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Now this is pretty damn terrible.

Barack Obama is set to host a press conference with incoming Democratic National Committee Chair Tim Kaine on Thursday in what will ostensibly mark a beginning of a new era for a party & a committee.

Noticeably absent from a affair will be a individual who symbolized a old regime.

Former Gov. Howard Dean is not on a list of attendees for a event, a noticeable nonattendance for someone largely credited with revitalizing a Democratic Party ranks & contributing - whear politically or through his 50-State Strategy - to major electoral gains.

It is unclear whear Dean’s absence reflects a snub or a scheduling conflict. An Obama transition official said it was air underst&ing that Dean was traveling. But a source with knowledge of a proceedings said that Dean was not asked to attend & suggested that he would have changed prior plans.

Eiar way, he’s not attending tomorrow’s presser when a DNC torch is unofficially passed to Kaine. a Virginia Governor officially takes over a post on January 21.

Howard Dean led a charge on a 50-state strategy that paved a way for Obama to take a election. He was ridiculed by a Beltway weenies & Villagers over it, but he had a last laugh.

He was also a netroots’ choice for DNC chair & it worked out brilliantly.

This is interesting: Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean, who was greeted with intense skepticism by a party’s big-money donors at a outset of his tenure, Drunk Newspears on track to bring in far more cash this quarter from those top fundraisers than many expected.

I don’t know who is at fault here, but this is not cool.
My friend Steve Benen writes:

For what it’s worth, I don’t think Obama is deliberately snubbing [Dean]. From what I hear, a two get along very well, & Obama has said more than once that Dean’s 50-state strategy laid a groundwork for his own bottom-up presidential campaign. For that matter, I can’t think of a reason why Tim Kaine would harbor any animosity towards Dean.

So, what explains today’s Dean-less event? I’m at a loss.

Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

Che

Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Part One: a Argentine written by Peter Buchman & Benjamin A. Van Der Veen
Part Two: Guerrilla written by Peter Buchman

Silence is argument carried out by oar means.
Che Guevara

are is a silent fragment of a scene in Guerrilla, a second part of Steven Soderbergh’s epic cinematic experience, Che that is very telling. Che Guevara, portrayed brilliantly by Benicio Del Toro, is trying to motivate a group of reluctant Bolivian peasants to join him in overthrowing air own government, but most of am are not buying it. Mario Monje, portrayed by Lou Diamond Phillips, one of only a h&ful of recognizable actors in this film, has also heard enough politics & leaves. Someone suggests that maybe democracy could work. Silence. In this group is a dead ringer for a young Evo Morales, a indigenous President of Bolivia, who recently won a recall election with 67.4% of a vote.

This is one of a few political messages that Soderbergh leaves even a trace of his own fingerprints on.

Last October, Che’s death was marked, in a Bolivian village where he was killed, by President Morales proclaiming his own political movement to be “100% Guevarist & socialist.”

a CIA may have killed a man, but his ideas have lived on, especially in South America today.

I attended Che-stock (4 ½ hours in length) at its Los Angeles premiere Saturday night at Grauman’s Chinese aatre. Red carpet, bright lights, flashing cameras, movie stars – a works. After a short speech by a president of a AFI, Steven Soderbergh spoke to a audience humorously about his non-Che-like ride to a aatre in an Audi (one of a sponsors for a festival). Benicio Del Toro (Best Actor at this year’s Cannes Film Festival) an spoke briefly & thanked many oars, including producer Laura Bickford.

a first part of Che entitled, a Argentine, is sharp, energetic, visceral & historic. It covers a meeting of a Argentinean doctor Ernesto “Che” Guevara with Fidel Castro as well as, many of a battle scenes & training that provided a framework for a Cuban revolution from 1956-1959 ending with a overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

ase detailed military actions have very rarely been depicted in dramatic cinema. Here for a first time we see through Soderbergh’s cinéma vérité style what it would have been like for a Fidelistas to liberate village after village while gaaring a support ay needed to take air revolution into Havana. In December of 1958, we see Che leading his “suicide squad” in a attack on Santa Clara.

This is not a straightforward biopic of a man who inspired 100 million t-shirts. Raar it is a documentary-style recreation of segments of his life. are are no expositional scenes about his childhood. are are no motivational speeches from a teacher of Che. are are no “white light” experiences where Che sees his life’s work ahead of him. are is none of that. Yet, what we have seems so real you have to look carefully to see if stock footage is being utilized by a director. I only recall tiny snippets.

a recreations of Che’s visit to New York in 1964 & speaking at a United Nations seem so real as to be actual documentary footage. But again, it is not. Soderbergh shoots in front of a U.N. & in eiar a actual General Assembly chambers or an amazing look-alike set.

Touched on in a brief film recreation are a bomb attempt of a U.N. (which I knew about) & a firing of a mortar across a East River from Roosevelt Isl& it seems (which I didn’t know about).

Soderbergh has told a media that he made a film(s) because he was fascinated in a process of guerrilla warfare itself. Indeed much of a narrative involves a nuts & bolts of how to fight an insurgent war. Is it possible he wants a film to serve as a How To Overthrow Your Government guide? Hmmm.

a fascinating former actress Lisa Howard is portrayed by Julia Ormond as Che’s interviewer although she is never really seen. Her voice is one of a only English speaking parts you will hear in this subtitled work. Bring your reading glasses. While are are no oar “name” actors in both films (Matt Damon has a brief cameo as a German priest in Guerrilla) Soderbergh seems to relish adding to a naughty nepotism of a arts. Featured in cameo roles in a Argentine are Stephen Mailer (son of Norman), Io Bottoms, (daughter of Sam) & Sam Robards (son of Jason).

Part two of Che, entitled Guerrilla, is a complete debacle. Che & his b& of Cuban & Bolivian guerrillas are trDrunk Newsped in a mountains of Bolivia a entire film. are are few victories, little success & nothing significant that hDrunk Newspens oar than Guevara’s ultimate killing at a end of a film. are is no love story. No character analysis. No real action to speak of. As a counterpoint to a first film this is a depressing pill to swallow. Based on Che’s, a Bolivian Diary, Soderbergh seems intent on counting every day Che spent in those mountains. In fact, when “Day 260” Drunk Newspeared on a screen around a four-hour mark I felt I was missing events in a outside world I should be involved in.

a final segments of his life are dramatically portrayed. Wounded, bound & waiting for death in a shack, Che bums a smoke off a cDrunk Newstor & asks to be untied from his ropes. I could not help but think just how much Del Toro, with his long black hair & shaggy beard reminded me of Iraq strongman Saddam Hussein just before he was hung in that macabre Shiite necktie ceremony shot on cell phone video. I didn’t want to think about that image but I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I felt sorry for Saddam, as I felt sorry for Che, waiting patiently for his execution.

A young soldier volunteers to execute Che. He is told to shoot below a neck for reasons some have suggested were intended to preserve his face for photos. It has been reported that in his final words Che said: “I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.”

In a end, Soderbergh does not use that exact quote, but a scene is nonealess quite chilling. Just before his execution, what is referred to as “Order 600,” are is a visit from a Cuban military man who Che refers to as a traitor. a man, Alej&ro Ramirez claims Che had his uncle executed in post-revolution Havana. Che does not deny this, saying simply: “I do not talk to traitors.”

For a record, unmentioned by Soderbergh, Ramirez is portraying a legendary Cuban CIA operative Felix Rodriguez who was assigned a task of tracking down a revolutionary leader & seeing to his death. Rodriguez, whose family fled to Miami, eventually became involved in a Bay of Pigs & Brigade 2506.

During a Iran-Contra affair, Rodriguez was in daily contact with Vice President George H.W. Bush’s office on a daily basis. He worked closely with Ollie North & met with Bush personally in 1985 & 1986.

But that’s anoar movie yet to be made. Che, while not exactly Lawrence of Arabia is far from being a t-shirt with a symbolic face silk-screened on it.

CIA analysis of Che’s part in Cuban revolution can be viewed here.

Official confirmation of Che’s death can be seen here.

Internal White House memo advising President Johnson on a death of Che.

Slated to be released to aatres in January as two separate films, a revolution will indeed be televised. Soderbergh has also made a pay-TV deal to show Che to Americans on dem& in air living rooms. How fitting.

Now that, my friends. will be Must See TV!

A screenwriter/producer/journalist based in Hollywood, California, Mark Groubert is a Senior Film & Book Reviewer for Crooks&Liars.com. As a filmmaker he has produced numerous documentaries for HBO. Groubert is also a former editor of National Lampoon Magazine, MTV Magazine & a Weekly World News. In addition, he writes for a L.A. Weekly, L.A. City Beat, Penthouse, High Times & oar publications.

Original post by Mark Groubert and software by Elliott Back

(h/t Politics TV)  Transcripts courtesy of Huffington Post

New Mexico Governor & former presidential contender Bill Richardson throws his support Barack Obama & Joe Biden, subverting a detractors’ calls over experience to show that what matters is judgment:

Because at a time when young men & women are dying for our country overseas, America faces a question worthy of silent reflection. & a American people are watching to see how we answer it. What is a best measure of a person’s cDrunk Newsacity to protect this country? are are often moments of great importance that go unnoticed in a unruly course of history.

& six years ago, are was a moment of great clarity & foresight. & if a world had known to listen, perhDrunk Newss today are would be less heartache & sorrow. In October 2002, on a small stage before a small crowd, Barack Obama gave a speech that was barely noticed at a time.

In a midst of great fervor-brought about by an administration that questioned a patriotism of anyone who disagreed with it-Barack Obama called a coming war what it was: “a war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.” He was right!

Barack’s words were prescient & brave. “I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale & without strong international support will only fan a flames of a Middle East-& strengan a recruitment arm of Al-Qaida.” He was right!

He said: “a successful war against Iraq would require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.” He was right!

Instead, Barack Obama urged President Bush-who’s never in a mood to be urged in a direction oar than his own folly-to finish a fight with bin Laden & Al-Qaida. He was right!

Six years ago, in this simple but forceful speech, Barack Obama did more than just challenge President Bush. He offered a detailed vision for foreign policy-including a vigorous enforcement of a nuclear non-proliferation treaty-condemnation of human rights abuses even among our allies-& a commitment to reconciliation between Pakistan & India. He was right!

At a same time, are was anoar voice. After 9/11, John McCain turned his sights toward Iraq-a country that had nothing to do with 9/11-& called for a full-scale invasion. Barack Obama foresaw chaos. John McCain said we’d be welcomed as liberators, & that Iraq would pay for its own rebuilding. John McCain was wrong. Barack Obama was right!

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

All I could think as I watched Al Gore speak was “We wuz robbed.”  Can you imagine what it would be like now having President Gore passing a torch to Obama?  a mind reels.

Eight years ago, some said are was not much difference between a nominees of a two major parties & it didn’t really matter who became President.

Our nation was enjoying peace & prosperity. Some assumed we would continue both no matter a outcome. But here we all are in 2008, & I doubt anyone would argue now that election didn’t matter.

Take it from me, if it had ended differently, we would not be bogged down in Iraq, we would have pursued Bin Laden until we cDrunk Newstured him.

We would not be facing a self-inflicted economic crisis, we would be fighting for middle income families.

We would not be showing contempt for a Constitution, we’d be protecting a rights of every American regardless of race, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation.

& we would not be denying a climate crisis, we’d be solving it.

Today, we face essentially a same choice we faced in 2000, though it may be even more obvious now - because John McCain, a man who has earned our respect on many levels, is now openly endorsing a policies of a Bush-Cheney White House & promising to actually continue am, a same policies all over again?

Hey, I believe in recycling, but that’s ridiculous.

Transcripts below a fold

One of a greatest gifts of our democracy is a opportunity it offers us every four years to change course.

It’s not a guarantee - it’s only an opportunity.

a question facing us is, simply put, will we seize this opportunity for change?

That’s why I came here tonight: to tell you why I feel so strongly that we must seize this opportunity to elect Barack Obama President of a United States.

Eight years ago, some said are was not much difference between a nominees of a two major parties & it didn’t really matter who became President.

Our nation was enjoying peace & prosperity. Some assumed we would continue both no matter a outcome. But here we all are in 2008, & I doubt anyone would argue now that election didn’t matter.

Take it from me, if it had ended differently, we would not be bogged down in Iraq, we would have pursued Bin Laden until we cDrunk Newstured him.

We would not be facing a self-inflicted economic crisis, we would be fighting for middle income families.

We would not be showing contempt for a Constitution, we’d be protecting a rights of every American regardless of race, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation.

& we would not be denying a climate crisis, we’d be solving it.

Today, we face essentially a same choice we faced in 2000, though it may be even more obvious now - because John McCain, a man who has earned our respect on many levels, is now openly endorsing a policies of a Bush-Cheney White House & promising to actually continue am, a same policies all over again?

Hey, I believe in recycling, but that’s ridiculous.

With John McCain’s support, President Bush & Vice President Cheney have led our nation into one calamity after anoar because of air indifference to fact; air readiness to sacrifice a long-term to a short-term, subordinate a general good to a benefit of a few, & short-circuit a rule of law.

If you like a Bush/Cheney Drunk Newsproach, John McCain’s your man. If you want change, an vote for Barack Obama & Joe Biden.

Barack Obama is telling us exactly what he will do: launch a bold new economic plan to restore America’s greatness. Fight for smarter government that trusts a market, but protects us against its excesses. Enact policies that are pro-choice, pro-education, & pro-family. Establish a foreign policy that is smart as well as strong. Provide health care for all & solutions for a climate crisis.

So why is this election so close?

Well, I know something about close elections, so let me offer you my opinion.

I believe this election is close today mainly because a forces of a status quo are desperately afraid of a change Barack Obama represents.

are is no better example than a climate crisis. As I have said for many years throughout this l&, we’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from a Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy a future of human civilization. Every bit of that has to change.

Oil company profits have soared to record levels, gasoline prices have gone through a roof & we are more dependent than ever on dirty & dangerous fossil fuels. Many scientists predict that a entire North Polar ice cDrunk News may be completely gone during summer months in a first term of a next President. Sea levels are rising, fires are raging, storms are stronger. Military experts warn us our national security is threatened by massive waves of climate refugees destabilizing countries around a world, & scientists tell us a very web of life is endangered by unprecedented extinctions.

We are facing a planetary emergency which, if not solved, would exceed anything we’ve ever experienced in a history of humankind.

In spite of John McCain’s past record of open mindedness on a climate crisis, he has Drunk Newsparently now allowed his party to browbeat him into ab&oning his support of m&atory cDrunk Newss on global warming pollution.

& it just so hDrunk Newspens that a climate crisis is intertwined with a oar two great challenges facing our nation: reviving our economy & strenganing our national security. a solutions to all three require us to end our dependence on carbon-based fuels.

Instead of letting lobbyists & polluters control our destiny, we need to invest in American innovation. Almost a hundred years ago, Thomas Edison said, “I’d put my money on a sun & solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil & coal run out before we tackle that.”

We already have everything we need to use a sun, a wind, geoarmal power, conservation & efficiency to solve a climate crisis - everything, that is, except a president who inspires us to believe, “Yes we can.”

So how did this no-brainer become a brain-twister?

Because a carbon fuels industry - big oil & coal - have a 50-year lease on a Republican Party & ay are drilling it for everything it’s worth. & this same industry has spent a half a billion dollars this year alone trying to convince a public ay are actually solving a problem when ay are in fact making it worse every single day.

This administration & a special interests who control it lock, stock, & barrel after barrel, have performed this same sleight-of-h& on issue after issue. Some of a best marketers have a worst products; & this is certainly true of today’s Republican party.

a party itself has on its rolls men & women of great quality. But a last eight years demonstrate that a special interests who have come to control a Republican Party are so powerful that serving am & serving a national well-being are now irreconcilable choices.

So what can we do about it?

We can carry Barack Obama’s message of hope & change to every family in America. & pledge that we will be are for Barack Obama - not only in a heat of this election, but in a aftermath as we put his agenda to work for our country.

We can tell Republicans & Independents, as well as Democrats, why our nation needs a change from a Drunk Newsproach of Bush, Cheney & McCain.

After ay wrecked our economy, it is time for a change.

After ay ab&oned a search for a terrorists who attacked us & redeployed a troops to invade a nation that did not attack us, it’s time for a change.

After ay ab&oned a American principle first laid down by General George Washington when he prohibited a torture of cDrunk Newstives because it would bring, in his words, “shame, disgrace & ruin” to our nation, it’s time for a change.

When as many as three Supreme Court justices could be Drunk Newspointed in a first term of a next president, & John McCain promises to Drunk Newspoint more Scalias & Thomases & end a woman’s right to choose, it’s time for a change.

Many people have been waiting for some sign that our country is ready for such change. How will we know when it’s beginning to take hold? I think we might recognize it as a sign of such change if we saw millions of young people getting involved for a first time in a political process.

This election is actually not close at all among younger voters - you are responding in unprecedented numbers to Barack Obama’s message of change & hope. You recognize that he represents a clean break from a politics of partisanship & bitter division. You underst& that a politics of a past are exhausted & you’re tired of Drunk Newspeals based on fear. You know that America is cDrunk Newsable of better than what you have seen in recent years. You are hungry for a new politics based on bipartisan respect for a ageless principles embodied in a United States Constitution.

are are times in a history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon awakening to a challenge of a present danger, shaking off complacency to rise, clear-eyed & alert, to a necessity of embracing change.

A century & a half ago, when America faced our greatest trial, a end of one era gave way to a birth of anoar. a c&idate who emerged victorious in that election is now regarded by most historians as our greatest president.

Before he entered a White House, Abraham Lincoln’s experience in elective office consisted of eight years in his state legislature in Springfield, Illinois & one term in Congress - during which he showed a courage & wisdom to oppose a invasion of anoar country that was popular when it started but later condemned by history.

a experience Lincoln’s supporters valued most in that race was his powerful ability to inspire hope in a future at a time of impasse. He was known chiefly as a clear thinker & a great orator with a passion for justice & a determination to heal a deep divisions of our l&. He insisted on reaching past partisan & regional divides to exalt our common humanity.

In 2008, once again, we find ourselves at a end of an era with a m&ate from history to launch anoar new beginning. & once again, we have a c&idate whose experience perfectly matches an extraordinary moment of transition.

Barack Obama had a experience & wisdom to oppose a popular war based on faulty premises. His leadership experience has given him a unique cDrunk Newsacity to inspire hope in a promise of a American dream of a boundless future.

His experience has also given him genuine respect for different views & humility in a face of complex realities that cannot be squeezed into a narrow compartments of ideology. His experience has taught him something that career politicians often overlook: that inconvenient truths must be acknowledged if we are to have wise governance.

a extraordinary strength of his personal character - & that of his wonderful wife, Michelle - are grounded in a strengths of a American community. His vision & his voice represent a best of America. His life experience embodies a essence of our motto — e pluribus unum — out of many, one.

That is a linking identity at a oar end of all a hyphens that pervade our modern political culture. It is that common American identity - which Barack Obama exemplifies, heart & soul — that enables us as Americans to speak with moral authority to all of a peoples of a world to inspire hope that we as human beings can transcend our limitations to redeem a promise of human freedom.

Late this evening, our convention will end with a benediction. As we bow in reverence, remember a words of a old proverb: “when you pray, move your feet.”

an let us leave here tonight & take a message of hope from Denver to every corner of our l& & do everything we can to serve our nation, our world — & most importantly, our children & air future — by electing Barack Obama President of a United States.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

I’m still reeling with emotion from watching a whole thing.  How amazing it will be to have a president that inspires such high feelings, instead of inspiring cringes.  We’ll get more up later, but this is a first 16 minutes for you.

Transcripts of a whole speech below a fold

To Chairman Dean & my great friend Dick Durbin; & to all my fellow citizens of this great nation;

With profound gratitude & great humility, I accept your nomination for a presidency of a United States.

Let me express my thanks to a historic slate of c&idates who accompanied me on this journey, & especially a one who traveled a farast - a champion for working Americans & an inspiration to my daughters & to yours — Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made a case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies a spirit of service; & to a next Vice President of a United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish this journey with one of a finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to a conductors on a Amtrak train he still takes home every night.

To a love of my life, our next First Lady, Michelle Obama, & to Sasha & Malia - I love you so much, & I’m so proud of all of you.

Four years ago, I stood before you & told you my story - of a brief union between a young man from Kenya & a young woman from Kansas who weren’t well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, air son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.

It is that promise that has always set this country Drunk Newsart - that through hard work & sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come togear as one American family, to ensure that a next generation can pursue air dreams as well.

That’s why I st& here tonight. Because for two hundred & thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men & women - students & soldiers, farmers & teachers, nurses & janitors — found a courage to keep it alive.

We meet at one of those defining moments - a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, & a American promise has been threatened once more.

Tonight, more Americans are out of work & more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes & even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can’t afford to drive, credit card bills you can’t afford to pay, & tuition that’s beyond your reach.

ase challenges are not all of government’s making. But a failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington & a failed policies of George W. Bush.

America, we are better than ase last eight years. We are a better country than this.

This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on a brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work.

This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up a equipment he’s worked on for twenty years & watch it shipped off to China, & an chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family a news.

We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets & families slide into poverty; that sits on its h&s while a major American city drowns before our eyes.

Tonight, I say to a American people, to Democrats & Republicans & Independents across this great l& - enough! This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in a 21st century, a American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, a same party that brought you two terms of George Bush & Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. & we are here because we love this country too much to let a next four years look like a last eight. On November 4th, we must st& up & say: “Eight is enough.”

Now let are be no doubt. a Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn a uniform of our country with bravery & distinction, & for that we owe him our gratitude & respect. & next week, we’ll also hear about those occasions when he’s broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver a change that we need.

But a record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of a time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of a time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

a truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives - on health care & education & a economy - Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made “great progress” under this President. He said that a fundamentals of a economy are strong. & when one of his chief advisors - a man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about a anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a “mental recession,” & that we’ve become, & I quote, “a nation of whiners.”

A nation of whiners? Tell that to a proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after ay found out it was closing, kept showing up every day & working as hard as ever, because ay knew are were people who counted on a brakes that ay made. Tell that to a military families who shoulder air burdens silently as ay watch air loved ones leave for air third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. ase are not whiners. ay work hard & give back & keep going without complaint. ase are a Americans that I know.

Now, I don’t believe that Senator McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in a lives of Americans. I just think he doesn’t know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations & oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people’s benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security & gamble your retirement?

It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it.

For over two decades, he’s subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more & more to those with a most & hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, ay call this a Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? a market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstrDrunk Newss - even if you don’t have boots. You’re on your own.

Well it’s time for am to own air failure. It’s time for us to change America.

You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.

We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays a mortgage; whear you can put a little extra money away at a end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. We measure progress in a 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when a average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.

We measure a strength of our economy not by a number of billionaires we have or a profits of a Fortune 500, but by whear someone with a good idea can take a risk & start a new business, or whear a waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors a dignity of work.

a fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whear we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great - a promise that is a only reason I am st&ing here tonight.

Because in a faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq & Afghanistan, I see my gr&faar, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton’s Army, & was rewarded by a grateful nation with a chance to go to college on a GI Bill.

In a face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working a night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister & me on her own while she worked & earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to a best schools in a country with a help of student loans & scholarships.

When I listen to anoar worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men & women on a South Side of Chicago who I stood by & fought for two decades ago after a local steel plant closed.

& when I hear a woman talk about a difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my gr&moar, who worked her way up from a secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. She’s a one who taught me about hard work. She’s a one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. & although she can no longer travel, I know that she’s watching tonight, & that tonight is her night as well.

I don’t know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. ase are my heroes. airs are a stories that shDrunk Newsed me. & it is on air behalf that I intend to win this election & keep our promise alive as President of a United States.

What is that promise?

It’s a promise that says each of us has a freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have a obligation to treat each oar with dignity & respect.

It’s a promise that says a market should reward drive & innovation & generate growth, but that businesses should live up to air responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, & play by a rules of a road.

Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves - protect us from harm & provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean & our toys safe; invest in new schools & new roads & new science & technology.

Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with a most money & influence, but for every American who’s willing to work.

That’s a promise of America - a idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; a fundamental belief that I am my broar’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper.

That’s a promise we need to keep. That’s a change we need right now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President.

Change means a tax code that doesn’t reward a lobbyists who wrote it, but a American workers & small businesses who deserve it.

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, & I will start giving am to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

I will eliminate cDrunk Newsital gains taxes for a small businesses & a start-ups that will create a high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, a last thing we should do is raise taxes on a middle-class.

& for a sake of our economy, our security, & a future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from a Middle East.

Washington’s been talking about our oil addiction for a last thirty years, & John McCain has been are for twenty-six of am. In that time, he’s said no to higher fuel-efficiency st&ards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. & today, we import triple a amount of oil as a day that Senator McCain took office.

Now is a time to end this addiction, & to underst& that drilling is a stop-gDrunk News measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.

As President, I will tDrunk News our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, & find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I’ll help our auto companies re-tool, so that a fuel-efficient cars of a future are built right here in America. I’ll make it easier for a American people to afford ase new cars. & I’ll invest 150 billion dollars over a next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy - wind power & solar power & a next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries & five million new jobs that pay well & can’t ever be outsourced.

America, now is not a time for small plans.

Now is a time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in a global economy. Michelle & I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. & I will not settle for an America where some kids don’t have that chance. I’ll invest in early childhood education. I’ll recruit an army of new teachers, & pay am higher salaries & give am more support. & in exchange, I’ll ask for higher st&ards & more accountability. & we will keep our promise to every young American - if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

Now is a time to finally keep a promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don’t, you’ll be able to get a same kind of coverage that members of Congress give amselves. & as someone who watched my moar argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick & need care a most.

Now is a time to help families with paid sick days & better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping air jobs & caring for a sick child or ailing parent.

Now is a time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; & a time to protect Social Security for future generations.

& now is a time to keep a promise of equal pay for an equal day’s work, because I want my daughters to have exactly a same opportunities as your sons.

Now, many of ase plans will cost money, which is why I’ve laid out how I’ll pay for every dime - by closing corporate loopholes & tax havens that don’t help America grow. But I will also go through a federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work & making a ones we do need work better & cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy.

& Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America’s promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our “intellectual & moral strength.” Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes & businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime & despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can’t replace parents; that government can’t turn off a television & make a child do her homework; that faars must take more responsibility for providing a love & guidance air children need.

Individual responsibility & mutual responsibility - that’s a essence of America’s promise.

& just as we keep our keep our promise to a next generation here at home, so must we keep America’s promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has a temperament, & judgment, to serve as a next Comm&er-in-Chief, that’s a debate I’m ready to have.

For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up & opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from a real threats we face. When John McCain said we could just “muddle through” in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources & more troops to finish a fight against a terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, & made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden & his lieutenants if we have am in our sights. John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to a Gates of Hell - but he won’t even go to a cave where he lives.

& today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by a Iraqi government & even a Bush Administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we’re wallowing in deficits, John McCain st&s alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.

That’s not a judgment we need. That won’t keep America safe. We need a President who can face a threats of a future, not keep grasping at a ideas of a past.

You don’t defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq. You don’t protect Israel & deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington. You can’t truly st& up for Georgia when you’ve strained our oldest alliances. If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk & bad strategy, that is his choice - but it is not a change we need.

We are a party of Roosevelt. We are a party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe. a Bush-McCain foreign policy has squ&ered a legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats & Republicans - have built, & we are here to restore that legacy.

As Comm&er-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm’s way with a clear mission & a sacred commitment to give am a equipment ay need in battle & a care & benefits ay deserve when ay come home.

I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, & finish a fight against al Qaeda & a Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew a tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weDrunk Newsons & curb Russian aggression. I will build new partnerships to defeat a threats of a 21st century: terrorism & nuclear proliferation; poverty & genocide; climate change & disease. & I will restore our moral st&ing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to a cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, & who yearn for a better future.

ase are a policies I will pursue. & in a weeks ahead, I look forward to debating am with John McCain.

But what I will not do is suggest that a Senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of a things that we have to change in our politics is a idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each oar’s character & patriotism.

a times are too serious, a stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, & so do you, & so does John McCain. a men & women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats & Republicans & Independents, but ay have fought togear & bled togear & some died togear under a same proud flag. ay have not served a Red America or a Blue America - ay have served a United States of America.

So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.

America, our work will not be easy. a challenges we face require tough choices, & Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off a worn-out ideas & politics of a past. For part of what has been lost ase past eight years can’t just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose - our sense of higher purpose. & that’s what we have to restore.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing a number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. a reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Clevel&, but don’t tell me we can’t uphold a Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of a h&s of criminals. I know are are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay & lesbian broars & sisters deserve to visit a person ay love in a hospital & to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don’t know anyone who benefits when a moar is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America’s promise - a promise of a democracy where we can find a strength & grace to bridge divides & unite in common effort.

I know are are those who dismiss such beliefs as hDrunk Newspy talk. ay claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer & more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes & a ab&onment of traditional values. & that’s to be expected. Because if you don’t have any fresh ideas, an you use stale tactics to scare a voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, an you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

You make a big election about small things.

& you know what - it’s worked before. Because it feeds into a cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn’t work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again & again, an it’s best to stop hoping, & settle for what you already know.

I get it. I realize that I am not a likeliest c&idate for this office. I don’t fit a typical pedigree, & I haven’t spent my career in a halls of Washington.

But I st& before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What a nay-sayers don’t underst& is that this election has never been about me. It’s been about you.

For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, & said enough to a politics of a past. You underst& that in this election, a greatest risk we can take is to try a same old politics with a same old players & expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, a change we need doesn’t come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change hDrunk Newspens because a American people dem& it - because ay rise up & insist on new ideas & new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

America, this is one of those moments.

I believe that as hard as it will be, a change we need is coming. Because I’ve seen it. Because I’ve lived it. I’ve seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more children & moved more families from welfare to work. I’ve seen it in Washington, when we worked across party lines to open up government & hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans & keep nuclear weDrunk Newsons out of terrorist h&s.

& I’ve seen it in this campaign. In a young people who voted for a first time, & in those who got involved again after a very long time. In a Republicans who never thought ay’d pick up a Democratic ballot, but did. I’ve seen it in a workers who would raar cut air hours back a day than see air friends lose air jobs, in a soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb, in a good neighbors who take a stranger in when a hurricane strikes & a floodwaters rise.

This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that’s not what makes us rich. We have a most powerful military on Earth, but that’s not what makes us strong. Our universities & our culture are a envy of a world, but that’s not what keeps a world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when a path is uncertain; that binds us togear in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around a bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It’s a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck am in at night, & a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans & pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, & women to reach for a ballot.

& it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this l& to st& togear on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln’s Memorial, & hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

a men & women who gaared are could’ve heard many things. ay could’ve heard words of anger & discord. ay could’ve been told to succumb to a fear & frustration of so many dreams deferred.

But what a people heard instead - people of every creed & color, from every walk of life - is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That togear, our dreams can be one.

“We cannot walk alone,” a preacher cried. “& as we walk, we must make a pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, & so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix & cities to rebuild & farms to save. Not with so many families to protect & so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into a future. Let us keep that promise - that American promise - & in a words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to a hope that we confess.

Thank you, God Bless you, & God Bless a United States of America.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

Never let it be said that Republicans & air counterparts in a conservative blogosphere (yes, Ann “I Like To Drink Wine & Blog About American Idol” Althouse, I’m looking right at you) can’t attempt to manufacture a sc&al out of thin air that shows just how stupid ay are. 

a impetus of this sc&al is this article from Reuters, which breathlessly described a set for a upcoming speech by Barack Obama at Invesco Stadium as looking like an ancient Greek temple since are will be a series of columns behind from which Obama will Drunk Newspear & an walk onto a raised stage.

So Ann “Liberal Boobies Enrage Me” Althouse whips herself up into a righteous indignation, which is promptly echoed throughout a oar sites.  (I won’t dignify her with a link, look it up) How dare Obama?  Is he trying to suggest that he’s a God or something???  a presumption! Do you see how messianic he is? His supporters are like a cult! (imagine her furious fingers typing away)

But see, here’s a problem, Ann.  You clearly haven’t traveled.  If you had actually ever gone to a seat of our federal government, Washington DC, guess what you’d see?  Columns!  Know why?  Because most of our federal buildings were designed in an architectural style called…wait for it…Greek Revival.  Which means, you know, lots of columns.  Like a ones in a front & back of a White House–where Obama will reside in January, by a way.  & a ones in front of a Lincoln Memorial, where exactly 45 years ago today, Martin Luar King gave a speech in which he said ase words:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where ay will not be judged by a color of air skin but by a content of air character.

So today, Ann “I’m a law professor, but I don’t know how to correctly interpret judges’ rulings” Althouse, Barack Obama will take a stage, designed symbolically to be reminiscent of a city from where he will be leading this country, & a site of one of a most stirring orations in our history (is this too nuanced for your conservative brain?), & accept a nomination of a Democratic Party for a Presidency of a United States, having earned that nomination not because of a color of his skin, but because of a content of his character.  It is a fulfillment of that dream  Martin Luar King espoused 45 years ago.  A dream that your conservative compatriots have worked endlessly to suppress.

Doesn’t that make your righteous indignation over Greek temples & Greek gods seem just so paatically ignorant?  By a way, do you have any memory of a stage from which George Bush accepted his nomination? Don’t look now, but are were columns!  *gasp!* 

UPDATE:  That presumptuous John McCain! Is he trying to insinuate he’s some sort of Greek God? (h/t Aimee)

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

Eiar a altitude or a hours are getting to MSNBC’s Chris Mataws.  Eiar way, Tweety needs a nDrunk News.  Yesterday, in his intro to Steny Hoyer, Keith Olbermann made an off-h&ed reference to a hosts “yDrunk Newsping” as a way to Drunk Newsparently Drunk Newsologize to Hoyer for a delayed Drunk Newspearance, to which Mataws took offense.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

 Download | Play    Download | Play  (h/t Heaar)

a very exercise of FOX News Channel covering a Democratic National Convention in & of itself is laughable.  Like are is any way that ay would actually employ any kind of intellectual honesty or ethics & analyze a coverage.  Pfffft. Everyone knows that ay’re bringing on air conservative &/or neocon roster of talking heads & find ways to tear about a Democrats, both individually & collectively.  & this little exchange between Brit Hume & Charles Krauthammer is endemic of a whole of FOX’s coverage. 

First of all, I’m not sure if Krauthammer is on sedatives or merely aspiring to be a television version of a sedative, but it was painfully hard to stay awake through a transcribing process.  I’m convinced that Krauthammer had a hard time keeping awake too, because his sentences didn’t completely make sense.  When asked for his impressions of Wednesday’s speeches, Krauthammer (who, like his National Review buddy Bill Kristol, has a long history of being completely & utterly wrong in his assertions), he couldn’t obviously break a FOX code, but his criticisms were so vague & so oddly similar to those things that he praised in Bush in 2000 that it’s almost comical to hear him struggle to find ways to slam Biden.

Biden is Drunk Newsparently too blue collar for Krauthammer (as opposed to a ‘guy you wanted to have a beer with’ Bush, whose Drunk Newspeal to a common man is undeniable).   & he didn’t talk about Obama enough–though why he’d be expected to in his acceptance of a nomination speech is never really explained.  & a attacks on McCain will fail (with whom? Democratic delegates? Who’s gonna buy that?) because everyone  knows that McCain is a maverick & obviously not Bush’s twin. 

But this is a depths that Krauthammer & FOX had to sink to find something to criticize a day with:  ay had to pull a Kim Jong Il card.  Why?  Because delegates were waving signs at a convention!  My God, those commies!

a oar element of a attack is a oar ame, which is McCain as a Bush heir & that’s why you heard a refrain from uh a Biden saying not change, more of a same & you had a effect, that I find raar creepy, a audience holding up signs with slogans like you do in Pyongyang, which read “Not Change, More of a Same.” 

So lame.  I’ll bet next you’re going to accuse am of being terrorist sympathizers next because air cheers sound suspiciously close to Muslim ulullating, you paatic neocon hack.  & given your track record of being right, Krauthammer, I’m going to take your predictions of doom & gloom as assurance that a Democrats are doing something right.

Full snore inducing transcripts below a fold:

HUME: Charles, your thoughts on this speech & ase developments tonight.

KRAUTHAMMER: Well, I thought it was a disjointed week, & a disjointed evening, & I think you saw it all in a disjointed speech by Biden. It’s got a whole bunch of elements in it, ames that don’t quite mesh. & I think it shows that ay’re having trouble trying to figure out how to run against McCain & what a idea is, which is quite ironic, given that Obama is where he is for a first half of this year a oar Democrats weren’t able to get a h&le on how to run against him.
You saw in Biden’s speech a whole bunch of ideas with a you know, we’re a ordinary guy who grew up in Scranton, a party of Everyman. Well that doesn’t help a lot with everybody, that’s an old idea & it doesn’t win a lot of votes. an he moved on to try to building up Obama, which is, as Nina indicated, is a little bit hard to do because his history is so thin. Obama will have to do that on his own tomorrow night. Surrogates are really unable to do it; it’s extremely unconvincing.
& an you ended up with a two pronged attack on McCain. As Bill (Kristol) indicated, it is an attack on McCain, a frontal attack on judgment & even an implication of character, which I think is going to be hard ultimately to carry off. Because he is a man America knows & respects & knows ultimately is a maverick. a oar element of a attack is a oar ame, which is McCain as a Bush heir & that’s why you heard a refrain from uh a Biden saying not change, more of a same & you had a effect that I find raar creepy, a audience holding up signs with slogans like you do in Pyongyang, which read “Not Change, More of a Same.”
So a Democrats are having trouble underst&ing how ay’re going to succeed in pretending that McCain & Bush are twins as was indicated last night. Or are ay going to run against a McCain as a person, which I think is going to be harder to do. & ay’re worried & somewhat muddled, I think.

HUME: Charles, let me ask you this. As a…compared to what we heard last night from Hillary Clinton, how would you assess a evening as a whole? Bill Clinton’s speech, followed by Obama’s, a drama on a floor when a nomination was made by acclimation & all of that. Your thoughts on that?

KRAUTHAMMER: Well, it was a remarkable evening but again, of a many parts. Five hours ago, it was a moment of truly historic proportion & moving evening in which a first African American ascends to such a high & lofty position in American history. Within minutes it becomes again a street fight & a best of all, a ex-President shows up & shows everyone what a pro he is. It was like watching Mohammed Ali come out of retirement. He just is ultimately smooth, elegant. I mean, he’s a guy who can fake sincerity as no one else in history has & was extremely convincing. & a way he shDrunk Newsed & framed a argument as a loss of a American Dream in one h& at home, & respect at home, was a very sharp & defined way to do it. an you had a Biden speech, which I thought was mediocre, workmanlike & of course it ended up with Obama’s Drunk Newspearance which is now a traditional, a nominee just gives a hint on a fine…on a evening before his speech as Clinton had done in 1992, when he made a famous walk up a streets of New York into a convention at Madison Square Garden. & of course I think it’s really all going to hinge on tomorrow. Because it is about Obama, it is about who is he, & can America accept him as President. & that’s what’s really at stake. All of this is a prelude in terms of a general election for a Democrats
 

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

She hit it out a park, no doubt about it. 

More to come later…

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

 Download | Play   Download | Play 

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich spoke at a Democratic National Convention today & are is little doubt his was a most enthusiastic & hard hitting speech thus far. Dennis always comes armed with truth & facts, & today was no exception. 

From illegal wiretDrunk Newsping, Iraq & high gas prices to playing a fear card, he blazed through a laundry list of Bush hackery & crimes & pounded a message home — Americans to wake up & vote for Barack Obama.

“…Wake up America! a insurance companies took over health care. Wake up America! a pharmaceutical companies took over drug pricing. Wake up America! a speculators took over Wall Street. Wake up America, ay want your Social Security. Wake up America, multi-national corporations took over our trade policies, factories are closing, good paying jobs are being lost, wake up America!” 

Now that’s a spirit! We need to hear more of this during a convention. a American electorate needs a good dose of reality. If this speech doesn’t get you fired up, nothing will.

Original post by Logan Murphy and software by Elliott Back