Putin has come out saying that Georgia was encouraged to begin a conflict in Ossetia because the GOP needs it to win.  See it here:

http://www.cnn.com/...

I think the Gallup Daily is a crap poll, and national polls don't mean much. For a realistic picture of the current state of the race, please see 538. However, for what it's worth, this is encouraging.

PRINCETON, NJ -- Democratic candidate Barack Obama has gained ground in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking average from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and now leads Republican John McCain among registered voters by a 48% to 42% margin.

See: See: http://www.gallup.com/...

The clear media narrative emerging from the Democratic convention: The Dems aren’t attacking John McCain enough. They’re being wimps again! Why don’t they get it. America wants Red Meat!

And to some degree, this could be true. But there are a couple of points to be made both A) Defending of the Dems who have spoken, and B) Proposing that Obama use his speech tonight to reiterate the strength of character it takes NOT to attack. (and thus drawing a sharp contrast with the lack of honor and character McCain has shown throughout this campaign)

For both, please follow me below the fold

I wrote a diary the other day about how I am not a Democrat nor am I a Republican.

I am also a bit wordy, so I guess I could have just come right out and said I am an Independent.

If there was a street called "One way Avenue" and it just had a right neighborhood where all the "True" conservatives lived and the left neighborhood, where all the progressives lived, and the numbers started with "1" on the right side and built up as we went right to left, up to 100, I would be at "House 33" or so.

I am voting for Obama for president. I've never voted for a Democrat for President, though I have before voted in Democratic primary races.

<More after the break>

I must say, the first three days of the Democratic National Convention have been a blast. As Charles Barkley phrased it, I feel like a kid in a candy shop. From Ted Kennedy delivering his booming speech and looking healthier than ever to Joe Biden's fiery remarks, it's been a lot of fun to watch. It was at some point during Michelle Obama's speech that I felt, for the first time in my life, that our government has the power to do some good in the world. I'm only nineteen so the Bush Administration is really all I know (I don't remember much about Clinton, since in the 90's my only concerns involved Power Rangers and long division), and needless to say, it hasn't been very positive. The prospect of an Obama-led White House is incredibly refreshing and invigorating.

Can you believe this shit (pardon me, but this is too much)?

According to Politico, John McCain is going to run competing ads in battleground states, at the same time Obama is giving his acceptance speech tonight in Colorado.

According to Politico, and McCain spokesperson, Jill Hazelbacker

"Sen. McCain is going to have an ad that's going to air in battleground states around the time that Sen. Obama is speaking tonight," Hazelbaker said. "He's going to be talking directly to his opponent. So, I'm going to leave it there. But it's going be very exciting. I think that a lot of people are going to focus on it."

Wow! McCain's team, just seems to get more lowdown, dirty and crazy, anytime the feel Obama's going to get some good publicity. What are these scum up to now?

http://www.politico.com/...

Reports have been circulating for weeks that Bill is pissed off. The suggestion was that Bill felt the Obama people had not shown the proper deference toward him.

Everyone was worried about Bill’s speech - would he really embrace Obama? Or was Bill still to so upset about being slighted that his support would be merely lukewarm.

Seriously, I can't believe how much bad free advice the pundit class feels like giving Obama and the Democrats.  Be angry, but don't be an angry black man.  Talk about the issues and forget your soaring oratory.  Put all your stock in your soaring oratory, it's how you went from a nobody to the leader of the party in four years.  Prove that you're ordinary.  Prove that you're extraordinary and that you've earned your way to the top (as opposed to being some affirmative action case, being the undertone in all such comments).

The pundit class needs to

shut

the

f*ck

up

I was inspired at the beginning of the convention to donate until my wallet could take it no more for Barack Obama. I figured I could handle donating up to about $1,000 if I spread my payments out over the next couple of months.

While I had this idea, in a fit of insomnia on Sunday night, I also realized that I wished I could donate more than $1,000. That's when it hit me to match donations on my Barack Obama fundraising page, effectively doubling my donation and your donation.

I can't turn on the news, watch convention coverage, enjoy watching any commentary on the historic nomination without being inundated with calls by pundits for red meat?

Dismissing the fact that the term is horribly distasteful, since when does Pat Buchanon get to tell Democrats that there isn't enough red meat?

Ive heard it from Rachael Maddow, Joe Scarborough, just about everyone.

Obama doesn't have the killer instinct, he cant close the deal, he needs to  "gut John Mccain and throw out some red meat"

    When Hillary suggested that supporters needed a cathartic moment at the convention, my reaction was, "Ugh, just support Barack and stop dragging this on!"  When my mother (a Hillary supporter) was explaining the logistics of how a roll call would work (including Hillary, followed by everyone getting behind Obama), again I felt, "This is going to be a complete mess."
    Now after my third night of crying like a baby at this convention, I'm wondering what's going on.  Watching New Mexico yield to Illinois, and Illinois yielding to New York, and then Hillary speaking and finally the group roar of, "AYE!" as Barack was finally and officially the nominee.  I was crying.  I saw grown men in the audience crying.  What does this mean?  Are the Republicans going to overpower us with their dry-eyed steely attacks?  Are we weak?
 

One of Vermont's "local" papers has a piece in it this morning which I noticed was an AP piece seconds into reading it (I hadn't looked at the byline yet).

I'll give an example.  The piece quotes Biden:

"Barack Obama will bring down health care costs by $2,500 for the typical family, and, at long last, deliver affordable, accessible health care for all Americans."

It follows that up with the "fact" about the story:

Obama's health care plan does not provide for universal health care coverage. He promises to make it affordable and would require children to be covered, but not adults. Estimates of how many would remain without insurance vary. Hillary Rodham Clinton said during the primaries that Obama's plan would leave 15 million people uninsured.

You know what's interesting about this?

It doesn't contradict what Biden says.  It presents the "fact" as though it's contradictory, in a format suggesting there were facts missed, but Biden refers to "affordable" health care, and the AP hack piece responds with a comment about universal health care.

More, after the fold, all of these from the August 28th edition of the Brattleboro Reformer, "FactCheck: The fuller story in Denver by Darlene Superville"

   Perhaps I haven't been as good and wonky as everyone else watching the Democratic Convention on CSPAN, but sitting through the last few days of this thing watching it on MSNBC, I'm starting to get a little angry at an aspect of the coverage that seems to indicate these people (including our beloved Rachel Maddow unfortunately) haven't really been paying attention throughout this campaign.

The networks decided that they would only cover what they considered 'news-worthy' at the party conventions. That arrogant and ill-considered policy, which has persisted to this day, is part of the reason the American public is so misinformed about the men (and now women) who aspire to lead this country as President. The networks have a responsibility to inform and the citizens have a responsibility to be informed.  It's long past time we all paid attention.

The official complete schedule for Thursday is available at DemConWatch.

Here are some highlights (all times local MT):

Proceedings start at 3:00 MT, 5 ET, 2 PT
National Anthem - Jennifer Hudson
Bill Ritter, Jr. - Governor of Colorado
Reps. Ed Perlmutter,  John Salazar, Diana DeGette (CO)

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Howard Dean
Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King
Bill Richardson
will.i.am, John Legend (piano), Sheryl Crow

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL)
Rep. Mark Udall (CO)
Tim Kaine
Stevie Wonder
The Honorable Al Gore

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Dick Durbin

8:00 PM – 9:00 PM (10-11 ET, 7-8 PT)
Barack Obama

Wait a minute - wasn't Joe Biden supposed to be the fiery and riveting speaker?  Wasn't he the one who was supposed to galvanize the convention and shell Bush and the Republicans?

Then why was Biden upstaged by Hillary, Bill and even his son, and why did he pull his punches on Cheney and Bush?  This was his biggest stage and opportunity, and he came up far short.

Thank you, Michael Wilson, for standing up for what is right in our country.

Thank you, Michael Wilson, for your clear thinking.

Thank you, Michael Wilson, for fighting for our vets, our people and the constitution.

And Thank you so very much for being the man to announce the nomination of our next president, Barack Obama.

Thank you sir.

I am sure I am not alone when I say we hold the deepest respect for you.

And especially sir ...

Thank You for your service to our country.

When I got that 3am text message last weekend, I was disappointed. I'd been hoping for something surprising, unexpected, to keep the blogs abuzz for weeks. Maybe someone with enough interesting skeletons to keep McCain making laughably terrible commercials for the next few weeks.

The electoral process had ended for me months ago, when the Republicans chose a Bush clone to which Oklahoma's electoral votes will go. I didn't really care about the Democratic convention; it was all about entertainment for this libertarian political junkie.

That all changed tonight.