So I've been called a concern troll.

I've been a regular reader of MyDD for nearly six years, since just before the 2002 midterm elections.  Jerome had a contest
on how well the Republicans would do in the 2002 midterms.  He was dead on then, and he's right about what's happeing this year.  And I respect his analysis a lot.  And he's right about the energy issue--how did the Democrats get blindsided?

Even though I was a Hillary supporter in the primaries, I really want Obama to win.  It's really very important to have a Democrat in the White House.  And for a lot reasons--judicial appointments, overturning Bush's outrageous executive orders, and
restoring the rule of law, as well as getting a health care bill passed.

http://www.fcnp.com/index.php?option=com _content&view=article&id=3335:mc auliffe-touts-kaine-for-v-p-in-fairfax-t alk&catid=13:news-stories&Itemid =76

The former national chairman of the Democratic Party who ran Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign this year told 200 Democratic activists in Fairfax County Tuesday that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine would be his party's best choice as Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate.

Terry McAuliffe brought his articulate, high energy speaking style to the monthly meeting of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee at Oakton High School, to, among other things, "make no mistake" that his party leadership considers Virginia "a battleground state" in the 100 days left to fight it out for the presidency this fall.

"The fact that we've opened 33 offices around the state should remove all doubt" about how important Virginia is perceived to be for winning the election, he said. "We've leased them all through November," he added.

What?!?!

Jean Schmidt is not a popular lady, not even within her own party. Talking Points Memo is reporting a quote made by former Republican State Rep. Tom Brinkman which is not very kind.

Here is the latest from the Democrats Abroad effort to get U.S. citizens living and working overseas to register and vote: a message from DA International Chair Christine Marques. Please do click through and check out the video.

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Dear DA Member:

As this important election season continues we wanted to share with you a
video message taped by Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ). Please share this
message about how you can vote with other Americans you know living
abroad.

Register for Change today - and tell a friend!
www.VoteFromAbroad.org

Republican Gordon Smith is running the most negative campaign in the entire country. Smith has spent over one million dollars attacking OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley. You'd think I wouldn't be surprised anymore with the Smith's campaign constant negative attacks and misleading ads, but today the Smith campaign reached a new low. Jeff Merkley released his rural economic development plan and this is how the Smith Campaign responded:

Jeff Merkley has a 10-year record of trying to beat rural Oregon into submission," Gilbride said. "His lackluster and disingenuous proposal is merely fruit from a poisoned tree. It is not credible for Merkley to propose things he spent a career opposing."

Wow.

We have had a lot of discussions on the timing, and the success of the "surge" in Iraq.  I would like to complement those discussions with this diary on the "Petraeus Doctrine", which (in my opinion) is responsible for the improvements in Iraq.  The surge would have been meaningless if it had not been accompanied (or preceded, rather) by the adoption of the "Petraeus Doctrine".  So what is the Petraeus Doctrine ?

Throughout Petraeus's tenure in Iraq, Multi-National Force-Iraq has endeavored to work with the Government of Iraq to carry out this strategy that focuses on securing the population. Doing so has required establishing -- and maintaining -- this persistent presence by living among the population, separating reconcilable Iraqis from irreconcilable enemies, relentlessly pursuing the enemy, taking back sanctuaries and then holding areas that have been cleared, and continuing to develop Iraq's security forces and to support local security forces, often called Sons of Iraq, and to integrate them into the Iraqi Army and Police and other employment programs.
The strategy underpinning the "surge" of forces, as well as the ideas Petraeus included in FM 3-24, have been referred to by some journalists and politicians as the "Petraeus Doctrine," although the surge itself was proposed a few months before Petraeus took command. Despite the misgivings of most Democratic and a few Republican senators over the proposed implementation of the "Petraeus Doctrine" in Iraq, specifically regarding the troop surge, Petraeus was unanimously confirmed as a four-star general and MNF-I commander on January 27.

reposted with diarist permission

victory column, berlin, germany

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leaving tel aviv for germany

with Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin

gettin' that workout on, before that speech

being driven away after that workout

with the Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit

signed mayor's welcome book....

meets with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Foreign Ministry in Berlin

obama in his hotel elevator

obama for chancellor

entrance to that "speech"

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the german press....

OK, I am exhausted....view the rest here and view the great Western Wall Visit here.

Oh, and the Obama Family on People Magazine...

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from the obama campaign blog, arrival in germany

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cross-posted @ This Week With Barack Obama
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Barack Obama's Speech, video here.

Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.......Barack Obama

My pop taught me to fence, and that was his advice. Obama missed his chance, as Sadly,No! noticed:

I don't really like to play the "just-imagine-the- wingnut-outrage" game, but this is, I think, a perfect opportunity to do it. John McCain went on the attack and said this about Obama:

   I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.

This loathsome little effort at reading Obama's mind, of course, elicited a round of huzzahs from the usual suspects, including the pretend pirates pirate at Pirate's Cove.

But suppose that Obama had said this:

   I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than spill more American blood. It seems to me that Senator McCain would rather spill more American blood in order to win a political campaign.

They'd still be scraping pieces of John Hinderaker's skull from the ceiling in his office

I'd loan 'em my wallboard knives. Hell, if Obama--or any-fuuking-body-- had the guts to say anything LIKE that, I'd go door to door for 'em.