Daschle was a pure, unadulterated disaster as Senate Majority Leader.  Under Daschle, the Dems gradually lost their majority.  Previous majority leaders were men we could all admire.  Daschle was an ineffective wimp, in the eyes of many, Dems as well as Indys and Republicans.  

Whenever I would see Daschle on TV, I would cringe.  He has the wimpiest sounding voice, and has no backbone.  I was ashamed to be represented by someone with his (lack of) stature.  Him and Gephardt were the two most ineffective Democratic leaders in several generations.

So now, when I see Obama's campaign flailing around and losing ground steadily in the polls, and now, when I see no backbone in the campaign, I start to realize that this might be Tom Daschle's wimpiness coming back to destroy our electoral chances once again.

Is it true that McCain was interviewed on 60 Minutes in 1997 about his wartime experience in Vietnam, including the disastrous accident involving his plane on the USS Forrestal, in which more than 100 US personnel were killed by bombs and napalm which exploded on deck?

There are several internet posts on this topic, and they include a statement by John McCain: "I am a war criminal," which suggestts that he dropped napalm on civilian targets in Vietnam.

Does anyone here have more detailed information, transcripts of the 60 minutes interview, or any other way to verify that McCain did, in fact, drop napalm on civilians at times during the war in Vietnam?

There's a mydd diary suggesting that Obama's campaign spent $57 million, while McCain's campaign spent $33 million in July, with RNC and DNC both spending equal amounts.

If true, that's terrible news for us, because it suggests that even if we can massively outspend McCain, we're still falling behind.

For all the money spent in July, there is no evidence that it had much benefit for Obama.

There's not much reason to suppose that Obama will end up with a gigantic $$ advantage - maybe 10 or 20 million, give or take a few million.

So, if the extra millions aren't keeping Obama in the lead, I wonder how the hell are we going to rebuild the lead?  

Sorry to say it, but the polling data are not encouraging.  Recent polls have been trending McCain for the past weeks.  Time is starting to run out - we're less than 3 months away, and Obama's lead in the polls has been diminishing.  Now, we learn CO  has polled McCain for the first time, and the projections have dipped below 270 for Obama.

Obama's on vacation, and the stupid conversation is about Hillary's nomination.  Rachel Maddow nailed it - McCain went negative and made the conversation about Obama, and his team didn't fight back effectively, so the whole conversation is still about Obama, and his numbers have been dropping steadily.

I don't see anything that's going to turn things around.  Obama will get a small bump from the convention, which will be reversed by the Repuke convention.

It's so odd that the anthrax attacks appear to have originated from the higher echelons of the U.S. Army in 2001.  At the time, the anthrax attacks were used by some as part of the justification for an invasion of Iraq.  More strangely, though, some of those who were apparently targeted were Democratic Senators.  It just gets curiouser and curiouser.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/U.S._anthr ax_suspect_commits_suicide_report_0801.h tml

Dead Army vaccine scientist eyed in anthrax probe
Associated Press
Published: Friday August 1, 2008

It appears that General Jones has drawn some very critical conclusions about Israel's policies in the west bank and Gaza, and that this report is being covered up the Bush Administration.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004 143.html
EXCERPTS FROM THE STORY: Last update - 18:55 22/07/2008

Israel fears scathing U.S. report on its West Bank policies By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff Tags: Israel, West Bank, IDF

The United States security coordinator for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, retired general James Jones, is preparing an extremely critical report of Israel's policies in the territories and its attitude toward the Palestinian Authority's security services.

The latest numbers from Quinnipiac suggest biased polling data - biased sampling procedures (biased in favor of John McCain and the Republican Party).  We now learn that the Quinnipiac polls are sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Coincidence?

It used to be possible to rely on Quinnipiac University polling, but that era may now be past, if Quinnipiac is going to bend its sampling procedures to suit the owner of the Wall Street Journal and Fox News, Rupert Murdoch.

Now that Michigan, Iowa, and New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Mexico and Oregon seem to trending blue, we appear to be heading toward a likely 264 electoral votes (270 needed).

So the question is this: which "red" states does Obama have a shot at winning?

Yes, there are many possibilities, but let's be super-realistic.

We have 3 good shots at it: OH, CO, and VA, maybe 4 if you include Indiana.  Florida and Nevada are also possibilities, but Obama's been polling behind there overall.

Obama's best shot seems to be CO (9EV) or Ohio (20EV).  He's currently ahead in both states, but only by a small margin.  He's tied in IN and VA.