Just when you thought the racist, anti-Catholic serial liar who authored the latest Obama hit piece couldn't go any lower, he manages to show yet another immoral side of himself.

Jerome Corsi's vile pack of lies has already been widely debunked, and if the traditional media didn't keep putting him in front of TV cameras he'd be a marginal white supremacist figure at best.    The "facts" of his smear job have been taken apart efficiently by others, so I won't repeat that here.

But did you know that in addition to all his other sterling qualities, Jerome Corsi is also a con man who stole money from investors?  

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Some people just don't know their place.   And there's a word for such people:  uppity.

Yes, you can say "presumptuous" if you want, but I find that word kind of weak.   Doesn't pack the punch nedded.   See, I'm an old-fashioned straight talker from way back, son, and I call 'em like I see 'em.

And what I see is Republican White House-wannabe  John McCain getting awfully uppity for someone who has not been elected by the people of the U.S.A.

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Ah, John McCain.  The maverick.   ...Excuse me, the Maverick, capital "M."  

He really wanted this to be a clean election.  He really, really wanted this to be a campaign about the issues facing America.  He really, really, really wanted it to be respectful and substantive, all the way up through November.

Lord knows he tried!   But then Barack Obama FORCED him to start throwing buckets of slop and slime.  

Poor John McCain had no choice, at all.  Obama FORCED John McCain to act like Karl Rove.   How?

John McCain himself explains below, in a talk with David "I-Like-Karl-Rove-Because-I've-Eaten-Quail-At-His-Table" Broder.

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Here's what Barack Obama actually said.   This is the statement he made that got John McCain huffing and puffing about Obama playing the so-called "race card:"

"So nobody really thinks that Bush or McCain have a real answer for the challenges we face, so what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he's not patriotic enough. He's got a funny name. You know, he doesn't look like all those other Presidents on those dollar bills, you know. He's risky. That's essentially the argument they're making."

It's particularly the statement in bold above that got McCain and his (unusually immature) 13-year old campaign Rick Davis, the genius behind the Paris Hilton and Moses ads, to complain bitterly:

"Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."

You -- you in the traditional media -- you dishonest, shallow, shameless goddamned fools ran with that story, and made the question: is Barack Obama playing the (gasp!!!) RACE CARD!!??

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I've always thought that Ross Perot was more than a little bit out of his mind, but... with the help of his beaucoup bucks, he did make an amazing showing for President in 1992.   Perot got nearly 19% of the popular vote, and that's quite a placement.

There's no doubt that for better or worse, Perot captured the imagination of millions of Americans.  He was right about NAFTA, by the way -- his famous phrase about the "giant sucking sound" of jobs leaving America turned out to be dead right.  His pro-NAFTA opponent?   Al Gore.

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This is from Markos' front page story right now "McCain camp admits ad was false:"

McCain's advisers said they do not intend to back down from the charge, believing it an effective way to create a "narrative" about what they say is Obama's indifference toward the military.

So... even though the very substance of what the McCain people asserted has been proven false, and even though they have admitted that...   they will continue to try making the "narrative" stick.

Let's unpack this, shall we?

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American politics has proven that many people can find some kind of redemption.  I've not been a fan of Joe Klein over the years -- especially the past decade -- but lately he's been sounding more like someone with real, honest-to-God integrity and passion.

Of course, sometimes pundits break in one direction for a tiny bit, get freaked out, and come roaring back to their former comfy Beltway "wisdom" all the stronger.  Joe Klein may yet do that.

John McCain's latest shameless, disgusting lie accusing Obama of having no time for the troops should make clear to anyone with a brainstem that McCain is a man without honor.

He's run a brilliant sales campaign for himself over the last decade or two, posing as a principled maverick, and getting a hero-worshipping Beltway media to slobber over him.  

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I'll be blunt, here.

Just how much ass-kissing does John McCain think he is owed?

Barack Obama has constantly, consistently and repeatedly said he honors John McCain military service, and what he endured as a prisoner of war.  

A quick Google search confirms that Obama has stated just that on numerous occasions.  Very unequivocally.

And now that the Republicans are in their phoney pearl-clutching gear again, lying about what General Wesley Clark said and Obama's part it in (none), we once again see John McCain and his surrogates whining about how John McCain has been disrespected.

God in heaven, is there any man in America who has been given MORE respect and deference for his military service than John McCain?

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...Thus spake John McCain, three years ago, on NBC's Sunday morning political show, MEET THE TIM RUSSERT.   Yeah, it's not a very good sentence, grammar-wise, but... the idea is clear.

And more to the point: it is exactly the opposite of what John McCain is saying these days.   This makes political sense, since George W. Bush is as popular as scabies right now.  And McCain is desperately, shamelessly running like hell away from Dubya, trying to reclaim his now-trashed "maverick" branding -- which was always more P.R. than reality, anyway.

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I love Barack Obama.  

He's a candidate I'm proud to work for, and support in every way I can.   The man seems ready, willing, and able to lead us from the nightmare of the Bush years, into a better future for this country we love.

Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said of FDR that he possessed "a second-rate intellect, but a first-rate temperament."

Whatever you think of that assessment, and the slightly arcane language...

I think in Barack Obama we have a first-rate intellect AND a first-rate temperament.  

It's for this reason that I think he's up to the task of bringing us true universal healthcare, if he's willing to push hard for it.

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Connecticut-for-Lieberman party member Joe Lieberman has once again slimed the Democratic candidate for President, Barack Obama.

Lieberman, who has thrown his full support behind George W. Bush's buddy John McCain, had yet another temper tantrum at a formerly-fellow Democrat today.   Granted, Lieberman has had a similar hissy fit almost weekly for years now... but lately he's actively working against our candidate for President.

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There's a whole hell of a lot I don't agree on with Laura Bush, and I think her husband is a criminal who should be impeached and / or prosecuted.

But credit where credit is due.   She defended Michelle Obama today:

Michelle Obama has a new defender from those who say she isn’t patriotic enough — First Lady Laura Bush. In an interview with ABC News, Bush said that Obama’s February remark that she was proud of the United States “for the first time in my adult life” was misconstrued.

“I think she probably meant ‘I’m more proud.’ That’s what she really meant,” Bush said from Afghanistan.

“You have to be realy careful in what you say because everything you say is looked at and in many cases misconstrued,” she said.

John McCain has decided to put himself forward as the guy who has REALLY been around the block -- the steady old hand that we need, as opposed to the big-talking rube he's running against.

And nowhere has McCain touted his wisdom and experience more than on matters of war and peace.  According to McCain, it's downright dangerous to have someone as green as Barack Obama in charge of our military, and our very security.   We need John McCain, steady old hand, who knows what's what when it comes to the most important decisions we'll face.  

...And by God, that John McCain is a straight talker, too!   Not only will he bring his enormous, unparalleled experience to bear... the man will tell us the damned truth, whether it makes him popular or not!   This is ESPECIALLY true when it comes to grave matters of war, peace, security, and the lives of our soldiers.  

Unlike most politicians, the maverick known as John McCain would NEVER pander and say one thing in matters of war and peace, only to contradict himself when it seems convenient and politically --

Wait.  OOPS.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As you probably know, Sen. Jay Rockefeller's "Phase II" report on the pre-war Iraq intelligence was finally released today... four full years after the first phase of the report.

It's been in the news, and it's been diaried here on this site.  DKos writer Bejammin075 did a good rundown here today.

I've been cogitating on this story all day, feeling queasy.  Even as someone who was dead set against the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and someone who has believed for years, with most of you here, that the invasion was based on a pack of lies -- even as someone highly invested in seeing the truth about Iraq come out, I have to confess that my response to the "Phase II" report was something of a yawn.  "Old news."  "Tell me something I don't know, OK?"

This is wrong, wrong, all wrong.   I'm wrong.  

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ESPN reports...

The San Antonio Spurs "need a little time" to concede that they lost to the L.A. Lakers in the Conference Finals.

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As we come to the end of the Democratic primaries tonight, some very sore feelings linger in both the Clinton and Obama camps.  

Most of us here know both candidate's supporters' list of grievances against the other, so I won't review them here.   I just want to make one simple point, and hope it's worth an entire diary.

And that is exactly what my title says, asterisk notwithstanding:  there are assholes in every political campaign.

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A united Democratic party, ready to take on McCain?  I'm all for it.   Let's rally around the nominee, and take on the Republicans.  Can't wait.

But as of this night of Sunday June 2nd, there is one person standing in the way of that united Democratic party:  the good senator from New York.  

Here she is, speaking this very night:

Clinton’s main argument is that she is leading in the popular vote, saying this evening, “More people across the country have voted for our campaign. More people have voted for us than for any candidate in the history of presidential politics. We are winning the popular vote. Now there can be no doubt. The people have spoken, you have chosen your candidate.”

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