Imus Calls Rush Tactics "Insipid"

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The rightwing screederama danced in collaboration with the shallow stenomedia against Sonia Sotomayor last week, centered around a quote pulled out of the context of her thoughtful speech—heck, it was pulled out of the full sentence, even.

You know the one: "...wise Latina woman...."

This morning, Imus, musing with his cohorts back in New York from his Imus Ranch for Kids with Cancer in New Mexico, described the idiocy of the attacks on her as reverse racist as "insipid."

Maybe it's the clear fresh air away from the Eastern Corridor that festers between and among the Beltway and Broadway and Wall Street crowds—we've been known to have a bit of that here in the heartland as well.

Kudos to Imus for cutting through the rabble-rants of the rightwing Usual Suspects: Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Hannity, Rove and all the rest of the predictable sand-throwers.

The GOPasaurus [h/t dKos] media may be on a collision course with death throes [oh, yes, it is....], but it still makes a stink. Good on Imus for cutting through the thunder to point out there's no "there" there. And why is NBC still, as late as yesterday's Nightly News, still perpetuating the false clipping of Sotomayor's words?

Tuesday, Debra Dickerson will be an Imus guest. I'll be watching on RFD-TV, you can catch it on radio, tv or online livestreamed.

[Do your own google homework, it's summer and I'm not link-making]
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crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette

Questions Not Asked

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This morning on the Imus Show, Orrin Hatch coulda been asked what he thought of Michelle Bachmann's attack on the bill he co-authored. Whether he agrees with her that he's facilitating re-education camps.

Let's all start making note of "questions not asked" and start pushing back about them.

Which brings me to...more shootings of police this morning.... What will be the "questions not asked" on the string of cop killings and violence against immigrants, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Mr. Beck? Mr. Dobbs? Hannity? Limbaugh? Hmmm, FAUX, CNN, MSBNC?

Prairie's Question asked: Why do rightwing Republicans incite violence and hate against America's cops on the beat protecting the "homeland"? And why does our media enable them with half-truths and whitewash?

Just askin'....

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Lost faith

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Asked this morning on the Imus Show...have the American people lost faith in the government?

And answered...by Mr Sunshine: No, they've lost faith in the institutions of the private sector...

Adds Mrs. Sunshine [that would be moi]: We need to channel FDR's New Deal and Teddy Roosevelt's trust-busting.

Both.

Now, please.
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Unprotected Sex with Merrill Lynch

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Tom Friedman on the Imus Show this morning called the election situation in Israel a complete, bloody mess.

'course that phrase pretty much sums up what the Obama Administration has inherited, as well, in both foreign policy and the state of the economy.

And poor ol' Tom, he's reduced to staying home from the cocktail circuit with his head in his hands, dithering over whether to put his paycheck in Citibank or under the mattress.

At least he's got a paycheck.

Friedman tells us: be afraid, be very afraid. This is a national emergency we're in and people are acting as if it's business as usual....I find the grandstanding and partisan bickering appalling.

Well there we agree.

And as Friedman notes, the worst of it is, when contemplating the "banksters" who testified yesterday, they're a bunch of dopes. Bank of America, he says, was going along fine and then had unprotected sex with Merrill Lynch and the rails came off.

Friedman's solution is getting the heart that runs America pumping again, and that's the banking credit system.

So now what?

Friedman's willing to give Obama six months, a year to work through this current mess. Because, as he notes, this is not a test. This is real.

There's a whole lot of hysteria percolating right beneath the surface all over the place these days, as Friedman's commentary shows.

I take heart from looking at the totality of what the Obama Administration has already done. Obama promised his team would hit the ground running, and they have. Appalling last minute Bush directives have been overturned. A cabinet has been assembled.

Sure, if you listened to the dinosaur media, you'd think the only thing going on is the stimulus package and whether Drug-Rush will rule Republicanville.

But if you step back and take a deep breath, you'll see the same strategic thinking that sustained and grew the Obama campaign is now up and running in Washington.

And that's a good thing.
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UPDATE: Maybe part of the problem is the 5 percent factor.

Quote o'the Day: Fishbowl

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Talking about the context of Daschle's tax problem, the corporate jet culture, and the way the Villagers in the Beltway do their (non)thinking on the Imus Show this morning:

"Fish are the only ones who don't realize they're wet."

Bob Schieffer

Bailing Out the Debate?

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First, here's a link to Chris Dodd's conversation this morning with Imus. Must listening.

It's all about housing...this didn't have to happen. The president's a no-show. Hank Paulson doesn't know how this city works [Sarah Palin, you listenin'?]. The lack of leadership comes from the center of the government.

Gamesmanship and political theatre.

Administration still arguing for golden parachutes.

This is a mess it didn't have to happen. Must have taxpayer protections. I accept the gravity of the situation. Don 't need a political photo op.

Yes, Wall Street must have confidence, but the American taxpayer must have confidence, too.

McCain hasn't been involved, it's not his issue, having this distraction did not help. "Republicans are furious over what John did yesterday."
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So as the day goes along...is McCain going to show up at Ole Miss? Will there be a debate? Is he sittin' in Boner's office even now preppin' to sandbag Obama at the debate? Or will he keep tryin' to duck?

Oh, and will there be a resolution on the bailout?

The New Welfare Queens

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Orrin Hatch on the Imus Show this morning was just the latest-I've-heard example of the Republicans digging out the ol' Ronald Reagan "welfare queen" card.

You see, the current financial "crisis" is not the fault of greedy Wall Street and investment bankers with their "swaps" and their "derivatives" and their other phony, unethical, totally in violation of standard business practices paper shuffles all designed to line their own pockets with big commissions and mega-bonuses and stock options. Nor is it the fault of Reaganomics or Bushonomics or any other variation on "hidden hand" that must, must, must not be regulated at any cost economics.

Oh, my, no. It's Clinton's fault--Bill, that is. And that 1999 bill...yep, yep, yessiree. And it's the fault of all those, you know, those "others" who had to have a subprime mortgage. And we know who they are, don't we, folks.

The slimy subtext of the argument that Orrin Hatch and BushCo are pushing is racial. And you thought these billionaire investment bankers were scum. Ha! Meet the "fiscal conservative minority" as Hatch described himself and those po' po' Republicans who couldn't possibly have done anything to rein in the outlaws when they had total control of the White House, the Senate, the House, and even the Supreme Court.

Audacious rape in progress, folks. And BushCo and their minions and the billionaire barons of Wall Street want you to just look away.
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Imus Interviews link update pending

"Last" President

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Last night on The Daily Show, John Oliver spun out for Jon Stewart why George W. Bush could go down in history not as our worst president...but as our last....

The thing about stampedes to action...as is this hoo-rah taking place right now in Washington over the $700 Billion billionaire bailout...for all the trail dust and shouting...we need to not only deal with the crisis but also, in the words of Jim Lehrer this morning on Imus, "walk this cat back" and figure out what went wrong.

Which frankly gives me more hope for substance when Lehrer moderates the first Obama-McCain debate Friday at Ole Miss than for later tonight when Audio-animatronic Bush appears on television soberly slowly sin-cerely reciting "catastrophe" over and over to the teevee camera.

When the former majority leader of the House, Dick Armey says BushCo bald-faced lied to him in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, why would any rational thinking human being believe anything being churned out of this White House?

Across the spectrum, politicians and ordinary citizens of all stripes are coming together to reject this Bush-push package politely called a bailout...when we folks on Main Street know it's the financial elites trying one last grab at America's resources. Even Congressional Republicans are tellin' Cheney hell no.

Bush once told us he was a uniter not a divider. Finally, we're seeing that. "Last" president, jokes the Daily Show.

Not a joke, just sad, sad, sad this pathetic excuse for a man and an administration. Is it too much to hope tonight is the last clusterfuck contrivance of incoherence packaged as a speech to the nation?

We all want Bush gone.

Palinoscopy

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This morning on Imus, Sally Quinn recounted the reaction to her writing about Sarah Palin. "I've been called the A word, the B word, the C word...by Christians."

What Quinn calls the most important election in 100 years is now in the hands of a voting electorate who in large numbers on the Republican/radical right wing are responding to McCain's [Quinn's words] "cynical" and "brilliant" naming of Palin as his running mate with not only enthusiasm, but also a vituperative knee-jerk ranting at any examination of that running mate.

Imus responded with the same tired old argument: yes, but would she be any worse than Cheney? [Or Bush, given the odds that old, unhealthy McCain wouldn't last his term]

Why, Imus or anyone who poses that argument, would we want to settle for someone who at best is described as "no worse than Cheney"? Is that really the best we can do?

And if so, what does that say about us?
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Nation Building at Home

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This morning on the Imus Show, Tom Friedman introduced a theme he says is vital and not being addressed by either party in this election campaign: nation building at home.

I guess he wasn't listening to Barack Obama's Invesco Field speech and Obama's plan for funding innovation and entrepreneurship and new energy technologies. Maybe Friedman was jet-porting somewhere between Beijing and HongKong or something.

This morning we're seeing already in George W. Bush's infomercial for the Republican "drill, drill, drill" mantra that the Rethug solution is NOT innovation and new technologies. Nope. The same ol' same ol' party ain't going to be the one to heed Friedman's message that innovative energy technology and nation-building-at-home are what this election should be about.

For those who are landlocked inside our borders, quaking in the corner while Lou Dobbs thunders about keeping the "out" out, nodding in agreement with Cokie's calling our 50th State foreign and exotic, for those who suck up everything the Limbaugh - Hannity - reichwing talk radio is pissin' the way their SUVs suck up gas, the Rethuglican party is right on point.

But for those who stop and actually analyze the problem and educate themselves and vote for their best interests instead of against, this is a pivotal moment.

Do we want more of the same ol' same ol' that keeps us with the hands of Putin and Saudi on America's cojones puttin' the squeeze...cause that's what oil dependence offers us.

Do we want more of the same ol' same ol' that leaves us playin' catch-up...or worse yet, sitting on the side of the road as the world passes us by?

Friedman put it about as succinctly and so vividly even the shallow thinkers oughta "get it"...flying from Shanghai to LaGuardia is like flying from The Jetsons to The Flintstones....

So pick your issues this year, folks...I've got my take. Scarborough&Mika pushing the Palin pregnant kid story in the typical "we're so offended this is being talked about that we're going to talk about it" phony fashion.

In the long run, I don't care diddly-doo about whether somebody's kid is knocked-up.

I do care that too many in what Friedman calls "brain dead Washington" are perpetuating knocking all of us down.

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Audio of Friedman not yet up on the website, but here's the page where Imus Show interviews appear as soon as available.
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For Your 4th

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Whatever you have on tap for this holiday weekend, take a little time out to give thought to what you can do to truly "support the troops" who don't have a choice between the usual holiday at the resort, or the beach, or the national park, or even "staycation."

Men and women are putting their lives on the line each and every day for us...in Iraq and Afghanistan...on the fire line in Big Sur...at home, ready if the call for first responders goes out.

We talk a lot here and throughout the blogosphere, and one of the things we've talked a lot about is Congress and oversight. Why, we ask, haven't the now in control Democrats put the brakes on the runaway freight train about to careen off the side of the mountaintop that is the Bush Administration?

We talk a lot...but what are we doing? How many have sought out our Senators or Congressperson to say, listen to US. Listen to America. Don't listen and vote for the special interests on K Street, like the telco's who just had their way with the House of Representatives while doling out a paltry few thousands of campaign dollars.

I'm thinking that works because the Congresscritters are tellin' themselves, if I don't vote AT&T's way, then maybe Corp X, Y and Z would see that they might not get their "money's worth" and turn off the campaign contribution spigot, too.

A screwed-up system.

On the Imus Show this week, Tom Friedman, the man who put the "FU" in friedman unit, opined, as though by a timely cosmic revelation, we've got to fix our democracy here, we've got to fix our country.*

Well no shit, Sherlock.

Welcome to reality, pal. While you've been busy furthering the friedman unit, the rest of us out here in the real world have been dealing with the consequences of the Village's blithe bolstering of the gut of Bush. And it ain't pretty. So put down that plate of cocktail wienies, step away from the RNC blast o'the hour, let go of the self-indulgent claptrap, grab your media-darling cronies, and say, hey, maybe it's about time we stopped treating this as some kind of theatre of the absurd, pushing people around like pawns—a few thousand layoffs here, a few thousand layoffs there, a few hundred thousand casualties over there, pretty soon it adds up to real yadda, yadda.

Because oversight belongs to all of us. Congress. The media. And you. And me.

So this Fourth of July, between the wienies and the fireworks, ask yourself...what am I putting on the line?
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. Need a jump start? Christy's got some great ideas and tools over at firedoglake.

* my paraphrase, because WABC hasn't put the interview up on their website for linkage and exactitude as of this writing...not that that ever stopped the BBQ Media from runaway adoration of St. Mc and distortion of whatever they feel like distorting on any given day.

Bobbleheads

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Bob Schieffer guested on the Imus Show this morning. Imus sidekick Charles McCord interrupted their conversation to point out to Mr. Schieffer that Imus was flicking his Schieffer bobblehead all the while Schieffer was talking.

Pretty much summed up the conversation.

Although Schieffer deftly deflected his own complicity in the whole controversy over Wesley Clark's response to his "question" about whether getting shot down over Hanoi qualifies one to be president. I say, Schieffer deftly deflected his own complicity over....

Yep, another media "who, me?" clown commentator blithely in self-denial about his role in pushing a narrative.

"It wasn't politick," Schieffer said about Clark's response—virtual repetition—to Schieffer's question/statement.

What wasn't politick was pulling a brief statement out of the whole, thus distorting the entire meaning of what Clark said.

Oh, and, after skewering Clark, both Imus and Schieffer gave fluffers to loveable ol' misunderstood Lieberman, explaining to all of us yokels who watch RFD-TV what he really meant.

Same ol', same ol' bobbleheads....

*****
FURTHERMORE: Last night on Dan Abrams' MSNBC show, General Clark had this to say:
"I honor John McCain's character. As I said in the show he's been one of my heroes for a long time. He's been over to my house. This is about the qualifications to be president. It is also about the nature of politics today that a comment can be taken out of context so much to create a hullaboo."
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EVEN FURTHERMORE: McCain agrees with Wes Clark...see Thinkprogress' report.
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Clark Tells Truth, Part 2

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Amazing. General Wesley Clark tells truth to power on Face the Nation.

And stands by what he says.

Furthermore, he insists on presenting the context and content of what he said, instead of allowing the rightwing McCainiacs and BBQ media framers to distort his words to fit their false narrative.

Statement from Wes Clark:

"There are many important issues in this Presidential election, clearly one of the most important issues is national security and keeping the American people safe. In my opinion, protecting the American people is the most important duty of our next President. I have made comments in the past about John McCain's service and I want to reiterate them in order be crystal clear.

"As I have said before I honor John McCain's service as a prisoner of war and a Vietnam Veteran. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. I would never dishonor the service of someone who chose to wear the uniform for our nation.

“John McCain is running his campaign on his experience and how his experience would benefit him and our nation as President. That experience shows courage and commitment to our country—but it doesn't include executive experience wrestling with national policy or go-to-war decisions.

"And in this area his judgment has been flawed—he not only supported going into a war we didn't have to fight in Iraq, but has time and again undervalued other, non-military elements of national power that must be used effectively to protect America.

"But as an American and former military officer I will not back down if I believe someone doesn't have sound judgment when it comes to our nation's most critical issues.”

All day Monday, the Usual Media Suspects were busily having the vapors.

This morning, Bob Schieffer is scheduled to appear on the Imus Show. Will he add to the handwringing BBQ media's distortions? Or will he tell his colleagues to get a grip, snap out of it, deal with the truth?

Contemplating Mortality

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We learned this morning of the too-swift passing of comic George Carlin, soon after the abrupt death of Tim Russert. Unexpected, both, though likely predictable, given their health histories.

Deaths happen abruptly every day. And all you who stop by here from time to time readily recognize those names. If not, go google...

Because right now, I'm contemplating mortality in a much more personal way. Friday evening I got one of "those" calls...a dear cousin, now half a continent away, had died from a massive stroke.

We're too young, we baby boomers think. Such does not happen to us. And yet it does...

Before she was a mom and a wife and a grandmom and a watercolorist and all the other things that formed her adult years, Mary Jo was Aunt Irene's little girl, the only girl with four brothers, Sandy's year-younger cousin—our birthdays only hours apart from being the same date. We shared growing-up years in the way cousins do, family gatherings and holidays, but also walking together to the old Fairgrounds, and sitting on her mom's bed to giggle over who was the cuter Beatle, Paul or George. I still say George.

At 59, she was far too young to go.

There are a lot of families who think those thoughts. The statistical 850 a day who die abruptly from heart attacks. The victims of car accidents or urban violence or the violence we have allowed to be inflicted in Iraq based on lies. The flag-draped coffins coming home under cover of darkness—too young to go.

Some say be patient, just wait, there's change coming, as Frank Rich posited about the future, whoever gets elected, this morning on the Imus Show. But there is also the fierce urgency of now.

There are things that can be done now. There are things that must be done in the future. FISA's immunity for telcos must be stopped now. Democracy where people are valued for more than the money in their wallets must be renewed, and I'm one that doesn't think that can happen without truth and full accounting and accountability for these years.

Our legacy, Mary Jo's and mine, was grandparents who immigrated from Germany long enough ago that we qualify as a Dakota Territory pioneer family, my dad fought in WW II as a Marine. The legacy I crave for my grandson, for her grandchildren, is one of honor and wisdom and the restoration of the promise that drew our ancestors to this land.

Mary Jo Yales...cherished and missed by those who knew and love her still. JoY at her heart, and so I will remember her.
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Morning Notes

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A couple of interesting things on the Imus Show this morning that deserve repeating.

● Sunday evenings on WABC Radio, Richard Cohen (married to Meredith Vieira) hosts a radio conversation building on his chronicle of people living with chronic diseases, Strong at the Broken Places. We're seeking further information regarding schedule and availability, will keep you posted. [We have confirmed that the show airs from 6-7 p.m. Sunday evenings on WABC am 770 in NYC, and it will be streamed online.]

Cohen's personal story of living with multiple sclerosis was the basis of his earlier Blindsided and he is a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist. Constrained by serious illness, Cohen has chosen not to be contained, and this new venture at WABC Radio holds hope for giving voice to others who deserve their stories told and their concerns discussed.

● Col. Jack Jacobs has retired from two different careers, the first, obvious, being military. The second on Wall Street, and he has the cred to talk candidly about both. Which he does, and in the doing, shows to those who will see the linkage between Big Oil's war in Iraq and the current state of our economy. He's equally blunt discussing wind farms off Cape Cod and Gitmo.

On Guantanamo and the management of the war. "...we gotta be able to show...either we show why we've got these guys in jail...or win the war. We decided to take the easy way out [my bold] and that's why they're in Guantanamo. If we'd done the right thing in the first place we wouldn't be in this problem.

"The guys who dreamed up that strategy had no more idea than the man in the moon and thankfully they're not in business anymore."

On the economy and the state of the stock market, Jacobs is equally unequivocal. "I'm surprised it's as high as it is" which he attributes to big institutional buyers. It's gonna get worse, predicts Jacobs. Wouldn't be surprised if it drops below 10,000...America's in a worse situation than a lot of the rest of the world because the dollar is so weak. [We'll be watching for a link for the entire interview and update.] UPDATE: Here's the conversation between Imus and Jacobs today.


We decided [over the protestations of too many ordinary Americans and not enough of the Very Important Americans] to take the easy way out. Sounds like the model for the entire BushCo way of governing.

I hope Barack Obama has reached out to Col. Jacobs, Medal of Honor recipient, Vietnam veteran, successful investment banker in international residential development. This is the kind of counselor, informal or in a seat of government power, who would give him real straight talk, reality based, and demanding of standards. I have no idea what his politics are, but his credentials in economics and military issues are strong. Sure would give the McCainiacs pause if he were, oh, say, a veep or SecDef prospect. And he's the kind of action-oriented thinker who could clean up the Chee-knee culture in the Pentagon.

He strikes me as a man who'd relish the challenge...if he can be talked into taking the pay cut.

● A viewing note: Kerith Foster mentioned to Imus that Michelle Obama will be a guest host today on "The View. " Not sure what the program and guests will be covering today, but one guest I'd like to see: Mary Joe Matalin. Imagine these two Chicago-style strong women as Ms. Matalin tries to b.s. her way through the Rethuglican spinpoints. Maybe they can discuss their roots among the "little people" as Matalin calls them. Telling it is that Obama celebrates her roots, Matalin...?

UPDATE: Here's Michelle Obama on The View via Huffington Post. I tried to link to the original source, honest I did, but The View's website is...well, visit for yourself, if you dare....

We'll update with links as they become available. Part 3 of our series on Fatherhood is in the works....

The Great Derangement

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If you haven't seen it yet on Youtube, give yourself a treat...and good thinking...this day.

The Great Derangement

And another author gets squelched from appearing on MTP.... This looks to be exactly the book the entire country needs to read before we head to the polls and pick our candidates.

Oh, and A+ to the publisher's marketing team on this one...
Taibbi starts this day on Imus, and if the WABC marketing team has any savvy, they'll have the link up pronto [we'll update when they do]. Meanwhile, don't miss the Youtube spot.

War Games

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The politics of campaigning is getting darker and darker on the Democratic side. And you thought it was bad in the run-up to Pennsylvania.

Thursday morning on the Imus Show, Carl Bernstein, author of the Hillary biography, told Imus that there's talk of Hillary and her campaign engaging in McCarthyism against Obama. And that it was interesting given her own background, which had far more association than Obama with the left. Bernstein added much detail regarding the law firm she worked at after graduating from Yale, and more. You can listen to the interview here. [the meat starts at about 4:15 mins in]

Then there's the swirling rumors of some of Hillary supporters growing increasingly distressed by the tactics her campaign has been and continues to use. Distancing and defections have already begun. There are the big names: Richardson, Reich. Now Joe Andrew, the former DNC chair from Indiana, saying the Clintons are destroying the party.

And Peter Dreier, in a lengthy commentary at Huffington Post, recounts the barrage of emails ongoing for months now from Sidney Blumenthal and the Clinton campaign attacking Obama by associations.

So what's the story? Is a desperate, driven Clinton campaign going to any lengths and beyond for the ultimate "win now, fix it later"? Or is this Hillbillery trying to inoculate herself against similar attacks coming at her if she's in the general election? Or is this Hillbillery setting out once again on a me-first crusade that damns the Democratic party as they did in the '90s? Or being willing to destroy Obama if he's the nominee so she can run again in 2012?

We want answers. And we can handle the truth.

It would be refreshing, in fact, if we'd actually get that truth--instead of smirking, smarmy TweetyKristolRushRoveRussetopolous spin knowingly enabling smear and innuendo in the furtherance of newsertainment.

Instead of the media enabling BushCo going to war on Iraq. Instead of the media enabling the Pentagon with their cozy conversations with propagandizing generals. Instead of the media enabling McCain's campaign with their hands-off "see no nothing" Sgt. Schultz scrutiny of McCain.

The media rushed to embed themselves in BushCo's Iraq war and enable the lies and corruption and torture and all the other horrors this war has inflicted on America. The media rushed to enable whatever the guy you most want to have a beer with had to say. And now, they are enabling Clinton and McCain--birds of a feather in their headlong rush to give us four more years of entitled elitist Bushism.

And a pox on the media.

'cause it sure as hell ain't enabling democracy.


advance preview of Friday 5/2/2008 blogpost

Health. Care.

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The passion Elizabeth Edwards brings to the subject of health care is undeniable. Many of us share that passion because, like her, our family travels the cancer road. And in so doing, we experience, either directly or through our loved ones, the exquisite toll that road extracts.

We know what it means to deal with health care providers, even at their best, and with the frustrations of insurance coverages, or lack of coverages. And even the Rube Goldbergian state of the business side of the health care industry these days. Makes those Hillary Care mocking diagrams the Republicans pushed back then look like a straight-line walk in the park compared to the cumbersome and convoluted and maze-like contraptions the Republican-controlled Congress provided over the years since 1994.

So I follow with interest Elizabeth's take on the candidates and their health care programs.

Without getting into the fine points of those programs, however, because me weary head spins in the doing, I'm of a mind that style matters as much as substance in this argument. Here's why.

No health care program at all will be effective if it can't get through the Congress. Carl Bernstein addressed this issue on the Imus Show this morning [no link avail yet] in making the point that the health care plan—and the way Hillary shepherded it—not only did not pass muster with the Congress, it was also, in Bernstein's opinion, a significant if not the major, cause of the Democrats' loss of the Congress to Newtster and the Republicans.

I think we're seeing deja voodoo all over again in this campaign. All the detailed nuanced planning in the world won't make a hill of beans of difference if it can't be passed. And that's where I may be diverging from Elizabeth Edwards' take. Because I'm seein' same ol', same ol' from 2/3 of the remaining candidates.

My personal candidate support is not based on a single issue, important as it is, but the overarching arc of what each of the three remaining candidates offer in terms of style as well as substance. Because it's going to take style—a cool kind of style, methinks—to lead the people in getting this car that is America back out of the muck in the ditch, cleaned up, tuned up, and back on the road.

And there's only one place I'm seeing that right now, with a candidate who coolly tells his audience that he has expectations of them, as well as himself. A candidate who refuses to let his opponents or the media frame him as a single issue candidate. And the audience responds to that, because they—we—are ready for expectations. Young and old, we're not cowering under our school desks anymore, and we're ready to do better.

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?