watch

We don't need 'Raymond' or 'Reba' in the whitehouse.

For the impressionable masses, there have simply been too many cute 'Everyman goes to Washington' movies like 'Dave' to ignore. You know them, the flicks where the little guy poses/is accidentally elected as president and calls his back-home accountant buddy and they fix the budget and all the worlds problems overnight.

Unreasonable or not, I think many people think that this sort of insta-reform is a guaranteed result of a 'little guy' grabbing the reigns of power.


Declaring the bottom is the only way back up..

On the other hand, I'm now sure that most Americans care about experience, as opposed, say, to answering the question, would I like to have a beer with this good ol' boy? It would seem that for Bush, the most inexperienced presidential candidate regarding foreign affairs ever, this was a more important question, and a lot, enough, people responded, yes. And so we began eight years of hell.

Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Please don't bother me with tabloid stories, I'm busy trying to decide between a Constitutional scholar and a warrior who can't even avoid capture with an airplane.

I hope this post means that you are feeling much better.

I thought you just posted you're not feeling too good, headachy and all?

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

the first: "I fear for my country"

Former Gov. Tony Knowles and other Alaska Democrats warn not to underestimate Sarah Palin's political skills -- or how unsuited she is for the vice presidency.

Sept. 12, 2008 | ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Can the Republicans really use national novice Sarah Palin to juice the doddering McCain campaign all the way to the White House?

You bet, warn Alaska Democrats. They've seen this movie before.

"Her campaign locked her in a closet during the governor's race in 2006 -- and they're doing the same thing now," said one longtime Democratic consultant here, who like many others asked to remain anonymous because "it's a small state and Sarah takes names and numbers."

...

Knowles, like other Alaska Democrats, is urging the media to keep digging into Palin's record so voters get a true picture of the woman who could become vice president. "Everybody has been stunned by her selection. The fact that Senator McCain didn't call one person in Alaska -- whether an advocate or adversary, family, friend or foe -- says a lot about his judgment. The only person he apparently called was her lawyer in the Troopergate scandal.

"The only reason for her selection is political. Which is fine as one part of your calculation. But in this case, the decision was made at the expense of national security.

"I fear for my country if the McCain-Palin ticket prevails," said Knowles. "The stakes are so huge in this election. We have the opportunity for real change, to rebuild our economy and our moral standing in the world. But there is nothing coming out of the Republican campaign. They're just using Palin to take us back to the old culture wars."

and on the subject of "culture wars", the second: What small-town America is saying about Obama

With less than two months until voting day, there are doubts hanging over Barack Obama's campaign -- and they aren't just due to Alaska's top moose-hunting hockey mom jolting the race and electrifying the Republican faithful. Although Obama has touted himself as a post-racial candidate, whether America is ready to elect a black man for president remains a vexing question for his supporters. In a tight national race, Obama continues struggling to gain wider support, particularly among white working-class voters and independents in battleground states.

...

For three months during this summer and early fall, I've been traveling across America, exploring the nation's small towns and rural areas and meeting the people there. From Michigan to New Mexico to North Carolina, I've conducted dozens of interviews with white working-class voters across 18 states, gauging, among other things, their thoughts and feelings about the first black man to have a serious shot at winning the White House. Beyond Obama's race, what I found was a more complicated set of concerns -- whether accurately informed or not -- about his religious faith, values and cultural and educational background. That is, many of these white rural voters expressed a discomfort that may have more to do with unfamiliarity about the type of person Barack Obama is, rather than with direct concerns about his race.

...

Beyond the necessity of connecting with rural America, the Obama campaign is hoping to gain ground by winning over suburban independents in battleground states. In Columbus, Ohio, I encountered several white, upper-middle-class swing voters who said they would support Obama. But Terry Daniels, 53, a black man who runs a clothing store in downtown Columbus catering to the city's suburbanites, was skeptical that would happen. "Everyone likes to think they're progressive," Daniels said, "but when it comes down to it, they're not going to vote that way."

Even though the economy purports to be a top issue for voters, the 2008 race has been as much of a contest of personalities as any in recent memory. (Even before Palin entered the picture.) Obama's fate in November may in part depend on his ability to better familiarize the more insular segments of white America with an under-reported but growing post-civil rights demographic: the well-educated black urban middle class. Obama's story is a historic example of this achievement, but it remains to be seen if America is ready to celebrate it by granting him the nation's highest office.

both are recommended reading.

forewarned is forearmed, and obama, whether through biden or other surrogates, needs to start hammering on mcstain and palin both.

the revolution will not be televised...

I feel better now.

We need to push for Progressive change, now more than ever.

I'm not so sure about that. Remember that ignoring the swiftboat lies is a big part of what did Kerry in. I think we need to keep exposing her, but stick to substantive matters. I'm glad we are not talking about Brittany or Bristol or Brisbane, or whatever that kids name is.

Bottom line, she's one of us and so it is good she didn't know.

Obama has to immediately fire his top campaign strategists and hire Drew Westen. He needs to take his gloves off and come out swinging. He needs to initiate the attack instead of always weakly responding to Schmidt's smears. It's criminal Obama doesn't use all the ammunition laying there at his disposal.

He needs to quit going on about boring abstract policy stuff and start pointing out the lipstick on the pig maverick who is actually a Washington insider and tool of the lobbyists. Times a wasting.