Capt. Morton: [on the loudspeaker in reference to his "missing" palm tree... ] All right! Who did it? Who did it? You are going to stand sweating at those battle stations until someone confesses! It's an insult to the honor of this ship! The symbol of our cargo record has been destroyed and I'm going to find out who did it if it takes all night!

With Emperor George down to his underwear, the Department of State memos this week come across as incredibly petty. One wonders if the other cabinet departments are going to be similarly instructed to throw monkey wrenches once Obama's plane touches back down in the states.

I'm recalling an episode Sister Mary M., O.S.B. told us, about the second protest (1991) at the School of The Americas, Fort Benning, GA.  

Better organized than the first, when the march reached the gates and the guest speakers began prepared remarks, 5 huge tractor lawnmowers came over the hill like Sherman tanks.  The mowers proceeded to ride back and forth inside the fence, for the entire speechifying part of the protest. (The amusing followup is down in the replies)    

My question is "Where in the World Is Donald Segretti?"

Seems a wingnut over in St. Cloud, FL decided to try to tie the Democrats to the World Trade Center tragedy even though it was the Republicans who ignored the warnings that could have stopped it.  So he rented a billboard.  Which you can see on the other side.

I saw this story on Raw Story and immediately it came to mind that we need to Photoshop this thing so that it tells it like it really is.

-- Make the jump --

... and they seem to be wetting themselves with glee at their "discoveries" while doing screen-captures with both hands.

Looks to me as though a bunch of creeps used the personal blogging features of the MyBarackObama website to plant weird, racist and reprehensible personal blogs that call for all manner of vile things under what appears to be the candidate's official imprimatur.

Now, in what looks like a coordinated effort, the usual suspects like Malkin, Little Green Footballs, Powerline and Atlas Shrugs are suddenly discovering all those blogs and publishing their screen captures as though they were the official Obama positions.

You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to assume that the right-wing will not go quietly into that political good night.  

Are Republican Operatives Packing the Airwaves?

I've been listening to "Talk of the Nation" on NPR this afternoon and listeners have been calling in claiming to be Clinton supporters who will vote for McCain instead of Obama.  What strikes me so odd about this is that they were spouting Republican talking points.  They're voting for McCain because he has more experience and Obama doesn't.  Paraphrasing they're comments:  "We need the leadership and experience that McCain can provide."  "McCain has the experience in Washington to get through the gridlock that Obama doesn't have."  And they both said, "I didn't vote for Hillary Clinton because she was a woman, but because she was tough enough to get things done."  Or, "I listen to Obama's speeches and the rhetoric sounds great, but later there's nothing there.  It's just words."    Or a Hispanic woman claiming to be from Florida, "He has beautiful rhetoric, but he doesn't have the experience to get things done.  I'm looking at the bigger picture, and McCain has the experience to get things done.  And we're really mad about having our votes taken away in Florida.  Most of my friends feel the same way."    

more after the break.

It is Thursday and as it is traditional the Dog is going to ask a question (after all, dogs are nothing if not creatures of habit, eh?). So, the Dog is wondering, have we (meaning Dems) been played a little this primary cycle? Have we been encouraged to our worst natures, pushed along by those that have no interest in a positive outcome for our party?

At first blush the Dog was disinclined to believe this is possible, but after a little thought there are, at the very least, the structural elements that would be needed to make this kind of subtle trick work very well. Stick with the Dog for a minute here and he’ll detail them for you.

Lanny Davis insists that he is not affiliated with Hillary's campaign, yet he is one of the most prominent advocates of ever-more-convoluted schemes to prop up her numbers.  Who benefits from Davis's efforts, and who is Davis really supporting for President? The answer to both questions is: John McCain.

Hilary Clinton is the author of her own fortunes.

I am not very adept at following stories from one blogg to another and sometimes get lost. But I was following one from TPM on party unity. At the end of the story I saw the below. I do not know where it came from, the blogger said it was from some GOPers. I thought I'd better share this here, as it may explain some of what I've been reading for the past few days, here and other pro Obama sites.

If this is inappropriate, please tell me and I will delete it immediately.

I had hoped that I wouldn't have to write another diary about why -- as a sixty-something feminist -- I nevertheless do not support Hillary Clinton for President.  However, I am not alone amongst smart, thinking elder women; and while I am relieved that Obama will be our candidate, I still believe it is important to go on the record about Hillary and Feminism; for while bias against women remains a problem, that is the least difficulty associated with Hillary's candidacy.

McClatchy has a terrific article out that attempts to find a source for all the Obama smears that have been making the rounds since Barack announced his candidacy for President. Mainly the false assertions that he is a Muslim, attended a Madrassa and that he took his oath of office on the Quran. These "rumors" have long since been debunked, but they continue to pop up in voters responses as to why they won't vote for Obama.

Any one who has visited Facing South, TPM or dailykos is well aware the irregularities surrounding Women' Voices Women's Vote group and the issues surrounding these repetitive violations of not just the law, but of common sense.

Say what you will about the matter: I think Facing South did a great job at revealing the facts..

There is a clear pattern of activity of providing bogus information, as outlined on that diary above. These are not 'tin foil' claims; these involve in many cases either law enforcement or authorized officials inside the Democratic Party structure making statements to try to straighten the messes made by WVWV robo calls.  

Now, we may argue about whether these events that span 12 States, and involve potentially millions of votes already cast were a result of gross incompetence or outright criminality. But one thing is for certain: hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent [if not more] to place robo-calls to people which could not have had the desired effect.

What's this diary about? Take the jump.  

He didn't use a slur and he didn't curse the people in Indiana...

I can appreciate the difficulties in managing a national Voter Registration (VR) campaign.  I once managed a California VR campaign that registered over 200,000 voters, and the logistics were monumental, even with just one set of state VR rules.  That said, the problems faced by the organization responsible for the North Carolina robo-call operation defies explanation. The reportage by Facing South in uncovering this organization (Women's Voices -- Women Vote) has been nothing short of exceptional.

To begin, voter registration professionals take their responsibilities VERY seriously.  The obligation that is assumed by voter registrars is akin to the fiduciary obligation taken on by financial planners -- voting is sacred and you can't screw it up. When registrars take on the responsibility to register voters, like a doctor, the first responsibility is to "Do no harm."

I find it inconceivable that an organization that has successfully registered so many other voters in other campaigns could have so monumentally screwed this up.  See my nagging and unanswered questions AND AN UPDATE after the jump:

The LA Times' Blog reports that the woman next to Wright at the press conference, who organized the event, is a hard core supporter of Clinton who has long-denigrated Obama.

Let's see, what's the most crucial issue facing the Democratic Party right now?

Is it Obama vs. Clinton?  No.

Is it the problem of Joe Lieberman?  No.

The Democrats need to start countering the distortions the GOP and their operatives are putting out there.  This is what this site is supposed to do; counter the Right Wing Noise Machine, not take jabs at each other.

So, are you ready to help?

If so, join me below the fold.....

Immediately following the sea-change election of 2006, I posted a diary expressing my anger and frustration.  Yes, I was elated that the party of progressive policies for the people had taken back both houses of congress.  But there was an anger -- an anger that we as a politic body continue to allow our electoral treason to be treated as a game with no rules, no referees and no respect for the sacrifices made by thousands to protect our right to vote.

The other side has us beat hands down on psychological use of words when enacting legislation.  No Child Left Behind, the Patriot Act, etc.  Yes, words do matter.  At that time I proposed an act to protect the integrity of our electoral system.  I suggested it be called the Electoral Treason Act.  I was told that the time was not right, we should be celebrating.  Now the time is right.  Below the fold I re-present my diary from almost two years ago.

North Carolina activist David LaMotte just got a push poll call from the firm of Geoff Garin, the new head of Hillary Clinton's campaign team. It wasn't as bad as asking "would it change your mind if you knew John Kerry actually bought his Vietnam medals off E-Bay." Or "How do you feel about John McCain's illegitimate black children?" But it was a push poll nonetheless, even if it also had elements of information gathering and message testing. This isn't the first time that the Clinton campaign or their allies have had pollsters offering positive information about Clinton and negative information about her opponents--they did it on the eve of the California primaryand in South Carolina.  (And firms linked to the Giuliani campaignmade highly negative push poll calls against Mitt Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire) But it's a disturbing practice precisely because it tries to spin the recipient under the pretense of merely asking about their views.