UNDEMOCRATIC NEWS MEDIA: In order for democracy to work, the media has the job of reporting what the candidates believe as well as what they do. Too often, this doesn't happen. Instead, the media constructs a narrative in advance of the events, then shoehorns the events into their narrative. Thus, news becomes theater, rather than reporting. According to a NYT story, this is what's happening at the Dem Convention. Obama and Hillary want to get out their economic message, but the media wants to talk about the split between the Obama side and the Hillary side: "A major distraction has been the news media’s attention to the lingering hard-feelings of some Clinton delegates here. That has frustrated not only Obama advisers trying to amplify their man’s message, but even some on the Clinton side. Mrs. Clinton’s longtime senior adviser, Ann Lewis, said on Tuesday that she had been visiting delegations both from states that Mrs. Clinton won and those that Mr. Obama won, and had been reassured by the party unity among the loyalists of the former rivals. Yet, when Ms. Lewis meets with reporters, she said, all the questions are about “the war going on.” Obama's difficulty in getting the media to focus on him and his economic message "could cost him the election," opines Jackie Calmes, who wrote the NYT story. --Politex

DAY TWO: The truth is not ready for prime time: watch Kucinich telling it like it is. (here) Wish Obama could do that!...Hillary gave a dynamite speech this evening: strong, clever, articulate. Many well-deserved standing ovations. A well-written speech with many highlights, a detailed, passionate cry to save the country with a vote for Obama. He couldn't ask for anything more. (video here)

"DON'T CAGE DISSENT": The bulwark against tyranny is dissent. Open opposition, the right to challenge those in power, is a mainstay of any healthy democracy. The Democratic and Republican conventions will test the commitment of the two dominant U.S. political parties to the cherished tradition of dissent. Things are not looking good. --Amy Goodman

WHY FORMER GOP REP. WANTS OBAMA: "The party that once emphasized individual rights has gravitated in recent years toward regulating values. The party of military responsibility has taken us to war with a country that did not attack us. The party that formerly led the world in arms control has moved to undercut treaties crucial to the defense of the earth. The party that prides itself on conservation has abdicated its responsibilities in the face of global warming. And the party historically anchored in fiscal restraint has nearly doubled the national debt, squandering our precious resources in an undisciplined and unprecedented effort to finance a war with tax cuts." --Jim Leach

WHAT DO THEY WANT? The diehard Hillary folks at the Dem Convention call themselves PUMA, which stands for "party unity my ass." A Brit pundit didn't understand why the PUMA Dems would rather vote for McBush than Obama, given their Dem ideology. I think the answer is that they want Hillary to run against McBush in 2012. It's that simple. And that simple-minded. --Politex

ANDREW SULLIVAN ON MICHELLE'S SPEECH: "“One of the best, most moving, intimate, rousing, humble, and beautiful speeches I’ve heard from a convention platform. Maybe she should be running for president.” Andrew Sullivan!

DAY ONE: Pelosi delivers boilerplate...a video about Jimmy Carter displays what a great man he is...Obama's half-sister speaks: half-Irish, as is Obama, and half Asian, who also speaks fluent Spanish and teaches American history...Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. next: co-chair of the Obama campaign, great speaker, serious, bright, articulate, and has eyes for Obama's Senate seat...Carolyne Kennedy introduces a moving video about Sen. Ted Kennedy leads to a strong speech by the man, himself, still fighting for the little guy as he promises to return to the Senate in January to welcome Obama as President...Jim Leach, former GOP Rep. defeated in the last election, calls for an Obama win, because "country comes before party," and gives an excellent overview of Progressivism in both parties...Sen Claire McCaskill provides a break with more Pelosi-like boilerplate and thumbnail bios about her family and the Obama family...Which leads to a Michelle Obama video: "this guy has to be wierd," she says of Obama's arrival at her law firm, where she practiced law, a grad of Princeton and Harvard Law, from which Obama later graduated. (McBush was at the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy.) Moves into community service. Key word: "compassion."...Michell's brother, head basketball coach at Oregon State, introduces her...Wow, can she give a speech to thousands as though she's talking to a small group! Smart, direct, animated. Just great! (Video of Speech)...Your turn, Cindy.

U.S.: Michelle Obama claims The American Dream for her husband Barack, Telegraph
U.S.: Ted Kennedy proclaims Obama America's hope and dream, Times

INSECURITY IN THE HOMELAND: The eyes of the world are on the Beijing Olympics. Sportswriter Dave Zirin is reporting on the suppression of protests that are occurring there. He has an interesting perspective, as he is a member of the anti-death-penalty group infiltrated in Maryland. He told me, “Our taxpayer dollars went to pay people to infiltrate and take notes on our meetings, and it’s absolutely enraging … a lot of this Homeland Security funding is an absolute sham … it’s being used to actually crush dissent, not to keep us safer in any real way.” The lack of freedom of speech in China is getting a little attention in the news. But what about the crackdown on dissent here at home? Dissent is essential to the functioning of a democratic society. There is no more important time than now. --"Don't Cage Dissent"

DEM CONVENTION PROTESTS: Rocky Mt. News, Video (Pepper Spray),Colorado Legal Eagles, Gitmo Revisited, Video (includes bad language), Video (gassed), Rolloftop Video (no sound), More,

DEM CONVENTION PROTESTS: The reader can use the net to find the protest activities as they are happening. (Pelosi claims the security systems in place are ok, since the ACLU has decided not to sue.) Let's keep a running record of sources (please report those we have missed):

1. TWITTER: Sunday afternoon..."Walked out of my hotel into the middle of an anti-war protest on the 16th Street mall. Cops everywhere."

2. COLORADO INDMEDIA: Sunday, 8:50 am...Cindy Sheehan speaking to a crowd of close to 1,000 people at an anti-war rally at the State Capitol Building. Police presence light.

3. TWITTER ON C-SPAN: Sunday afternoon..."Planned Parenthood is handing out condoms with "Protect Yourself From John McCain" written on the pink matchbook cover."

[Sunday] afternoon saw the main pedestrian mall overtaken by a few hundred anti-war protesters, carrying banners saying: "It's the system, stupid". There were almost as many police on bicyles, horseback and on foot with assault rifles cradled close to their chests. The authorities have prepared chain-link holding cells in a disused warehouse in case of arrests - a facility protesters have denounced as a mini-Guantanamo. Tens of thousands of other activists have descended on the city to make their views known - --Guardian

Here at 1,609 metres above sea level, the air is fresh and clear, the people are friendly, and mountains soar invitingly in the distance: everything would be perfect, in fact, if it weren't for the Democratic convention. Protests are one of the biggest potential headaches: mayor John Hickenlooper has trained his police force to be prepared for demonstrators to "throw human excrement". Meanwhile, convention organisers seem to fear some rather creative objections from supporters of Hillary Clinton. They've already set up a "whip team" to try to keep them in line if they "start blowing kazoos", as one insider put it; now it emerges that among the items banned from Barack Obama's big nomination acceptance speech on Thursday are "shoes with wheels", "frisbees", and "cowbells". So if the Clintonites had been plotting some kind of morris-dancing-meets-Starlight-Express demonstration of their discontent, it'll be back to the drawing board. --Guardian

"If McCain wins, it's an affirmation of the decline of American civilization." --Cornell West, Convention Conversations, sponsored by Politico.

GOP PRE-VEEP PICK TALKING POINT RESPONSE MEMO:
Barak Obama's selection of _____________________ for his Vice-President shows his weakness because _______________________, unlike John McCain, a prisoner of war, whose houses are a testament to his success as a great American. (Insert your favorite McCain-as-prisoner-of-war-story here.)

VEEP SPEECH: Both Christine and I reached the same conclusion listening to Obama and Biden Saturday: Based on the two speeches, Biden should be running for President, and Obama should be his Vice-Presidential selection. (And McBush should be running for dog catcher.) What Biden focused on, we can't afford four more years of Bush, is what Obama seems incapale of saying, and he could very well lose by not doing so. After all, the fact that he doesn't focus on the actions of the worst president in U.S. history is absurd, and it gives McBush a free pass. --Politex

OBAMA'S E-MAIL MESSAGE RE VEEP CHOICE: Friend – I have some important news that I want to make official. I’ve chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate. Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois — the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago. I’m excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can’t do this alone. We need your help to keep building this movement for change. Please let Joe know that you’re glad he’s part of our team. Share your personal welcome note and we’ll make sure he gets it: http://my.barackobama.com/welcomejoe Thanks for your support, Barack P.S. — Make sure to turn on your TV at 2:00 p.m. Central Time to join us or watch online at http://www.BarackObama.com.

BIDEN PROVIDES WHAT OBAMA NEEDS: Working Class Roots, Honesty, Loyalty, Experience

Some Friendly Advice For Obama
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Dear Obama, your speeches are great,
Like a confident, smart Head of State.
But when questioned you freeze
And appear ill at ease.
Loosen up or you’ll lose — no debate!
And when queried you need to be clear.
Don’t meander and stutter,  you hear?
Cuz you come off evasive
And  quite unpersuasive,
While John McCain’s lies sound sincere.
I’ll admit I was never a fan,
And I’m sick of the phrase “Yes we can.”
But I’m begging you, hide
Your pontificate-side,
Else you’ll lose to a confidence man.

SOLILOQUY: Obama Prepares For Presidential Debate
by Jerry "Shakespare" Politex

To speak, or not to speak : that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous McCain,
Or to take arms against a sea of questions,
And by answering end them? To think: to speak;
No more; and by speaking to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That debates are heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To think, to speak;
To speak: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that speech so labored, what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this coiled rhetoric,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes voters give us so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of TV,
Oppressor Mac's wrong, my proud man's arrogance,
The pangs of despised self-love, the pundit's frowns,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his withdrawal make
With a bare statement? who would lobbyists bear,
To grunt and sweat in weary Washington,
But that the dread of something after office,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No politico returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus campaigns do make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of polls,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
(Exeunt...)

FAITH-BASED FARCE: With each passing day, the Saddleback Church Forum grows more absurd. Now, we learn that Rev. Warren gave both Obama and McCain some of the questions in advance, the Rev. and his spokesman disagree on the number of advance questions, and a number of themes other questions were based on were also given in advance. (see NYT). At least Obama alluded to the arrangement in response to one question: “I cheated a little bit. I actually looked at this idea ahead of time and I think it is a — I think it’s a great idea.” At the time the audience was clueless to understand what he meant. Meanwhile, McCain went along with the deception: "I was trying to hear through the wall," was his response to the the Rev.'s pretend "cone of silence." We later learned McBush was actually in his car driving to the church while Obama was being questioned.
The "sieve of silence" might explain McCain's choice of the "cross in the dirt" story which supposedly happened to him, an old favorite that even appeared in McCain's Merry Christmas TV ad. Further, it turns out that readers at the FREE REPUBLIC conservative website have been calling McCain on it since 2005: "Hmmmm. Looks like McCain has been reading Solzhenitsyn." A previous Freeper had written: "Nothing 'Christian' about McCain's lack of principles."

FAITH-BASED MEMORY: Many were moved by McBush's recollection during the Saddleback Church Forum of his prison guard drawing a cross in the dirt. Since Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is one of his favorite authors, McCain was probably moved when he read a similar story in THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO. Both stories may be found here. --Politex

McBUSH, REV. WARREN CON OBAMA: This excerpt from the Faith Forum transcript of the two Q+A's between Rev. Warren, Obama, and McCain suggests that the Rev. is a dupe or a liar, and McBush has a character too weak to tell the truth:
PASTOR RICK WARREN, SADDLEBACK CHURCH: Now, what I decided is to allow for proper comparison, I'm going to ask identical questions to each of these candidates. So you can compare apples to apples. Now, Senator Obama is going to go first. We flipped a coin, and we have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence....
[later] REV. WARREN: My first question [Mr. McCain], was the cone of silence comfortable you were in just now?
MCCAIN: I was trying to hear through the wall.
According to the Sunday NYT, McCain was not in a "cone of silence." Rather, "Interviewed Sunday on CNN, Mr. Warren seemed surprised to learn that Mr. McCain was not in the building during the Obama interview. A spokeswoman for Mr. McCain said he was en route to the church."
This may account for the swift glibness of McBush's answers. Unlike Bush at a prez debate with Kerry, he didn't even need to wear an electronic box on his back to get answers to the questions. --Politex

OBAMA-McCAIN FAITH FORUM: The prez candidates appeared for an hour each of Q+A by Pastor Ric Warren at his California mega-church. Obama hesitantly answered the tough questions in a careful, thoughtful manner, and we had a sense of a man personally wrestling with difficult moral and ethical questions. McCain took each and every opportunity to swiftly mouth Republican talking points in response to the same queuestions, preferring to come across as tough, rather than thoughtful, simplistic, rather than nuanced, disclosing little of his inner self. The audience applause was stronger for McCain than Obama. --Jerry Politex

I think Nicholas D. Kristof's conclusion in Malcontents Need Not Apply is a joke. After describing his Catch-22 attempt to get a legal demonstration permit during the Chinese Olympics, which pretty much details the impossibility of getting an actual permit, he sees the process as an improvememt over the previous Chinese totalitarian approach: "My hunch is that in the coming months, perhaps after the Olympics, we will see some approvals granted. China is changing: it is no democracy, but it’s also no longer a totalitarian state." My hunch is China has worked out a permit process, designed to give no permits, to adhere to the letter of its promise, made in order to get the IOC to approve the China Olympics. My hunch is when the Olympics ends China will go back to business as usual: no demonstrations, no permits. --Politex

After eight years, [Bush will] go out as he came in — ignoring reality; failing to foresee, prevent or even prepare for disasters; misinterpreting intelligence reports; misreading people; and handling crises in ways that makes them exponentially worse. He has spent 469 days of his presidency kicking back at his ranch, and 450 days cavorting at Camp David. And there’s still time to mountain-bike through another historic disaster....What was so galling about watching W.’s giddy sightseeing at the Olympics was that it underscored China’s rise as a superpower and, thanks to the administration’s derelict foreign and economic policies, America’s fade-out. --Maureen Dowd. Bush is either totally clueless or a liar: when Olympic reporter Bob Costos alluded to "America's problems," Bush said, "I don't see America having any problems." --Politex (video)

Given a daily reality in which “over-the-top parodies come to fruition,” [THE DAILY SHOW's Jon] Stewart said, satire like “Dr. Strangelove” becomes “very difficult to make.” “The absurdity of what you imagine to be the dark heart of conspiracy theorists’ wet dreams far too frequently turns out to be true,” he observed. “You go: I know what I’ll do, I’ll create a character who, when hiring people to rebuild the nation we invaded, says the only question I’ll ask is, ‘What do you think of ‘Roe v. Wade?’ It’ll be hilarious. Then you read that book about the Green Zone in Iraq” — “Imperial Life in the Emerald City” by Rajiv Chandrasekaran — “and you go, ‘Oh, they did that.’ I mean, how do you take things to the next level?” (NYT)

CHINA'S OLYMPIC REPRESSION: When Beijing was awarded the games seven years ago, the theory was that international scrutiny would force China’s government to grant more rights and freedom to its people. Instead, the Olympics have opened up a backdoor for the regime to massively upgrade its systems of population control and repression. And remember when Western companies used to claim that by doing business in China, they were actually spreading freedom and democracy? We are now seeing the reverse: investment in surveillance and censorship gear is helping Beijing to actively repress a new generation....The numbers on this trend are frightening....Naomi Klein

CROSS OF IRON: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." --Dwight David Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

GOP AUGUST SURPRISE: "The outbreak of war in Georgia on Friday offers a disturbing and somewhat surreal taste of what to expect from John McCain should he become our nation’s Commander in Chief....McCain’s brain remains undeterred by reality, a fact that became painfully clear [Friday afternoon] in Des Moines when he...demanded, “The US should immediately convene an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to call on Russia to reverse course.”...The problem with McCain’s bold demand about going to the UN is that Russia already tried doing exactly what McCain called for–and got rejected by McCain’s neocon pals in the Bush Administration. Early this morning, Russia convened an emergency session of the UN Security Council, calling on both sides to immediately cease hostilities, return to the negotiating table and renounce the use of force–but the last part about renouncing the use of force is exactly what Georgia’s president Mikhail Saakashvili refuses to do....According to a Reuters report from earlier in the day: "Georgia launched a major military offensive today to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Rebel leaders said about 1,400 had been killed. The offensive prompted Moscow to send tanks into the region in a furious response that threatens to engulf Georgia, a staunch US ally, and Russia in all-out war....At the request of Russia, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency session in New York but failed to reach consensus early Friday on a Russian-drafted statement. The council concluded it was at a stalemate after the United States, Britain and some other members backed the Georgians in rejecting a phrase in the three-sentence draft statement that would have required both sides “to renounce the use of force,” council diplomats said." The meaning of this is clear: the United States and Britain are backing Saakashvili’s invasion." --Mark Ames, Friday, August 8

GOP AUGUST SURPRISE, PART 2: "Sen. John McCain's top foreign policy adviser prepped his boss for an April 17 phone call with the president of Georgia and then helped the presumptive Republican presidential nominee prepare a strong statement of support for the fledgling republic....The day of the call, a lobbying firm partly owned by the adviser, Randy Scheunemann, signed a $200,000 contract to continue providing strategic advice to the Georgian government in Washington." (Washington Post)..."The White House has started to panic over a July 9 meeting between Condi Rice and [Georgia President] Mikheil Saakashvili, desperate to suggest they didn't encourage Georgia's crack-down in South Ossetia. Given that panic, I wonder whether Karl Rove had any similar chats with Saakashvili when they were in Yalta together just days later?" --more...Empty Wheel, FiredogLake

THE FIX IS IN...AGAIN: Better get used to the idea: John McCain will probably be the next President of the United States. The fix is in, as it has been in every election since 2000. This follows from two overarching facts that the corporate media will not report, and the Democrats choose to ignore: 1. The ruling oligarchy can not allow a reformist Democrat to occupy the White House. 2. They have the means to prevent it, as they did in 2000, in 2004, and as they might do again in 2008. All other aspects of this “election” – issues, personalities, media blitzes – are secondary and perhaps even irrelevant. [Here are the specifics:] --Ernest Partridge

LIAR McBUSH: "John McCain recently tried to underscore his seriousness about pushing through a new energy policy, with a strong focus on more drilling for oil, by telling a motorcycle convention that Congress needed to come back from vacation immediately and do something about America’s energy crisis. “Tell them to come back and get to work!” McCain bellowed....Senator McCain did not show up for the crucial vote on July 30, and the renewable energy bill was defeated for the eighth time. In fact, John McCain has a perfect record on this renewable energy legislation. He has missed all eight votes over the last year — which effectively counts as a no vote each time. Once, he was even in the Senate and wouldn’t leave his office to vote....McCain’s campaign commercial running during the Olympics shows a bunch of spinning wind turbines — the very wind turbines that he would not cast a vote to subsidize....Bogus rhetoric designed by cynical candidates who think Americans are so stupid — so bloody stupid — that if you just show them wind turbines in your Olympics ad they’ll actually think you showed up and voted for such renewable power — when you didn’t." --Thomas Friedman, NYT

BREAKING NEWS: Mr. McCain's energy speech was interrupted yesterday when he said, "Hey you kids, get off my lawn! We're going to drill, were going to drill now, we're going to drill here!" At that, 10 men in hard hats and coveralls appeared. Armed with pneumatic hammers, they began to drill through the wooden stage. The broadly smiling Mr. McCain looked on, shaking his head "yes." --Politex

THE OLYMPICS: I love sports, I've been on basketball, baseball, football, soccer, and tennis teams over the years; I've won a few trophies as a runner; and I spend too much time watching sports on TV. But I'm not going to go out of my way to watch the Olympics this year. The International Olympic Committee is a joke. It selected China in spite of Beijing's severe pollution problem, which constitutes a very serious danger to the athletes, both indoors and out, then it got bent out of shape when American athletes wore protective breathing gear in front of TV cameras. Further, the IOC has not complained to China about its failure to carry out the human rights, etc. promises it made to get the venue in the first place. Let's face it, the tail of marketing and product placement is now wagging the dog. As the CEO of McDonalds said about criticism of the Olympics and China, his concern is to sell hamburgers. Period. The media, of course, is no better, shilling for the event through meaningless news stories. The handwriting was on the wall a few Olympics ago when the actual sporting events were clogged with soap opera-like back stories about the lives of the athletes, supposedly in order to attract a larger female audience. I don't watch soap operas. --Politex

OLBERMANN: You saw enough [of] Bush malfeasance by the end of 2003 to have titled [your] book “Worse than Watergate.”  Suskind says in "The Way of the World" that just the Iraq part is worse than Watergate.  Do you concur with his assessment?
JOHN W. DEAN, FMR. NIXON WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL:  Well, I do. I based mine largely on the excessive secrecy,...he has...added more detail and information about and the consequences of that secrecy. The central question in the 2008 campaign.  If we have another Republican administration, we‘re going to see more of the same that this sort of material that‘s revealed by Suskind. Those people have been well-implanted—as we learned from the testimony on the record and the inspector general‘s report of what‘s happening in the Department of Justice—this is really true throughout the government.  These people are there, that mentality is there.  And if there isn‘t a serious change of parties controlling the top of the government, we‘re going to see much more of this.

Rather than sparring on the Republican playing field to determine the rougher and tougher leader, Democrats should introduce more clearly substantive differences. How about this for a message — ending the war in Iraq now, making an Apollo-like investment in alternative energy and starting a revolution in health care to cover every American. I suggest making clear that this election is not about who is strong or weak, but about who is right or wrong. Maybe the key will be to emphasize that there will be real policy differences between a Democrat and a Republican in the White House next year and that those differences will — as they did in the past eight years — make all of the difference in the world to the country and the lives of its people. Mark Penn, Politico

Sexual Politics: McCain dipped in and out yesterday at the big bikers’ rally in Sturgis, S.D., to the roar of motorcycles and the admiration of veterans in attendance. We’re pretty sure then that when he offered up his wife to compete in the rally’s Miss Buffalo Chip contest, that well, he didn’t entirely get — as an ESPN writer suggests — that the contestants sometimes wind up topless, walk about in thongs or are otherwise scantily clothed.(NYT)...Reclining in a pool-side sun-lounger (see video), Miss Hilton [backs neither candidate, but says of the use of her image in the McBush celebrity ad]: "Hey America, I'm Paris Hilton and I'm a celebrity, too. Only I'm not from the olden days and I'm not promising change like that other guy. I'm just hot. But then that wrinkly, white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I'm running for president. So thanks for the endorsement, white-haired dude....I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." Discussing energy policy, which has this week emerged as the central issue of the Presidential campaign, Miss Hilton endorses a combination of Mr McCain's plan to increase offshore oil drilling and Mr Obama's scheme to offer more incentives for new energy technology. (Telegraph)...Even his own mother, the magical 96-year-old Roberta McCain, let slip that she thought the Paris Hilton-Britney Spears ad was “kinda stupid.” (Maureen Dowd)

McBush has decided that the voters will give him four years of continued conservative misrule, included war, welfare to the rich, and screwing the average American, by offering to change as little as possible and turning the spotlight on Obama, ala Rove-like lies, distortions, and slime attacks. As he moves up in the polls, it appears that Americans support his behavior. McBush is so clueless that he reads statements from cue cards at his own town hall meetings. What in the world does he plan to do when he debates Obama on national TV, wear a box on his back with George W. Bush inside? --Politex

It’s surprising that the lousy economy hasn’t yet had more impact on the campaign. Mr. McCain essentially proposes continuing the policies of a president whose approval rating on economics is only 20 percent. So why isn’t Mr. Obama further ahead in the polls? Mr. Obama, perhaps inhibited by his desire to transcend partisanship (and avoid praising the last Democratic president?), has been surprisingly diffident about attacking the Bush economic record. An illustration: if you go to the official Obama Web site and click on the economic issues page, what you see first isn’t a call for change — what you see is a long quote from the candidate extolling the wonders of the free market, which could just as easily have come from a speech by President Bush. --Paul Krugman

Attention Mr. Obama: McBush Has Howard Dean Moments
He Misreads His Plan: We will win by winning (see video)
"He shouts at clouds and the children who run across his lawn"

Fight Fire With Fire: Why Obama Must Focus On McBush's Character, Politex, Guy Reel

Two weeks ago Obama was ahead in most polls, now he's neck and neck with McBush. Why? Many commentators point to the McBush ads that personally attack Obama, constructed by the same Rove people who attacked Kerry personally and won. It's happening again, and Obama, like Kerry, acts as though he's powerless to stop it. But he's not.

Obama must give the average American what he wants. He must treat his opponent as though he were a product to be marketed, he must treat the campaign as though it was about two celebrities having hissy fits. That's what most Americans appear to want. The media and the corporations marketing their products have trained the American people to think that way, because it's in their best interests to have consumers who base their decision on emotions and drives, not the kind of rational thought that should be used to select a president. History suggests that most Americans base their choice of president not on what he and his party want to do, but on whom he appears to be.

Looking at past presidential elections, the Dems lose more often than not because they favor a voter decision based on the issues that will move the country forward, while the Repubs win because they favor a voter who decides on the basis of character assassination, since their plans for the country seldom benefit the average voter. Later this week I plan to provide further documentation for this belief. --Politex

As Guy Reel, an associate professor of mass communication at Winthrop University, writes:

"Look at the last two election cycles before this year, 2000 and 2004. Both times, George Bush and Karl Rove were able to cast the opponent as “not like us” — as “latte-drinking” limousine liberals. Gore was an extreme liberal phony who would surrender to environmentalists and who would raise taxes and expand government. Kerry was an extreme, liberal, flip-flopping socialist who “looked French,” was soft on terror and who would raise taxes and expand government. Never mind that Bush, of course, expanded government more than any president in history, weakened the U.S. military, jeopardized the war on terrorists and ensured a future determined by vast debt, and yes, the need for more taxes....

"And now, Obama is cast as an arrogant, presumptuous, overconfident, liberal, uppity, elitist celebrity who would raise taxes and expand government. He’s a little too smart, see? And a little too full of hisself. He ain’t like us. And we can’t trust him....And it seems apparent that this will be the Republicans’ Rovian playbook for the fall campaign. But what is equally obvious is that it’s easy to apply the same formula to define John McCain. Just ask yourself — what are the broad resonant themes about Republicans and about McCain? That is, what negative truths do voters think of when they think of Republican government and when they think of McCain?...

"To be blunt: He’s a crazy old man who can’t keep his stories straight. He’s a doddering fool. He’s a dangerous, burning fuse that cannot be trusted with the reins of government. It’s not so much that he’s a flip-flopper but that he doesn’t even remember his flips or flops. Even his own campaign says to ignore him. He shouts at clouds and the children who run across his lawn. You get the idea. And these resonant images and feelings fit in perfectly with voters’ resonant feelings about Republicans — the GOP nominee is an angry, arrogant, man whose policies, when he can remember them, will favor the rich and escalate the Bush incompetencies. t must be said that this isn’t about mere politics, although it would be an effective way to fight back against the highly negative campaign McCain is running. This is THE crucial issue of the campaign. These are dangerous times. We cannot afford to elect a doltish, forgetful, rash warmonger to lead the nation. Early in the campaign, the McCain camp went ballistic when Obama made a casual comment that McCain was “losing his bearings.” They shouted that this was ageism. They shouted it was an outrage about a “hero,” etc. These kinds of reactions demonstrate how effective these charges are, and how afraid of them the McCain campaign must be. Yet, amazingly, the Obama campaign backed down and has not since touched upon this crucial issue.

But it must. Obama and his campaign must fight back hard. This isn’t about age. It’s about competence. Perhaps in this case that’s tied to age, or, more accurately, to the patterns that some people fall into as they age — they may have difficulty processing simple events, or they cannot remember specific things that they say, or they become unnecessarily angry, or they view the world as a reflection of whatever thought happens to be passing through their minds at the time. All of these are characteristics evident in John McCain. Is he becoming unhinged? The man says things that are patently untrue, then says the opposite, which he then denies that he said. It’s easy to find reams of data detailing his flip-flops, his flashes of anger, his constant mistakes, his inability to be even remotely consistent on the most basic policies or facts. The pattern has become so alarming that some have wondered if he will even be able to finish the campaign. Again, this is not about age; it’s about the disturbing behavioral characteristics of John McCain.

"So this MUST be a key issue for Obama. If McCain is elected, his incapacities may well result in a government run not by the president, but by his vice president and ideological bureaucrats with their own particular agendas, not answerable to the people. Of course, that’s what happened upon Bush’s election. In Bush’s case it was intellectual and moral insufficiencies; in McCain’s case it is most likely mental impairment. This is the most important issue of the campaign, and it is the most resonant one for the American people. They’ve seen his dottiness first-hand; they know, deep down, that this is an important issue, even if he has been given such a free pass so far.

"The voters also know McCain is a temperamental, mean-spirited dinosaur who will support the failed policies of the past. So tell them both of those things in this campaign, over and over. If such a strategy is undertaken, some might worry about the fierce reactions from the McCain campaign and the right wing. But why feel qualms about telling the truth? The McCain campaign and Republicans have lied about Obama’s reasons for canceling a visit to wounded troops, tried to tie him to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and even, in Kafkaesque absurdities, compared him to Moses and blamed him for high gas prices.

"They are now trying the “resonant issues” they have used on Democrats for more than 30 years - a strategy that will likely last until the fall — that Obama hates the troops, is a tax-and-spend liberal, is weak on defense, and is unpatriotic. The only way to answer such pathetic charges is with the resonant arguments about McCain and the Republicans — he’s a crazy, dangerous and angry man who can’t remember what he says. He’ll favor the rich and give us more of the same Republican incompetence in managing the economy and foreign policy. At least, in Obama’s case, the charges will have the advantage of being true."

Bush Watch Op-Eds: August