Pray tell, how does history regress?

The cesspool is the one that you and your fellow travelers created. And yes we Democrats want Obama as our candidate because he can pull us out of your cesspool.

"If you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig." Let me explain what this bit of slang means: futile attempts to disguise the true nature of something through superficial, cosmetic changes.

Republicans and John McCain seem to love this phrase:

Rumsfeld's public affairs person and McCain's press secretary, Victoria Clarke, published a book in 2006: "Lipstick on a Pig: Winning In the No-Spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game."

2004 Cheney used this phrase to disparage John Kerry's policy, apparently it is his favorite line according to Lynne Cheney it is a common Wyoming saying.

When he campaigned in Iowa, McCain used the phrase to describe Clinton's health care plan.

If you put lipstick on John McCain, he's still John McCain.

Mr. Smerconish's analysis of the failures of the Bush foreign policy crowd is spot on. Abandoning Afghanistan and invading Iraq was a strategic blunder of major proportions. In today's Washington Post (p. A1) Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is quoted: "I am not convinced that we're winning it in Afghanistan...I am convinced we can."

The Bush administration abandoned Afghanistan and invaded Iraq because they had already planned to invade Iraq. The just made stuff up, especially the allegation that Sadam was involved in 9/11, to justify what they had planned to do long before 9/11. A bald faced lie. The Taliban in Afghanistan provided the safe harbor for Al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks were planned in Afghanistan, the murderers were trained in Afghanistan, and the attack was launched from Afghanistan. Yet, we attacked Iraq???

Now, the Taliban is resurgent. Al Qaeda has re-grouped along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. It seems the Bush administration may finally be waking up and smelling the coffee, perhaps finally coming back to join the rest of us in the real world. When Obama spoke out against invading Iraq in 2002, he said that he did not oppose all wars, just dumb ones. And he has consistently taken the position that we abandoned Afghanistan and must get back to finishing our work there. Talk about "cut and run" - the Republicans were the ones who did this when we abandoned Afghanistan. To all of you who live in a fantasy world and do not understand our abysmal failure in the war on terrorism - wake up!!

A woman I know works for USAID - she spent a lot of time in Afghanistan after we invaded in Dec 2001. I asked her then how long she thought it would take to rebuild and secure Afghanistan. She said, 15-20 years, think about that 15-20 years!!

Mr. Smerconish is by far and away not the only Republican who understands our tragic failure in the war on terrorism. In fact, I know many Republicans who voted against Bush in 2004 (most of whom had never voted for a Democrat) because they understood that the Bush administration blew it in the war on terrorism, the understand that the Bush foreign policy is FUBAR!

I forgot to add the rest of the my USAID friend's statement. She said that it would take 15-20 years to rebuild Afghanistan, if nothing happened.

Totally agree that the Republicans dumb down when they run for office. And this is what bothers me so much: it shouts their disrespect and disregard for the American people. I do not believe that the American people are universally stupid (I also believe that as individuals we are each smart or stupid in different ways) but the Republicans sure do. Whenever Republicans dumb down their message, when ever they call the Democrats "elitist" for talking to the American people as if we were capable, intelligent people - they demonstrate their disdain for the American people. Republicans are the true elitists. Republicans disrespect the American people when they believe Americans can't understand anything longer than a 30 second sound bite or banal slogan. Democrats are the ones who truly respect the American people because they do not dismiss them as "stupid" and, instead, talk to them as adults.

99.9% of the people Palin's nomination has "energized" were going to vote for McCain anyway. The reality is that Palin's nomination has energized Democrats. Not only has her nomination pushed many people from "undecided" to "lean Obama" or to "strong Obama." And, more important, since her nomination, thousands of new donors and volunteers have joined the campaign. I am an Obama volunteer in Virginia and I have seen a dramatic increase in the number of volunteers. All this energy put into grass roots efforts - phone banking, canvassing, reaching out to friends and family - will pay off. I am very, very optimistic about my state - for the first time in decades all our electoral votes will go to the Democrat.

The weather in my part of Virginia was pretty miserable this weekend - I think the humidity was 150% - yet 100s of volunteers went door to door yesterday and today. I visited around 40 houses - of those who were home (about 15) not one McCain/Palin supporter. Last Saturday because of the rain we cancelled canvassing but the 30+ people who had committed to canvass from my local office all stayed to make phone calls.

I wonder how many of these Palin people will do anything more than attend a rally to see their celebrity, maybe put a bumpersticker on their cars or a yard sign, and vote. Very few. So, Obama volunteers keep pounding the pavement, keep making phone calls, keep telling undecided voters the truth about Obama and his policy positions. The Republicans have no shame - they will lie, lie, lie to win this election.