I am posting this diary to suggest ways Obama could fight back against McCain's completely baseless guilt-by-association attacks being launched by the McCain camp and American wingnuttery in general. I think we need to hit back where it hurts: by pointing out that, using McCain's own standards of guilt-by-association, he is much more guilty of hanging out with unsavory characters than Obama.

In this diary, I will document the numerous associates of John McCain and their own transgressions. I will then provide a poll asking Kossacks which association in specific could do the most damage to McCain's reputation.

If this isn't the type of issue to McCain on, then I don't know what is.  Via TPM, McCain's chief foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann (you know, the one who was on the payroll of Georgia), actually lobbied AGAINST a bill that would close a loophole allowing those on the terrorist watch-list from buying guns.  

Newsweek reports that, according to registration documents filed by Scheuenemann's lobbying firm, Orion Strategies, Scheunemann lobbied on behalf of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) against a bill that aims to close a gun-control loophole that inhibits the government from stopping people on terrorist watch-lists from buying guns. According to Newsweek, "the bill was inspired by an official audit covering a five-month period in 2004 which found that, because of the loophole, the Feds had to greenlight 35 out of 44 cases where a gun buyer was on a terrorist watch list."

Again, to make this crystal clear: John McCain's top foreign policy adviser lobbied against a bill that would prevent terrorists from buying guns.

I think it is time that we start talking about the terrorists among us.  But first, I am going to clarify something.  

Official McCain ad:

ROBERTO MARTIN PEREZ: This is Roberto Martin Perez, Cuban political prisoner for 28 years.

The harsh reality is that millions of my fellow Cuban citizens are prisoners in their own country.

Despite this, our spirit remains resilient; and John McCain knows that Raul Castro is like his brother, a man that does almost anything to stay in power, violating the fundamental rights of Cubans.

Now, he allows them to use cell phones and computers, but at the same time, censors the right to speak.

While some support a dialogue with Raul Castro, John McCain believes we should support the courageous men and women who continue to stand up for freedom in Cuba.

Rather than resume relations with Raul Castro, John McCain wants first and foremost for all political prisoners to be released.

As someone who has survived the harsh conditions of the Vietnamese prisons, John McCain knows that freedom in Cuba won't be achieved with concessions to dictatorships.

JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.

With the Democratic National Convention entering full swing as everyone begins to jump head first into the upcoming events, there seems to be little else to discuss.  This, however, needs to be explored.  Top McCain Aide Randy Scheunemann seems to have pushed for Gun Rights for suspected Terrorists.

Follow me after the fold

This is Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. Dr. Siddiqui is a Pakistani national, physician, mother of three young children, one in US detention since 2003. She was kidnapped five years ago in Pakistan and is obviously a victim of horrendous torture at Bagram AFB.

Dr. Siddiqui before capture, arrest and five years "lost" as a ghost detainee.

Dr. Siddiqui charged in the U.S., July 2008

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.

Last November, Michael Mukasey stood in the Justice Department's Great Hall as he was sworn in as the new US Attorney General. Having been given the first opportunity to speak publicly to his staff, Mukasey said:

"We do law, but the result is justice. And that is why our ultimate client - the people of this country - can and do rest secure in the knowledge that our unswerving allegiance is to the law and the Constitution, and that the result of faithful performance of our duty is justice."

My, how time reveals the true nature of people; we've now all come to recognize Mukasey as the disappointment who refused to come out against waterboarding, squelching our hopes for a firm protector of the Constitution.

And it seems he's on a roll.

As he continues his tireless campaign to defeat evil, ex-POW and war hero John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, announced that he will invade Arapahoe County, CO.

This was in response to a suspicious letter received at McCain campaign offices in Colorado and New Hampshire.

The writer of the letter is said to be Marc Harold Ramsey, a 39-year-old who has been in jail since September 2007.  Ramsey, who is being held on bond, is known as a prolific writer of threatening letters.

"Two can play at this game," McCain said as he sipped a cappuccino.  "I don't like to talk about it, but after 5 and a half years in a Vietnamese prison, I refuse to surrender."

There's something that's bothering me about the white powered envelope that showed up at Mc(insert whatever you want to call him)'s Denver office.

Whether I agree with his positions or disagree, the situation that innocent people were put in today is a one that is scary and should not happen.  An envelope containing both a death threat as well as supposed White Powder caused an immediate order to empty the building, and involved apparently one individual who will be hospitalized after what appears to be mostly a panic attack.

What a coincidence! On the exact same day that John McCain tries his hardest to immolate his own campaign with his monster-gaffe about not even knowing how many houses he owns, the campaign reports that one of their offices has been targeted by a terrorist.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's 2004 all over again. Terror alerts, and all.

The National Security Archive has just released a Load of Files Electronic Briefing Book No. 253 Posted - August 20, 2008 under the title: 1998 Missile Strikes on Bin Laden May Have Backfired with a subtitle: Extensive 1999 Report on Al-Qaeda Threat Released by U.S. Dept of Energy, Taliban Told U.S. They Wanted to Bomb Washington

With backlinks to the PDF's and more links in the sidebar on the left.

On Saturday, in arguing for a strong defense of Georgia in its struggles with Russia, McCain twice noted that Georgia is a Christian nation - perhaps to distinguish it from other crumbling pieces of the former Soviet Union that are Muslim, such as Chechnya and Azerbaijan.

Such comments may pass unnoticed by most American voters and may be reassuring to some religious Christians and Jews. They may even go over well with some secular Americans who are pleased that he is using more inclusive language than some members of the religious right.

But his repeated invocation of "Judeo-Christian values" is sure to stick in the ears of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and people of other non-Christian, non-Jewish faiths. And they're sure to be asking themselves: Just what is McCain trying to tell us?

  (you place the CD into the player)

  (sounds of ocean waves rumbling)

  (soft, piano music begins playing)

OBAMA: Welcome to the Self-Help Hypnosis Series.  I'm Barack Obama, and I want to help you overcome your problem of voting for idiots.

I caught 10-15 minutes of the FOX program, "Presidential Character: Obama," and those minutes may have changed my life.  The program uses clips from the audiobook of Dreams to highlight each time period of Obama's life, and also includes interviews with journalists who have covered Obama, and interviews with people from his past.

I found this program very inspiring.  The way FOX chose Obama's words to support its hints that Obama is a radical, race-obsessed guy with a very un-American background -- it was spectacular!  This innovative journalism speaks to me, and has moved me to become a FOX journalist.

Here is my first piece as a FOX reporter, using Obama's other published book, The Audacity of Hope, in that innovative FOX style.

Cross-posted (with some mods from MuslimMatters.org)

A new chapter in the long and painful saga of the "War on Terror" has been revealed to the public. The facts are murky, the details impossible to confirm.

While there are several possibilities, there is one that most will find almost impossible to believe. We are not ready to believe that Dr. Aafia is a star terrorist-- a claim that is ironically being jointly pushed by both the US Government and Al-Qaeda. Why are these opposing sides pushing forth this nearly consistent portrait? The answer lies in each group's malicious agenda.

It's been awhile since I've posted anything here, but now that I am finding some time to do so, I have something that is a bit provocative. It's a trailer for a movie called Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West. I admit that I have mixed feelings about the subject in general. But I thought the movie would still be worth a look.