Even though I try to mention it where appropriate, I never get to give Bob Somerby enough credit for the work he's doing, the work he's done for a decade now, in exposing the mainstream media for what it is. A bunch of wannabe novelists debasing the country and the world.

Somerby runs Daily Howler. If you haven't been there, go. Somerby takes sides, and his focus is sometimes clearly shown, but his judgment is never compromised.

Today Somerby posted a story that left me speechless. Not in the usual way. Not because some person was suffering or some horrific atrocity had taken place, but because it explained -- or should have way back then -- how the media would ignore suffering and atrocities today.

I know that the chattering classes, the beltway bandits and mindless lemmings are all desperate for something, anything, to write or broadcast that is negative and divisive but really how pathetic can you get.

I just read Maurine Dowd, I know I should not have but it’s a column in the New York Times, a once respected news paper.  One expects certain things, quality, accuracy, a certain amount of neutrality, even handedness.  One is as ever bitterly disappointed.

In the run-up to the Iraq invasion, every one of the networks was essentially telling us the same story. It seemed like a coordinated effort to convince us that invading Iraq was a good idea.

Back in April, the New York Times revealed why this was indeed the case.

Are the Republicans at it, again?

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Unbelievable.  Simply unbelievable.

Riding the 16th Street bus between venues this morning, I encountered a young woman, DNC delegate credentials slung around her neck, sporting two buttons on her shoulder bag—one said “Hillary ‘08” and the other “Obama ’08.”

And that, as best my impressions tell me so far, is the extent of party disunity at the Democratic National Convention.

Perhaps you have a different impression, and if you happen to be somewhere else this week, maybe a place where your best news options are USA TODAY or a cable news channel, I don’t blame you.

Apparently.

Apparently, Obama "dismisses" things and there are "concerns" and there is "fallout."

I cannot believe how many seemingly innocuous statements all seem to point to "problems" with the Obama campaign. Interestingly, these "problems" are always  vary and are never substantive. We are told that there are problems for the black community (if he succeeds, will people become unconcerned with racism? ).  The entire story of his campaign is framed in possible negatives. Even his "Obamanomics" cover in the magazine has the words "taxation" and the words "debt" more visible than any positive words concerning the economy. Come to think of it, all the words were negative.

The culprit? The New York Times.

Sure, there have been negative McCain stories. However, these stories usually report something more substantive. With Obama, there is a disconnect between the words used and the actual facts of the story. It seems that even when Obama succeeds the words used are conditional and denote uncertainty.

Well, there you have it. Now, I  will get more positive and watch the convention.

God I hope we are watching the next president of the U.S.  If so, it won't be because of the "liberal media."

Want to know what the Democratic convention delegates say about party unity?

More than half of the delegates that Mrs. Clinton won in the primaries now say they are enthusiastic supporters of Mr. Obama, and they also believe he will win the presidential election in November, the poll found. Three in 10 say they support Mr. Obama but have reservations about him or they support him only because he is the party’s nominee. Five percent say they do not support him yet.

Yet. From a month before to the day before. Still,

And who will you vote for on the floor of the convention?

2008 DEM Del
Clinton Obama Edwards DK/NA
18       74    -      7

Not much drama there, and no one is trying to embarrass anyone. Bottom line:

Still, more than 80 percent of the delegates surveyed said they enthusiastically supported Mr. Obama, and about as many (including more than two-thirds of Mrs. Clinton’s pledged delegates) were confident he would win the election. Majorities across all regions except the South said Mr. Obama held an edge in their state.

Eventually, we'll have to find another topic.

---

^{The poll of 970 Democratic delegates selected at random of the 4,439 total delegates was conducted July 16-Aug. 17 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points}

Just a little poll done by the NY Times on Clinton delegates in Denver at the DNC:

-The upshot: The party is unified though some Clinton delegates are worried about Obama's lack of experience.  

Read and revel:

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Quoting Josh Marshall

When Dowd devotes a column to it, the meme has arrived.

In today's column, Dowd encapsulates, contextualizes and pushes the question of whether or not the POW-POW-POW problem that McCain has is truly a liability.  The money questions

While McCain’s experience was heroic, did it create a worldview incapable of anticipating the limits to U.S. military power in Iraq? Did he fail to absorb the lessons of Vietnam, so that he is doomed to always want to refight it? Did his captivity inform a search-and-destroy, shoot-first-ask-questions-later, “We are all Georgians,” mentality?

Follow me over, as I unearth yet ANOTHER POW Incident; this time in answer to Biden's "Seven Kitchen Tables"

Before reading this letter, I recommend that the reader read Andy's piece (and the comments on it) at the New York Times.

Dear Andy,

I'm going to be blunt. This post is a perfect example of why I have so little respect for you as a writer on global warming. Your wishy-washy prose and, worst of all your, failure to provide any context (and I know that you are perfectly aware of the context) for your stories make you a great source of comfort for the denialist ideologues and ignoramuses who frequent this site.

This is the most specific I've seen the New York Times come to linking Cindy Hensley McCain's father Jim Hensley to this horrific crime. Hensley, through his mob connections, has ties back to the death of Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles.

I know our minds are elsewhere today, but there is a bigger picture to be watched.

Today here in New York City there are two major newspapers with editorial page articles on prospective VPs. The NY Daily News Editorial today is "Hillary, Hillary, Hillary!" and the New York Times OpEd by David Brooks is titled "Hoping It's Biden."

Brooks opened his OpEd with this quote:
"Barack Obama has decided upon a vice-presidential running mate. And while I don’t know who it is as I write, for the good of the country, I hope he picked Joe Biden."

"There are other veep choices," Brooks writes. "Tim Kaine seems like a solid man, but selecting him would be disastrous. It would underline all the anxieties voters have about youth and inexperience. Evan Bayh has impeccably centrist credentials, but the country is not in the mood for dispassionate caution."

Here is the Web link to the full OpEd:
http://www.nytimes.com/...

As a former online comm mgr for Sen. Biden's presidential campaign Web site, JoeBiden.com, I can hope that whoever Sen. Obama chooses will be able to step with confidence into that spot, as Sen. Biden says, "because there will be no margin for error."

From the very beginning of the debate about the surge, its stated objective was to provide a stable environment in which the Shiia controlled Iraqi government could settle its differences with the Sunnis and Kurdish populations, reach agreement on the division of their oil revenues, take control of their country and begin rebuilding Iraq.

Some how these stated objectives were forgotten and the Republicans began crowing that the surge was working because of the reduction of ethnic violence. To them... that and that alone has become the definition of victory. Never mind the previously stated political objectives, the reduction in violence has been cause for them to once again cry "mission accomplished."

Remember the 'Sunni Awakening'? You know, the movement that preceded the 'Surge' and is credited by knowledgeable observers with bringing about the lowering of the level of violence in Iraq? The one that is described succinctly:

The Awakening began in western Anbar Province in 2006 as the violence in Iraq peaked and Sunni tribal leaders began feeling pressure from all sides, and then spread around the country as a means of Sunni self-preservation....

The American military began paying many members of the Awakening movement as the program expanded, even including Shiite members who make up about one fifth of the program. Now all are paid roughly $300 a month by the United States to guard checkpoints and buildings and — for those who used to be insurgents — to no longer blow up American convoys and shoot American troops.

Well, according to Iraq Takes Aim at Leaders of U.S.-Tied Sunni Groups in tomorrow's NY Times, as the US prepares to agree to a withdrawal timetable, there's been a little snafu in Baghdad ...

In an interview to be published in The New York Times this Sunday, Rep. Dennis Kusinich continues to  make the case for impeachment – especially amid the Russia/Georgia crisis – as well as arguing for Democrats to come together to back Obama.

Asked why he continues calling for impeachment, Kucinich responds, "This president is capable of taking us into war, in October, on the eve of an election, to try to change the outcome of the election...

"The events in Georgia are a premonition...of an attack on Iran.  When Georgia moved against South Ossetia as the Olympics are starting, the Bush administration begins its own Olympics – the war Olympics."

WASHINGTON — A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday.

. . . .

This is significant, and certainly underscores why more Americans are turning toward pro-choice values as they see just how far outside the mainstream social conservatives really are.

Originally written by Scott Swenson at RH Reality Check - News, Commentary and Information on Reproductive Health.

It's been a rough few days for Obama according to some polls and the hourly diaries that I've seen here. Why isn't he attacking? Why isn't he fighting back more? Calls for firing of all his press people are starting to pop up. And I admit, I've been frustrated as well. It seems as if we are seeing another repeat of Kerry in 04. And while I still think he needs to get more surrogates out in front doing some of the dirty work, this article in the NYT gives me some hope.