As we have seen the FISA fight play out and the concurrent disillusionment and disappointment with Sen. Obama’s vote on it the Dog has been thinking about the nature of politics. Now my fellow Kossacks may disagree (FSM help the planet if we all ever get on the same page, we will run this joint!) but to the Dog politics is all about compromise. Just as we, as Dems of all stripes (and some others) can not all agree on the importance of an issue or the methods needed to address it, politicians always are working in a group that has fractious views and responses. In order to achieve anything there has to be some willingness to bend. We could (and have) argue all day and night about the right amount and timing of that compromise, but the basic fact remains the same, to be an effective politician, one has to be willing to settle for less than all of your agenda, in order to get some of it.

A 400 person, demographically balanced, independent poll shows that even in the reddest district, Republicans are in trouble.  See the results of the poll in California's 48th District with a 26% Democratic registration.

www.SteveYoungforCongress.com

somewhere in America.  

My daughter is a budding 12-year old who has taken an interest in softball this summer.  I've had a few conversations with a couple of you about her coach not giving them enough practice and letting them learn everything the hard way.  It's all been pretty frustrating, but we remember that it's all part of the process.

We are the Jaguars.  Our claws are not that sharp and our teeth are not that pointy.  Generally, we lose every game 12-0, but my daughter never complains.  A few parents have taken their kids off the team because they don't want to be "associated with losers."  

Now my daughter, she's a pretty big kid--powerful but as slow as a tortoise.  She always hits the ball, but often has trouble getting to the bag before the ball.  She can catch real well so she plays first base.  The rest of the kids have a lot of trouble keeping it in thier mittens.  Of course, there are some tiny ones on there who have trouble hitting the ball too.  It's all a bit scary for them.

Follow the ball over the pitching mound...

This should in no way be taken as any kind of excuse for you to do anything less than your absolute most this election cycle. That said, if you have don’t have a smile on your face about this election cycle, then you must not be a Democrat! The Dog is here to tell you guys, gals and others that we have all the face cards this Nov. What you don’t believe the Dog? Lets go to the tape (or the electrons, anyway) as they say.

An election is a campaign, it may not be war but it's as close as it gets

While Barack Obama gives a sentimental lecture about Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Patton’s Army, and what the flag means to him in front of the huddled masses yearning to breathe free in small towns and halls named Independence, the senator from Arizona is rising like a Phoenix from the political ashes of the burnt ruins of the Bush-Cheney Administration.  

While Obama waxes on about how his grandmother worked on a bomber line during WWII, instead of more pressing issues like the economy and the war, John McCain gets to pretend as if he is the only candidate offering real solutions to the American people on energy reform, taxes, and gas prices.  

Although McCain’s proposals are gimmicky (see gas tax holiday) and woefully less progressive than Senator Obama’s plans, it doesn’t come off that way to today’s "low information voter."  

We've got the purists and the pragmatists on KOS waging a hard battle over Obama's stance on FISA. The purists are winning. Is that good politics?

When I was a child, me and the neighborhood kids would get together and choose sides to play a game, whether it be football or baseball. The field would be the street...if we played baseball the bases were rocks a foul ball would be a ball hit into a yard. If we played football goal lines were driveways and the curb was out of bounds. Two kids were picked as team captains...generally it was always the same two boys, and I was always picked last...then, when I was twelve, the Y started a flag football program, it was for ages 8 to 12, so this was the only year I could play...well, things were not much different...being the smallest boy, and the least athletic, about all I did on the team was pick splinters out of my butt...

More below the fold...

Upon watching the new clip added to the Obama Youtube channel, I (and I'm sure you as well) can't help but feel like this election means too much to lose. Hearing him speak to his campaign staffers in such an intimate environment makes the stories in the stump speech several times more heart wrenching and that much more important that, as he says, 'we can not lose.'

When you lose you lose control and when you win, you win everything and a lot of control, Hillary by not conceding, she refuse control, not saying she had to give up control, but she has to give up and as long as Hillary refuses to give up, it cements her supporters, not following, or listening to her instruction, when she dose give-in and up.

This was going to be a historic moment no matter what. Once the field narrowed to Obama and Clinton, we KNEW we would make history. We would have either the first black or first woman nominated for President by one of the two major parties. Well, THIS, folks, is history. Real and amazing history. We have now done what our parents couldn't do.

Now is the time to get it right. Now is the time to come together. Now is the time...the Dream comes true this year bigger and brighter than it has ever been dreamed before. Let's do this thing TOGETHER.

And I eat your Hamburgers, I win your Nominee and after Tuesday, I’ll drink your popular vote.

I will not surrender, John McCain proclaims, as dramatically as he can. That of course is after he intones that we are winning, winning, winning in Iraq.
Obama should declaim, "John, John, John. What are you thinking about when you say I, or our military or anybody else, might surrender.
Militarily, our American warriors have won all the battles required to end Saddam's era and have free elections for the Iraqi people.
If John, your goal is to occupy Iraq, then leaving would be simply relinquishing control.
It would be an exercise in letting go of your occupation goals. This
'letting go' is the goal of both Iraq and America. There is no
'surrender' in bringing home our troops from Iraq.

When one stirs up the latent and overt feelings of racism in a multi-racial society, cynically and for political purposes, any blood that is spilled as a result is on your hands.

It is akin to yelling "Fire" in a movie theater, it could lead to unexpected results, wounded feelings, and even bodily injury to members of the group that is scapegoated.

I am concerned about the small black populations in West Virginia, and in Kentucky.  Clinton blows into the state, stirs up the good white citizens against this scary black man and then leaves.

What does she leave behind?

You have to ask yourself why? Why does she want to cause the Democratic party to suffer? What is she doing, when it is mathmatically impossible for her to win the nomination? 2012?

Why does she continue to embrace McCain over her rival?

Why does she continue to allow her husband to embarass himself, forgeting that he made statements on tape that can be played back over and over again at a cost that the democratic party can not afford?

If Hillary Clinton puts on a flag pin, Obama loses.

If we Obama supporters fail to understand how sacred the flag is to most of this country, we deserve every elitist label flung at us. Over 4000 Americans have died for it in Iraq. And if we use flag pins to pull stunts lashing out at ABC, we are playing into the hands of Clinton and John McCain.

Through out the debate Hillary continued to show that she has no class.

Her constant garbage in, garbage out philosophy has again earned her Record high negatives with the American people.

Where as Obama's, defense moves of turning the other cheek seems to have him catching up to her with Catholics across Pennsylvania....(My Source)

Thank God the Pope decided this was the best week to come over to the U.S.

General Petreus declined to provide his questioners with a definition of "winning" in Iraq, but of course we can't withdraw until we have won. Then John McCain says that his comments about maintaining some US forces in Iraq for a very long time is based on the idea that we will "win" first.
Since these guys are unwilling to provide their definition of winning, I will presume to provide their definition for them, so that they will be forced to clarify their position.