Given the ugly scenarios and development sequel to the military tactics by the Georgia state against South Ossetia and the emphatic response by Russia in a similar manner, one is left with the fundamental question of how did this happen and who might have started this pseudo- cold war II?

This post is part of the ongoing "Obama Moment" discussion taking place at the Campaign for America's Future. Check it out here.

The question of how progressives can seize the so-called "Obama Moment," as my colleague Bob Borosage calls it, is an important one - and it is critical that the question be asked right now - before the election, rather than after (This will be the central focus of my questions to Michael Moore in the Meet the Bloggers discussion this Friday). Though the media's horse race coverage and the Left and Right echo chambers "win at all cost" psychology would have us believe that elections are ends unto themselves, our Founders envisioned them as means to ends - instruments by which the people's will is debated, politicians are pressured, and a mandate is crafted.

Hi Guys!

As you, no doubt, know by now, I own a retail store.  And, being uberblue, I carry blue merchandise, and not red merchandise.  So, for example, if you want a coffee cup where all the red states turn blue when you pour in hot water, you can buy it from us.  If you want a coffee cup where all the blue states turn red, you'll have to buy it somewhere else.  

As it happens, we also have the widest selection of jigsaw puzzles in Chicago.  So, when the new Obama and McCain puzzles came out, we bought the Obama puzzles, and not the McCain puzzles.

JUMP!

This should be viewed as research.
As I watched the McCain ads and then saw the change in the polls, the fever, the chills, the abdominal pain and the "oh crap" feeling started; I had been struck by the 2000 Gore-Bush anxiety virus. Instead of just listening to the pundits explain the significance, I decided that it was time to see what the research says about negative campaigning and campaign ads. Do they make a difference? Are they effective? Does McCain have a chance of success if he continues to use them? Is it wise for Obama to refrain from using them? Here are the results. It's a long one.

I have distilled the basic conclusions of each and I have included a more detailed explanation if you wish more information and the source. The first set of numbered items correspond to the items that follow below. Just match them.

I have made my own conclusions about the research but I would really be interested in what others think; thus, I have not given mine. They’re in my head rattling around looking for some logic and common sense. So, does Obama have anything to worry about? Should he join McCain in negative campaigning?

I was over at Factcheck.org today. Unfortunately their analysis of Obama and McCain stretching the truth lately hits both of them about the same. There is this letter John McCain wrote Barack Obama in 2006, however:

McCain (letter to Obama) Feb. 6, 2006: I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. ... I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. Again, sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I won't make the same mistake again.

Straight talk?

Hi folks.  First-time diarist here.

The rest of my family (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles) are very conservative, and this year is no exception.  My son has just turned 1 year old, and over the Labor day weekend, my wife and I will be with my family.  The last time we were all confined together was Thanksgiving of 2007, and my uncle and I got into a shouting match over universal health care.  Very uncomfortable situation. (more)

All hands on deck – McCain is 5 points ahead in a Reuters/Zogby poll.  Many Obama supporters have been waiting, with baited breath, for the proverbial "other shoe to drop," and now it has, but without not much of a bang.  If Obama’s post-trip "bounce" was not a sustained one, McCain’s post altar-call bounce is not likely to survive the end of the 2008 Olympics, the announcement of Obama’s choice of a running mate, and the start of the Democratic Convention.

Has anyone else noticed that the only potential veep pick that Republicans have gone out of their way to slam is Tim Kaine? If they really thought Kaine was such a terrible choice, wouldn't they stay mum instead and secretly hope Obama would end up picking him?

Why then are they trying to scare Dems off of Kaine?

Might it be because they think an Obama / Kaine ticket would win?

I'm simply concerned that in Obama's efforts to skew the ticket to garner the middle, he is ultimately abandoning the base that has carried him to this point.

Update: Changed Title to reflect my sentiment.

I just found this on HuffPo and had to post it.

Looking at these pics I wonder who is really elite in this election

Please Jump...

Ok...so here we are less than a week before Obama's coronation at the Democratic National Convention.  His VP pick should be named any day now, and the media and political junkies are waiting by their cell phones for the text message from the campaign with the announcement.  Will it be Biden, as all current "indications" tell us?  Or will Obama "go with his heart over his head" and pick Kaine?  Will he thumb his nose at many in his progressive base and go with Bayh?  Or will he thumb his nose at Hillary Clinton's "18 million voters" and name Sebelius?

I think (THINK) he's playing all of us and will go outside of the box...

Here's what the Obama camp and the Democrats need to do to win this election.  It is simple advice that unfortunately Democrats never heed to during a national election

TPM has posted some of McCain's prepared remarks to be delivered later today. They are framed as McCain's response to Obama's complaints from yesterday about attacks on his patriotism.

Yesterday, Senator Obama got a little testy on this issue. He said that I am questioning his patriotism. Let me be clear: I am not questioning his patriotism; I am questioning his judgment. Senator Obama has made it clear that he values withdrawal from Iraq above victory in Iraq, even today with victory in sight. Over and over again, he has advocated unconditional withdrawal -- regardless of the facts on the ground. And he voted against funding for troops in combat, after saying it would be wrong to do so.

He has made these decisions not because he doesn't love America, but because he doesn't seem to understand the consequences of an American defeat in Iraq, how it would risk a wider war and threaten the security of American families.

Yes, I know that VP speculation may be likened to the July 31st non-waiver baseball trade deadline as far as speculating which teams will be shopping and which ones will be dealing.

I did read the posting that a paper in Nashville is saying that Obama's aide are being dispatched to Indianapolis to greet the VP choice,Indiana Senator Evan Bayh prior to the Saturday pre-convention send off.

If it is Bayh,I have one thing to say: God help us!!!

Am I the only one who finds the short list (Bayh, Kaine, Biden) a bit underwhelming, given all the talent in the Democratic Party?  Why aren't we talking about VP picks who can really change the game?

I'm hoping the leaked list is just a head fake that the media has gleefully followed.  Meanwhile, the best VP choice is hiding in plain sight.  His name:  Al Gore.

By Timran from Eyes on Obama:

I'm almost afraid to write this so close to the actual unveiling of Barack Obama's VP selection. Nonetheless, I think that the MSM has locked on so tight to the arguments supporting Biden that no one seems to be talking about the downsides.

Now this may be premature, but I've just read on Huffington Post that the Obama team is planning a huge event in Indianapolis on Saturday.  This surely looks like Evan Bayh may be the VP pick.

This couldn't be a worse pick.  Evan Bayh is as big as a do nothing Senator as there is in the Senate.  He's almost as bad as my Senator, Bill Nelson (who aside from going into Space, hasn't done much else).  

There's literally no "there" there with Senator Bayh.  He is our George Allen.  

If you recall the 2000 Republican Primary, McCain had everything going for him. He'd show up for rallies to find standing room only crowds (nothing like Barack gets today but they were consistently much bigger than people expected). People were inspired by his every word. He told a little joke, the crowd roared with laughter. He'd grow solemn, people would swell with tears. Big burly men were getting all choked up in a way that they never had before.

So, how could have McCain lost that primary? Especially against someone like frat boy, privileged socks Dubya Shrub? McCain should have won that primary easily.

But recall the kind of campaign that Dubya ran against him.