A minor aftershock of the Anbar 'awakening' gaffe:

The major Sunni sheik who John McCain said was protected by the surge and subsequently helped lead the Anbar Awakening, was actually assassinated by an al-Qaeda led group in midst of the surge.

On Tuesday evening, McCain falsely claimed that the downturn in violence in Iraq's Anbar province was a result of the surge, when in fact the surge began months afterward. Moreover, he said, if it weren't for the work of U.S. forces, the major Sunni figure leading that awakening wouldn't have had the protection he needed.

"Colonel MacFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks," said the Senator. "Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening."

The Arizona Republican's campaign went further the next day, claiming that the major figures that turned around Anbar province would have been killed had the surge policy not been in place. "If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda," said spokesman Tucker Bounds.

Sam Stein - Anbar Sheik Cited By McCain Was Assassinated Last Year The Huffington Post 23 Jul 08

Ooops.  Cut 187 in a series of 1000, signed by the artist.

Here is a thought that makes me happy...

It's only July and the campaign has barley started. As the months go on, John McCain will have to continue campaigning. He will be running around the country, suffering from jet lag and sleep deprivation. He will be talking and walking and moving and rushing every hour of every day. The pace will increase as November nears. The media scrutiny will increase. He will have debate prep, and the debates, and countless other TV appearances. And he cannot let up, not even for a split second, because he is down in the polls and up against one of the greatest campaigners the country has ever seen.

Now, considering all of that, do you think McCain will make more gaffes or less gaffes in the months to come?

That thought makes me very happy...

McCain has cancelled his press availability today?  Darn.  Guess he's channeling another Illinoisan.

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Abraham Lincoln

I can't resist pointing to Dave Weigel's take on Passportgate - now that there's corroborating evidence showing that Obama was actually, you know, born.  The evidence is in the piece, along with the new questions it raises.  (ha!)

I think he sums up the scale of this scandal pretty well in the story's coda:

The idea of Obama's family collaborating to create a false biography for him is, in itself, hilarious. How did those 1961 dinner table conversations go, do they think? "If we don't create a false story, and fast, our half-African son of an 18-year old mother will have no chance at becoming president!"

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/127704.h tml

What the heck is Phil Bredesen's picture listed under a headline on thepage.com about potential VPs?  Lori, maybe Obama hasn't given up on your state after all.

If you are still a bit outraged over yesterday's Katie Couric/McCain interview you are not alone and apparently they violated there own published ethical standards.

TV Show CBS Evening News with Katie Couric:

(212) 975-3247 or evening@cbsnews.com or their web feedback form.  

http://www.ojamas.us/servlet/StoreFront

Dear God, I hope none of you have had the utterly dispiriting experience of job-hunting in this economy...it sucked more ass than a donkey's vacuum cleaner gone haywire.  But it's over now (for about a year, until I move out of state.  Sigh).

Meanwhile, my long-term career plans may or may not be going up in flames for the world's dumbest reason, and I had a really ugly verbal fight with my rabbi the other day.  Ah, well...you win some, you lose some.

But yeah, I have a job as a bartender now, and the gas near my new job goes for $3.85.  I guess that makes up for the rest of it.

Color of Change delivers petitions to Fox News:

Should be on Colbert tonight. Make sure to watch.

So am I reading too much Mickey Kaus, or is this really torpedo any future John Edwards has in a potential Obama Administration?

I saw this comment in a thread elsewhere; sorry, it was precious.

"I live in Nevada.

We have pumas in Nevada.

They are solitary, anti-social creatures that are considered a nuisance by the general populace."

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments .pl?IDLink=3754706

If John McCain sets policy in a forest, and there's no one around to hear it, does it still hurt America?

Hey, didn't I see you hanging around the auction house in Ironforge recently?  You're not a troll, you're a level one gnome in a bikini.

I was searching the web looking for some toys for my four year old and I ran across this...Whatcha think?

http://www.babybushtoys.com/products.htm l

Ground zero for past GOP attempts to rig Ohio elections, Cuyahoga Co (the state's largest Dem stronghold) has been working hard to provide fair elections.

After the GOP governor and good buddy Ken Blackwell were sent packing in 2007, Dem SOS Jennifer Brunner and Dem Cuyahoga Co Commissioners have revamped the BOE and spent millions to ensure tamper-proof voting machines, extra training, extra poll workers and election judges, vote by mail programs and paper ballots.

The Dem Cuyahoga Co Commissioners must be doing something right. They've been sued by Diebold and attacked by the right wing rag Plain Dealer who is working overtime to smear as many county elected Dems as possible in the hopes of getting some R's elected to county office.  Ironically, one of the issues the PD attacked commissioners on was spending too much on elections.

So what worse could happen last spring than to have the Obama campaign weigh in, suing Cuyahoga County & the BOE because they thought the county should have left the polls in some areas open longer.  Just what we needed - a lawsuit to cost the county BOE even more money and provide fodder for the GOP / Plain Dealer to pressure county Dem leaders to cut the BOE budget.  Kind of odd that Obama folks would think fellow Dems would spend millions to ensure tamper free voting in an attempt to hurt Obama. Very odd, almost vindictive.

The grapevine says local Obama folks have agreed to act reasonably this time around. Early voting by mail will be promoted for the November 4 election to prevent delays at the polls.  Obama is a shoo-in to win the county, so lets hope his campaign keeps its cool and works with local Dems this time around.

Hey, we're all Dems, party unity!