What if, rather than just thinking about how a VP candidate balances a Presidential candidate's policy and experience, we paid more attention to how the candidates balance each other in their campaign roles?

The way I see it, a political campaign seems to be a lot like a ship: we have an engine (enthusiasm/motivation), a rudder (campaign and policy directives), a keel (respect and experience), the wind and sea currents (media coverage and public sentiment) and the occasional storms (scandals). In the case of the McCain campaign this year, we also have a serious boat anchor (the Bush legacy).

I believe it was Emerson who wrote that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

Yesterday, our nation's media showed why they think Emerson is full of shit. The truth, according to the Washington Press Corps(e), is that politicians show that they are big-minded and serious by never, ever, changing their views--no matter what.

[Crossposted at www.ihatwhatyoujustsaid.com]

The AP is reporting that Obama may decide to move his acceptance speech outside, from the convention hall to Denver's new Invesco field.

I think this is an amazing idea and my imagination stirs when I consider the excitement and the media images that would result from such a move. Plus, JFK gave his speech outdoors at the LA Memorial Coliseum in 1960. The parallels are obvious.

Can you imagine over 75,000 super-enthusiastic supporters cheering him on? McCain couldn't even fill such a stadium and Obama will probably have them lined up outside, filling the stadium to overflowing!

My anger at this point is at an all-time high. The MSM is sooooo ready to try and tie this thing to have an exciting race that they have all together abandon their role as just news and is reporting all kinds of shit. The PUMA, pro-Clinton, folk was a fucking right out lie. The Obama dissing a kid story, just a fucking straight out lie. The entire Obama moving to the center hit-piece is a straight up lie. FISA is a real deal. Thats it. McSame broke the pledge for campaign finance period. And now, this fucking bull-shit about Iraq time tables is..... Look, I know that a lot of you are mad as shit at Obama for FISA, so be it. But are we really gonna sit back and let the MSM do this shit to us a-fucking-gain? Look at this bullshit hit job on Obama on CNN.

More.........

The following excerpt from an email is reprinted with permission of the author.

"There was a little, but not insignificant, victory play out here in Riverside, California, over the last few days.  A victory that proves you can fight City Hall and win.  A victory that proves that one voice really does matter.

Joseph Galloway of McClatchy Newspapers has a great July 4th op-ed (excerpt beneath the fold).

I would like you to read it, and then, in a small way, act on it (if you haven't already).

How did things come to this?  My wife takes a phone call.

Caller: (Young woman's voice) Is Michael there?

(Eyebrow raised.) Can I ask who's calling?

Caller: It's Tiffany B[last name redacted].

(We don't know any Tiffanies.) And what is this about?

Caller: (Pause.) I'm calling from the Obama campaign.

Okay, thank you but we're going to give online.

Caller: Ugh. (Hang up.)

Wikipedia has a spot-on definition this "Ugh":

an onomatopoeiac representation of an aspirated sigh or gasp, used as an interjection to express repugnance, annoyance, aggravation, irritation, disgust, or boredom.

Read on for the full story.

Ah, yes... the 4th of July. Such a hallowed date in our history!

Independence Day!

Or, as I'm beginning to call it, Lip Service Day! When all of our public failures servants (and public servant wannabes) praise our founding fathers and the principles on which this nation was founded.

Fuh!

First, let me begin by saying that as a child of the sixties and seventies I fought telecom immunity tooth-and-nail. But there is nothing that would prevent me from voting for Barack Obama come November. He is just following Marketing 101: First, energize the innovators and early adopters to finance the nomination, then go after the early and late majority with a larger base of support, because without them, you won’t get to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue where you can do some real good. As one of those progressive early adopters (after all, he’s my senator), I’m emotionally hurt by his stance on FISA, but as a long-time marketing executive, I agree wholeheartedly with his decisions and tactics. It may come as a shock to some, but the majority of Americans don’t care whether the government spied on them, and the neocons will play the fear card every time to undermine a stance on civil liberties. Obama is doing exactly what I would do in his position.

[Consumer Action Plan below the fold]

There has been a lot of talk recently about patriotism -- what it is, who has it, etc.  I feel like a lot of it is self-serving and destructive and I just wanted to add my voice.

Insidious Real Goal of Reporting on Supposed Obama "Flip-Flop" on Iraq

All the chatter over the last 24 hours on cable news has been about Obama’s supposed "flip-flopping" on the Iraq War.  Besides the fact that these "allegations" are utterly baseless, the right-wing-inspired blathering has distracted us from a very substantive discussion of policy which Obama offered in Fargo.

Heated debate about whether Obama is selling out to his corporate sponsors rages on largely ignoring some basic principles of American presidential elections.

No democratic candidate can mount a serious, credible, and effective campaign without corporate money.  Despite the strength of his grassroots support, Obama could not possibly raise the approximately $500 million that he will need during the campaign without turning to major support from large corporate donors.

Another important principle of presidential elections is that you cannot win in November without either winning some southern states or winning a significant share of the independent/undecided/moderate vote.

Yet another reason why leasing more territory for offshore drilling is a ridiculous idea: 30 million acres of land already leased for oil and gas drilling has gone unused.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...

Friday's opinion page features at least two items of note.

Also in the A section, a well done piece on why the GOP has had to shift gears in dealing with the Obama campaign.

It does indeed seem we're seeing a shift in campaign coverage. On the part of, at least, NYT.

To observers of the Middle East and Palestine, the inept 'warfare' is matched by poor words.  Year after year, a constant barrage of rhetoric is as misguided as the bullets, mortars, and rockets.

A recent exchange of civilian casualties illustrates insanity.  To begin, or respond, or continue things (you choose depending on your religion) Hamas showcased ability to blindly fire a mortar, striking a paint factory and killing a 52 year worker.  In turn, Israeli helicopters targeted Hamas militants, but the missile missed and killed an 8 year old girl.

Rather than apologize, spokesmen aped the other side and appeased their own thugs.  Hamas said the operation was response to "nonstop agression against our people."  Not to be outdone, an Israeli spokesman said Hamas "would be held accountable".  Despite the lack of logic suggesting that paint is a tool of "aggression", or that the 8 year old was "accountable" for the mortar attack, neither side blinked at the contradictions.

In an election with the Middle East dominating foreign policy debate, how can Obama confront the 'apologist' and 'appeasement' tags in a region that has no concept of owning up and each side appeases only their own thugs?  Could withdrawing aid make them both sorry?        

I received the following angry one-liner from a friend, the same friend who had originally urged me to vote for Obama in the primary when I was still undecided:

Subj: Obama is a worm!!
The republicans BELIEVE what they believe and are not ashamed of it—the democrats do not believe anything...

My answer:

What's got your knickers in a twist? Obama's a politician, a politician, and a damn good one at that. The primaries are over, he's moving to the center, because that's where the election will be decided and he knows that it's far far far from settled (at this point in 1988 Dukakis was cruising to victory over Bush the First). Judge him by what he does if (and it's still a fucking huge if) he gets elected, not by the tactical maneuvering he's doing now.

Anyway, this notion that the dems have no principles but the repugs do, please! I want to throw up. Just to take McCain, supposedly the straightest-talking, maverickiest, john wayne in their deck: just off the top of my head a list of issues on which he has not just maneuvered but totally changed his prior positions:

Over on www.msn.com the head story is "On Iran, top military chief sounds like Obama". He, like Obama, is promoting more negotiations with Iran before military action.

Now on a day where the media has fallen into the republican "flip-flop" trap we need to make sure stories like these break through. For the web savvy people out there how is that done? I don't see it on Digg or anything and it is sad this is breaking on 4th of July weekend (not that the media would cover it anyway). I think after a day like today we need this story to get some legs and make it through the beginning of next week.

First, lets read what subject A had to say in 2004:

But look at the region whence al Qaeda came. Not only has the Taliban been overthrown, Afghanistan just this week adopted a new constitution agreed to by a loya jirga (grand council) representing every part of this fractured tribal society. It is an astonishing development in a country with so little experience in representative government and ravaged by more than a quarter-century of civil war. And it came about as a result of American force of arms followed by American diplomacy.

Subject A