Surrogate Sludge

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McCain surrogate Charlie Crist gettin' his road test for the Veepstakes this morning with JoeScar on MSNBC? [link when and if they post one]

Crist certainly proved he can dodge and duck a straightforward question...repeated multiple times by Scarborough... in the best evasive, subject-changing tradition of the radical 'thugs about whether he agrees with McCain's lowlife statement that Barack Obama would be willing to lose a war to win the election.

Even Scarborough found that smear way beyond stunning.

The Florida Governor did his best to push the positives about his guy Johnny Mac.

But this I'm positive about: the candidate who is so desperate to win he will say anything, do anything [sellout to Big Oil for campaign contributions, anyone?], flip-flop on his promised integrity and honor, and bear false witness is the AWOL-from-the-Senate and AWOL from his honor pledge John McCain.
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Menage à Trois

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The Armed Services Committee—oh, wait, it's McCain, Lieberman, and Graham-cracker—are headin' to the Middle East, according to Lieberman on the Imus Show this morning.

Can the political campaign propaganda begin soon enough? Not for these guys. One-issue campaign coming for McCain... 'cause trivial stuff like domestic issues, healthcare, economics, well, they'll leave that to their lobbyist campaign staff.

Hope they're fully clothed in body armor and have lots of helicopters overhead and armed troops surrounding as they move from site mall to site mall. Unlike the front line troops. But then we don't want to report on those pesky statistics, do we.

Given the weak dollar, one hopes Graham can bear up under having to pay $10 for his rugs instead of $5 this time.

And since Lieberman's reportedly opting for Sec Defense in the McCainiac administration, we shudder that he'll bring the same level of due diligence as he has brought to Katrina oversight.

Yeah, none.

Haven't eight years of breaking America been enough?

Oil on his Hands

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So while Dubya's tap-dancin' in front of his fans at the White House waitin' for McCain to appear, his good buddies at OPEC are tellin' him, essentially, go piss up a rope. Dubya, a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Oil, may be making his buddies richer, but they seem to be more contemptuous as well. Lot of that going around....

The head of OPEC is saying why should they lower the price of oil, when it's "mismanagement" of the American economy that's causing the problems. The sticker shock at the pump isn't their fault, they protest.

Apparently, holding hands with the guys what brung ya ain't what it used to be.

There's a lot of talk around the blogosphere about oil and gas prices right now. But that just scratches the surface. As deep as the oil wells are is the muck that surrounds this mal-administration's dis-handling of the affairs of the nation. Healthcare, education, the economy, treatment of troops and veterans...the reckless, profligate, tap-dancin' preznit despoils everything he touches.

And he's got a legion of dance partners. Including the next man who would be president, who seeks out the endorsement of right wing extremists like John Hagee...and right wing wastrels like George.

But when you dance with the devil or his disciples, you better watch out what you're gettin' on your hands.

Branding McCain

When even his loyal buddies at the Imus Show say John McCain has some 'splainin' to do, you know he's in deep doo-doo. Guest Jeff Greenfield says the key question is: can McCain deal with questions about telecom advocacy in the context that goes back to the Keating 5 S&L scandal.

In Prairie Country, the b.s. detectors will be on full alert for McCain's scheduled press conference in about an hour. Serious questions of impropriety are raised by the articles in the NYTimes and Washington Post.

I don't care doo-dly whether there's a "romantic" or "salacious" side to this story, it's the conflict of interest side I want clarity on. Did McCain exceed his role as Senator and Chairman of the Senate Commer Committee in writing letters and contacting the FCC on behalf of telecommunications companies represented by a lobbyist he had cozy ties to?

And why did the NYTimes allegedly sit on yet another story that served to protect a Republican candidate? The New Republic was looking for answers to that one.

The integrity of both the media and the politicians will be on display today. And through it all, good ol' Bob Bennett will be dippin' his beak into the pie. You know there's trouble a-brewin' when his name surfaces in a scandal.

40 Years in the Wilderness

Watching the "I Have a Dream" speech aired in its entirely yesterday on the Imus Show, the resonance of hope and possibilities in the crucible of this year’s political campaign, brought back painful reminders.

Forty years ago, the year Dr. King was assassinated, the year an outsider took on a sitting president of his own party only to be supplanted by an entitlement candidate who was himself assassinated—it’s tempting to say, Nah, we’ve gotten beyond those times.

Sadly, I don’t think so. Last night’s South Carolina debate did nothing to change my mind. Two entitlement candidates—the first woman, the first African-American—while the candidate with the ideas, the candidate with the agenda of economic justice gets short shrift from the media, prodding to quit by the shills with their pundit masks on.

I’ve been thinking that we’re seeing 1968 play out all over again. Hillary = Humphrey. And a bit of a role twist, since Edwards was in there first, but I see him more in the Robert F. Kennedy role, the focused, scrappy fighter. Obama, the elegant academician Gene McCarthy. And we know how that turned out. Nixon, anyone?

[Disclaimer, I worked on the McCarthy campaign as a college kid, I was in LA primary night, I was in Chicago for the convention, and a bunch of primary state pit stops along the way.]

We’re seeing way too much reflection of the past this year. The dividing-up of the Democratic Party by tactics that may give quick wins along the way and cost the national election. There’s still time to correct the course. The disenfranchised want inclusiveness, not niching…not who’s in, who’s out. That can happen in groups as small as a handful or as big as a political party or nation. And this time, we need to get it right.

The cynical Republican race-baiting and stirring of old divisions and distrusts is already in play. Likely-looking nominee John McCain spends MLK Day in Alabama in a dandy moment of “who me? nah, I’m a good ol’ boy” wink-wink-nod-nod. The Clinton campaign is pushing The Restoration, the Golden Years of Bubba, fudging the line of just who would be the president. Seems more like The Atonement to me.

The president who promised to be a uniter not a divider has managed to unite all the Republicans…they don’t want to mention his name at all. Meanwhile, the Fed cuts interest rates ¾ point this morning…how’s that workin’ out for your retirement, Grandma? And Life after People on the History Channel seems the more likely scenario for the aftermath of BushCo’s saber-rattling than his fairytale of a blissfully Peter Pan-ish centerpiece of democracy.

As the tectonic plates of the Democratic Party shift and quake, those of strong constitution need to keep their resolve intact. Change is never easy, and this year is one that promises change…or being sucked back down into the familiarity of the status quo. Fear of the unknown—will it trump the hope, the desire, the demand for change? That’s up to every individual. The choices are out there…even if you have to wade through the fog of the media’s best efforts to make this a boxing match, a horserace, a triviality of personalities instead of a reasoned examination of critical issues.

An epic battle, Edwards calls it. Not a one of us should cut and run.

Because once the primaries and convention are over, we will learn if this is No Country for Old Men.

There’s an epic battle getting to Election Day, never mind the challenges that await the new president.

One thing I expect: There Will Be Blood.