Last night Barack Obama's campaign spent close to $5 million for a 30 minute "infomercial" that aired on most networks. If you did not see it.....you should. Watch it here. The Reverend is as cynical as one gets.....but I must say....Barack Obama spoke truth with passion last night and it was emotionally moving, uplifting.

Remember all those great Roadrunner-Wile E.Coyote cartoons? We didn't have sophisticated video games and I-Pods back in the 50's when I was only a little Reverend. Instead, we had highly imaginative and creative black and white cartoons on small teevee screens. Bugs, Daffy, Mickey, Donald, Foghorn Leghorn (my favorite), and, of course, the Roadrunner-Wile E. Coyote cartoon characters were the boomer children's living room friends.

Ol' Wile E. tried every trick in the book, ACME explosives, mechanical devices, traps, etc....to catch that speedy Roadrunner. Without fail, Wile E. Coyote, would fall prey to his own contraptions, just like in the following 60 second cartoon clip....

Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View

Sarah Palin from 1984 beauty pageant.

One of my most disheartening moments came during the general election cycle of 2004.

In 2004...

Upon hearing the "breaking news" that Ashley Todd, a McCain campaign worker and College Republican, had been accosted, while visiting a Pittsburgh area ATM, by a tall, (6' 4") black, Obama supporter who robbed her, saw her McCain bumper sticker, and then proceeded to carve a "B" into her cheek "to teach her a lesson"....Fox News Executive Vice President John Moody wrote this on the Fox Forum website....

The one consistent theme of John McCain's campaign has been the stunts. The Arizona senator hasn't had a consistent recognizable message his entire campaign.....but the stunts.....have been recognizable everywhere.

It all started with the hasty choice of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. You might find this interesting....

Recently, a conservative commenter took the time, in a lengthy comment, to list quite a few objections to an Obama presidency. I appreciate this commenter's efforts. This is America.....where freedom to express ourselves is guaranteed. Before I address those objections.....let me first tell you about my experience yesterday with the conservative Ohio website, "Weapons of Mass Discussion", hosted by one, Matt Farley.

For the sake of today's post....please review the first 1:06 of this video from last night's Countdown.

First...

Immediately following the Democratic spanking of Republicans in the 2006 mid terms, two GOP alternative plans were launched.

John McCain with Sarah Palin in front of the "Country First" campaign theme

Obama speaks yesterday to 100,000 in St. Louis.

Update: Powell endorses Obama video below.

Ohio Republicans, joining their national brethren in a conspiracy to suppress votes again this election, tried to force 200,000 newly registered Ohio voters to cast their votes on provisional ballots. An appeals court gave the GOP a temporary victory in their vote suppression campaign, but yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the conspiring GOP.

Updated below

The truck pictured above is NOT Joe, the plumber's, truck.

Update with Joe The Plumber-Katie Couric clip below.

We're three weeks out from an historic American election. Have the very serious, knowledgeable, and in-the-know insiders in the main media prepared the electorate well for this election? Have the Great Protectors of Truth exhausted themselves making sure we, the voters, know everything we need to know to make an informed decision?

The top concerns of America's voters are 1) the economy (including job losses, home foreclosures, energy prices), 2) domestic issues (health care, education, environment), 3) foreign affairs, 4) social issues (guns, gay rights, abortion).

Progressives are getting a break.

We don't really need to criticize John McCain and Sarah Palin anymore. Why? Conservatives, now, are telling America why McCain and Palin are a total failure. Republicans of the highest order are now declaring McCain-Palin so over with.

It's over.

The "Race" has been won by Barack Obama and Joe Biden and the only mystery left is the final margin of victory.

The one attribute conservatives loved about George W. Bush was his resoluteness. Once, by god, W. made up his mind about something....he never backed down. He stuck to his guns. He grabbed his crotch and held on tight....whatever. Even if W. was wrong, conservatives said repeatedly, at least you knew where he stood, Georgie didn't back down or alter his viewpoint in any way. He wasn't in any way like those waffling, un-resolute Democrats who only saw nuance where he saw certainty.

From the beginning of the financial meltdown there has been a concerted effort by Republican types to divert the public's attention away from accusations that excessive deregulation created the mess we're now in.

These Republicans don't want to own up to their failed economic policies in the Congress the past 14 years, or their failed Republican presidental leadership in the field of economics, the presidency they have held 20 out of the last 28 years. Instead, they seek to blame....you guessed it....Democrats. The dynamic is perfectly understandable.

Year after year of "journalism" refusing to acknowledge truth, and instead, opting to encourage two 'he-said he-said' simultaneous yet contradictory streams of reality....no matter what the story.....has produced this.....

I typed this in January when Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Roberts, said he would take up a voter ID issue during an election year.....

A "steady hand on the tiller" is not what we saw or heard from 72 year old John McCain last night in the second of three scheduled presidential debates with Barack Obama.

One of the reasons America is so divided politically is because of Karl Rovian style tactics stirring up hate and intolerance towards minorities, gays, the educated, the poor, the reality and science based, etc. Those who have been paying attention know that this has been going on for a long time, is relatively predictable now, and that this year's clearest expression of it is found in the person of Sarah Palin.

From Dana Milbank, traveling with the Palin campaign....

Over one year ago, on August 16, 2007, I wrote this...

These poll numbers.....

If you haven't seen this Saturday Night Live intro.....take a look.....

Imitation is said to be the highest form of flattery.....so George and The Dick should feel very flattered today....

Last night's vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin came off just about the way I expected it would. Biden, as expected, was in total control of the debate material and conducted himself in a pleasant, yet non-condescending, way towards the obviously less knowledgeable Palin. Sarah Palin didn't come apart emotionally under the heavy pressure of the situation, but her newbee-ness, and her shallow grasp of national and international issues, as expected, were prominent.

The following clip from last night's debate is typical of the great divide between Sarah Palin's comprehension of American government and Joe Biden's comprehension. Palin's notion of a "flexible" vice-presidential role betrays the Constitution and only amplifies the Alaska governor's lack of depth in foundational American issues....

The song is on the Stones' "Exile on Main Street" album. "Hip Shake". It's a great number. "Shake those hips, baby." Good times. Greatest of all Stones' albums.

Recently, as I've been watching the course of the Sarah Palin-for-VP extravaganza, one disturbing element in the extravaganza has stood out like a sore, you know, thumb. This personal disturbance finds it's source in what I consider to be a concerted effort to diminish any prime-time expectations of the Alaskan Governor in this week's VP debate.