We can not afford a third Bush term, John McCain represents four more years of George W. Bush's failed policies.

It's an incredibly simple statement, yet devastating and for some reason I haven't been hearing it from the Obama campaign for a while. JMHO, but the reason John McCain has been making up ground isn't simply because of his advertising and campaigning but because the Obama campaign has been passively allowing him to pursue his message without going after him for supporting George Bush's failed policies. It used to be every speech at the end of the primaries and at the MN acceptance and a while beyond was calling McCain out on supporting Bush. The MSM will not make the contrasts, Obama has to take his microphone and like Iowa, go after John McCain every day as a third Bush term. MAKE McCain the incumbant. MAKE the election about McCain. The dynamics as they now stand give McCain a 50/50 shot of negative campaigning winning the day for Republicans. We can't let this be about Obama but about ideas: John McCain is running for George Bush's third term. EVERY democratic surrogate and talking head should be saying this EVERY day about EVERY subject. And so should we in our diaries.

Dear Journal,
The other I visited what Americans call the "grocery store". It was quite an experience. After all these years, I thought tha Frank my driver accumulated all of my food and delivered it. I had no idea that these stores existed.

Capt. Morton: [on the loudspeaker in reference to his "missing" palm tree... ] All right! Who did it? Who did it? You are going to stand sweating at those battle stations until someone confesses! It's an insult to the honor of this ship! The symbol of our cargo record has been destroyed and I'm going to find out who did it if it takes all night!

With Emperor George down to his underwear, the Department of State memos this week come across as incredibly petty. One wonders if the other cabinet departments are going to be similarly instructed to throw monkey wrenches once Obama's plane touches back down in the states.

I'm recalling an episode Sister Mary M., O.S.B. told us, about the second protest (1991) at the School of The Americas, Fort Benning, GA.  

Better organized than the first, when the march reached the gates and the guest speakers began prepared remarks, 5 huge tractor lawnmowers came over the hill like Sherman tanks.  The mowers proceeded to ride back and forth inside the fence, for the entire speechifying part of the protest. (The amusing followup is down in the replies)    

My question is "Where in the World Is Donald Segretti?"

Somebody has to say it, so I will:

John McCain is a grifter and a scoundrel.

He has built a career on a carefully crafted myth breathlessly repeated by his base of sycophants in the press. You know the hype: McCain the Maverick, McCain the Reformer, McCain the Straight Talker, McCain the ______ (insert worshipful drivel here).

Keep in mind that the same folks who sold George W. Bush and his failed policies to America are now working the streets to sell the myth of McCain—"the last honest man in politics".

Those willing to look behind the curtain will find a John McCain that has always surrounded himself with the most corrupt players on the political stage and kept himself one step ahead of exposure. His Abramoff investigation cover-up is a case in point (for details see this Diary).

Another one is the growing scandal swirling around his chief foreign policy advisor, Randy Scheunemann.

Randy shapes McCain’s foreign policy and—surprise—that policy helps Randy’s former and future clients. Ca-ching!

This, you need to know about.

To the jump...

I haven't seen or heard Obama's Berlin speech yet. For reasons I won't bore you with, I won't be able to see it until Sunday or Monday. But I did see clips of his interview with Brian Williams on Countdown and Hardball today.

From the diaries I've read here this evening, I gather that watching the video of the speech will probably make me feel pride in being an American -- both because of the quality of our next leader, and because of the way the folks in Berlin were showering the US with love.

But I doubt the emotions generated by the video will exceed the ones generated by hearing Obama speak the sentence I quoted in the title of this diary.

One of the media narratives being floated during Obama's trip overseas has related to the idea that the trip may in fact be having questionable, if not detrimental effects on his campaign for the presidency.

Here's one example from a pseudo-legitimate source:

Newsweek link

I've also heard the idea mentioned by a few of the empty talking heads on cable news.

Now, I reject the idea that this trip has done anything close to as much bad as good.  I believe most such discussion is actually a side-effect of the 24-7 media monster.  But even when I suspended logic and allowed myself to consider the idea that there might be an inkling of merit to this suggestion I couldn't help but think that "I just don't care!"

For all the talk, the reality is that there is still a lot of work to do at home.  

Here in rural North Carolina we are thrilled that the Obama campaign has sent paid staffers to help organize.   In 2004, we didn't get any attention out here in the sticks of a state that was going to vote for Bush.  We love that Obama is running a 50 state strategy and has committed to helping Democrats up and down the ticket get elected.

There is much tongue clucking amongst the mainstream media gurus in the aftermath of Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin. Was it hubris?  Arrogance?  Too much from a United States senator, who is a presidential candidate, but not yet (or perhaps never) President of the United States?  I say no.

I have examined the polls and how the press have been covering the campaigns and their gaffes and I have reached the conclusion that John McCain will be elected the next President, no matter how great a media week Obama has or how poor a media week McCain has.

This piece in Reuters, showing once again that the media gives too much power to people in focus groups, suggests that economists prefer a John McCain White House to a Barack Obama one.

The economy is a big issue. It has overtaken the war in Iraq as the most talked about thing by late night stand-up comedians and idiotic cable news anchors. But there are a few points I want to make sure everyone's clear on.

I think Obama has had a pretty damn good week. He exceeded expectations on his trip overseas, and all I hear is the media and McC[ompl]ain being more critical of him. It's getting on my nerves. It is quite obvious to me that it's only going to get worse. It's only July and already McC[ompl]ain is spending all of his time stalking Obama's every move so he can make snide, rude, disrespectful, and hateful comments about them.  

Well, it's time for me to do more than be angry and donate.

jump.

Last week, Manhattan Institute Scholar Heather Mac Donald wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post calling out Senator Obama for failing to embrace "accountable, data-driven policing" in outlining his urban agenda to the U.S. Conference of Mayors last month.  Ms. Mac Donald cites such policing as one of the primary reasons for New York City's comeback in the 1990s. (Data-driven policing seems awfully like racial profiling, to me.  Oh yeah, Ms. Mac Donald wrote "The Myth of Racial Profiling" a few years back.)

This morning's newspapers reported profits of $5.44 Billion by Conoco-Phillips. This is up 13% from last year. Later in the day, the GOP killed a bill to release 70 million barrells of oil reserves to the American public to give them some relief at the gas pump. Republicans said it was in order to prepare for a "real" national emergency according to this AP new release. http://news.yahoo.com/...

Apparently, record gas prices, record insurance premiums, and record forclosures on homes in the U.S in the midlst of record profits for the oil companies does not constitute a "real" emergency to Republicans.

Or...... is there method to their madness?

This is America, the country that invented marketing, and where the consumer is king. So, America, if you are in the market for a new President, here are some things to consider.

Physical Health
Obama: Excellent
McCain: Poor
Comment: McCain suffers chronic pain from his war injuries, and has an on-going battle with skin cancer. Obama works out regularly, is thin and agile, and can hit a three-pointer.

Mental Health
Obama: Suffers from delusions of grandeur
McCain: Suffers from delusions, early on-set senility, bouts of rage and "generalized nastiness"

The Bush Administration is planning an end run to entice states into applying for abstinence-only funds that Congress has yet to authorize, and potentially tie the hands of the next administration.

Written by Scott Swenson for RH Reality Check.

Funny thing about this election is that the media seems to think that Barack Obama’s challenge of appealing to both Black and White voters is somehow new.  Consider, as evidence, the following opening sentence of the John McCormick and Rick Pearson’s July 15th cover story in the Chicago Tribune.

"When it comes to African-American audiences, some have called Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential bid a ‘dual-track’ candidacy, one that seeks to prove he is in tune with the needs of the black community while also not alienating whites."

Really?!!  Then I suppose that makes McCain a dual-track candidate too, since he presumably has to prove that he is in tune with the needs of the white community while not alienating African Americans and other people of color.  After all, Latinos and African Americans alone comprise over 30% of the U.S. population.  Doesn’t McCain face the exact same challenge of appealing to voters across racial lines?  Hasn’t every single Presidential hopeful in modern times?  

I'll attempt to set aside my own political bias here (obviously in favor of Obama) and make an objective prediction about the upcoming election: it will be a comfortable win, if not landslide victory, for Obama and the Democrats in Congress. From whence comes this prognostication? I have four reasons.