Obama has no equal in the arena of political speech and political theatre. Not even close.

Watching the news this morning...I'm hearing some Republican mouthpieces suggest that maybe McCain will shun a speach altogether and hold a town hall instead, try to do something different.

Oh God I hope he does. If that doesn't scream defeat and surrender, I don't know what does.

Consider this.

The first ten-fifteen minutes of the speech (including the intro video) focused heavily on the modest roots of Barack Obama. Consider the images shown in the slide show. I certainly didn't see anything that suggested that either he or his wife came from anything but modest means. (I particularly loved the one photo of the two of them sitting at a grimy wooden table, possibly in some seedy bar) one big brown domestic beer bottle sitting in front of Barack.

The first ten minutes of his speech focused on his modest means. On his American story, the struggles of his mother, his grandmother and grandfather, and his own struggles. If he had pushed the "salt of the earth" theme any further, the audience would have gotten thirsty.

And then, near the 20 minute mark, Obama delivers this line:

"I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead...but this has been mine. These are my heros."

In my opinion, it was a powerful counterpunch, neutralizing with power and poignancy one of John McCain's only succesful attack approaches against Obama.

We'll see how effective the celebrity smear works now.

Obama is a smart smart man. Not only is this the decent response, it a savvy response too.

Besides, Joe Biden will not be debating Sarah Palin in October. I would be very surprised if she remains on the ticket past this Friday. Each scandal or question surrouding her, on its own, would not really be such a big deal. But the mounting cumulative effect of her inexperience and questionable actions as govenor are going to force her off the ticket, and soon.

McCain has made a collasal bluner, epic. Sarah Palin burns with the intensity of a hundred Dan Quayle's. By making this rash decision, he's put himself in the position where he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

And this Democrat is loving every second of it.

We get it, she has an irresponsible teenage daughter. So do a lot of people.

More and more it's looking like today or tomorrow will be Sarah Palin's last day as a Vice Presidential candidate. No matter how you feel about her political views, no doubt her withdrawl will be devastating on her and her family. I wouldn't wish that kind of public pain and humiliation on anyone.

So lets knock it off. We've won, by like 20 points.

Have the editors at Salon lost their minds. Apparently it's ok to be outrageously sexist and demeaning to a female politician when she's a Republican.

I detest Sarah Palin, but this photo is just another shockingly bad and lowbrow decision by Salon. And to think I used to think of this little online Journal as one of the best left leaning magazines out there.

It's been so long since I've read a piece by Salon that didn't feel like a piece of over-inflated San Francisco progressive tripe.

This is the kind of real reporting that Salon used to pump out all the time. There are literally thousands of blogs I can turn to for opinions about the political discourse in the land. It is much more rare to find genuine reporting that delves into the real decline of the American people at the hands of the neo-conservative revolution.

It's time for Salon to shake itself up and hire more reporters like Dan Hoyle to go out there and report on the stories that the mainstream media and 50 progressive blogs are missing!

If you want to criticize a historical figure, if you want to lay out his faults and faulty judgement in a way that makes an impact, you have to be smart about it.

I have no love for George W Bush. His hubris and his complete lack of self understanding, tied to a radical agenda, have driven this country into the ground. There is no risk that a film that grants him moments of sympathy will obscure the undeniable failure of George W Bush.

To talk honestly about George W. Bush is to invariably admit his complete failures. The failures of this man are so collosal and so devastating that an honest and empathetic look at his rise and fall can only magnify the devastation.

The fact that Stone acknowledges Bush's humanity does nothing to change the final judgement on his impact. But, it gives his last defenders, those valiant warriors in the dying throes of their insurgency, one less shield to cower behind.

Aptly put Juliebird

And I sincerely, sincerely hope that as the clock continues to tick on Bush, that Salon focuses more attention on the ultimate, abject failure Dubya has been. I know it's never good to kick a man when he's down, but this time I'm willing to make an exception.

If salon wants to seriously compete with Huffington post as the source for progressive thought, it seriously needs to focus on this kind of hard hitting journalism. These are the kinds of stories that set Salon apart from the megablogs that merely comment on the news. I would rather go to a site that offers a handful of thoughtfull, in-depth pieces on topics I am unfamilliar with than waste my time on a site that just rehashes the rehashes of the news.

...if our ability to import goods was restricted to tunnels and smuggling.

Treat people like dogs and they will bite.