Cross-posted from The Blame Blog

Let me get "full disclosure" out of the way: Barack Obama was not my first choice for the Democratic nominee. I was onboard for John Edwards until he dropped out. But since I live in Arizona, which voted on Feb. 5, I had to make a choice between Barack and Hillary. I wanted to vote for the candidate who most represented my views, who had the best chance to win in November and who had the best command of the issues. To me, that was Obama. Hillary was too tied to the traditional power structure of DC and was too aligned with the DLC, which seems to be content with letting the GOP set the agenda. I would enthusiastically support Clinton were she the nominee, just as I support Obama.

I just wish he wasn't so wishy-washy.

Right-Wing websites, "pro-Hillary" websites, and forwarded smear e-mails have provided me with some key insights into the presumptive Democratic nominee, his beliefs and his supporters.

h/t Klaus Fraktal

Snarkfest below the fold...

McCain's speech last Tuesday night was a gift to the Democrats and if this was a preview of the themes that McCain plans on running on, it will be the gift that keeps giving. The only way he can run as a "change" candidate is by reminding us what a disaster Bush was while embracing the same failed policies and failed ideas his Party has always espoused. While trying to sound like a "maverick", McCain reminds us just how badly conservatism and Reagan Republicanism has failed.

(More)

As we move into General Election mode behind our presumptive nominee, we must be prepared to respond quickly, accurately and effectively to the negative campaigning from the other side. As sure as summer follows spring, the GOP will unleash their attack dogs.  Fortunately, the long primary campaign has given us ample opportunity to see where Obama's opponents think he's vulnerable so that we should not be surprised by anything that's thrown at him.  I have prepared a brief list of the attacks we should expect and some ideas for responding. I hope to see many more ideas in the Comments.

...in order to get through all of the "venting" diaries. And, yes, I really am a Pruis-driving, latte-sipping, New York Times reading liberal. And I loves me some Mocha!

Of course, after the "venting" diaries, I have to catch up on all of the "OMG! Did you hear there's a tape?" diaries.

For the record, Flowbee did not correctly hear the contents of said tape. Louis Farakhan is not on the tape. The tape shows Michelle with these characters:

(flip)

Hey, Malkin! Take a look at this:

That's GOP Presidential candidate John McCain's daughter in - gasp! - a kaffiyeh! I await the righteous indignation...

(crickets)

Yeah, I thought so...

Let's start with the silly part first. Would you mistake this man for a police officer?

Joe Arpaio's deputy did and now it has cost the taxpayers of Maricopa County (AZ) $125,000.  The man in the picture is comedian Nick Tarr, who was arrested on Halloween 2002 for impersonating a police officer, dressed exactly as seen in this picture from the Phoenix New Times.  At the time, Tarr was portraying a character called "Joe Arizona" in commercials for a gambling proposition that Sheriff Joe opposed. Tarr was arrested while handing out leaflets about the proposition.  Clearly the only "crime" Tarr was guilty of was making fun of Arpaio (note the pink boxers). The charges were dropped and Tarr sued, settling for $125,000.

The serious stuff below the fold...

John McCain toured New Orleans' Ninth Ward today and had the balls to say

"I want to assure the people of the Ninth Ward, the people of New Orleans, the people of this country: Never again, never again will a disaster of this nature be handled in the terrible and disgraceful way it was handled. Never again."

Do you remember where John McCain was while people drowned? I do.

A wealthy patron. Political favors. Trips to the Bahamas. Exactly what got John McCain in trouble as part of the Keating Five.  So why didn't he learn from his mistakes?  Meet Donald Diamond, wealthy patron who takes McCain on trips to the Bahamas and receives favors in return.

Read the NYT article.

UPDATE: TPM Muckraker has made the NYT article today's must read. (h/t lmenshevik)

I don't usually ask for recs but this diary is getting lost as dkos seems to be inundated with PA Primary diaries. This story needs to be given more attention. Thanks.

My wife and I got a letter in the mail yesterday from our Homeowners' Association. Due to the huge number of foreclosures in our five-year-old subdivision in southern Arizona, the HOA has not been getting paid enough to afford to hire enough landscapers to keep up with the weeds in the common areas or maintenance people to take care of the common pool, playgrounds and walls.  The Association meets next week to vote on what to do about it, which means our monthly fees will likely rise. If no action is taken, then our property values, which have already plummeted past pre-boom prices, will continue to fall.

More...

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has had enough of Sheriff Joe:

In the wake of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office crackdowns on illegal immigrants throughout the Valley, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon is calling on the FBI to investigate whether Sheriff Joe Arpaio has violated any civil-rights laws.

Link

Stop the presses! Barack Obama used imprecise language! Oh, the horror! How can we possibly elect a politician who doesn't say exactly what he means?

This has got to be the stupidest manufactured "Gotcha!" moment yet this campaign.  But what really chaps my hide is that Hillary Clinton had the huevos to call Obama an elitist.  You want to know what elitism really sounds like? Let's take a little trip back to 1992 and the words of one Hillary Rodham Clinton...

We all know that politics is a dirty business and that the 2008 campaign for President is going to get nasty. We need to be prepared. Although I personally believe that the Democrats can win on policy and vision, we need to recognize that the GOP has been backed into a corner and the fight will be vicious. In that spirit, I have prepared a list of facts about John McCain. I am not advocating any particular method of using these facts in the campaign but I do feel it is necessary to have a helpful compendium of opposition research to draw on in the event that we need to counterattack. Feel free to add to the list in the Comments.

Maricopa County (AZ) Sheriff Joe Arpaio is having a bad week.  "America's toughest sheriff", as he likes to be called, has suffered a series of setbacks in the court and in the media that will hopefully lead to his ouster in the next election.

Bush's three minute statement at the State Department yesterday was a parade of Bushisms, nonsense, and one veiled threat. Yet, somehow, the MSM is making it sound like grand oratory.

CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush expressed sympathy Monday for the families of the 4,000 Americans killed in the war in Iraq, promising to make sure their loved ones "were not lost in vain."

"One day, people will look back at this moment in history and say, 'Thank God there were courageous people willing to serve, because they laid the foundations for peace for generations to come,' " Bush told reporters after a meeting at the State Department.

Putting aside the incredible hubris it takes to think that the Iraq clusterfuck is a foundation for anything but more of the same, only worse, this was about the only coherent thing he said. Clearly, the "burden" has become too much for Bush but the MSM is not reporting Bush's obviously deteriorating mental state.

On a warm June day in 1970, my older brother graduated from prep school.  To a twelve year boy, the occasion was just one of those family things that involved wearing nice clothes and a tie and enduring boring speeches and a seemingly endless procession of young men in caps and gowns getting a diploma and shaking hands in a warm field house.  On the two hour drive from our house to the school, the thought never crossed my mind that my life would be profoundly changed by the man who would give the commencement address, who I thought was just a baseball player, a guy named Jackie Robinson.  

While Bush was in New York addressing the titans of Wall Street and preaching the Tinkerbell Theory of Economics (Clap Louder!), Martin Feldstein, President of the National Bureau of Economic Research addressed The Futures Industry Asssociation in Boca Raton.  Feldstein had a decidely different outlook.

While Hillary deals with the Ferraro fallout and her surrogates try a "we're rubber, you're glue" approach to "leadership", Barack Obama remains dignified and above the fray, focussing not on the self-inflicted controversies of the increasingly desperate Clinton camp but on his real opponent, John McCain.  Instead of adding to the divisiveness that Clinton seems to crave, Obama acts like a real Democrat and attacks the Republican, his real opponent.
AP via Yahoo! News:

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday that Sen. John McCain reversed his position on President Bush's deep tax cuts in order to win the Republican presidential nomination, one of his sharpest criticisms yet of the Arizona senator he hopes to face this fall.