this is mine

McCain for Rich, White, Offiecer-material Underdog

Once again, the embedded GOP operative has vented against democrats for the sins of her own hero. If there was ever an abandonment of centrism, it's the transformation of McCain - from hero to zero:

Not all of us believe that McCain is the "great American hero"; but most will agree that he manages to speak in a decidedly non-politician (not non-political) manner. Sometimes this translates into appearing like a genuine, independent-minded political maverick; other times he just looks like a buffoon - "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" comes to mind all too often.

Yet, there is about him which resonates with voters who are tired of the starched, messaged and massaged suits which seem cut from the same country-club, pricey-lunch GOP lobbyist crowd. He comes across as authentic, even when his demeanor is like someone's old uncle who had to put on a suit for a niece's wedding, but otherwise spends his time fixing his boat engine in the backyard. It's that look, feel, taste and smell which has made him far less offensive to the general populace, even when his positions are as reactionary as Trent Lott or the late Strom Thurmond, or as warlike as Gammal Abdul Nasser.

Yet, he is now being called upon to pronounce his fealty to the supposed ghosts of Reagan, and proclaim allegiance to the orthodoxy of the "conservative" or radical-right agenda on issues from guns to RU-486, from Iran to Alito, and from Roe v. Wade to the beauty and righteousness of waterboarding.

All would be understandable if McCain were standing at the gates of heaven and confessing his sins in anticipation of some post-death redemption. He could then renounce the Satans of bipartisanship and independence of thought and be accepted to the Pantheons of the righteously anointed. But he is doing this at a time when he is being sent out to battle in a fight for the minds and souls of sinners and non-believers. Do these lunatics of the right expect him to carry on this war of thought while standing naked on the battlefield, stripped forever of the one quality - independence - that has kept him in the fight.

Harry and Nancy, Barak, and the Lord Howard of Dean will be watching every gesture, memorizing every word, and dissecting every phrase that is delivered for CPAC. And then they'll put together the TV ads. The flip-flop on immigration; the inconsistent positions on stem-cells; the backsliding on the environment; tax cuts; waterboarding; etc., etc, ad nauseum.

They won't need talking points; they won't need slick campaign demographics; all they need is one debate, one Dukakis moment:
"Senator McCain, if your granddaughter were raped by a gang of escaped convicts and became pregnant, would you criminalize and incarcerate the medical professionals who terminated her pregnancy"?

And then he'll be just another Bob Dole. Truly, this is no country for old men.
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Borscht (or Schav) for Believers

Borscht (or Schav) for Believers

This is the way to enable the Colombian coffee and the Indonesian tea drinkers to evolve into borscht and schav* mavens. The first is to introduce the art of slicing in vegetables, mostly cucumbers but also some diced red radishes and chives or scallion shoots. Then, there is the issue of a hard-boiled egg. Some say it should be sliced with a hard-boiled-egg slicer, the kind that mom had in a kitchen drawer with the rubber band collection and the old manual can & bottle opener. Others, mainly from the “Catskill-Rockaway Vacation School” propound a theory that the egg should be fork-mashed right into the bowl of cold soup, or on a side dish and then pushed into the mixture.

But, the most significant stumbling block for the modern borscht-schav enthusiast revolves around the issue of a dairy garnish. Traditional households would add a dollop of pure sour cream – highest fat content this side of pork belly – to the bowl; suddenly, what might have been a healthy lunch is now a ticket to a meeting with Dr. Cardio-Bypass. Evolved man, with his wife controlling the shopping list, is now consigned to fat-free yogurt as a substitute; it’s not as good, but at least the better yogurts get the overall color right.

The remaining issue to be resolved is the boiled potato accompaniment. Our position is that it should be presented on the side in small, uneven chunks of potato boiled until almost a paste; when added to the cold soup it should act in part as garnish and filler and, in part, as thickener. The bowl, filled with the cold soup, egg, vegetable, and potato, is a meal, particularly if served with a thick slice or two of black bread or seeded rye; follow it with a cup of coffee or a glass of ice coffee, and you’ve created a bit of Jewish heaven on a Tuesday afternoon.

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*Schav is a cold soup made of sorrel leaves; a Polish-Jewish vichyssoise. While the jar variety leaves a bit to be desired, it is a useable reference point to determine whether your homemade variety is even close.

"beer baroness druggie gets favorable treatment for drug thefts";

"beer baroness druggie gets favorable treatment for drug thefts";

Cindy McCain keeps to the background because she has yet to answer for the favorable treatment she received, skipping any real prosecution and avoiding all but a minor slap on the wrist. Her direct involvement in the Keating 5 also led to John McCain getting off a lot easier than his colleagues. When she does open her mouth she'll sound just like another candidates' wife who's financed her war-hero husband's political career with her family fortune and will wind up an embarrassment to his candidacy - it's just a question of beer v. ketchup.

Old Man McCain

The only people who would actually love to see McCain elected president are Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi; since they are already assured stronger majorities next term, they would become the masters of all things Washington.

All things being equal, the Republicans have already managed to create enough talking points on major policy issues that they will have handed the nomination to another Bob Dole -- a "straight-talking", cantankerous-but-cute relic with as much connection to the voter as Mitt Romney had to the civil rights movement.

1. As Saint Bill of Hope & Monica said: "It's the economy, stupid", and McCain has admitted that it's his weak point.
   
2. National Security: Either Mrs. Bill or O'bama can defuse his national security aura by wrapping themselves with a solid military man like Jim Webb who can articulate the the theories of civilian control over the military and the role of commander-in-chief far better than a man who spent the bulk of his military service in a pow camp. He could also point out most impressively that McCain's extended stay in the Hanoi Hilton was only because the civilians making policy - Nixon & Kissenger - dragged out ending the conflict to protect their own political reps - reminiscent of our current plight. Even if Webb is "pro-life", Dem support can be assured since both Obama and Clinton would be the ones making Supreme Court appointments which is the only real battleground of the abortion issue.
3. Funding: McCain will be running in states where the other statewide office is being financed by Chuck Schumer's Democratic Senate Campaign Committee - for which either Hillary or Barak are well suited to engage in true mutual support; contrast McCain's already poor-boy campaign financial straights and his need to compete for funds. For the first time,
   
4. See 1. Health Care is an economic issue, not a social one. The issues have already been framed by the Dems and while there may be differences between H & B's positions, the untrained eye can't really tell. Running with the need for continued right-wing support, McCain will be forced to adhere to the republican private-sector orthodoxy which will sound pretty lame; most Americans who have health care still hate their HMOs.
5. He's old; not distinguished, just old. And that wears thin after a while. If he sounds out of touch to a 61 year old accountant, imagine his ability to connect with a 25 year old single mother who's sick of having to negotiate the ins-and-outs of getting day care for her baby so she can work to pay rent. All the time while he's lauding the sacrifices of her brother or boyfriend who may have signed up for the army because it sounded "cool" or because he was promised help with college, but is now on his 2nd or 3rd tour in Iraq, coming home crazier-and-crazier each time she sees him.

McCain's Gas Holiday

appropriate democratic response:

when you see McCain in Minneapolis at the Republican convention, ask him how many more bridges have to crumble for lack of funding for repairs. then ask if he even knows that the highway gas tax pays for the repairs. then ask why he's running for president instead of "Panderer-in- Chief".

any other response is equally pandering