I think this ad is great! Of course, there are some who hate anything MoveOn does, but someone needed to point out the hyprocrisy involved in McCain telling people to get back to work.

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This is quite possibly the best Obama song I've heard from "professional" artists. After the Ludacris dust-up (which was blown completely out of proportion), I was a little nervous about what exactly it would say. However, I must say I love this song. It has a positive message and the video is basically free advertising for the Obama campaign. The title of the song is "Something's Gotta Give" and it's by Big Boi featuring Mary J. Blige.

Please jump for the lyrics and my thoughts

After last week's terrible press of a campaign intent on tearing Senator Obama down through baseless, senseless, insensitive, non-humorous attacks, the Obama campaign comes out swinging today on gas prices. While the media and McC[ompl]ain continue to practice the politics of personal destruction, Senator Obama is talking about the issues that matter most to Americans. With this ad, Team O attempts to change the dialogue from baseless and downright MEAN/belitting personal attacks to talking about the issues where the candidates have REAL substantive differences. While I don't hold out much hope that the corporate media will actually TALK about the issues (I'm sure something nasty will come out of McC[ompl]ain's campaign today, I do think the ad, and the speech Senator Obama will give later on today will show which candidate has fresh ideas as opposed to which candidate is going to merely "hope" things get better.

Okay, I heard his whatever-he-is Rick Davis on the Today Show claim that McCain has ALWAYS fought for the equal rights of everyone. Later that day, in a press avail, McCain repeated that lie. He claims that he has always fought for the equal rights of others, and EVEN claimed that he fought for the recognition of Dr. King's holiday in AZ.  He claims he's fought for equal opportunity for education, that's a lie. He claims he's PROUD of his rather dismal record on civil rights . . . well that's probably true. I'm sick of him getting away with his lies, so in this diary, I try to refute some of them (there are so many I may have missed one or two) using his actual (rather dismal) record.

Today Senator Obama went to address the Urban League Conference in Orlando, Florida. Full Remarks and my thoughts after the jump.

Gas is averaging over $4 a gallon, but don't forget-- Barack Obama is Risky!

Jobs are leaving America and leaving many unable to pay the bills, but don't you forget-- Barack Obama is risky!

Women still aren't getting equal pay for equal work, but don't forget-- Barack Obama is risky!

We are currently in one of THE most corrupt administrations ever, but don't you dare forget-- that Barack Obama is risky!

We are STILL in Iraq, a so called "easy" war after 7 long years, but don't forget-- Barack Obama is RISKY!

Joe Klein has written a short piece today where he states:

A few months ago, I wrote that John McCain was an honorable man and he would run an honorable campaign. I was wrong. I used to think, as David Ignatius does, that McCain's true voice was humble and moderate, but now I'm beginning to think his Senate colleagues may be right about his temperament.

Could the mavericky shine finally be coming off of the image of John McC[ompl]ain?

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At least that seems to be the new attack against our presumptive nominee. He's not allowed to say he likes his chances of victory, because that makes him "arrogant." He can't present himself as Presidential, because that's too presumptuous, and he should know better. He can't even say that he's become a symbol of what can be achieved in America, because that makes him "cocky". These are the stories that are being promoted now. I honestly think a lot of it is jealousy. If ANY other politician, hell even if regular people, had managed to do what Obama has done in this election, they'd be the same way. Overall, Obama is very humble (it's hard not to be when people are constantly trying to knock you down).

So after all of the gaffes of McC[ompl]ain, the media is now focusing on a quote where Obama said that he has sort of become a symbol of what is possible in America, I don't see how that's any different than Senator Clinton saying she made 18 million cracks in a glass ceiling (no one called her arrogant)

This is great, and I think it's going to be on TV. Lately there has been a lot of discussion about the media's alleged love for Obama, the Republicans are even ignoring a new study which shows that 72% of the coverage is negative because a Rasmeussen Poll showed that 49% of Americans think the media will help OBAMA (shows that people really AREN'T paying as close attention as they think.)

Today Michelle Obama is going to be attending a luncheon where she'll be discussing Barack Obama's plan for Working Women and Working Families. This makes me very excited for a few reasons:

This is going to be short, the video speaks for itself. Funny, I haven't heard anyone else say we were greeted as liberators. Also, McC[ompl]ain denies saying he agreed with Obama's timetable and that he never used the word "timetable"

And what's with "anything sounds good to me"? So you admit you flip flop whenever something suits your fancy McC[ompl]ain?

Here's video of McC[ompl]ain agreeing with timetables (around 1:30):

Through all of the horrible press that Obama has gotten, he hasn't whined about unfair coverage once. Through Rev. Wright, "Bittergate", hand-wringing over polls, "shame on you!", the racist attacks, all of it, he hasn't complained once. The only time he does call the press out for it's obviously (to anyone really paying attention) unfair reporting is when it has to do with Michelle. When they attack Michelle, they aren't attacking on policy, they are personally attacking her, and it's understandable that Obama will have a problem with that..

When it comes to the press, Obama does not spent his time trying to convince/bribe them to love him. He doesn't have BBQs, he doesn't try to force them to report favorably on him for access:

   McCain senior aide Mark Salter quipped this morning that "only the good reporters" would get to sit in the specially-configured section for interviews. "You'll have to earn it," he said.

This is going to be short and to the point. There are some things that should not be violated. Yesterday morning, Senator Obama visited the Western Wall and observed the tradition of writing a prayer and sticking it in the wall. Well a yeshiva student took the note OUT of the wall, and gave it to a newspaper.

I realize that by making this diary I too am sort of invading Obama's privacy, but I am outraged by this. Is NOTHING sacred around here? It's not bad enough that the media is sniffing around Obama 24/7 like he's Angelina Jolie in her last week of pregnancy. It's not bad enough that Obama can't even attending his daughter's soccer game without the pool reporters counting the number of times he yawns. It's not bad enough that his every little move is dissected and analyzed (and the analysis usually isn't that great). But the man can't even leave a prayer in a wall without someone going and taking something that is very private and making it public.

I think Obama has had a pretty damn good week. He exceeded expectations on his trip overseas, and all I hear is the media and McC[ompl]ain being more critical of him. It's getting on my nerves. It is quite obvious to me that it's only going to get worse. It's only July and already McC[ompl]ain is spending all of his time stalking Obama's every move so he can make snide, rude, disrespectful, and hateful comments about them.  

Well, it's time for me to do more than be angry and donate.

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It's too early to make me tear up, and I usually don't, but for some reason reading the article about Obama's visit brought tears to my eyes. I also have some more pictures over the jump.

JERUSALEM — Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama toured Israel's Holocaust memorial Wednesday, laying a wreath in memory of the 6 million Jews who died and saying, "Ultimately, this is a place of hope."

Obama toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on a Jerusalem hillside as he moved through a busy day of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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I don't know if this has been diaried here, but Fareed Zakaria has a very good article in Newsweek about Obama's view of the world and how/why he's not naive about foreign policy, but instead is a realist. I, for one, am simply thrilled that someone finally took the whole "Obama is naive on foreign policy" myth and debunked it. Of course, this article has probably been and will probably continue to be largely ignored by the corporate media hacks that some of us (or you) watch/listen do daily. I thought that as our focus around here has been on the world view, people here would appreciate it.

So the FISA debacle did have an impact, but at the end of the month a lot of people basically bombed the campaign.

After locking up his party’s presidential nomination, Barack Obama’s fundraising operation came roaring back to life in June, generating more than a million dollars on five days, including a whopping $25 million that came in on the last day of the month.

His one-day haul represents nearly half of his monthly total and more than Republican rival John McCain generated for the entire month. During the month, McCain did not have a single day in which he raised a million dollars.

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So I was reading the comments on the video of Obama meeting the troops that's on YouTube, and some of the comments on the Huffington Post under the article with the pictures from Obama's trip to the Middle East, and I am amazed at the ignorance of some of the people that are posting there. People are actually acting like Obama being well-recieved by excited troops is irrelevant because those troops were black, and that he wouldn't get the same reaction from white troops. Some even seem to believe that Obama's campaign specifically asked for only Black people to be in the Army that day so Obama wouldn't have to worry about a salty greeting. The ignorance of these people amazes me.