ALL HAIL...

the shoe thrower in Iraq.

He did what the White House Press Corps often seems unable to do: toss something at the President that forces him to move even the least little bit; throw something that he doesn't see coming.

And let's not forget that the shoe thrower was right: Mr Bush is the guy who destroyed this man's country for reasons we may never really know. W is the guy who REFUSES outright to take any responsibility for the tragedy that is the Iraq War. It wasn't him; it was that intelligence. Jesus God, what an asshole.

IF IT'S OK TO GIVE CITIGROUP 306-SOME-ODD BILLION DOLLARS...

...why is such a waste of money to give Detroit about ten-percent of that?

Citigroup is far from blameless when it comes to the company's...ahem...troubles. In fact, we the American people are giving them a ton of money to make up for what appear to be absolutely dunderheaded investments...we're bailing out folks who made horribly risky investments and got burned. Isn't that how this system is supposed to work? You take big risks, you could lose big?

So why are, mainly, Republicans so against giving GM, Ford and Chrysler money? In this case, we're basically saying that the economies of several states - all already in deep recessions - to collapse. And we're talking about millions of jobs, and - in my opinion - we're talking about a security risk if we have no auto manufacturing sector that we can call our own.

So Citigroup yes, GM/Ford/Chrysler no? I don't get it.

And, as I'm still looking for work, can I get a bailout too?

THE PRO-GOP PART OF THE GOP.

The true face of the Republican Party

They're always sorry for saying crazy shit like Barack Obama and many Democrats are un-American, or Barack Obama is a National Socialist.

But make no mistake; this is what a large number of Republicans believe; that this country needs a right-wing revolution to rid the USA of undesirable elements, namely, people who aren't white, straight and Christian.

The Republican Party is now the party of bigots, fanatics, and bitter rich people who think that money is the most important thing in this world.

Ugh.

RUSH...

And the band plays on.

When will Rush Limbaugh's listeners realize that his goal is to keep them listening, not to enlighten them, but to keep them listening so he can make millions of dollars?

When will they realize that, when it comes to the media, they are the tools?

When will the Dittoheads look into the mirror and realize they're being taken for a ride by a guy who only cares about them as a ratings point?

THE PARTY OF THE ARC FROM RURAL TEXAS TO RURAL VIRGINIA

More about the GOP being the party of the South. CNN exit polls by region...in three regions, Obama wins by at least 10 points. In one region, McCain wins by 9 points...hmm.

Obama McCain Other

Northeast (21%)
59% 40% 1%

Midwest (24%)
54% 44% 2%

South (32%)
45% 54% 1%

West (23%)
57% 40% 3%

YES WE DID

Compare this scene to the Arizona Biltmore.

ONE MORE THING...

What a marvelous comeuppance for the most disgraceful fact of American politics in my lifetime: the GOP Southern Strategy.

Nice job guys; you are now the party of the arc from rural Texas through rural Virginia with an arm up the sparsely populated Great Plains.

New England? Birthplace of the GOP? Bye bye. Amazingly the GOP is dead there...dead, not injured...but deceased.
The Mountain States? Hardly monolithic. Hell, Arizona's electoral votes would likely be Obama's had it not been McCain's home state.

The Southern Strategy has resulted in a GOP that is basically run by Southern white folk who deny science in favor of fanatic Christianity. Great job guys...

Let's hope that Richard Nixon is somewhere watching all this.

SO MUCH MORE THAN...

...a change in the party living in the White House.

I was given the opportunity to accompany a friend with a ticket to Grant Park to see and hear Barack Obama tonight.

I stood there and wept, for all the people who spent the 20th century fighting for rights of all kinds. People who put their lives on the line to force this country to progress, not fall back. People who, sometimes with no more than their singular voices and two feet, didn't lose faith in this country. My God, did Martin Luther King Jr die believing that just 40 years after that day in April, an African-American would be elected to the White House? Barack Obama was a child that day. Today, he's the President of the United States.

The greatest thing about today: all those fears that white people in Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and Florida and Nevada, and Colorado and so many other states would refuse to vote for a black man. How wonderful that such a fear can today be put to rest. Barack Obama was judged by the content of his character, not the color of his skin.

My God, this is an amazing night. It's so wonderful to just savor it, not to look ahead, not yet, just bask in a moment unlike any other this nation has experienced.

I'm still weeping with joy.

WHAT A DAY...

Here in Chicago, it is palpable, the excitement. I didn't get a ticket; I wasn't THAT big an Obama $upporter, so no problem. But I'm probably gonna go down to Grant Park anyway.

I think it's important enough that I'll brave 1,000,000 people on the El to do so, and I hate big crowds.

Here I am, unemployed, no job in sight, and the job market quickly collapsing, but I still feel hope. I guess that makes me a pro-America American.

Now I'm watching CNN and their exit polls. Amazingly, 63 percent of people who say Iraq is the number one issue voted for Obama.

I have a feeling that it's gonna be a good night for him, perhaps a very good night. See the earlier post. I still see 396 EV's for Obama.

MY HOPES...

...are that a combination of the following:

*Huge African-American turnout
*Equally surprising young voter turnout
*The economy
*The Bush administration
*McCain's age and lousy campaign.
*Palin's sheer lack of readiness to be POTUS

will result in Obama getting 396 electoral votes.

Meaning he wins all of Kerry states, plus Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida,
Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

I'd love to see WV or another state go blue just to see Obama get 400.

That's my hope.

A GOOD DAY

Today me and three other Chicagoans drove to Indianapolis to canvass for Obama.

It was a great experience. My friend Eric and I wound up going to a nearly all black housing project, where we were welcomed; 100 percent of the people we talked to were voting for Obama. And they were all so excited. Here we were, two white gay dudes from the big city welcomed with open arms. It was amazing and heartening.

Then we canvassed a mostly white adjacent neighborhood, which was a different experience. The houses generally were inexpensive ranch style, some prefabricated, many with "NO TRESPASSING" signs. Many were transformed into bunkers.

It was here we found our only McCain supporter, a woman in a small house set way back from the road. She came around and said she's, "not ready for socialism." From what we could see capitalism wasn't really working out too well for her.

The other thing we noticed were a lot of foreclosures, houses boarded up with the date of the foreclosure spray painted on the door. Looking into one, you could see the detritus left behind after a very quick departure. It was frightening.

But at the end of the day? I'd say we all felt good about what we had done. It just felt good to be involved in something we all believe in so passionately, the election of Barack Obama to be our President. And we did it in a state that very well could turn Blue. Indiana...the one Midwestern state that the GOP could count on. It's even wonderful to know that the GOP has to defend Indiana. It's a wonderful thing.

CAN WE FORCE TEXAS TO SECEDE?

From the Houston Chronicle.

That's more than one in five. That means that 23-percent of Texans believe something that is, well, false. This isn't 23-percent believe Obama would be a bad President.

It's really no different from saying, "23-percent of Texans polled believe that little fairies with magic wands inhabit their backyards" or "23-percent of Texans polled believe that Britney Spears and George W Bush are the same person" or "23-percent of Texans..." well you get the point.

What it says to me is that 23-percent of Texans are too stupid to vote.

Can't we tell Texas to secede, form a right-wing theocracy and then force them to take Oklahoma, Kansas, Idaho, Utah, Alabama and Mississippi along for the ride? We in the remaining areas could offer political asylum to those who don't want to live in such a place.

FOX NEWS' MEGAN KELLY.

This is worth viewing, unless you suffer from high blood pressure.

What's truly worth noting here is that Ms Kelly (a perfect GOP specimen) can do nothing but get all riled up. All she does, as Mr Burton notes, is give a political speech.

And watch Mr Burton, calm unperturbed even as this fishwife with a dye job interrupts him and accuses him of interrupting her. He remains calm; she comes close to going ballistic.

The most laughable part to me her boast that a "million people are watching her!" Compare her "million people" to the 13 million who listen to NPR's news magazines every day.

The second most laughable part is the "e mails I get from Republicans and Democrats."
I get e mails from Republicans and Democrats too Megan. Doesn't make a 2001 interview a viable issue.

But again, as I've said before, the conservative ethos is anger, self-righteous anger.

What's her goal in this interview? To defend FOX News? Who cares Megan? The issue should stand or fall on its own. Why do you need to defend...your network? Is the issue the issue here? If so, then why not discuss it? Why get your Talbots all wrinkled about what Bill Burton thinks about FOX News? Why? Because Ms Kelly, if nothing else, knows her audience.

Anger! Anger! Anger!

Mr Burton continually raises facts, calmly and rationally, while Ms Kelly gets angry.

AQUA. A BEAUTIFUL TOWER HERE IN CHICAGO

ENTITLEMENT.

This is so Republican.

A good Republican is one who wants to blame, especially to blame when it comes to events and things that make life difficult for them.

Government, foreigners, you name it. It's someone's fault and damn it they're angry.

I don't claim to understand this, though I imagine it's pretty much human nature. However, it could be argued that such blame and anger are things that folks flock to religion in order to get relief from.

That's what I love about Senator Obama; he doesn't go for blame. I think it's a spiritual thing. Can anyone imagine someone in the Obama campaign calling 911 to complain about traffic on an interstate highway?

NOW THAT SARAH PALIN MAY WIND UP ON TV...

Some say she could be a quote, "white Oprah".


As a producer, my thought would be a new show called "Let's Throw Things At Sarah Palin."

WHAT IF IT WORKS?

The GOP robo calls.

What if people buy that crap?

Could someone tell me one GOP talking point that rises above the level of half-truth? Even half? I can't.

HOW MUCH DO I LOVE MAD MEN?

Such a wonderful show on every single level.

I had an idea for the show...and feel free to steal it Mr Weiner...but every weekday around 5:00PM, two planes used to take off, one each from Chicago O'Hare and New York La Guardia departing for the other city. The thing about these flights; they were "Executive Flights" and that meant "MEN ONLY" (bold actually in the timetables too).

The idea, I suppose, was that men on business trips to Chicago and New York needed a frat party in the sky. The flight attendants probably required battle pay, but of course didn't get it. Anyway, I thought that this would work in a Mad Men episode, since one of the show's biggest missions is to point out how far we've come in the world of women's lives...how women were treated back then.

The amazing thing about these flights: they didn't phase them out until around 1970.

Today, they'd be called the GOP Post-Feminist Flights.

GOOD NEWS IN THE ALCS

In the course of five years, the Red Sox went from unbearable losers to unbearable winners. I'm happy for the Rays. That's the kind of team you want to see in the World Series.

MAKES ME PROUD OF MY HOMETOWN...

St Louis.

17 DAYS AND THE DIE HAS BEEN CAST FOR THE CAMPAIGN

In a way, there's not much to say.

McCain and Palin are going to mix nasty attacks with forward looking promises.

Obama and Biden are going to do the same, with less emphasis on the nasty stuff.

But assuming all the polling is correct, then McCain has to catch up not only in the battleground states, but he also has to grab a couple of states off the blue side.

I guess anything is possible, but it does seem like a difficult row to hoe: win Ohio, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Indiana, Colorado, Nevada...and then also take Virginia and, say, Wisconsin.

And McCain/Palin has to do it while being outspent 3-1. Plus let's face it, Indiana, North Carolina, Missouri and Colorado aren't supposed to be swing states.

You gotta love the new GOP Majority...

I guess I still believe that in the week before the election, a number of folks are gonna come around to Obama. I think that, after the debates, what many people came away with is a comfort with Obama as our President. I never look at the debates as winner/loser black and white things. To me they're more about subtle perceptions. Sure McCain came off as feisty in the third one, and that makes Republicans happy. But I still think that many voters came away with the idea that Obama CAN be President. And I think that's a very big deal.

I believe that McCain has long been thought of as Presidential caliber. So what would he have to do to win this thing now? He has to knock Obama off that perch and sit up there alone. I think it's pretty obvious that he managed to waste whatever opportunity he had to do that. Do Ayres and Wright speak to independent voters? Unless something new comes out, I don't think they do.

I think that, if Obama wins, people will look back at a couple of things to see why McCain lost and first and foremost will be his choice of Sarah Palin. She's a product of the base, and once again, the GOP base showed itself to be a bunch of angry intolerant assholes who, generally, live in a wide arc between El Paso, Texas and Norfolk, Virginia with wings heading northwest from Texas through Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, due north through the Great Plains and one little wing called Indiana. So yes, she draws big crowds, but to what end anymore?

It's funny to think of Colin Powell endorsing Obama tomorrow. I have this feeling that he's too cautious and military-minded to step out on such a limb. But it would be funny if he did. Is there a bigger "fuck you" to the GOP?

YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE.

John McCain today talking about this plumber fellow who makes more money that most Americans:


“He wanted to spread his wealth around. What does that mean? He wants the government to take Joe’s money and give it to somebody else, “McCain said as the crowd booed. “His hard earned dollars. We are not going to stand for that. America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by spreading the wealth; we became the greatest nation on earth by creating new wealth.”

I believe Senator McCain that if you look back at the history of this country, there has been a decent amount of wealth re-distribution. And that such wealth-redistribution has helped a number of groups keep their heads above water. For instance the elderly, 20 percent of whom rely on Social Security for most or all of their income.

And then there are the younger people in poverty; the U-S poverty rate is much higher than that of European nations. Why? Generally because of a lack of GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION. Many of the people living in poverty in this country have jobs but just can't make ends meet with those jobs. In Europe, the government safety net is much stronger. The U-S has pretty much maximized labor market participation, but more than 15 percent of Americans still live below the poverty line.

Senator McCain: how do YOU propose to get these people above the poverty line without government intervention? And without some wealth re-distribution?

Lack of a job hasn't been the problem here; it's that the jobs often don't pay enough to take care of the basic costs of living. Not to mention the basic cost of getting decent health care.

But then, having married a multi-millionaire, you Senator McCain really have no idea what I"m talking about do you?

Yup, John McCain is a Republican: a rich guy who thinks that the poor just need to get their act together but never once bothers to walk in their shoes for a moment. A rich guy who thinks somehow that his massive wealth is sacred and not to be touched. A rich guy who, deep down, thinks the poor deserve to be poor.

Jeez, this elderly, half-insane asshole pisses me off.

OLD OLD OLD

Now that the third debate is over: I just think that McCain looks more and more like a friendly version of the Cryptkeeper. Or a mean version of Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond.

And not one person on CNN suggested that maybe the reason John McCain lost his shit after 20 minutes is that he's old and cranky and needs some rest. That he's only good for 20 minutes.

America; he's old! He's the guy complaining about those darned kids on his lawn. He's the guy who swears he's as sharp as he ever was before he mistakes the brake and the gas in his car.

He's a Packard candidate in a Prius/SUV world.

He's OLD OLD OLD !!!

PLAYING WITH THE CNN ELECTORAL MAP

Is this 1980? Will voters, in the final week, decide that a change is necessary and that Obama is a reasonable man to take the office of President (like Reagan in 1980)?

If so, I figure that Obama will out-perform his current polls. On the CNN map, I gave Obama every single state where he's ahead, or within striking distance and he gets 413 electoral votes.

I really do think that McCain is in personal trouble. I don't think he has the energy to really make that Humphrey-like effort to do whatever it takes to win. I don't think a better stump speech will save him. I rewatched the second debate and it's even clearer when you concentrate on him how uncertain and tired he is.

That's the reason they've been snoozers; Obama was able to play it safe because his opponent seemed to need a nap.

I really wonder what's gonna happen on Wednesday...

WATCHING A MCCAIN RALLY ON CNN.

It's in Wisconsin.

The crowd behind him is all white and pretty full of old people. None of them look all that excited either (I take it back; one of them is "mad" about "socialists").

And jeez, he just looks awful. So old, so frail. Just awful.

And I understand that Palin is there, but she's not answering any of the questions about health care etc.

THE CRACK DEALERS ARE STILL IN BUSINESS.

Today I got this e-mail from Countrywide...that bastion of good corporate governance which holds my mortgage:

This Saturday, October 11, 2008
Call Countrywide to discuss your mortgage options.
(XXX), need to access cash up to $17,156 from available home equity?1
(XXX), exciting news — we're offering a Special Online Discount2 when you apply for a refinance loan today!
We've reviewed your account. Because you have kept your account current, made consistent payments during the past year, maintained a good loan-to-value ratio, and because your loan and property type meet our lending profile, we invite you to call to see if you qualify to refinance.

"Because you've got a good solid 30 year fixed loan at a low rate and you make your payments on time, we wanna make sure you get rid of whatever equity you have left, which we know isn't much because the comparables in your neighborhood have dropped by 25-30 percent. Come on, the first one's free..."

I'VE SAID IT BEFORE...

Republicans/Conservatives think aggression (in some cases to point of murder) is funny.

I've looked in the soul of some Republicans and I've seen three letters: KKK.

I guess it's what I've always said: there are two kinds of Republicans, rich ones and stupid ones.

I am so sick of this half-insane old man and his neanderthal running mate. They CANNOT run this country. And after last night? I also think that John McCain doesn't have the, ahem, energy to be President. His physical condition is obviously tenuous. A vote for John McCain is a vote for Sarah Palin in black mourning clothes announcing her regime...

I STILL THINK IT WOULD BE FUNNY TO SEE...

...Obama do the whistle/BOOM! into his microphone to see McCain get all PTSD and lose his shit.

But this debate is better than the last one. The getting up and walking, and answering questions of Joe Sixpack instead of an old loser like Jim Lehrer and Brokaw, or a younger loser like Gwen Ifill.

YELLING OBSCENITIES AT THE TV SCREEN.

As I watch Richard Fuld, Lehman's CEO cry for Waxman's House committee.

He feels horrible. But he's wearing a suit that costs more than my monthly mortgage payment. He's so cry-baby that I keep waiting for him to, look up, snap his fingers and cue the violin player. It would be fitting.

Fuck him. Fuck his "I take responsibility". Fuck his "nobody coulda seen this coming." Fuck his, "It's the media's fault." "Fuck his "of course we were in the mortgage market." Fuck his "we reduced our exposure..."

Screw his "what happened to Lehman could have happened to anyone." No, it happened to an a-hole who doubled down on craptastic investments.

Fuck his 500-billion in compensation over the past ten years.

Where's his prison bitch name?

ON THE OTHER HAND...

There are all the heartening reports on Obama's GOTV campaigns.


And we're talking about a truly amazing political team supporting an absolutely astounding candidate. So who knows?

I'm watching CNN and they just played Palin in FLA (with Droopy the Dog and, we hope, soon-to-be exiled former Democrat Joe Lieberman) and all she did was, well, lie. I mean, not shade the truth: "Someone needs to ask Obama how he's going to pay for all his spending!" Umm...they have and he's answered pretty clearly.

Then they played Obama who talked about his own plan to make health care available.

The differences in tone, in timbre, in specifics were just so plain.

Will people really believe the Palin/McCain (let's face it; she's the more dynamic of the two here) negative campaign? Is that really going to work?

I think that people's feelings about the economy etc are so negative that more negativity will make them turn off the TV. I don't think that anyone but the GOP base will be interested in hearing about Ayers/Rev Wright/Liberal/Chicago politician etc etc.

CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD.

The feeling of doom about the election.

I guess I just don't trust that the American electorate is as "beyond race" as the polls indicate.

Is Obama's lead real in some of these states? Virginia? Pennsylvania? Colorado? Wisconsin?

Are the racists already counted in the GOP ranks? Or will the Tom Bradley-effect come into play?

Does Obama have to be up by 15 to win by 3?

All the GOP folk keep saying, "if he's so great, then why isn't Obama up by 15?" And the answer is pretty obvious: racism. Why can't we talk about this? Why can't we say, "if he were a white man, he'd be up by 15." Why can't we examine the code words that some McCain supporters use and call them for what they are?

I do fear that, on election day, a bunch of white voters will go behind the curtain and despite their statements that they'll vote for Obama.

On the other hand, the DOW is heading to 9800...

It'll be interesting to see how Obama responds to what promise to be a McCain temper tantrum tomorrow night.

[Oops...the DOW IS below 9800. It dropped 80 points in the time it took to write that last sentence.]

I hate that Obama has to make parts of himself invisible and agreeable to make some people comfortable.

ALL I LEARNED LAST NIGHT...

...is that she wasn't speaking to me: the gay Arab-American urbanite who used to work in the...ahem..."mainstream media" (the media that is, I suppose, in the mainstream of American thought, hence the name "mainstream media").

She wasn't speaking to me. I'm not interested in colloquial chat; I'm not impressed by winks or smiles. My head isn't turned when a candidate for the top ring of global governmental power gets right the names of world leaders.

I'm not going to make an important decision about someone because he or she can stand at a podium for 90 minutes and NOT make a huge glaring error. Nor, for that matter, am I going to decide against that person if they do make a verbal mistake.

How low can we set the bar? Sarah Palin, after days of briefing, managed to be conversant in the most basic tenets and events of American Foreign Policy. Oh joy! She managed NOT to sound like an idiot. Hooray! She was able to stay focused (though there were a decent number of platitudinous, non-sequiter filled, and sometimes falsehood spouting answers) and be "feisty". She managed to avoid the look of "deer, meet headlights". Congratulations!

But is that enough? Is that really enough?

I hate the televised debates, for all the candidates. They say so little; they are little more than a reality show for politicians. TV news is a lousy thing really for elections. And last night's debate shows why: the pre-game prognistication game; the determination that one candidate "came off" better than the other, hence "victory or loss".

Really, not once did I hear a discussion of the actual issues involved. It was a point-scoring rundown of Biden v Palin. Who managed to play offense and defense with the most effectiveness.

Maybe we oughta just let Howie and Terry and Deion and Madden do our political coverage. The transformation would then be complete.

OHIO FLORIDA PENNSYLVANIA AND SPIRITUALITY

Well, it looks like it's starting to happen; Americans are starting to turn away from McCain/Palin and toward Obama/Biden, at least in the biggest of the potential swing states. If Obama takes Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida? Well then John McCain can kiss it goodbye.

I really can't say how much I think last week's shenanigans hurt McCain. He was basically saying, "I'm going to stop campaigning and go to Washington to 'be the President' and get this bailout thing knocked out." So he goes, inserts himself into the debate, and gets creamed BY THE GOP MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE. He goes to DC and gets himself all involved in the bailout, while Barack Obama sits quietly letting McCain make the mistake.

Let's face it; John McCain failed in his first attempt to be the President and failed miserably. And failed on the economy: an issue that he is completely unqualified to even discuss, little less actually deal with.

It proves how divided Republicans really are - as opposed to Democrats whose divisions were heightened by the fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton were the dividers.

It also proves how inadequate Senator McCain is when it comes to presidential leadership. Yes, he has crossed the aisle in the Senate but not for bi-partisan gain. No he crossed the aisle because the opposition party ACTUALLY LIKES HIM BETTER THAN HIS OWN PARTY.

It also shows how impulse is not a quality we want in our President.

And then there's Governor Palin, who I'm starting to feel sorry for. She really has no clue what she's saying. By agreeing to this Veep position, she has allowed herself to become an object of ridicule and parody. Yes, she was a bold choice, but not a very smart choice. She really has no idea (or I'd say interest) in what goes on in the rest of the world. She has no sense of history, or how it affects the present. She's another C+ student thinking that her instincts (and her love of God) qualify her to run the country. So all she really does is remind the electorate that she's George W Bush redux.

So here's what the GOP has put up for the American public to see:

A presidential candidate who is, old, impulsive, hated by his party, and is only a good candidate if Iraq is the signal issue of the day, and is a LOUSY candidate to speak on the economy.

A Vice-Presidential candidate who reminds the country of the out-going President [who is so despised that his presence in the bailout debate just made people hate the bailout even more.] And a Veep candidate who is so ignorant of basic facts and figures that her only hope is to elicit feelings of pity.

Let's at least hope that's what people see, because they still might see a "black guy" on election day and pull the trigger for the two above-described folk.

But it would appear that people are finally seeing that the GOP really isn't offering anything except fear.

And Obama? Here's what I think...

I think he's the first politician in my lifetime who really can speak to what I'll call spiritual principles: humility, justice, kindness, courtesy, empathy. I'm not saying he's perfect or anything like that, but in the cesspool that is politics, he's the first one I can look at and say, yes, he does operate under some real spiritual guidance. I don't mean the George W Bush egotistical fashion of mistaking the decisions of his own ego as messages from a Higher Power. No I'm talking about a set of principles in which the other person is more important. Where instilling needless fear and creating enemies to bring people together is a sin.

I think that, in 1993, the Democrats made a deal with Bill Clinton: you get out there and prove that we're not losers and we'll overlook your ungenerous nature; your self-centered personality; your inner anger; your addictions. I think the GOP made the same deal in 2000: make us winners again Mr Bush and we'll overlook your character flaws. But the problem with the GOP is that, more than any other group in the world, they define "winning" in this equation: money=spirituality. And that is an untenable position. Money is not Holy, and the pursuit of it is the least Holy thing in the world. But when one believes that money is Holy, then one's acquisition of money would indicate that one is on the same side of God.

I really believe Barack Obama is the one person who can ease the worship of money. It has to stop, or at least ease, or the United States will continue to polarize into a country of haves and have nots. Money is not the answer. Human beings are the answer. At least when the question is, "into what should we put our best, our most courageous, our most caring efforts?"

UNITED WE...UMM...STAND

I'm not big on airline pilots as union; they tend to be in favor of unionization but not the progressive politics that go with them.

But I'm right there with them when it comes to United's pilots calling for CEO Glenn Tilton to give up some of his 10-million dollar compensation package.

This guy is a poster child for the problem with corporate compensation packages. Can anyone name one thing this guy has gotten right? His attempts to merge United with other carriers? His hamfisted attempt to hedge fuel prices...a the top of the oil market? You name it...United is everything that's wrong with the "market."

The pilots say that Tilton should earn his money like everyone else, but that's the thing. In corporate America, we have gotten to a point where the big wigs do NOT have to earn their money. Anymore, it's a scam in which pay is a matter of filling a chair, and even doing a truly lousy job (Hello Carly Fiorina) means nothing when it comes to compensation. You get paid huge bucks no matter what you do. Screw up the commpany? Don't worry, you get millions when you leave.

...unless you're a worker down the food chain. Those poor schlubs are the ones who have to face the facts about the marketplace: "I'm sorry, we have to cut your job; the 'market' demands it."

But that's the thing...the bigwigs (what President Dunderhead Bush called the "haves and have mores") say, "This is all a matter of the market, and the market is never wrong. If I'm getting paid while you're getting the shaft, well that's the market, and the market is never wrong...except when it is, and then we'll be asking for a fucking bailout." Pardon my French, but this is total bullshit.

And it will destroy this country if left unchecked.

So I say, Yes! Mr Tilton is a failure and he shouldn't be rewarded as such.

BUSH RELYING ON HIS BUDDIES, AND GETTING SCREWED...AGAIN!

Who doesn't remember this bit from Fahrenheit 9/11?

As Bush sat in that Florida classroom, was he wondering if maybe he should have shown up to work more often? Should he have held at least one meeting since taking office to discuss the threat of terrorism with his head of counter terrorism? Or maybe Mr. Bush was wondering why he had cut terrorism funding from the FBI. Or perhaps he just should have read the security briefing that was given to him on August 6, 2001 that said that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America by hijacking airplanes. Or maybe he wasn't worried about the terrorist threat because the title of the report was too vague.
[cut to 9/11 Commission hearing, where Condoleeza Rice is testifying]
Condoleezza Rice: I believe the title of the report was 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'
Narrator: A report like that might make some men jump, but as in days passed, George W. just went fishing. As the minutes went by, George Bush continued to sit in the classroom. Was he thinking, "I've been hanging out with the wrong crowd. Which one of them screwed me? Was it the man my daddy's friends delivered a lot of weapons to? Was it that group of religious fundamentalists who visited my state when I was governor? Or was it the Saudis? Damn, it was them."


Couldn't you imagine President Bush having similar thoughts over the past couple of weeks? Thoughts about all those big wigs in finance who said, "Trust us. It's going to be great! We've got computers! You hear that computers! And they tell us we'll never lose money. We just gotta get rid of those damned pussy regulations and let our computers do all the work. It's a no brainer!"

Ooops...

THEY WERE BEGGING FOR THIS RESULT

So the House doesn't pass the bailout. Big surprise... this isn't the Senate. It's the House and it's full of nutcases like Darrell Issa who apparently said of the bailout it would betray party principles and amount to “a coffin on top of Ronald Reagan’s coffin.”

Huh?

And you better believe that Ronald Reagan would have been first to bailout his buddies to save the market system. Not that this will save it, but you know what I mean.

I mean, I'm not big on the bill. It seems like a hail-mary more than a well-planned- pass. But what else is there right now? Let it go and let the market decide even if it decides to freeze up sending us into a new era of dance marathons, Oakies and apple carts?

Jeez, what a mess.

Still, let's hope that this forces Congress do some work and come up with something better than "turn over the government to Hank Paulson."

IS IT WRONG...

to call Sarah Palin "Nanookie of the North"?

Yeah...I guess it is.

BACK AND FORTH

Every day, I go back and forth as to whether Barack Obama will be elected President.

And I'm not talking about a debate over issues.

Some days I have faith that he will be looked at as a "candidate"

Others I fear he'll be seen as a "black candidate."

The GOP has done its best to change their tack on him and say he's "uppity". I'm in Chicago where that crap is less likely to fly. I worry about rural Ohio...

Still, if he can win all the states that Kerry won and take Iowa, Colorado and New Mexico, he wins.

So I go back and forth.

THE DEBATE

My friend Eric and I just couldn't watch it.

It was two men playing defense, trying NOT to err, but not really taking any chances.

Each seemed to take on the best parts of the other: Barack Obama taking a little of McCain's feisty nature; John McCain trying to have some of Obama's calm intelligence.

So the result? A zero-zero tie.

I am quite happy that Obama seems to have "won" in the eyes of those talking to pollsters. Truth is I shake my head at the idea of people deciding to vote for McCain/Palin. But I'm as...ahem..."elite" as they get. I'm a gay guy in a big city who has, at times, worked in the mainstream media. But on the other hand, I'm also an unemployed guy who worries about the economy just like any American.

I guess I just worry that racism will win...that Obama will have to poll 15 points ahead to win by 5.

I've had a great time playing with CNN's Electoral Map calculator

I play the "what if this is like 1980?" scenario...where, in the last week before the election, voters finally say, "OK, enough is enough" and decide to vote for Obama... and then I find Obama taking around 400 electoral votes.

But if the electoral zeitgeist hasn't changed...then I fear that Obama loses and McCains squeaks out another victory for the GOP and their politics of fear and loathing.

ONE MORE THING ABOUT DAVID FOSTER WALLACE.

My friend Eric sent me this from Salon today.

I know that my love of Infinite Jest was, in part, prompted by the accuracy and empathy of David Foster Wallace's writing about depression and addiction.

I too have suffered from clinical depression most of my life, and I too medicated it myself until I found recovery. I'm lucky in that my depression has rarely been as severe as his. And I'm also lucky that meds worked.

I didn't know his was so debilitating. David Foster Wallace's story is so sad, but unfortunately not unique: a long journey through multiple medications; horrible side effects; meds working and then not working. It's so hard.

I think that there's still a vein in American society that believes depression is just something to "get over." But in some people, it's not. And in some cases, it just becomes unfathomable.

Anyone who wants to understand what depression really can be should read "The Noonday Demon An Atlas of Depression
by Andrew Solomon "


Finally, I remembered this from Infinite Jest...one Kate Gompert telling a doctor why she smoked pot, but tried to kill herself because of the depression when she stopped:

"And then but no matter what I do, it gets worse and worse, it's there more and more, this filter drops down, and the feeling makes the fear of the feeling way worse, and after a couple of weeks it's there all the time, the feeling, and I'm totally inside it, I'm in it and everything has to pass through it to get in, and I don't want to smoke any Bob (pot), and I don't want to work, or go out, or read or watch TP, or go out, or stay in, or either do anything or not do anything, I don't want anything except for the feeling to go away. But it doesn't. Part of the feeling is being like willing to do anything to make it go away. Understand that. Anything. Do you understand that? It's not wanting to hurt myself. It's wanting to not hurt."

It just breaks my heart.

TIME OUT FOR SENATOR MCCAIN

It's true that I don't understand a lot of things about the McCain campaign.

But the past two days? I'm flummoxed.

How does skipping a debate on Friday evening help him? I mean, in my previous employment, I was able to get on a plane for Boston at 630 AM, have a four hour meeting in the Hub, and then get back on a plane and be in Chicago in time for dinner.

What the hell is Johnny gonna be doing on Friday night at 9 Eastern/8 Central?

And how does this help him? To me -a biased opinion to be sure- it sounds like he can't handle the rigors of campaigning and working at the same time. And that's problematic. A Presidential campaign is a long hard slog for a reason; not only does it give the candidate a chance to show him or herself as an effective planner and implementer, it also lets us know what kind of energy they possess.

What does it say about John McCain that his first instinct, when deciding to go to Washington to do some work, is to ask for a "time out"?

It just seems, at best, like yet another diversion/distraction. And that's really all McCain has offered during the general election campaign.

BAILOUT-OUT AND OUT AGAIN.

It was fun to watch our temporary President (Hank Paulson) before Congress today. It appears that Congress has been listening to the constituents who aren't so big on bailing out the capitalists. And they're getting it from "both sides now" from conservative and liberal.

It's tough; on the one hand, Bernanke et al are right. The system is so screwed that if it's not bailed out, we'll be reading the Grapes of Wrath to get tips on our travel plans. But on the other hand, should we really be bailing out the idiots who apparently can't see the difference between a good computer model and a ponzi scheme?

Anyone who reads, say, the Economist knew this was coming. Hell, anyone with a 30-year fixed mortgage could see the system going insane. I STILL get offers to cash out my equity from Countrywide...you remember them? The company with the absolute asshead at the top?

Cap the earnings of these assholes? Not good enough Congress. Cap their earnings AND give them a good prison bitch name. If we're gonna bail them out, then give it to them the way they would have given it to us if they had half a chance.

Oh! There was some fun in the news today: Rick Davis...15-G's a month from Freddie Mac up until it went under? A couple of hard spanks on your little Fannie Mae should be only the beginning. I do see a great Obama ad coming.

GOVERNMENT

After this past week, can we stop saying that government is always the problem? Can we stop the worship of corporate culture? Can we come back to a more balanced view of the nation we live in? Can we say that, yes, government is a necessary part of our national fabric? Can we stop saying that the market is always right?

After what surely will be a trillion-dollar bailout of our much lauded capitalists, can we come to a more realistic view of capitalism?

Can we?

The thing is this...the people who want the use of capital to be a sort of religion are the ones we're bailing out. And their priests are the Republican Party. Too bad we all can't solve our money woes the way John McCain did: marry an heiress.

Government has its problems and issues; absolutely. But the only people who hate it are those who have no use for it: the rich who look at government services as something they have to pay for but, often don't use:

Public schools? Not for my kids.
Police forces? Not when we have private security systems.
Airlines and airports? Not when we use our corporate jets.
Fannie Mae? Not for those of us who buy multi-million dollar homes.
Medicaid? Please...

They pay taxes and believe their money is being wasted simply because it's not making them more money.

But the GOP has always wanted to solve that with "privatization". This has to stop...period.

WATCHING BILL MAHER...A FEW DAYS LATE.

...with John Fund (dope slap this guy wouldja?). Gawd...what a smug a-hole.

Salman Rushdie just said he thinks Obama is actually going to win big.

After this week? I think he might be right. I fear that the reason this is true is the meltdown of the American financial system that we're witnessing this week. I doubt that most Americans will really read into it and find out why Lehman went under, and why the Treasury Dept and Fed think that bailing out AIG is necessary. I don't think they'll understand the quasi-public status of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or the derivatives or the real-estate bubble.

But! They'll understand the headlines and they'll see the desparation; and that'll be the end of the final, last nail in the coffin, reason for the GOP to even exist: that whole "we're stewards of the economy."

John McCain and Sarah Palin? I'm not seeing how they can turn this into a political plus for their party.

It's sad that it takes a depression to get Americans to see that GOP de-regulation means de-regulating profits...but regulating and bailing out losses.

It's just like the 1920's... 8 years of GOP rule leading to a huge asset bubble, followed by an economic disaster.

So I think that Obama might be an FDR in the making.

DAVID FOSTER WALLACE RIP.

David Foster Wallace wrote what is still my favorite novel of all time.

"Infinite Jest"...Jesus what a book. I've never been able to read, say, "Gravity's Rainbow", in part, because I really didn't care enough about WW II to make such a commitment to such a book.

But "Infinite Jest": America the Addicted...right up my alley. I've read it several times and each time it's been a different experience. There are parts of it just savor. And yes, even the footnotes.

My experience with the book is much like the experiences in the book; I have sort of become addicted to it. I haven't been found drooling in front of it yet, but it does have that sort of power over me. It's so moving and frightening and involving. It's fantastic and grounded. It's flawed yes, but Jesus Christ, who would begrudge such a book a few flaws?

I think everyone always wondered how he'd ever be able to follow up Infinite Jest. I now wonder if that question plagued him too.

I just feel very sad today.

ANGER

Every time I get mad at the GOP I send Barack Obama 50 dollars.

I fear I'm gonna go broke...

SCREW BALANCE

The McCain campaign has got the zeitgeist of the various big media conglomerates down pat. In the effort to be "balanced" and not be "liberal", the various cable nets and the big papers all report whatever the McCain camp says. Also, because the various cable nets are ratings obsessed (even though we're talking about a different of a million homes in a nation with more than 100-million homes) they seek out the drama and the conflict in politics.

So the McCain camp says stuff like, Barack Obama called Sarah Palin a pig when it's an absolute lie. And the cable nets report it for a couple of days...distract, distract, distract.

But really, what other choice does McCain/Palin have? I think you can take their campaign down to a couple of sentences;

1) Distract from an actual discussion of the issues.
2) Slime Obama, even if it means telling out and out lies.
3) Say the word "change" to co-opt Obama but never answer the question, "Change what?"

That's it. If we talk about the issues, then we talk about the McCain habit of voting in lock step with President Bush. If we talk about issues, then we talk about McCain's complete lack of interest in the economy. If we talk about issues, we then talk about McCain's belief that it was just that the GOP "lost its way", not the fundamental fact that today's conservatives cannot run a government, unless giving tax breaks to those who don't need it is the way of government.

When I was in college, I learned the following: there are three divisions in this country:

Capital, Labor and Government. For the past 25 years, Capital and Government have been working in lock step, and whaddya know, in that same time frame, the rich have hoarded a greater share of the nation's wealth than practically any time in U-S history while the vast majority of Americans inexorably have fallen into lower rungs of prosperity. Not a quick and immediate fall like the 1930's, but a slow strangling of their buying power and their ability to live a middle class existence.

And if McCain gets into office, we'll see what amounts to phase three of the strangulation: first they came for the jobs (you see Capital sees Labor as just another resource to be used unless there's a cheaper resource out there, and in the 80's the quality high paying unionized jobs disappeared when the cheaper resources in other countries became apparent). Then they came for the benefits (that safety net that offends the ideology of the rich and the conservative).

What's phase three? The privatization of every single government agency, from the local police to the national military. And when privatization hits, then the provision of these services starts to resemble the difference between shopping at Nieman Marcus versus Kohls...Whole Foods versus Aldi. Those who can afford quality police service will be able to buy it. Those who can't? Well good luck. But don't worry; the GOP will make sure that you can buy a gun to protect your family.

That's what McCain means when he talks about change. Small government? Nope...we're talking "no government." Oh! I take that back, because the GOP believes that it's OK if taxes are returned to the rich (the Capital). That's the beauty of privatization. All that tax money that comes in? Well the rich will get it back.

That was the thing about Halliburton; it was a craptastic investment when Cheney ran it. But it was a great investment when it was getting your tax money no questions asked during the Iraq War. And who benefits from that? Why, Cheney and his buds that's who. Hell, Halliburton doesn't even offer very good jobs.

This is why Barack Obama has to win; it's probably our last chance to stop the partnership between Capital and Government before it's unstoppable. I believe it's THAT IMPORTANT to vote in November.

Or really, isn't it more important that Barack Obama used a folksy old pig comparison? Isn't that what this election is really all about?

MCCAIN'S PLANS FOR PALIN.

Here's what I think would happen in a McCain Presidency: he wins; he takes office; he works with Dems (who likely will have a greater majority in Congress); Sarah Palin becomes an old-school Vice President. You know like the Tom Lehrer Song:

"I wonder how many people here tonight remember Hubert Humphrey. He used to be a senator. From time to time you read something about him pinning a medal on somebody or making a speech, or every now and then you read something in one of those Where Are They Now? columns. Whatever became of Deanna Durbin and Hubert Humphrey and so on. This became quite an issue last winter at the time of Winston Churchill's funeral when President Johnson was too ill to go and somebody suggested that he send Hubert and he said "Hubert who?" And all America was singing...

Whatever became of Hubert?
Has anyone heard a thing?
Once he shone on his own,
Now he sits home alone,
And waits for the phone to ring.

Once a fiery liberal spirit,
Ah, but now when he speaks he must clear it.
Second fiddle's a hard part, I know,
When they don't even give you a bow."


Does anyone really believe that Governor Palin (unable to actually answer the questions of TV reporters) will be a Cheney or Gore like presence? And no, no, no, it's NOT because she's a woman. If her name was Joe Palin, the role would be the same. It's because Sarah Palin and John McCain do not really share political ideas. He's not a Right Wing Nut. He's just playing one to get elected and he'll use her to improve his chances.

Remember, it's possible-to-likely that John McCain will not run for re-election in 2012. He'll do what he wants for a single term and then get outta there. He'll focus on foreign policy, forgetting domestic policy (neglect of good government from a Republican rather than aggressive destruction as we've had for 8 years). He won't be beholden to the GOP base. He won't give a damn about them.

So Governor Palin, if Senator McCain wins in November, get your mourning suit ready; you'll be wearing it a lot on Air Force Two. I see a lot of funerals in your future.

TODAY AT THE CHICAGO RED LINE STATION

I noticed that some graffiti-izer wrote on a metal standard:

OBAMA 08. HE'S STILL A N****R.

If I'd had a pen, I'd have written under it:

I'M KARL ROVE, AND JOHN MCCAIN AND I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE.

WHAT WILL THEY DO?

I still have no idea; not that I really want to know. But for God's sake, will it really work? A platform of negativity? I mean, is that the best we can do?

Dear God, if it works and the GOP gets in again, then we face a future of:

*a shrinking middle class
*the privatization of every gov't service (meaning good service for the rich; crap service for the poor/middle)
*macho posturing where we once had a foreign policy

And that's at best. Jeez, if people fall for it again, then this country gets what it deserves.

BUT WHAT WILL THEY DO?

OK, I can see that Sarah Palin is good at taking shots at her opponent. She can be the typical nasty Republican. Good for her. But other than that - and defending her family - what did she do last night? I didn't get a sense of who she is beyond a hatchet woman and a caring wife/mother. I didn't get a sense of what she wants for the country.

Still my favorite bit of the convention:

This bit of fun

ALSO....

...what's this "shows they're a real American family" crap? What exactly does that mean?

GOD IT'S SO HARD NOT TO GLOAT.

All day today I said, "You've got to be kidding." "You've got to be kidding."

But here are a few questions about the Palin Preggers Papoose

1.) Did Bristol take an abstinence pledge?
2.) Did Bristol say she wanted to marry this guy, "Levi"? Or is she being forced to do it? OK...I think we know the answer to this one.
3.) Does Bristol know that having a child at 17 decreases her odds of doing anything other than having a kid at 17?

The GOP and the religious nuts who support them can say that this is an example of a good decision by the Veep to be. But really, would you want your daughter to marry Levi and have the kid?

Like nearly everything they touch, the GOP miss the point. The point isn't whether Bristol has the baby and gets married at the end of a shotgun; it's whether Governor Palin and her husband were upfront with her about her choices before she began to have sex. Did they talk to her? What kind of parents were they?

Also, what does Bristol want? If she's being asked to marry this guy, it's a legitimate question.

THE GOVERNOR OF ALASKA

I read a headline on Huffington Post - I believe - that said yesterday was "the day that McCain lost the Presidency". I think it's true to say that it was the day the McCain campaign said it thinks it's losing the race.

This is so Ferraro-like.

There were so many safe choices... Biden-like choices.

But this is such a huge risk. It's an unnecessary risk in the case of a leading candidate.

I wonder if John McCain went through the following thought process.

He's told by his Rove-heads that he has to go after Obama hard but subtle based on his race. He says he can't do that. They tell him that they're afraid he can't win. He says, lemme try to make a splash with my Veep selection.

If so, then good for you Senator McCain.

WATCHING LASTNIGHT...

I tried to think of it from the point of view of a racist who doesn’t think he’s a racist, i.e. many white Americans. I’m talking about the people who you’d never hear saying, “I’ll never vote for a black man” but instead would say, “he certainly thinks a lot of himself (uppity)” or “I don’t think America is ready for Barack Obama (I’m not ready for a black guy). And this is what I came up with:

The MLK stuff early in the evening (with John Lewis and the MLK children) sounded like race-based politics which is the reason most Afro American politicians can’t win offices beyond localities with Afro American populations.

The speech itself was pitch perfect, but before the speech, I figure that a closet racist would have been stopped dead in his tracks at the pictures of a white man and a black child, a white woman and a black man. I think that even more amazing than the 45th anniversary of the King speech is the idea that miscegenation laws weren’t struck down until a few years after that: Barack Obama was the product of a marriage that was illegal in many states. To me, THAT’S a stop-dead-in-your-tracks fact.

So anyway I wasn’t sure that the folks Obama might like to reach (the people who will tell a pollster and their friends that they don’t have a problem with a black man, but won’t pull the lever for one) might not have gotten to the speech.

But then, on the other hand, many of those people are died-in-the-wool Republicans. So who knows?

One thing that the primaries showed though was this: Obama did best in states with huge black populations (Alabama) and tiny black populations (Washington state). The states with large black populations in large cities (Ohio, Pennsylvania) were the places where he had a harder time. So he might end up having to make a new coalition of states to win: New England, the Mid-Atlantic, Illinois and a couple of plain states, a couple of southern states, a good showing in the Mountain states (Colorado, NM and Montana) and the West Coast, forgetting Ohio and Michigan and, maybe, Wisconsin and Missouri.

But the real truth for me is this: I just can’t see how McCain can do it. I know, I know…he’s pulled even lately. But can he hold it? Does he have any more arrows in his quiver? What’s he got to work with? What record can he run on now? Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that Iraq can only hurt him now. If Iraq succeeds then it’s less of an issue and Obama’s plan looks more and more workable. Iraq only gets back in the news if things go bad, and then McCain’s surge just looks like a stop-gap for failure. And the economy? He just isn’t up to talk about the task and his ideas are pretty much “of the past”. I thought those were two pretty effective points that Obama made last night: that McCain’s ideas are “the past” (which makes him sound, well, old) and that McCain isn’t “up to the task” (both old AND ineffective).

Those, to me, were the Obama equivalent of the GOP trope that Obama is a “celebrity” i.e. “uppity”.

And let’s not forget Gustav...man there’s nothing worse for McCain than to have New Orleans threatened by a hurricane. That to me is the equivalent of 1980 when the anniversary of the hostages before the election seemed to remind a lot of people that Carter hadn’t gotten them out. Gustav is a little less direct, but still it puts “Katrina’ back in American minds. Anderson Cooper et al will be in New Orleans all weekend reporting on the coming deluge. It just might wind up raining real hard on McCain’s parade.

ALL VETTED AND READY TO GO.

I really can't imagine a better choice for Obama Veep than Joe Biden.

If ever there was a known quantity, Biden's it.

And if ever there was someone who can speak forcefully about foreign policy, Biden's that too.

And he will do a good job of criticizing McCain.

And they'll look pretty good on TV together...a fact that should NOT be discounted.

I'm big on the "Do no harm" theory of Veeps, and I think Biden fills that role very well. Sure, he can say some crazy shit, but I think he's also a smart guy who knows his role. I think he said something like, "I'm not a superstar."

Plagiarism? I doubt that will make a compelling story line. Neal Kinnock? Come on...

I still think that John McCain has a much harder task with his Veep, about whom folks will ask clearly and regularly, "can he take over?" And that question will just raise the "age" stakes again.

True, Biden isn't a young man, but "65" really does sound a lot better than "72".

One interesting thing is that this is a bit of a "Cheney" choice...an older wiser man. Did I say wiser? OK that makes it different from Cheney's choice of Dick Cheney to run with George W Bush.

But wouldn't it be interesting if that became the paradigm for Veeps? A smart grandfather/grandmother?

WATCHING CHRIS MATTHEWS

...with that MSNBC Political guy with the beard...Chuck whatever.

They're talking about the latest MSNBC poll that shows Obama leading McCain by three. It's so weird to hear them on August 20 talking about it as if it matters.

I think all these pundits - male pundits - wish they were sportscasters. The lingo is the same; the winner/loser stuff; the obsession with stats.

It's like they're too dweeby to do what they really want to do...Yankees or Rangers or Giants games so they gotta do this.

I can't explain the women though...Cokie, Gwen and the like.

I JUST REALIZED...

...that the previous post includes a conservative reaction to a conservative liar... a bit of violent aggression wished against Sean Hannity.

But sometimes, it's necessary to fight 'em on their turf.

That's the thing about conservatives. Most of them are wussies. I mean, Newt Gingrich? One hit to his well tended belly and he'd be down for the count. And Hannity? He talks a good game, but my bet is that he's a pantywaist like the rest of them.

Now Ann Coulter would be tough match. But just make sure you catch her early in the day before she's had a chance to unhinge her jaw and nourish herself on the spleens of young children.

FUCKS NEWS.

Certainly worth sending around to people with minds. A panoply of Fox News smears against Barack Obama.

http://foxattacks.com/virus/?utm_source=rgemail

I would really love a chance to dope slap Sean Hannity. Boy that would count as "hot fun in the summertime". Just one hit to knock him on his head, or his ass...not that he can tell the difference between the two.

EVENING VARE...VERY NICE...

Does anyone remember that Wendy's ad from the 80's of the Soviet fashion show? The ad where a bunch of plebes stand silently in a dark barn of some sort while an overweight babushka models the same hideous dress while another woman calls out "swim wear...very nice" "evening wear...very nice." It was part of the larger message to Americans that the Soviet system created services and systems that don't work for consumers while U-S capitalism created services and systems that were consumer friendly.

Well, I don't think we can make fun of Soviet-era service industries anymore. I'm sitting at San Francisco International Airport waiting for a four-hour delayed flight to Chicago O'Hare on United. We're delayed because they couldn't decide which type of 767 to use. And the thing is this: I am no longer surprised or shocked by the Soviet nature of our airlines, and other services. Heck, is anyone surprised to get to the airport and find that their airline using the logistical skills and customer service tactics of Aeroflot? Is anyone surprised to drive on roads that only a Yugo would love?

Slowly, but surely, the U-S is becoming the old decrepit system that only works for the rich (dare I say GOP) elite. And it's part of the plan... to create a privatized system of services in which the rich will get the good stuff and the middle class (what's left of it) and poor will get the mediocre or purely inadequate stuff. From police to health care to transportation. The rich (again GOP) will have private security, private hospitals, and private planes. The rest of us will get, well, the shit.

Let's face it; the Republican Party is our Politburo. George W Bush is our Brezhnev; Dick Cheney our Stalin. And John McCain fits perfectly as our Andropov or Chernenko...the old and tired last gasp of our own Soviet system.

Who will be our Gorbachev? Actually, are we too far gone for reform?

NEWS-LESS-NESS.

For the first time in probably more than three decades, I haven't paid any attention to the news, unless watching one episode of NBC Nightly News counts... and I say it doesn't.

I wish I could say that I've missed it, but I can't. I wish I could say that I feel uninformed, but I don't. I feel serene, not stressed. Of course, it's a good time to turn away from the headlines...there's not much going on.

I'm sure I'll turn back to it as the summer ebbs and the campaign begins in earnest...or has it already? But really, right now? I'm missing the big mouths on cable trying to make hay of nothing. I'm missing the jokemeisters trying to find humor in inactivity.

Just let me watch baseball and Mad Men and Burn Notice and Psych and I'll be a happy guy.

THIS WEEK'S HEAD SHAKER.

Hate for Liberals and Gay People Drove Gunman, Police Say


"Guns don't kill people, crazy supporters of conservative movements kill people."

Let's go back to my previous post: this is the reaction of conservatives to frustration...aggression.

Liberals make fun of people.

MCCAIN GOES NEGATIVE

What else can he do? He goads Obama to go overseas, and the headlines don't are, for the most part, positive...with amazing pictures of 250-thousand Germans on the front page of every paper.

So he goes negative...makes sense to me. Oh...and McCain's skin thing isn't cancerous. Now that's an example of a headline that, while good news for the man, isn't really good news for the campaign.

And could it be that McCain has figured out that his military record isn't the panacea that his campaign originally thought? For me, he's a military loser...a guy who never fought on the ground, and couldn't keep a plane in the air. He was a lousy pilot and a lousier soldier. He was a good looking young man in his flight suit, but that's about it.

WHAT ARE THOSE PHASES OF GRIEF?

I know I've had anger, and now I think I'm getting the sadness part.

It's not huge, but it's there. Kinda gnawing; kinda directionless. I guess that's the point of it though. I'm kinda directionless, so why should my sad feelings be any different?

I'm still enjoying doing absolutely nothing. It's pretty nice. But I gotta start doing something. It's funny how that works. The less I do, well, the less I do. The more I sit around, the more I sit around.

It's not severe; it's pervasive. But Turner Classic Movies and USA have so much to offer! And Mad Men season 2 starts Sunday.

What's a lazy boy to do?

WHAT IS FUNNY?

One thing I was thinking. I used to work in the "news humor" business. And that's an industry that rose again over the past 8-10 years. News humor grew into a mainstream news source. The audiences grew as the shows became more controversial.

I now say that "industry" is about to stall.

The industry's growth can be credited to two things:

The final years of the Clinton administration, and, more importantly, the 8 years of the Bush administration. They were a Greek Opera mixed with a situation comedy.

You had: a President who's supporters had to constantly assure the nation that he wasn't a total idiot; his evil henchman Vice President; his vaguely lesbian yet creepily devoted foreign policy expert who also happened to have a weird funny name.

And, more imporantly, they were conservative so they prompted the hatred of smart learned people (you know egghead intellectual liberals). And those people are attracted to humor as an antidote to their anger.

I know it's a generalization, but it's not a big stretch to say that liberals are attracted to humor in a way that conservatives aren't. I learned this at the 1996 GOP convention where I saw that the party's idea of humor was bumper stickers that read "HINCKLEY SHOT THE WRONG BRADY."

It's kinda like British cuisine. It just doesn't add up as good food.

Conservatives are attracted to aggression as an antidote to anger. Look at Ann Coulter; that's her schtick...anger as comedy. And it's generally not funny. Just mean.

Now let's say that we have President Obama next year. The audience of the news industry, while willing to laugh at him, won't be eager to do so. They won't look forward to the prospect of laughing at their hero every week/night like they do now with the Bushies.

Plus, the "news humor industry" generally is, well, white.

I think it's gonna be tough for Maher, The Daily Show, and the like to do their thing. I think it doesn't help that they all pretty obviously want Obama to win too.

I don't think these shows will collapse or anything; I think their audiences will stall and drop, and their impact will diminish.

I know others have done articles about this (NYT WashPost, Telegraph etc) but they all have this hopeful patina that the shows will find a way to make fun of him. I think they're whistling in the wind.

CUTTING CORDS

After 20 years with an organization, it's hard to cut yourself off completely. And that's what I'm trying to do. I want this place to exist nowhere but on my resume.

I've signed papers; I've asked them to end my e mail address; I've returned every piece of, well, every single item that is connected to the organization. Things keep coming up. Today I found a wedding invitation for next month that's connected with my former employment. I will, of course, send my regrets.

I also found last Xmas's gift certificate from my boss. I never got around to using it. I will, of course, return it to him.

I just want it to be behind me. I don't think I'll be able to move on until every cord is cut. Every link is severed. Everything...

Otherwise, I won't be able to stop hating them.

It's funny but this entire year has been about learning some tough lessons. First my former B.F. practically commits insurance fraud against my health care plan. Now my former colleagues toss me under a the bus.

Of course, the lesson is all about learning how not to let the actions of others affect me. It's a tough lesson. I'm actually doing OK with it...me thinks.

I've done nothing for which I should feel ashamed. The feelings I'm having are pretty darned natural. It's that simple.

And of course, the feelings will change. Soon enough, these fuckhead children of God will mean nothing to me. It will happen.

TODAY

Been a few days since I posted.

Been very busy...nothing big, unless a three-hour 4000-dollar dental appointment counts as big. It always amazes me; we pay dentists thousands of dollars to do to us what Gitmo guards will do as a matter of course.

As an Arab American, maybe I oughta just call the FBI and say, "I am an Arab American and I will be flying United....much to your regret! HA HA HA HA!!!" and then see if I get a trip to Gitmo and the free medical treatment. I don't look good in orange, but I certainly don't look bad. OK...enough black humor.

BLACK HUMOR! BLACK HUMOR! THAT'S WHAT IT IS NSA!!! HUMOR!!! NOT SERIOUS!!!

What else? The economy...jeezus kreiss! Maybe I should just outfit myself for an apple cart now and have done with it. I get very scared as to whether I will have any employment possibilities. I'm over 40...and...I'm over 40...and I'm approaching 50: "Did you say vente or grande?"

TODAY

It's Thursday; it's a tough day. I'm wondering about things at work...

But it's still just a tough week. I'm still trying to disentangle from the old job. And it's no fun. I have a big agreement to sign; it's fair enough, but it's a big legal document and they're a ton of fun to go through.

Beyond that, I'm still angry at my former co-workers. I just am. I've been a real "pro" about it all, but I do not wish them well. Pure and simple. I wish them ill. But that's the thing about feelings; they don't really matter if one acts in a decent manner. Behavior is the key; not feelings. I cant do anything about my feelings but...well...feel 'em.

So there we are. I will say this: I don't miss getting up and going to work. I've really enjoyed NOT being in a hurry. I've really enjoyed NOT setting any alarms. I do not miss the frenetic nature of work; the never ending roster of problems to be solved.

And the best part is this...I don't have to worry about the ahem...folks... I worked with anymore. They aren't my friends. They are NOT my friends. It's not a matter of "good people"/"bad people". I mean, it never is. It's just a matter of me knowing who my friends are.

So I deal with my anger; I feel it; it hurts. I slowly move on...

WHY DO WE CARE WHAT JESSE JACKSON SAYS?

So Jesse Jackson makes a crude remark about Barack Obama...a man who threatens Jackson's identity politics more than anyone in the world. And this is surprising or newsworthy why?

Well, in the age of cable TV news, it's newsworthy because it's good tape and it gives the fat mouth pundits a thing about which to express outrage. And that's especially important now that the two parties have settled on the least dramatic, comical, and controversial candidates.

So for cable TV, it makes a lot of sense to cover this. It's perfect for Situation Rooms and 360's and Hardballs.

Do we really believe that Jackson didn't know what he was doing? I mean, Jesse Jackson has been marginalized, just like Sharpton. They are politicians...no better no worse than any other, except that these two made their name (and their big income) on the backs of people who are generally in worse shape economically than, say, the people Republicans make their cash from.

So Jesse Jackson gets on the front pages for a day or two by saying wants to cut Barack Obama's nuts off. It's telling that he goes for Obama's manhood.

What a class act...can we have two days of coverage and then forget about Jesse Jackson forever?

Oh! And by the way, will CNN, FOX and MSNBC give any of their profits to the Ramsay family? They oughta...

TODAY.

I was promised severance, but so far, nothing from my former HR dept. Nada. I won't believe it until I get the paperwork. And so far nothing.

It's hard after being tossed under a bus to trust the tossers. But that's the situation I'm in, and so be it. God I hate this feeling of waiting to exhale.

I won't believe it until the check comes.

It's very hard NOT to be a resentful jerk, but hey...resentments don't do anybody any good. I have to act as if I'm not resentful.

I gotta say a couple of things here: I am the fall-guy for sins, some mine, just as many not. I have to say that I'm very happy to be away from these people.

Do I feel angry? Sure. It's a natural feeling. Am I relieved? Sure. Am I sad? Sure. Am I afraid? Yup.

The thing that pisses me off the most: the bus tossers keep telling me how much I mean to them...how I can celebrate all my accomplishments. Not one of them wrote to say, "Hey, I'm sorry we couldn't own our part in any of this." That's all I ask...some real rigorous honesty.

What they're saying is "You're the problem." That's easier than an integral look at everyone. The honest truth is, "You have problems. We do too. Let's work on them."

I know: I wasn't THE problem; I'm better off without these people in my life. But beyond that? I don't know much of anything.

I know it's an opportunity, yes. I just gotta take it easy on myself; give myself a few weeks to decompress and get on with it.

ONE MORE ABOUT JESSE

I'm reading the Google news list of Helms headlines/first sentences.

The media are so funny; everywhere you look in the Helms obits, you see "uncompromising". What a lovely word...

And yes, he's dead, but come on, uncompromising? He wasn't "The little engine that could." He was one nasty character with a nastier disposition. I don't mean that everyone should point this out, but wouldn't it be nice if one paper/network/radio network would take the contrarian's view? Just one?

But, as I well know, the big media generally won't make waves, at least not anymore. Most of them operate under the most obvious fear based behavior: "Don't call attention to yourself! Don't take a risk; we might get letters, or someone might not like us! We might upset the accountants at the top of Disney/Time/Viacom/News/GE! Ahh!!!!" Better to just report the easy stuff (dead pretty white girl anyone? No? Well let's do politics...).

So when they do take a risk or an ornery or strong opinion, they often get it wrong...Dan Rather.

RIP JESSE HELMS

I always wonder what it is that makes someone do harm to people who've done nothing to them; where does that hate come from? In other words, what was it inside of Jesse Helms that made him spend so much energy trying to hurt gay people?

I asked the same about Rick Santorum, all those guys who seem to have enough intelligence that evolution is a possible outcome. I don't mean big "E" evolution. I mean the kind of evolution that comes from humility and an ability to examine one's prejudices and see them for the bigotry they are.

I have to say that, in my four-plus decades of life, I've yet to find anyone who's desire to harm others is anything but a misplaced desire to kill something inside themselves.

I remember watching "B-1" Bob Dornan attack with a violent demeanor a gay activist he was debating on one of the networks. I watched him react to the activist's calm statements with "vein in the forehead" screaming. And I realized: Bob Dornan is gay. He can't stand it and he has to attack all those who ARE gay to help kill it inside himself.

I remember when I was in high school, all the guys who announced most loudly their conquests with women, in every case, they wound up coming out of the closet later on down the road.

It's pretty much a spiritual axiom that any time one is bothered by someone else...that person has to look inside him or herself to see what's REALLY bothering him or her. It's such a simple truth.

So back to Senator Helms. What was it inside of him that he was able to express not only satisfaction, but genuine glee at hurting gay people? He always seemed happiest when he was hurting people. It was painful to watch and think of all the pain inside of him that made him so happy to spend energy on hurting gay people.

And all that energy spent by people to hurt gay people, who have never been anything, but, ahem, Christian to them, has an effect. It does the trick it's asked to do; it means that gay people grow up and come of age wondering about their own existence. Then they hide and, in their hiding, they come to loathe themselves, and in their self-loathing, they discover a gnawing need to do harm to others in order to kill that part of themselves.

In other words, I've just outlined how we wind up with Gay Republicans.

I hope Senator Helms has found his inner peace. I have to figure that God welcomed him and said, "It's OK Jesse; all is forgiven."

NOW THAT I'M UNEMPLOYED...

I have time to "blog" without it affecting my Law and Order CI repeats.

So lemme see if I can try to start a real and ongoing thread without it becoming, as a brilliant colleague once said of his blog, "a great record of April 14, 2005."

I'm unemployed for the first time since 1979; I got my first job that summer when Americans were in the big economic "malaise" and gas had risen to 60 or 70 cents a gallon. Heaven for fend! My first job was at a hospital in St Louis as a "DMO"...that's dietary jargon for Dish Machine Operator. I was in high-school. The job paid well above minimum wage (2.65 at the time) and, because this was the era of both high-inflation and no cost-controls on health care, our annual COLA was usually 15-percent. It made us kids feel rich even if we weren't.

But hell, pot was 45 dollars a quarter pound back then, you could buy a six pack of beer in Illinois for 2.00. Top price concert tickets for shows in the St Louis Blues hockey arena - the Ralston Purina owned "Checkerdome"- were about ten dollars (That was for Led Zeppelin or the Who).

And there hasn't been a day since then that I've not been employed somewhere. So this is quite new, and not so bad really.

I have a bit of a cushion so I get to spend this summer just decompressing in Chicago. It's been three days so far and here's what I've learned:

*There will times I feel absolutely angry and others I feel nothing but relief.
*Each of those feelings is unpredictable and each will arise as two opposite sides of the exact same thought: "I'm out of a job...those mother fuckers...how could they?" and "I don't have to go in there anymore and deal with those mother fuckers...whew!"
*I haven't been in a hurry all week. Let the bus come when it comes. And with the Chicago Transit Authority? That's a very good mindset to be in.
*In 8 years I've never enjoyed a summer in Chicago.
*I've already flown 50-thousand miles this year, so travel is not all that appealing.
*When I need to, I can cut costs pretty drastically.
*I have things I can do, other than lay on the couch and wonder how a similar DNA structure can produce both Regis AND Kelly Ripa.

Not bad for 72 hours without a job.

I'm totally OK in this moment.

AN ISOLATED SEVERE STORM...

...just made its way over Boyztown, probably raining directly on Chicago's Gay Pride Festival.

Well I guess we know what this means: God hates gay people. Yup. It's Sunday afternoon, and God, up there in his infinite wisdom said, "let's rain on their parade"...though he probably didn't say those precise words because that would be an obvious show tune reference, and we know that the good and glorious God that loves straight Americans more than anyone else, would never use a show tune reference. And especially not Funny Girl.

7 Brides for 7 Brothers? Maybe...the idea behind that one is pretty good: marriage between one man and one woman (you see the 7 and 7 symmetry there). But even those brothers kick a little high when they dance...if you know what I mean.

But anyway, it rained on Gay People today...a sure sign that they are NOT God's chosen people.

Oh...it didn't rain on other gay pride parades today? Well...God just has to pick one to show where his true feelings lie! Stop bringing logic into this! It's not logic; it's religion!

FOR INSTANCE...

...speaking of the catharsis of reading the other side.

I just spent five minutes at michellemalkin.com to see how the humorless conservative git crowd lives.

These folks need an enema...or a brain.

I'M FREE...I'M FREE...AND FREEDOM TASTES

...OF REALITY.

Aren't those the words to the song?

Anyway, this past week I joined the ranks of the unemployed...not by choice. I was invited to resign my post; of course I accepted. But nobody should feel TOO bad for me. I get severance, and it's summer in Chicago.

And since I was pretty much thrown under the bus, it's good to be gone.

No longer do I have to worry about my work and my opinions. And that's the thing: this blog is anonymous because I was not allowed to have an opinion. For those of us who work in the "media"...or at least certain parts of the "media"...we're not allowed to have an opinion on things. The problem is that, of course, if we have an opinion, then it will naturally saturate our work.

The problem with that is the lack of professionalism is assumes of people in the media.

And even if it's true, the REAL problem is that people expect to be spoonfed the news. When really? If ya really wanna know what's going on ,ya gotta get different opinions, different sources. Listen to NPR AND watch FOX News. Read the New York Times and the Corner at the National Review.

The best part...all the "hates" you'll get to have reading/watching/listening to the other side.

But truth? I've never been unemployed. It's gonna be tough; I used to live to read and keep up with the news. I can't do that right now. I keep thinking: "Hey! That'd be good for the show!"

I am a man without a show.

But this too shall pass...

THE NEW C.T.A. SLOGAN.

The Chicago Transit Authority should create a new slogan: "Creating Small-Government Republicans One Passenger at a Time."

Yesterday it hit me: after a trip of more than an hour and a half to get from the Navy Pier to the Howard station of the Red Line, I stood on the platform waiting for the Purple Line train to Evanston. I looked around at all the other people standing with me.

The faces were, nearly to a person, glum. It's a common occurence on CTA property; people standing wondering when the next train is coming, if a bus if on the way, having been taught by experience not to hope for much.

The Economist said we Chicagoans suffer the worst mass-transit in the nation. It's hard to argue the contrary. I've traveled on all the major systems nationwide, and most of the systems worldwide. Chicago, while not quite Soviet, is pretty bad.

I know I don't mean what I said at the beginning. I believe in government. And I believe that a properly funded mass transit system would not leave customers standing on the platform wondering why the CTA can't do its job? I also figure that there are people who stand on the platform thinking that government sucks. and who could blame them?

We are getting to the point where a good city will be defined by its transit system more than just about anything. I mean, even sprawling shitholes like Atlanta are coming to the idea of urban density.

Chicago has a chance to be the greatest city in the U.S.A.: diverse, affordable, world-class culture and attractions, urban beauty everywhere. The only thing that we're missing is a world-class transit system.

At this point though C.T.A. still seems to mean, "Can't Transport Anything."



And we think we're gonna get the Olympics?

AGAIN I ASK....

If John McCain couldn't get above 50 percent while his two potential opponents were dragging each other down, how is he going to rise above 50 percent now?

And that speech tonight? Senator McCain really does look like he's running for floor monitor at a rest home. Jeez.

But for the moment, let's just stop and be amazed. Senator Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee for President. It's a wonderful thing.

I was in Atlanta this weekend; we were near the King Center. I thought about MLK and it's my bet that he'd be quite pleased with Senator Obama. But I wonder if he'd be amazed that it only took 40 years from his death for Obama to make it to the ticket, or would be he chagrined that it took 40 years to get a black American on a national ticket?

Either way, I'm pretty happy tonight.

WATCHING SCOTT MC CLELLAN ON CNN

And all I can think is "Prison! Prison! Prison!"

These fucks shouldn't get big book deals in which they get to make lame mea culpas. Send them to jail. He stood there and lied to the nation in the service of a President sending us to war based on further lies.

This steaming a hole is going to get a fat chunk of change for this book. Instead he oughta get a nice federal prison cell where he and the other "propagandists" can think about their crimes.

And watching Wolf Blitzer's lame interview...treating him as if he's just another author with something to say about the President. THIS GUY WAS THE SPOKESMAN FOR A PRESIDENT WHO LIED TO US ABOUT A GOD DAMNED WAR.

What to say? Lame and gutless all the way around.

OH AND AS FOR MCCAIN...

Here's a guy getting no bad press; almost no attention from the opposition. He's in total honeymoon mode watching his potential fall opponents tear each other apart.

And from this idyllic situation we find the polling shows:

Obama (D) 46%, McCain (R) 45%
Clinton (D) 48%, McCain (R) 45%

If he can't get above 50 percent in this atmosphere, then doesn't that say that his campaign is a failure so far? I mean, really. If he can't get above 50 percent now, how is going to get there when the Dems start to focus on him?

And what is going to rely on to get above 50 percent?

The economy?
The Bush presidency?
The Iraq War?
The strength of the GOP?
His ability to raise huge amounts of money?
His ageless energy and charisma?
What?

At this juncture I'd say Senator McCain better lube up now, because he is SOOO screwed.

REGULAR PEOPLE FROM THE PAST.

So I'm sitting here watching the White Sox and the Angels. There are folks on the field named Orlando Cabrera, Jose Contreras and Maicer Izturis. I say this and remind myself of the AP video report from West Virginia at the beginning of the week in which a bunch of "Good Hard Working White Americans" told the camera that they could not under any circumstances vote for someone named "Barack Hussein Obama."

What we saw this week was America's past trying to reassert itself. West Virginia is generally a sad place where people are waiting for the return of jobs that have disappeared. Are they bad people? These put-upon white Americans? No. But are theirs the voices that America is listening to? Again, not really. The "Rust Belt" is a very sad place. Take a tour of the area inside boundaries marked by Buffalo, York,PA, Louisville, St Louis, Peoria, Green Bay WI and Sault Ste Marie, MI. You'll find some areas that are looking to the future (Chicago for one) but most of the areas are waiting for the return of a past that ain't comin' back; those good old days when white people ruled this country, when certain types knew their place. My family is in Cleveland. And I can make an argument that, apart from Continental Airlines, The Cleveland Clinic, a couple of law firms and two universities; there ain't much reason for Cleveland to exist anymore. The "iron into steel into cars and buildings" jobs that created Cleveland are gone. The area is rife with folks wanting those good old days because that's all they're prepared for.

The talented young people from these areas leave as quickly as they can and head to cities that help them know a larger world. New and threatening to those they left behind.

And West Virginia? It's ground zero for these old attitudes. West Virginia used to be the state that gave Cleveland and Pittsburgh thousands of its steel and assembly line workers. It was the state of coal mines. Now it's the state that time forgot, with an average income way below the rest of the country. Its one economic engine is 190 year old Senator Robert Byrd.

So what I'm saying is this: Hillary Clinton is the candidate of people who, sadly, are not the future of this country; the elderly, the unskilled, the parochial. These are not the Americans ready for a global economy. These are not the Americans who welcome the new and unfamiliar.

She's the candidate for those who do NOT want change, at least not the kind of change that takes us forward.

"Maicer Izturis? What kind of name is that? Sounds funny to me."

TONIGHT, TONIGHT.

I'm watching MSNBC and feeling that something amazing is happening. Barack Obama is so close to becoming the Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. What do I think? I think he's such a special human being. I think that he's the only human being that can bring this country back from the abyss that's been the result of 8 years of spectacularly ignorant GOP rule.

I met Barack Obama back in '04, when he was running to be our Senator. I tell people that, after five minutes with him, you just wanna say, "would it be OK if I tell people I know you...like...can I say that you're my friend? Because you're the coolest person I've ever met."

If that was all he is, well then yes, I'd say, Hillary is the one for me. But it's so obvious that he's much more. The mix of intelligence and spirit is breathtaking. I mean, Hillary is fine. Yes, but Barack Obama is the game changer in this race.

I'm watching Hillary now. She just said that Obama is "outspending us..." No Hillary, he's "outraising you."

She just made some very good points about "feeling invisible." But then she went into this bullshit about her being ready on "Day One." blah blah blah. YOU CAN'T WIN AFTER TONIGHT! YOU CAN'T WIN!!! STOP IT!!! STOP IT!!!

The thing about Senator Clinton is this; let her answer this question. You had a 20 point lead in the polls in November. Why, why, why, should anyone think that YOU are the one who can build a coalition to win in November? Why are you the one who Democrats should trust with their nomination? You had it and lost it. It was yours to lose, and you lost it.

Now, it IS true that either of these people would be better than George W Bush. Hell, a pimple on Hillary Clinton's ass would be a better President than George W Bush. As we saw once again today. After reading the following, the question has to be asked. How did this numbnut douchebag ever get elected President?

<<

Sig Christenson writes in the San Antonio Express-News about Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez's description of a White House videoconference on the second day of fighting between Marines and entrenched guerrillas in Fallujah in April 2003.

"Sanchez, in a memoir to be released Tuesday, said Bush 'launched into what I considered a kind of confused pep talk' about the battle for Fallujah and an upcoming campaign to kill or capture radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and cripple his militia.

"'Kick ass!' Bush said. 'If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell!' . . .

"'Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking.' . .

"Fueled by images beamed by the Al-Jazeera television network, the administration quickly reversed course, stopping Operation Vigilant Resolve. Soon after, Coalition Provisional Authority administrator L. Paul Bremer dropped plans to capture or kill al-Sadr, even though the president had said during the April 7, 2003, meeting, 'It is essential he be wiped out,' according to the memoir. . . .

Amazing, simply amazing...



OK back to Hillary, she says it's on to "West Virginia, Kentucky and Oregon..." but she did not add, "Where I cannot hope to get enough delegates to win the nomination..."

And now she says let's count the votes in FLA and MICHIGAN...even though THEY WON'T GIVE YOU THE NOMINATION EITHER!!!

I guess it is true what Carville said...she really does have some f'ing balls.

Come on Superdelegates. Send her packing...NOW!!!