My God, this is entertaining. All the lefties freaking out; all the righties squealing with joy. Holy macaroni, McCain is up five percent in a national poll of several hundred likely voters! Argh!!

ARGH, I SAID!!!

This article by Amy Silverman detailing John McCain's shortcomings as a man and a politician was published in Phoenix New Times News today. It's about the length of War and Peace, so I'm going to quote from the snarky Wonkette summary of it.

The overwhelming consensus has it that Barack Obama's response to McCain's "Maverick" ad is top notch - it won praise not just from people here on dailykos but also Pat Buchanan.

So now I'm been watching the ad over and over, trying to figure out what precisely makes it so effective.

And I think I've got it.

The goal of this diary is simple. We are going to figure out whether John McCain or Barack Obama lies more on the stump.

Well, sort of.

We're going to use the Truth-o-Meter from PolitiFact.com to measure which candidate lies more according to PolitiFact.com.

Thanks to Wonkette for the tip-off.

This ad manages to screw the pooch in exactly the same ways that the Britney-Paris ad screwed it, but harder and deeper. It's a minute and fourteen seconds of purest fail. Watch it to the hilariously bitter end.

Must be seen to be believed. The RNC dug deep and pulled out all stops on production values.

I love FOX News. They remind me of Pravda: if reality doesn't conform to your desires, lie or distract the public from it with something outrageous. Or both, if you can help it.

Hence, I guess, this screenshot. I took this several minutes after Obama wrapped up today's Berlin speech.

How about that radio ad calling McCain out on his bullshit? Srs business, yo.

Even MoDo won't be able to deny it for long...

To be used as reference for those who might want to examine this resolution with regards to

- its potential for justifying a blockade against Iran,

- its potential for supporting, implicitly or explicitly, the already bellicose mindset of the White House,

- its potential for future enactment in a different, toothier incarnation,

and its other many and varied potentials. Also welcome are debates on the general reliability and trustworthiness of the US Intelligence Services in light of the fiasco that the last eight years proved to be.

MSNBC reports that after several failed attempts with "dropped calls" and a voicemail message, Barack finally got through to Hillary.

Here's what they apparently said to each other, according to Dan Abrams:

Barack: "Hi, Hillary! We should talk."
Hillary: "I'm sure we will soon."

#click#

I am loving this primary.

Update: My magical earpiece is telling me that besides the dropped call, the voicemail and the eventual brief connection, Barack also sent Hillary a little picture message.

Hello, everyone. This is my first diary on dailykos. I'm stepping out of the comment threads with something in my hot little hand: the map of the march route through Germany of the 355th Infantry Regiment where Obama's great-uncle served in WWII.

Here is why I'm bringing it out.