Thank you for taking this onto the Rec list... Democrats are ignoring a goldmine
This spring while Oil prices soared, debate festered between various factions as to whether supply/demand vs. speculators were causing the energy markets to rocket up. In case you haven't noticed, Oil markets are crashing and only one real actual thing has happened to affect this situation, and that thing was predicted to cause this exact response.... what is it?
The Democratic Congress CLOSED the Enron Loophole in the Farm Bill on June 22nd
Take Credit NOW PLEASE!!! The MSM is claiming there is a fear of soft economic growth... This is laughable as oil went up and up through the spring and summer as it became common for the MSM and everyone else to talk slow growth, recession, etc... Something else happened, something the press is ignoring as well as our Party, at our own peril.
Paper trail and links to back this up below with graphs...
The Obama campaign yesterday announced it will run its "National Priorities" spot — an attack on McCain for his ties to the oil industry — on Gas Station TV, which airs at ... gas stations.
Now — in the sort of flap a campaign welcomes — Obama's camp says Gas Station TV won't air it.
"As Gas Station TV informed the campaign this afternoon, the company will not run ads that are damaging to oil companies," says a release from the Obama campaign.
The McCain campaign is quickly setting a new bar for how low a campaign can go... Here is the Obama campaign response.
"It’s downright sad that on a day when we learned that 51,000 Americans lost their jobs, a candidate for the presidency is spending all of his time and the powerful platform he has on these sorts of juvenile antics. Senator McCain can keep telling everyone how ‘proud’ he is of these political stunts which even his Republican friends and advisors have called ‘childish’, but Barack Obama will continue talking about his plan to jumpstart our economy by giving working families $1,000 of immediate relief," said Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan.
And if you missed it, McCain LIED today, bigtime... I think the sheen has worn off
McCain: "I don’t think the campaign is negative in the slightest."
Barack Obama today just back slapped McCain's campaign with a cold dose of reality... in the form of ridicule and taunt...
"I do have to ask my opponent– Is that the best you can come up with? Is that really what this election’s about? Is that what is worthy of the American people?"
Says later: "It’s politics as a game, but the time for game-playing is over."
Meanwhile the McCain campaign is turning into McComplain faking outrage over supposed "Race card" playing. We'll see how that one plays out, but it certainly appears to be a case of misunderstanding with regards to basic Grammar.
Ohhhh Snap... now former McCain aids are going on record critical of the McComplain Campaign of late...
With the release today of a McCain television ad blasting Obama for celebrity preening while gas prices rise, and a memo that accuses Obama of putting his own aggrandizement before the country, Weaver said he's had "enough."
The ad's premise, he said, is "childish."
"John's been a celebrity ever since he was shot down," Weaver said.
"Whatever that means. And I recall Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush going overseas and all those waving American flags."
He added: "There is legitimate mockery of a political campaign now, and it isn't at Obama's. For McCain's sake, this tomfoolery needs to stop."
This is utterly disgusting folks... Adam "Hack" Nagourney is out on the NY Times with a hatchet "Where’s the Bounce?" I'll tell you where the bounce is Adam... it's being ignored by the media, that's where it is...
They are listing selective polling as of now, choosing to run with the USA Today/Gallup snapshot LV screen, ignoring the RV numbers from the same poll and blowing the average. The average would be certainly different if they didn't include a BAD Poll while IGNORING a highly respected poll... I've never seen them ignore a poll before, and somehow, they just are.
"We have various options. The Nuremberg Trials are certainly an example of the kind of tribunal that we could move forward with. I don't think we'd have any difficulty in devising an international -- internationally supported mechanism that would mete out justice. There's no problem there."
I was utterly inspired today by what Mike Allen calls
"a manifesto for the planet, with an appeal to "the burdens of global citizenship."
You saw it as we all did and my greatest fear in this moment of utter awe and inspiration is that there may be a crack in the system and this year, of all years, may expose the potential for Democracy's failure...
I worry that the combination of the visual and some of the rhetoric--"Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen--a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world"--was a little too post-nationalist for the typical American swing-voter. I'm not sure you win the presidency without being seen as an unambiguous nationalist.
And I'm reminded of the Dark Knight which I enjoyed this weekend, and how sometimes Democracy Fails.
First off, I have to admit that I loath Mark Halperin. That said, the insufferable twit often times gets the goods on Obama's moves a few days prior to the actual. For instance, just before Edwards endorsed Obama, a day or two prior, he had on the site a photo of John with a question about him linking him to Obama. It's clear that Halperin gets some heavy hints from inside the Obama campaign which leads to his putting up posts like today's headline
On the rec list, there is a diary concerned with election theft, and in this one, I'll present reasons why theft can't happen this year. I believe that while a close election could be stolen, you won't be able to steal a landslide...
On the front page, there is a great piece discussing the 20 offices opening all over Virginia, and the McCain camp reaction is simply classic...
Marc Ambinder also notified us today that the offices are opening in Montana too
That a Democratic presidential candidate opened six campaign offices in Montana? As of Saturday, Obama For America will have 24/7 "Campaign for Change" outposts In Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Helena and Missoula.
Honestly, these News Releases are very abstract, without context, visuals, and don't break into the National News. That's why I want to draw attention to the turn out of 1,200 volunteers greeting the opening of Colorado's field offices on Tuesday.
"I welcome news that the Bush Administration has shifted course and will send an envoy for direct talks as part of the P5+1 with the Iranians in Geneva this weekend. I commend our European allies and other friends on this effort. Now that the United States is involved, it should stay involved with the full strength of our diplomacy. A united front with our friends and allies directly calling on the Iranians to stand down on their illicit nuclear program will maximize the international pressure we can bring to bear and will show the Iranian people that Iran's isolation is a function of its government's unwillingness to live up to its obligations. Iran should live up to its obligations now; by waiting, it will only face greater isolation."
I think this sorta harkens back to the slinkerwink diary yesterday about pity comments and keeping it simple... I would have preferred Obama be a bit more direct...
Of course the article skews and head fakes its way to champion the horserace, highlighting every strenght of McCain while overlooking the Obama strengths.
All told, Obama leads McCain among registered voters by 8 points in this ABC/Post poll, 50-42 percent.
Turnout makes a difference: It's 51-39 percent among all adults overall, but narrows to a close 49-46 percent match among likely voters. As noted, Republicans are among those more likely to vote; young adults, less so.
And that's the key... which story is the media willing to tell and while lie are they willing to live by for ratings. Pick your byline:
It's quite sad that it took a reader to note this Gaffe to end all Gaffe's rather than our informed press.... that said, Today John McCain invoked a long non-existent country, again proving his superior grasp upon Foreign Policy.
A reader notes that John McCain today expressed concern about Russia's "reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia."
If Barrack Obama wins the presidency, the price of oil could fall by $40 per barrel. The financial markets will discount the possibility before hand, at least partially. There are three ways in which this could happen:
As was the case during the Clinton administration, Obama might be more inclined to intervene in the foreign exchange market to support the value of the dollar....
Obama will speak in a more concilatory tone toward nations in the Middle East. If he does, some of the risk premium would likely be extracted from the oil price.
Energy conservation and investment in energy infrastructure are likely to increase if Obama wins...
Last week was a relatively slow news week, which makes it all the more puzzling that this bombshell of a story wasn't covered more by either the television pundits or the blog-o-sphere... obviously, one reason is because many on the blog-o-sphere now believe the election is in the bag and we don't really have to work much anymore to make it happen (publisher of this dKos included). I disagree strongly, and I think this story is both relevant and revealing. Relevant because it should give Christian Fundies serious pause about John "McCraps" and revealing because it illustrates what sort of personal attributes John "McCraps" has.
Happy Fourth of July... wouldn't it be nice if we had two candidate who were respectful and recognize each other as Patriotic Americans? Unfortunately, we have one candidate who is honorable and secure enough to recognize his opponent's Patriotism, and conversely we have another candidite who is a petulant asshole... case in point.
John McCain is saying that Barack Obama is not patriotic. A few days ago, when asked if he questioned Obama's patriotism, McCain did not answer the question.
Patriotism is deeper than its symbolic expressions, than sentiments about place and kinship that move us to hold our hands over our hearts during the national anthem. It is putting the country first, before party or personal ambition, before anything.
