Every Sunday morning for the past 3+ decades I usually (or 'religiously' to place it in the context of that other Sunady morning activity around here), turned on the TV to watch the experts debate the politics of the day.  Meet the Press, Face the Nation, or whatever ABC might be throwing up at the time.

Then came FOX, and Face the Nation went down to a half hour sometime in there.  Timmy took over Meet the Press...

Then for a long while in recent years, I took to making sure I watched FOX for "opposition research", along with one of the others for comparison.  And then came recent months with "The Obama Clock" on FOX and the ABC "debate", and finally, in a moment of inspiration came....

...to be able to be put together by our next president.  After 7 years of uh, um, and that head bob, my god, I've mentioned that even if we get McCain, at least the president will be able to speak...at least...at high school freshman level english.

Holy mackeral, I just watched the Obama speech.  Pinch me, am I still on Earth?  3 sentences?  Try 3 hundred and thirty three.  Maybe 3 thousand and thirty three.  I don't think there has been a speech made in this country as good as this since the 1960s.

I see now the pathetic error of my ways.  How I've learned to accept idiocy as the norm.  I had been lulled into thinking that in America today you either have politicians who can successfully re-read talking points aloud, or you have them who can't speak at all. I'M TALKIN TO YOU, GEORGE DUMYA!

"Best political satire of the decade."  "The greatest kos diary ever?"  For this diary, these accolades are arguably correct.  And as a closet communications and cognition scientist, I'd like to help make a little history.

Certainly this could have been a comment in the original diary (except for the part of the title that says, "...The first diary."  And also, I sure hope some else doesnt post before me and I end up looking like an Ahole...

But I want to see a headline in the papers like "Edwards Spanks Carrot Face, or Obama Slips Past Oily...

So here's to Bunny Ears (Paul) and Sarge (McCain), Wrinkles (Thompson), Oily (Romney), Beagle Eyes (Huckabee) and Carrot Face (Giuliani).  LMAO.

Here are some pictures I took of John Edwards last month in New York.  We had the good fortune to read (on DailyKos) that John Edwards was going to speak at the writers strike rally in Washington Square Park, very near to us.

So we went on over.

I would like to put forward my predictions for the next 13 months, and hope others join in with theirs.  I do so for 2 reasons, one practical, and one quite vain.

The practical reason is that I'd like some empirical evidence on who knows what they are talking about around this blog, and who is FOS.  Now of course, even the smartest person can be dead wrong on a prediction, and being right on one, or even a few, is not proof of intelligence, but it in general, over time, and over many instances, being right now will tend to show who will be right in the future.  With this, I'm taking the long view:  We will have to strategize for elections in 2010, 2012, and so on, and so on.  The vain reason is quite obvious:  I'd like to tell some verbose users on here that they don't know what they are talking about, and have some proof

Many of you have seen this picture of two sheep I post from time to time, both appropriately, and inappropriately.  (Image downloaders, get ready...) For the one and only time, here it is hi(gher) res, and with the preferred caption "In the political spectrum, the assholes are on the right" (and the runner-up "I'm with Stupid"):

SHEEP HAVE MADE THE BIG TIME!
Now That sheep have made the front page, it seems like the appropriate time to let the flood gates open on some stuff I've had hanging around the hard drive for some time.  Who knows, maybe Sheep Diaries will become as popular as Pootie Diaries... More baalow!

Hey we know now ole Georgie's got a tough decision on his Karl's mind, so I thought I'd help him out, and call on all Koserati to help as well.

WHO SHOULD BE WOLFIE'S REPLACEMENT?

Well the obvious choice is Harriet Miers, but that didn't fly too well last time, so let me suggest...

Well I don't have much of a plot line, but along with my trusted writing partner James Walker (the red) I shall endeavour for 3 plus paragraphs...

BOOO! From the fear-mongering evil clowns themselves.  When there's no more room in hell, the dead shall walk the earth, or fill high offices of the public trust. On Halloween, the spooks come out.

My sincere apologies to clowns.  Click on each image for a high res version, if you can take it.

Well for the second straight morning I've woke up before dawn and not been able to get back to sleep.  Yesterday I got up and looked for something to do, and decided to draw out an idea we've bounded around for a few months now, posted here.

I haven drawn much at all the past couple years, so this was a nice return to cartooning.  Yesterday I had so much fun, that when I was up again this morning, I decided to draw again.  I really don't have anything extra against Mean Jean other than what a normal Democrat and/or thinking person would have.  But then this great diary was on the rec list all day...

Anyway, we live in the Cincy metro area, so we've gotten to see Jean Schmidt on TV more often than most during her reign of terror.  And now during the campaign we probably get to see her at least once daily. Let me tell you, still pictures do not do her "justice".  The truth is actually much worse.

----->>Just a little more---->>

In regards to action against "The Path to 9/11", many point out that local ABC affiliates have no say in this matter, which is most certainly true.  But they do have the ability to pre-empt programs.  At this late date (Saturday morning), it seems to me this is a worthy tactic.  We are looking for just a few good (principled) program managers, or at minimum, a few nervous ad sales managers.  Send your letter to both.

Below is my letter to WCPO Cincinnati

Before you flame me too hard, please check the high res version.  It's really much better.

I've been screwing around the last few days, drawing various cartoons, photo-montages, etc, about how I feel about the state of our country and planet, and nothing really jumped out at me--until this came up last night.  It certainly sums up quite a bit for me, and who know, might even be the first of a whole series.  Let see, how many clowns do we have in power right now?...

Anyway,.... my "interesting" calls are documented below....

I just got off the phone with Joe Forsythe, who filed in MS-01.  Sounds to me like a straight-talking person who is also a first-timer stepping up.  Kudos to Mr. Forsythe for running despite those trying to stop him from filing.

He had no information on MS-03, and niether does any site I could find, nor have any of the many contributors to the site come up with someone.  So we have our 2nd "Unopposed - Deadline Passed".  

and Kos himself frontpaged the 50 State Strategy effort, but frankly, 40 some comments for kos is sorta low.

if it weren't for DavidNYC's great diary on Ohio, I might think that filling all 435 House races wasn't a sexy idea.  So to that end, we vow to do all work related to this site naked, and this team is COED.

By our count there still are 53 Dem-vacant House Races

But I digress.  The Fifty State Strategy website, tracking races, and most importntly, highlighting UNOPPOSED races, has been updated.  Some may have less/more, but by my count we're still at 56 Dem-vacant races

My thanks to the many contributors, and especially to the main contributors (you know who you are--THANK YOU).  Also thank you to all the well-wishers about my family's current medical crisis.  But most importantly , WE STILL HAVE 3 RACES IN THE IMPORTANT STATE OF OHIO WITH ONLY 5 DAYS TO GO!  Especially new chief Repug John Boehner.  This race has at least sparked a healthy debate, but that is not good enough, we need someone to run!