With two new polls today putting Obama ahead by at least four points in Florida, Sen. John McCain has a huge problem on his hands.  It’s not that he can’t win there.  In fact, I’ll give you 10-to-1 odds Florida goes Republican in November.  The problem is, McCain can’t win there without trying.  And here’s the ugly truth: McCain can’t afford to compete in Florida.  It’s too expensive.  If he has to try (i.e. spend money) in the Sunshine State, he’s sunk.

Look at the numbers:

America is in danger!!!  Tell everyone you know!!!

Communist China is trying to influence the American election!  They want you to cast your vote for John Sydney McCain!  

Imagine this:

The GOP doesn’t like any of its presidential candidates so they just nominate the old guy whose turn it is... an old war hero who looks like he’s been in the Senate since before his opponent was born... a Navy pilot shot out of the sky fifty years ago... whose war wounds left him without full use of his arms... a gravelly vet known for being earnest and honest, if not charismatic... someone who excites no one... who has no platform or vision to speak of... who doesn’t really seem to believe the party-line tripe he’s spitting out, but doesn’t seem to have anything else he’d rather be saying either... someone old and fumbling and awkward... someone whose time has come and gone... someone who’s starting out in a hole that no one really thinks he can dig his way out of...

By now, you’ve probably realized that I’m talking about Bob Dole.

Search for the phrase: "he'd understand the kind of change that people are looking for."  You’ll find 17,200 hits (via Yahoo!) related to Sen. Barack Obama’s victory speech.

It comes from this line:

maybe if he [John McCain] spent some time taking trips to the cities and towns that have been hardest hit by this economy -- cities in Michigan and Ohio and right here in Minnesota -- he'd understand the kind of change that people are looking for.

Now search for the phrase: "he'd understand the kind of change that people are looking fo’."  You’ll find just 7 hits (via Yahoo!) including multiple from Rush Limbaugh’s website.

Why would Rush Limbaugh drop the letter "r" from the transcript when everyone else has it in there?  

Are you so obsessed with not having sex that it’s all you can talk about or think about?  Do you want your daughter to flaunt her non-sexuality to strangers?  Try these virgin-wear sweat pants from K-Mart!  According to the K-Mart website, "These athletic pants boldly proclaim just where she stands by pointing out that ‘True Love Waits’" on both the front and the back.  Right there below the waist where you want everyone staring!

What's the big deal about McCain's teeth?  They look brown in one photo, so what?  Does that mean anything?  

Yes.

It means that McCain has surrounded himself with idiots.  The problem with his teeth is the same as the problem with his speech in New Orleans!  This is guy is running for president, not city alderman.  He's got to do better than this low-budget, half-assed, unprofessional garbage his campaign is spitting out right now.

Did Bush's Pentagon demand soldiers in Iraq start skipping meals?  Two Republicans in Congress are demanding answers (and I hope Democrats aren't far behind!).  

Via AP:

Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK) said she is investigating allegations that members of the Oklahoma National Guard’s 45th Infantry Brigade are not being regularly fed in Iraq.

Allegedly the military is forcing the Oklahoma National Guard (45th) to work nine-hour shifts with no lunch.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) claims he's also looking into the allegations.  Can the Bush Administration get any more shameles in their treatment of our troops?

If the Obama campaign wants to put Sen. Clinton in an embarassing spot, try posing the title question.

It's not that I think she would pardon Spitzer - but that's not the point.  The point is to put Clinton's name back in the Spitzer story for the next 6 to 24 hours by making her comment on it.

Refusing to answer would make her look worse.  

Right now Gov. Eliot Spitzer is working out a plea bargain for patronizing a prostitute and arranging for her to cross state lines, according to the Associated Press.  Although he's likely to avoid jail time, he'll probably be a felon after pleading guilty to some charge or another.  If elected, would Hillary Clinton pardon Spitzer to get the felony off his record?

Is John Sidney McCain secretly a woman?  He openly admits one of his parents was.  And where he went to elementary school, all the teachers were, too.

He also voted "aye" on SR 266 commending the University of Tennessee Women’s Basketball team on their national championship.  Any one of these items should raise questions in the minds of the voters.  All of them together indicate a clear pattern of womanly behavior.  

Personally, I don’t believe it, of course, but the question has been raised and so the voters will just have to decide for themselves if they are willing to risk electing a secret woman.

PS: I heard he took the oath of office on a copy of Our Bodies, Our Selves

PPS: I dedicate this snark to the Tennessee Republican Party, which is set to fire its Communications Director tomorrow for a racist anti-Obama press release.

Have you ever seen a candidate talk over his opponent's concession speech?? Total dick move. Exactly what you expect from a guy spending millions to smear fellow candidates from his own party. I can't believe he ran out on the stage the moment McCain started speaking.

"No one can tell an American there's something they can't do," Mitt just said.  Apparently that applies to Mitt's sense of decency.  

Wow, now he's getting his supporters to boo Clinton and Obama.  Total dick.

Rumors are flying at Vanderbilt University that Condoleezza Rice may leave the White House to become the school’s new chancellor.

Rice last visited Nashville less than a month ago (November 13) although there’s nothing on her official schedule about meeting with Vanderbilt officials. Nor would you expect there to be.

The board members appointed to Vanderbilt’s "chancellor search committee" are known to be among the board’s most politically conservative members – and the university has demonstrated its love for the Secretary of State in the past. In 2004, Rice received Vanderbilt’s first-ever Chancellor’s Medal for "contributions to academia and society."

Before joining the Bush administration, Rice served as the youngest-ever provost of Stanford University from 1993 to 1999, and she had stated that she wants to return to academia after leaving Washington.

I don’t have any information on the original source of on-campus rumors about Condoleezza Rice, but it is being discussed by people worth listening to.

[Cross-posted at progressivenashville.com]

A Vanderbilt University professor (and other scientists) warns that humanity may be accidentally hastening the end of the entire universe.  Oops.

To any and all other lifeforms out there in cosmos, sorry!  Our bad!

It all comes down to quantum mechanics and the bizarre (but apparently true) fact that subatomic thingamabobs behave differently if someone is watching them.

Wow!  It has just been confirmed that Nashville is going to host one of the 2008 presidential debates!

NashvillePost.com has learned that Belmont University will host one of the 2008 presidential debates. The event will be held at Belmont's Curb Center on October 7, 2008, less than a month before the 2008 presidential general elections.

Typically there are just three debates, so I am thrilled to have one of them right here in my hometown!  For one night, Nashville will be the center of the political universe!  All the networks, the cable news shows, the pundits, and - dare I say it? - the DAILY SHOW will be right here in Music City!!

Tennessee leans Red, but we have a popular Democratic governor and have been steadily growing more purple in recent years.  Hosting a presidential debate will, I think, make people here much more interested and engaged in the election - making the voters more attentive, educated, and likely to vote - all of which, I believe, will help the Democrats!

Go Nashville!

In what could be the biggest gaffe of the 2008 election, GOP candidate Mitt Romney just accused Senator Barrack Obama of urging all Iraqi insurgent and terrorist groups to unite against the United States.  It was actually Osama Bin Laden who made that pronouncement in a new audio tape.

This was no slip of the tongue – saying Obama when he meant Osama.  This is actual (and staggering!) stupidity on the part of Mitt Romney.

"Actually, just look at what Barack Obama said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. ... It's almost as if the Democratic contenders for president are living in fantasyland." - Mitt Romney

Who is it that’s living in a fantasyland if they think any candidate on either side might conceivably call for our enemies to unite against us in Iraq?  This is complete failure of common sense.

Plus, it’s a complete failure to know what the hell is going on in the world.

Disgraceful.

Stephen Colbert announced tonight that he is running for president of the United States - but only in South Carolina.  He will apparently be on both the Democratic and the Republican primary ballot.  

According to Colbert, he needs just 2.5% of the vote to get a delegate in one (or both!) of the national conventions.  Will it work?  Will you vote for him?  Where can we donate??

The Pentagon has informed thousands of American soldiers in Iraq that their Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was a pre-existing condition from before they ever joined the military.  In other words, NO TREATMENT, NO INSURANCE, NO NOTHING!  

And if that isn’t holy-fucking-shit awful enough for you, American soldiers suffering brain injuries while in Iraq are being told that also was a pre-existing condition.

More than 22,000 soldiers serving in Iraq have been kicked out of the US military entirely – booted from a war zone straight to the streets – for seeking treatment for the psychological effects of combat and brain injuries. Now, they’re jobless, without medical coverage, and in immediate need of medical treatment that Bush’s Pentagon/VA absolutely refuses to provide.

This may be the most heart-warming story I’ve read all day.

Via Bloomberg, at least 60 top corporate executives who led the charge for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 are supporting Democrats this time around—and they’re writing huge checks to prove it!

Why?

It’s not just because they know which way the wind is blowing.  Listen to John Mack, CEO of Morgan Stanley, who was a Bush "Ranger" in 2004 (meaning he raised at least $200,000):

"When it comes to supporting a political candidate, I have always looked beyond party labels to the person I felt was best for the job and most able to lead the country forward," Mack wrote to executives of the New York-based company in June, explaining his choice. "I personally believe that person is Hillary Clinton."

And that’s just the beginning:

Via Politico:

New York Rep. Peter King, a prominent House Republican, said there are "too many mosques in this country" in a recent interview with Politico.

"There are too many people sympathetic to radical Islam," King said. "We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them."

And there’s more!  According to Rep. King, a full "85%" of mosques in the United states are controlled by "extremist leadership."

If that doesn’t prove just how simplistic and racist the Republican view of the war on terrorism is, then take a look at Rep. King’s supporters in the comment section of that story: