So don’t make excuses like that for him. We aren’t stupid. McCain is human and certainly is not perfect. We shouldn’t expect him to be. I still like the man. Again, I say the problem is his advisors. They need to let the man run the campaign using his own instincts. Play on his strengths instead of trying to adopt ways that just does not work for him. Look, you can’t know everything. You just can’t. Which is why you surround yourself with experts in all areas. Now based on their input, McCain can make sound decisions. But they set him up everytime when he goes out there and says something in one venue and forgets what he said about the same subject in another. They are setting him up for failure.

I am so looking forward to this election it is very exciting. I want him to catch his stride. Then may the best man win.

It has been a bad day for McCain but it will get better I am sure. The trouble is McCain’s folks are trying to force him into a mold that just does not fit. They need to let McCain be McCain and let the chips fall where it may. He is a good guy but they are stifling him and he comes off as fake. McCain’s advisors are doing him a disservice. They need to trust the man’s instinct and let him do his thing.

Although you know I still want Obama to win but . . . would prefer a fair fight.

As for Iraq and Iran, Obama’s position evolves daily. I am pleased to see that he and McCain are both in favor of divestment in Iran.

Just in time for his important speech before the Jewish Lobby AIPAC, I am glad to see Obama has FINALLY come to the realization that Iran is indeed a ‘grave’ threat and that Iran’s Revolutionary guard is a terrorist organization. Only a few short weeks ago, he was accurately quoted as having different views.

He also seems willing to now “base decisions about withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq on facts on the ground.” Good!

I also hope that he will plan a trip to Iraq soon.

Obama is very eager to prove his commitment to Israel, and I hope that both he and McCain will be staunch supporters of Israel.

If honest criticism and skepticism demand that both candidates clarify, strengthen or even change their positions to be more in line with what is best for the country, I am all for it.

Perhaps Obama can be sufficiently criticized and scrutinized into adopting McCain’s views on taxes and earmarks as well.

I noticed today that O recites most of his speeches instead of reading them. It seems like the others read theirs. That makes O even more impressive.

Like last nite when the Cryptster was giving his speech, it seemed like he hadn’t read it prior to the event, so he kept laughing at things he found amusing or something he found to be “a good one.” He was tickling himself.

The McCain campaign’s response: “It doesn’t bode well for Senator Obama’s pledges to run a campaign of hope and change when on the first day of the general election he’s launching the same tired negative attacks that the American people are so sick and tired of. As Sen. McCain said, he wasn’t familiar with the specific votes the questioner was asking about. Instead he was speaking to his strong support for the Homeland Security Committee’s comprehensive, bipartisan investigation of Hurricane Katrina, which was already fully underway when these other proposals were suggested.”

The Huffington Post is not a credible ‘news’ source, it is a pro-Obama website and should be recognized as such.

This has got to be one of the most fucked up opening days of a campaign.

Ever.

McCain acknowledged he was not aware that Obama had introduced a bill that called for international divestment from Iran.

Reporter: Are you familiar with his disinvestment bill?
McCain: No, I am not familiar with it at all. I do not know if it passed the senate or had any hearing or anything else. I had, so, literally thousands and thousands pieces of legislation are proposed every year. I know what he did. He voted against the Iranian revolutionary guard being declared a terrorist organization.

The admission could prove damaging for a variety of reasons. For starters, Obama’s bill, which passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives, is currently being held up in the Senate by Republican Sen. Richard Shelby. More significantly, two McCain surrogates, Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep. Eric Cantor, are co-sponsors of Obama’s measure despite, on Wednesday, ripping the Illinois Democrat for not having the experience to deal with Iran.

But a more worrisome issue for the McCain campaign may just be that a theme is emerging, both within the media and political circles, that the Arizona Republican has a penchant for playing lose with the facts. Indeed, last week, McCain lost crucial news cycles after he falsely claimed that force levels in Iraq had been drawn down to pre-surge levels and then, instead of admitting he misspoke, said the whole thing was a debate over verb tense. This, in turn, came after the Senator claimed, again falsely, that Iran was training al-Qaeda in Iraq, when in fact the two groups are religious and political adversaries.

Appearing at a press conference in Louisiana on Wednesday, McCain claimed that he had supported “every investigation” into the flawed response to Hurricane Katrina, when, in fact, he had twice voted against creating a commission to inspect the tragedy.

The remark immediately bounced around political circles and websites. After all it was just a few months ago when McCain defended those very votes on the back of his campaign bush, casting them as part of a broader campaign against wasteful spending.

“I’m proud of my support of American citizens regarding the taxpayers,” the Senator said in April. “I will not vote for projects and programs and bills that are laden with pork-barrel projects that waste taxpayers’ dollars.”

The entire episode elicited a scathing rebuttal from the Obama camp.

“Whether he simply wasn’t aware of his voting record again or he was intentionally misleading the people of Louisiana, John McCain certainly isn’t offering us ‘leadership you can believe in,’” wrote aide Hari Sevugan. To which, McCain’s aides accused Obama of negative campaigning, saying the Senator wasn’t familiar with the specific votes and had always supported Senate investigations, just not commissions.

McCain’s Day Marked By False Statements And Gaffes

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/04/mccains-day-marked-by-fal_n_105283.html

McCain Rips Off Obama’s Slogan And Logo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/04/mccain-rips-off-obamas-sl_n_105266.html

Iraqis are beginning to take not only a personal interest in their own future, but a fiscal one as well.

And as that interest grows, our footprint can be-and is being-reduced.

So what should we reassess? What you want to happen is, in fact, happening.

::

Keep telling yourself that.

He’s not called the Dark Sith for nothing.

I heard Clyburn last night on Bev Smith’s show and those WERE his exact talking points – it is OBAMA’S DECISION.

There was something in Clyburn’s ‘ tone’, if you know what I mean, and then I found out that Bubba cussed him out, and now I know what was in his tone.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24971200#24971201

“We the people is beginning to mean all of us.”

Should he, will he accept?

“And can you honestly say-in the face of the decrease in violence in Iraq, and the meaningful-though small-political gains that are being made there-that the current strategy in Iraq isn’t working; that there needs to be yet another reassesment of our efforts there?”

Yes. We can’t afford it. Period. Iraq needs to become more accountable for their country financially and otherwise. It is time for our people to begin the process of coming home. We have overstretched out military. We can’t fend off any additional crisis elsewhere because we don’t have the resources. So Yes, we need to reassess and make some changes.

“What you won’t hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon – that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.”

I haven’t seen or heard it addressed anywhere else.

Thanks for highlighting it for us.

And can you honestly say-in the face of the decrease in violence in Iraq, and the meaningful-though small-political gains that are being made there-that the current strategy in Iraq isn’t working; that there needs to be yet another reassesment of our efforts there?