Boy, it didn't take long for this campaign to roll into the gutter. So far, McCain has called Obama a "flip-flopper" because he voted for the latest "warrantless wiretapping" bill and now seems to have seen the possibilities of off-shore drilling sites as a part of an energy plan.  Yet McCain has flip-flopped on the same issues and more of them.

McCain has goaded Obama into visiting the Middle East again this summer.  Obama accepted the challenge and went to Europe as well, where he was treated as a rock star.  Now the McCain campaign is comparing him to Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton and even Moses parting the Red Sea, and telling us when we ask the relevance of these ads, to "get a sense of humor."

After Fox News three times "mistakingly" put a picture of Osama Bin Laden on the screen with Obama's name under it, Republicans are blogging about his middle name (Hussein for those who are not keeping track)and the New Yorker Magazine published a cover of Senator Obama and his wife Michelle dressed as Arab terrorists, Obama warns audiences that the opposition will portray him as "different."  The McCain campaign counters by whinning "Foul! He used the race card!" (As if we all haven't been waiting for someone to use it.) After all, he is the first African-American to be a major party's nominee for the White House.  And why do you think that while the country and the news media can't "take their eyes off" Obama? According to the polls, it still seems to be a close race.  Race.  That's it, isn't it.  The majority of Americans are still mulling over in their minds whether they can take the next step to a color-blind society and vote for "the black guy."

You know, I have been watching Chris Matthews on "Hardball" for many years now.  During that time, he seemed balanced and fair to me, asking the tough questions that many would not ask of politicians and pundits alike.  He even was the first, if I am not mistaken, that admitted on national television, that the newsmedia was partially at fault for the Iraq war because they didn't ask questions, they just jumped on the bandwagon.  I thought that that observation was courageous and right on target.

    "On June 9, the hearings reached their moment of greatest drama, when McCarthy attacked a young legal aide of Joseph Nye Welch (Army Chief Counsel). The aide, Fred Fisher, had once worked for the National Lawyers Guild (an organization with communist ties) and Welch had advised him to stay away from the hearings for his own good. Even though the man was not present, McCarthy impugned his character. Welch's reply became famous: "Until this moment, senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness .... Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" When McCarthy attempted to respond, Welsh cut him off demanding that the chairman call the next witness. Hesitating for a moment, the silent gallery broke into applause. McCarthy was stunned. The hearings drew to an inconclusive finish shortly afterwards." (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1769.h tml)

Well, it is the eleventh hour in this mid-term election,and the Republicans have sunk to a new low.  They are using "robo-calls" or automatic calls that pretend to represent the Democratic candidate but just say the candidate's name and hang up, again and again and again.  Potential Democratic voters are calling Democratic headquarters complaining and threatening not to vote for the Democratic candidate.  And then there's the flyers and phone calls to minority neighborhoods telling them that their polling places have been changed, or outright threats to them if they vote.  

How desperate are these people to stay in power.  Isn't this what the Nazi's did to win the elections in pre- World War II Germany.  What were their motives for resorting to these illegal, unethical and dispicable ploys?  What are the Republican motives for the same actions? Is this the only thing they stand for?  And is this what they have to resort to when their lies have failed?

Have they no sense of decency, at long last? Have they left no sense of decency?

This might be the strangest entry I have ever written (or not written).  Here it is: read Keith Olberman's "special comment" entitled "Bush owes troops an apology, not Kerry." He is by far more eloquent than I could ever be.
      http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15519404/

In fact, read all of his special comments on the MSNBC website.  They are worth the time and effort it will take.  If you are a Republican, it will enrage you.  Yet, while you are enraged, please, for all of our sakes, think!  If you are an Independent, it will make you think (or it should) what kind of country we have had under the Republicans, and what kind of country we want to have.  If you are a Democrat, it will give you the warm feeling that you are not alone, or crazy, or delusional.  You are simply right!

I can't believe it!  John Kerry apologized today!  When will we ever learn? I am a Democrat, yet I find that our learning curve is quite disappointing.  I guess we haven't learned from the last election and the swift boat ads that the best defense is a good offense. At least John Kerry hasn't.  In my opinion, what he did today was the worst thing he could have done.  He let Bush and his crew frighten him into doing something he never should have done.  And shame on these Democratic candidates who pushed him to do it!  Don't we trust the American people to understand the English language and our intentions?  Haven't we learned that Bush and crew have no shame when it comes to diverting attention away from their own failed leadership?  I am a high school teacher, and what Bush did to Kerry (and by extension, to all of us) is pretty much what a fourteen year old child who has done something wrong would do to get himself out of trouble.  He would shift the blame from where it legitimately belongs and onto the person that catches him at it.  And we fell for it. Or at least John Kerry and the Democratic candidates did. Haven't we learned anything from Bill Clinton's interview with Chris Wallace?  When are we going to learn that to beat a bully, all you have to do is stand up to him.  Shame on us!

The Republicans have destroyed our economy, our security, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and the support of the global community.  There have been repeated scandals over the last six years as the conservative Republicans backed by the Christian coalitions have shown themselves to have no values, no ethics, no scruples and now no support from the American people other than the idealogues.  I am a Christian, and they are not, nor do they represent any attitude or belief that could be remotely labeled as Christian. And now they are jumping on a one sentence remark by John Kerry, misunderstood purposefully, and trying to win points by their usual Rovean scare tactics. They are pathetic! It is time for a change.

It isn't difficult to understand what John Kerry said when he offered as an alternative to a successful academic career, a tour of duty in Iraq.  Michael Moore, in his documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" chronicled the tactics that service recruiters use to target the high school kids who are not successful enough academically to pursue a college career or for those who cannot afford college by any other means except with armed service benefits.  The job market is not friendly to the undereducated, and it is sad that so many have chosen the armed services in economic desperation rather than as a positive choice.  And more sad still that these recruiters capitalize on this reality.  Lest you think that I know not of what I speak, let me assure you that as a high school teacher in an inner city school, I have seen all too much of it.

So to me, that George Bush, a man that chose to "serve his country" in Alabama more by his absence than by his commitment, has chosen to demand an apology from a man who came from the same socio-economic status as Bush yet chose to place himself in danger in the jungles of Vietnam rather than the bars of the South is beyond ironic.  It's disgraceful!  It's George Bush that should be apologizing to our service men and women for sending them to the wrong war for the wrong reasons with the wrong leadership and with no plan.  Maybe he knows that it might be too late to apologize, but just in time to face the music.  Maybe he is afraid of facing a hostile congress of members who want him to account for his behavior of ineptitude, greed and corruption over the last six years.  

It is definitely time for a change!  

You've read the polls.  It seems that our fellow citizens have finally awakened from a six year sleep.  Iraq has turned into a civil war that is killing not only our brave soldiers, but thousands of Iraquis as well.  Afghanistan is slipping back into an environment in which the Taliban could again flourish.  The Republican Congress has spawned a capitol awash in corruption with the likes of Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff.  Our constitution is being compromised by a President who has forgotten his oath of office to preserve, protect and defend it.  Not gut it!  The rich are most definitely getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is shrinking.  We are owned by large corporations and oil companies, and our government is in deep debt to Communist China.  And it seems that there are now sex scandals that have been brushed under the carpet, not because they were embarrassing, but to protect their ability to raise more funds.  Money.  Money.  Money.  And yet, it seems as if the Republican party want to talk about anything else besides the above disasters.  So what have they chosen: gay marriage.  

A few months ago, I wrote the following:

"Before you worry about gay marriage or whether we are impeaching the president, maybe you ought to notice the elephant in the room.  It's a big Republican elephant, and because of it, your email are being read by government, your country is in debt (with the Chinese Communists owning most of it), most of the Internet search engines regularly report where you go on the Internet to the federal government, the middle class is shrinking, homeowners are being threatened by imminent domain, the government knows who you called on the phone for the last 8 years (ever hear about guilt by association?), the man the President has nominated for the next head of the CIA is the same man responsible for these warrantless wiretaps, your President has broken the law in a number of instances, not the least of which is by warrantless wiretaps, outing CIA agents, and lying to the American public in vital issues of war and peace, Republican lobbies own the Capital and the Capitol, there were some fun poker games going on at the Watergate in the last few months and the FBI just had to search the CIA top brass for clues, Tom Delay has resigned in disgrace but not before he gerrymandering many of the congressional districts throughout America, and where in the world is Carmen Santiago and Osama Bin Laden???  Are you any safer than you were five years ago when we were all reading My Pet Goat?  If not, then why are we still talking about gay marriage?  Don't ask me about the trivial, when the country's on fire!  Ask me about how we can make America great again.  Ask me about how we can get this ugly elephant out of the room before it craps up the carpet!"

Is that what this election means to you?  Gay marriage?  It's time for a change. If Ken Melmenn the Republican party don't understand what is wrong, let's tell them.  Let's put the other team in power.  It's time for a change!

It isn't enough for us to be against the Bush White House.  It's easy, but it's not good enough.
We have to be for something.  They led us into an unnecessary and costly war in Iraq, without a real plan or mission.  To leave right now would be suicide.  Isn't it enough to say that we want to change the way the war is run, and let the government of Iraq know that this committment has a limited life span, without specifying a limit?  Don't let them call us the "cut and run" party without a response.  Ever! On any day they say it.  I am so sick and tired of being a Democrat and watching them name the tune.  They didn't pay for the quarter in the jukebox, so why are we letting them pick the tune. The Clinton campaign in 1990 realized that to let anything they say go unanswered for more than 24 hours is suicide.  And the Kerry campaign should have learned that too.  But it seems that we have not.  We need strong national spokesmen that are willing to go on any news or talk show, radio or TV, and speak strongly against them as well as for what we believe.  
We believe in a strong anti-terrorist policy of defense of the homeland while maintaining an aggressive policy of intelligence that will protect us, without violating the very freedoms that make us Americans.  They have been inept in protecting us, they only know how to scare us for their political advantage.  
Our people, like Kerry, Cleland and Murtha, are veterans where they never served a day in uniform.  Say that!  In World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the war in Viet-Nam,our Commander-in-Chief was a Democrat.  How did the Republicans capture the reputation for strong defense?  
In order to beat them, we have to become them in the best sense.  Only better! It is time to us to take the field and command the news cycles and the national conversation.  It is time to tell the country what their motives really are.  And how we are paying for them.  It is time to give this country a real choice. It is time to become the patriots of the real democracy America was meant to be.  We are not the "Democrat Party", but the real democratic party.  That's what they are avoiding saying.  And that's what we should be proud of.