The "he's a Muslim" smear is pernicious and seems like it will drag on for the rest of the campaign.  And the media is dutifully recycling every attack angle: "no, he's not Muslim, he follows that scary Rev. Wright," "he keeps saying he's not a Muslim - what's he got against Muslims," "OK, he might not be a Muslim now, but he was one as a kid."  Rinse and repeat over and over.

I think Obama needs to break the media out of their comfort zone.  To do it, I suggest his campaign should set up another big speech event on religion.  Do it in such a way that the media will want to cover it.  Then do a speech where he starts out talking in vague, general terms about rumours regarding his religion.  Don't say what religion the rumours say, just that they're out there.  At that point he should deliver this line, "These rumours are not true.  While I have the greatest respect for Mormons, I am not now and never have been a member of their church.  Mormons are good people and they contribute greatly to our nation."  From there go on to suggest ways various religions play a role in America.

Leaving America? This diary doesn't exist to encourage or discourage you. It just exists to inform you.

www.votefromabroad.org

Yes, the larger number of vacation days or the national health insurance or the better weather or whatever nice things you find in your new home are great. But you still have a vote. If you register.

www.votefromabroad.org

Yes, the weird plumbing or the strange phrases/accents/languages or the poor roads or the odd foods in your new home are problematic. But make time to vote while you're dealing with them. And you need to make time to register.

www.votefromabroad.org

All you need to do to register to vote if you live overseas is go here and just follow the instructions: www.votefromabroad.org

One of the arguments the Clinton campaign makes is that Obama can't win some of the states in the general election that she's won in the primaries. One assumes that she'll endorse Obama if he gets the nomination and the massive Dem turnout in the primaries indicates to me that Obama voters plus Clinton voters would swamp McCain voters in nearly every state. So that means she's saying that she can't get her voters to vote for Obama.

So I'm left to wonder, what else can't she get her voters to do if she is nominated? Will they rally behind a President Clinton to get the troops out of Iraq? To get universal healthcare? To get New Orleans back up? To deal with the mortgage crisis?

No president can get their agenda through without substantial popular support (none of Bush's "big ideas" made it through after he lost that - and he had to sneak Iraq through). The Clinton campaign seems to be saying they can't convince their voters to follow them. Wouldn't that be a bad thing?

Apparently McCain recorded propaganda for the North Vietnamese during the war. That's part of the record, no need to ask about that (but hey, why not anyway?). However McCain has made statements that he opposes torture (he hasn't voted that way - another question the media could ask about).

So, the question the media should ask now: If torture worked on you Mr. McCain, why do you oppose torture now?

Graeme Frost has joined a pretty large club this week. He's joined MoveOn, Max Cleland, John Kerry, Michael J Fox, numerous US soldiers and others - people viciously attacked by the right merely for speaking up. On a certain level however the Democratic Party also shoulders some blame.

This culture of poisonous politics has been nurtured for decades. It's clear to anyone paying any attention that the right will do whatever they can to gain advantage. Their black and white world view knows only two outcomes: win or lose.

For some reason this lesson is lost on some in the Democratic Party.

I live overseas so don't get blasted with the latest exciting media frenzy you folks seem to enjoy. But now I've finally read about this Obama flag lapel pin controversy. And I have to admit, Obama is taking the wrong tack (pardon the pun).

He should wear a lapel pin.

But not a flag.

I'm getting tired of reading diaries here where people assume Pelosi will become President if Bush and/or Cheney are impeached. Unless both are impeached and removed from office at the exact same time, that won't happen. And since it would require cooperation from the Senate GOP to remove Bush and Cheney, that's not going to happen.

When VP Spiro Agnew resigned, President Nixon appointed Ford as VP (he was confirmed by the House and Senate). When Nixon resigned, Ford took over as President and he appointed Nelson Rockafeller (again, confirmed by the House and Senate). This means that the Senate GOP would also hold power over who gets appointed since they can fillibuster the confirmation.

This is all covered in the 25th Amendment.

Nancy Pelosi does not have a conflict of interest on impeachment (at least not on these grounds).

(Also posted on European Tribune)

There is now the "D case" in Ireland regarding abortion. Essentially a 17 year old woman is 4 months pregnant and her foetus will not properly develop a brain. If the child is born alive (unlikely) the child will die within a few days at most. More likely is that she'll give birth to a corpse. Since she is not suicidal and is under the care of the HSE (the Health Services Executive), they are attempting to ban her travel to the UK.

A while back someone in the progressive blogoshpere wondered what schtick was going to carry John McCain through the 2008 primaries. His underdog "I'm the guy the establishment hates" bit wasn't going to play as the heir apparent, not that it ever had much basis in fact to begin with. And since the Iraq War looks like a disaster, that avenue looks poor as well.

It appears we were all wrong. The fundraising numbers are out and poor ol' John McCain is...  an underdog!

OK, I'll admit it, the title is a total lie. But there are people overseas following the Foley scandal and unlike Putin THEY CAN VOTE!

If we're going to win in November, we need every vote. So please, we're running out of time: tell your friends overseas to register to vote.

And if you do live overseas and haven't received a ballot, go to the site and read up on what you should do right now.

The US media does a bad job of reporting on Hugo Chavez (for instance). Yet I've heard more than a few reasonable people say that Chavez is a worrisome leader.

Can anyone offer up some reputable news coverage that shows what his bad policy points are? I haven't heard anything that sounds that bad but I'm not really following Venzualan politics. Can anyone who is enlighten me?

I left this post in response to this entry on the Lieberman blog. I encourage everyone else to comment with civility on the Lieberman blog. Point out their incivility. Point out Lieberman's record. Don't be insulting, but don't ignore the blog either.

Just in case it gets nuked, i reproduce it in full here:

I was horrified to hear a Republican talking head on a local news show on the bus home today. I live in Ireland and if you think Bush apologists fall flat in America, try to imagine the reaction in a nation where the Bush cult hasn't reached the double digits (I hope).

Anyway his point was that Bush was not to blame for the state New Orleans is in one year on since Louisiana has mainly has Democrats running it.

I had a single question running through my head on the bus ride home: "If people think he can't fix New Orleans because the GOP doesn't run it, then how do people think he can fix Iraq?"

I can't express the level of shame, anger, frustration and disgust I feel right now.

I have a very, very stupid question.  Is there a good site for progressive voter recomendations for the Massachussetts primaries?  I've followed the Deval Patrick campaign and like him.  But I don't know the rest of the races.

I live overseas and haven't followed Mass politics a lot (I'm not a native and it's just kind of an accident of timing that I vote in Mass and probably will for the rest of my life).

So...  Can any Mass natives please help?  I vote in Somerville.

Crooks and Liars has the clip of Mehlman on The Daily Show.

I think this comment by Mehlman at the last few seconds of the clip sums up the problem with the news media in America these days. The context is Stewart complimenting him on being sent out by the GOP to tv shows and talking up the GOP:

"Although - I chose to go on this show. So. I don't know if they put me on this one. This is harder than most."

This is harder than most.

A fake news show on a cable comedy channel. Harder than most.

If I had Tim Russert's address I'd put that quote on a postcard and send it to him. That quote is a job performance review and if it was directed at me, I'd change careers.

UPDATE: Thanks for the recommends. While I'm here I'd like to ask people to remind Americans overseas to register to vote.

Recently the NY Times wrote up yet another article on your marriage. It appears that the national press seems determined to explore your lives to the point of ignoring other things. And while I understand it must be frustrating, I ask you to consider the paraphrased words of a great American President, "Ask not about the media's obsession with your fucking, ask what you can do to make the press do its fucking job."

To that end I have a suggestion.

There are more important things to focus on right now than who runs for President in 2008. But I just read Crypto by Steven Levy and it leads me to a question I do not see people asking Al Gore. I'd be very interested in hearing an answer and hearing how he came to it. My question is simply this:

"Mr. Gore, when you look back at the Clipper Chip and key escrow, what are your thoughts? Do you view today's world with widely available (i.e. OpenBSD, OpenSSH, PGPi, GnuPG) strong crypto as a bad thing?"

I've seen similar lists to this before but in light of the pathetic support Russ Feingold got, it just can't be a bad thing to put such a list up again. I live overseas so I can't do this, but I'd live to hear of people printing out this list (or ones like it) and nailing/taping them to campaign office doors ala Martin Luther for a political David Letterman generation.  Our leaders need a clue, please help them get one today.

1. When the GOP attack machine attacks: Keep doing what they're attacking, it's working.

2. When the GOP attack machine attacks you: Respond hard, often and right this very minute on any medium you can get your message into.

3. When the GOP attack machine attacks another Democrat: Defend that Democrat or shut up.