If Barack Obama is a "celebrity" like Brittney Spears or Paris Hilton.  Then John McCain must be a celebrity like . . . Grandpa Abraham Simpson (Homer’s dad).

Let’s look at some of Grandpa Simpson’s best Quotes:

Grandpa: Dear Mr. President, There are too many states nowadays. Please eliminate three.
P.S. I am not a crackpot

Marge: Grandpa, this flag only has 49 stars on it
Grandpa: I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missourah!

Grandpa: Well, whenever I'm confused, I just check my underwear. It holds the answer to all the important questions.  

Grandpa: Big deal! When I was a pup, we got spanked by presidents 'til the cows came home! Grover Cleveland spanked me on two non-consecutive occasions!

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There is one candidate who makes a gaffe every couple of weeks showing that he she is unfit to be President of the United States.  The candidate then "clarifies" his her position, by saying the opposite of what he/she said before.  But somehow, this never becomes a -"gate."  It never lasts more than one media cycle.  It does not become a character issue, for John McCain.

To a surrounded enemy you must leave a way of escape.

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War. c.400-320 b.c.

Let me state my biases at the outset.  My ideal candidate is Al Gore.  My ideal ticket is Gore-Obama.  I like Hillary Clinton, hated the way the country treated her as first lady, and have been disappointed in her Iraq and especially Iran votes, and disappointed in her campaign’s continuing in the face of certain defeat, and the Republican talking points she is using against Obama.  I thought Bill Clinton was in many ways a disappointing president, a lousy president; but (like Churchill said about democracy), he was the worst modern president except for all the rest of them.  That said, this is the way to end the primary wars and move on to victory in November.

More below the fold.  Nobody is going to like this, which may mean it’s the best solution.

Jackie Speier was sworn in today as our newest member of Congress.  She succeeds Tom Lantos as the Congresswoman from San Mateo County & San Francisco California.  She promptly

delivered a fiery speech criticizing President Bush's Iraq policy that led some Republicans to boo and walk out of the House chamber.

To go along with the "hit and run" piece in the New York Times which accuses  John McCain of an inappropriate relationship with a female lobbyist, here is a hit and run diary.

According to a well-documented article in the Arizona Republic from last year, John McCain has a long history of womanizing and extra-marital affairs which McCain admitted led to the break-up of his first marriage.  His first wife attributes their break-up to McCain acting like he was 25 when he was 40.  Interesting, McCain admits that he lied about his age when he met his much younger current wife.

More of the straight talk express?

Bush and Co have spent so much time scaring us about the possibility that terrorists might blow up bridges, and telling us how concerned they are for our "safety."  Yet the party that bragged that it would shrink the government until it drowns in the bathtub has diverted so much focus to the war in Iraq and the "global war on terror" that they have neglected every critical safety function of the government at home.  

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The Detroit News has some early exit polling data up on its website.

It looks like 7 in 10 voted in the Republican Primary.  But only about 1 in 10 of the Republican Primary voters state they were Democrats.  

About 3 out of 4 voters in the Democratic Primary stated that they were Democrats.  

A much larger share of Michigan voters consider the economy to be the most important issue, than in Iowa or NH.  (About half)

[It looks like only a handful of Democrats went for the strategy of trying to meddle in the Republican primary.  Most Dems stayed home.  Will it make a difference?  Hard to say.]

My thoughts on why the polls were wrong in NH

(1) So many people use cell phones instead of land lines; cell phones as far as I know, don't get called by pollers.

Just like pollers missed the Landon FDR election by calling phones, when poor FDR supporters didn't have phones, pollers missed some segment of the population.

(2) You can't test without affecting the test results.  Idependents read the polls, and decided that Obama was so far ahead, they could vote in the Repub primary for McCain.

(3) Women didn't want Hillary out of the race.  They may prefer Obama, but the emotional Hillary on the verge of tears, and the attacks on her crying, convinced women that they at least want Hillary to stay in, and avoid an early exit like Pat Shroeder.  This shows that a woman CAN be president now, even if women don't necessarily want THIS woman to be president now.

So, the cave-men and cave-women who run the Democratic Party appear prepared to cave-in and capitulate on Iraq war funding.  But what do they get in the bargain?  A few pet funding projects?  They have even withdrawn a few of them?  Withdrawn?? WTF?  What are you afraid of?  That Bush will veto Iraq war funding?  As if that would be bad?

I did not know Milo Radulovich, and his name barely registered when I saw it in yesterday's obituary, but he was a true patriot who in the words of his brother in law,

put his finger in the dike against the flood of McCarthyism.

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As has been reported, Cheney is being treated for an irregular heart-beat.  

The Repubs have shown a penchant for "resign and appoint" to eliminate the ability of voters to actually vote for an office-holder.  (See Hastert, Craig, Lott).  I think there is a good chance that Cheney will resign for health reasons.

So Cheney will resign, giving Bush the opportunity to "make history" by appointing Condoleeza as the first woman VP and first African American VP.

Or will Bush give McCain some pay-back for the ass-kissing by naming McCain as VP?

If Bush makes an appointment, will the Dems stall so that Nancy Pelosi remains next in line, and then move to impeach Bush?

The past couple of days on Kos have featured a couple of diary/stories dominated by the pro-Hillary group apparently known as the Hillary Bloggers.  Today's diary is on the rec list about the The Power of the Netroots in Heading Off the Swiftboaters.  Yesterday's was about Russert’s questioning of Hillary at the debates.

I love Hillary.  I would be ecstatic if she were president.  Just as I was ecstatic when Bill was elected.  I hated when the right wing attacked her as first lady.  I was ashamed of our nation.

But, I would rather like to elect someone who is a leader against the war, and I am not convinced that the Hillary spin bloggers are a good thing.

This is not much of a diary, but I think this is funny.  Perhaps you will, too.  It's a cartoon by Mark Fiore at the SF Chronicle. (Beware of the caution for left-wing bloggers).

http://www.sfgate.com/...

Hey all,

I guess I just need to vent.  I'm pretty upset at events that went on at a lunch with a Dem. Senator.  I asked some pointed questions about the war, FISA, torture, etc., and was put-down by someone at my table, who said that they were tired of my "feigned indignation."  I kissed the host, and thanked her for inviting me and left, and sat in my car.  

This is some random scribbling on Iraq.

Does anyone really think that Bush's politically motivated invasion of Iraq is not going to have a political withdrawal?

I forsee a repub convention speech in the summer of 2008 announcing substantial troop withdrawals.  (Coincidentally, the Pentagon has to start bringing home some troops this summer pursuant to a promise not to deploy troops beyond 15 months).

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It seems that Indonesia has a problem with Christian terrorists who hunt down and terrorize Muslims.  They employ al Qaeda-like tactics such as beheading Muslims.

There have been many proposals to defund the war.  Maybe before voting to defund the war the House and Senate Dems should propose legislation that will really fund the war, and that has a good chance of "winning" the war.

Bush seems to define "winning" the war in Iraq (of course he never really defines it) as rooting out all the terrorists, establish peace and proseperity and democracy, and self-sufficiency in Iraq.

While that is all but impossible, in my view, the best plan to achieve that would be an all-out longterm commitment.  

     On Thursday June 14, Judge Reggie Walton will be asked to decide whether Scooter Libby gets bail on appeal.  Should Judge Walton deny bail, Libby could also ask the Court of Appeal to grant bail. Many liberal voices here, and including the New York Times have urged the Judge to deny bail, and Judge Walton himself commented that he was unlikely to grant bail.  

       Judge Walton was, after all, appointed by Bush in part upon his reputation as a tough law and order judge who would not "coddle" criminals.  Despite these factors, Libby will get bail on appeal, and he should get bail.

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