It was not until his campaign collapsed and his ex-staffers felt free to talk that I learned that working for Big Ed [Muskie] was something like being locked in a rolling boxcar with a vicious 200-pound water rat. Some of his top staff people considered him dangerously unstable. He had several identities, they said, and there was no way to be sure on any given day if they would have to deal with Abe Lincoln, Hamlet, Captain Queeg, or Bobo the Simpleminded...

If the current polls are reliable... Nixon will be re-elected by a huge majority of Americans who feel he is not only more honest and more trustworthy than George McGovern, but also more likely to end the war in Vietnam. The polls also indicate that Nixon will get a comfortable majority of the Youth Vote. And that he might carry all fifty states... This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it -- that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable. The tragedy of all this is that George McGovern, for all his mistakes... understands what a fantastic monument to all the best instincts of the human race this country might have been, if we could have kept it out of the hands of greedy little hustlers like Richard Nixon. McGovern made some stupid mistakes, but in context they seem almost frivolous compared to the things Richard Nixon does every day of his life, on purpose... Jesus! Where will it end? How low do you have to stoop in this country to be President?

ANYWAYS...

Today has be pretty interesting, politically speaking, that is.  Most of the people there seem to be Democrats/liberals/progressives, even the large amount Europeans.  And also most seem to be pro-Obama.  It was interesting to hear/watch reactions outside the liberal blogosphere from people, especially from the Europeans.  I had a great conversation today with a guy from Norway and a guy in Germany.  A guy in England asked for help for his friend in the States who is trying to do something for helping returning soldiers.  

Largely, it's a social networking community and it's been an eye opener to get real-time "face-to-face" reaction to events.  Just thought I'd share.

Blogging While Brown Convention Atlanta, GA July 25-27, 2008

How many more of these goddam elections are we going to have to write off as lame but 'regrettably necessary' holding actions? And how many more of these stinking double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and the at least 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils? I understand, along with a lot of other people, that the big thing, this year, is Beating Nixon. But that was also the big thing, as I recall, 12 years ago in 1960--and as far as I can tell, we've gone from bad to worse to rotten since then, and the outlook is for more of the same.

Sorry. Just being random.

He had a way of making everything clear.