Birthday Boy

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Lest we forget, today is John McCain's third anniversary of celebrating his birthday with George Bush.

Bet they haven't forgotten in New Orleans.

And it looks like the Birthday Boy is right on track to keep that ol' not-separated-at-birth thang going as he announces his veep choice today.

Already, Pawlenty's gotten the call...it ain't you Babe, ah no, no, no, it ain't you....

Looks like we're gettin' down to Romney. The Bush family legacy choice. The Jeb Bush-endorsed choice. The fast track to Jeb Bush's takeover of the White House choice. The Rove muscle in on L'il Lie-bee choice.... clear evidence that McCain has lost control of his campaign and it's all about the Third Term of Bush. Tee-in' up for the third Bush presidency.

Happy Birthday, john. Watch your back.


Dynasty continues....
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UPDATE: Rumor floating Alaska Governor Palin. Hmmm, methinks "red herring" until they prove me wrong. Hey, why not Michelle Bachmann? I'm sure she's available....

Big Brother

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It struck me as telling, among Joe Biden's other, professional attributes to be on the Democratic team for the Presidency, that Barack Obama would choose a guy with his personal reputation for pugnacious, no-holds-barred fighting for what he believes, and with the smarts and tongue to back it up.

A noun, a verb, and 9-11, anyone?

A man raised by his mother to stand strong, to take on the bullies when his brothers needed him, a man who knows his home ground, and isn't afraid to speak sharply and call "malarkey."

This is the kind of "big brother" we need.

We've had more than a belly-full of the other kind.
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Breaking the Mold

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We've seen a lot of breaking the mold of late...Dara Torres, Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, the Japanese women's softball team....

So it was a head-scratching moment for me when a CNN newsreader expressed bewilderment to Jessica Yellin, on location in Chicago, about why Obama has not yet announced his veep choice. Why on a Saturday...that's just not doooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnne.

Yes, I know she was probably just reciting in her best dumbed-down persona what some idiot producer thought would be a clever script-take, but come on...

Maybe it's, you know, part of a well-thought-out plan...kind of like the campaign we've been seeing from the Obama folks. Not a half-cocked, half-baked, knee-jerk, hair-trigger overreaction to some external event. Ya think?

So will it be Biden? Earlier this week in Fargo, that was Senator Dorgan's prediction. The media buzz is certainly building in that direction. The video of his family joining him at his home in Delaware points that way.

Hey guys, ever think it's just a fare-well gathering for Biden's son before he ships out to Iraq?
jes kiddin'....

Maybe it's time to start searchin' out those Irish tartan patterns. I'm thinkin' it'll be Biden.

But Barack can take whatever time he wants, in whatever order he wants to take it, because the buildup of the veepstakes is just one more example of how Obama is breaking the mold.

And that's what champions do.
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Psssst, Pentagon: how 'bout you guys doin' a little mold breakin', too, and clean up those barracks our troops are recuperating in at Fort Sill and elsewhere. That would be real military honor.

And we've seen enough of the Faux.
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Prairie's Sunrise

Contemplating Machu Picchu this morning courtesy Sunrise Earth on the Discovery HD Theatre channel. This photo is of Sunset, according to Wikipedia. Which gives me...and you...a day to contemplate the sheer majesty of what people can accomplish when they put their minds and hearts to it.

Consider the planning, the scouting that first revealed the site, and then the nearly endless time to laboriously design and construct wall after wall, terrace after terrace, rampart after rampart. The work that had to be done to support the builders. Gathering food. Making garments. And tools. And weapons...of war and survival.

Machu Picchu is a designated World Historic Site. Surely it is the greatest treasure of Peru.

Gives one pause to wonder...what are we building these days that would endure and inspire such awe a hundred years from now? Five hundred? A millenium?

Kind of puts in perspective worrying about daily ups and downs and trackings and who'll be in the veepstakes, now doesn't it?
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UPDATE: But if you're really, really curious and you can't tear yourself away from the guessing game, Sen. Byron Dorgan told a local Fargo talk radio host this morning he thinks it'll be Biden. We'll see....

Meanwhile, back to Machu Picchu....

UPDATE 2: So does Howard Fineman...

Hmmm, time to check the inbox?

UPDATE 3: Biden says no, it ain't me babe...ah, no, no, no, it ain't me...
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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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Testing the Waters?

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Watching Virginia Governor Tim Kaine ably deflect the media barrage of questions about whether he will be Obama's choice for the veep slot this a.m. While injecting the strong standing Virginia has as the "best managed state in the country."

Whether it's eye-raq, or whether it's once again the economy, stupid....

Obama-Kaine '08 would be A-OK with me.
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UPDATE 7/30/2008 7:04 pm.
Well, maybe not: from C&L this about Kaine.
Stem cell research is a litmus test for me. When you're a cancer survivor family, some things are more important than politics, than party.