The thought of McCain trying to appeal to young people just makes me laugh hard.

Gabe's 2nd Birthday $5 Obama Fundraiser Link

My son Gabe (Gabro) turns 2 years old on July 18, less than two weeks away. In the last two years, his mother and I have been blessed with the fact that he has been healthy, playful, social, and loving. For those who have had the chance to spend even a small amount of time with him, I think they can agree that those are just a few of his overall characteristics. We are also blessed to know that he loves NPR in the car, has his own "Daddy's lil Democrat" tshirt, has had "Lefty" the beanie baby donkey in his crib/bed since he was born, and understands the necessity to severely limit Fox News in the household he tends to spit up when watching it) :)

So far, we have $71 raised, 14% of our goal.

I was surprised that Steven R's diary on McCain and craps was the first I'd heard of this, and the only reason I'm writing a new diary is because, as a former craps dealer, I may be able to offer fresh insight.  (I wrote a piece about my career as a casino dealer for GQ in January, 2001.)

The Time article that got this going was kind of a fluff piece -- Barack as a poker player, McCain as a craps player, and what does that mean, exactly -- but it did get me thinking, and searching a little. There was a fair bit to uncover...

Last week was a relatively slow news week, which makes it all the more puzzling that this bombshell of a story wasn't covered more by either the television pundits or the blog-o-sphere... obviously, one reason is because many on the blog-o-sphere now believe the election is in the bag and we don't really have to work much anymore to make it happen (publisher of this dKos included).  I disagree strongly, and I think this story is both relevant and revealing.  Relevant because it should give Christian Fundies serious pause about John "McCraps" and revealing because it illustrates what sort of personal attributes John "McCraps" has.

Here's the original Time Piece

(crossposted from Docudharma)

This is an essay grounded in simple reality, and intended for the perusal of those who are mentally and emotionally equipped to deal in such terms.
As to those who are not, it is my hope that you will herein acquire such tools.
But I'm not holding my breath.
The schoolin' begins on the jump.

The latest controversy over Obama's statements about the Iraq War confuse him. He says that if President, he will simply instruct his Chiefs of Staff to end the Iraq war. He says that he will do what it takes to safely withdraw the troops. He adds that what makes his policy different from GW Bush and McCain is that they are for this open ended commitment that can leave troops indefinitely in Iraq. Obama's politics has the Left mad because he won't announce an immediate withdrawal of troops regardless of conditions on the ground and the right who say he is vacillating somehow on his promises and previous statements.

Yeah I know Obama sold us out on FISA, the Fourth Amendment and the opportunity to hold Bush and the telecoms accountable for the most criminal abuse of the Constitution in American history, and that he appears ready to sign on to a bill giving presidents vast new powers to spy on citizens without any court oversight, but that’s just one issue.

Here's one where we're #1: Prevalence of mental illness in the population. "One-quarter of all Americans met the criteria for having a mental illness within the past year, and fully a quarter of those had a 'serious' disorder that significantly disrupted their ability to function day to day, according to the largest and most detailed survey of the nation's mental health.

http://bartdz.blogspot.com/...

From the same study: "The United States is the wealthiest, mightiest country in all of human history, and yet it has a higher proportion of poor or, worse, hungry citizens than almost every other industrialized nation

On the Fourth, Steven R wrote a diary about John McCain's essay on patriotism which appears in PARADE magazine today.

In the diary, Steven R pointed out McCain's subtle digs against his opponent in the presidential election, most egregious of which was the quote:

If this has been diaried to death already, just tell me and I'll delete.

but John McCain, by his own words is a computer illiterate.

Political opinions, election decisions, and other decisions, are often made by groupthink. Obama and McCain both rely on groupthink to haul in large portions of their bases. However, for Republicans, groupthink works. For Democrats, it doesn't. What is groupthink, what are its problems and symptoms, what can be done about it, and why does it help Republicans but hurt Democrats?

There has been quite a bit of work in the area of groupthink, but I do not know if anyone has examined it with regard to political parties and political opinions. I'm not a communications researcher, so my opinions are derived mostly from reading political blogs and newspapers, and watching televised news (mainly CNN) and this diary is rather simplistic. The purpose of this diary is to see what we, as Democrats, can do about our unsuccessful tendency towards groupthink, in order to help elect a more liberal President of the United States.

Prepare yourself as the groundwork is being laid now for the coming racial onslaught from GOP smear artists.... and the worst part, they're going to cue up passages from the Audio version of "Dreams of my Father".  On the specific passages likely to see advertising rotation, Politico explains:

1- Drug Use

In a passage describing his high school experience in Hawaii, for example, Obama explains the allure of drugs: “I kept playing basketball, attended classes sparingly, drank beer heavily, and tried drugs enthusiastically. … If the high didn’t solve whatever it was that was getting you down,” Obama intones, “it could at least help you laugh at the world’s ongoing folly.”  While many voters know that Obama used drugs as a young man, they haven’t heard the senator describe his drug use in those terms, or in his own voice.

This diary has been updated to include the latest news regarding the petition to get Al his credential back & Debra Kozikowski's actions.
We have over 1350 signatures on the petition that will be delivered to Howard Dean & Nancy Pelosi in Austin at Netroots Nation. A small group in CensorDebs state have written a letter to her and her bosses in MA. Since that news was published on the "Fieldhands" site, a signer to that letter has recieved a threatening phone call from Debra Kowzikowski. I post this here because it needs to be exposed.
http://fieldhands.ning.com/...

If you read Al Giordano over at "The Field", you know by now he has moved from Rural Votes to narconews.com  http://narcosphere.narconews.com/... If you do not read Al you should start right now.

This diary is in response to a number of diaries and comments speculating about why Democrats "always lose," are "spineless," don't "run to their base," and the like.

I don't consider these people purity trolls.

They have a legitimate complaint, albeit one grounded in too small an historical sample.  I'm old enough to remember when GOP voters made these same complaints, back when Democrats had legislative majorities and a progressive Supreme Court, and racked up a stunning series of policy victories: the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, Court decisions like Miranda, Gideon v. Wainwright and the Pentagon Papers case, Watergate, the War Powers Act, and Carter-era Congressional hearings, legislation, and executive orders that reined in the FBI and CIA.

But I suspect most Kossaks aren't old enough to remember those times, and in the nearly 40 years since, progressives have indeed been on the losing side of almost every major political fight.  If that's all you've known, all you've seen in your adult lifetime, it's easy to get cynical.

Still, come with me over the fold, please, for why I think we should not make the 2008 elections into a progressive referendum.

In this week's Meriwether Vindicator, a weekly local paper serving Meriwether County, Georgia (the home of FDR's Little White House in Warm Springs), the sole published letter to the editor contains the following (as well as other)outrageous lines:

"Where Obama, the spy for the terrorists, says that would take 10 years or more.  By that time the Muslims and other foreigners will be using it, if we are stupid enough to elect Obama.  His spiritual God Jeremiah Wright will live on cloud nine.  It's really amusing and disastrous to even think a misfit like Obama might be elected.  If we should be so foolish as to make that mistake, get ready to meet your maker."

I know this is a letter to the editor, and not the position of the newspaper or its editorial board.  But, to allow such venom to go unanswered with a decisive response seems an abdication of our responsibility to answer bad speech with more speech.  Addresses (e-mail, hard copy, fax) for responding after the jump, along with the text of the entire letter.

Barack Obama promises to end the stale and bitter arguments which have divided this country for 40 years, turned our politics into a blood sport, and kept progress from being made.

As we all now know Purity DEMANDS that we shoot ourselves, our country, and the Progressive Movement in the foot by not voting for one of the most viable Progressive Political leaders in the last forty years because... you know he is Pure on every political issue. Okay, so we'll be giving the country over to a much worse Republican buffoon who will keep us in Iraq 100 years and turn a bad recession into a Great Depression, but we can all feel smugly self-righteous about our choice to remain political pure on the soup kitchen line.

So if you are a little hesitant in sitting on your hands in the name of Purity I've compiled a list of reasons you can cite to everyone who will listen (all two of them) as reasons you are not voting for Barack Obama.

The Obama campaign has released a long, detailed memo thrashing McCain on the economy.  Find the full, must read memo here.

Not only does McCain not personally understand economics, but he doesn't appear to have a team around him that does.

Consider this memo your official kickoff for the week ahead:

Over the course of the week, Senator Obama will discuss his plans to strengthen the economic security of families feeling the strain of the faltering economy.

Senator Obama will kickoff the week by hosting a discussion on economic security for American’s families in Charlotte, North Carolina. On Tuesday, he will host a town hall meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. After speaking to LULAC Wednesday in Washington D.C., Senator Obama will wrap up the week by campaigning in Virginia and Ohio.