It’s been a tough week for McCain & Co. They had to fight two battles at the same time, one inside their campaign and the other outside. Read more. http://www.tagg-lines.com/2008.....-team.html

Morning
David Gregory Lame Duck?

On the morning of Sunday, July 20, NBC News paterfamilias Tom Brokaw was wrapping up Meet the Press, where he has been anchor since the sudden and untimely death of Tim Russert.

The weekly round table had ended, and it was time to say goodbye to his guests, NBC political director Chuck Todd and NBC White House correspondent David Gregory.

When the segment ended, both reporters sat with their hands neatly folded in front of them and awaited the frugally dispensed approval of Mr. Brokaw.

“Thank you very much, David Gregory, our NBC White House correspondent and, of course, star of MSNBC’s The Road to the White House,” said Mr. Brokaw.

Mr. Gregory managed not to grimace. His show is called Race for the White House.

“Chuck Todd, our political director,” continued Mr. Brokaw. “We’ll be seeing a lot more of you, here, on Meet the Press … in the weeks to come,” Mr. Brokaw said, it seemed, to Mr. Todd.

Mr. Gregory kept smiling as the credits rolled.

I got a laugh out of this line:

Topics: Obama’s riding high, but do Americans see him as too risky? Can Obama win over Jewish voters by November? contact Chris Matthews.

Regurgitate RNC talking points much Tweety?

OT: Digressing by association:

Chris Matthews: Eugene Robinson Washington Post Columnist; Elisabeth Bumiller The New York Times Correspondent; Gloria Borger U.S. News & World Report; Joe Klein Time Magazine Columnist. Topics: Obama’s riding high, but do Americans see him as too risky? Can Obama win over Jewish voters by November? [Emphasis added]

This DailyShow routine on Obama and Jewish voters is a hoot.

Good morning, pups. It’s MoDo, Friedman and Rich today. I doubt MoDo can type any more, given those claws, but she has produced a POS called “Stalking, Sniffing, Swooning,” in which she asks if a Citizen of the World can settle for Steubenville, Ohio. It’s utterly beneath contempt. Mr. Friedman’s column is titled “Texas to Tel Aviv,” and he says two of the most interesting new clean electron wildcatters are T. Boone Pickens and Shai Agassi. Mr. Rich writes about “How Obama Became Acting President,” and he says Barack Obama-branded change is snowballing, whether it’s change you happen to believe in or not.

http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/

The coffee and tea are ready, and I’ve got waffles this morning. Hoover is doing advanced studies in cause and effect, which means that nothing is allowed to be placed on a desk or dresser top. All things so placed will be poked at, batted, and studied as he investigates gravity. Sigh… Have a great day.

Tweety’s topics are always so profound, and yes so very RNC.

MMmmmm waffles

Hoover sounds like a budding Isaac Newton :)
I won’t say what I think MoDo sounds like

Tweety’s topics are always so profound, and yes so very RNC.

Yet, it seems, he personally favors Obama. Those talking points are so ingrained in our media that I don’t think they notice anymore. Shameful.

Good morning all

There is one new MSM host that so far seems ok to me I will probably butcher his name but he is on CNN following Blitzer. Fareed Zacharia

Nice catch!

What’ya think of Tomasky’s bit on WJ this morning?

Yet, it seems, he [tweety] personally favors Obama. Those talking points are so ingrained in our media that I don’t think they notice anymore. Shameful.

I wonder if he is personally on the distribution list, or whether he has to listen to Fox to pick them up.

Our local newspaper used to have an editorial writer who had connections with a neocon think tank. I’d often see local previews of RNC talking points.

Okey dokey. Take a sheet of paper, divide it into two columns. Obama in column one. McBush in column two. List that which makes each candidate “risky.” Continue McBush column on pages 2, 3, 4, etc. Read and inwardly digest. G’morning, everyone. {snarl}

I didn’t get a chance to hear WJ earlier. Had some creature distractions here, was he good?:)

The Abbreviated Pundit Roundup has become one of the better features on Kos. It rarely disappoints. Dem’s translation of Tommy (FU) Friedman, for example:

Thomas Friedman: Like I said, give me six months, and I’ll remake myself as Secretary of Energy. It’s becoming my new favorite topic to give advice about. Today, I’ll explain what working class America needs is a compliant Congress to give T. Boone Pickens tax breaks because the poor fellow doesn’t get enough of them. The consumer will greet us as liberators - trust me on that - but they’ll have to wait a few Friedman units to benefit.

Poor Johnny McTeleprompter. He tried going grocery shopping with a commoner and just about destroyed the store…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GayO4pc8S_A

So in retaliation, he’s now accusing Barack Obama of this…

http://img28.picoodle.com/img/.....5d57f3.jpg

I’m sure the media will pick up on this and will run with it for days on end. Of course, Johnny will say that Barack is getting more airtime and focus, but it won’t occur to him that it’s the usual negative press. Spit.

Good Morning Elliot and fellow firepups.

I will wait until tommorw to see what my knowledgeable collages on this sight say about the sunday morning talks.I do not want to throw a brick at the TV and deprive the kids of watching cartoons this morning even though the sunday talk shows are just that.

Hi, FHM. Ya did good. Fareed Zakaria. He writes for Newsweek, and he seems like a very savvy dude.

Iwatched it. I thought he did a nice low key job of defending the talking points such as whether to visit the military base because the Pentagon thought it was “too political”.
Should’ve given hin an armored vest, 500 soldier escort, and visit a market where things seem “Normal”. Rugs, anyone?
(((Barbara and David)))

advanced studies in cause and effect *g*

Have you posted pix of the latest addition to the family?

The next time Johnny McTeleprompter visits our troops, we need to point out he’s just there for a photo-op. What will the right wingers say to that? Oh that’s right! They’ll say, “Johnny loves our troops…Barack does not!”. Had it been Barack Obama who had visited troops in Germany, he would have been booed by the knuckledraggers until election time.

(((Jim Clausen))) Thanks!!!

In reply to Waccamaw at 10. Sorry

Bah hahahahahaha! A Washington Times reporter right now is getting her ass handed to her on a plate by a US citizen. Loving it! He said something like…

NIXON + GEORGE BUSH divided by KARL ROVE = John McCain

LOL! I love it when Americans with a brain in their skull call into C-SPAN.

My normal failures with attempted multi-tasking….yeh, I think so…….at least it wasn’t the usual 100% bashing. Jim @ 19 may be able to give you a better analysis than I.

Off to grab a bite of breakfast; catch up with y’all a little later.

We’re playing by a different set of rules again. Obama promised to bring a gun to a knife fight. This week will determine if that’s true. So far, not. He’s getting hammered with lies and he’s taking the high road trying to knock them down. Admirable but not sure it’s enough. And, personally, I was alarmed when he requested no ads from outside groups. McCain’s gonna continue to smear him and his negatives are going to climb. Meanwhile, Obama’s being the gentleman. This probably appeals to his base, but he needs someone out there to start attacking McCain. Loudly.
And, while we’re on the subject, I’ve seen no backlash to McC’s comment that Obama would rather lose a war than an election. If Obama had said that we’d be hearing a chorus of “Apologize”.

Just visited your site. Cool! The thing about McBush in the grocery store? When all the containers fell to the floor, making Big Noise, his reaction time seemed totally off. I wondered if he’d dive for the floor. But no. Anyone remember this old comedy routine (can’t remember whose): “Slowwwwwwwwwly I turned, step by step, inch by inch . . . .”

Can you say “John Kerry and Swift Boaters”? Sure you can.

I think FDL’s servers farted just now. LOL I couldn’t get in for a minute or two.

His reaction was slow for sure. Honestly, I don’t think his synapses have worked for quite some time. LOL

I agree with you additionally, up to this point, the McSame camp is driving the discussion. Obama et al need to assume more control.

Good morning MM et al.

MM and mid atlantic keepers of the Fire—thinking of hosting a BBQ like eCAHN did at the beginning of the summer. Either Labor Day weekend or 2 weeks before. Thoughts?

Trust me Solai….but every time the video of him saying that played, it turned off more people. Sometimes the element of surprise is the best way, meaning, when the election happens and Johnny McTeleprompter loses 85% to 15%, Americans will collectively say, “Surprise! We didn’t listen to your media base!!!!”. See? LOL

There was some response to that, from Joe Klein

This is the ninth presidential campaign I’ve covered. I can’t remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation. It renews questions about whether McCain has the right temperament for the presidency. How sad.

McCain Meltdown

I hope that these three are still out in cyberspace. These were when he was still groggy from having been to the vet to be neutered. I’ll try to get some more up to date ones…

Hi RevDeb

Labor Day would be great, less of a chance of an unbearable humid day. Let me know if you need help with organizing.

Be afraid of stupid people in large numbers

A very good point. The stupid people in my eyes will be the racists and the Hillary supporters who voted for John McCain. These two groups I will blame if Johnny wins it in November (and Diebold machines too…let’s hope there will be attorneys at every polling place in the country on election day!).

I saw that, too. But think of the reaction when Wesley Clarke said being a POW doesn’t mean you’re qualified to be Pres. There was outrage. And Clarke, himself, was drilled in every interview about that statement. Now, McC says something far worse and there’s nary a peep from the other dems. We’ll see if it’s addressed today.

Just getting the word out to the gang. This would include E. PA, DE, MD,NJ, NY (for those who want to make the trip) and that general area.

Toby here? Did you see that auto ins companies just won a big victory in NYS? Expect your premiums to jump. Patterson signed the bill. Spitzer would never have signed it. Another DOJ victim to enhance the corps.

don’t hold your breath. It’s always easier to attack one of your own—or remain silent in the face of attacks. The dems have had lots of practice over the years.

good point, the relative outrage

Where do you live, RevDeb?

burbs of Philly in Chester County. Can do train pick-ups for both Septa and Amtrack. Actually close to Wilmington too.

Great Deb, nice area to draw from.

With a great backyard and deck for the festivities too.

Rove asked if Obama shored up his credentials

“We don’t know”

which tells me Karl Rove thinks Obama most certainly did
– a whole lot of excusing coming out of Rove’s mouth

and she makes the most delicious food too

Here. No I did not see that ‘news’. Got a link?

(blushing)

We might want to think about Sat. or Sun. rather than Mon. when there will undoubtedly be parades that politicos want to march in and we want to video—maybe. Just a thought.

And is a very gracious hostess.

Read it in Sunday paper.

Type a response get a list of MySQL warnings. Cute.

IMHO, neither of those statements seemed particularly noteworthy.

Wes Clarke could reasonably be accused of belaboring the obvious, and nothing else. What astonished me was the ineptitude of Team Obama’s response to highly orchestrated chorus of faux outrage from the wingers. My frist instinct would be to get friendly pollsters to poll the public: “To what extent do you believe that spending time as a prisoner of war enhances a candidate’s qualifications to be president of the United States: very little; somewhat; a lot?” IMHO, that would end it.

By contrast, McCain’s statement was silly to the point of embarrassment. Here this demented old guy who refuses to define “win” claming that somebody else wants to “lose.” Get back to us when you figure out what you’re talking about, Senator.

Let’s try again.

Awww, handsome little devil.

Great morning laugh if you haven’t seen it.

Is this it? http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1.....d-campaign

Here’s the link, Toby:

http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1…..d-campaign

I think Seward’s claim that the only people he’s answering to are his constituents in his district is the best part.

Good Morning all you late Lake risers, even I’m starting to wake up now.
* stretchin’ and yawnin’ *

Shock news, the Fox News AllStars are picking on Obama.

.
(any new tiger pics for us from you SD?)

Here’s a great pic of Barak Obama
ttp://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2008/07/the-trip-when-o.html
on his listening tour.

Here in north Texas, we’ve been seeing a lot of anti-Obama TV advertisements paid for by Let Freedom Ring, a 501c4 PAC. It seems strange that they’re spending that much money in Texas and I wondered if other parts of the country were seeing them also.

Gonna try this for a third time. Hit submit and all I get is a goddamn list of MySQL warnings.

Tama-chan at 1 1/2.

way too much of that this morning. I’m giving up. Time to do some other things anyway.

There must be some powers that be out there that REALLY don’t like us. Are we that powerful?

Good Morning Elliot and Firedogs,

in the event my other comment didn’t make the screen - mornin’ all.

Southern Dragon - gorgeous baby - doralee, miguelito, and merle approve :D

awww, looks like Tama-chan would like to go outside just for a little bit.

mornin, Elliot. and pups.
We have what looks like a beautiful day in the brew in CO this am.

Open a door and they can’t run away from it fast enough. The only time they get near a door is when I come home. Then it’s a struggle to get through the kitchen. That pic’s about 4 years old. The screen you see was destroyed long ago as they tried to get at lizards on the outside sill. I borrowed a friend’s digital a few weeks ago but he had left the batteries in it for who knows how long and the inside of the camera was mush. Tama is such a lover that when he gets petted he purrs and drools. And I do mean drools. Must be part wet mouth St Bernard.

BagNews Notes picked up on Frank Rich’s theme - here’s a great pic of Barack Obama
ttp://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2008/07/the-trip-when-o.html
on his listening tour.

Link won’t work because the “h” in http is left off. Copy and paste in address bar and add the h at the beginning.

We really do have to stop feeding the squirrels GM corn.

When I lived in Florida, we had many a tailless lizard about the place *s

I have a dog and a fenced in yard so the back door is often open for his convenience. So I’ve never ever been able to keep a indoor cat. But apparently I am the only one in the neighborhood with that problem. My next door neighbor has (last count) 19 cats -and all indoors. She’s very tidy tho, and they are all well cared for. Her husband says it happened because she’d say “What’s one more?”

.
siri, it was delightful here this morning but it’s starting to get ookie out. Prediction is for the 90s today, and that always includes high humidity here in the Mid-Atlantic.

Browkaw is getting viewers to sit through ten minutes of commercials with the tease MTP may make news on the VP pick. But I doubt it, Obama will artfully dodge the question.

The Jewish vote only accounts for about 1.2% of the US population. The Jewish population in the US is about 40.3% of the world’s Jewish population which is .3% lower than Israel in total world Jewish population (as of 2006 census).

The total representation in Congress of the 1.3% Jewish population within the US total population is almost a 10.5% representative membership of Congress.

So what is Chris Matthews point? That’s a pretty low % of voters overall. Is this code for maybe no AIPAC funds going to Obama?

If so, I say grrrrreat!

FDL Book Salon this afternoon

Apocalypse How: Turn the End-Times into the Best of Times!

People have been predicting the end of the world since…well, the beginning of it. Oh, the form it takes may vary-firestorm, earthquake, plague, new ice age, alien invasion, nuclear cloud, or the rise of our machines-but everyone who survives will be starting over at Square One. Your needs won’t be that different from today’s: food, shelter, work, finances, relationships, 24-hour cable…. But you’ll have more raw materials to deal with. Apocalypse How is the humorous how-to-guide to living your best life possible (after the Apocalypse renders your current quality of life null and void.) Organized like a travel or lifestyle guide, the book tells you all you need to know in order to fend off zombies, forge for non-radioactive food, and make the most of your new dwelling (while ignoring the ash outline of its previous occupants on the far wall.)This handy volume includes such essential sections as: What to Expect When We’re Exploding Before We Blow: Your Essential To-Hoard List Should You Stay or Should You Flee? Questionnaire Sex, Love, and Dating: What if You Are the Last Man on Earth? The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Petty Tyrants The Apocalyptic Aptitude Test Apocalypse How is guaranteed to be of use in the world to come. It also makes a handy defense weapon if thrown, and firestarter if needed.

Rob Kutner is a writer for the Emmy-winning The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and contributor to the New York Times bestselling America. He lives in New York City. (Barnes and Nobel)

5 pm eastern today

Attackerman’s upstairs
Broder on Obama. So Athletic. So A-R-T-I-C-U-L-A-T-E

.
and klynn
Yes.

Yay, oh yay. I just might need that humor this afternoon.
How are you this am? Neat to see you at LN last night. (But, are ya a bit tired?)

yes, I only actually woke up a little bit ago. lol!

Elliott,

Thanks for doing this line-up post.

As to your last note on the comments update memo a related question. Over at EW’s her comments box is eating comments so no one can post over there. Anyone know what is up on that?

And, was there a Meet the Bloggers this week? I somehow lost my bookmark to link to it. Could someone help out and post a link? Thank you so much FDLers.

Good for you. It must take a lot of work to put up the Sunday Talking Heads list. It’s very long and thorough. I feel like taking a nap just reading that list. (kidding - I just got up myself.)

I couldn’t afford 19. My vet did home visits to an older lady who had 25 indoors. My next door neighbor, in her 80’s, feeds all the strays. Catches the kittens and has them fixed. We haven’t been able to catch the 2 queens, however. I’ve got 1 of the queens and her two kittens hanging out on my front sidewalk most of the time. Little black kitten is curious and may be catchable. Little tortie is real spooky but h/she’s the one I really want to catch. There was one last year that I got from another neighbor but he turned out to be leukemia positive so I had to give him up. I’m afraid the majority of these strays are positive as well. Highly contagious so I really want to get the birth rate to zero.

mornin’ pups–my second sunday of catv political talking heads’ news shows……..oh yayuh.

scheiffer just asked hagel if anyone from obama’s camp has approached him about vp-ship and was he interested in it?…said no….asked reed the same question–not interested, didn’t say if he had been approached.

sensory overload from getting highspeed catv and unlimited long-distance calling in the same week…
and discovering vladimir kush’s paintings–friends are in maui and found them there..surrealist but more….i love them. wrote to him, then pissed him off then tried to fix it and made it worse…oh well. shouldn’t have written while in the ’too many toys’ pleasure-overload mode…finding his paintings in the middle of it sent my brain into a manic mode…(like he’s never had that happen /s)…..anyone who loves me can write and defend me at vladimirkush.com
here’s some of his work. google will get you more sites.
http://www.linkinn.com/_Surrea.....h_Pictures
http://www.blackpearlfineart.com/Kush-Bronze.html

taping shows and gonna take callie the collie for a ride and have a cone……..as my sister says ”blow the stink off”….clear my head.
already had breakfast, so, it’s ok to have ice cream for lunch….lol.

bbl

McC hammering Obama in a way that I didn’t see Obama doing.

Southern Dragon - thanks for catching the HTML error, and sorry i posted that twice - i thought the msqwhatevererror caught the first one. Bless you for taking care of the tiger pack.

All my kittehs are rescues, the tortie is definitely female like all calicoes. Hope you can nab them both for fixin’.

I have a tortie and one that looks like your Tama-chan — gray tabby with white trim. All my gray tabbies loved sea food, have you noticed that?

dmac, you must be in 7th Heaven — and hoarse *s

Tama won’t touch seafood. Canned tuna, salmon, fresh caught king mackerel, fresh shrimp, nothin’. He and Ptah can’t eat dry food, creates crystals in their bladder, plugging them up. If I catch this little tortie and she’s leukemia negative, she’s mine. The tan and orange on her stand out something fierce. Just gorgeous. I have to admit I’m feeding this little family, which is something I won’t normally do.

my tortie’s pretty nondescript, except for one orange foot, but she is a total love bug. I adore her. The tabby is attached to the dog, which is so cute

the tabby goes for walks with me and the dog. She leads the way tail-up when we head back home

Min was a pretty tortie. Miss her a lot.

very pretty!

As a denizen of the West Coast I feel almost excluded from discussion on this thread anymore. I’ve just finished watching Face the Nation and won’t have an opportunity to see George S+too many letters for another 6+ hours as that show is broadcast from Seattle at 3 or 4 PM PDT. By the time I see any of these shows everyone else has moved on.

I was impressed with Bob Schieffer’s show this morning and his two guests. I tried to send the message below to CBS through the message board, but it wouldn’t function so I emailed it to ftn@cbsnews.com

to Bob Schieffer,

Your interview this morning with Mr. Hagel and Mr. Reid was one of the best Sunday morning “talking head” segments I’ve seen in a month of Sundays. Their rational and reasonable discussion of the issues and obvious disdain for the level and style of the McCain ads you showed was refreshing and gives one like myself on the verge of losing all respect or confidence in the political process hope for the future. Even when you tried to steer the discussion to “gotcha” type irrelevancies you intelligently and graciously allowed them to redirect the discussion to more relevant topics.

The only thing missing, for me, in Mr. Hagel’s logic based analysis of the Iran situation was any kind of acknowledgement of the FACT that Iran has plenty of real reasons to neither like the United States or trust their motives. The overthrow of the elected government in 1953 and installation of the hated Shah and the support for Saddam Hussein and his invasion of Iran in the 1980’s most immediately come to mind.

This fella used to be on George S+many letters’ show almost every week shooting the breeze with Gorged on Himself Will.

New Glenn

Lot of McCain ads in Michigan many slamming Obama. Obama is visible in MI with soft intros in who he is but seems to be trailing in the TV wars overall. Nothing hard hitting by Obama and the Dems on the failure of conservative and Republican ideology and governance.