Told you Obama reads TPM with his eyes closed!

But if we don't stop Ivan and Boris in Georgia, won't Alabama be next? And won't somebody please think of the Floridians?

Yeah, right.

Here's the message they're sending Obama:

We wanna Prezeedent who will keep poking Puting with a stick until he launches SS-18's against our major metro areas. We'll finally become a nation of inbred, white, brain dead shitkickers

If Obama is having a bad couple of weeks, TPM isn't doing a very good job of covering it. I wouldn't had no idea. I'm certainly not going sit around watching the MSM.

I feel like I've learned a lot about the Russia/Georgia crisis, but what's being reported on the MSM? Is it all "rah rah Georgia, Russia sucks, etc?" Do most people realize that Georgia attacked first?

maybe the US public thinks Georgia is fighting to stop South Carolina re-uniting with North Carolina?
thank you, honorable public servants of the MSM.

this isn't even a partisan issue - paleo-cons will agree that we cannot bankroll Georgia's little attempt at violent suppression of its ethnic minorities, especially not at the risk of a direct shooting war with Russia which would be a trade/oil war between imperfect democracies, and in no way an existential ideological battle between "freedom" and "communism". if McCain scares his way into the Presidency, watch for NATO to expell the US rather than be dragged into another foreign war.
(Afghanistan was unavoidable, but a Georgian civil war to suppress Ossetians and Abkhazis is ridiculous)

So, Halperin on The Page goes on a tangent and says it's Biden. Hmmmmmmmmmm

By the way, if McCain only won one point, I hardly think this means "it paid off"
What is happening in poll after poll is Obama's numbers going down back to undecided.
Those will come back home once Obama campaigns aggressively again which he hasnt done in week if you remember

The blatant one-sided propaganda that our corporate media complex spewed forth; coupled with our citizen's overwhelming ability to be duped time and time again makes it really hard for me to be an optimist regarding our future as a free and prosperous nation.

Most internationa independent news (e.g. Financial Times) sources pointed out that the US provided weapons and militray support to a regime in Georgia led by politician at least as unstable as Putin in Russia; and that the separatist movement was violating the civil rights of many of its citizens that did not care to separate completely from Russia. Also, human rights watch pointed out that there is evidence of severe ethnic and political rights violations by the Georgian government that also helped trigger this option.

Imagine if Puerto Rico decided it wanted to separate from the US and that the governor there decided to start persecuting citizens that wanted to remain a commonwealth of the US? What would we do?... Hmm....

I'm no fan of the fascist Putin; but we need some reasoned balance in the media and reasoned leadership in DC, ASAP!!

As in most of the polls, the tightening is not so much McCain gaining - he rarely does - as people shifting from Obama to "undecided". If they were there before, they can be won back...it's not like they've defected to McCain. (yet) 2 months of strong campaigning before November will accomplish that. McCain hit the perfect storm with gas prices, Obama fatigue, and the Georgia crisis coming while Obama was on vacation. And he still trails. (he only gains 1 measly pt in this poll, still trails among indies, and has pretty much exhausted his GOP support - Obama still has some Dems he can win over) I just don't see McCain having a better three weeks than he just experienced.

What concerns me more is the SUSA Minnesota number to the right. It's actually a 1pt improvement for Obama over last month's SUSA poll. But this is the third MN poll in the last month that shows the race with an under 5pt Obama lead. Rasmussen went from a 13pt lead in July to just a 4 pt lead in August. Should this state be as close as it is? I know Kerry only won it by 3% but, come on, Obama is a better candidate than Kerry and McCain is weaker than Bush. (well, the 2004 version of Bush)

O' yeah, and if this election turns on the situation in Georgia, I'll eat my hat. These numbers are just fodder for the talking heads - "Obama still can't seal the deal on national security." Meanwhile, the folks who vote really don't give a shit about Georgia - they won't be basing their decision on the cold warrior credentials of John McCain. I'll bet if you asked "Who would be better to confront a newly belligerent Russia?" before the Georgia crisis erupted, McCain's lead on this question would be similar to the one found in this poll. The media long ago ceded "foreign policy" experience to McCain and low info voters simply equate military experience with foreign policy experience. Obama is never going to win on that front....he just has to convince voters that he'll be fine as commander-in-chief, he doesn't have to beat McCain on this question.

Don't this figures track with other polling that shows the voters prefer McCain on foreign policy over Obama? And how many of those polls, if any, have shown McCain with an overall lead? To my mind there have been NONE.

On August 19, 2004, Kerry was leading in states having 301 electoral votes on electoral-vote.com (including FL, WV, and OH).

On August 19, 2008, Obama is leading in states having 275 electoral votes on electoral-vote.com (not including FL, WV, and OH).

GOOGLE™ on the internets:

Tippecanoe and Tyler Too, Van Buren 1840

For a preview of the next three months if we let it . . . Americans are that stupid and reactionary. The robber barons can rule for another 30 years. McInsane & Mittens can win. McInsane is the Manchurian Candidate. Obama can pull a Gore or a Kerry or stap on a too large helmet and drive a tank.

Stop under-estimating our ability to lose.

See, I actually think this comments thread says a lot about why McCain is leading on the Russia issue. The universal reaction in the liberal blogosphere to McCain's take on the crisis was to attack it. It was an automatic and mindless reaction, that also served to seriously downplay the critical nature of what's going on in Georgia for partisan gain. The sniping at Lieberman and Graham heading to Georgia, in particular, was appalling stuff (and a criticism quickly dropped when Biden was despatched to Tblisi.)

To be clear - I want Obama to win. The idea of a President McCain sends shivers down my spine, as does the thought of what his response to Russia would be if he had actual power. But his assessment of what this means for US-Russian relations was broadly correct, if over-heated. If Dems can't appreciate the (rare) instances where the other side has a good argument, and move swiftly to co-opt it, they'll get rightly thrashed for it in public opinion.

Once again, I hate polls. I would be willing to bet you that the information received by the polling sample was from the ass-kissing mainstream press who spend their days blowing sunshine kisses up McCains behind.

Do you really think, honestly think, that most people in this country could even find Georgia on the World Map? Much less pronounce the name of the President?

All they know is what they hear...Russia "Bad" , grrrrrrrrr, fight, fight, fight, grrrrrrrrrr from the McCain camp and they automatically think he has some kind of authority over the situation.

They couldn't tell you about the lobbyist link to McCain and Georgia...they couldn't tell you that McCain probably made the situation worse with all of his tough talk..and then what does he do? Sends Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dumb to go "check things out"

Good Grief!

Now that I got that outta my system . . .

Obama is hording cash until the post convention. Poll chasing more than 72 hours out leads to insanity and rampant Republicanism AND the VeeP-stakes is a bad bet.

Biden is probably the best individual for the job so he is definitely out . . . While McInsane was playing pResident and Condi was tossing the Georgian people under the bus . . . The tin-pot dictator and elected President of Georgia asked Biden to help resolve the matter.

Biden is an actual Progressive (unlike Obama who plays one on TV and in the NETroots) if you ignore his hometown favoring of the banking industry.

Biden is brilliant and the nattiest dresser in the Senate.

So useless P.O.S. Bayh or Queen Clinton are more likely choices . . .

God Americans are fucking idiots...

I swear to god if Americans fuck this election up I'm through, I'm done with this shit. If after 8 years of hell they choose 4 more, they are hopeless, if the last 8 years hasn't brought them to their senses, nothing will. I might as well just apply for citizenship in another country and see if their citizens are any smarter.

Urg...it is so frustrating...why are Americans so ignorant???

Obama blew this one. Let's face it. He didn't handle it well at all. Whatever the substance, he did not manage the visuals, and he let McCain run away with multiple news cycles. You simply can't do that.

Granted, McCain was acting like a bellicose clown, and was doing irresponsible stuff (like talking with the Georgians, and stepping on the Bush administration's diplomacy). But those nuances are going to be lost on the American people UNLESS YOU SHOW UP AND OFFER AN ALTERNATIVE.

Dammit, Barack! Fight back already!

Remember, the media exist for profit. A blowout sends everyone out to do something else. Keeping it close leads to higher media profits.

I think the following is a good analysis of these numbers:

Uncertain World
by Gary Langer

A new Quinnipiac poll today got some notice here for its 55-27 percent advantage for John McCain as better qualified to deal with Russia. That looks to me simply to reflect McCain's longstanding, more general advantage on foreign affairs, for example his 63-26 percent advantage in our July ABC/Post poll as having "better knowledge of world affairs."

Clearly, to the extent to which public concerns about an uncertain world are heightened, McCain stands to benefit. Nonetheless, two provisos apply:

1) While McCain is better on international affairs head-to-head, both he and Obama are acceptable to majorities. Measured individually, in our last poll, "knows enough about world affairs to serve effectively as president" was 72 percent for McCain, 56 percent for Obama.

2) "Better qualified" to deal with Russia, which is what Quinnipiac asked, is not necessarily the same as whose approach you'd prefer. Again in our July data, while McCain had a wide lead on "better knowledge" of international affairs, the two were even in "trust to handle" them. And while McCain was much better rated individually as a good commander-in-chief, the two were even in trust to handle the Iraq war.

Separately, as always, I'm encouraging our people not to get hung up on the horse race; that's simply not why we do these polls. But it's worth noting that Quinnipiac's 47-42 percent Obama-McCain result is among likely voters. That's hardly a stop-the-presses moment; our own result among likely voters in July was 49-46.

source: http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2008/08/uncertain-world.html

Obama Ahead By Five -- that's the headline I would
have written. But as usual, TPM trumpets the bad news. Please hire a new headline writer, one who actually refutes the other side's talking points instead of regurgitating them.

Rev. Wright hasn't been used as an issue yet in the GE. It's only a matter of time folks. And for those of you who think it's an old issue, you're in for a rude awakening.

Yeah, I have to agree on this one. Part of winning is managing perceptions. Why progressives would not work to more aggressively reframe some of these perceptions is a little baffling. I can guarantee you that these same numbers would a different headline on a Republican site, if the roles were reversed -- McCain ahead, Obama down by 5. It would say something like: "Obama unable to close gap" (not "McCain's lead shrinks") or "Despite a barrage of negative attacks, Obama shows no gain" (a 1% uptick is not significant). Liberals need to understand the power of framing issues. And, if they do understand it, they should engage in it during an election season. It is a key component of victory. I mean, during an election, why would you ever push a story line that benefits the other side?

Two points that Team Obama should be making every single time this issue comes up (and even when it doesn't):

1. McCain's chief foreign policy adviser is a paid lobbyist for the country of Georgia. A gross conflict of interest -- if not worse -- at the senior level of the McCain campaign. McCain and Bush have been continually urging Georgia to thumb its nose at Russia. Coincidence?

2. The McCain/Bush Iraq disaster has weakened the U.S. and emboldened Russia. McCain/Bush brought us into war in Iraq under false pretenses, allowed al Qaeda to escape, allowed the Taliban to resusitate, and made U.S. support anathema in much of the world, including Pakistan. The Bush/McCain foreign policy has destabilized the world, including Russia/Georgia.

Biden will change the polls. When he starts calling McCain on his idiocy, the press will have no choice but to report it. He can go aggressively in a way that Obama cannot, and it will cause McCain to be responding to the dem vp nominee on an almost daily basis---his free ride will b over.