It's been a rough few days for Obama according to some polls and the hourly diaries that I've seen here. Why isn't he attacking? Why isn't he fighting back more? Calls for firing of all his press people are starting to pop up. And I admit, I've been frustrated as well. It seems as if we are seeing another repeat of Kerry in 04. And while I still think he needs to get more surrogates out in front doing some of the dirty work, this article in the NYT gives me some hope.

And brought to you by the New York Times (click on Glen McCoy), the sickest editorial cartoon I think I've ever seen.  

Now, I know they don't check these on-line comics.  They come automated from UClick through a contract or something.  But this cartoon is really about as close to the edge of totally unacceptable as I have ever seen.

It also points to the vicious nature of the right wing mind, and their inability to see other sides of issues.  If Obama thinks that he can work with these people he is nuts.  Even Rick Warren stabbed Obama in the back, saying after the "interview" that no evangelical should ever vote fro a pro-choice candidate.

VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP.

A decision has been made.

New York Times

Mr. Obama’s advisers said he reached his VP decision while on vacation in Hawaii. They said it marked the end of what proved to be an unexpectedly intense process, condensed because he did not want to start actively vetting potential running mates before Mrs. Clinton quite the race in June.

Here's a revealing twist on the 'cone of silence'  scam from the Saddleback Church event.  Right-winger William Kristol has a column today in the print edition of the New York Times, Showdown at Saddleback.  Kristol – surprise  - claims that McCain outperformed Obama.  Yawn.  Kristol then provides the reasons why he thinks McCain did better.  Here's where it gets interesting.  

There was a lengthly article in yesterday's New York Times titled, "Response to 9/11 Offers Outline of McCain Doctrine."

Now, as Mr. McCain prepares to accept the Republican presidential nomination, his response to the attacks of Sept. 11 opens a window onto how he might approach the gravest responsibilities of a potential commander in chief.

What follows is 2,800+ words about John McCain advocating taking out Saddam Hussein on September 12, 2001, praising the performance of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, his support for Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress, tying Iraq to 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, praise for Bill Kristol and David Brook's vision, and of course, WMD, WMD, WMD. In other words, the McCain Doctrine is to be rash, a poor judge of character, hyperbolic, and of course, wrong, wrong, wrong.  

The article finishes with McCain saying:  

I believe voters elect their leaders based on their experience and judgment — their ability to make hard calls, for instance, on matters of war and peace. It’s important to get them right.

The New York Times buried the lede.

New York, NY (Aug. 18): Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is profiled as a possible Democratic Vice Presidential candidate in today's New York Times on page A-12.

Here is the Web link to the full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/...

"As Running Mate, Biden Offers Foreign Policy Heft but an Insider Image," by John Broder, states "he would bring heft, knowledge and nearly four decades of experience in Washington" if chosen as the vice-presidential nominee.

Sen. Biden flew to Tbilisi, Georgia this weekend, accompanied by Senators Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, to meet with the country's embattled president, Mikheil Saakashvili.

Biden is running for re-election to the U.S. Senate; to learn more about the issues or make a contribution to his campaign, please visit www.JoeBiden.com.

BTW:  Sen. Biden was spotted in the Las Vegas airport a few days ago, the same day Sen. Obama had a meeting in Nevada.  Is this a clue or just a coincidence?? !!

Letters to the editor that will never ever run in the New York Times:

To the Editor:

Michael Falcone's depiction of John McCain on Georgia [McCain Displays Credentials as Obama Relaxes, 8/14/2008] -- "tough," "forceful," his "fluency," his "aura of commander in chief," read like McCain campaign literature. The parroting of Cokie Roberts on Obama's "exotic" Hawaii vacation did nothing to dispel the impression.

But is McCain to be taken seriously? Wikipedia says his Georgia expertise was cribbed from the online encyclopedia. McCain's chief foreign policy advisor was until recently a lobbyist for the Georgian government. And where Falcone found toughness and forcefulness, the President of Georgia himself scorned McCain's saber rattling, advising him to swap empty words for deeds.

On the other hand a Hawaiian beach might be good for the bellicose McCain's blood pressure. It would also give him time to read up on Georgia beyond its Wikipedia entry. As for any excess exoticism, that's a matter of perspective. Take a Hawaiian to New York's Brighton Beach and the first whiff of borscht would tell him he wasn't on Waikiki any more.

Yes, you read that right ...

As is often the case here at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), while in the course of investigating one report of constitutionally questionable activity within our armed forces, we stumble into something else that's just as bad or worse. It happened again this week. One of the thousands of MRFF supporters worldwide -- the indispensable "eyes and ears" who alert us to everything from the most egregious of constitutional violations to articles we might be interested in -- emailed MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein an interview with Air Force Chief of Chaplains Maj. Gen. Cecil Richardson from the August 11 print edition of the Air Force Times. Richardson, as many will remember, caused quite a stir back in 2005 when he was quoted by the New York Times as saying that Air Force chaplains "reserve the right to evangelize the unchurched." I'll get back to Richardson's Air Force Times interview in a minute, but first, here's what else this interview led MRFF to discover.

Yesterday the New York Times published a hit piece on Obama entitled, "McCain Displays Credentials as Obama Relaxes."  The article is a prime example of how Big Media tries to establish narratives and shape the political landscape in the USA.

I know it’s getaway Friday and during midsummer no one wants to be bothered by disturbing news.  But while all of us are trying to head somewhere relaxing, there’s a potentially big war brewing in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Beyond what is intrinsically disturbing about this, the Russian invasion of Georgia itself and how the Bush administration in its macho may be contributing to the incitement of the Russians who want to demonstrate that even though they “lost” the Cold War they still have a world-class military that needs to be reckoned with, beyond these geopolitical and nationalistic issues is the slaughter of innocent Georgians who I suppose the Russians consider “collateral damage.”

Historical background on the Lie Factory:

Remember the lead up to the Iraq War?  The hype was thick and well orchestrated. Cheney's gal Friday, Judith Miller, was dishing his dirt in the New York Times from an anonymous source (Scooter Libby, pardoned by Bush), and he cited her articles as proof that his ballyhoo was substantiated by a venerable newspaper (no longer).  The New York Times stood idly by, letting Cheney play this trick on the American public, anonomously corroborating himself via their reknown reporter (infamous now). The NY Times aided and abetted Cheney's artifice, which would unleash death and destruction on thousands, while sweetening the pot of special interests at our expense, without so much as a correction.

You know it's serious for Shays when there are two front page articles today, one in the New York Times and the other the Connecticut Post.

Given the state we are in--military tribunals, stripping of the fourth amendment, government secrecy it was nice to see the NYT editorial board come out swinging:

Last week was hardly the first time that we have found ourselves scratching our heads in anguished confusion about what, exactly, President Bush is trying to achieve by trashing the Constitution at Guantánamo Bay.

Thank-you. It would be nice to see the Democrats in office furious over the Republican's trampling of the constitution. Really. Why is this so hard? Republicans hammer Democrats for not being patriotic and for not inculcating American values. Here is what the democrats need to say....

Guantanamo Bay, torture, secret trials and permanent incarceration are not American. Terrorism is ugly. We must be tough but when we sacrifice the constitution and we sacrifice our American Values and the rights that the Revolution was fought for--we lose America, and we sacrifice America's standing in the world.

The New York Times today has a front page story on a new book, Obama Nation, which is apparently filled with factual errors and is by the same guy that wrote an anti-Kerry book 4 years ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/...

So I have not read the book, so don't look for a review here.  But I am curious about the claim to be a #1 bestseller.  The Times vaguely refers to "bulk sales."

For all you scared, greedy, stupid, or cynical Representatives and Senators who voted for the FISA revisions last month, here’s a little something that got lost in the Friday Olympics-vs.-sex-scandal news dump. . . .

As covered recently in the New York Times, and detailed magnificently by Kossack organicdemocrat in this Recommended diary on Saturday, presumptive Republican nominee for President John McCain has had his cell phone privileges severely curtailed.

To recap or for those that missed it:

Senator John McCain is so quick to pick up his gold-colored cell phone to solicit advice — from senators, campaign consultants, even the stray former deputy press secretary — that aides, concerned about his tendency to adopt the last opinion he has heard, have tried to cut back on the time he has to make calls...  Mr. Schmidt has sought to cut down on Mr. McCain’s use of his cell phone and limit the people who have regular access to Mr. McCain in an effort to keep him more focused, advisers said.

Now.... there is a new and exciting development in this story.

Brooks applauds the economic rise of China. But that nation has constructed a capitalist initiative through enslavement of its poor and its working class through utter repression, censorship and massive manipulation. From reading Brooks, one would think China is now a free society when the facts reveal a total opposition to his notions.

The rise of China isn’t only an economic event. It’s a cultural one. The ideal of a harmonious collective may turn out to be as attractive as the ideal of the American Dream.

Problem is that there is no "harmonious collective" in China whatsoever. There is merely repression, surveillance and more repression. So that's just a plain old LIE from Brooksie, but what else did you expect?

Why would he be shilling for China? And what is it about China that is so applicable to plans for governance in the U.S.?  

The nasty truth below.