This is good news.  Barack Obama is presenting an economic populist message that I believe will help propel him to the White House, along with showing more anger and fight.  And he's talking about how the American Dream is slipping away for many.  Yesterday, in Martinsville, Va, Obama said:

This election is about "deciding right here and right now that we are gonna fight to make government accountable to the American people to make sure that the special interests aren’t dominating Washington," Obama told the crowd of about 350 here at a community college in the southern part of the state.

"That’s why I promise you this: that if you will vote for me, if you give me that opportunity, if you give me that chance, that I will fight for you every single day. I will wake up in that White House thinking about the people of Martinsville and the people of Henry County and how I can make your life better"

msnbc.con: First Read

More, with video, after the fold.

Never saw anything like this. I went to Real Clear Politics tonight, and here's the top three headlines they're featuring, all in a row:

Obama: In Need of a Game Changer - David Gergen, CNN
Conventions Need a Believable Script - Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal
Obama Needs a Narrative - Steven Stark, Boston Phoenix

All of the sudden, everybody and his little dog is telling Obama what he needs, including Karl Rove.

Well, thank you all for your concern. But I already know what Obama needs, I already said so in a diary earlier this week--and thank God some people at the Obama campaign woke up and now agree. Look at this:
(continued)

I guess I'm feeling a little "saucy" (or mustardy) tonight; I didn't realize it until diary prep. So, advanced apologies if I seem a little hyper.

There’s 76 days until the Election and, hopefully, a new "Independence Day!"

Today's "day in history" is a rather notorious one; there was not a whole lot of "sweetness & light" to be found. On this date in 1989 (the year I graduated from high school), Lyle & Erik Menendez murdered their parents. And, if you've seen the crime scene photos, by golly, they were through!

On a much, much, much, MUCH happier note, hugs, kisses, smooches, & all that good stuff to F.O.O. who asked Keith to drop by here in his "Rachel" diary. I'm very touched by that; thank you! This sweetness more than made up for the upsidedown & backwards posts from last night after I left. WTF was that stuff??!! Do you have ANY IDEA how jarring it was to "read" that when I hadn't been properly caffeinated or, hell, even after proper caffeination?! Son of a .... *&^%$#@!

So, with begging & pleading for y'all not to post upsidedown & a$$backwards anymore [insert image of me on my knees begging here], let's Countdown with Keith & the gang!

    Seth Colter Walls has a fascinating article over at HuffPo, entitled

Richard Clarke: "Quick Draw John" McCain Wanted War Before Bush Did

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

    Former NSC advisor to the Bush administration, Richard Clarke, dubbed John McCain "Quick Draw John" for his eagerness to go to war with Iraq in the days right after 9-11 -- even before Bush had made up his mind.  

   The Walls article is filled with interesting tidbits relating to a campaign conference call focusing on national security. But the money quote is the moniker "Quick Draw John", which sounds like something we want to keep repeating every time McCain's experience is mentioned.

In a remarkable display of Battered Progressive Syndrome, the "Kos-o-sphere" exploded in recrimination, backbiting and furor over the Zogby poll and others showing Obama slipping away and McCain winning the election.  

Well, Newsweek Magazine blogger Andrew Romano interviewed a political scientist about the Zogby poll and others.  

The takeaway message to Kossacks is: Calm Down!

Well, too bad about the whole Obama thing, huh?

Apparently the 2008 election for President ended today when the always reliable Zogby announced that John McCain will be elected over two months from now by 5%.

This is a HUGE relief for me because I was worried I might have to spend the fall making phone calls for Barack Obama and giving money to Barack Obama and maybe even flying somewhere on election day to go door to door for Barack Obama, but now that the election is over my family and I are freed up to go on our semi-annual, cross-country, tour of cities that claim to be the "Cheese Capitol" of America.

One of my favorite blogs, DownWithTyranny has just informed me that today is Ashwin Madia Blog Day. Ashwin Madia is running for the Jim Ramstad seat in MN-03.

The Republicans have announced that Rudy Giuliani will be the keynote speaker at their convention on Tuesday, September 2nd.  

Based on the growing list of no-shows within the Grand Oil Party who fear being seen in public with the parade of has-beens, never-weres, and public disgraces who comprise this cabal, it seems increasingly likely that the protesters outside the Xcel Center will vastly outnumber attendees.

But the Traditional Media will, of course, go out of their way to obscure this reality from the American viewing public.  And breaking through their barriers in order to be seen requires some serious efforts at PR.

Follow me after the jump for a strategy that will ensure that, for at least the night of Rudy's triumphant speech, the protesters outside will garner as much or more attention than the travesty inside the hall.

There's an amazing article in The New York Times. A true must read.

Obama and McCain’s "Slur du Jour"

Barack Obama faces a quandary: how to respond to the McCain campaign’s Niagara Falls of negative attacks, a "slur du jour" since Steve Schmidt took charge that pummeled Obama’s lead.

So says Human Events.com in a recent e-mail to its supporters.  They plan to put signs up all over Denver with this statement, more detail below.

Check this out.  I was doing my daily Google News search for "McCain adultery" and I found this by Mildred Perry Miller:

There is much about John McCain that most people don't know but it is imperative that they learn. He is not as he presents himself.

He is aided and abetted by many in an adoring but incorrect media. He is a representative of a decadent and destructive Republican Party. He is willing to do anything to win, even keeping America in a constant condition of resentment and hate. He is a George W. Bush clone and will follow Bush's dastardly agenda.

Sen. McCain seems willing to engage in slander, bigotry, and non-issues. Imagine what our country will look like if these conditions which already exist under the present regime are allowed to continue.

Those are just my favorite parts!

I think some need a reality check.   And here it is.   The momentum of the race has changed.  McCain is leading now both nationally and at key battleground states.

Unless people wake up and realize that this election can be EASILY lost, we will all wake up with a nightmare becoming reality in 1/2009: President John Sidney McCain.

I'm talking to all of you people who sit on your asses, bitching about how luke-warm the Obama campaign is, how it's not going negative enough, it's not refuting enough, it's not active enough. And then you just sit on your asses and keep bitching.

Where is President Bush?

Look, I wish we never had to see him again. Hell, I can't stand the man. But finding The President in a news report about the campaign or in a campaign commercial recently has been like playing Where's Waldo? It's that absence at this critical hour that's pissing me off.

Watching the general election campaign so far, you'd think the incumbent Republican President didn't have a 30% approval rating. You'd think he wasn't reviled by over 50% of the American public. That's because John McCain is hiding the President and Barack Obama is letting him.

That needs to end. It needs to end now.

Reuters is reporting that McCain now has a five point lead over Obama.  Like all polls, this one is just a data point, and people should not get too high or low over any one poll.

In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

McCain leads Obama among likely U.S. voters by 46 percent to 41 percent, wiping out Obama's solid 7-point advantage in July and taking his first lead in the monthly Reuters/Zogby poll.

Poll shows McCain in 5-point lead over Obama

More, after the fold.

One more round on the Church thing--but perhaps from another angle.  Pardon me if this thought has been posted before, but I haven't seen it.

As far as the Saddleback thing goes, couldn't Obama have pulled a Stephen Colbert/Press Club thing that night?

By that I mean, while McCain was speaking to the audience in front of him and ignoring the fact that the nation was watching, Obama was speaking to all of us.

Howard Dean.

I mean, this guy ran for president 4 years ago and came darn close to winning the nomination.  I'd even say that if he were the nominee instead of Kerry, we might be running a re-election campaign for him this year.  I think he could have beaten Bush.

Here are all the reasons why he would be a great choice:

"We cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves, from ourselves."
-Fictional Maverick John McCain

Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore.
-Fictional Character William Adama, Battlestar Galctica

I'm through with it.  I'm sick of listening to, as one diarist referred to it, The Legend of John McCain.  And because I am sick of it, because forcing myself to watch his zombie base mindlessly applaud his pandering, talking points performance at Rick Warren's bloated, ego driven Christianity for Happy and Bigoted Capitalists Forum unsettled me for the last three days, I am going to rant and attack.