The McCain Campaign held an event in my neighborhood in South Portland, Maine this afternoon. I went with my family and more out of curiosity, since we rarely get national candidates in Maine. There were some protesters on the periphery, but we decided to join our neighbors inside the "protest-free" area and see John McCain up close. I was anxious to see his style and watch how he connected with his supporters.

After watching his performance, I don't see how he can succeed this fall.  I'll tell you why after the jump.

Back in the 1980s I worked at the US office of Deutsche Bank in New York City. For a time we were terrorized by the Jewish Defense League (JDL), who called in bomb threats nearly every day. We couldn't just ignore these threats, since the JDL did in fact carry out bombings in the NY area. The most notorious incident was the firebombing of Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in 1986. The leader of JDL - Victor Vancier, aka Chaim Ben Pesach - was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Now Victor Vancier is back with his newest project - Jews Against Obama - and the German government is investigating.

Here's a headline we like to see (from today's Portland Press Herald): Jury Acquits Six Anti-War Protesters.

What crime were they charged with? These good and brave citizens were demonstrating at the offices of our "moderate" Republican senator Susan Collins and refused to leave. They were acquitted of criminal trespassing.

The New York Times has a cautionary tale of how mainstream hate masquerading as patriotism can destroy projects designed to promote peace and understanding.  The front-page article - Her Dream, Branded as a Threat - is a sad tale of an idealistic educator whose vision of a school for teaching NY City kids Arabic was ruined by a hate campaign organized by the well-known neoconservative "scholar" Daniel Pipes.

Der Spiegel is reporting that a German citizen has been imprisoned by the US military in Afghanistan as a suspected terrorist. What behavior tipped off the Americans that they had a terrorist on their hands?

Read on...

Historians will look back on President Bush's War on Terror and marvel at how quickly the basic principles and values of America were violated and ignored. Many of the legal abuses have been documented by a few fearless journalists, some courageous and dedicated lawyers, and a handful of military officers who were angry and brave enough to blow the whistle on what they had heard and seen. But there are hardly any documents from the inside of the CIA Black Sites or the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay.  This week the book by the Turkish-German national Murat Kurnaz, who spent five years in Guantanamo, was released in the United States. Five Years of My Life is the American translation of Fünf Jahre meines Lebens which was published in Germany last spring.

John McCain recently visited London and France, with Joe Lieberman and Lindsay "Huckleberry" Graham in tow, in an effort  to show the Europeans that he takes the transatlantic alliance seriously. He made soothing comments about climate change, and praised NATO's role in Afghanistan. He wanted to assure our friends that a McCain administration would be the chance for a new beginning in America's relationship with Europe.

But not everyone was fooled.  Writing in the conservative Financial Times, Anatol Lieven of Kings College, London, warns readers about "Why Europe should fear a McCain presidency".

We always knew there are some disgusting critters at Fox News, but lately things have been getting out of hand.

The New York Times has the latest on the infestation in the Fox newsroom:

Anyone who doesn't understand what's at stake in November should really listen to the interview on BBC Radio with US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

You can listen to the entire interview here

One more appointment like Roberts and Alito, and Scalia will will have free reign to impose his will. And this includes legal approval for torture.

I joined a hardy group of Mainers yesterday in New Hampshire to canvass independent voters on behalf of Senator Obama. What I heard from several people makes me concerned that the smear campaign that Barack Obama "grew up in a mosque" is having an effect.

Excuse the brevity of this diary, but do tune in to MTP today to watch the fireworks. Jim Webb explodes at Lindsay Graham's tired "stay the surge" mantra. You can watch Webb trying to restrain himself as Graham drones on about how successful the surge has been, how proud he is of General Petraeus, etc... Finally Webb interrupts and says "who will stand up for the troops" who are suffering from the disasterous war policy? Great television - Webb is a true patriot and he reveals Huckleberry for the political hack that he is...

One of the missions of Fox News Network is to foment hatred of the Muslim minorities in the US. To this end today Fox News picked up a fake story - intended as humor - and reported it as factual news through its national network.

A minor incident at a Lewiston, Maine elementary school was parodied on an Associated Press look-alike Web site with fake quotes from the school's principal.

The local tv news channelreports on what happened next:

The US military has found a brilliant wayto engage the Muslim population in Germany. They are not only providing much-needed employment, but also encouraging budding actors: spend 3 weeks pretending to be an "Arab insurgent" for Uncle Sam.

If you can sit through the first 20 minutes of Hadley's lies on MTP this morning there are some good moments in the "panel discussion".  Chuck Hagel is very strong in his criticism of the surge, and comes across as the most credible and knowledgeable among the four senators. Holy Joe definitely goes too far in labeling his colleagues as "defeatists" for not supporting Bush and Hagel finally lets him have it. It is worth suffering through Lieberman's pathetic attempts to bring in the 9/11 attacks as justification for escalation just to hear Hagel call him "offensive".

UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has the video of the SMACKDOWN.

I went with my family to see the film Bobby last night. The reviews have been mixed, but I think the film is worth seeing if only for the wonderful footage of RFK and the chance to hear to his actual voice.

More thoughts below the fold.

Vice President Cheney met with a small group of wealthy Mainers yesterday during a brief, two-hour visit to the state.  Like a thief in the night, he sneaked out again without speaking to reporters or any other residents. US taxpayers paid for his helicopter, 13-car secret service motorcade, and coast guard vessels patrolling the bay; but the Vice President could not be bothered to meet with anyone who wasn't a wealthy GOP donor.  The Press Herald reports:

Described as a "Maine Victory 2006" luncheon on the vice president's Web site, the event was closed to the public. O'Brien said it will help Maine Republicans in their effort this fall to win a majority in the Legislature. Many of those who attended, including former gubernatorial candidate Peter Cianchette, declined to talk to reporters as they left the event. O'Brien said only a few legislative candidates attended, and the money raised will go to the Republican Party rather than specific candidates.

Cheney's millionaire host for the luncheon called the police when a reporter tried to interview people who had heard the vice president's speech. Ain't plutocracy great?

Wal-Mart's unethical business model has been largely successful in the United States, but the company has run into a brick wall in Germany.  Wal-Mart announced today that it is selling all 85 stores in Germany to the Metro Group. The company will realize a pretax loss of US$ 1 billion as it leaves the market.

Why did it fail?  German workers are better organized and refused to give into the abusive labor practices of the retail giant. Without a compliant, non-union workforce that is willing to work at below market wages, the Wal-Mart business model is unsustainable.  More from the German Trade Union news:

Wal-Mart's leaving Germany with the tail between its legs is quite different from the picture of a successful and competitive global retailer that the Bentonville management wants to paint. A strong union movement, demanding customers and tough competition is not a welcoming atmosphere for Wal-Mart's social dumping concept. Only a few months earlier, the Bentonville multinational had to leave South Korea, where it would have faced increasingly strong pressure to change, from both the unions and the local consumers.

I've had my problems with Biden and his over-exposure on the Sunday talk shows, but maybe his practice is paying dividends. He certainly knew how to handle Tim Russert today on MTP and delivered a strong performance. He was able to communicate a total disgust with the Republican party and its agenda and talk about credible plans for making progress both domestically and internationally. I particularly liked his response to the Gay Marriage Amendment: "The world is going to Hades in a handbasket, and THAT is what we will be debating in the senate?"  He can speak with authority on the debacle in Iraq: he didn't endorse an immediate withdrawal, but he came close. I have to admit I was impressed. Anyone else catch MTP?