It should be noted from the outset that this diary is not moralistic--it is not cut from a we're-above-this-type-of-ugly-campaigning cloth. But this diary also is not a case for a new, Democratic Swiftboating campaign to be waged against McCain.

Instead, what follows is a brief exploration of how, in both substance and form, the "McCain wasn't tortured" line mirrors almost perfectly the attacks waged against Kerry in 2004.

Whether it's an attack strategy that WE should use is up to the masses, or Obama, or both. (Or some rogue 527.)

I doubt the Obama campaign will do it.

I'm not sure if any of the obvious 527 types will do it (Moveon? Votevets? Who?)

I sincerely doubt the DNC has the cojones for it.

But, for the love of god, SOMEONE has to get this guy on the air.

I'm just some dumbass who reads liberal blogs constantly. I don't know how. But I bet this community does. There has to be a way. An ad campaign, viral video, anything, SOMETHING.

This is what Republicans do and do not flinch and do not look back.

We can do it too. If nobody else will, we have to. I don't know how else to put it. Can we draw on the expertise of the assembled crowd? How do we get Philip Butler from a blog story into the overarching narrative of the next couple weeks?

I don't know either. But maybe you do. If you do have insight to lend, lend it here. Please. I'm in for the first thousand dollars. I bet there's a lot of me. Who can lead the charge?

See below the fold for just a taste of the background on this story already starting to percolate out there. It's great, but we must do better.

In the last election cycle, the CEO of Costco, Jim Sinegal and the Chairman of the Board, Jeffrey Brotman gave generously to progressive causes.  I didn't think I would walk into one of their stores to find a copy of "The Obama Nation."

Ready?  Here we go.

1.  He called his wife a cunt.

2.  He divorced his first wife for political expediency to marry a millionaire beer heiress.

3.  He and Charles Keating were good buds.

4.  He owns 9 homes.

5.  Elitism.  His father and grandfather were Navy admirals.  Wonder how he made his way in the Navy.

6.  Advised on economic and foreign policy issues by lobbyists with clients with vested interests in the issues on which McCain receives advice.

Swiftboat doctor and co-author of "Unfit for Command," Jerome Corsi, was on Larry King tonight trying to defend his latest book, "Obama Nation." He kept accusing the guy from Media Matters of ad hominem attacks when Media Matters identified dozens of outright lies and undocumented innuendo. Corsi claimed he had hundreds of footnotes to back up his claims but Media Matters identified several of these reliable sources as nothing more than right wing bloggers.
Corsi insists that he has no connection to the McCain campaign and that he intends to vote for the Constitution Party candidate. But, in the New York Times today, "[h]e said he was planning to aid several conservative groups that intend to run advertisements against Mr. Obama this fall, though he would not name them." But, his publisher Mary Matalin "said in an interview that the book 'was not designed to be, and does not set out to be, a political book,' calling it, rather, 'a piece of scholarship, and a good one at that.' She said she was unaware of efforts to link it to any anti-Obama advertising." So, this is an example of Repug scholarship

http://www.nytimes.com/...

MSNBC is currently running a NY Times piece which reports that Jerome Corsi, the "author who launched Swift Boat attacks in '04" is prepared to swiftboat Obama through unsubstantiated, misleading or inaccurate accusations. These are found in Corsi's book, recently published, entitled The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality.

It turns out, too, that Corsi's hatchet job are the lies of a chickenhawk and opportunist (as well as active Freeper.)

Corsi, as some will remember was co-author (with John O'Neill), of Unfit for Command, a book written in cooperation with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and provided the blueprints for swiftboating John Kerry - i.e., to smearingly and inaccurately challenge the legitimacy of each of Kerry's combat medals and to decontextually criticize Kerry's later antiwar actions.

Incidentally, Corsi's editor is right wing harpy turned editor, Mary Matalin.

Well it seems like the putrid filth has shot up like a rocket to #1 on the NYT bestseller list.

It keeps happening and it happened yesterday.  If people are going to call in radio shows or act as surrogates for Obama, then please DO YOUR HOMEWORK.

Rare exceptions aside, today's conservatives are regurgitators of talking points, bullies with microphones, and intellectual lightweights.  You KNOW what they are going to say.  Being unprepared is unacceptable.  Let me provide the basics.

It's just sitting right there.

John McCain hopes that it doesn't become a talked-about issue during this campaign, but it's got to.

This is a Swiftboatesque ad waiting to be made, if only a 527 will pick it up and run with it.  The difference is, you don't even have to impugn his character.  He gleefully did it himself.

I wouldn't have recommended this even a month ago, but since McCain has decided to go Rovian in his last-throes desperation, the time is now.

I suggested this to my wife, and she admitted she didn't know the details and frankly had forgotten about the whole thing.

"Did he have an affair with Cindy while he was still MARRIED?", she asked.

Ohhhhh, yes.

Soon to come from the GOP - why Saul Alinsky is evil.

Contessa Brewer of MSNBC is getting some kudos for spending her four minute interview with Swiftboater #1 Jerome Corsi essentially attacking his truthiness.  

In the middle of his slimespeak, Corsi dropped this little tidbit:

He was a Saul Alinsky organizer in Chicago. That's a very radical methodology that Barack Obama actually taught, and it involves redistribution of wealth, getting power to redistribute wealth.

The pundits are twittering about whether or not Obama is a racist, the antichrist, the other, not one of us ad nauseaum. 'We are going down! It's going to be a disaster!' say the petrified Democrats as they wait for the racist backlash.
Rumors abound of newly flexed muscles from the Republicans who having grown weary of grappling with a tired, old, boring candidate and have turned to race-baiting. They are quietly measuring drapes and hi-fiving because they believe this is the trump card which will put McCain over the top. They have decided to hijack the news cycle and election agenda with over the top comparisons between Barack and celebrities, claims of Obama's messianic ideations and racism against whites. NOT THIS TIME.
Folks we have two choices. We can sit here and whine about the big, bad Republicans with their magic swiftboating bag of tricks and let them take back the White House or we can stand up, rally the millions of voters who support Obama, get on the air and shout down these skunks.

They’re very good at negative campaigning– they’re not so good at governing.

The Swamp

I don't know where Barack Obama came up with this line.  Whether it was planned by the campaign or something he just said from his heart.  But he should use this line until election day.  It is a simple truth that cannot be ignored even by low information voters.

Obama just had a "press availability" in Florida.

He started with some prepared remarks on the economy (reiterating his "emergency relief plan") and the Gang of Ten energy bill (in a nutshell: we have to be more efficient in our energy usage; he won't vote for anything that suggests "drilling is the answer" to our energy problems, but in the interest of governing, which involves compromise, might consider a bill which includes drilling if the overall package meets his "clear goal" that we need to be moving toward).

Then came the questions. As you might imagine, most of them were about what's going on between the two campaigns right now. Details after the jump.

There has been a good deal of discussion lately with regard to the ad campaign being undertaken by T. Boone Pickens concerning the interchangeability of wind power and natural gas usage. It is not clear at this point, however, what his true intentions for this campaign really entail. There has not been enough real information available to intelligently comment on the viability of his general statements. For this reason, I have chosen not to get into the technical details other than to say that wind usage is not a new idea and is rapidly being implemented in states such as Texas, Wyoming, and California.

I do wish, however, to comment on character. I have been in the oil business since 1970. During this time I would need less than one hand to count the number of oil producers and investors who were concerned about anything other than their own financial wellbeing. Don’t get me wrong, the oil industry is a tough business requiring high investment and considerable risk and I do not criticize those who enter this risky game. Most are reputable businessmen who conduct their affairs in a responsible manner. However, there are those who will go to extremes in an effort to promote the industry at the expense of the general good. T. Boone is one of these.

The Obama Nation, by 'Swiftboat coauthor Jerome Corsi, is hitting bookstores tomorrow.  I've been browsing through an advance copy, and thought I would offer up a sneak peek.

My primary impression is that this book is no Swiftboat.  Instead, it seems to have all the firepower of a leaky old rowboat.  It is truly a strange book, investing much of its argument in psycho-babble analysis of Obama's father, rehashing the same old 'scandals' that blew up and quickly fizzled out during the primaries, and stretching for some almost laughable scare tactics (did you know Obama's invoking the idea of change is nothing more than code for "the redistribution of income that Saul Alinsky ad in mind when he advocated using 'Change' as a radical socialist call to action.")

Publication date was originally set for August 5th, but was moved up.  I suspect the reason is that more and more of Corsi's assertions are going out of date every day.

Join me below the fold for more...

Obama hasn't come out with a clear, concise and sharp response to McCain's latest negativity. He can slap McCain on this, without himself going negative.  Here are a few proposed talking points for Obama:

Something bothered me about the main image in the negative campaign ad out earlier this week entitled "Troops." (Over and above the fact that it was a lying ad trashing Barack Obama – again,) There are many, many things wrong with this ad. But something in particular was nagging at me. It didn't take me long to put my finger on this very subtle subliminal.

Please follow me over the jump...

Why the silence from JRE's supporters while the SSM (Slease Stream Media) and right-wing hatemongers run wild with the love-child story? It's going to get worse so we have to get our heads out of the sand. They're trying to keep him out of the cabinet and off the podium at the convention.

JRE is being swiftboated -- and for good reason: he's the greatest threat to the status quo and the best spokesperson for change the country has had in decades. Facts are below. Get out there, ask, and keep asking, "WHERE ARE THE PHOTOGRAPHS?"

This one has ROVE written all over it and there is a connection to Rove.

Read the facts (below) and help get the word out please. Fight back!