From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Breakfast...served up by Jack Cafferty on a silver platter (See also czardingus's diary. And then remind me again why Obama's surrogates rarely speak this plainly.)

Start with a juicy melon wedge:

It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries.

Some toast with jam (blueberry's my favorite):

Asked about his greatest moral failure, he cited his first marriage, which ended in divorce. While saying it was his greatest moral failing, he offered nothing in the way of explanation. Why not?

Eggs Benedict:

He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich. One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has---virtually none.

Home fries:

He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost.

And a fresh cup of coffee:

Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been. I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.

Urp! When's lunch?

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Dear U.S. Mint,

I know you've been looking for ways to make the penny relevant again, and I'd like to submit this idea before the liquor wears off.

I think you should join forces with the FDA to release news of product warnings and recalls on the backs of pennies. This would not only provide a valuable public service to Americans, it would instantly turn pennies into valuable limited-edition collectibles. I can just hear the happy haggling on street corners and in soda fountains across the country:

"I'll swap you a Vioxx recall for a mad cow advisory."
"Throw in three tomato scares and I'll consider it."
"How about two tomato scares and a lead-paint-in-childrens-toys warning?"
"Denver mint or Philadelphia mint?"
"Denver."
"You’re kidding. Heck, for that I'll throw in a jalapeno-pepper ingestion alert."
"Deal!"
"By the way, you want to see something cool?"
"Sure."
"Check this out: A genuine "Matterhorn Group Inc. Announces Voluntary Recall of "Astro Pops" and "Missile Pops" 3.5 oz Cherry Pineapple Frozen Novelty Pops in Arizona, Nevada and California due to Safety Hazard" penny.
"The Holy Grail! You lucky bastard."

I offer this suggestion at no charge, out of love for the lowly coin that kept me swimming in gumballs during my youth until I discovered the crowbar.

Sincerely, Bill in Portland Maine

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From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Got Muck? Part II

More of my interview with Joseph Cummins, author of the fun, trivia-filled book, Anything for a Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots, and October Surprises in U.S. Presidential Campaigns (part I from Friday is here):

C&J: What has struck you as the most absurd thing about the 2008 presidential election season so far?
Joseph Cummins: The way politicians both in the primaries and now in the national campaign have been quick to make "going negative" one of their main attacks. As if "going negative" were not what presidential campaigns were all about, way back to the days when Davy Crockett called Martin Van Buren a transvestite and Abraham Lincoln was accused of having smelly feet.

Do dirty tricks really help candidates win campaigns?
I absolutely think they do. No matter how many times people may tell pollsters they hate dirty politics or "negative" advertising, there’s something in dirt that attracts us all. As far back as 1840, the prominent Whig politician Thomas Elder summed it up rather brilliantly in one sentence: "Passion and prejudice properly aroused and directed...do about as well as principle and reason in a party contest."

Look how well Lyndon Johnson’s smears on Barry Goldwater worked. He even had him portrayed in the robes of a Ku Klux Klan member in a children’s coloring book. See how Herbert Hoover was able to paint Al Smith in 1928 as a Papist who would change the way good Protestants worshipped in this country.

All very nasty---all very effective. You don’t believe people will swallow these types of things until you see it in action. Last spring, I was waiting for my daughter at her gymnastics class and overheard two women reassuring each other that if Barack Obama were---by some wild stretch of the imagination---elected president, he would be unable to serve because he could not take the Oath of Office. Why? Because he was a Muslim who would need to be sworn in on a Koran, and the Constitution calls for a Bible. Wrong, wrong, wrong---yet, of course, people believe this stuff.

And these are just the slanderous variety of dirty tricks. The election of 1876 was simply stolen in the South by Republicans altering electoral vote returns. And of course no one can say that in either 1960 or 2000 every vote was counted properly.

Do political blogs like Daily Kos have forerunners in history?
Yeah, in a sense they do, in the 19th century. When people wanted to support their candidates---or, in a day when candidates did not campaign openly, when candidates themselves wanted to create support---they started broadsheets and newspapers more than willing to launch scurrilous attacks---not that Daily Kos is scurrilous, of course)---against their opponents. Early examples being the Republican paper The National Gazette and the Republican rag Gazette of the United States. Lively exchanges of letters were printed in such papers, many of them leading to duels. If you didn’t want to start your own newspaper or write letters, you could pretty cheaply have a pamphlet printed up with a title about a paragraph long. One example being Davy Crockett’s insanely spurious The Life of Martin Van Buren, Heir-Apparent to the 'Government,' and the Appointed Successor of General Andrew Jackson. Containing Every Authentic Particular by Which His Extraordinary Character Has Been Formed. With a Concise History of the Events That Have Occasioned His Unparalleled Elevation; Together with a Review of His Policy as a Statesman, which was probably penned at a local tavern by an ancestor of the same guy who these days might be tapping away on his laptop at Starbucks.

What are some of the politically-oriented blogs you visit on a regular basis?
I like Daily Kos, of course, as well as Politico, Political Wire and The Huffington Post. This is not a blog, but David Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidents has a lot of interesting stats on presidential elections in history.

No waffling here: dogs or cats?
I like a good waffle as much as any presidential politician, but here I don’t have to equivocate: cats all the way. I currently have Mimi, a one year-old orange, white and black calico, who purrs and bites at the same time. Like Laura Bush, or so I’m told.

Joe's blog is here. We thank him for adding some humor and historical perspective as the '08 campaign prepares to rev into high-smear gear. Oh, happy happy joy joy.

Welcome to Monday, my precious zombies. Cheers and Jeers feeds on Republican flesh (warning: it's gamy) in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Got Muck?

You think the 2008 election campaign is ugly? Brother, you ain't seen nothin'.

Earlier this year I stumbled (it's much easier than walking) onto a wickedly entertaining book called Anything for a Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots, and October Surprises in U.S. Presidential Campaigns. It's a snarky, trivia-filled look at each of the 55 presidential contests between 1789 (when George Washington ran against himself) and 2004 (When John Kerry ran against the swiftboaters), and a helluva lot of fun for political junkies. Author Joe Cummins is a regular Daily Kos reader and graciously agreed to take a turn in the C&J beanbag chair:

C&J: In your book you grade several of the presidential campaigns on a "Sleaze-O-Meter" scale of one to ten. How would you rate the 2008 campaign so far?
Joseph Cummins: For those of us who like our dirty tricks, it probably only rates a three so far, with ten being reserved for such smearfests as the Adams-Jefferson 1800 battle, the 1876 fight between Rutherford Hayes and Samuel Tilden or the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon contest. Things started out well in the primaries---I mean, when you have the supposed story of Barack Obama’s terrorist pre-school or the story that Mike Huckabee’s son tortured and killed a dog while he was a boy scout---well, you naturally have the expectation that the dirt will be flying fast and furious.

But it wasn’t, at least historically speaking. Hillary and Obama spent a good deal of time sniping at each other for "going negative," as McCain and Obama are doing now. That’s an interesting trend among politicians these days---the pre-emptive "how dare you play dirty politics" strike. But, really, how does any of this compare to calling your opponent "a fathead with the brains of a guinea pig," as Teddy Roosevelt addressed William Howard Taft in 1912. Or telling voters they might go to hell if they voted for a candidate, as Harry Truman cautioned about Richard Nixon in 1960. Of course, he was right.

Is there a particular era when presidential campaigns were at their sleaziest, or has it been pretty consistent over the years?
Actually, it hasn’t been consistent over the years---we’ve had worse decades and better decades. I think it’s really interesting that, just as politics change to suit the times, so does the nature of the dirty tricks. The 1880s---the Gilded Age, when money was king---was the era of bagmen rather openly carrying suitcases full of hundreds of thousands in cash (two-dollar bills, known in the parlance as "Soapy Sam" because they greased palms) to pivotal states to buy elections. In the 1960s and early ‘70s, both Democrats and Republicans (Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon) enlisted the aid of the CIA---very cool at the time---and liked bugging opponents’ campaign planes and offices. The era of the really nasty campaign ad kicked into high gear in 1988, when the Republicans destroyed Michael Dukakis with an onslaught of spots about Willie Horton---it set the tone for campaign attack commercials to this day.

The turn of the 21st century has seen voters disenfranchised by zealous Secretaries of State who are their party’s state campaign co-chairs (Katherine Harris in Florida in 2000, J. Kenneth Blackwell in Ohio in 2004), a disturbing trend which may be exacerbated in 2008 by Voter ID laws recently upheld by the Supreme Court.

Who ran the most flat-out incompetent campaign ever?
Wow. There have been so many. Republican Thomas Dewey ran probably the worst in history, I think, against President Harry Truman in 1948. Truman at the time---people forget this because his reputation has been so rehabbed of late---was despised by so many Americans that a favorite catchphrase, never failing to elicit laughter, was: "I wonder what Truman would do if he were alive?" Dewey was young---the first Presidential candidate born in the 20th century---efficient, smart and pollsters had him leading by such a large margin that George Gallup announced he was simply going to stop polling.

But instead of pressing his advantage, Dewey went on the defensive. Spent most of his time trying to avoid making a mistake or saying anything controversial. And Truman ended up eating him alive. Lesson to frontrunners: never say "I win" until the little guy from Missouri concedes.

Is there anything about the 2008 campaign that you consider to be groundbreaking---that we haven't seen or experienced before?
I think the only thing that I, personally, haven’t seen before is Obama’s anti-smear website, Fight the Smears, which contrasts the supposed slanders being spread about the candidate with the truth. It remains to be seen how it works, since it speaks mainly to the choir, but it is a clever way of saying to people that Obama, by default (where is the McCain anti-smear site?), is the one being trashed.

Has there been a campaign song that had an actual impact on an election?
Can't really find a campaign song that has had a major impact on an election, but I remain fond of this little ditty, sung by myself and my little six year old friends in the first election I remember, the 1956 rematch between Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower:

Whistle while you work
Stevenson's a jerk.
Mussolini bit his weenie
Now it doesn't work!

Made absolutely no sense but we delighted in it.....

Part 2 of the interview Monday. In the meantime, pop a cork or a pull-tab, check out Joe's blog and then say hello to your brand new weekend. Your west coast-friendly edition of Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

I'm feeling shy today, so I'll let someone else do the talking...

"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
---Dick, on Third Rock from the Sun
-
"When a man carries a gun all the time, the respect he thinks he's getting might really be fear. So I don’t carry a gun because I don’t want the people of Mayberry to fear a gun; I'd rather they would respect me."
---Crazy Hippie Sheriff Andy Taylor
-
"Left to their own devices, the three networks would televise live executions. Except Fox---they'd televise live naked executions."
---Producer David Goldberg
-
"One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen is to go about repeating the very phrases which our fathers used in the struggle for Independence."
---Historian Charles A. Beard
-
"If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for thirty days because they get infections and they don't have upper body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare."
---Newt Gingrich (aka the Republicans' Yoda)
-
"Oh, 'meltdown'---it's one of those annoying buzzwords. We prefer to call it an unrequested fission surplus."
---Mr. Burns

And since it's Five O'clock somewhere:

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer."
---Abraham Lincoln

Oh, I had a dream about you last night. I can't believe what you did to Mitch McConnell with that pineapple. Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

It was recently revealed that John McCain has been stripped of the things that once made him an appealing candidate. Now firmly "contained" under the thumb of Karl Rove's goons, he has surrendered his maverick status and become a subservient yes-man, complicit in a campaign retooled to belch smears and lies all day. C&J has obtained a partial list of the things that McCain can and cannot have while he's under new management:

John McCain can't have:
Unfettered cellphone access
Sharp objects
Give and take
Any more green backgrounds or supermarket photo-ops
Original ideas
Calls at 3am, lest he appear tired the next day
A moment alone with anyone other than his campaign manager
Another mistress
Unsupervised questions from reporters
His old integrity back

John McCain can have...
Ice cream
A private jet
Fresh pairs of $520 loafers
Unlimited funds from corporate lobbyists
A still-fawning press that makes Obama jump the highest bar, but lets McCain jump the lowest
Tums
A painfully boring convention
An 11th house
An affiliation with sleazy campaigners that will be a black stain on his reputation for the rest of his life
Bottled hot water in case he spots any dehydrated babies
Naps
Kool-Aid
3 x 5 index cards with talking points HE CAN NEVER DEVIATE FROM!!!!!!!

Sad. The big brave maverick who so decisively insists on staying and fighting in Iraq is too scared to run a campaign on his own principles, integrity and record.

Brilliant move.

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Republicans to the Rescue

I'm just a simple caveman. I need things to be spelled out in grade-school terms so they can penetrate the soft, gooey, walnut-size center of my brain. Here's the Republicans' short-term solution for dealing with today's gas prices in language everyone can understand. Aaaand...GO!

August September October November (2008 election) December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December

Leasing for offshore drilling begins. Awesome!

January February March April May June July August September October November (2012 election) December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November (2016 election) December

Production begins. Spirits soar!

January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November (2020 election) December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November (2024 election) December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November (2028 election) December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August

Twenty two years later, pennies worth of immediate relief at the pump. Thanks, GOP!

Beep Beep!

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From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Clammy with a C

He calls himself "A free-thinking, liberal, independent-minded, bullshit-calling sports nut."  His blog is My Three Cents, where he promises "rants, fingerpointing, state of the world commentary and anything else that merits pointing out." (We hear his pointing finger is insured by Lloyds of London for $5 million.) He grew up on Long Island and now lives in New Jersey as a CPA. You know him as that renegade of the recommended diaries list, clammyc. And today he's in the hot seat for the latest edition of Yes, We're All Staring at YOU!

Cheers and Jeers: How long have you been blogging and what brought you to Daily Kos?
ClammyC: I started blogging in mid 2005 after finding DKos through my daily rounds through what I used to call "alternative news" sites.  These people with one word names like "Hunter" and "Armando" kept writing some good stuff, so I decided to go the one-name route as well.  I came for the insight and analysis and I stay because I haven’t been banned.  Yet.

I understand you're a poker player.  Every time I play, I keep getting all the same card.  It's always King-King-King-King and Ace-Ace-Ace-Ace, so I just fold because it's so boring to look at. How do you fight that kind of monotony when you play?
I always make sure to keep a few cards up one of my sleeves. And I always wear long sleeve shirts. This way, you can always mix it up when you need to show 5 Aces or three pairs of Kings.

What kind of music makes you feel invincible to the GOP horde?
You mean I need music to feel invincible? Actually....I’m partial to classic rock (Beatles, Stones, Black Crowes) and jam bands like Phish and the Grateful Dead, although a little old school rap like Public Enemy or NWA probably works better in scaring the GOOPers off this election cycle.

Your blog is called My Three Cents, and you claim to offer "50% more opinion for free."  How can you do that without destroying your profit margin?
That extra 50% doesn’t even consider the obscene amounts that I charge for the first 2 cents worth of my opinion.

What's the one book every Kossack must read?
I’ll be serious here and say Al Gore’s The Assault on Reason. But every Kossack should also read The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin is my hero.

Your thoughts on the 2008 election season so far?
In all honesty, kind of boring overall, although I like the amount of involvement that Obama is generating. I wish that the Democrats would go on the attack more than they have---there is no reason that McCain should be within 15 points of Obama.

Finish this sentence: In the kitchen I make a mean...
Bowl of cereal. Actually, I like cooking a lot and used to do it quite a bit, but the missus is an excellent cook herself and won’t let me touch her pots and pans unless I nag and nag her to---or if she is too tired from dealing with the baby. I’m better with the BBQ grill though.

What do you do for fun when you're not workin' the blogs?
I’m a total fantasy sports junkie---three baseball leagues, five football leagues, a hockey league and NCAA hoops as well. Oh yeah, and I look forward to corrupting my four-month old son.

Who should Obama pick as his running mate?
I’ve gone back and forth on this, and am leaning towards Clark. Of the "short list contenders" I’d pick Biden over Bayh and Kaine.

No waffling here: dogs or cats?
Dogs, for sure. And it isn’t only because I have a wheaten terrier. And I prefer waffles to pancakes.

What are your favorite blogs besides Daily Kos and your own?
Booman writes some of the best stuff around and I can’t not read Digby. Buhdy’s place is also one that I stop by as much as I remember to...But the Rude Pundit also has a special place in my heart.

What's the very first thing Obama should do as president...besides fumigate the White House and scan it for bugs planted by Karl Rove, I mean.
Hold a huge keg party on the South Lawn, no Republicans invited. In the name of unity, of course.

I have one question left, but I need to go figure out how to get bubble gum out of my hair.  Please ask and answer the final question yourself...

How do you deal with being so awesome all the time?
Well, thanks for asking---it is tough, but you get used to it after a while.

Yay! Only four days 'til Friday! Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Properly-inflated Late Night Snark Saves Gas:

Jon Stewart: We just heard that Iraq has announced an 80-billion dollar surplus.  How are they gonna spend this money?
John Oliver: Well John, like everything in Iraq now, it is up for reasoned discussion. Some have suggested a few infrastructure improvements and then socking the rest away.  Others would like to construct a giant bed, cover it with all the money, and then let everyone in the country just roll around on it Scrooge McDuck-style. Others still would like to hire a mercenary army like Blackwater to drive out the infidel American force.
---The Daily Show
-
"President Bush is on a week-long tour of Asia. He’ll visit South Korea, Thailand, and China. Or as the White House calls it: the Everything Sold At Wal-Mart tour."
---Jay Leno
-
"Now, to highlight what a charade proper air pressure is, the McCain campaign has started handing out Barack Obama 'Energy Plan' tire gauges. You see, it's a great way to drive home what a ridiculous plan this is. Plus, it's an easy way to check your tire pressure, and that can save you a lot of money. That's not just me talking. The government's own website says that proper tire inflation can save up to 12 cents a gallon immediately. So thank you for the tire gauge, Senator McCain. And good work. You stuck it to all the left-wing nutjobs who advocate proper tire inflation. Radical liberals like your potential vice presidential nominee, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joe Lieberman, Triple A and the pinkos over at NASCAR. I've had my eyes on those guys ever since they had that car sponsored by the ACLU."
---Stephen Colbert
-
"Security is very tight for the Olympics in China, which has been very hard on the locals there. Many stores and factories in Beijing have been forced to close, and people have been forced out of their houses. Sort of like here in the United States, only for them it ends in a couple of weeks."
---Jimmy Kimmel
-
"There's excitement in the air over the Olympics...also lead, arsenic, benzene..."
---David Letterman
-
"The skies over Beijing are very smoggy. The government says the pollution is just a harmless mist. They made a similar statement about the treatment of prisoners---it’s not torture, it’s Pilates."
---Craig Ferguson

Personally I have no interest in the Olympics...  What's that? The U.S. men's soccer team beat Japan? Whoooooooo!!!!  In yer face, Land of the Rising LOSERS!!

USA! USA! USA!

Ahem. Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

A Case of Whiplash

The American public over the last four six eight twelve months:

Who is Obama??? We don’t know enough about Obama!! How can we elect Obama if we don’t know enough about him??? He's too mysterious to us! He's too unknown! We need to know more...more...MORE!!! Help us, oh traditional media! Help us to learn more about this man who came out of nowhere by airing non-stop coverage of his words, his deeds...his ups, his downs, his smiles, his frowns! Satisfy our curiosity, oh Punditocracy! Fill in our blanks! Feed us the facts!

The American Public now:

Barack Obama may be the fresh face in this year's presidential election, but nearly half say they're already tired of hearing about him, a poll says.

With Election Day still three months away, 48 percent said they're hearing too much about the Democratic candidate, according to a poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Just 26 percent said the same about his Republican rival, John McCain.

On sale today in the C&J gift shop: neck braces.

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From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Oh!  More Things I Know:

When a Republican candidate makes a verbal gaffe, it's a "misstatement" and nothing to get upset about. When a Democratic candidate makes a verbal gaffe, it's a "serious blunder that has jeopardized the campaign by alienating independents."

We wouldn’t be having this argument about tire pressure if all our wheels were made out of wood.

John McCain is one teleprompter glitch away from losing the election.

Just for fun I'm going to exercise my second amendment right by strapping on a revolver, boarding a packed metro bus, and asking the first passenger I see, "Excuse me...are you sure your seat's taken?"

John Edwards gets hammered for owning one expensive house and getting a $400 haircut. John McCain gets a free pass for owning eight-to-ten expensive houses and wearing $520 loafers.

When people say, "Well, I hope you managed to get through X without too much trouble...", they're saying they hope you did, in fact, have a little trouble getting through it.

Cindy McCain would not have won the Miss Buffalo Chip pageant. But she might've come in second if her alleged tassel-twirling abilities came through for her.

The vast majority of children entering sixth grade in the fall will have no recollection of the attacks of 9/11 because they were too young to remember them.

If dreams are a preview of the afterlife, I'm going to be spending a lot of time falling off cliffs, missing tests and forgetting my lines onstage.

No matter how many speeches future presidents give, they will never quote George W. Bush to reinforce a point unless it's about dishonesty or failure.

I will not comment about whether I'll accept the nomination for vice president because I don't deal in hypotheticals.

Now that gas prices are under four bucks a gallon again, consumers will rush to trade in their hybrids for SUVs. Next week, when gas rises above four bucks a gallon again, they'll trade in their SUVs for hybrids, after which several auto industry executives will shoot themselves in the head.

If Barack Obama had shown Charlton Heston in a campaign ad, he would've been accused by Republicans of playing the Alzheimer's card.

Someone needs to invent a TV where cable news pundits feel it when you throw your shoe at the screen.

And from one year ago:

The current Republican theme song is "Holding Out For A Hero." When Fred Thompson enters the race it will change to "We Are The Champions," followed quickly by a return to "Holding Out For A Hero."

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Lieberlogic!

When Barack Obama says...

"My interest is in making sure that we've got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices. ... If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage---I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done."

Joe Lieberman says...

What he---what Barack Obama did over the weekend about offshore drilling is a tease.

But when John McCain says, "Senator Obama will raise your taxes, I won't," and later says "Everything's on the table," Joe Lieberman says...

John McCain has said very clearly he doesn't want to raise any taxes, but he's also said, because he's a great negotiator, "I want to sit down with everybody the way Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill did in the '80s, and we're going to solve this problem."

The Democrat is a "tease." The Republican is a "great negotiator."

And 1 + 1 = 3.

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From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Barack Obama: Too Old to be President?

Today is our presidential nominee's 47th birthday.

I wish my mom would've pushed harder and popped me out a few hours earlier because then Obama and I would share birthdays (although I'm three years younger), which would be quite an honor. As fate would have it, Mom stopped when I was halfway out to have a butt and a Schlitz, so Obama gets to celebrate today with love goddess Helen Thomas, while I have to bum around tomorrow with that hack Neil Armstrong.

Anyway...  For those who think Obama is too young to be president, let's---[coughcough]---blow the dust off the year 1961, shall we?

>> None of the James Bond movies had been released; West Side Story won the Oscar for Best Picture
>> John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president and we've endured eight presidents since then
>> The Pillsbury Dough Boy was introduced
>> The Dow Jones Industrials reached a high of 734
>> David Ben-Gurion resigned as Israeli premier
>> The Grammy for best Rock & Roll recording: Chubby Checker, "Let's Twist Again"; Best R&B recording: Ray Charles, "Hit the Road Jack"
>> Median price of a new home: $17,200
>> Harper Lee won a Pulitzer for To Kill A Mockingbird
>> East Germany started replacing its barbed wire barricades with a permanent wall dividing Berlin
>> South Africa withdrew from the British Commonwealth
>> The Boston Marathon was won by a Finn. A Finn!
>> The Emmy for outstanding news program went to the Huntley-Brinkley Report
>> Sun Myung Moon could only scrounge up 36 couples to mass-marry
>> Roger Maris hit 61 home runs, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record
>> The Beatles performed at Liverpool's Cavern Club for the first time; Elvis's "Blue Hawaii" started its 20-week run at the top of the charts; The Beach Boys performed for the first time
>> Car 54 Where Are You, Hazel, and The Dick Van Dyke Show premiered
>> The price of a gallon of gas was 31 cents; A gallon of milk---49 cents

What a geezer. Good thing he's got a wife and kids to help him blow out all those candles. I wonder if the fire department will show up. Ha Ha Ha!

Seriously, Happy Birthday, sir. Here's your present:

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama holds a 2 to 1 edge over Republican Sen. John McCain among the nation's low-wage workers... Obama's advantage is attributable largely to overwhelming support from two traditional Democratic constituencies: African Americans and Hispanics. But even among white workers -- a group of voters that has been targeted by both parties as a key to victory in November -- Obama leads McCain by 10 percentage points, 47 percent to 37 percent, and has the advantage as the more empathetic candidate.

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

"And the gold goes to---cough cough---the one not being wheeled away on a stretcher!"

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games start a week from today in Peking. China's rulers say that everything---from the opening ceremonies to the vendors selling hot dogs (made with real dog!)---will operate with extraordinary efficiency (...or else). Sure, phones will be tapped, media and internet service monitored, and troublemakers gently led to secret "courtesy dungeons." But think of it as censorship and oppression done in the spirit of peace and harmony and goodwill. "Welcome, friends---please enjoy hot towel while you stand in line waiting for us to take your fingerprints and retina scan."

The biggest wild card at the games won’t be the competitors or the government snoops, it'll be the pollution. The latest issue of The Week serves up a preview that's worse than I imagined:

Beijing’s thick, nasty combination of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and assorted particulate matter is 40 times worse than the smog in Los Angeles, the U.S.’s most polluted city. Depending upon the weather, a dense yellowish haze sometimes blankets the entire metropolis. ...

Last September, Adam Craig of the U.S. mountain biking team dropped out of a training race in Beijing, citing the pollution. "My lungs stopped working," he said. "It started with a routine deep breath on a descent, which produced a sharp pain and a fit of hacking, then progressed rapidly to a state where I was unable to take more than a quarter of a breath." More recently, four American boxers jogging outside in Beijing developed breathing problems. So they began training by running up and down the corridors of their hotel. Jarrod Shoemaker, a U.S. triathlete, says Beijing air is so dirty that you can taste it. "You can feel the grit in your teeth," he says.

Americans are such wussies. Or...not:

The Canadians will work out in Singapore until a few days before their events; the entire British delegation is holed up in Macau. Australia’s track-and-field team will skip the opening ceremonies, remaining at training camps outside China until it begins competing. Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, the world’s fastest long-distance runner, has announced that while he’ll compete in the 10,000-meter race, he’ll pass on the marathon. "It’s going to be the hardest marathon in history," said Gebrselassie. "I’d love to go for it, but health is my first priority."

This year, instead of receiving a medal around their neck, winners will have the option of having an oxygen mask placed over their nose and mouth. Losers will receive a complimentary ambulance ride to the nearest pulmonary ward.  Meanwhile, NBC will be using special infrared imagery in case the action gets shrouded in the yellow haze.

This could be an Olympics to die for!

Weekend already? Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Yesterday, around 11am...

[Rrrrrrrring!!]

"Rove here. What? Say that again, you're breakin' up. What? The House Judiciary Committee voted to find me in contempt? You kiddin'? Hey, hang on a second, I gotta put ya on hold. Be right back..."

[Boop!]

"Bwaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Hee hee heeeee....!!! Can't...breathe! Laughing...too...hard!!! Sides...hurt!!! Ho, jeez... Contempt! Ha haaa...!"

[Boop!]

"Hey, I'm back. Gee, that's terrible, man. This upsets me. What was the vote? Twenty to 14, huh? Gosh. I'm very concerned. This calls for a serious, sober assessment. Oh, rats, hang on, I gotta put ya on hold again...

[Boop!]

"Ha ha ha ha haaaaaa! Oh, I hope they don’t arrest me and put me in their widdle House jail cell with nothing but bwead and waaaater... Oh my god I'm gonna frame that contempt citation and put it on my wall! Thank you, Conyers, you magnificent bastard! You just made my fuckin' day! Ah, shit I just peed mah pants! Bwah ha ha ha!!!"

[Boop!]

"Hey, I'm back. And I'm very troubled about this. Keep me posted okay? And give this matter all the gravitas it deserves. This is serious. Bye."

[Boop!]

"Bwaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...!!! Snorting Jack Daniels out...nose...hurts...!!"

Score one for...us?

A reminder: Today is your last chance to celebrate Christmas in July.  Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE

"Hey, bebeh, love yer sig..."

Kossack signature lines gleaned from recent open threads:

"Politics didn't lead me to working people. Working people led me to politics." -Barack Obama  (MLDB)
-
Maybe if my t-shirt is witty enough, people will love me. –xkcd  (PerfectStormer)
-
Think Tank. "A place where people are paid to think by the makers of tanks" -Naomi Klein.  (ohcanada)
-
John McCain is a devil worshiping, radical, elite terrorist. My email told me so.  (LogicaLizE)
-
"...and I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords." --Kent Brockman  (dhshoops)
-
"Voting only gets you a 'D'" -Howard Dean  (ScottyUrb)
-
You can lead a Republican to the facts, but you can't make him think.  (Greasy Grant)
-
do we still have a Republic and a Constitution if our elected officials will not stand up for them on our behalf?  (teacherken)
-
You have exactly 10 seconds to change that look of disgusting pity into one of enormous respect!  (Cartoon Peril)
-
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." -Groucho Marx  (DemFromCT)
-
"Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war."
-Senator John McCain  (pangloss)

And our favorite:

Hello, Senator McCain: 1980 called.  It wants its talking points back.  (Humboldt Jodi)

I bow to your snarkitude.

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Obama Rules

If you're near a supermarket checkout counter this week, keep an eye out for the latest issue of People magazine. It features a flattering cover story on the Obama family:

If [Barack] does make it to the White House, it will be with two of the youngest residents in more than 30 years, since Amy Carter moved in at the age of 9 in 1977. Says presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who considers the Obama's youthful household to be part of the candidate's allure: "To the extent that Obama's appeal has been to a younger generation, his exuberant children symbolize that hope of a changing guard."

You can read excerpts from their interview---conducted before the on-camera Access Hollywood story raised a few eyebrows---here. But I want to point out something spooky: the rules that govern the Obama household are the exact same ones that govern Daily Kos:

>> No whining, arguing or annoying teasing
>> Make the bed. "Doesn’t have to look good—just throw the sheet over it," says Mom.
>> Keep playroom toy closet clean
>> Set your own alarm clock.
>> Be considerate of how other people might feel. Put yourself in the place of other people.
>> Never think that you're better than anybody else. Or worse than anybody else.
>> If you guys can't decide nicely what program to watch, then you don't get to watch anything.
>> Lights out at 8:30 (but have a grandmother on standby who likes to bend this rule when Mom and Dad aren’t home)

And if you start a comment with "First?" Oh, you are so grounded, pal.

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

Daily Kos contributing editor DemFromCT, M.D. hasn’t not said he wouldn’t deny not thinking about turning down the nomination for vice president of the United States, which can only mean one thing: he might not not! It's just one of the many important issues we forgot to ask the expert in pandemics, pulmonary problems and political polling about in our continuing interview series, Yes, We're All Staring At YOU!

Cheers and Jeers: How long have you been blogging and what brought you to Daily Kos?
DemFromCT: I first started blogging at Daily Kos early in 2003, pre-Scoop. My teenage son, using the feature that allowed for changes in your name at that time, blogged as KidFromCT and occasionally asked for help with his homework. Someone always came through, especially with math.  That’s when I appreciated the value of the community. ;-)

But I got here from the same place that everyone got here. I got tired of yelling at my TV and decided to do something about it.

You're an M.D.  Is there any part of the human anatomy that you just look at and go, "Gaaack! Get that thing away from me!"
Yeah. Trust me on this, you really don’t want to know what it is, but it involves plastic surgeons and facial injuries.

You're a founding editor of the Fluwiki web site, which your bio states is "an international clearinghouse of pandemic influenza information and links, presented in four languages and accessed from six continents." Is the U.S.---under the firm, sure-handed guidance of the Bush administration---ready for a major flu outbreak, be it avian or some other kind?
Nope. No hospital, no state, could handle what would come up. The interesting thing is that everyone in the Bush administration readily acknowledges that, from Michael Leavitt to Michael Chertoff. Now, it’s interesting that I am the only Daily Kos front pager that will ever have on their resume that I co-blogged with a Bush cabinet official.

The funny thing is that they are aware of and fully accept my Daily Kos affiliation. There are some things (public health and emergency preparedness) that are non-partisan, and that’s an appropriate viewpoint to take.

What kind of music makes you feel invincible to the GOP horde?
Talking Heads, Judy Garland, and any swing music from the 30’s and 40’s. By the way, Louis Armstrong was a genius. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy ain’t bad for contemporary stuff

You recently started the popular early morning Abbreviated Pundit Roundups. How long of a shower do you have to take afterwards to get all the slime off?
I read the stuff every day. I am a big believer in reading everything from every perspective. So, I thought, we might as well blog it. By the way, I also started Sunday morning talk, now ably done by Sam Loomis. The best complement I got for Abbreviated Pundit was that people thought it was ghost-written by Bill in Portland Maine.

What's the one book every Kossack must read?
The Great Influenza, by John Barry. Written by a superb historian, it’s what really happened in 1918. By the way, I’m married to a medieval historian, so I have an appreciation for the craft. In any case, the worst natural disaster that ever struck the country happened in 1918. Katrina doesn’t even come close. With pictures and text, Barry makes it come alive. And if you have the opportunity, read anything by Howard Markel on the same topic.

What has struck you as the most absurd thing (so far) about the 2008 presidential election season?
Presumptive and arrogant, Barack Obama is that close to being described as uppity. Think about what that means and implies. To me, the description fits Andrea Mitchell, Chris Matthews and David Gregory much more than it describes Obama, but so it goes.

Finish this sentence: In the kitchen I make a mean...
If it fits on the grill, I can do a great job. On the other hand, I have never figured out how to do dessert on the grill.

You live in Connecticut. I'd like to offer you a chance to say a few words, on behalf of your state, to the rest of the country regarding Senator Joe Lieberman. I mean, WTF???
All I can tell you is that the Democrats in CT fired him. That he was too dumb to get the message is par for the course. The Reagan Democrats in the Naugatuck Valley re-elected him, but even they have buyer’s remorse (see Daily Kos-commissioned polls on the topic, wherein he’d lose a rematch with Ned Lamont).

What do you do for fun when you're not workin' the blogs, tracking pandemics, and savings lives?
Why, go to Maine, of course. Mount Desert Island is heaven on earth. And though I am from "away", I appreciate the common sense Mainers and the other New Englanders that never liked Bush to begin with.

No waffling here: dogs or cats?
Eh, cats, but my son is allergic, so dogs. And if dogs, then Labradors. There’s no other choice that is as satisfying. No other dog will go out in the rain by themselves, and wag their tail and thank you for the opportunity.

What are your favorite blogs besides Daily Kos?
Effect Measure, pollster.com and fivethirtyeight.com. Nate (poblano) is a genius, but I have to point out his methodology is still untested and unproved. Still, a highlight of Yearly Kos 2007 (Chicago) was meeting/presenting with a spokesperson from Effect Measure and meeting Mark Blumenthal from pollster.com, and a highlight from Netroots Nation 2008 was meeting Nate.

I have one question left, but the guard says it's my time to pump iron in the Yard.  Please ask and answer the final question yourself...

Why was there no polling panel at Netroots Nation in Austin??
That has to be rectified in Pittsburgh, even if I have to moderate one myself.

Heh heh...he said rectified.

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]