Love the riffage.  I'm actually reminded of Sabbath's "Supernaut," given recent polling data.

Oh, and regarding Jews, this may be of some anecdotal interest:

"Jews Are Obama's Base, Not His Problem."

I've long felt that one of the candidates should promise Gore the post of Secretary of the Interior.  It's a pure-policy position (i.e. without the patina of electoral sleaze Gore hates) that would enable Gore to spearhead exactly the sorts of reforms he believes are critical, and would seriously galvanize young voters.

It feels like a Bob Dole kinda year for the GOP, don't it?

... of this discussion about which candidate has the best demographic-mobilizing superpowers, the hardiest resistance to Rovian kryptonite, the tightest resume or the cheapest haircut.

Don't take this the wrong way, but f*** the candidates.  As a progressive-liberal movement we should be viewing them as vehicles for OUR platform, not as the political equivalent of a dazzling new product nor as saviors who will anoint us with their vision.

We are the wave.  They're just a freakin' boat.

Hillary could be that boat.  Or Barack or Edwards or Gore or anyone else who has the political gumption to win.

But let's be grownups and acknowledge that by virtue of the fact that they seek the presidency, these are sharp operators at best and sociopaths at worst.  

I know, I know -- You like them.  They have pretty teeth.  They smiled at you once during a rally in Pittsburgh and you're ready to follow them to the ends of the earth. But even the most spiritual and compassionate among them is a survivor in a world of the most brutal calculation.  Think about that.

We must never pin our hopes on them.  We should instead be focusing on how to create an opportunity that a talented candidate can ride to victory, and then making sure that OUR vision is front and center.

Otherwise our best-case scenario is to win an election and put in place a comparatively less reactionary administration.  But I don't want someone who's going to turn the fascism machine two clicks to the left.  I want someone who's going to take a sledgehammer to it.

And that sure as shit isn't going to happen unless we provide the sledgehammer.  

I totally agree -- I saw Huckabee on Stewart and he impressed the hell out of me.  I LIKED him, and I'm a stone liberal.  He has a soft-spoken, common-sense veneer that's reminiscent of a kindly school principal, and is able to flash his evangelical bona fides in a way that's reminiscent, in some respects, of Obama.  He says stuff like "I'm pro-life, but life doesn't end at birth.  We have to provide our citizens with health care ... "  He'd be much harder to attack than a smarmy wingnut in the Frist-Brownback mold.

Here's a beauty of a headline from the L.A. Times: McCain's War Stance Alienates Many.  I couldn't have said it better myself. The story's been up for less than a day.