Many of us were pleased and relieved to see American flags waving at the Berlin speech.  Why?  When Bush framed the world as being "either with us or against us," not only Europeans, but also Americans took sides.  This fear based, either or way of thinking has been fanned and fed for eight years, and if we underestimate it, or approach it with only derision and logic, we could lose.  
    We may need to go beyond railing against the MSM for not treating our message fairly and respectfully listen and talk with EVERYONE we see and know in our daily lives.  And, we may need to look at and learn from Hillary Clinton’s successful ability to reach out and regain Reagan-Democrats.  And, we need to stand beside and sincerely with rural and Appalachian America -- to face distrust, fear, hopelessness, and sometimes, hateful opinions -- to find common ground and shared interests.

Can someone tell me what the heck is going on with these PUMA's and what does PUMA stand for? I understand they are Hillary supporters & are trying to crash the DEM Convention & get her elected! Here is the article on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/...
preston.puma/index.html Will Bower, the goups leader is quoted at CNN saying:"I have never voted for anything but a Democrat, and I feel that there has been an internal coup, and they are putting forward a candidate that does not represent the will of the Democratic Party," Bower said."We have got a convention coming up and although everyone calls him the nominee, he is the presumed nominee," Bower said. "So we need to make sure Hillary gets her name in nomination and those delegates get a chance to vote, because I think there are a lot of delegates who will change their mind by the end of August and realize that Hillary Clinton is the truer Democrat." Your thoughts PLEASE!

You don't hear very much about PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) lately. As a "movement", it appears to be fizzling out. There's little or no media attention being paid to them, and like any failed movement they're increasingly turning inward. They now spend a good chunk of their time talking to themselves on obscure "blog radio" efforts. PUMA has turned into a little pity party club with no prospects for future growth.

More after the jump...

Ok, I really didn't give Hillary $50. But if I did send her $50 as she requested via email today, I would have gotten a nifty shirt just like this one:

Pretty snazzy, huh? Nothing quite says, "Never quit, even when you're mathematically eliminated from the race and your continued attacks on your fellow Democrat increase the chances of John McCain becoming President and destroying the world as we know it", like one of these babies.

All this talk about how "oooh, hillary voted against FISA. What a bold move".  Gimme a f***ing break. Guess what, she isnt in the presidential race anymore, so what does she have to lose? A VP Slot, sorry not likely

I have been reading the recent entries about Obama about how the liberals are supposed to get his back and how it is of utmost (and only) importance to win back the White House etc. etc. And I think I might agree with one of them (the winning part) 100%. One think, though, stands out to me is the gradual thinning of line of difference between HRC and BHO.

More after the Jump..

On Friday, Charlie Rose interviewed Adam Nagourney from the NYT and Clinton insider Paul Begala, who reacted to the Hillary/Barack rally in Unity, NH.

To my great pleasure and surprise, Begala was very charitable toward Obama and offered some hopeful predictions about the future cooperative behavior of the former president in a party no longer under his complete control.

The video of the show is not yet available, but you can follow the link here: Charlie Rose, 6/26/08.

More after the jump...

I saw Bud McFarlane (Reagan's National Security Advisor) on a cable network speaking about how Barak’s limited experience in world affairs was behind his strategy of speaking to nations such as Iran and N. Korea.  His conclusion was John McCain was the man with the experience and hardliner credentials to keep us safe by not speaking with these groups.

I was just watching CNN and heard some Hillary supporters in New Hampshire formed a democratic group to vote for McCain. Are they serious? It sounds like they want to cut off their nose to spite their face! I can understand being upset if your candidate didn't get the nomination, but to switch parties seems completely absurd.

I'm still not completely convinced that idea isn't just a Rethuglican conspiracy to make some Hillary supporters think there's actually such a movement. Who knows with all the spin these days eh? I watch the news quite a bit, but it doesn't take long for me to tire of the talking heads, whether for or against my beliefs.

I just know that it would be completely idiotic for me to believe McCain is different from Bush. Yea right! I mean, I once had some respect for him because of his military experience yadi yadi yadi, but really, that was when I didn't know much about politics anyway. I voted for Bush the first time because I was young, dumb and full of c...er thought he was a great guy. However, it didn't take long to see how much of an arrogant idiot he turned out to be.

During one of his debates with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama stated that at some point during every election year "silly season" begins.

I've decided, for my own personal amusement and because some of these are just too obvious to be left unremarked upon and not pointed out, to compile a brief list of how you can recognize when "silly season" has begun.

Apparently you weren't paying attention.  The party politics, or 'choose a side' is the problem.  (response from my last diary entry).

One of the main reasons I supported Obama over HRC is because of the good judgement I believe he showed voting AGAINST Iraq. That, coupled with HIllary's support of the war and her subsequent unwillingness to acknowledge it as a mistake, solidified my belief that Obama had better judgement and was a more intellectually honest candidate.

Now, with his support of the FISA compromise, I am starting to wonder if I was wrong. True, the obvious and tangible effects of signing off on war are not the same as giving amnesty to the Telcos.

However, at one point does 'POLITICAL PRAGMATISM' turn into 'POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM?'

And how can folks who still unconditionally support Obama distinguish between HIS political maneuvering here and what Hillary did before the runup to the Iraq war?

Maverick, my ass.  I cannot believe that Walnuts would hire Rove to advise him on his campaign.  

We've all seen that photo.  2000 So Carolina, according to Rove & W, Walnuts was a misgenerating, heathen, hateful, atheist, asshole, ...

But now Rove sez Maverick's okay.  Rove works for FOX.  It is his insight they (we) crave.  But it is ultimately Walnuts he works for & who he'd prefer to see elected.

Is it possible that what passes for our common knowledge about our chances
for having a future just does not compute when it comes to the average voter.

Most of us have been absorbing facts like the list of 35 counts of impeachment Dennis read off the other night for years.

We know the facts about the wars in Iraq, and Afganistan, the covert actions elsewhere, the war crimes, neglect of global warming, peak oil, alternative energy, healthcare, social security, education, we have researched the corruption, the facts on the interfearence with elections and voting, the facts about the appointment of right wing, judges, attorneys and staff, the disemination of pro war propaganda, the warrentless wiretaping, kidnapping, torture, murder and holding without rendition.

What would happen if the media had made available those facts to be used in the decision making process of the average voter.

Yesterday was my sisters annual 29th birthday... Happy 29th b-day again Sis!

So, as the family gathered for pizza and cake my Mom says to me... I suppose you wanted "that Obama" to win didnt you?

I have to admit, the psychos over at hillaryis44.org do a decent job of making themselves seem relevant.  Every post gets hundreds of comments and you begin to think they have a real community over there.  I had wondered about this myself, so I threw together a quick script to count the commenters that participate in the site.  As it turns out...it's even more of a fringe group than you had suspected.

Were there sexist slurs thrown against Hillary?
Yes.
But there was plenty of racism thrown Obama's way, too.

So how come Obama hasn't complained?

There still is one way McCain can win:  scare the hell out of Americans and use Barack Obama's desire to run a decent, campaign (with no fear-mongering) against him.