Lieberman = Tessio

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Once there was an iconic movie, The Godfather, which played out in grand scale the struggles of good and evil, strong vs weak, smart vs stupid.

Tessio, they say, did the "smart" thing...taking sides against The Godfather. Betraying the Corleone family to ally with Tataglia for the opportunistic "winning" side. Except, Michael turned out to be not just a kid to be patted on the cheek and dismissed.

In a political sense, the same story is playing out as Joe Lieberman now starts talking about how much he "respects" Barack Obama. Larger minds than mine will decide Lieberman's political fate, but I'd proffer that the just end to this current political epic for Joe Lieberman will be to sleep with the political fishes.
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Full Court Pressler

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Just because you've always voted Republican, doesn't mean you can't vote for change, vote for Obama, this year. Just because you vote for Obama doesn't mean you can't go back to your Republican party and help reform it back into something resembling fiscal and other sanity after this year.

Just ask former South Dakota Senator Larry Pressler, the first Vienam Vet to serve in the Senate. This year, Politico reports, Pressler is voting for Obama...and has contributed $500 to his campaign.

The list keeps getting longer and longer.

And maybe that's as much an anti-McCain, anti-Palin, anti-Republican vote this year as a vote for Obama. Pressler does say that McCain's reaction to the financial crisis sure gave him pause.

But reality is, when Obama talks about these United States of America....it starts in the voting booth...for everyone.
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(crossposted at Firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)

Rash-n-Reckless

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Wow, when even George Will says yer a hothead, you've got some real image problems to overcome.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

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Missin' the Story

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If you've been relying on the media to provide the full story of the current presidential campaign, well, not yet.

Take a trip up to Alaska via Mudflats this morning, and you'll learn about the story the McCainstream media, the oh-so-important networks, have totally missed so far. Or don't want you to know...

Last week, there was sure 'nuff, a welcome home rally for Sarah Palin.

There was also an "Alaska Women Reject Palin" rally:

Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn’t honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn’t happen here.

The groundswell is real. The rejection of the McSame ol' Same ol' Palin-crony politics as usual is real. Whether the media get around to tellin' you or not.

On November 4, join your fellow Americans and vote for real change. Meanwhile, reach out to your fellow Americans and say, this year, no matter what your party or gender or voting history, go with reality, not spin, not smear. And vote.
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Populists R Us

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Obama-Biden 2008 -- clearly positioning as the working class candidates. As well they should. That is where their feet are firmly planted, per Abraham Lincoln.

I don't think you're going to find either of these guys standin' up in front of a fancy-schmantzy Wall Street dinner and sayin' some may call you the haves and the have-mores, I call you my base....

Nor making sport of hunting for WMDs under the desk in the Oval Office.

Nor trying to either figure out how many homes you have...or how many you have to hide.

The reckoning, Joe Biden said in Springfield today, is here.

And Obama-Biden are a formidable team to be reckoned with in the last nine weeks of this campaign.

Reckon the rest of us need to lend 'em a hand. It's our fight, too.
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