SAY IT IS SO, JOE! OBAMA PICKS BIDEN!!!

God, the wait is finally over! And the winner is ...... JOE BIDEN, Democratic Senator from Delaware. Well, we now have a Democratic vice-presidential running mate for Barack Obama. And a good one at that. While there may be doubts about Biden's sometimes locquaciousness and tendency to embellish the facts a bit (his 1988 presidential run cut short by plageurism), still in all he has solid foreign policy credentials and is known to be his own man and speak his own mind. He doesn't waffle like the Mighty "Citizen" McCainster.

A short video of both men's remarks at Springfield, Illinois this afternoon follow:

The following is an excerpt from Biden's hometown paper - The Delaware Journal:

"This guy gets the big picture more intuitively and intellectually than anyone I've worked with," said the 36-year senator. "So hopeflly I can help fill in some of the blanks. Hopefully I can fill in some of the details."

"The one thing I'm convinced of is that Barack Obama is actually looking for somebody to be a partner in the sense that, someone who when the door's closed will give him his honest unvarnished opinion and who will the support the judgment he makes," he said. "I look forward...to a great relationship."

The McCain campaign immediately launched an attack ad within minutes of the news of the selection of Biden as the Democratic vice presidential running mate.

In the words of the McCain campaign:

"There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden," McCain campaign spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement. "Biden has denounced Barack Obama's poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing — that Barack Obama is not ready to be president."

That may be so, but as we all know Hillary Clinton has been saying that about Barack Obama all along and at a far more prodigious rate.

Obama and Biden will be off on a 5-state road tour of the midwest starting later on today with the intent of launching the Fall campaign off in a big way through the crucial swing-states of the upper midwest.

One thing that John McCain cannot afford to do is go overly-critical of Joe Biden because John McCain may very well pick Mitt Romney for his vice-presidential running mate and we know what Romney said about McCain during the primaries.

All in all the democrats look extremely well positioned for the Fall election and barring a collosal breakdown between now and November the White House should witness an incoming Democratic administration along with -hopefully - a veto-proof Senate to quickly undo the damage done by the worst presidential administration in U.S. history.

Bye, bye to the McCain "straight-talk" express and hello to the "just-in-time" presidency of Barack Obama.

JOHN - WING-NUT MCCAIN: PROJECT IRAQ WILL SINK HIS CAMPAIGN

For John McCain, Iraq troop withdrawal "must be based on conditions on the ground". In that case we may very well be in Iraq for 100 years. If by conditions on the ground you mean can Iraqi society function as a full-fledged open society than we will be there for many decades to come. The violence is down but only because the walls have gone up all over Baghdad separating Sunni neighborhoods from Shiite areas.

There are no easy methods for extracting U.S. troops from Iraq but it has to be done and done soon. Obama's 16-month timetable is a very realistic and attainable goal. John McCain has no solutions but is only interested in protecting his flank and that of the president.

To quote McCain's disparaging observations on Barack Obama's Iraq stance:

"someone who has no military experience whatsoever."

"When you win wars, troops come home," McCain said. "He's been completely wrong on the issue. ... I have been steadfast in my position."

"We've succeeded. We're not succeeding, we've succeeded,".

And then McCain has the nerve to even bring up Afghanistan, a subject he has never seriously considered until now:

"I've always said it's long and tough and hard."

Such mendacity is simply too much. McCain has never given any serious consideration to the importance of Afghanistan. His entire presidential "crusade" has been all about Iraq. McCain sees no timeline when it comes to a U.S. troop withdrawal. He only sees a permanent presence and he dismisses Barack Obama as an impudent upstart who calls for a fixed timeline. Obama actually points out that Afghanistan, not Iraq, is the central battleground of the war on terror and that the American troop pull-out from Iraq should be completed by 2010.

McCain's entire reason for running for president has now been all but extinguished. This past weekend Obama met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki who virtually endorsed Obama's troop withdrawal plan. If that wasn't the death knell of the McCain campaign then it came very close.

John McCain is no maverick, if he really was he never would have promoted the "surge" strategy back in early 2007. He made his bed, now he must lie in it.

FISA DEAD - ALONG WITH 4TH AMENDMENT! WAY TO GO NANNY PELOSI!!!

A major step was taken backward - Constitutionally - on Friday when the U.S. House of Representatives voted 293-129 to pass an updated FISA bill. While nominally not granting immunity to telecom companies who participated in illegal surveillance of Americans after September 11, 2001, it literally amounts to that as final approval rests with U.S. District Courts.

All that is required of them is to "rubber stamp" approval if such surveillance was done under the President's express authorization as demonstrated by certification from the U.S. Attorney General. Nothing more is required. A judge is free to dismiss any lawsuit. In effect, "blanket immunity."

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi stayed away from this topic. Instead, she turned the reins over to House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer (Dem-MD). Hoyer was only too eager to reach a "compromise" with House Republicans.

To quote directly from Dan Robinson (Capitol Hill)- Voice of America --- 20 June 2008

"Among key points of the new law, electronic eavesdropping without court approval would be permitted in what are designated as emergencies, allowing the government to submit justifications within one week."

"It requires court permission and establishment of probable cause for surveillance of Americans overseas, and prohibits a process in which the communications of a U.S. citizen could be monitored without court approval by targeting a foreigner."

Court permission is the operative concept here. But as previously pointed out - that is a mere formality as all that is required for approval is for the U.S. Attorney General to provide mere certification of the Presidential authorization for such activity. Nothing more. No reasons, justifications or extenuating circumstances. Just plain and simple "Presidential Authorization." Basically, if the president says it must be done, then that is all the courts need to know to grant constitutional authority for such surveillance.

I don't know about you but I tend to value my right to privacy, in all "effects." Communications of a personal nature would fall under that category. Communications of American citizens to other parties should remain private unless expressly and definitively shown otherwise. Merely exercising the prerogative of the President to declare national necessity does not suffice and is but the first step toward the all-inclusive Big Brother World.

Nancy Pelosi should be booted out of office. She has thrown away any reason to continue in office as Speaker of the House of Representatives. It is total and complete capitulation in the face of a president with the highest disapproval ratings in modern U.S. history (71%) and a political star like Barack Obama well poised to occupy the White House in January 2009.

Why, Nancy, why?