The Hollywood Liberal

LAT/Bloomberg Poll: Presidential Race Tightens
The latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll shows the presidential race remains tight, with Sen. Barack Obama edging Sen. John McCain, 45% to 43%.

“More striking than the head-to-head matchup, however, is the drop in Obama’s favorable rating” which “has sunk to 48% from 59%” since the poll in June. “At the same time, his negative rating has risen to 35% from 27%.”

Key findings: “Most voters say they know at least some people who feel uneasy about electing a black president; 17% say the country is not ready to do so.”

However, “the poll found that McCain faces serious obstacles. Voters favor Obama on the economy, the issue they rank as most important. McCain’s supporters remain less enthusiastic than those of his rival. And independents, a crucial swing bloc, are leaning toward Obama.”

Democrats Slam McCain on Oil Ties
Reporters joining Sen. John McCain on a visit to an oil rig off the coast of New Orleans today received a special campaign kit from the DNC including a “limited edition Exxon-McCain ’08 stress ball” in the shape of an oil drum.

From the included note: “Since we know how stressful it has been to watch your access to the candidate diminish under Steve Schmidt’s new rules, we hope you’ll accept this oil barrel-shaped stress ball along with some additional Exxon-McCain ’08 paraphernalia. It is the least we can do.”

Late Nite FDL: I Like To Watch (the Olympics)
Let’s hear it for Dara Torres.

At 41 years of age, she skipped the last Olympics and only decided to start training again after she had a baby — let’s say that again, 2 years ago she HAD A BABY — and not only made the Olympics team, she won an individual silver medal. Sez Dara, “You don’t have to put an age limit on your dreams.”

I’m settling in for another night of east coast sleep deprivation because I just cannot go to bed until I see every last minute of the Olympics.  Those bastards at the Washington Post  screwed me up by printing the results of the uneven parallel bars yesterday, so I had to go into media block today. 

Haven’t any of them heard the words “spoiler alert?”

Anyway, while we wait  — with all the hoopla over Michael Phelps and his 8 medals, what was for some of us the story of the Olympics got buried.

Let’s hear it for Dara Torres.

At 41 years of age, she skipped the last Olympics and only decided to start training again after she had a baby — let’s say that again, 2 years ago she HAD A BABY — and not only made the Olympics team, she won an individual silver medal.

Sez Dara:

The thing that’s most rewarding here is what can be learned about what I’ve done. You don’t have to put an age limit on your dreams. I’m hoping that people out there that may have thought they were too old to do certain things can realize they’re not.

Twelve Olympic medals.

I am so getting that video.

A Noun, A Verb, POW
HE TALKS ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME!!!

The Right’s Five Hilariously Boneheaded Anti-Obama Smears
From birth certificates to Bernie Mac, a look at the goofiest attacks against the presumptive Democratic nominee.

What If Your Tap Water Is Not Safe To Drink?
In the U.S., 89.3 percent of tap water is deemed safe, but what if you’re one of the 29 million people whose water missed the mark?

Nagourney: “Don’t Believe Everything You Read On Drudge”
Matt Drudge is — ahem — “reporting” that the New York Times has learned that Obama has made his Veep choice, and lots of folks in the political world are chattering away about this as if it’s true. Drudge, who’s…

Blackwater Guards Targeted by Justice Department
The Justice Department appears one step closer to prosecution of Blackwater security guards involved in the Nisoor square shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians, after reportedly sending six employees target letters earlier this summer. The high likelihood of indictment of a…

Countdown – Special Comment

Keith Olbermann has slowly taken John McCain’s speech at the VFW (veterans of foreign wars) and deconstructed it. He has pulled McCain’s Iraq victory speech in 2003. This is the speech in which John McCain declared victory in Iraq and Afghanistan – 5 years ago. We were done according to John McCain.

McCain has called out Barack Obama on shifting positions on Iraq but no one has been on both sides of the fence at the same time as well as Senator McCain. McCain praised Donald Rumsfeld at the same time he was criticizing him. John McCain has stated that the surge has worked but he isn’t ready to bring the troops home. When is that time exactly? Well, McCain will never state that time because it would sound like a time table.

This is a very good special comment by Keith Olbermann.

It should be mentioned that I cringe when I hear that someone is speaking to the VFW. I have a flashback. It was at the VFW that Dick Cheney laid down the saber back in 2002. Remember –

“Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us. And there is no doubt that his aggressive regional ambitions will lead him into future confrontations with his neighbors — confrontations that will involve both the weapons he has today, and the ones he will continue to develop with his oil wealth.” Vice President Dick Cheney at the Veterans of Foreign Wars, August 26, 2002.

Diplomats: Bush was Musharraf?s ?last holdout? in Washington.
Pakistani newspaper Dawn reports that that “diplomatic sources in Washington” reveal that President Bush was President Musharraf’s “last holdout” in the U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “had long given up” on Musharraf, but Bush “remained faithful” to his “close ally and personal friend”: Ambassador Patterson argued that if Washington continued […]

Pakistani newspaper Dawn reports that that “diplomatic sources in Washington” reveal that President Bush was President Musharraf’s “last holdout” in the U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “had long given up” on Musharraf, but Bush “remained faithful” to his “close ally and personal friend”:

Ambassador Patterson argued that if Washington continued supporting Mr Musharraf it would end up stoking massive anti-American feelings in Pakistan. […]

“President Bush was the last holdout,” said the expert. “But after a good luncheon at the White House with people who had their hearts in the right place, Mr Bush also realised that he can no longer save Mr Musharraf.” The prime minister took a team of “Musharraf experts” with him to the luncheon and they played a key role in persuading Mr Bush to stop supporting the Pakistani leader.

The paper adds that the administration endorsed Musharraf’s departure once it was assured that he “would not be arrested, prosecuted or punished in any other way.” (HT: Juan Cole)

Musharraf’s Departure is Critical Moment in War on Terror – USA Today

Purpose-Driven Politics
At the risk of heresy, let it be said that setting up the two presidential candidates for religious interrogation by an evangelical minister — no matter how beloved — is supremely wrong. It is also un-American. For the past several days, since mega-pastor Rick Warren interviewed Barack Obama and John McCain at his Saddleback Church, most political debate has focused on who won.