I had no idea... here I was thinking it was a legit GOTV effort directed at young Repubs on the part of the McCain camp.

Brian

Obama seems to have the upper hand at this point. IF the situation were reversed and Obama was desperate for the free media exposure that comes with debates, Bill and his wife would say "no" without a second thought.

Who the hell decided that Wolf "Swipe" Blitzer is qualified to moderate a debate? His attempts to manufacture tension between the two candidates ("that sounds like a swipe against you, Senator") were the low points in what was an otherwise civil and above the board debate. BLitzer should stick to moderating those faux talk shows/infomercials that you see at 2am on cable and leave the big shows to real professionals.

And don't get me started about Anderson Cooper giving Huckabee and Paul the shaft in last night's GOP debate.

Brian

If all these anti-McCain conservatives had the slightest bit of integrity they would stay home on election day or vote indpendent. But we all know that their hatred of the Democrats trumps any anti-McCain sentiment; they will vote for him nonetheless.

It passed Kerry's "global test."

But really, what does it matter? THe idiot will be out of office at this time next year, and there are still about 30% of the population who will continue to back this president whether the number is 935 or 9,350,000.

Brian

I read her book, SHrub, prior to the 2000 election and it was one of the reasons I was convinced Bush would be a disaster for this country as president.

We were both right, unfortunately.

I agree with Heather and her criticisms of both BG and the SIlverman Program.

First off, BG has gone off the tracks with these lame-brained love stories that involve Starbuck and Apollo making goo-goo eyes at each other behind their significant others' backs. Please, let's not let BG turn into Melrose Place in space.

Regarding Silverman, I decided to watch her show after being blasted by promos for it during my regular Daily Show and South Park viewings. I ended up turning it off after about 10 minutes because of a distinct absence of laughs in what was supposed to be a comedy. I mean, really... jokes about getting high on cough syrup? How edgy!

I said this over at tpmcafe and I'll say it again here. Hearing about those four people - a successful basketball player from a 3rd world country, a man who risked his life to save the life of another man, a successful businesswoman, and young man who volunteered to serve in the army - and their accomplishments was a stark reminder of just how little our current president has done with his own life and how undeserving he is of the position he holds today.

Bush traded in his family name several times to start up a business, but was a complete failure each time. Bush had a chance to serve in Vietnam, like John KErry, but had his daddy pull some strings and ended up protecting our skies from the Mexican air force. He glided into the presidency with nothing more than his fammily name and a single term as the weak governor of Texas. Since then, he's been the worst president our country has ever seen, and he's not even done screwing up the country yet. His life is one long pattern of failing up, up and up until he reached the plateau: the presidency.

Those four people have done more with their lives than Bush could ever do, so to see them up there and Bush down there on the rostrum reminded me just how undeserving and unqualified this man is for the presidency.

"My point is going to be, what happens in Iraq matters to your security here at home."

I don't think any serious thinkers will dispute that, Mr. President. The more imortant issue is whether or not Iraq was a threat to our security at home before you went forward with a ill-conceived and poorly-planned attack.

Brian

I will never vote for Hillary Clinton even if she wins the dem primaries.

I remember a few years ago Bush Jr. said something along the lines of "he tried to kill my father" as one more reason why Saddam was a bad guy. This clearly illustrates the danger of having the presidency run by families.

Will Hillary use the presidency to get back at those who went after her family in the 90's? Maybe not... but the danger that her motivations could be corrupted by what her husband went through is there.

And besides that, I agree with the others that argue she can't win anyway. An Edwards or Obama might be able to attract some of the wavering Republicans who can no longer stomach what Bush has done to their party and the country. If Hillary is the candidate these people will probably just stay home rather than putting an X next to the Clinton name.

Hillary as a candidate is just a bad idea all around. The Dems have younger, fresher faces out there who can do just as well, if not better, and don't have the baggage that Hillary carries with her.

Brian

You can make a betting game of sorts with people guessing how many words into the speech or how many times total Bush will mention 9/11. Will he start the speech with, "9/11 changed everything"?

Brian

My favorite line is from a woman who claimed that the dems "have done everything possible to maintain our dependence on foreign energy?"

Tom Hartman just discussed this very issue on his radio show today. At the end of the CLinton era, 58% of the oil America consumed came from foreign sources. Today, it's at 66%.

Of course, it would be out of line and incredibly elitist of me to say that such a person is stupid for believing an obvious falsehood, so I won't.

I'm surprised a "who's on first?" didn't slip in there somewhere.