There are too many unpleasant things floating around in my head from this weekend. I need to do a brain dump here to get several of them out of there. As you might imagine, they all relate to John McPOW.

I'll start by sharing with you this inspring image, which is apparently the winner of a poster contest on Magoo's website. I can't decide whether the irony is hilarious or just disturbing.

But it could be worse. Check after the flip for one that didn't win.

Meanwhile, something struck me about the Saddleback Forum that I don't think has been discussed here yet. People have been expressing wildly varying opinions about which voters each candidate lost and gained, and whether Obama is a hero for standing up to the RR, or a goat for letting them play him. I see it a little differently.

I think the significance of the forum was that it put into very stark relief the nature of the referendum that this election represents -- and it's not about left or right, religious or non-religious.

More on this, the losing poster, and an additional thought about the No-Cone controversy, below . . .

This past weekend Russia inavaded the soverign nation of Georgia, after the unprovoked attack of South Ossetia. In the following days after the attack and Russia's subsequent invasion of Georgia, to protect South Ossetia, "presumptuous" Republican nominanee Sen. John McCain found the time to rattle sabers at Russia. Has tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber now involved America in WWW III?

tanyainsacramento wrote a diary last night with an American eye-witness account of who started the conflict.

Continue below the fold  

Oh boy, there is an article coming soon to be published in the "Atlantic Monthly", where Mark Penn advises Hillary Clinton to "portray Barack Obama as having a "limited" connection "to basic American values and culture," according to a forthcoming article in The Atlantic."

This article will also talk about the "circular firing squads, poor conference calls, and the lack of leadership from Hillary herself in getting her team on track.

Was she really ready to lead ?? Was she really ready to lead the nation as a "true" progressive ??

After two weeks of ads peddling lies about Barack Obama, John McCain is now lying about himself.  In a new spot ironically titled "Broken," McCain tries to resurrect his battered maverick image tarnished by his endless flip-flops and gutter politics.  But as it turns out, the man the ad describes as "the Original Maverick" is telling tales again.

McCain's mendacity starts with the economy.

John McCain is a Corruptionist. He is a politician who has protected and upheld corrupt practices throughout his political career. The recent trust of his lobbyist laden and Rovian directed campaign is just the latest example from a career that has always been more hype than action, more spin than substance.

John McCain is an empty old man chosen to lead the parade in this cycle when years of lies, corruption and divisive politics are finally catching up with the Republican Party and the conservative movement. McCain got the nod because he has always been trusted to create the illusion of action, while actually doing nothing. When examined, his legislative "accomplishments" are thin and shallow—like McCain himself.

McCain and his fellow corruptionists have one path to victory. They must run the dirtiest campaign in American history. It is ugly and it will get worse. Get ready, because McCain is surrounded by the architects of the Conservative Wrecking Crew destroying our Nation and he is one of them.

To the jump...

This is just for fun - a friend challenged me to write up a list of McCain's "Greatest Hits" for an album cover, so here it is, with thanks to Sturangedaze, a Navy Mom, and our friend ArchitectWolf.

Also, thanks go to Timelad, for his adjusted and updated map of McCain's "World".

Biggest thanks, of course, to Keith Olbermann and Countdown, for keeping us all informed.

More below the fold...

Just one month after airing an ad which declared "only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war," John McCain once again joked about creating carnage in Iran.  On the stump Tuesday, McCain added killing Iranians with cigarette addiction to last year's musing about "bomb bomb Iran."  Whether he's yukking it up over conflict with Tehran, following Osama Bin Laden to the "gates of hell" or just being the "worst nightmare" of Al Qaeda and Hamas, John McCain sounds more and more like the man he seeks to replace.

Here's a story documenting yet another McBush flip-flop:
http://www.boston.com/...
McBush used to be against the tobacco lobby but is now for it.  He's now not only against cigarette taxes but also against putting the tobacco industry under FDA regulation.

McBush has a former tobacco lobbyist for a senior campaign advisor:
http://firedoglake.com/...

That's right.  McBush hired a glorified drug pusher (former Phillip Morris lobbyist Charlie Black) to work on convincing voters that he's for protecting America, upholding moral values, and preserving the sanctity of life.  

Of course, this can't possibly have anything to do with McBush's change of heart on tobacco regulations.  Really.  

The mainstream media are attacking Barack Obama's Iraq policy as a huge flip-flop shift.  But Obama's current stance of Iraq is not a flip-flop.  At most, it is just a policy refinement.  People should keep in mind that John McCain still keeps Charlie Black at the top echelon of his campaign.    

I've been reading lots of stories about Charlie Black over the last week. Charlie’s firm gives money to a lot of private contractors and borderline mercenaries. Well of this reminded me of Mitt Romney’s go to guy for terrorism expertise Cofer Black (a name right out of a movie). Cofer one of BlackWater’s top guys pushes the concept of private military groups to overthrow governments and help put in new regimes so we can have better access to friendly governments who will allow our Halliburtons to setup shop.

So why is this McCain’s problem?  When our veterans start to look at McCain as the guy who seems to now outsource our military like the Bush administration does, and then those America companies REALLY outsource guys from Columbia and other places and send them to Iraq it really starts to undermine two major qualities McCain has been strong on in the past...

Hey! Rachel Maddow’s in the house! How 'bout that? Good for Keith for taking some time off.

And, to express my appreciation for others being patient enough and good natured enough to tolerate some of the more "exciting" comments about Keith and my droolings about Richard Wolffe, any Rachel Maddow fans are welcome to go nuts! Let's just keep it at around a PG - 13 rating, OK? :)

On to tonight's Countdown diary!

This story is as much a matter of the need to correct the media narrative as it is about the facts and policy themselves.

As you will recall, during the Clinton years, Halliburton under Cheney, and with McCain's assistance, were doing business with Iraq under Saddam Hussein in violation of the embargo at the time.

Now it turns out that McCain and some other Republicans have placed their lobbyist-business interests ahead of the Iran embargo and American security, and support for Columbian terrorist paramilitaries on both sides.

Once again, it is the Republicans who are treasonous enablers of terrorism, terrorists, and terrorist states.

When McCain and the other Republicans claim to be stronger against Iran and other terrorist states they are lying, having already sold out national interests to their multinational corporate paymasters. Forget their words, see how they actually vote and follow the money.

Get it?

We here at dkos often complain, and rightfully so, about the media's tendency to treat John McCain with kid gloves and to be complicit in helping McCain maintain a bogus "maverick" image. So let's give kudos when the media actually do their job. Today the conservative-leading Tampa Tribune published a front-page story that blasts the "McCain maverick" myth and exposes the seedy underside of his closest adviser, Charlie Black (who was a University of Florida grad, who knew?).  The information in the article is nothing new to most kossacks, but I think it's significant that the media is starting to finally tell -- gasp! -- the truth about McCain -- and a conservative paper in Florida to boot.

Interviewer: Mr. McCain, what is the gravest long-term threat facing our economy?

McCain: Its Radical Islamic Extremism, Stupid

Well this wasn't the precise quote... but it sums it quite well. To quote then in the spirit of completeness:

I am pretty certain that either I'm completely starting to lose it, or that I am in desperate need of a reality check by my fellow Kossacks.  Now, didn't Charlie Black get into some pretty serious hot water last week for inferring that it would be a 'good thing' for McCain if there were to be a terrorist attack on the United States prior to the election?  Yeah, I think this 'misstatement' was all over the news, and as I recall, there was a formal apology from Charlie Black regarding his statement.  I even recall watching Keith Olbermann talking about the fact that this continual fear mongering was now becoming a pattern by members of the McCain campaign and of course, the Republican party in general.  So regardless of Charlie Black's mea culpa....

Frank Rich's column this week takes on John McCain adviser Charlie Black's comments that a terrorist attack would be a "big advantage" for the Republican candidate's campaign.  While much has been said about how Black's comments mirror ones McCain made last year (even though McCain repudiated Black's statement this week), Rich goes further to show how the McCain campaign's dependence on the fear of a terrorist attack is a structural part of the Republican campaign.  In this sense, Rich argues, McCain is relying (like all Republicans this century) upon the ideas and tactics of Karl Rove.

(Crossposted at CtW Connect)

Code Name: Mr. Black

Current Job: Chief Advisor to John McCain

Previous Job: Lobbyist for corporate criminals and violent dictators

Meet more of Charlie Black's clients, after the jump...

RIP to the 2nd amendment as of today; go out and get them bazookas! On second thought, a bazooka may bit big for me; I'm only 5'2", you know. Better make mine a sawed - off shot gun. And, barring a miracle of biblical proportions, we all can bid a fond farewell to the 4th amendment shortly after the celebration of our...um...gee...independence from a power that was doing the stuff to us that said amendment would try to protect us from later on. Irony's faboo!

But, let's all look on the bright side. Tomorrow is Friday, and George Carlin's talking about pulling underwear out of your hind quarters as I type this! Yes, I own all the DVDs of the HBO shows, but you can never have enough George.

So, on to tonight's Countdown diary!