No, I'm pretty sure that John McCain has control of his faculties.  My question is really about the American people.  Hello?  Are you watching, gang?  Do you see this?

How can this avoid your field of view?  How can you possibly miss this?

Get Widget at the Electrocuted While Black blog

Francis L. Holland,  Esq.
Afrosphere Action Coalition (AAC)
http://francislholland.blogspot.com
http://truth-about-mccain.blogspot.com
francislholland@yahoo.com
55 (73) 3288-1716

July 23, 2008

Dear bloggers:

RE: Widget Action:  "End Police Pre-Trial, Extra-Judicial Electrocutions and Executions" (Tasering)

Please consider placing one of these anti-taser widgets (various sizes available) at your blog, in preparation for a day of blogging against police pre-trial,
extra-judicial electrocution and execution of members of the public.

The widgets lead readers to a new "Electrocuted While Black" blog
(by African American Political Pundit and me), where we will link to all of the blogs that have notified us by e-mail that they have joined the anti-electrocution (taser) campaign by adopting one of these widgets.

Subsequently, the Afrosphere Action Coalition (AAC) will call for a day of blogging on the issue, and then issue a press release
including the names and links of the participating afrosphere blogs.

In spite of police claims that electrocuting Blacks and other members of the public is necessary and normally harmles, research reveals that 600 pound bears and
one thousand pound moose are often treated by game wardens with greater care for their wellbeing and integrity than are members of the public when confronted by police officers armed with electrocution/execution devices.

Poor John McCain can't seem to catch a break. He had planned to counter Barack Obama's historic Berlin speech on Thursday with a visit to a Louisiana oil rig to highlight his support of offshore drilling.

As Jonathan Martin at the Politico had reported:

While Barack Obama is speaking about international affairs in Germany before thousands of fans tomorrow, John McCain will be talking about a pressing domestic issue with an equally striking if very different backdrop.

Weather permitting, McCain will helicopter from Louisiana to an oil rig in the Gulf Coast to make the case for expanded off-shore drilling, says a McCain aide.

Now, Drudge is reporting that his oil rig photo op has been canceled due to weather....and it's been confirmed by MSNBC. McCain will travel to Ohio instead.

But wait...could this have something to do with it?

The U.S. Coast Guard has closed 29 miles of the Mississippi River from New Orleans southward after a tanker and a barge collided, spilling more than 400,000 gallons of fuel oil into the river. Tugboats hold up pieces of a barge after it collided with a tanker Wednesday in the Mississippi River in New Orleans. The river, a major shipping route between the Midwest and Gulf of Mexico, could be closed for days during the cleanup, the Coast Guard said Wednesday.

More than 30 ships already are queued up along the river, waiting to pass through the closed zone, Coast Guard Petty Officer Jaclyn Young said. The Coast Guard has deployed 45,000 feet of inflatable booms to contain the spill and is lining up another 29,000 feet, but it could be days before the river is reopened, she said. The accident left a sheen over 90 percent of the area, she said.

Cross-Posted at Daily Kos, Open Left, and Swing State Project

This weekend, we saw once more that no matter what happens in Iraq, there is no end in sight to this war unless we demand it.

For the people of Congressional District 18 in South Florida, getting out of the war in Iraq is a top priority.

www.voteTaddeo.com

[Update: It was pointed out to me that I called the diarist out by name. Sorry, forgot about that rule (although by linking the diary you can see the person's name anyhow, so it's all the same, no?)]

This diary is written in response to another diary wherein he or she insinuates that Barack Obama's lack of political experience disqualifies him, or at least underqualifies him, to be President of the United States. And so the diary proceeds to lambaste the media for not stating unequivocally that Barack Obama is not qualified to be President of the United States, and so forth and so on...

So given the premise that vast and extended experience in government is the sine qua non for a successful presidency, let's test this notion by examining the public sector experience of the presidents who are widely regarded as the most successful in our nation's history.

In this post I will try to cover several issues concerning the horse race numbers. First let look at Ohio. Rasmussen has McCain ahead of Obama by 10. The number does not run against Rasmussen other Ohio polling. Without pressing, the lead is 6. Prior monthly polls have the lead at 1 or 2. So essentially the shift is a 4 point shift - pretty much between the MOE range and Obama having lost some of his luster. Nevertheless, has anybody noticed how Obama can increase his popularity with a notch at any given time? BTW- Rasmussen is the only outfit that shows McCain consistently ahead of Obama so his weighing is obviously different than others. An intesting question would be why leaners trend towards McCain- an obvious answer is that while the Republican party has suffered loses in affiliation, the new independents lean conservative and McCain is a good fit for them.  I think polls this year are inaccurate because of the Bradley effect and the new voters surge; however, it is the only thing we have - the RCP average is specially helpful as it incorporates all the adjustmensts done by the different polling outfits in this difficult polling season.  I think Ohio would ultimately go McCain becasue of Appalachia unless 1) it is a landslide (which is a big possibility) or 2) Hillary is in the ticket (my best guess is yes).
Virginia is true a tossup (I live here) but I think McCain will prevail because of the Bradley effect since it clearly happened once before(Wilder).
Florida is in play only if Hillary is part of the ticket. Rasmussen now has Obama ahead by 1.
Ultimately, the election will be decided in Colorado where Obama has a strong advantage in structure, money and demographics. I do not foresee Michigan flipping at all.
The party that wins election would be the party that has won the most the last 100 years. Right now both parties are tied 48-48.
One more observation, after 7-8 months of running one would have thought the McCain operation would have been smoother. There is no reason to think they will improve in the next three months and will probably continue campaigning negatively.        

I have little doubt that Senator Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic Nominee had it not been for her caving to right wing talking points and voting for the Iraq War. Being on the wrong side the the biggest foreign policy disaster in a generation is what advanced her career from inevitable nominee to junior senator. At the time, many of us in the netroots were flabbergasted, we knew it was a disastrous course of action and came to the conclusion that those who sided with George Bush and the neocons either had no grasp of the situation or were doing it for as a purely political calculation (and a poor one at that as Clinton discovered).

Iraq was the single biggest foreign policy decision, but when it comes to the global climate crisis, I'm getting a sense of déjà vu from the positioning and language used by San Francisco Mayor and 2010 California Gubernatorial hopeful Gavin Newsom as to why he's siding with PG&E against the Sierra Club on clean, renewable energy.

(cross posted at Kickin it with CG and Clintonistas for Obama)

In a sign that senior Democratic party officials remain deeply concerned that post-primary bitterness, two top Democratic officials have emailed a sharply-worded letter to major donors and other leading Dems confessing "fatigue and irritation" at those withholding full support from Obama and demanding that they get behind him "without conditions or demands."

Dear Democratic Friends:
2008 is a Democratic year-at all levels in all the states. The opportunity is ours. We just have to seize it.

We experienced an exciting, intense, sometimes difficult, campaign to nominate our presidential candidate. Now it's over. Barack Obama won.

I supported Hillary Clinton and am proud and pleased that I did. But she lost. Barack Obama won. It's over.

It is time for all Democrats, supporters of Senator Clinton and all other contenders for the nomination, to stand with him to secure his election and the election of Democrats at all levels of competition.

I must confess a bit of fatigue and irritation with people who continue to carp, complain, and criticize the results of the primary and lay down conditions for their support. The Los Angeles Lakers didn't establish conditions to recognize the Boston Celtics as NBA Champions; Roger Federer did not demand concessions before recognizing that Rafael Nadal defeated him at Wimbledon.

It is time to act in a mature and resourceful fashion. It's time to put the primaries behind us. It's time to support Barack Obama without conditions or demands.

It's time to WIN for Barack Obama, the Democratic Party, America, and our future. We have an unparalleled opportunity. I hope we will all do everything we can to seize the moment.

See you at the Inauguration.

Sincerely,

Don Fowler
DNC Member At-Large, South Carolina
Former Chair of the Democratic National Committee

Alice Germond
Secretary, Democratic National Committee

Bullying progressives that are wary and mistrustful of the party and/or its nominee by barking that it's "time to support Barack Obama without conditions or demands" is categorically dumb and goes against what the party is supposed to represent. It comes across as treating the electorate as nothing but votes to exploit, certainly not as people with genuine issues that need urgent addressing, and it echoes the dictatorial tone of the administration currently in office.

Who could have possibly thought this letter was a good idea?