Today Barack Obama wrote:

This was not an easy call for me... It grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that may have violated the law by cooperating with the Bush Administration's program of warrantless wiretapping. This potentially weakens the deterrent effect of the law and removes an important tool for the American people to demand accountability for past abuses. That's why I support striking Title II from the bill, and will work with Chris Dodd, Jeff Bingaman and others in an effort to remove this provision in the Senate.

Yet today Markos was a blockhead when he wrote:

Bottom line is that Obama wants to cave on FISA not because of "moving to the center" concerns, but because they are afraid of television ads claiming Obama is inviting terrorists over for BBQ.

Really, did he email you that, because he did send us a message you know...

The U.S. jobless report for June is breaking front page news everywhere today.

WASHINGTON - Employers cut payrolls by 62,000 in June, the sixth straight month of nationwide job losses, underscoring the economy’s fragile state.

Of course, that's not news at all to folks in North Carolina's 8th District where we've lost 62,000 jobs ourselves since Robin Hayes took office.

In fact, if there's even anyone in this bellwether District that never saw this recession on the horizon, it's my opponent, Robin Hayes.

Hayes said the national economy is on the rise. "The economy around the country is very, very strong. Growth continues."

Can you even imagine?

The late great James Baldwin, my favorite author and intellectual, wrote in The Devil Finds Work, a brutal collection of essays on American film:

"IDENTITY would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self: in which case it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one’s nakedness can always be felt and sometimes discerned. This trust in one’s nakedness is all that gives one the power to change robes."

I never thought I would see the day.

Barack Obama is leading John McCain by five percentage points in Montana. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state shows Obama attracting 48% of the vote while McCain earns 43%.

Welcome Red State Converts!!  Welcome to the Democratic party!!!

As you may or may not have seen or heard, there is a group on mybarackobama.com that has, in under one week become the biggest group in the entire community with almost 14,000 members as of this morning.

The group was set up last week to put some pressure on Senator Obama to vote against FISA and to take the lead in urging others to do the same.  And this was met with mainly positive reaction - as evidence by the rapid growth of membership, the interest of a number of widely read progressive blogs and even got the attention of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Now, some don’t think that is a good thing, and some don’t think that there should be any pressure or criticism of Senator Obama or that the mybarackobama.com community should be used for voter outreach and registration only (or mainly).  And while that is pretty much mainly subjective and also depends on the tone and the intent and actions.

Over the weekend, Senator McCain said, "this election is about trust and trusting people's word and, unfortunately, apparently on several items, Senator Obama's word cannot be trusted."

Ummmm..Johnny baby...are ya sitting down? Here's a few of your own words that lead all of us to distrust you overwhelmingly, every day! You're an embarrassment to yourself, McSame! This is the age of the "Internet(s)" and "the" Youtube using Bushian malaprops. We've got you on record, McFlip/Flop! Facts are just silly things that get in your way...ehhh, McSame?

Many, many, many thanks to one of my true media heroes and ever-present mentor..Keith Olbermann!

George Fearing for Congress
Please subscribe to my diary if you live in Central Washington or follow the race in WA-04.  Thanks!


Soon I'll write in greater detail about why George is such an excellent candidate for Congress, and there are some great diaries already out there about why Richard "Doc" Hastings is as bad as they get, and why it's in the national interest to unseat him.

Keep your eyes posted for some entries from Mr. Fearing himself in the coming weeks.  For now, for the skeptics and the pessimists, have a look at some of the many reasons why this race is VERY competitive -- much more so than Republicans would like to admit.

But trust me.  The Hastings crew is getting nervous.  We've seen folks drive by or even sit in their cars in front of the office, peering in.  They've mentioned us in a fundraising letter.  It's clear that Doc's campaign knows that we will fight for this.  And this year, we can win.

After the jump.

It is clear that the pie fights have reached a fever pitch here yet again, and while it has transitioned from "Obama vs. Clinton" to "Obama is teh suck vs. Obama is teh rulz", a few things are evident.

Some people think that Obama has forever betrayed them and therefore can’t vote for him.  Some people think that he has somewhat betrayed them but they will still vote for him.  Some people think that you shouldn’t dare criticize him because there is no perfect candidate, and to criticize is either to provide talking points to republicans or will make it hard for him to win.  And some people will vote for him because he is "perfect enough", "good enough" or "not McCain".

But all of these people are wrong.  There is a perfect candidate.

Me.

As the interminable circus marches on towards its ultimate and merciful conclusion on November 4, 2008, pundits peer through their electronic microscopes seeking any activities that they can report as significant events in a miasma of irrelevant factoids masquerading as real issues.   The latest charade involves Obama’s lurch to the centre to dupe the moderate conservative voters into believing that he really wasn’t the liberal pansy who defeated Clinton for the nomination but a born-again McCain who can swing a club as well as the next caveman.

All of this posturing is part of a larger game in which the two major candidates blather on about the message of the hour, day, or week depending on the political needs of a particular constituency.  The point is not whether they are contradicting themselves or changing opinions but the fact that the positions they take at any time during the campaign are entirely irrelevant. In fact, they only adopt positions that will maximize their vote-getting potential.

Chasing votes during elections rather than standing on a principled and honest platform is only one of many weaknesses which render the American system of democracy highly ineffectual and virtually devoid of the basic principals of democracy.

OK, I know it's been a long time.  2004 seems almost lost in the mists of history.  I wasn't posting here then, I wasn't even reading blogs then.  Thank God, because what I've read about the Dean/Kerry/Edwards/Clark wars makes me not sorry I missed them.

So did you have a moment here, when you understood what was at stake?  When you all agreed that primaries are not like general elections?  Because during a primary arguing among ourselves is part of the deal.  At that point we have the luxury of asking candidates to compete for our support.

He's the nominee.  You don't have to like him.  You might have voted for someone else.  But if you are here, I am going to assume it is because you want what I want.  You want Obama in the White House.  You want a frickin' tidal wave of blue washing through the land, picking up lots of new House seats, Senate seats, Governorships, maybe even flipping one or two state legislatures.

You want it?  Pony up.  You should be holding nothing back.

Because he's the nominee, that's why.

This diary is going to be a little counter intuitive. Obama doesn't have a good chance to win Utah or Wyoming. Texas is a reach unless this election reaches blowout proportions. So why am I argueing that turn out in these states will make any difference?

1. THE KEY TO CHANGING DIRECTION IN AMERICA IS GETTING A MANDATE.

2. THE KEY TO GETTING A MANDATE IS RECEIVING A LARGE SHARE OF THE POPULAR VOTE.

I still support him whole-heartedly.

But I did say, many times, that I saw little practical difference between Obama and Clinton.  In other ways, there are worlds of difference.  But not in practical terms.

They both might well bring change or maybe they would just play it safe.

But nothing in either one's actions suggested anything resembling a jolting shift in policy.

I mean, maybe in reality Obama really wants to do it - and his words until last week suggested that he does - while I was less certain about Clinton.

But when push came to shove so far - in voting records and current rhetoric - it seems to be just more of the same either way.

And, mind you, I don't say this as a criticism.

Interestingly, when I said or implied such things in the past, most just assumed I was, in reality, a rabid Clinton partisan.

Odd, that. Especially given that everything I wrote about this subject made it clear that I was quite bleh about the two of them.

Of course, the basic premise I made was correct.

It was proven in the entirety of both of their past voting records.

And it continues now.

But I was curious about the reactions of others...

Yeah, I'm always a day late on these things, and god knows I'm no Granny Doc, but here goes.

From the front page to the lowliest diary comments, it is impossible not to encounter somebody's grave, disheartened disappointment at something the Democratic nominee did or didn't do in his quest to gain office.

You're shocked.  You're hurt.  You're going to take your $25 and go home.  You're going to give up on the big ticket and concentrate on state races.

Enjoy.  I don't have the option.  My state sucks.

The Politico runs a story which feels like deja vu all over again: yet another article in which GOP insiders vocally complain about John McCain's strategy, or lack thereof.   It seems like every couple weeks, another publication releases an article that shows the growing unease among Republican circles over John McCain:

“McCain’s campaign seems not to have a game plan. I don’t see a consistent message,” said Ed Rollins, a veteran of Republican presidential campaigns. “As someone who has run campaigns, this campaign is not running smoothly. But none of this matters if they get their act together.”

As always, everyone notes that there is still time to get it together.  On this, I actually agree.  For all the hand-wringing around here over FISA, General Clark's comments, or countless other issues: I believe that most Americans haven't started paying real attention.   Having said that, it's getting late early for the McCain camp, especially with the strides Obama is making...

Yet another instance of John McCain's temper is being reported, this time with audio. The Gulfport/Biloxi area SunHerald has an article posted in which Republican Senator Thad Cochran is quoted as saying he "observed McCain engage in a physical confrontation with a Sandinista while participating in a diplomatic mission led by Sen. Bob Dole and others in the fall of 1987."  This altercation was not in some Nicaraguan bar; it happened during discussions at a "meeting table in a room lined with armed personnel." Senator Cochran said McCain "got mad at the guy and he just reached over there and snatched him."

This man would be President?

On a day in late spring, some years ago, I had just opened the door of a friend's house on my way out to retrieve a package from my husband's truck when I witnessed something that to this very day retains both moments of horrible clarity and blessed moments of forgetfulness, that are now dulled both by trauma and time.  The human brain is an amazing organ, able to process and slow that which we know is taking place in a matter of mere seconds.  How is it that we can have so many complete thoughts all the while, while witnessing something so horrendous?  So mind-bogglingly impossible?  It's not something I would wish on anyone, but today I am going to share.  And then I am going to tell you why...

This diary was prompted by the debate that circulated here around Senator Obama's vote on telecomm immunity in the FISA bill, especially in Keith Olbermann's diary of 6/26, and thereafter.  Olbermann's rationalization was that Obama's vote was a pragmatic move to attain power for the greater good.  The debate about Obama's vote culminated in a defense of "purity trolls" (as such) in a diary listed here: "I'm calling out purity trolls by name," incl. the Founding Fathers.  Since this "pragmatic" justification is endemic in politics today, I think it behooves us to examine it, and to specify and explain a "bad pragmatism" that comes of the uncritical acceptance of social "reality".  I will also specify an antidote to "bad pragmatism," in the concept of utopian dreaming.

(crossposted from Docudharma)

Most Germans like Obama more than McCain. We usually prefer Democrats over Republicans, but conservative US presidents tend to be better for Germany, opines Thomas Speckmann, a regular op-ed contributor for various German newspapers and magazines. He also points out that greater German military involvement will be expected, regardless of who is elected. See his op-d in the Atlantic Community.