Here's One Problem With Having Karl Rove Run Your Campaign

He won't let McCain be McCain (from Political Wire):

Todd Purdum, who has been traveling with Sen. John McCain, says the Arizona's senator's once warm relationship with the press has cooled considerably as his aides force him to stay on message.

"It's a far cry from when I last spent quality airtime with McCain, in the fall of 2006, as we logged thousands of miles over several days in small planes, often with no traveling companions but each other. No topic was off-limits, and virtually no answer was off the record."

Purdum also reports that McCain is struggling "at having to rein in his natural instincts, in no small part because he well knows that it was his close relationship with the media that kept him alive a year ago when so much of the smart money -- and so many of the big mouths -- in his party had left him for dead."

Gore's campaign aides did something similar back in 2000, and some claim that it cost Gore the White House. Let's hope the same thing happens to McCain.

Odds And Ends Tuesday

First of all, this is great news:

U.S. officials say the Justice Department has indicted Alaska Senator Ted Stevens on charges related to a long-running investigation of business dealings in Alaska.

Stevens, who has served in the U.S. Senate for 40 years, is up for re-election this year, and Democrats view his seat as one of their top pick-up opportunities. * * *

I'm not sure if it is too late for the GOP to put someone else in there to run for that Senate seat. I sure hope it is too late.

And here is an article that caught my eye:

The United States can defeat al-Qaida if it relies less on force and more on policing and intelligence to root out the terror group's leaders, a new study contends.

"Keep in mind that terrorist groups are not eradicated overnight," said the study by the federally funded Rand research center, an organization that counsels the Pentagon.

Its report said that the use of military force by the United States or other countries should be reserved for quelling large, well-armed and well-organized insurgencies, and that American officials should stop using the term "war on terror" and replace it with "counterterrorism."

"Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests there is no battlefield solution to terrorism," said Seth Jones, the lead author of the study and a Rand political scientist. * * *

I couldn't agree with this more. In fact, I seem to remember that George Bush said something similar just after the 9-11 attacks. Unfortunately, folks like Donald "There Are No Good Targets in Afghanistan" Rumsfeld and the rest of the neocons got ahold of Bush and that is why we are in the mess we are in right now.

Finally, I have a question -- why isn't the Obama Camp launching attack ads against McCain? Perhaps Obama's internal polling is showing that McCain's recent bullshit attacks aren't having any effect, but I think it is a mistake for Obama to not saturate the airwaves with ads which viciously attack McCain.

What Obama's Next Move(s) Should Be

Once Obama gets back from his trip overseas, I think he should do two things. First, he should personally talk about nothing but the economy for the next several weeks or so. Second, while he's addressing economic issues, his campaign should launch a vicious series of attack ads on John McCain, and the attacks should focus solely on foreign policy.

This is because McCain is a fucking idiot when it comes to foreign policy and all the gaffes he has committed recently in that regard really need to be shoved up him sideways. Just the other day in an interview with CBS, McCain made such an incredibly idiotic and historically wrong statement about recent events in Iraq that CBS actually had to cover it up.

And during that same interview, McCain actually said that the War in Iraq was "the first major conflict since 9-11," forgetting, of course, about Afghanistan (and once again, CBS covered up for him).

Do I think that McCain actually believes that the war in Iraq started before the war in Afghanistan? No, but the fact that McCain forgot about Afghanistan simply demonstrates how little the GOP actually thinks about that particular country, and that is why Afghanistan is such a huge mess right now. McCain's gaffe is symbolic of the GOP's general struggle against reality.

The Obama campaign must take full advantage of this, not only because the Corporate Media appear to be actively covering up for McCain, but because McCain is clearly pissed off at Obama right now for having the nerve to take an overseas trip (even though McCain repeatedly attacked Obama for not going to Iraq enough) and I think that is why McCain is making all these mistakes.

He's letting his anger get the best of him. The goal of Obama's campaign should therefore be to keep McCain angry at Obama, and the best way to do that would be to saturate the swing states with ads which crucify McCain on all of his recent misstatements.

McCain's gaffes are certainly fair game, particularly given that McCain basically called Obama a traitor the other day. Take the gloves off, Barack.

Bob Novak Commits A Hit-And-Run

And no, I'm not talking about his role in the outing of Valerie Plame (from Politico.com):

* * * As he traveled east on K Street, crossing 18th, Bono said a "black Corvette convertible with top closed plowed into the guy. The guy is sort of splayed onto the windshield.”

Bono said the pedestrian, who was crossing the street on a "Walk" signal and was in the crosswalk, rolled off the windshield and then Novak made a right into the service lane of K Street. “The car is speeding away. What’s going through my mind is, you just can’t hit a pedestrian and drive away,” Bono said.

He chased Novak half a block down K St., finally caught up with him and then put his bike in front of the car to block him and called 911. Traffic immediately backed up, horns blared, and commuters finally went into reverse to allow Novak to pull over.

Bono said that throughout, Novak "keeps trying to get away. He keeps trying to go.” He said he vaguely recognized the longtime political reporter and columnist as a Washington celebrity but could not precisely place him.

Finally, Novak put his head out the window of his car and motioned him over. Bono said he told him that you can't hit a pedestrian and just drive away. He said Novak responded: “I didn’t see him there.”

Bush's Approval Rating At 21% In ARG Poll

Brutal:

George W. Bush's overall job approval has dropped to 21% as 76% of American say the national economy is getting worse according to the latest survey from the American Research Group.

Among all Americans, 21% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 72% disapprove. When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 17% approve and 77% disapprove. * * *

I think it would be fitting if we could go into the November election with a Bush approval rating in the teens.

And speaking of the election, this is pretty funny:

As Barack Obama began his trip to the Middle East and Europe, the media was already speculating about the possibility of a gaffe. Obama's travel "carries political risk," the New York Times reported, "particularly if Mr. Obama makes a mistake."

But the only foreign policy error made in the last few days came this morning on ABC's Good Morning America, when John McCain made ANOTHER geography gaffe while trying to criticize Obama's visit to Iraq. (Just last week, McCain repeatedly referred to Czechoslovakia, a country that hasn't existed since 1993.)

Asked by Diane Sawyer whether the "the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent," McCain responded: "I think it's serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."

But as ABC's Rick Klein noted: "Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do."

A minor mistake, you say? Well maybe. But can you imagine the uproar that would have ensued had Obama made such a remark?

Hilarious

From Reuters:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months.

In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday, Maliki said he wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible.

"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes." * * *

Your move, McCain.

On a completely different subject, I saw The Dark Knight today. I thought it was pretty good, but -- like so many movies these days -- it was 20 minutes too long.