It is a mistake to describe John McCain's statements on the Today Show this morning as a "gaffe."  John McCain was answering the question of whether, if the surge is working as he claims it is, it is finally time to start talking about whether and when to bring some troops home.

Link to video here, I suggest you watch it in full:

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpoi...

Also check out slinkerwink's excellent diary on the Rec List.  

John McCain has made a lot of gaffes so far this week, but this is not one of them and should not be lumped with the others.

I hope many of you heard Ed Shultz's interview with Jim Clyburn (D-SC)about his endorsement of Barack Obama today.  It was a fascinating look at the Obama-Clinton dynamic, and without even mentioning Hillary directly, he gave one of the best illustrations I've yet heard of why the so-called Dream Ticket will not happen.

This diary is addressed to the many, many female supporters of Hillary Clinton who I have heard over the weekend claim they will either not vote or vote for John McCain in November due to their belief that Clinton is losing the election due to inherent sexism in the system--the media, the Democratic leadership, etc..

I hope most of you have read Joseph Conrad's novella, "Heart of Darkness" (1902).  If not, you are have probably familiar with the basic structure of it as seen in movies like "Apocalypse Now."  It is a 20th-century fable, a story about what human nature is capable of in a consequence-free, extra-social environment.  In it the narrator, Marlow, voyages deep into the unknown parts of 19th century African jungle in order to retrieve Howard Kurtz, a fellow European who has "gotten out of control," who is beyond the reach of both communication and ethics.

This is an open letter to Hillary Clinton supporters that may be lurking out there, or to those that may be in contact with them.

"If a Democrat is elected, my taxes will go up."  This is the refrain we hear time and time again, every four years when there is a Presidential election.  I've already heard callers on the radio parrot it several times already this cycle.

I hear it so often that I think it is not much use assuring people even in the lower to middle classes that their taxes will not go up.  It might be worth pointing out, but we must accept that there is a large portion of the public that will never believe the Democrats will not raise their taxes.

There is a better way.

Let's put this one to rest, shall we?  Tweety on Hardball just now was buying into the McCain spin on his "good genes" hook, line and sinker.  Apparently McCain was touring around with his 90+-year old mother today as evidence that his rather advanced age is not a factor in this election.

Many of us have become frustrated with the level of spin and unreality eminating from the Hillary camp and the MSM after the Pennysylvania primary.  The biggest issue they are touting is this fantasy of Hillary being the winner of the "popular vote."

Hi all!  Happy Earth Day!  It's important that this day not get lost in all of the Pennysylvania primary hype, so bear with me while I chime in with some thoughts on how we can change our habits to benefit our planet.

Let me be clear:  I absolutely 100% support a single-payer system and do not believe that any current plan will solve our health care problems.  However, I also am a realist and do not believe the nation will be ready for a single-payer system immediately . . . at least, not until Obama's second term :)

Even before I was solidly in the Obama camp, I preferred his health care plan to Hillary's, largely (but not exclusively) because I oppose universal mandates.  I agree with Obama, that we should not mandate people who cannot afford payments to pay the insurance companies before prices become affordable.  We should trust people to make these decisions for themselves and not encourage them to resent government involvement in their health care.

Mark Penn is not the only person in the Hillary campaign with ties to Colombian government.  No, this goes all the way to the top.  I was alerted to this by Thom Hartmann today who made reference to Bill Clinton being paid $800,000 by the Colombian government for negotiating favors--I've yet to find the details, but he did help broker an oil deal with them a la the Kazakhstan deal :

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/...

I spent most of the day yesterday attending the Washington state 43rd district convention.  Though a mid-level caucus and thus a bit overlooked in terms of total state delegate count, it was more entertaining than I expected it to be.  Here's a summary of my experience.

I'm sure she will do great, though she admitted being nervous for days beforehand!

Rachel Maddow let drop on her Air America Radio show today that she will be substitute hosting Countdown for Keith Olbermann tomorrow (Friday)!

I just saw Eugene Robinson on Keith Olbermann's show tonight.  And he made a point I hadn't quite thought of before.  He said that, according to Clinton, "some states are more equal than others," paraphrasing George Orwell's "Animal Farm."

IT IS TIME.

It is time to get off the sidelines and implore our respective superdelegates to either drop their previous endorsements of Hillary Clinton or to openly commit to Barack Obama.  The following is the text of a letter I am sending to my Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell in Washington State who both endorsed Clinton before our caucuses showed overwhelming support for Obama.  

Please feel free to plagiarize as you wish, but in any case do consider writing your own representatives this week and letting them know that we will not stand for the voters' stated preference to be overturned by party insiders.

The MSM and Hillary Clinton supporters who are all a-dither about finally getting a win point to Pennysylvania as the next big stop in the campaign.  I'm not sure why it gets such special attention other than it being one of the last states in the "States Hillary Can Win" category, but let's take a closer look at the facts.

The Clinton campaign has been rife with contradiction this week.  And while they are shouting ever louder about how wonderful a leader she is, how tough and battle-ready, her actions demonstrate even louder how she will perform as president.