cheney on the ticket? jesus. first i’ve heard of that.
i predict biden and ridge but what do i know. could be the kaine fellow.
frankly i could care less who the VP is at this point.

Posted by: annie | Aug 19 2008 15:36 utc | 3

Who gives a flying **** which reindeer Santa chooses to help pull his goody wagon? There will be a whole Cabinet team of reindeer chosen by whichever Republican President wins this thing in November.
Who cares which Santa is driving the sleigh? Christmas is still coming for War, Inc. It appears they are getting a new Cold War this year.
No matter which cardboard cutout President sits in the big leather chair in the Oval Office next January, the American empire will continue its quest for a unipolar world.
There’s your problem, Bub.

Posted by: Antifa | Aug 19 2008 17:16 utc | 5

Bacevich as linked by Billmon, says the election is irrelevant in the big view as the U.S. needs to look at itself to heal its problems which it is unwilling to do.
In the big issues the president as well as the vice is irrelevant. In the smaller issues, it could make a difference. Would Bush without Cheney have been the same? Hard to believe …

Posted by: b | Aug 19 2008 19:14 utc | 7

listening to airamerica radio it seems clear that biden is the choice of the wobblycrats. i would guess that mccain will choose a woman and clinton would be the logical choice but i am not sure that the democratic women who support her would be able to pull the lever for an R. won’t matter, mccain will take the election as it is turning out to be a repeat of the bush/kerry popularity contest.
we are headed down the road to perdition with accelerator stuck all the way down and the brake lines have been cut by the loonies.
gawd! I really thought we might catch a break….alas, it is not to be.

Posted by: dan of steele | Aug 19 2008 20:30 utc | 9

@ Thrasyboulos,
I believe b is referring to Elizabeth Cheney

Posted by: dan of steele | Aug 19 2008 21:02 utc | 11

I tried to imagine Nader-Gonzales elected — maybe Kucinich and Gravel get in on the cabinet, whatever social-justice activist lawyers you care name in the DOJ, Howard Zinn as Secretary of Education for flair.
At this point God’s mind is blown and the Universe ceases to exist

Posted by: Cloud | Aug 19 2008 21:20 utc | 13

My feeble google skills have proven unable to find any reference to Elizabeth Cheney as possible Republican VP fodder. Did you make it up, b, or have you some secret contacts that must remain hidden?
If it does prove true, it would be further proof of your mastery of the art of blogging, as well as a sinister reminder that we are well and truly up shit creek.

Posted by: Dick Durata | Aug 19 2008 21:25 utc | 15

From Dan of Steele’s link, it looks like Elizabeth Cheney is a neocon loon loonier than most…might as well consider John Bolton or Douglas Feith. I should think her name would be toxic at this point, her father’s popularity being right down in alien abduction and Elvis sightings territory.
JimT, it’s her sister, Mary. Lynne Cheney has also had a “youthful indiscretion” along these lines, in the form of a steamy lesbian novel, forgot the title right now. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Be surprised if Elizabeth is the vp. Would make Joey happy, though, that’s for sure.

Posted by: Thrasyboulos | Aug 19 2008 22:06 utc | 17

Dick-less Cheney? It’s no wonder this girl is a dyke;
HELLLLLLLO
jesus christ is there no decency. i would much prefer you keep these toxic thoughts to yourself thank you very much.
speaking of dykes, the ravishingly sexy racheal maddox got her own msnbc show.

Posted by: annie | Aug 19 2008 22:21 utc | 19

Yeah. Lesbians are by choice or biology or something. Not a reaction to the Males in their life.
At least you wouldn’t think so by looking at the males in my family.

Posted by: Jake | Aug 20 2008 0:00 utc | 21

By picking Hagel, would be openly breaking with the Democratic Party’s liberal internationalist politburo and lining up with the realists. I don’t think he has the guts to do that. I think Biden is the man, unfortunately.

Posted by: Peter Principle | Aug 20 2008 1:22 utc | 23

Not a reaction to the Males in their life.
well, not so sure about that altogether. but w/the cheney clan i think she could have been more influenced by her mother’s literature. lol, sorry i digress.
JimT, roasted dog eh? yum.
hagel is a republican, but his connections might make it a war of the machines (diebold and ES&S).

He also served as a Chairman and was CEO of American Information Systems Inc. (AIS), a voting machine manufacturer, this same company electronically counted 80% of the votes in the state in the very same election that he had his stunning upset. He did not disclose his position as CEO of the company in his mandated disclosures, until its name-change to Election Systems & Software (ES&S) in 1997. He had ownership interest in ES&S through its parent company The McCarthy Group as of January 29, 2003, when The Hill reported that, due to his ownership interest, “Hagel’s ethics filings pose disclosure issue”.

i would imagine this might disqualify him.

Posted by: annie | Aug 20 2008 4:26 utc | 25

@Alabama, by “cool” in re Hagel, do you mean a guy who talks a good game but who almost always ends up voting with the rethugs on what matters, like our murderous and illegal occupation of Iraq?

Posted by: ran | Aug 20 2008 4:46 utc | 27

Hegel? He’s got gravitas, I guess.

Posted by: biklett | Aug 20 2008 5:20 utc | 29

Thestimulator,motherfucker…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 20 2008 7:15 utc | 31

As long as the wait lasts, it favors the simple ‘more lies or someone new’ choice. I am optimistic on november, 2008 and that is about all right now. If Gore came in it would cause a lot of enthusiasm for some, but with his eco work it’d be a hard left turn ticket, which might fail to clear the 60% vote needed to overcome vote fraud. With Biden the shallow voterthink would say ‘foreign policy experience’ but you don’t know what’s in the closet and he’d have to leave behind his patronage life as a lifelong cog in history to be an actual voice in it. Senators listen to themselves talk for so long that up is down and down is up, they shouldn’t be presidential candidates but they make good VP ticket material. For McCain the truth is the hair on the wart on the nose of the frog on a bump of a log in the hole at the bottom of the sea. And at this point that is the elephant in the room.
A pink one.
I liked how the women on the board affect it, I wish a woman who didn’t receive clinton-like coverage could join obama. We need a woman in the white house, on the national stage, saying the right words into the mic of the echo chamber. But clinton blew it by not bowing out, and the race stuff that happened makes choosing her echo JFK.
A governor is the safe bet for obama, they’re just less stupid. Pick a ‘normal’ sounding one, Barak and let’s see if the people can see themselves for a moment come november.

Posted by: aumana | Aug 20 2008 8:06 utc | 33

lysander just posted this one in another thread
McCain takes lead over Obama: poll

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
…
The poll was taken Thursday through Saturday as Obama wrapped up a weeklong vacation in Hawaii that ceded the political spotlight to McCain, who seized on Russia’s invasion of Georgia to emphasize his foreign policy views.
“There is no doubt the campaign to discredit Obama is paying off for McCain right now,” pollster John Zogby said. “This is a significant ebb for Obama.”

also
Anti-Obama Echo Chamber in Full Swing

OAKLAND, California, Aug 20 (IPS) – Right-wing groups are stepping up their campaign against Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, with two new books on the best-seller lists, another on the verge of publication, and a full-length documentary that will premiere during the party conventions later this month.
Jerome Corsi, a veteran of the 2004 Swiftboating campaign that helped sink the candidacy of the Democratic Party’s John Kerry, had his book “The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality” debut at No. 1 on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction best-seller list on Sunday. Aug. 17 — although the list’s editors noted that some bookstores have reported receiving bulk orders.
“The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate” by David Freddoso is currently ranked at number five. And another Obama-bashing tome, expected sometime next month, is tentatively titled “Obama Unmasked,” and is written by Floyd Brown — the creator of 1988’s infamous Willie Horton television advertisement that helped put the kybosh on the presidential hopes of the Democrat’s Michael Dukakis.
Now, on Aug. 24, the eve of the Democratic Party’s convention in Denver, “Hype: The Obama Effect” — a full-length documentary that attacks everything about the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee — will be premiering at the Regal Pavilions 15 in the host city. The free showing is being sponsored by Citizens United and Chairman Dick Wadhams of the Colorado Republican Committee.
…
Bossie, who co-produced “Hype: The Obama Effect”, which was directed and written by Alan Peterson — who also directed “Fahrenhype 9/11,” a response to Michael Moore’s award-winning documentary “Fahrenheit 911” — recognises that the film will likely have a very limited — if any — run in theaters and he intends to market it via mail-order sales on the Citizen United website, and through other DVD outlets.
“Bossie is a political hatchet man whose career is based on smears and attacking Democrats,” John Stauber, the executive director of the Centre for Media and Democracy, told IPS. “His Obama documentary will provide plenty of footage for use on the internet and in commercials, but I doubt that in and of itself that “Hype” will make much difference in the campaign.”
“I assume that the overall theme of Obama as ‘socialist agent disguised as cult hero’ must be resonating in the political marketing surveys of the Bossie-types and the McCain operatives, or they would switch to something more effective,” Stauber added.

A Book Written to Defeat Obama

“The goal is to defeat Obama,” author Jerome Corsi said in a telephone interview. “I don’t want Obama to be in office.”
…
Jerome R. Corsi has written a “new attack book” titled: The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality The chief editor of the publisher, Threshold Editions, is Mary Matalin, the former Republican operative turned publisher-pundit.
As of Aug. 17, the book was No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list for the second week, being pushed along by a large volume of bulk sales to conservative organizations and an estimated 100 author interviews with talk show hosts.
The “best-seller” status of the book is used to bolster its claims of legitimacy. Threshold has reportedly printed 475,000 copies so far.
The book charges that the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, is “an extreme leftist,” “a stealth radical liberal” who has tried to cover up extensive connections with Islam and radical politics.
Corsi was the co-author of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, which included accusations that were “ultimately undermined by news reports pointing out the contradictions,” the New York Times reported.
It appears Corsi and Matalin hope that the Obama book will repeat the ’04 Swift Boat anti-Kerry feat.

McCain’s ‘Cone of Silence’ Caper

Millions of Americans who watched Barack Obama and then John McCain respond to nearly identical questions from evangelical minister Rick Warren were surely impressed by McCain’s quick and sharp answers. Supposedly he had been in a “cone of silence” while Obama was getting grilled during the preceding hour.
However, as it turned out, TV viewers and other Americans were misled. McCain had not been in any “cone of silence” shielding him from hearing Warren’s questions and Obama’s answers.
On Saturday night as Obama was on stage, McCain was in his motorcade on the way to the church and thus would have had access through his staff to the questions and how Obama had answered them.
When McCain came on the set, he played along with the fiction about being in a “cone of silence,” joking that “I was trying to hear through the wall.”
McCain then proceeded to knock the questions out of the proverbial park, impressing not only the audience at Rev. Warren’s Saddleback Church in California, but the political pundits who spent the next two days praising McCain’s performance and judging him the clear winner over Obama.

Posted by: b real | Aug 20 2008 14:57 utc | 35

I always said, Hillary cannot, could not, be elected to the presidency (or win facing the Lightbringer), and she did not. And always said, Mc Cain will win, now the polls and so on (see b real just above at 35) are beginning to reflect that. That movement will continue steadily, and the polls will slowly cross over.
He will win, and with a good margin, far more respectable and convincing than Bush vs. Gore-Kerry, it is certain, and this was so to speak settled since about, estimating now, don’t have the whole time line on front screen in my brain, 1.5 years.
The choice of McC VP is thus very important, as McC might keel over over or be somehow incapacitated. That person will very possibly be the pres. of the US. Not elected, chosen how or why by whom…? Hillary would actually be a good choice, but the myth of partisan politics won’t allow it.

Posted by: Tangerine | Aug 20 2008 18:55 utc | 37

leiberman.. this is the worst scenario (as i’ve mentioned before). after years of wanting cheneys ticker to go out, mcCain’s will be the one to give, right after the gop steals another. a lieberman presidency. completely unacceptable. we might as well just put another star on the flag. w/6 points.

Posted by: annie | Aug 21 2008 16:21 utc | 39

The McCain camp has set the stage with these books & movie. Hence, no more nicey-nicey & its going to get very rough in the campaign if not outright dirty.
They’re hoping they can smear Obama on the sly and that Obama takes it with a smile, again & again. Big mistake. It wo’nt happen. McCain has more than enough baggage.
McCains position is actually quite weak. His style makes it very difficult for his handlers to craft a measured & well-timed campaign approach. Obama is the opposite. In boxing terms, McCain’s only hope is that he wins on points. Obama on the other hand may be able to pick the round he ends the fight.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Aug 22 2008 5:04 utc | 41