Attack Themes and Trending in the Blogosphere

This chart at left shows the frequency of the mentions of "Socialist + Obama", "Reverend Wright", and "Williams Ayers" or "Bill Ayers" in blogposts over the past 2 months. You can tell when the memo stressing the key talking points went out on pasting Obama with the Bill Ayers attack in the blogosphere.

Noticeably, the commentary on Reverend Wright showed a modest spike at the beginning of the month of October, but my guess is that since that was not a successful line of attack with Hillary, the McCain camp as laid off that commentary as well.

And finally, it would appear that the "Obama as Socialist" commentary is not hitting the desired strided either.

Are these Available at McCain HQ?

Colonel Potter would say "Horse Hockey!"

John McCain swears during debate.

Obama Going for Jugular: Attack Ad from Georgia

Home Made McCain Ad

Cognitive Dissonance

One thing that I don't understand as we roll into this election cycle is the disconnect on the right as it pertains to torture. I see a recurring theme around the fact that torture tactics that we employed against detainees at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and other now-infamous US facilities are somehow tolerable, and that the provisions of the Geneva Convention are quaint, because frankly the means justify the ends, given what we suspect the detainee might have done. And in the same breath, the mere utterance of McCain's military record (not to mention his time as a POW)by anyone on the left triggers a hue and cry that no doubt signifies an impugning of his complete service record, and is nothing short of an indictment of the patriotism of the commenter.

We should either honor McCain's service, the incredible hardships he endured in five years as a POW, AND at the same time reject the premise that our own tactics (many similar, if not the same as those that McCain endured) were nothing less than torture, or alternatively, we relegate the tactics employed by American forces (hired guns and otherwise) to that just a step above "frat hazing" and then must therefore question the punishment that McCain endured as simply his initiation into the North Vietnamese chapter of Delta Tau Chi.

Without a Doubt, the Creepiest Stuff I've Seen Out of the McCain Campaign

> Oh wait, that's not campaign material. My bad.

Hillary's Plan

A very republican co-worker suggested that Hillary, if she won the nomination would pick Bill as her running mate, and if that happens Obama would go independent, and run with Bloomberg. I replied that (1) I am fairly confident that Bill can not be Vice President (something about people who've been president can't be in line to be president again, or some such constitutional legalese), and (2) Bloomberg is a Republican at heart, and would not run with Obama, nor did I believe that Obama would pursue a cross-over corporatist as his running mate.

The point of this though is that I am now hearing rumors that Hillary might consider an independent run against Obama if she does not be the nomination. Given the the tenor of the commentary after the recent turn of events (Richardson's endorsement of Obama to name one), my sense is that this could be something she pulls off.

I could think of no better way to guarantee a McCain victory in the fall!

A Test for McCain - Support for the New GI Bill

Who am I kidding. The "Maverick" actually putting his neck out and alienating his new-found base. Jim Webb will be waiting a long time for McCain's support for this, the new GI Bill for post 9/11 veterans. My prediction: won't happen this election cycle.

Blogs Afire with Anti-Hillary Meme

And rightfully so. Her putting McCain on a pedestal (I think the technical term in the political circles - a term borrowed from the adult movie industry - is "fluffing") at the same time throwing Obama under the bus is getting out of hand. Although I haven't pinpointed her rationale, Randi Rhodes' theory is justthisside of far-fectched. Of her two theories, that (a) Hillary wants to be his running mate, or (b) she'll implode the party in order to give McCain the election this year, allowing her to come out in 2012, the latter seems more plausible.

Bill Cunningham Makes Us All Proud

...to be from Cincinnati. I know it's schtik, but its racist, malicious schtik. And shockingly, John McCain was not aware, nor did he anticipate Cunningham's commentary. Sad.

McCain Response to the Obama Video

Very Funny Stuff - A McCain response to the Obama video