John McCain has boasted that he knows how to win wars.  Since he has chosen to make his military prowess a central part of his campaign, it can be exposed for the empty, dangerous bluster that it is with one simple slogan.

In this diary, I will take us back a decade (almost to the week, in fact). To show just how good Joe Biden is with foreign issues. Perhaps the biggest foreign issue of our time. A Saudi millionaire by the name of Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin `Awaḍ bin Lādin.

More, below the fold...

No doubt, history will not be kind to George W Bush.  And to be sure, Bush is already returning the favor.  Apparently stunned by the Russian assault on Georgia, President Bush forgot his invasion of "sovereign" Iraq and declared, "Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century".  As it turns out, John McCain, Condoleezza Rice and Mitt Romney all failed the same test on 21st century history.

Two days in a row this week car bombs rocked towns near the capital of Algeria, killing 60 members of the security forces, police recruits, and Canadian workers.

It's been 7 years.

7 years. 2,500 days. Nothin'.

John McCain's Republican party isn't up to the task. They've proven that.

Leaving aside the idea that illegal immigrants are enjoying the best medical care that this country can offer, this is a shocking admission from John McCain...from a town hall meeting earlier today:

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Senator McCain I truly hope you get the opportunity to chase Bin Laden right to the gates of hell and push him in as you stated on your forum. I do have a question though. Disabled veterans, especially in this state, have horrible conditions [...] My son is an officer in the Air Force, and I am a vet and I was raised in a military family. I think it is a sad state of affairs when we have illegal aliens having a Medicaid card that can access specialist top physicians, the best of medical and our vets can't even get to a doctor. These are the people that we tied yellow ribbons for and Bush patted on the back. If we don't reenact the draft I don't think we will have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.

JOHN MCCAIN: Ma'am let me say that I don't disagree with anything you said and thank you and I am grateful for your support of all of our veterans.

The announcement today that the United States will deploy up to 15,000 more troops to Afghanistan is just the latest signal of the Pentagon's seeming support for Barack Obama's strategy to fight Al Qaeda in the region.  Following by just weeks Obama's latest call to send at least two more brigades of American troops there, the request by U.S. commanders again confirmed Obama's assertion, one denied by John McCain, that Iraq represents a "zero sum game" for scarce American military resources.

in line behind three generations of women - from 10 years old, to maybe late 50s - carefully examining the menu at popeye's fried chicken a couple of months ago, i was somewhat taken aback by their question to the guy behind the counter.
"is the catfish fillet sandwich... is it made with cat, or fish, or is it cat & fish mixed together?"
okay, not the smartest people maybe. they did exhibit a curiosity apparently lacking in the press these days & the audacity to at least ask what it was they might be purchasing.

Richard Nixon claimed to have a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam.  Of course, once he was elected, his secret plan was to escalate the war.  Senator McCain has taken a page from Nixon's playbook.  Last Saturday, he hinted at a secret plan to capture Osama Bin Laden.

    Actually, McC could learn a lot from Obama (e.g., having the right positions), but McC was punchy, succinct, and made the campaign sound epic, e.g., fighting The Terrorists Everywhere, etc., in Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum tonight.

A. Obama needs to say things succinctly, and be less Kerryesque.

B. He needs to sound punchier and more aggressive. Why didn't he say anything about getting Osama?

C. Stories. He talked about his ancestors who fought in WWII, but he--or a running mate--could sure use some personal stories with the "I was in a Hanoi hellhole for my beloved country" tang that McCain exhibited.

    I'm voting Obama; but not enough other people may do so unless he ramps up his speech and debate style. Forewarned is forearmed.

and here's the evidence.

http://www.google.com/...

Jerome Corsi is a lying scumbag who is paid by the McCain campaign and Corsi was paid by TraitoRove and Bush for the sleaze boat attacks in 2004.

In her recent AlterNet column, Iliana Segura gets a lot right:

If the United States really wants to improve the situation in Afghanistan, it should start by ending the occupation. It should then cough up money for humanitarian aid and reconstruction. (One estimate puts the tab at $10 billion.) This is not just for the sake of Afghanistan, but for the sake of Americans as well, who are no safer today than they were when the planes hit the towers. Ending the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan is the first, crucial step in that elusive goal of "winning hearts and minds" that the United States claims to be so committed to in the region. As Iraq has demonstrated, occupying armies are not a deterrent to terrorism. Occupying armies breed terror.

Everyone knows that political attack machines (more specifically Republican attack machines, since they seem to be doing the most attacking these days) can be found on an extremely small scale. My hometown newspaper, the Rockford (IL) Register-Star, published a letter to the editor from a man from Polo, Illinois, who stated that we should "fear Barack Obama" more than Osama bin Laden. My response to the letter was generally panned by my friends and even a special writer to the publication, who said that he "was appalled that he played the race card when there was no reference to race in Mr. Gribbins letter whatsoever".

August 6, 2008. An undisclosed location. It was 7 years ago that the President was handed a memo titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U. S." (click here for CNN) And Six Years, 11 Months, and 5 Days ago, on September 11, 2001, he struck.

Bin Laden is still at large - but we got his driver - sentenced the bastard to 5 and a half years. The Taliban, which gave bin Laden his base of operations, is growing stronger. After going after bin Laden for a while, we cornered bin Laden in Tora Bora, paid some Taliban fighters to 'take him out.' They took him out, to lunch, to a nice bistro not far from the fighting.

Hello, Ivan, my old freind, I've come to speak with you again.

I hope this message finds you well. How are things?

It's been so long since we have spoken. I miss you.

With less than six months remaining before leaving the White House, the Bush administration, desperate to show it had made inroads into Osama Bin Laden's terrorist network has decided to take a gamble by trying Salim Hamdan.

Hamdan, however, was nothing more than a chauffeur, paid to drive Osama Bin Laden.

The DailyKos seems to me to be to overly critical of our President.  Below the fold I wish to discuss the positive things that the Bush Administration has accomplished.

You may remember my brother the activist.  I keep trying to get him to post, but he's shy and busy.  He sent me this yesterday and I thought I'd share it with you.- ek