Gasoline prices peaked at about the 4th of July.  Bush approval has been improving steadily ever since -- in lockstep with gas prices.

Mysteriously, McCain, whom everyone knows to be Bush's slightly-less-evil twin, is improving in the polls.  I say it's cause and effect.  Gas prices down, Bush approval up, McCain approval up.  Maybe I'm wrong, but it's not the kind of thing we or the Democrats running for office can afford to neglect.  

see the link.

bush approval and gasoline prices

JOhn McCain has said he never brings up his POW status.

One of the things I've never tried to do is exploit my Vietnam service to my country because it would be totally inappropriate to do so.

We all know that is not true.

We have gotten to a point in this campaign where that is all he has.

I do not denigrate McCain's service. However, I, like Wes Clark, don't think it qualifies him for higher office.

Still, you know he is going to use it, and he will most likely use it in the debates. So Obama has to be ready with a great response. And not just the "We all honor McCain's service, but..." response.

Obama has to take him on. He is showing signs that he will. But he has to do it in such a way that McCain can't sit on his pitty pot and whine over this "elitist who never served" calling him out on his incessant pandering.

So, I am asking you all to come up with a response. Nothing mean, nothing denigrating. Just a reasonable response to what I know is going to be McCain's response to a question he doesn't like in the debates.

Meanwhile, look at all the times McCain or his campaign has brought up the POW stuff.

Imagine this quickly-produced ad:

John McCain's face photoshopped onto the body of the Wicked Witch of the West from the vintage film footage of the Wizard of Oz, with McCain saying he can't recall how many houses he owns.

The Kansas farmhouse comes out of the sky crushing him.

The door of the house opens, and Kathleen Sebelius steps out, as the little people of Munchkinland gather around.

Judy Garland singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" comes on as Kathleen winks at the camera and the Obama rainbow logo appears.

Close: "I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message."

Game. Set. Match.

I've been hearing many Republican incumbents in Congress recently claim that the Democratic gains in 2006 is to blame for high gas prices. I did a little digging, and while the makeup of Congress has had little to do with the price of oil, the guy in the oval office does.

There are some significant anniversaries rolling around these next few weeks.  Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Prague Spring, a date which is even more significant given the Russian invasion of Georgia.  We have the Katrina anniversary next week.  The 7th 9/11 anniversary is coming around shortly.  Each of these dates, like 11/11/18, has something to teach us about our present.

"To say that American politics, 50 years ago, 60 years ago, 100 years, or 200 years ago was this high-brow debate is just simply wrong," Goldstein says. "The Declaration of Independence is a negative ad, outlining a bunch of gripes we had with the British. The Lincoln-Douglas debates were negative politics. The major reason Abraham Lincoln did not use negative ads was that TV didn't exist. If it did exist, he would have."
Negative campaign ads contribute to a healthy democracy, political scientist argues; http://www.news.wisc.edu/... Jan. 14, 2008 by Dennis Chaptman and Kenneth Goldstein UW-Madison.

When you begin to think that the current campaigns are negative note the following history:

Candidate Convention theme songs always set the tone-

Instead of "Yes I can" or other such songs, I would LOVE BO to take Hil theme song she used so effectively near the end of her campaign0- I wont back Down; Tom Petty- and use it himself:

Why:

1. Its all American- middle America, not exotic

2. Its a nod to Hillary

3. It is great song for his new tactic-fighter against McCain, and fighter

   for middle class workers

4. Great send off after convention- he'll fight till the end

5. Its a damn great song

Any thoughts- I think this would be great    

Is there any doubt that the handwringing thorughout the blogosphere was unwarranted? I've argued in comments that the hard work would begin just after the convention in comments in other diaries.

There's a craggy, bearded handyman in our area of Eastern PA with a van that professes he's "Pro-Life" and "Needs Work" and a nicer guy you'd have trouble finding. Last spring we chatted with him to learn he favored Obama over the rest of the field. In the same conversation he pulled out photos of his 3-year-old son, product of a casual relationship and whose mother had wanted to abort him. This man said that he begged the woman to let him raise the boy, and she did, so he has sole custody. He's almost 4 now, and this dad is one devoted and proud papa.

More below the fold.

The fix is in, the die has been cast, the Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate has been chosen.

Many have wondered, many have guessed, many have spoken with authority.  But all were wrong.

Explaining the difference between the two candidates

Received an email from my sister a few hours ago.

It was a forwarded email, through several other forwards, as a blistering attack on the writings of Barack Obama.

Problem is, he never wrote the stuff they said he did.

This isn't much of a diary, but I'm puzzled as to why the "Warmonger" meme hasn't yet appeared in an attack ad against McCain.

With all the recent handwringing over Obama's falling poll numbers, I still have confidence that we will prevail in November.  I have to admit, though, that I am relieved by the "Seven" ad and the ad linking McCain to Abramhof.  It demonstrates Obama's willingness to hit back hard with the truth.

What should we do about those "the one" attack ads? Well... say what they really are: an attack on AMERICA!

Mccain has no respect for america, or americans. its insulting to think people would even fall for those silly ads, when there is so much more important stuff to talk about. of course mccain can't talk about that stuff because when anybody looks at what's going on in this country, mccain loses.

here is an excerpt from a conversation i was having with a friend on IM.

The OODA Loop is a concept created by an Air Force fighter pilot, Col John C Boyd, to confound the enemy by controlling his action/reaction cycle and win aerial dogfights. It has many many applications outside of combat from business to politics.

I'm an Americorps VISTA. I am dedicating one year of my post-college life to fight poverty in the inner city at poverty-level wages. And apparently, the life of John McCain, or any other US senator, is more important than mine, or the lives of 47 million Americans without health insurance. I can now count myself among them.

According to Marc Ambinder McCain is planning to unveil a new ad this evening.  a McCain official said Obama "opened to door to this" with his "Seven" ad and that

the difference between Obama's mocking McCain for his wealth and his shaky answer on the number of homes he owns was that McCain's charge "reflects an existential reality," where Obama's charges "attack Cindy. She owns the homes. I thought he said the wives were off-limits."

I'm guessing John stays in a Motel 6 somewhere in downtown Phoenix most of the time.

Republicans never fail to stretch the bounds of my patience and sanity.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/...

To date I've been a total Casandra on this website. I've spent a lot of time kvetching about Obama's eroding polls. My main goal is to try to alert people about potential bad news. Like the Stock Market, I've predicted 11 of the lat 6 Obama crises. I don't intent to stop now!