Until then I'll keep buckin' up for the also-rans actually sellin' something I wanna buy.  

If this guy is a terrorist/criminal apprehend him (and yes use lethal force is he resists and puts others at risk of life), charge him and put him on trial.  It's called the Constitution.

Swell.

I have news for him - I'm not lethargic, I'm angry and frustrated; what would get me to the polls is not the same-old, same-old of "the other guys are worse!" and "be afraid, be very afraid," but some actual policies that address the problems and issues with strength, not this weenie-world of "oh, how can we make this weaker so (1) the Republicans who won't vote for it anyway will let us sit at the lunch table with them and (2) the corporations that fund our campaigns keep writing us checks?"

Novel idea, I know, but it might be the only thing they haven't tried - dealing from a position of strength.  Of course that would require majority leaders in both Houses to start kicking ass and taking names with the damn Blue Dogs - what are the chances?  Yeah, slim to none.

Hey, here's another idea: give us better candidates, people about whom we don't have to refer as the "Republican with a (D) after his or her name."

How about, "sure Mr. President, we'll be good little girls and boys...right after you dissolve that odious Cat Food Commission that lurks in the background, sharpening its knives to go after our safety net in the middle of terrible economic times."  Sounds like a good deal to me.

Garry Trudeau is on it, as usual, via Doonesbury...

Not only does this hurt the upcoming election but also provides some very powerful campaign fodder for 2012.  

Consumer confidence drops to lowest since Feb.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Americans' view of the economy turned grimmer in September amid escalating job worries, falling to the lowest point since February.

The downbeat report, released Tuesday, raises more fears about the tenuous U.S. economic recovery. It also further underscores the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street; consumers' confidence fell further even as stocks rebounded in September.

IF you had been living in a cave for the last 10 years, and the first thing you did when you emerged was read the Rolling Stone interview, I'm sure you would be mightily impressed with the laundry list of accomplishments; Obama, like so many politicians, is nothing if not smooth.

But the proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating, and that's where it all falls apart for me.

It would be like someone hiring me to clean their house after an interview where I painted a gorgeous mind-picture of gleaming floors and spotless bathrooms and freshly made beds and sparking windows.

So, you come home and I am beaming from ear-to-ear about the great job I did - best cleaning job ever - way cleaner than it ever could have been before.  You look around...is that dog poop on the living room rug?  Uh, are those dirty dishes in the sink, is the trash can kind of overflowing?  And what's that weird smell...?

I am crushed that you can't see what I've done - I vacuumed the carpets - yes, I did skip over the doog poo, but it's been here forever and I was thinking that maybe the dog would mind if I got rid of it.  I mopped the kitchen floor, too.  The dishes?  Oh, well...I had to choose between washing the dishes and taking out the recycling, and golly - it's so important to recycle!  I organized all the storage containers and lids - that was hard work!  The trash?  I thought it would be a good idea to study it a bit - to see if all that waste is really necessary.  

You look less-than-impressed, and I am highly offended that you aren't being nicer to me, more appreciative.  "That other company won't do a better job, so what's your problem, anyway?  And where's my check?"

Sure, Obama can check things off that list in his pocket, but he just doesn't seem to get that he gave up on getting more before he ever took up the fight, so he really has no idea how much more he could have gotten, and how much better it could have been if he had only believed his own hype that all things were possible.  I'm not even sure, really, what he actually believes, and suspect that he "fought" for exactly what he wanted to.

Details matter.  Execution and implementation matter.  Maybe not to him, but to me, because that's where we all live - in the details and the execution and implementation.

I half-expected him to produce a list of all of us who've been naughty and nice, because he sure as hell has the ability to see us when we're sleeping, to know when we're awake, to know if we've been bad or good - so go vote Democratic, for heaven's sake - or it's gonne be coal, people!

Obama both rallies, scolds Dems in campaign trip

Maybe it is because I do not have a teevee and I plan on voting D anyway that this type of messaging does not bother me one bit.

But if you think about who Obama and Biden are talking to, it is not those who have long since decided not to pull the lever for any D until either Karl Marx is elected or Hillary Clinton is enshrined.

The rest of the mushy liberals who were not bent out of shape by Hillary's loss will respond. The stronger message to that base is:

DO YOU WANT BUSHCO BACK..... WAKE UP!  

Unlike others, I don't believe the president is making these claims in order to boost himself up - here's a shocker, he may genuinely believe the policies to be good ones.

Frustrating to watch? Absolutely.

Does the President need to hear about it? Of course.

If Dems are serious about making good change happen, voters need to call officials out on their failures, but be willing to support the successes.

I mean, here's a guy who managed to parlay a modest political resume into a pesidential victory and a Nobel Peace Prize.  Who would be in a better position to lead a new Independent (tm) Party.  Think Ross Perot + Joe Lieberman x the power of the Obama Hope campaign.

Oy. I have T-shirt that says that. Maybe we should make this an addenda to the famous "change you can believe in" slogan.

Ronald Reagan he is not.