Is there any doubt that the handwringing thorughout the blogosphere was unwarranted? I've argued in comments that the hard work would begin just after the convention in comments in other diaries.

Just take a moment to read this and reflect:

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

I have given up on traditional media,  whom i feel play major role in the predicament this nation is currently in. They do not feel accountable to nobody, not even the citizenry. They pledge allegiance not to the American Flag but to the Almighty dollar.

THAT said, I have made it my goal to educate, register voters and have conversations with folks not just on Obama but legislative policies. I don't try to sway anybody, just have a conversation that leads to self discovery of the fundamental failure of the executive and legislative branch  for the last 8 yrs or more.

The reason I write is just to say keep talking to anybody that will listen, keep e-mailing informative clips, keep sending youtube videos to folks, keep sending books to people and keep challenging folks. I had a breakthrough that just amazed me.

Now that Obama has finally hit McCain hard on an issue we've been talking about for weeks, he needs to respond to McCain's response with the following.

"Michelle and I both have modest upbringings, but in recent years we've done quite well because of my books. We were finally able to pay off those student loans and own a nice house. Now, according to John McCain I'm not rich because I didn't make $5 million last year....but, Ill tell you right now that the reason I propose rolling back the Bush-McCain tax cuts on people over $250,000 is because we have enough money to survive in this economy. We can afford to carry a little more of the tax burden so that hard working Americans can feed their kids and keep up with their mortgage payments. John McCain owns seven houses and had tens of millions of dollars, but wants a tax cut.  I think the tax cut belongs to YOU."

Dan Quayle, 1988.

Very soon, a VP nominee will be selected. This has been a topic of much speculation, but it's important, I guess to keep some perspective about what lines like "I want someone who can be President" really mean. Here is what was written by the New York Times about Dan Quayle in 1988, quoting Jim Baker:

The Vice President's strategists said they hoped the Senator, who was introduced by the 64-year-old Mr. Bush as a ''dynamic young leader,'' would add strength in the Middle West and among women. James A. Baker 3d, chief of the Bush campaign, asserted that the Vice President had sought and found ''someone who is extremely well qualified to be President, someone who would be compatible with the President, someone who hopefully would help the ticket but, in any event, would not hurt it.''

http://query.nytimes.com/...

Earlier today, DanK asked for some ideas for a campaign ad. By the time I had finnished and posted my idea on his Diary, the OP had dropped off the front page into oblivian. But I was too proud of what I came up with that I thought that I should post it in my own diary.

If anybody here has video editing skillz, by all means, pick up the ball and run with it. The purpose of this ad would be to attack John McCain's pool of possible political appointies; the people that will become his advisors, cabinet members, and private sector allies should he win in November. It should remind people that John McCain would not come alone, but would bring along many of the same people who currently populate the Bush Cabal.

The format after the jump.

I didn't see this posted anywhere, but I found it interesting.  Everyone knows that we should have this election in the bag, but despite McCain's obvious shortcomings, which have been documented here and elsewhere in great detail, the race is still close.

In order to remedy this, Michael Moore has suggested six ways we can wrest defeat from the jaws of victory

If nothing else, it's an interesting read.

Talked briefly with my brother the other evening and I am alarmed over his decision making process for this election.  I am even more alarmed because I believe he represents a large protion of the electorate.

I asked him if he'd made up his mind yet and what his opinions might be and he began to recount a recent e-mail he'd received alleging that Obama didn't have valid U.S. citizenship.  Needless to say, I BIT MY FUCKIN TONGUE! ...for a moment and counted to 10 twice before I spoke.

I know many of you have been glued to the television watching the Olympics these past two weeks. I've watched women's gymnastics and a little bit of swimming, but as a political junkie, the next two weeks of the conventions will be much more "must see TV" for me.

Last week, the Religious Institute sent a letter to both presumptive candidates and campaigns, urging them to affirm sexual justice issues. I thought some of you might be interested in the letters, which were basically identical in our requests.

I can't wait to see how all of this plays out! Stay tuned

I think it's about time that I start thinking about the 2008 version of the Election Day Live Blog Project.  For those unfamiliar with the project, you can see the diary for the 2006 Live Blog.

On tuesday evening Barack Obama came to the NC State Fairgrounds near NCSU for a townhall meeting. Having talked to some grassroots staffers, it should be noted that they told me North Carolina was considered a "tier one state" by the campaign. Tier one means it is at the highest level of importance to them along with Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania etc. They really see this red state turning blue with an Obama victory here. It is with this in mind that the townhall was planned.  

Was gonna send this letter to Indiana newspapers. Already had one published last month. Suggestion? Comments?

Lost amidst all the frenetic hyperbole and mindless punditry of the 2008 Presidential race is the bizarre assumption that this election will be decided on a fair and equal playing field. Yet one could reasonably theorize that the biggest obstacle for Barack Obama come November will not be John McCain, but the threat of voter suppression, voter disenfranchisement and the abomination of an election being stolen from the American people once again.

He's the guy you want if you want the guy we have now.

He's John Sidney McCain the Third Bush Term.

One of the favorite rhetorical devices that candidates running for the presidency like to use is to compare themselves to some former president, usually of the same party, in hopes that whatever favorable image Americans have of that past president will rub off on them. For the Democrats it's normally FDR and JFK. For the Republicans it's Lincoln and Reagan. It dawned on me that there is a former Republican president who almost no candidate uses as an exemplar of how he would be as president and that is Dwight David Eisenhower.

If anyone wants to know about Joe Lieberman, they ought to ask Arthur Levitt, former SEC head during the Clinton administration

WTF is this nonsense?

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FCK ME

?

lbrmn got a BBRY. wnts me to teach hm to txt.

Y? whose he gonna txt?

he sez he nds to txt all hz supprtrs at a moments notice

So Bush is about to "cut and run":

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reached agreement on a security deal that calls for American military forces to leave Iraq's cities by next summer as a prelude to a full withdrawal from the country, according to senior American officials.

The draft agreement sets 2011 as the date by which all remaining U.S. troops will leave Iraq...

Teams of American and Iraqi negotiators spent months haggling over the deal, which represents a remarkable turnaround from just a few months ago, when talk of timetables and deadlines was routinely dismissed by the Bush administration and other Republicans in Washington...

President George W. Bush is almost certain to accept the agreement, according to U.S. officials. The administration believes that the deal doesn't require congressional approval and won't present it to U.S. lawmakers.