There are times I almost feel bad beating on the Minnesoros “Independent”. The site – a paid propaganda site funded by “liberals with deep pockets” and now staffed mostly by refugees from the City Pages – is (occasional and, I stress this, rare bits of good reporting notwithstanding) kind of like the the really drunk guy who walks into a bar spoiling for a fight after he’s already had sixteen beers. You shake your head and hope he doesn’t hurt himself. You hope he goes away, and gets home safely. You try to mute a chuckle as he tries to pick fights with bartenders, waitresses, the barback. You try to continue talking or playing trivia or dancing.

And then the drunk – or the “Independent” – staggers over to wherever you are, and says something really, “beneath and below the call of duty” stupid and inflammatory. And as you’re trying to wave it off, he throws a punch – a sloppy, drunken roundhouse you duck easily. And, earlier sympathies and compassion and best wishes notwithstanding, you’ve had enough, and you smack his jaw so hard he falls down like a load of old City Pages returns getting dumped in the landfill, and despite yourself, you have to laugh. He pissed you off that bad.

Steve Perry staggers over and calls your date a whore as snot drippes over his stubbly mustache thinks he’s got big goods on Mac:

Steve Benen at Carpetbagger Report and Jake Tapper at ABC pick up on a rather astounding fib told by John McCain to a Pittsburgh TV station:

“When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the pressures, physical pressures on me, I named the starting lineup, defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron mates.”

“Did you really?” asked the reporter.

“Yes,” McCain said.

“In your POW camp?” asked the reporter.

“Yes,” McCain said.

If you’ve heard this story before–and it’s one of the staples of McCain’s POW yarns–you know that it has always been the Green Bay Packers whose starting lineup McCain claims to have recited for his captors. In his 1999 book Faith of My Fathers, McCain wrote: “Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron.”

Steve Perry – paid propaganda streetwalker of the party whose previous nominee presumptive concocted a dash through sniper fire that was invented from whole cloth, whose hubby invented terror-bombings of black churches, and whose last Prez nominee had a completely fictional Christmas trip to Cambodia “seared, seared” in his memory, goes on:

So much for the third-rail sanctity of John McCain’s time as a North Vietnamese POW. In his own mind, clearly, it’s just another tool in an old campaigner’s arsenal.

And you know what, Steve Perry? More power to him. If this is the best “lie” you can come up with, then you are going to have one long campaign, little fella.

For starters, Mac survived one of the ghastliest ordeals any American has ever suffered, and I don’t care if he claims, forty years later, to have recited the entire lineup to Disney On Ice or the cast of The Fantastics.

Second – so what? It has what to do with policy?

That’s right – exactly the same as Norm Coleman’s “luxury apartment” or any part of Barack Obama’s platform.

Funny this is coming to light a day after McCain confessed in the New York Times that he is not really up on his computers and internets.

“Life is full of ironies, if you’re stupid”. P.J. O’Rourke.

This is your lefty “alternative” media at work; nitpicking a triviality spoken by a guy whose suppositories Steve Perry is not fit to carry.  I have a hunch that in five years, he probably managed  to get through the Steelers, the Packers, the rest of the NFL, major league baseball, and every cabinet officer in US history.
And it’s “Internet”. What, you’ve been taking “glib and cutesy” lessons from Priesmeyer?

No, no no – it’s “Priscilla Lord Faris”.  But with a name like that, who could resist?

She’s the daughter of Miles Lord, the Minnesota judge who was to the law what Mitch Snyder was to rational social policy.

Oh, yeah – and she’s mounting a primary challenge against Al Franken.

Though relatively unknown, Lord Faris could prove to be a test for Franken because she does have natural constituencies. She’s a clear anti-war choice. She’s a former grade school teacher in Golden Valley and Minneapolis. She is a founder of the law firm Faris & Faris, which she says gives her great insight into many of the vexing problems of our times.

Yeah – in the way that being a rat gives you “great insight” into world hunger. 

And she is the daughter of Miles Lord, the former Minnesota attorney general and legendary federal court judge.

“I can’t keep him down,” said Lord Faris of her 88-year-old father. “He’s sent me 12 emails already today.”

“You’ll be getting two senators for the price of one…”

Lord Faris is 66 years old, “which is young, when you compare me to John McCain.”

Enh.

Still – getting Jesse Ventura to run is a little less important now.

My record at predictions – as long as we’re not talking sports – is mixed.

Between “Good” and “Friggin’ Great”. 

I got the 2004 election within eight electoral votes – in a prediction made at the NARN’s first meeting, with Hugh Hewitt, at Billy’s Lighthouse in January of 2004.

Nailing the date of Hussein’s execution, while admittedly ghoulish and not something I especially enjoy, was further proof of my absolute dominance at games of blind luck (that, further, can’t profit me in any way).

And while I had a couple of glaring flubs in 2006 (the Senate race wasn’t close, Gutknecht lost in CD1, and Pat Anderson got toppled in the Auditor race), I had some amazing picks elsewhere; while I got the wrong margins with Betty McCollum’s wins in CD4, and I didn’t really “predict” the SOS race so much as voice a fear (correctly) that it could all go wrong and we could get Mark “Not Married to Madonna” Ritchie as Secretary of State, I also got the CD2 (Kline v. Rowley), CD3 (actually underestimated Jim Ramstad’s margin over Wendy Wilde), attorney and the Ramco and Henco sheriff’s races very close, nailed the CD5 (Ellison versus Alan Fine and some Ventura party chick) race almost on the nose, and – most importantly – predicted the Sixth District Race right on the nose (Michele Bachmann with an eight-point win over Patty Wetterling). 

I present the above for background for the below; I’m going to give my initial predictions for the US House and Senate races this fall.  Take ’em for what they are worth; highly preliminary, based on entirely subjective data.

Just like very single one I listed above.

This is subject to revision at least once.

US Senate:  Norm Coleman will endure a lefty/media (pardon the redundancy) smear campaign of biblical proportions to gut out a six point win – eight if Ventura gets into the race.

First District: Tim Walz will win – but it’ll be closer than you think, setting up what will be a serious threat in 2010 to end Walz’s career at two terms, especially if Barack Obama wins the presidency.

Second District:  John Kline will beat Steve Sarvi by at least ten points.

Third District: Erik Paulsen will confound “conventional wisdom” (which is Strib editorial-board talk for “an opinion pulled from the collective butts of Lori Sturdevant and Larry Jacobs) and beat Ashwin Madia by six.  Talk that the Third Distict is “turning blue” will abate – especially if Obama wins, in which cast Paulsen goes on to win in 2010 by at least 12 points against anyone the DFL throws against him.

Fourth District:  I’m going to withold predictions on this race…

Fifth District:  …and this one.  Partly because I’m too close to both, and partly because they’ll be a lot more fun to write about if I don’t try to predict them just yet.  I think Ed Matthews (CD4) and Barb Davis-White (CD5) are, at worst, initial steps on a path toward re-establishming the GOP in the cities.  This is going to be the subject of another article, soon.

Sixth District: Michele Bachmann will recap her 2006 margin of victory over E-Tink, by at least eight points – maybe better if the regional center-right can get E-Tink’s record of uselessness at MNDoT out in front of the public (juxtaposed, for the fun of it, with his craven, ghoulish performance the night of the 35W Bridge collapse.

Seventh District: Collin Peterson will win.  Fifteen, twenty, thirty points?  I feel bad for whomever the GOP has endorsed, and I wish it could be different, but there you have it.

Eighth District:  Jim Oberstar will slouch onward, the Robert Byrd of the Northland, borne forth on a wave of entitlement swag and an avalanche of yummy pork.  He will be America’s first undead congressman.

Expect at least one round of revisions – hopefully nothing drastic.

Bob Colllins notes that the RNC convo will be bringing extra private jet traffic to the area:

The airports around the Twin Cities haven’t gotten much attention from the media in advance of the Republican National Convention in August. But the Twin Cities Business Journal reports the increase in private jet traffic by the bigwigs should be quite noticeable

It might look like 1/4 of a global warming conference…

…in a campaign where Al Franken – a guy who worked for a network that plundered a boys and girls club to pay his grossly-inflated salary – gets busted bobbling his taxes in dozens of states, to say nothing of a series of crimes against taste (that don’t bother me especially – he was a comedian, so they say, and a freelance writer of sorts – but seem to bother some Democrats)…

…is find that Senator Coleman got a 30% discount on a crappy apartment, then perhaps the DFL needs some better opposition researchers.

Zack at MNPublius writes:

Norm Coleman said he would allow the press to photograph his “cramped” apartment in Washington, D.C. in order to prove that he’s not getting favorable treatment. But now Norm is backtracking on that promise…

He goes on to say (emphasis added by me):

But yesterday a DC staffer said no photos would be made available. The reason? Security.

“We consulted with the Capitol Police who advised that taking photos could pose a security risk,” said LeRoy Coleman, Coleman’s press secretary.

Zack then replays last month’s “controversial” Coleman spot:

Please, I beg of you, please, please please please, please please PLEASE let this be true:

Barack Obama‘s presidential campaign has requested information from Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd as part of its search for a possible vice presidential candidate.

The former White House hopeful and Connecticut lawmaker indicated Wednesday that he has been approached by the campaign. “There’s been some inquiries, yeah,” Dodd said. “They ask for a lot of stuff. I’ll leave it there.”

Now that’s change I can believe in.

(Via Ed)

Nothing official yet, but Zack at MNPublius notes that…:

A reliable source at the Capitol tells MN Publius that Ron Erhardt will file as an Independent candidate for the State House in 41A shortly before the filing deadline next week. 

I’m torn; I think it’s possible Erhardt will take more votes from the DFL than from Keith Downey, the endorsed GOP candidate. 

Did I say Keith Downey?  Yes, I did.  If you’re a Republican in Edina, or in one of the safer Congressional Districts, it behooves us all to get out and get behind Keith Downey.

Oh, and I love this bit of DFLer boilerplate.

Erhardt was denied the Republican endorsement for reelection after he voted to override the Governor’s veto of the transportation bill despite decades of service to the MN GOP.

I wish I’d had a blog in 1996:  “Norm Coleman was chased from the DFL after he took a moderate line on taxation and abortion despite decades of service to the Saint Paul and Minnesota DFL”. 

To say nothing of 2005: “Randy Kelly was purged from the DFL after governing to the center, and endorsing on pure foreign-policy principle George W. Bush, despite decades of loyal service to the  Saint Paul DFL”. 

Anyway, where was I?  Oh, yes.  Keith Downey is running in 41A.  Keith Downey. Keith Downey.

Via GeeEminem, Kudlow notes that Mac seems to have abandoned his support for “Cap and Trade”. 

After writing favorably about Sen. McCain’s recent economics speeches, where he clearly shifted toward the supply-side both on tax cuts and producing more energy, I went back last evening and carefully read his 15-page policy pamphlet called “Jobs for America.” Here’s what I found: There is no mention of cap-and-trade. None. Nada. There is a section about “Cheap, Clean, Secure Energy for America: The Lexington Project.” But that talks about expanded domestic production of oil and gas, as well as the need for more nuclear power and coal along with alternative sources. Then it has the $300 million battery and flex-fuel cars. But nope, no cap-and-trade.

Watch for a giggly article from Steve Perry about his “flip flop”. 

This the kind of “flip flop” I can get behind.

L-Kud:

So then I asked this senior official if the campaign has taken cap-and-trade out behind the barn and shot it dead once and for all — buried it in history’s dustbin of bad ideas. The answer came back that they are interested in jobs right now — jobs for new energy production and jobs from lower taxes. At that point I became satisfied. Even though a McCain presidency might resurrect cap-and-trade, it will be a much different format. More important, the campaign is cognizant of the conservative rebellion against it.

That’s enough for me.

Miller:

And for me.

Berg:

And for me.

To:  Jesse Ventura, ex-governor and “celebrity”

From: Mitch Berg, Average Schlemiel

Re: Senate Bid

Dear “Governor” Ventura,

One minute you’re running; the next, you’re not.  It’s almost like you’re arguing with The Crusher or Vern Gagne or Vince McMahon [1] or someone.

Let me help you settle this.

Run.  Run, Jesse, Run. 

Run for Senate.  Please.

Ten years ago, in a simpler and more trite era, it was easy to convince people that you were a populist, libertarian/conservative everyman.  Back before you actually had to govern (“Govern”?  Whatever), you could make yourself out to be whatever you wanted to look like; like every third party candidate, you could wrap ideals around you like they were so many pink feather boas.

Of course, then you got into office.  And that “deer in the headlights” look you got on election night 1998 morphed into you turning into a sock puppet for Dean Barkley and Tim Penny and, eventually – to deal with the fact that you had no party supporting  you in the legislature – ran to Roger Moe like a new, boyish-looking blond inmate cuddling up to a big bruiser inmate for protection.

But we know you today, Mr. Ventura. Some of us know you way too well. 

We know that you, like your “party”, are DFL lite.  To Democrats, who might prefer a trite, vapor-light, paper-thin devil they know to a trite, vacuous devil they don’t, that might be a sell over Franken.  To Republicans?  You had some of us fooled ten years ago; they’re not biting anymore.

Oh, and you’re a 9/11 Truther.  That appeals entirely to…well, you know who.  Indeed, the numbers show, so far, that you will draw more voters from Franken than Coleman.

So please, Jesse.  Run.  I beg of you.  Let’s make this electoral season even more humiliating for Al Franken.

That is all.

[1] What?  None of these names were current when you were in “wrestling”?  Sorry – I guess I had a brain and didn’t pay any attention at the time.  Sorry.  Not.

Via Paul Demko at the Mindy: Michael Kinsley wants all of you mindless proles to quit getting uppity, to shut up and do what your superiors tell you.

The funny part? Kinsley basically cribs Alec Baldwin’s “argument”; “Coleman’s a Republican! Franken is cool! Trust us!”

Demko:

Washington Post columnist Michael Kinsley scrutinizes Minnesota’s Senate race today. He chastises voters for getting hung up on Al Franken’s past jokes…

Oh, really, Michael F*****g Kinsley?

Sorry, sirrah, but by your leave I’ll make up my own mind.

And, for what little it’s worth (coming from a mere non-patrician and all), it really has little to do with his jokes – but rather…:

…rather than focusing on legitimate campaign issues:

…yes. Those. Franken has, improbably, fewer positions on these than even Barack Obama.

This year a professional jokester, Al Franken (D), is challenging a professional politician, incumbent Norm Coleman (R), for a Senate seat in Minnesota.

But – again, by your leave, Mr. Kinsley, since I’m one of the mere citizens you deign in your infinite wisdom to scold – we Minnesotans have a bit of a track record with politicians whose only claim to fame is…well, fame. “We” – or at least our moron cousins from Hinkley – elected a governor whose track record was close enough to Franken’s for county work; he was famous mainly for being famous. A celebrity. Actually, Ventura had more political experience than Franken; he’d been the mayor of Brooklyn Center (or Brooklyn Park? I mix ’em up – although to be fair, so did Ventura).

And he spent four years in office as a loud, abrasive mouthpiece for Dean Barkley and Tim Penny, and a de facto DFLer.

And Franken will be no different; “polemicist” pretty much sums up his political resume. He will be no less a sock puppet than Jesse Ventura was.

Not every joke Franken wrote or told over a third of a century in the joke business was hilarious, okay? Minnesota voters will have to decide whether their dislike of professional politicians trumps their enjoyment in taking umbrage, or vice versa.

Kinsley? Bubbie? Thanks for assuming us mere Schlitz-drinking, NASCAR-watching, bible-clinging rubes are obsessed over, ahem, the most understandable part of Franken’s personality.

Doy.

I’ll grant you every word of that – and Franken still has not one single recommendation.

Coleman is a man of no interest, a run-of-the-mill professional politician who started out as a standard issue long-haired student rebel leader on Long Island in the 1960s and surfed the zeitgeist until now.

So like Alec Baldwin, we have the ad-hominem…

Today he is a standard-issue pro-war tax-cut Republican.

…the slur on Republican policy (have you, Lord Kinsley, ever called a Democrat “standard-issue”?), and…

…what?

Franken, by contrast, needs no introduction and from Day One would be one of the most interesting people in the Senate.

Ah.

“Interesting”.

If you say so, Lord Kinsley.

An “interesting” person who raises taxes, jacks up fuel prices (by omission), stifles nuclear energy, appeases terrorists and foments destructive isolationism, coddles the UN, supports speech rationing, gun control, activist judges and the “Fairness” Doctrine, to this survivor of the Carter era, not very interesting at all.

Demko:

Kinsley further points out that any comedian who hadn’t ginned up some risible material over the years wouldn’t last very long in the profession. There’s a fine line, after all, between making people laugh and causing them to squeam.

“If the voters of Minnesota would rather be represented by a hack like Norm Coleman than laugh off a few jokes that didn’t work, then they should stop complaining about being stuck with professional politicians,” Kinsley concludes. “And the real joke will be on them.”

So to you, my liege – if you would deign to entertain a question from a rude fyrd – I ask “what would be an affirmative policy reason to vote for Franken, rather than against Coleman?

“He’s a funny guy” is not a policy reason.

Pardon the impertinence, Lord F*****g Kinsley.

GOP blogging machine Gary Gross from Let Freedom Ring reports on Coon Rapids’ July 4 parade (held, perversely, on July 3).

Coon Rapids is in the heart of the Third District, where longtime representative (and fellow Jamestown ND expat) Jim Ramstad is retiring.  Erik Paulsen is running against DFL-endorsed Ashwin Madia for the seat.

Gross – as sotted a GOP koolaid-drinker as exists anywhere – paints a sanguine picture for Paulsen:

Team Paulsen looked picture-perfect this evening, with plenty of youngin’s sporting the uniform. By contrast, the Dems did not appear to have assembled any kids. If the Democrats are the party of Madison Avenue, it sure doesn’t show. The Paulsen contingent appears normal, family-oriented, apolitical and content. Very middle middle class. Neighborly. With the talent Team Madia has brought on board in the last few weeks, this evening’s poor showing astounds.

Erik Paulsen looked great this evening–slim, youthful, jogging comfortably from side to side, greeting parade viewers in a friendly, low-key manner. Ashwin Madia didn’t show up for today’s parade, adding to the sense of blowout. It would seem reasonable to me to view this race–today, district-wide–as a 60-40 contest, in Paulsen’s favor.

Of course, you can expect a GOP pep-talk from the likes of Gary Gross, so take the above with the appropriate-sized grain of salt.

UPDATE:  Oops.  The above was not written by Gary Gross, but rather by DFL-blogger and Paulsen gadfly Gavin Sullivan.

I apologize for any trouble my misunderstanding has caused.

It seemed like a “punk”; the Minneapolis Park Board goes on video and says they’re jacking their “large tent rental” from $60 to $10,000, to take advantage of the Republican National Convention. So much so that I had to double-check to make sure it wasn’t tongue-in-cheek.

No such luck.

Sure enough; the Minneapolis Park Board wants to gouge Republican event planners.

PARK SUPERINTENDENT JON GURBAN: I would then turn over the numbers point to Julie, subbing for Don, who presented these to the mayor and will also report on where we found that new goldmine. No?
PARK COMMISSIONER SCOTT VREELAND: Thank you. Juli Wiseman will be making the staff presentation.
PARK COMMISSIONER CAROL KUMMER: Mr. Chair, just before she gets … Under Strategy 1, I’m assuming the tent rental increase went from $60 to $100, not $10,000. Or is that your goldmine? [general laughter]
GURBAN: No, you’re … Allow me to explain. The small tent rental went to that. But we now have a larger tent rental that somehow coincided with a convention that is coming to town that had a number of requests for LARGE events and gatherings on our property.
KUMMER: It’s not a typo.
GURBAN: No.
KUMMER: Thank you for that good news.

Chris Steller has the video over at the Mindy. See for yourself.

So – now that we know this isn’t some elaborate hoax – you have the Minneapolis City Council actively and publicly planning to gouge the GOP Convention on the one hand, and the President of the Saint Paul City Council publicly expressing his contempt for Republicans on the other, while passing resolutions welcoming the protesters.

Naturaly, I’ll be inviting all the principals to this discussion onto the NARN. Hopefully Superintendent Gurban and Commissioners Vreeland and Kummer will be forthcoming.

Code Pink tries to break up a group naturalization ceremony for new US citizens at Monticello – Thomas Jefferson’s old home.

President Bush invoked the memory of Thomas Jefferson Friday in welcoming new U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony at Monticello, saying “I’ll be proud to call you a fellow American.”

On his final U.S. Independence Day as president, Bush told an audience Friday at the home of the Declaration of Independence’s author that he was honored to be present for the naturalization. Shouts from protesters were heard during Bush’s remarks, and the president responded by saying he agrees that “we believe in free speech in the United States of America.”

Gateway Pundit covered the incident:

GWP notes that:

The crazed Pinko running at President Bush is Desiree Farooz, the same lunatic who assaulted Condoleezza Rice with “bloody” hands at a Senate hearing last October. This dangerous woman is going to get seriously hurt some day.

It’d be uncharitable and wrong of me to add “…if there’s any justice in this world”. Nope. Not gonna say it.

I would not want to see some Polish or Georgian or Laotian or Burmese or Tibetan or Cuban or Vietnamese, who risked life and livelihood to uproot themselves from tyranny (even former tyranny) and travel halfway around the world, backhand this “woman” in mid-specious-chant, and give her a picturesque and metaphorically-rich but ultimately-harmless bloody nose. This, I do not want to see. Because this slimy, pustulent, skeezy hag’s right to free speech is just as important as yours (and, if Nancy Pelosi gets her way, more important than half of yours will be).

It was nice of the Leftists to ruin the naturalization ceremony for the new Americans and their families.

C’mon, GWP – it’s all about them.

GWP also goes into this fella’s connections.

Oh, yeah. Don’t dare call them unpatriotic.

In Saint Paul, the Republicans rented space in a couple of nearly-empty old (1890’s) office buildings that had sold (to the current owners, not the GOP) for $10. 

Hm.  Saving money.  Good, conservative management.  (Comment about the Bush Administration’s spending excised for excessive obviousness). 

How about the Dems?

Democratic National Convention Committee decided not to take cheap office space and instead rented top-quality offices in downtown Denver at $100,000 a month, only to need less than half the space, which it then filled with rental furniture at $50,000 a month. And in a costly misstep, the Denver host committee, early on, told corporate donors that their contributions were not tax-deductible, rather than to encourage donations by saying that the tax-exempt application was pending and expected to be approved.

So that’s where all the dotcom CEOs went.

Ed has more.

Michael Brodkorb: “Joe Bodell lied about his identity to smear me on Wikipedia”.

Joe Bodell: “I know you are but what am I?”

No word yet on whether Bodell has turned his crack investigative skills on Brodkorb.

Kouba at TvM wonders – what if the Obamesseiah were the father co-parent of our country?  What would his farewell address have looked like?:

My fellow Subjects of the British Crown,

In looking forward to the moment, which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude, which my country owes me.

When I pulled back our forces from Yorktown, it was because we had already been fighting for far longer than any world war I could possibly imagine. It was time to end that illegal war and bring peace, peace which can only come when we talk to our enemies.

Oh, read the whole thing already.

Depending on who you ask, the upcoming elections are going to shake out one of two ways:

1. Democrats, riding a wave of Bush-weariness and hope for audacity, are going to massacre Republicans
2. Shocked by Democrat tax and spending proposals, voters will opt for Republicans.

“What election are you talking about?” you might ask.  And the response is “yes”.

I’ve seen the numbers that show Barack Obama trouncing Mac this November – and seen some other fairly plausible cases pointing toward a potential Mac blowout.

As to Congress – well, OK, the theory breaks down a bit there.  This is going to be a bad year on Congress.  Indeed, if the Dems come out of this election at anywhere less than 80-20 in the Senate and with less than 340 seats in the House, it’ll be tantamount to a defeat.

But in the Minnesota Legislature?  Things are a lot less clear there.  The Dems have two years with a crushing majority, and have done a fairly risible job; after two sessions of complete control, all they have to their credit is a huge tax hike, Carol Molnau’s scalp, and not a whole lot more.

Sarah Janecek is breaking down the ten most-in-play races over at Politics in Minnesota – today is the first installment.   Check it out.

Jay Reding on Obamamania:

It’s hardly unusual to see a candidate inspire their partisans—that’s what a good politician does. What is so unusual about Obama is the level of fervor that surrounds him. He is treated like a rock star in a way that even Clinton was not. The Obama campaign is less a traditional campaign that it is a movement.

I think it’s worse than Jay lets on.  I think that a big part of Obama’s “movement” is verging on a personality cult.  The “messiah” references, the unmoderated mass adulation (about nothing so much as him, himself), the masses of people mawkishly investing their political hopes and dreams into a personality that has given no rational reason beyond him…

…well, as Jay notes it’s not “about the issues”:

Political campaigns are, or at least should be, about ideals. The Obama movement is about nothing deeper than some vague vision of “change”—a value that could mean everything from marching through Poland to changing the national anthem to “Kumbaya” and inviting Osama bin Laden to a nationwide love-in. “Change” is an empty slogan, the intellectual equivalent of junk food—filling, but never offering anything of substance.

And if it were just about “change” there’s no reason to suspect that Obama would be ahead. Every candidate in this race talked about change. The real force behind the Obama campaign is not mere change, but force of personality.

And we know how well those work in office.  Right?

I pulled this off of an E-Democracy discussion group.  These groups are all basically DFL sandboxes.

Poll results show that about 19 out of 20 Republicans plans on supporting Senator Coleman; Franken is drawing about 3/4 of Democrats. It’s reasonable to expect independents to break toward the incumbent. As a result, Senator Coleman is currently sitting on a ten point lead.

As far as I know, there are no other declared candidates who will challenge Franken in the primary – yet. I’m not backing someone else, but I hope I’m doing more than venting. I’m trying to say in as many forums as I can that I am worried. Perhaps people who have influence in the DFL and in Franken’s campaign will recognize that the poll numbers reflect concerned Democrats as well as Republicans and independents. I’d like Al to get some new advice and definitely some better marketing. As [someone else] said, the vulgar joke issue must be taken seriously by the Franken campaign because it certainly is being taken seriously by people he needs in November.

I’ve written to the Franken campaign. Naturally, I didn’t get an answer. I’ve responded to their appeals for contributions and to appeals from the DFL with strongly worded appeals of my own – please get serious! Franken is bombing and the party must shake up his act or get someone else.

So far so good.  Almost reasonable.

Until we get to the zowie:

That might be Ciresi, or Nelson-Pallmeyer or someone no one’s thought of. Draft Steve Miles, even Patty Wetterling. Coleman is beatable. It’s inexcusable that he should have a 10-12 point lead.

I’m going to just sit and marinade in that little burst of concentrated desperation.

(Marinade).

(Marinading).

(Mari mari marinade).

Please, please, please Tics; draft Patty Wetterling.  If she couldn’t beat Bachmann, the great lightning rod for lefty derangement, she sure won’t put a scratch on Coleman.

Or better yet, Tics, please please please please PLEASE draft Jack “Conspiracy Nut” Nelson-“Conspiracy Nut”-Pallmeyer.

I’ll donate. Pinky swear.

The Wall Street Journal on Obama’s economics flub:

The “psychological impact” to which McCain refers is quite simple: The expectation of greater oil supplies in the future would make it more attractive to sell oil now, when supplies are restricted and prices are high, thereby bringing prices down in the short term.
Is Obama really too ignorant to grasp this, or does he just think voters are?

Roosh:

Methinks both.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Senator Barack Obama! The man that wants to lead our nation; restore our economy!

Why is the price of Oil so high? Speculation? Not so much. Weak dollar? Getting warmer. Supply and demand? Warmer Still. The anticipation of static supply and high demand? Bingo!

I saw no mention of “ineluctible forces of history” or, for that matter, the Inaudacity of Hopelessness.

Get ready to have to spend a lot of time explaining basic economics to people.

The Minnesoros Monitor “Independent” notes the various demonstration permits that’ve been issued for the upcoming Republican National Convention.

This one was interesting:

True Blue Minnesota was among the lottery winners. The group plans to stage anti-RNC events at Triangle Park on each day of the convention. According to Andrew Hine, one of the principal organizers of the gathering, they intend to utilize a 20×27 foot television screen to communicate their message. “It’s part digital billboard and part drive-in movie theater,” Hine says.

We have a preview of True Blue Minnesota’s video screen right here:

And here, the crowd, in their True Blue uniforms:

It’ll be a fun convention!

(What? You think I’m overestimating the tendency of lefties to think like a mindless herd? Sadly, no.)

(UPDATE:  I mean, No!  Really, Really No!)

Charlie Quimby wonders just how much experience counts for.  He’s not completely impressed:

But McCain’s “experience” is subject to some skepticism.

First, there’s the tour as POW. Hard to match, and certainly impossible to criticize. But can we be frank here? Serving five-plus years in a North Vietnamese hellhole has less to do with running the country than installing tail lights on Chevy Malibus has to do with preparing someone to run General Motors. Street cred to the max, but relevant experience?

Now, Charlie, that’s a strawman in a black pajama-fabric uniform carrying an AK47 and a copy of the Little Red Book.

Nobody says that being a POW counts as government experience.

But it is a sign that Mac is a person of unshakeable integrity.  Compare and contrast:

1. After years of barbaric torture, one of our candidates was offered an early release by the NVA.  He refused to be freed ahead of his comrades.
2. After weeks of criticism, one of our candidates cut loose a man he’d described as his “spiritual mentor” in his first book.

You, as always, be the judge.

Then, stringing out his Naval career, a post-service whirlwind courtship of Arizona money and its attendant House seat, leading to succeeding Barry Goldwater as Senator.

And this is bad – or even atypical in Senate-level politics – why?

Early in his Senate career, McCain gained valuable experience as a waterboy for Arizona S&L crook Charles Keating, Jr. McCain’s image as a reformer and straight talker got manufactured soon after.

And, absent party grudges and partisanship, wouldn’t that be considered a good thing under most circumstances?  Someone who aqcuires a nasty smudge spends the rest of his career trying to be Mister Clean?

(As opposed to creating “MoveOn.org”, “Fight the Smears”, or engaging in a media effort to turn “swift-boating” into a pejorative verb)

But it’s “experience”  that’s going to be the siren song for moderates and fearful liberals. McCain will keep us safe. He’ll be tough with dictators and terrorists. He has… like, all this, you know, experience.

Now, Charlie, I’m sure the scare quotes count as an argument among the “Daily Show” set, but really – what exactly are you impeaching about a multi-decade political career that’s seen him embraced and ostracized on both sides of the aisle?

Paul Schmelzer in the Minnesoros Monitor “Independent” gets it wrong, I suspect:

In the political theater of national nominating conventions, one aspect tends to get left out: the political theater of regular citizens.

I have a hunch that the “political theater” of “regular citizens” who just love love love to post their opinions – no matter how obtuse, deranged or deluded – will not be getting “left out”.

Indeed, a friend of mine closely connected to the organizing committee tells me that they estimate there’ll be at least one left-leaning “citizens video journalism” group for every individual delegate, should they choose to divide their “labor” that way.

Rumors that the Twin Cities has implemented a program to train the homeless and recent parolees to work as barristas and clerks at “Hot Topic” are at present unconfirmed.

To: Rep. Ellison

From: Mitch Berg, mere citizen

Re: Your campaign.

Rep. Ellison:

Conventional “wisdom” has it that the Fifth CD is a shoo-in for you. That the district hasn’t voted for a Republican since before the War of 1812. That Republicans in the Fifth should just fold up shop and either leave the district, or abandon their tattered conservative principles and link arms and march together with the DFL towards glorious future! (or at least shut up and quit talking about things that make Tics sad and dyspeptic with cognitive dissonance).

So I read this report from last Saturday’s Juneteenth parade…:

On another front in the Juneteenth event of Saturday, there was a parade. Barb Davis White participated by making an appearance, riding in the parade. Interestingly, there was no sign of Congressman Ellison until someone phoned him to report that his opponent was in the Juneteenth parade. I’m told by my sources that this seems to be a trend with Mr. Ellison. He is not so keen on campaigning hard, but will do so when he has to make a showing, lest it be said that he doesn’t care.

…and I say “good on ya, Rep. Ellison! Show your confidence in your people! They voted for you once – they have to vote for you again! (although beware – the “Open Card” laws you support actually pertain only to union elections, not congressional ones. So far, anyway).

To go out and actually work for your the peoples’ seat would be to diminish the magnitude of your majestic mandate.

So take the summer off. What – people think Barb Davis White is going to give you a run for your money? That’s all of that “going out into the neighborhood and talking with people about education, taxes and crime” malarkey is going to overcome the ineluctible forces of history that propelled you, Keith Ellison, Man of Destiny, to the forefront of American politics?

Pshaw, sez I. Pshaw, indeed.

Kick back, Rep. Ellison. Relax. Life’s good.