It has been a tough month of July for many of us.  We saw some blurring of the clear contrasts betweeen Obama and the Republicans with regard to FISA.  Yes, it was disappointing, and we have more work to do on that issue.

But for everyone who was disappointed then, the tables have now turned.  Obama's whirlwind tour of the Middle East and of Europe has so far shown a candidate who thinks, looks, acts and speaks like a Commander-in-Chief should.

We have seen that President Obama would restore America's stature in the world.  We have seen that President Obama would make the right choice on Iraq and Afghanistan.  We have seen that President Obama would have the respect of our Allies in Europe, of Israel and Palestine, and of our "frenemies" in the Middle East.

By contrast, we have seen that Senator McCain continues to make clear his lack of knowledge of foreign affairs in an ever more frenetic effort to blunt the Presidential momentum of the Senator from Illinois.

(more below...)

In the new NBC/WSJ national poll, Obama is up 6, 47-41. MOE: 3.1.

But...

But Obama’s lead over McCain expands to 13 points when third-party candidates Ralph Nader and Bob Barr are added into the mix — with Obama at 48 percent, McCain at 35 percent, Nader at 5 percent and Barr at 2 percent

Well, well, looks like our SEKRIT ATHEIST SOCHULIST MOOSLEM candidate's ideas are much more in the American mainstream than the American President America Has Been Americanly Waiting For.™

WSJ/NBC Poll: Obama Maintains Lead Over McCain

Yet when it comes to the issues, however, a solid majority — 60% — said Obama’s approach “is in the mainstream of most Americans’ thinking” while 45% described McCain’s views as mainstream. More than four out of 10 said McCain’s views are “out of step” while just under three in 10 said the same about Obama.

With McCain today accusing Obama of not caring about genocide and his accusation that Obama would lose in Iraq in order to become President, it seems perhaps that the All-American Maverick is becoming more and more a member of the fringe in American politics and society.

Or was he there this whole time?

Effectively unchanged from the last poll. Not sure if it fully captures the effect (if any) of Obama's visit abroad. Full text courtesy of WSJ.com is below:

http://blogs.wsj.com/...

Via Politico:

UPDATE: Just over an hour after finalizing plans to visit an oil rig tomorrow, the McCain campaign has cancelled the visit.

"The meeting with Governor Jindal has been postponed and we are cancelling the trip to the rig due to weather," said spokesman MIchael Goldfarb.

McCain will now fly from Pennsylvania to Ohio.  He had originally planned to fly tonight from Pennsylvania to New Orleans to be staged there for morning departure to the rig.

The campaign declined to comment any further about the quick decision to spike the trip other than to cite the weather.

Of course, we could take the McCain campaign at its word (ha!), and assume the cancellation is due to Hurricane Dolly.

Then again, it could be attributable to the unfortunate timing of an oil rig photo op in the Gulf region on top of this semi-breaking news:

(CNN)  -- The U.S. Coast Guard has closed 29 miles of the Mississippi River from New Orleans southward after a tanker and a barge collided, spilling more than 400,000 gallons of fuel oil into the river.

The river, a major shipping route between the Midwest and Gulf of Mexico, could be closed for days during the cleanup, the Coast Guard said Wednesday.

Or the back-handed slap delivered by Bobby Jindal today, long touted as a possible VP candidate for McCain:

Wednesday morning, Jindal made perhaps his strongest statement yet regarding running for Vice President.  Appearing on "FOX and Friends", Jindal said "I'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee or vice president."

Or maybe McCain decided to just stop fighting the media juggernaut surrounding Obama's overseas trip and lay low for a while. At this point, not saying anything or doing anything seems to be the wisest campaign strategy going, given his recent newsmaking.

Content removed for copyright violation. People might want to unrecommend - MissLaura

This story caught by Mark Nickolas over at Political Base deserves a lot more attention than it has received.  It turns out that not only is McCain getting killed by the traditional media, his advertising campaigns just aren't working, either.  Voters seem to be immune to the appeals of an angry, befuddled septuagenarian looking to preside over Bush's 3rd term.

You can criticize John McCain for a great many things.  Media relations hasn't been one of them -- up until now.

Over the last eight years, McCain has taken pains to cozy up to the media.  It proved to be a devastatingly effective strategy, as a tidal wave of glowing news reports allowed a broke McCain campaign to neutralize and overcome the immense cash warchests of Romney and Giuliani.

This relationship was McCain's most potent weapon against Barack Obama -- and his best chance of victory in November.

This week, John McCain did the unthinkable -- he threw his media allies under the bus for short-term political gain.  Remember this decision well, for it likely marked the end of any hope John McCain had of winning the 2008 election.

After I came across some Obama incense at a Brooklyn flea market this weekend, I put up a diary talking about how Obama has permeated into every facet of popular culture.

As for McCain, well, not so much. His attempts at creating hip new catchphrases ("My friends," "Bomb Iran," "Where is that marvelous ape?" etc.) have fallen flat.

But, in the interest of fairness, I wanted to reprise the poll about Obama's scent from Monday. Please, weigh in on McCain's, um, bouquet:

Seriously painful, arguably pathetic:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Barack Obama is not the only presidential candidate who will be front-and-center in Berlin this Thursday. Well, sort of.

In the latest effort to counter-program Obama’s tour of Europe and the Middle East, the Republican National Committee will air radio ads promoting John McCain’s candidacy in three different Berlins: Berlin, New Hampshire; Berlin, Pennsylvania; and Berlin, Wisconsin.

Why don't McCain's campaign people just give Obama his week, let their candidate rest up, and come up with some brilliant PR moves next week when Obama's settled back in at home? Every day reveals more desperation, whining and stupid "pay attention to me!" gimmicks. This can't be helping the undecideds move his way, can it?

Our favorite Senator is at it again. He chose to ignore a recent J Street survey of members of the Jewish community which found that 78% of American Jews do not support the idea of working with those Christian Zionist evangelical groups, such as Hagee's, that believe in an end-times theology in which Jews must return to Israel in order to hasten armageddon and the eventual return of Jesus.

And despite direct pleas from many in the Jewish community, last night, Joe Lieberman spoke at Pastor Dan Hagee's "Christians United for Israel" summit. Lieberman even said he was "proud" to do so.

"The bond that I feel with Pastor Hagee and each and every one of you is much stronger than that, and so I am proud to stand with you tonight," he added.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


click to enlarge

I think John McCain's comments are being unfairly treated.

Everything he said is true.

See, the thing is that John McCain is a time maverick.  Every other politician experiences time in the same old Washington way: forwards.  John McCain, however, is a different kind of politician.  He experiences time.  Backwards.

A lot of attention has been devoted recently to McCain's gaffes. It seems weekly, a different surrogate is poking him in the back and quietly correcting him in his ear.  I'm not a huge fan of making a big deal over gaffes. Candidates have virtually every waking word recorded and much of the time they are speaking extemporaneously on a wide range of subjects. As such there are bound to be the occasional mistake, misstatement, or gaffe. However, sometimes a gaffe is not just a gaffe. And sometimes by dismissing statements as gaffes the media misses the larger story.

You know about the stimulus-response rule?  Apply a stimulus, get a response.  So, how has the GOP attempt to frame the debate been going?

Stimulus: Tell America that Obama hasn't been to Iraq, and doesn't know what's going on in the Middle East.
Response: Obama visits Iraq, and their prime minister endorses his idea for troop withdrawl timetable.

Stimulus: Tell America that the "liberal" media is treating McCain unfairly.
Response: Media looks at McCain, and watches him make gaffes.

Stimulus: Tell America that Bush's call for drilling has brought down the price of oil, and schedule a photo-op on an oil rigger.
Response: What else?  An oil spill.

This begs the question: "Is the McCain Campaign cursed?"

We Democrats are getting confident.  How can Obama possibly lose?  Just wait until the debates!

The M$M, however, having lots of rating advertising to lose with a blowout, is in a panic.  They need a horse race.  Fortunately, they have a plan, and the money to pull it off.  Want to know how?

John McCain has tried hard to rekindle the fickle affections of the media that has now turned to his younger, more virile rival. Chocolate, flowers, love letters, offers of long walks, fire-side chats ... nothing seems to get the attention of these media whores that now crawl Obama like flag-pins on a Republican.

No matter how much he crows, the hens won't pay no heed to the aging Rooster; heck, even Ann Coulter, that old reliable, seems a little distant these days.

The very last straw was when the Grey Lady returned his love letter expressing regret.

Another man would whine endlessly in impotent frustration -- and so McCain tried that as well. It helped a little bit -- he got the media to talk about what an impotent, frustrated whiner he has become.

It appears that John McCain would rather lose his reputation for foreign policy expertise than lose the election.  Unfortunately, on Iraq, John McCain is losing on both counts, demonstrating on numerous occasions that he doesn't know anything about Iraq.  

John McCain is now a joke, even to usually reliable Republican media proxies like David Gergen.  

Perhaps, in stressing Iraq, McCain's campaign was trying to follow the alleged Rovian maxim:  first, take away your opponent's strength.  Being right on Iraq from the beginning was Obama's strength during the primaries.  And, for a time, when you'd asking McCain about anything, say the economy, McCain would change the subject back to Islamic extremists.  McCain would balance the budget by means of a victory he somehow still can't define.  

This guy just doesn't know when to stop:

http://news.yahoo.com/...

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Republican John McCain on Wednesday credited the recent $10-a-barrel drop in the price of oil to President Bush's lifting of a presidential ban on offshore drilling, an action he has been advocating in his presidential campaign.

According to McCain, this non-event has altered the "psychology" of the oil markets. (You see, the problem was all psychological).

"The price of oil dropped $10 a barrel," said McCain, who argued that the psychology of lifting the ban has affected world markets.

more