August 29th was also the day that Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, while John McCain and George W. Bush was laughing it up on the airport tarmac with a huge birthday cake in front of them.

CQPolitics came out with an article today about how the House Republicans don't really want the Democrats to directly answer the energy crisis by immediately bringing a bill to the House floor. Instead those damn Republicans want us to do it through the normal committee process so they can delay the process until the November election:

I've been annoyed lately by the ostriches who continue to insist that the Obama team knows what they're going to do, that people aren't paying attention until after the conventions, and that Obama will do the rope-and-dope strategy.

They're mistaken on these three points. From what I'm seeing, especially in tonight's faith forum, that Obama has a lot of work to do in connecting to voters emotionally. While he gave very good, thoughtful answers to the questions that were asked, he meandered in his answers, gave some nuance, and in doing so, sounded like he was hedging.

Yesterday, I posted this idea on Strategy08 about Obama reserving a huge chunk of ad time during the Republican National Convention to air his ads to conservative and independent viewers tuning in to watch the RNC.

How about this for an idea? I’m not that quite well-versed on ad buys, but I remember that Obama bought up a huge chunk of ad time for the Olympics. Why not the same for the Republican National Convention? I think that would present an excellent opportunity to run ads defining John McCain, and outlining Obama’s own policies for middle class families for the voters in Michigan. Also, I would strongly suggest that Obama reserve a HUGE amount of the ad time for the Democratic National Convention in order to prevent McCain from getting in some ad time.

Senator Barack Obama just released a new ad called the "Three Bedroom Ranch" for the Olympics, on top of his "Hands" ad that is already playing on a nationwide buy on NBC. Here's the ad below:

I was reading Halperin's roundup of the evening news shows, when this tidbit caught my eye. You ever know how when you read something, you have the sense it's going to be a major story that's going to come up after bubbling under the surface for a while? This tidbit was it.

The McCain campaign just released this web ad, attacking the enthusiasm of Obama supporters for their candidate. It also includes a racial aspect with the two white women, which the Obama campaign should not focus on, but rather on how McCain is making fun of the fact that ordinary Americans are engaged in the political process more than ever before.

McCain's going to go around Ohio today, lying to the people in Ohio about how he feels their pain on the DHL job losses. Guess what? He was a big player behind the loss of 8,000 jobs for Ohioans in the DHL-Airborne Express merger!

McCain on Thursday was to discuss DHL's plans with local officials and others affected by the potential job losses. The economy and job losses are important issues in Ohio, a critical swing state that gave President Bush the electoral votes needed for re-election in 2004.

McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said Wednesday that Davis had not worked with DHL since 2005, long before DHL announced plans to move its work out of Wilmington. The companies merged in 2003.

"At the time of the merger, no one anticipated an impact on jobs in Wilmington," Rogers said.

McCain, as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, had a role in the deal too. He urged then-Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens to abandon proposed legislation that would have prohibited foreign-owned carriers from flying U.S. military equipment or troops, which Airborne Express said was aimed at torpedoing its merger with DHL.

Ok, let's see what's the matter with the lede, and the headline as posted in the Time Magazine. I'd like to thank Dansac at Strategy08 for pointing this out. I have my glasses on so I'll take a gander at this paragraph below:

A recent SurveyUSA poll in the State of Florida shows McCain ahead of Obama by 50% to 44% with a 3.8% margin of error.

"Oh, it's August. No one is paying attention to the ads McCain is running."

"They only start paying attention in September."

"It's a waste of time to reach voters who don't pay attention until after the convention in August."

"The Obama campaign will go on the offensive in the fall."

"Don't worry. Obama's team knows it's better to stay on the high road."

Right now, the Washington Post report about Barack Obama is now being slammed by House Democrats as being taken wholly out of context. The Washington Post story reads like this:

Obama's Symbolic Importance

By Jonathan Weisman

Perhaps he's beginning to believe the hype.

In his closed door meeting with House Democrats this evening, presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama delivered a real zinger. According to a witness, he was waxing lyrical about last week's trip to Europe, when he concluded, "this is the moment, as Nancy [Pelosi] noted, that the world is waiting for."

The 200,000 souls who thronged to his speech in Berlin came not just for him, he told the enthralled audience of congressional representatives.

"I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions," he said.

The Republicans are happily jumping upon this quote to push the "uppity black man" line that they've been trying to get circulated in the press as a meme.

In this morning's Washington Post, McCain's recent campaign tactics are called out by Republican strategists as being churlish and pathetic. Even Ben Stein called out John McCain on his reprehensible tactics. The key quotes are below:

Right now, Americans across this country are rolling up in their cars at the gas pump at their gas stations, bemoaning the skyrocketing price of gas with every flip of the digital numbers on the pump screen. They see the effect immediately of high gas prices on their budgets, and see it in the increase in the cost of the groceries they buy. To them, it's real, and they're hurting in their wallets and household expenses.

Wow, can you say desperate? Ben Smith at Politico reports that John McCain's campaign just issued a post attacking Obama, calling him a flip-flopper on genocide.

Mark Halperin at Time's The Page just provided a bulleted list of advice to the McCain campaign. Mark--you're not a journalist when you do bulleted shit like this below--you're a McCain propagandist:

Hat tip to Ben Smith at Politico.com:

It's a pretty nice city. I've barely explored it, but had a lot of fun exploring the State Capitol and the Hyde Park Area. If you're ever anywhere near Avenue B Grocery Store, you should definitely go there. The guy sells Mexican cokes, my favorite soda, and they're the kind that doesn't have high fructose syrup in them.