In the 1990s, all of America was treated to "a show about nothing," and it was an instant classic.

I thought about Seinfeld when reading all the diaries about who Barack Obama absolutely cannot pick.  Apparently, every single possible VP is no good.

And then it hit me.

Obama - NOBODY 2008

To paraphrase George Costanza, everybody's always picked somebody for Vice President.  Barack Obama should pick nobody.  Literally, nobody.

More of this Please :)  Sadly, this is only airing in Georgia...

And from earlier today...

It's definitely time to sharpen the message and take it to McCain.  Even The Field realizes that Obama has lost the early lead, though their take is somewhat interesting... and just crazy enough one may lend credence to it.

Many of us felt that we couldn’t possibly lose to Bush—he was just so obviously bad for our country. At that moment, many of us felt like this could be it. This could be the election when we beat the Right, ended the Bush nightmare, and put a (decently) progressive candidate in the White House. We were wrong.

As we’ve seen Obama’s lead in the polls vanish over the past few weeks (the latest Zogby poll shows McCain with a 1 point lead), it’s a fitting reminder: this year’s fight will be at least as hard as ’04. You can follow the latest polls compared with the same week in 2004 by clicking here. http://www.progressivefuture.org/...

The time is almost upon us, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm feeling a sense of urgency to start out shouting, out screaming and straight up kicking some rethugican butt..

There are apparently some liberals, and some Democrats, and some independents out there, who claim that the media is not only not "liberally biased," but that it in general slants its coverage in order to make the facts come across as less biased to the right and far right. (Most often accomplished, so this claim goes, by largely ignoring or glossing over them, but other times, by miscontruing them or simply parroting misleading arguments with little objective context.)

I recently posted the latest numbers showing the horrific 30-year rise in the federal debt caused by the wondrous Reagan Revolution (with only a brief respite under Clinton)—a debt built on the apparent belief among so-called conservatives that we can borrow and spend our way to prosperity.

It went from 34% of GDP in 1980 to nearly 70% today. Graph here.

McCain doesn't just want to continue that decades-long decline. The man who Republicans want as president wants to hit the accelerator on the way off the cliff.

The numbers are below the fold.

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.

Another day and still no early morning text message veep announcement. I'm almost losing my patience. But I'm taking a deep breadth. This is not another veepstakes diary.

1/8/2008

please visit the following website

http://www.katu.com/...

This is going to be a short diary, so forgive me, but this is getting too pathetic, seeing everyone convinced we're gonna lose. It's sad when I see Michael Moore and Bill Maher and the Huffington Post go into panic mode as well. It's even sadder that some find it so gosh-darn difficult to do a little volunteer work for the campaign, but it's much easier to scream and cry as if you all were Corporal Hudson from Aliens.

It's become very aggravating to come on here or Huffington and see headlines about how we're all screwed and whatever the hell else.

Has anyone forgotten that our lives are at stake here? This isn't sports standings. This is our futures, and we have to work for it as if those were the stakes here.

In his glory days as heavyweight champ, Muhammed Ali perfected a technique known as the "rope a dope" in which he would allow an opponent to repeatedly punch him in the mid-section while Ali guarded himself against the ropes.  Then, when the opponent tired from punching Ali, the champ would move in for the kill and finish off his winded opponent.  This was a great strategy for boxing.  It is a sure loser in politics.  

While troubled to see McCain ahead in the latest Reuters/Zogby poll, I was even more surprised at the media's reaction. First of all, this is not the latest nationwide poll. It was conducted August 14-16. The latest nationwide poll is LA Times/Bloomberg, conducted August 16-18 (with a larger sample size), which has Obama leading by 2.

Second, Reuters/Zogby is most likely an outlier. Unless, of course, you're willing to believe that he's lost the support of 12 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 in the last week.

But far more worrisome than Obama's performance in recent national polls are the numbers coming out of battleground states, particularly Ohio.

McCain and the Republicans like to say that Obama is just a good speech giver, but not a true leader.

We all know that's absolutely wrong - Obama's policies are worlds better than McCain's and he's a natural leader.

BUT, the DNC can't come soon enough: We need a speech!

So, a little poll from Zogby comes out and lots of people are in freakout mode, and Kos has front-paged about how silly that is.

Good.

Let me add one little bit o' info to the fire for each of you to chew on...

Anybody here remember 1992?

The hot topic lately seems to be how and why Barack Obama should be hitting John McCain with every negative attack imaginable.  The logic goes that while we all despise negatives, they work.  It is said that we may be the party and people of high minded ideals, but to succeed we need to get down in the gutter with Republicans and tear down John McCain.  

Republicans are playing to their base by being crass and combative.  Neocons are all about picking fights to further their own cause.  I hope that isn’t what we are becoming.  I hope to bring my kids into a world where pride, greed, and religion aren’t bringing about the deaths of millions of innocent people.  We are rewarding a strategy of bluster and aggression.  As long as we judge people by who has the biggest pair, hate and aggression will permeate to every aspect of our global society.

Barack Obama talks about the politics of raising everyone up, rather than tearing them down.  If you really believe this is the man who best represents your ideals then let him lead the country and party on the path he has chosen rather than push him and us to be something we are not.

As I see it, there is only the one thing, so this won't be a substantive Diary with a lot of documentation, links and evidence.

A lot of us are holding our breath, waiting to see what Hillary and Bill will say at the convention - and I strongly doubt that I am the only one who felt some degree of dismay when it turned out that Hillary and Bill will be speaking on two of the four nights at the convention.  We all know why Barack has agreed to this; he is walking a tightrope - and very carefully.

Some have questioned whether there is a plot afoot; either to steal the nomination or damage Obama enough to ensure that he is a one-term president.  It is at least arguable that the Clintons have done little to allay those fears - thus far.

Obama is now presented with the biggest political opportunity of this campaign and his single best prospect for defining John McCain for what he is – a no-hold-barred Rovian political opportunist who is willing to engage in hyperbole, misrepresentation and outright lying to question the patriotism of his political opponents.  Americans do not like people like John McCain.  Generally speaking, Americans are skeptical of people like John McCain who habitually tout their own patriotism while questioning the patriotism of others.  And more importantly, Americans have been forced to endure the last 8 years of failed government under George W. Bush, a person who, just like John McCain, is willing to lie about the patriotism of his political opponents.