be very careful about throwing out too many references to McCain's wealth, or risk turning people against them for it. They would do better to let everyone around them do that and hit hard with pictures painting the info above.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

How's This Going to Work?

We've seen that Biden has no problem taking money from lobbyists, and in fact has a son who is a lobbyist, while Obama has made noises about distancing himself from the lobbies. But that's not the only contradiction he'll have to defend or roll over for.

Biden is among the top 10 members of Congress to receive money from lawyers and law firms since the 1990 election cycle and among the top 20 to collect contributions from the real estate industry. His largest contributor over time has been credit card giant MBNA Corp. ($214,100), which, despite being acquired by Bank of America a few years ago, remains atop the list of Biden's major contributors. As an industry, finance and credit companies have contributed nearly $300,000 to Biden in his career, making them his 12th most generous industry. Obama has vowed to target credit card companies as president, setting up a five-star rating system so consumers know the risk involved with various credit cards and establishing a bill of rights so consumers aren't exploited by unfair practices.

  Open Secrets

Yes, and he also said he would hold telecom industries accountable for their role in illegal wiretapping. How’d that turn out?

Considering the contributions, it is not surprising that Biden voted in favor of the bankruptcy bill that stiffed so many “regular folks.”

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

McShame

So, if I’ve been tinfoil hattish about McCain’s involvement in the Georgian affair, count that crazy conservative Pat Buchanan in my company.

Since Georgia attempted to retake South Ossetia by force, triggering a sharp, violent rebuke by Russian forces, Sen. McCain has been by far the most strident advocate of US support for the former Soviet state. And his top adviser, says [Pat] Buchanan, may well be the next Henry Kissinger or Zbigniew Brzezinski.

"He is a dual loyalist, a foreign agent whose assignment is to get America committed to spilling the blood of her sons for client regimes who have made this moral mercenary a rich man," he wrote.

In his recent history, Scheunemann was a key member of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), which lobbied President Clinton for war with Iraq for years before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He was also a signatory on a letter to President George W. Bush, just days after the terrorist attacks, demanding an invasion of Iraq and threatening political consequences if the president did not comply.

In addition, Scheunemann served as executive director of Ahmad Chalabi's group, "The Committee for Liberation of Iraq," a pro-war organization formed in 2002. Chalabi, once dubbed the "George Washington of Iraq," has since been accused of providing false information to US authorities and is currently under investigation.

  Raw Story

Yes, McCain is the new Neocon project.

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Say What?

Biden is, arguably, the most effective voice Democrats have on foreign policy. And here's why: Joe Biden is an incredibly arrogant jerk. And that's exactly what Democrats need.

  Ezra Klein

Because they are short on arrogant jerks???? I don’t think so. Maybe he means to even the tally with Republicans.

I'm thinking the best thing about Biden's selection is that there will be some entertainment value to the next few painful months that we wouldn't have gotten out of anybody else.

The "New" Obama Campaign

Announcing the VP candidate by text messages first was being played up as something special Obama was giving his supporters.

A good thing about sleeplessness and insanity is that you're up at all hours when these things come out. So much for the nifty cell phone Obama-text that I was supposed to get...oh well...better luck next announcement.

  brilliant at Breakfast

Did anybody get their message? Was it the fault of the phone company? Or were they all just suckers again? Signed up on a list for a scoop they didn't get. Not to worry, WaterTiger. The next "announcements" will be donation request text messages. Those will come through, I'm sure.

Update:

Sen. Barack Obama's decision to choose Joe Biden as his running mate leaked to the media several hours before his aides planned to send a text message announcing the running mate, negating a promise that people who turned over their phone numbers would be the first to know who Obama had chosen.

  Delaware Online

It’s so hard to find loyal help these days. Somebody pretty high up the ladder must have been the leaker. Surely only the most trusted knew?

You Mean This Joe Biden?

Then in September 1987, the [Joe Biden Presidential] campaign ran into serious trouble when he was accused of plagiarizing a speech by Neil Kinnock, then-leader of the British Labour Party. Though Biden had correctly credited the original author in all speeches but one, the one where he failed to make mention of the originator was caught on video. Within days, it was also discovered that, while a first year law student at Syracuse Law School, Biden had plagiarized a law review article in a class paper he wrote. Though the then-dean of the law school, as well as Biden's former professor, played down the incident of plagiarism, they did find that Biden drew "chunks of heavy legal prose directly from" the article in question. Biden said the act was inadvertent due to his not knowing the proper rules of citation, and Biden was permitted to retake the course after receiving a grade of F, which was subsequently dropped from his record. Biden also released his undergraduate grades, which were unexceptional. Further, when questioned by a New Hampshire resident about his grades in law school Biden had claimed falsely to have graduated in the "top half" of his class, (when he actually graduated 76th in a class of 85) that he had attended on a full scholarship, and had received three degrees. In fact he had received two majors, History and Political Science, and a single B.A., as well as a half scholarship based on financial need.

Faced with these revelations, Biden withdrew from the nomination race on September 23, 1987, saying his candidacy had been overrun by "the exaggerated shadow" of his mistakes.  Wikipedia

Or, more accurately, overrun by the shadow of his exaggeration mistakes.

Biden declared his candidacy for president on January 31, 2007, although he had discussed running for months prior. In January 2006, Delaware newspaper columnist Harry F. Themal wrote that Biden "occupies the sensible center of the Democratic Party." Themal concludes that this is the position Biden desires, and that in a campaign "he plans to stress the dangers to the security of the average American, not just from the terrorist threat, but from the lack of health assistance, crime, and energy dependence on unstable parts of the world." He goes on to quote Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen as saying that Biden's candidacy might be endangered by his "manic-obsessive running of the mouth." This foreshadowed Biden's January 31 remark on fellow Democratic candidate and Senator Barack Obama, frequently transcribed as, "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy, I mean, that's a storybook, man." However, several linguists and political analysts stated that the correct transcription includes a comma after the word "African-American", which "would significantly change the meaning (and the degree of offensiveness) of Biden's comment". Still, his comments took second place on Time magazine's list of Top 10 Campaign Gaffes for 2007.

Maybe Obama chose Biden to take some of the attack ad heat off himself.

Not to mention, it's going to be a little difficult to criticize anyone else for supporting the invasion of Iraq now, considering Biden voted for it.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

And he has one other weakness that hasn't received much attention to date. One of Biden's sons, Hunter, is a registered Washington lobbyist in a year in which Obama has been excoriating lobbyists and the culture of corruption in Washington. The younger Biden is a name partner at the firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair and seems to have specialized in lobbying for just the kind of earmark spending by Congress that Obama has vowed to slash. Republican insiders say the party is likely to make an issue of Biden's family lobbying tie.

  Yahoo

Oh, that.

And if Obama isn't really going to bring change, then....

Because He Was a POW

Read why one POW won't be voting for John McCain here.

"Doctor Phillip Butler is a 1961 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a former light-attack carrier pilot. In 1965 he was shot down over North Vietnam where he spent eight years as a prisoner of war. 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. "

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.