This Is What I’m Talking About

Mark Halperin has the goods (PDF) on Senator Obama’s scathing 40 page rebuttal to Jerome Corsi’s trash. I love the shot at the “Bush/Cheney Attack Machine”, but what I’m even happier about is the AP writeup on the story. Check out this fact-check from the AP:

Jerome Corsi’s anti-Obama book, “The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality,” claims the Illinois senator is a dangerous, radical candidate for president. The book is a compilation of all the innuendo and false rumors against Obama — that he was raised a Muslim, attended a radical, black church and secretly has a “black rage” hidden beneath the surface.

In fact, Obama is a Christian who attended Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

[snip]

Corsi suggests, without a shred of proof, that Obama may be using drugs today. Obama has acknowledged using marijuana and cocaine as a teenager but says he quit when he went to college and hasn’t used drugs since.

[snip]

He claims Obama received extensive Islamic religious education as a boy in Indonesia, education that was only offered to the truly faithful. Actually, Obama is a Christian and as a boy he attended both Catholic school and Indonesian public schools where some basic study of the Koran was offered.

He accuses Obama of wanting to weaken the military even though Obama’s campaign calls for adding 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines.

The AP also takes on Corsi’s own dubious past, including his bigoted statements against Catholics. This writeup is arguably as important as Obama’s response, because even if the facts in the Obama rebuttal are true (and they are), it’s important that media outlets get the word out as well.

Obama Hits McCain On DHL Job Losses In New AD!

Ouch. I think McCain just did an about-face, and fell off his chair from the well-timed swing by Barack Obama on the issue of the loss of the DHL job losses. McCain’s lobbyist on his campaign, Rick Davis, played a huge part in helping send these American jobs overseas. Here’s the script of the ad below, and as soon as I can get the video, I’ll post it here.

Woman: If DHL, if something happens, it’s going to be like a ghost town.

Man: I thought I was doing a good job providing for my family. And then to have that taken away….

Announcer: In Washington, John McCain helped pave the way for foreign-owned DHL to take over an American shipping company.

McCain’s campaign manager was lead lobbyist for the deal. Now, thousands of Ohio jobs at risk.

Man: It’s tough times, when it’s a foreign entity coming in and sucker punching us. That’s how this felt.

Obama: I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message.

Obama outraises McCain 6:1 among active overseas military

The Center for Responsive politics has come out with a new study on donations from military personnel to presidential candidates, and the results are actively embarrassing for Senator John McCain.  Despite McCain’s own veteran status and a media narrative that paints him as a foreign policy expert (despite all evidence to the contrary), the troops which have the most on the line have The Center for Responsive politics has come out with a new study on donations from military personnel to presidential candidates, and the results are actively embarrassing for Senator John McCain.  Despite McCain’s own veteran status and a media narrative that paints him as a foreign policy expert (despite all evidence to the contrary), the troops which have the most on the line have overwhelmingly favored Senator Obama with their donations.

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain’s haul.

What’s arguably even more embarrassing for Senator McCain than Barack Obama’s fundraising prowess is that Ron Paul out raised him by more than a 4:1 margin from active overseas military.  Ron Paul, despite being borderline certifiable with some of his policy ideas, was the only Republican candidate who was anti-war in the primary.  Between the contributions that Ron Paul and Barack Obama have received, it’s clear that active duty military that are deployed overseas are sending a clear message that they are ready to end America’s military engagement in Iraq.

Barack Obama Releases New Ad For Olympics

Senator Barack Obama just released a new ad called the “Three Bedroom Ranch” for the Olympics, on top of his “Hands” ad that is already playing on a nationwide buy on NBC. Here’s the ad below:

Another Obama Endorsement: Sun Tzu

Although the news is several thousand years old at this point, Sunzi (Sun Tzu) has come out strong for Obama.

In the first chapter of “Art of War” he makes his case, laying out seven questions when determining between two commander-in-chiefs:

• Which of the sovereigns has the “dao” or “way”?
• Which has the most ability and energy?
• Who has heaven and earth given the most advantage to?
• On which side is there respect for the laws?
• Who has the strongest soldiers?
• Who has the best-trained officers?
• Who has the clearest discipline in his camp?

A complete endorsement, below.

Now THIS Should Go Viral

A great independently-created web ad that deserves many more viewers. Do your part!

Obama on Attack: Whacks McCain in TV Spot PLUS Union Mailers

On Monday Slinkerwink wrote a post about Obama’s targeted radio spot hitting McCain over the economy in Wisconsin. It emerged as part of an overall strategy in which Obama airs positive ads nationally, but targets McCain with attack ads locally.

Well, Obama just upped the ante, asking: “How can John McCain fix the economy. When he doesn’t think it’s broken?” As of now, the ad is just running in Indiana (a test, perhaps?). Take a look here. I’ll get the YouTube up as soon as it’s available.

Transcript follows:

What’s going on with Obama’s VP search?

Back at the beginning of his VP search, Obama promised a maximum of discretion, saying, “The next time you hear from me about the vice presidential selection process will be when I have selected a vice president.”

And I guess that’s literally true; he hasn’t made any public statements about the search. But given how much we’ve been hearing all year about Obama’s disciplined, leakproof team, it’s puzzling how all these stories about the VP search seem to keep coming out.

First we heard all about the names they were discussing when they came to Capitol Hill (which, according to Ambinder, was part of the reason Obama let Jim Johnson go). There have been frequent updates to the so-called short list. A couple weeks ago there was a seemingly out-of-nowhere boomlet for Kaine, which seemed to vanish as quickly as it started. The following week came the joint appearance with Bayh. Then a line from Chuck Todd saying Obama’s pick will probably come from the short list.

This week, Steve Clemons claims that his sources in the campaign are telling him Bayh’s chances “have moved to better than 50/50”, and we have the announcement of convention speakers, launching a new round of guessing games (“Sebelius and Schweitzer already have speaking roles, but Bayh and Biden don’t!”)

So what’s going on here? Is the campaign suddenly springing leaks? Or is this part of a coordinated media strategy? (Certainly, both the Kaine and Bayh boomlets had the feeling of a trial balloon.) But if so, what’s the rationale behind the strategy? What are they trying to accomplish?

I don’t mean these questions rhetorically; I’m honestly stumped. Informed speculation, third-hand gossip and everything in between are all welcome in the comments.