'In the latest television ad from the McCain campaign's gang that couldn't shoot straight, the trailing Republican attacks front-running Democrat Hillary Clinton for being soft on... Woodstock. Ostensibly, the new McCain commercial rips the senator from New York state for earmarking $1 million to help fund a museum to recall the concert...

...In case anyone misses the point that McCain is older than Ronald Reagan was when the Gipper sought the presidency in 1980, the ad closes with a distinctly dated announcement that: "John McCain says, if you want to relive Woodstock ... buy the record."' MCCAIN VS. WOODSTOCK

'Grandad, what's a "record"?'

"It would take five minutes. You'd wake up one morning and the strikes would have been ordered and carried out during the night. All the president has to say is go." Giuliani's foreign policy adviser sounds like a madman

To promote balance, you can choose:

(1) “I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.” Dubya

or

(2) “I seriously believe we have to start asking questions about his [Bush's] mental health... ...There’s something wrong. He does not seem to understand his words have real impact.” Kucinich


Meanwhile, back with Giuliani's adviser:

“Already, some observers are warning that by the end of the 21st century the whole of Europe will be transformed into a place to which they give the name Eurabia.” www.nytimes.com

These 'observers' - what form do they take? They wouldn't be little green guys that only Podhoretz can see, would they?

'...House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), agreed that it was not in Pelosi's interests to advance the articles of impeachment. "If she were to let this thing out of the box, considering the number of legislative issues we have pending ... it could create a split that could affect our productivity for the rest of the Congress," Conyers told Fox News...' Cheney impeachment resolution sent to House committee

What 'productivity'?

"If you lived in Iraq and had lived under a tyranny, you'd be saying, 'God, I love freedom,' because that's what's happened," he said. "And there are killers and radicals and murderers who kill the innocent to stop the advance of freedom. But freedom's happening in Iraq. And we're making progress." George 'Zen Master' Bush

If you think about this one long enough, you'll find your brain going numb. What, for example, is the difference between 'killers' who kill the innocent and 'murderers' who do so? And 'radicals'? How 'radical' is killing the innocent?

Freedom 'happened' in Iraq? How does freedom 'happen'? Is anyone in Iraq setting out to kill others with the intention of 'stopping the advance of freedom'? What could that actually mean?

The quote is maybe like one of those empty corporate slogans ("Driving Finance Forward"); random buzz-words thrown together. I guess we're not supposed to think about them too much.

'The most amazing quote was from chief Mukasey supporter Chuck Schumer, who, before voting for him, said that Mukasey is “wrong on torture — dead wrong.” Marvel at that phrase: “wrong on torture.” Six years ago, there wasn’t even any such thing as being “wrong on torture,” because “torture” wasn’t something we debated. It would have been incoherent to have heard: “Well, he’s dead wrong on torture, but . . . ”

Now, “torture” is not only something we openly debate, but it’s something we do. And the fact that someone is on the wrong side of the “torture debate” doesn’t prevent them from becoming the Attorney General of the United States...' www.salon.com

"I've committed our troops into harm's way twice, and it's not a pleasant experience because I understand the consequences firsthand," George

"There are consequences to open borders beyond the 20 million aliens who have come to take our jobs," a voice intones. "Islamic terrorists now freely roam U.S. soil, jihadists who froth with hate, here to do as they have in London, Spain, Russia. The price we pay for spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill." Campaign of Tom Tancredo

I guess if they're actually frothing with hate, they should be pretty easy to spot.

'President Bush yesterday offered his strongest support of embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying the general "hasn't crossed the line" and "truly is somebody who believes in democracy."

Bush spoke nearly three weeks after Musharraf declared emergency rule, sacked members of the Supreme Court and began a roundup of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists. Musharraf's government yesterday released about 3,000 political prisoners, although 2,000 remain in custody, according to the Interior Ministry.' Bush More Emphatic In Backing Musharraf

'But I entertain an even darker suspicion. It is that the intelligence community, which has for some years now been leaking material calculated to undermine George W. Bush, is doing it again. This time the purpose is to head off the possibility that the President may order air strikes on the Iranian nuclear installations. As the intelligence community must know, if he were to do so, it would be as a last resort, only after it had become undeniable that neither negotiations nor sanctions could prevent Iran from getting the bomb, and only after being convinced that it was very close to succeeding...' Giuliani's foreign policy advisor again

Foreign Policy Geniuses

This is right up there. But scarier.

'“Well, the first thing she intends to do, because you can do this without passing a bill, the first thing she intends to do is to send me and former President Bush and a number of other people around the world to tell them that America is open for business and cooperation again,” Clinton said in response to a question from a supporter about what his wife’s “number one priority” would be as president.' Bill

'And I'm confident that if America does not become isolationist - you know, and allow the terrorists to take back over, Iraq will succeed.' news.bbc.co.uk

Take back over? 'Back'? How does he get away with talking such patent nonsense?

With apologies to Abraham Lincoln -

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, and sometimes, you can fool enough to get elected twice"

Maybe not 'dumb' exactly, but showing little evidence of thought:

'"Why don't we let stimulus package 1, which seemed like a good idea at the time, have a chance to kick in?...'

'Seemed a good idea at the time' to whom? And doesn't that phrase usually describe failure? And if the stimulus package was going to encourage investment or spending, it would have done so by now. It isn't likely to make people feel any more or less confident than it already has.

'...there are indications that paying $4 for a gallon of gasoline is not out of the question once the summer driving season arrives. Asked about that, Bush said "That's interesting. I hadn't heard that. ... I know it's high now." '

Now that sounds like a president really on the ball.

'"I believe that our economy has got the fundamentals in place for us to ... grow and continue growing, more robustly hopefully than we're growing now," he said. "So we're still for a strong dollar."'

Like we're hopeful for world peace, the elimination of disease and a cure for the common cold?

'"We'll make it through this period just like we made it through other periods of uncertainty during my presidency," Bush said.'

'We made it through.' Sets the bar pretty low, doesn't it? Not a bad epitaph for the Bush presidency, though.

Was Bush even trying at this conference? Is he just going through the motions until his time's up?

www.msnbc.msn.com

'"Bush: I don't think so. I think actually, the spending on the war might help with jobs.

"Curry: Oh, yeah?

"Bush: Yeah, because we're buying equipment, and people are working. I think this economy is down because we built too many houses."'
NBC

Ah, so that was the reason for it. Start a pointless, irrelevant, but expensive war in Iraq to revitalise your manufacturing base and stop American jobs going abroad.

Too many houses?Is it that people can't afford them, even at the glut prices?

The British government has a national plan to encourage 'first time buyers' of housing. It's also just announced that all new houses must have doorways wide enough for wheelchairs and walking aids and have staircases wide enough to accommodate stairlifts (railed elevator devices). Hmm. Just how old do they expect first time buyers to be ? Sounds as though they expect youngsters to be waiting quite a while to afford a first house!

A sidebar to that 'too many houses' idea:

Government reports confirm that half of the working poor, elderly and disabled who lived in New Orleans before Katrina have not returned. Because of critical shortages in low cost housing, few now expect tens of thousands of poor and working people to ever be able to return home.

"The decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision early in my presidency; it is the right decision at this point in my presidency; and it will forever be the right decision." George

'Regime change was not the reason given in the run-up to the invasion – the US and UK governments had been advised it would be against international law.' The reality

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

"Hillary Clinton's a monster."

Do they want McCain to win?