With McCain's recent lukewarm criticism of the Iraq war, it's obvious he was advised to once again stoke the "maverick" label. McCain is simply walking the pre-2008 tightrope, trying to appease the most with the least. A little Falwell fawning and Bob Jones U. consideration here, a little anti-Bush rhetoric there....

Instead of being on the correct side of issues, the best hope for conservatives: breed like crazy!

Some in the blogosphere are making the case that too much effort is being expended on the Lamont/Lieberman race in CT, and that more energy and time should be spent where Dems can defeat actual Republicans. Personally, I don't believe it's a waste of time or resources. Many other races around the country are watching the Lamont/Lieberman race very closely and in response will be influenced by it. If Lamont's poll numbers ascend, candidates will take note and be emboldened to voice anti-Iraq / anti-Bush language. If Lamont's poll numbers head south, they'll tone the criticism down and resort to alternatives. Either way, by influencing this race, one can influence many other races.

It was announced recently that Karl Rove will once again be turning the dials on the GOP election machine. Given the many unnamed sources we frequently read quoted, any chance we'll see a few from Republicans regarding resistance to Rove once again steering the electoral ship? With polls in the toilet, you'd think more than a few would have grave reservations about going to the well one more time with the evil genius. Rove has not reinvented anything for this time around, apparently just looking to force-feed the same old fear-mongering and painting Dems as weak -- hoping the public will be stupid (once again) when it counts.

However, fear-mongering is not working as well this time. When Republicans repeat the word "terror" it's reminding people not of 9/11 but of the failure in Iraq.

Lieberman hires pollster Neil Newhouse, a former Rick Santorum pollster!

Greg Sargent nails it: "Whenever the bad news starts flowing -- whether on Iraq or, more worrisome, on Bush's poll numbers -- the default strategy is to try to color that bad news with the idea that the media wants the news to be bad. The worse the news for Bush, the more intense the attacks on the press get." They don't govern, but instead spend most of their time conducting perception management. If truth becomes irksome, prop up fantasy by blaming and shifting the focus. It's what they do.

Don't you just love the way the GOP has abandoned their candidate in CT, supporting instead (D)/(I) Lieberman (notice: no (R)).

A. Yasmine Rassam recently wrote about the danger of Iran moving in if the U.S. were to withdraw from Iraq. Understood, but why is the Iran threat to Iraq possible at all? Could it be due to an ill-conceived, unwarranted, lied-into war that has descended the country into chaos, with rampant insurgent brutality providing the perfect conditions for Iran's rise? Hmm, maybe....

Right-wing talking head Joe Scarborough: "[Bush] lacks intellectual curiosity, and he inspires fear among allies every time he gets behind a microphone."

Ezra Klein recently wrote about Hillary's chances in 2008, and in one paragraph made the case for John Edwards beating her. The primary schedule appears to favor him over her. Did the Dems reshuffle the order on purpose to screw her and stack the deck in Edwards' favor? And I wonder how this new schedule would favor Gore....?