<Crossposted at [redacted] and DailyKos>

Good afternoon everyone!

John McCain has made a mistake.  I understand that the conventional wisdom was that if he waited to announce his Vice Presidential pick after the Democratic convention he'd be able to steal their thunder and, perhaps, turn some voters his way.  Folks, that bit of reasoning will turn out to have been incorrect.

Senator Clinton, knock 'em dead!  There's nobody I can think of in the Democratic Party who's better equipped to lay the smackdown on the Republicans.  What they've done to this country is incredible damaging, painful, and tragic.  What they've done to you and to your husband, however, should go down in the annals of American history as one of the most disgusting series of acts ever witnessed.

It's our turn at the wheel.  The pendulum has swung back our way.  These yellow dogs have got their day.

Please make sure the Republicans know this by the end of your speech.  We're slightly ahead with one hand tied behind our back.  Can those idiots survive the onslaught of a united Democratic Party?

So I saw Senator John McCain on Leno last night.  It was actually more interesting and illustrative than I'd expected.

If we allow Senator McCain to be elected President, though our own actions or inaction, he will herald in an era of more dead kids and soldiers.  This won't be anything new, as President Bush has been perfectly willing to let more of our kids and soldiers die than ever was necessary.

John McCain opposes the expansion of SCHIP.  He called President Bush's veto of that expansion "the right call."  http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/m ccain.interview/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

John McCain is perfectly happy to have our presence in Iraq continue for as long as 100 years, depending on conditions.  He's toeing a very hard line on Iran and on Russia.  McCain's an honorable soldier who's biggest problem is that he thinks that the angry fist of military justice is almost always the appropriate response to any foreign problem or threat.

Okay gang, let's think this through.

How much time and energy do we spend dealing with the aggrieved among us?  Never before have so few caused so many so much drama.  How many diaries here deal with those who feel as though the party has "changed" or ignored them?  There sure as hell ain't 18 million of them.  I know exactly one person of this type in my real life.  Just one.  Oh, sure, I know a handful of Clinton supporters who are uneasy about Barack Obama (and that's fair, of course), but that's a million miles from the people of whom I speak.

Where could we better spend this time?  How could we better spend it?  Let's focus on growing the party.  Talk to people, especially the young, the ones you know who aren't plugged in, the ones who are switched off.  We can bring far more new voters in with this time we're wasting chasing after (or mocking) the handful who have made it agonizingly plain that they're too cool for the rest of us.

One of my closest friends is enjoying a lovely day in scalding-ass hot Iraq right now.  There ain't much that I can do about it at the moment.  Really there's only one thing I can do right now, actually.  I'll vote in November, of course, but it ain't November.  I just kicked $30 Obama's way.  August is almost over.  We need big numbers.  We need a fully-funded campaign that can obliterate McCain's imperialistic dreams.  I want my friend (and his 140,000 or so buddies) home as soon as possible.

John McCain is an impediment to bringing these fine men and women home soon.  Even if he could be trusted to end the war in Iraq (and I do not trust him, frankly) he'll get us into a war with Iran just as quickly.  The madness has to stop.  War should be a last resort, not the first and only option.

We have a ticket.  Obama/Biden is the first ticket of my adult life that I'm completely comfortable with.  I was too young to vote for Clinton/Gore which is the only other ticket in my life I would have been this comfortable with.

Guys, please kick in some money.  They're even giving out t-shirts for donations of $30 or more.  Barack Obama opted out of public financing on the assumption he'd raise at least $50 million a month.  He's done that, but only barely, so far.

Can we really trust Barack Obama?  Will he be any better than George W. Bush?  I am concerned...

My presence lingers.  I continue to post in a much diminished capacity.  My break seems to have cooled my nerves.  I will try to be a little more level-headed.  As such....

I ain't concerned.  Tracking polls aren't without any meaning at all, of course, but they are useful really only for measuring trends if you take a broad enough perspective.  Gallup just released a new non-tracking poll.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/109435/Support-ThirdParty-Candidates-Appears-Limited-Thus-Far.aspx