The Republicans are all over the fact that Obama's stage has a Greek Revival look to it.  This has gotten me thinking about what Barack may have planned for tomorrow night, and which, if he does, may well destroy not just McCain, but the entire Republican party.

As Josh Marshall pointed out, the two most likely reasons are the analogies with the Lincoln Memorial and Martin Luther King's speech in front of the same. Thus, his placement in front of the Lincoln memorial figuratively invokes putting Obama in as the inheritor of King's legacy. Which, along with being a powerful image, also has the virtue of being true.

But, I think the more intriguing possibility is that Obama, the Senator from Illinois, can also claim Lincoln's legacy.  

WNYC radio's Brian Lehrer is doing brilliant coverage of the Democratic convention.  During one interlude this morning he proposed that listeners participate in Senator Chuck Schumer's challenge:   articulate the mission of the Democratic Party in seven  words or less.

Democrats?  In seven words or less -- -- what does the Democratic Party stand for?

?  Crickets, crickets?

  Hard... isn't it?

Let's get to work....

Monday was a miserable day for the Dow, with the market suffering a 242 point drop.  But rather than joining "so-called market analysts" in attributing the sell-off to credit market woes, higher oil prices and a fluctuating dollar, the National Review's resident class warrior Larry Kudlow found a predictable villain.  Despite the inescapable history that the stock market does better under Democratic presidents than Republican ones, Kudlow blamed the market steep slide on the opening of the Democratic Convention in Denver.

My grandfather was a veteran of World War II. I knew that much. He never talked about it, but my mother had told me that he served during the war and was right on the front lines. My grandfather died in 2000 when I was 13 years old.

Last year I was writing a column for the newspaper I had written for since 2006 and I asked my mom a little more about my grandfather. For the first time in my life I was told that he was a prisoner of war in WWII. I never knew that. I never knew it because my grandfather never talked about it. He didn't use it as some crutch in life. Knowing my grandfather, who was known to me for working on lawnmowers and spending most of his time mowing the lawn or working on his garden, he would have preferred not to talk about it (right up until his death, he had flashbacks) and didn't want to use it as an excuse. He served as a custodian at a local school district for many years and worked every day to make sure that when he died, his family could live comfortably.

That was my grandfather. He was a POW. I guess he could have used that as his sole basis of running a political (or even presidential) campaign. But he didn't. He'd rather not talk about it.

The Republicans wouldn't say one good thing about Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John and Robert Kennedy, or Martin Luther King until after they were dead. In her speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention, UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick drew up an A list of Good Democrats--those who were dead, and a B list--those who were still alive. She sought to convince people that the then-current Democratic Party had lost its moorings, nad that she was closer to JFK and Hubert Humphrey than the brother of one and the protege of another.

In a show of desperation, the Grandeur Oldness Party has broken its tradition and praised Hillary Clinton "for being dead"  before her passing. They think we're so stupid, we won't notice the trivial differences between HRC and Barack Obama, and make a huge leap to Sen. Bomb Bomb Iran out of spite.

Yes, I know putting the word 'Maths' in the title is a turn off, but actually maths is a wonderful thing, unless of course your a Repug right now that is!

I know polls do not mean jolt, the only one that matters is in November, but they do give an indication (and only an indication) of how people are feeling and likely to vote.  I will not consider individual polls here but the 'Real Clear Politics' (RCP) running national poll of polls.  Link.

The evidence from the RCP national polls show the following:

1.  McCain's highest rating since July 1st is 44.5% (August 5th)

2.  Obama's highest rating since July 1st is 48.7% (July 6th)

3.  McCain's lowest rating since July 1st is 41.4% (July 20th)

4.  Obama's lowest rating since July 1st is 44.8% (August 22nd)

5.  The average number of people not indicating a preference is 11% of those surveyed.

This may seem worrying at first sight but follow me over the page.......

I don't feel a need to write any further.  The ad they put out speaks for itself.

One of the many things that puzzle me about American life is the notion that the rightwing is pro-business...more specifically, pro-small business. Groups like the Republican Party, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and their large corporate backers claim to fight for small business which is supposed to flourish under their version of free market economics.

As a bona fide independent contractor working in a small web design biz with a grand total of 3 employees (but with a somewhat larger number of associates and co-contractors), I am going to weigh in here from the point of view of a little guy.

I spent the first day of the Minnesota State Fair going to all the political booths I could find and talking to as many people as possible before I keeled over.  I put them all into a podcast on the Shockwave Radio Theater Podcasts.

I'll be doing more political podcasts in the next few weeks, as the Democrats promised to talk to me (we'll see) and I'm covering the Republican National Convention down the road in St. Paul as well as the ancillary demonstrations taking place all over the Twin Cities.

Timing, as they say, is everything.  On the very day that John McCain publicly lost track of how many homes he owns, rumors swirled that Mitt Romney, another multiple mansion owner, would be his running mate choice.  That Romney is the embodiment of the country club Republican is bad enough for McCain right now.  Making matters worse, Mitt's all-out January 2008 attack on John McCain's incendiary temper gives Democrats a handy road map to follow.

We’re hearing all about Russia’s invasion into Georgia and how this act may in fact help Senator John McCain’s campaign by bringing national security to the front lines of the election.

At first glimpse that rings true.  Reminding folks how dangerous our world is has pushed voters toward the Republican Party (President George W. Bush) for the past 8 years now.  

Republicans, after all, are the only ones that can keep us safe, remember?

And lest we forget, the only way to get around Arizona is by small private plane! Well, according to Cindy McCain anyhow. Yes, I know this has been widely diaried, and exhausted on other blogs, but I rather think it fits right in with not only the McCain's camp's out-of-touch-ness, but also the republican Party's with their totally out of touch policies (unless you are a multi-billion dollar multi-national conglomerate!
It should absolutely be part and parcel of the new attack strategy, although I know in keeping with Obama's tack of integrity and keeping spouses out of the attack line, I know it will not be. sigh one can but hope!

The infamous quote

Huffpo Coverage

I just found this on HuffPo and had to post it.

Looking at these pics I wonder who is really elite in this election

Please Jump...

Barack Obama has built his whole campaign around change. But he has not yet explained why we need that change. You might think that's a strange criticism because he has theoretically been talking about why we need change this whole time. But in fact, he hasn't; not real change. What do I mean by that?

Libertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr visited St. Louis this past week-end to raise a little money and make a little news.  STL Today (St. Louis Post Dispatch online news outlet) covered his visit.

Barr rejected claims that he is a 'spoiler'.

Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr on Sunday rejected critics' assertions that he could be a "spoiler" in November, shifting votes away from Republican John McCain and possibly aiding the election of Democrat Barack Obama.

"It's an awfully weak argument for Republicans to make," Barr said, while predicting that the GOP may be facing a defeat of "tsunami" proportions.

The REPUBLICAN congressional years 1994 - 2006 (and 2000-2008 President Bush years) will be remembered for all they've accomplished...

Seven year war in Afghanistan, 5 year war in Iraq with close to 660 billion dollars spent, part of which we now owe China to pay for them.

North Korea, Iran and now Russia, are all greater powers then before the GOP took control of government. Pakistan with nukes is about to lose their (U.S. picked) leader. China is now listed as having the most manufacturing companies in the world.

The following joke is apparently being circulated by people in (or somehow affiliated with) the local Republican Party power structure in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I occasionally get these types of things forwarded to me from Harrisonburg, Virginia due to a personal contact (who shall remain nameless because I really thought this person had better judgement-I'm at a loss as to why this person sent this to me). Most of the time I ignore the crass Republican BS that comes to me via Harrisonburg, Va-which almost always seems to be crass and vulgar. This one however think deserves some special attention because it shows the level of crass ignorance that some Republicans have stooped to.

Here's the "joke":