A title which sums up John McCain's quest for the Presidency.

This story caught by Mark Nickolas over at Political Base deserves a lot more attention than it has received.  It turns out that not only is McCain getting killed by the traditional media, his advertising campaigns just aren't working, either.  Voters seem to be immune to the appeals of an angry, befuddled septuagenarian looking to preside over Bush's 3rd term.

This story was posted yesterday at the NYT and appears on the front page today.  It is full of errors and misinformation and speculation.  I expect better from the NYT.  Unfortunately, comments at the NYT are closed.  Here is the link to the story.:

NYT article on Obama's health plan

The story focuses on whether or not the average family will really save $2500 a year on health insurance premiums under Senator Obama's universal health plan.  

More below the fold with a comparison with the McCain plan.

Many of us in SC are ecstatic that Bush/Barrett were overridden on the Medicare Bill.  Finally, their efforts to reward insurance company’s profits at the cost of American citizens have been thwarted.

According to the Los Angeles Times (link),

   Bush issued the veto in the morning, declaring the bill "objectionable" because it would take funds from private health insurers to keep paying doctors and would be "fiscally irresponsible."

Seniors have been faced with more and more doctors not accepting Medicare patients and what do our elected officials do?  They want to cut payments to doctors by over 10%.  Do they have any idea how tough it is for Medicare patients to find a doctor as it is?

One of the most distressing parts of their attempts is that this bill also provides for mental health and other health services to veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom living in rural areas.  Our elected officials opposed this effort to take care of our veterans.

more after the jump...

In a CBS interview Tuesday in which John McCain told one lie by insisting that the Sunni awakening occurred after the surge and not before, as discussed in rogereaton's dairy, this interesting exchange also occurred between Katie Couric and John McCain:

Couric: You have said, quote, "I know how to win wars." Which war, Sen. McCain, are you referring to?

McCain: Bosnia. Kosovo. First Gulf War. The conflict in Iraq. To name a few. I've been engaged in every single one of them, and in a decision making process as one of the senior members of the Armed Services Committee. And engaged in the debates on the floor of the United States Senate. And involved in the Armed Services Committee. I know those wars. I know conflicts. And I hate war. No one hates war more than the veteran who feels most plainly the loss of a veteran. And I know how to win wars.

Well, John, time for a little "straight talk."

king abdullah II welcomes barack obama to jordan

Real quick because I have to go to work!

I have heard several of these recently but until I heard it with my own ears, wasn't sure.

Right-wing swift-boater David Bossie and his organization Citizen's United  have geared up for the release of a "documentary" attack film on Barack Obama.

In Minnesota Democratic politics, everyone knows that the coordinated campaign, which is supposed to get all the campaigns at all levels to work together, usually fails and often miserably.  The saying goes "it's neither coordinated nor a campaign.".  Another older saying goes "I'm not a member of an organized political party, I'm a Democrat."  But that was the past.  In 2008 the campaigns are actually working all together.  It's unheard of.

One time is excusable.  Twice, maybe (but not if it is on the same thing in back to back days).  Three, four, five times?  That is the start of a pattern.  And when it is over and over and over again, well, I think that there really needs to be some further discussion on what has long since passed "pattern" and is now a big concern.

This isn’t like George W. Bush, who was clueless and needed to be coached on the foreign leaders’ names.  This is a man – a Presidential candidate – who has based a large part of his campaign on being more adept at foreign policy, on being more knowledgeable in world affairs, more, well, "everything" than Senator Obama when it comes to foreign policy issues.

He doesn't have a plan for Afghanistan. He doesn't have a clear foreign policy platform.  He has a sound byte (VICTORY) and a strategy (STAY!) that is actually far more intellectually bankrupt than the Bush Administration's mishandling of events. Today the McCain campaign leaked to the Drudge Report that the big bad NYT wanted their candidate to parrot OBAMA'S plan! HOW UNFAIR! It actually would be a huge shocking story if that were the case; only guess what, it isn't!

Shipley, who is on vacation this week, explained his decision not to run the editorial. 'The Obama piece worked for me because it offered new information (it appeared before his speech); while Senator Obama discussed Senator McCain, he also went into detail about his own plans.' Shipley continues: 'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq.'

See that: basically Sen. Obama fleshed out his plans for Iraq in the editorial he made, in addition to of course taking shots iat his opponent. Sen. McCain meanwhile simply attacked Sen. Obama's editorial without laying out any concrete vision for the future.

Let's discuss this more below the fold.

Note: I'm the author of a new book, Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest, but I'm not part of the Obama campaign.

Rasmussen Reports released a survey this morning finding that 49% of respondents believe that reporters will try to help Obama win.

That number is up from 44% a month ago. Only 14% believe that most reporters will try to help McCain win.

Perhaps most astonishingly, "45% say that most reporters would hide information if it hurt the candidate they wanted to win" while only 30% disagree. Republicans and independents are most likely to think this.

This poll reveals the power of the right-wing media in this country, and the myth of liberal bias that is repeated over and over again.

             obama with president hamid karzai at presidential palace in kabul, afghanistan

I don't like conspiracy theories involving the leaders of our nation, in large part because I don't credit them with the intelligence to devise them or the ability to carry them out.  However, in reading the news over the past few days, I've had opportunity to revise that opinion, at least as it applies to a political conspiracy.

The current administration has never had any problem in developing and executing political action.  And the press has always been ready and waiting to help make it work.

The past few weeks have quietly validated some of Obama's foreign policy positions. It started a few weeks ago when the Bush administration was able to get key concessions from North Korea on their nuclear program through......wait for it..........diplomacy. After years of tough talk that only served to escalate tensions and destabilize the relationship, finally direct engagement made brought about a acceptable solution.

Which brings us to Iran. Funny how this week we learned that the US was having direct conversations with Iran on their nuclear program......Hmmmm think the lowering tensions in the middle east had anything to do with the drop in oil prices?

Direct engagement...... where have I heard that before? Not that there is anything wrong with talking tough, but without direct engagement it accomplishes NOTHING. Thankfully as the administration winds down they are feeling some urgency to do something.

So that's two wins for Obama advocated policies, none for John McCain.

That brings us to Afghanistan.

Cross posted at Prairie State Blue.

Some time ago, I (and others) wrote about the Republican nominee for the IL-18 Congressional district, Aaron Schock, bringing in The Decider for a fundraiser.  Though Bush's approval ratings are dismal, he is still popular with Big Money and this fundraiser is expected to generate up to $700,000 for Mr. Schock.  

Well, Colleen Callahan decided to answer back...  

Unfuckingbelievable.

Hillary needs to make this stop now.

Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. and a top adviser to Republican Sen. John McCain, met with the former Clinton backers at a private home for more than an hour and a half. Fiorina said in an interview that over glasses of iced tea and finger food, she fielded questions from Democratic women she described as "intensely uncomfortable with the notion of a President Obama.’’

The Westchester meeting came at the behest of former Clinton supporters, some of whom have said – adamantly – that they won’t support Obama. Polls show Obama winning the majority of support from women voters while about a quarter of ex-Clinton supporters are leaning toward McCain.