Now that McCain has a one-on-one battle ahead of him with Barack Obama- a battle complete with a series of debates- the entire country will have the opportunity to see what an arrogant, uninformed, aggressive little prick McCain is.

When asked this week when he thought troops might be leaving Iraq, McCain replied, “that’s not too important.”

While some were stunned by the remark, it shouldn’t have come as any surprise to those who heard him say “Make it a hundred (years),” when asked to reply to George Bush’s plan for a 50-year occupation of Iraq.

Of course, McCain’s views on Iraq are just one illustration of what goes on in his warped, angry little head.

McCain, you will recall dumped his first wife while she was still recovering for a disfiguring car accident. McCain had married her when she was a swimsuit model. But now that she could barely walk and had put on weight, McCain began an affair with Cindy and married her just one month after the divorce.

Of course, Cindy has not been spared all of McCain’s nasty misogyny. “At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you c*nt,” was his lovely response to Cindy’s remark about his thinning hair.

How about McCain on the economy?

“The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should. I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”

Or, what about McCain as the man who builds bridges in the Senate?

“F**k you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room.” –to fellow Republican Senator John Cornyn when discussing immigration.

“No, I’m calling you a f*cking jerk.” -to Senator Chuck Grassley (another Republican colleague), when Grassley asked “Are you calling me stupid?”

“Only an a**hole would put together a budget like this … I wouldn’t call you an a**hole unless you really were an a**hole.” –to Pete Domenici, Budget Committee Chairman.

Or, how about McCain’s plan for Katrina relief?

“We should be able to deliver bottled hot water to dehydrated babies.” Or, how about McCain, the many of tact and good taste?

Or how about McCain’s wonderful sense of humor?

“You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.” 

“I had something picked out for you, too - a little IED (improvised explosive device) to put on your desk.” –as a guest on Jon Stewart

“Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father.” –said at a 1998 Republican fundraiser.

McCain has never been able to keep his mouth shut, his anger under control, or his vitriol hidden… and that is why Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States.

Cheney may be a war criminal, he may have been the mastermind behind virtually every George W. Bush policy debacle, he may have held the Constitution and Bill of Rights in contempt… but Cheney showed us that the position of Vice President can be one that commands great power and influence.

Barack Obama is going to need an exceptionally qualified vice president.

In this age, presidents need as many quality and qualified advisors at their disposal. A vice president should complement the president in terms of expertise and experience. A person should not be appointed as a vice president merely because they can deliver a swing state or appeal to a particular constituency.

Most importantly, a vice president should be presidential in their own right.

Lyndon Johnson was able to step into the presidency because of his many years of leadership in the Senate. Imagine what life would have been like under a Dan Quayle presidency?

For all of these reasons, Delaware Senator Joe Biden would be an excellent choice for vice president.

Nobody questions Biden’s experience. He is in his sixth term in the Senate. He has served as chairman of two of the most critical Senate committees, Judiciary and Foreign Relations. Over the years he has championed the causes of workers, women, minorities and children.

Biden has not just been an opponent of the war in Iraq, he has visited the country multiple times, meeting with senior military and political leaders. Of all of the candidates, Biden had the most detailed and reasoned positions on the Iraq War, offering a clear plan for withdrawal and a practical plan for political stability in the region following our withdrawal.

Obviously, Biden’s foreign policy credentials fill in a major gap in Obama’s resume.

In terms of the practicalities of the campaign, Biden would be a huge asset. He is a tremendous debater and orator. A middle-aged Catholic out of a working-class background, Biden appeals to many of the voters that Obama has had difficulty connecting with. While coming out of Delaware is a definite disadvantage, Biden is very popular in neighboring Pennsylvania, a key swing state in the election.

Most importantly, Biden is a man of unquestioned integrity. As an advisor to Obama, Biden would not only be a terrific sounding board, but he would also be brutally honest- the way a real advisor should be.

Others may position themselves as a “dream” candidate for the Vice Presidency, but this is no time for dreaming. The harsh realities of the day point to only one perfect candidate for the job- Joe Biden. 

In the great Charles Dickens’ novel, Miss Havisham, a wealthy and powerful woman, was left at the altar. The disappointment so profound, that she snapped. Miss Havisham never removed her wedding dress and stopped all of the clocks in her house to reflect the exact moment she was spurned.

She was left manic, demented and bitter beyond belief. Unable to forgive her personal disappointment, she vowed only to create pain and havoc in the lives of others.

Which brings me to Hillary.

Hillary came into the Democratic Presidential campaign positive not only that she would win, but would win in a landslide. Her campaign, in fact, had no real post-February plans because the race was supposed to be over by then.

But, her loss to Barack Obama in Iowa was a stunning blow. That blow was followed long streak of defeats in February. By April, the writing was on the wall. Last night, the final stake was nailed through the heart of the Clinton campaign.

You might have expected Clinton to finally concede last night, but she refused to.

She refuses to accept defeat or even act like there is a chance she won’t be our next president. Hillary has stopped all of her mental clocks to the night of February 5, a night when California voters showed her some love.

It was the high point of her campaign and, somewhere in her head, she believes she’s still on top of the world. She talks about all the states she won, she talks about the popular vote, and all the good people who’s prayers she carries on her shoulders.

She can’t deal with the fact that Barack Obama has clinched the nomination. And she certainly won’t be able accept that he is our president… and not her.

You can almost imagine her, locked in the house in Chappaqua, forever wearing the dress she would have worn to her inauguration… and never taking it off.

Like Miss Havisham, Hillary’s dreams may not be achieved until the next generation. Just as Miss Havisham groomed her adopted daughter to Estella to break men’s hearts, perhaps Hillary will take Chelsea under her wing and teach her the cold/hard realities of politics.

Perhaps one day, Clelsea will break some candidate’s heart the way her mother’s heart was broken. And how sweet will the revenge be, then?

Fortunately, McClellan has been vilified from voices all over the political spectrum. This morning, Tim Russert eviscerated McClellan, using McClellan’s own words to tear him to pieces.

Russert was able to come up with a wonderful clip of McClellan standing at the podium, discussing “Agaiunst All Enemies” the book written by Counterintelligence Chief Richard Clarke. Clarke’s,  a book that attacked the Bush White House:

MR. McCLELLAN:  Why all the sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner?  This is one and a half years after he left the administration, and now all of the sudden he’s raising these grave concerns that he claims he had.

He has written a book, and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book.

MR. RUSSERT:  You could be describing yourself.

MR. McCLELLAN:  I could.  And, in fact, that is, I think, the White House reaction today about me.  Let me tell you a couple things.  One, I got caught up in the Washington permanent campaign culture just like everybody else.

By the time Russert was done with McClellan, McClellan was sheepish, apologetic, but as smug as ever.

Former Senator Bob, Dole, a man who I almost never agree with, captured McClellan perfectly. Dole sent the following e-mail to McClellan:

“There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues.  No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, spurned on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique.  In my nearly 36 years of public service, I’ve known a few like you.  …

“You should have spoken up publicly like a man, or quit your cushy, high profile job.  That would have taken integrity and courage but then you’ve had–would have had credibility and your complaints could have been aired objectively.  You’re a hot ticket now but don’t you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?”

Of Course, Mcclellan’s response was a simple, No.

The fact remains: McClellan was an integral part of the propaganda machine that helped launch and fuel the was in Iraq. The blood of thousands or American soldiers and Iraqi citizens is on his hands. Now, with his book, McClellan not only attempts to wash his hands clean, he is profiting greatly from his own despicable actions.

Moveon.org has come up with a remarkable solution. They are calling upon McClellan to donate the profits from his book to organizations that assist Iraq war veterans. The following is a statement from their Web site:

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has a new book out in which he admits that Bush misled the nation into war. Coming clean is great–but profiting from lying to the public isn’t. McClellan was a critical part of the effort to sell us the war and now he’s poised to make millions of dollars for it. That’s wrong.

That’s why we’re calling on him to donate the proceeds of his book to a group that helps Iraq veterans, like IAVA. McClellan’s going to be on all the news shows this weekend and if we can make lots of noise about this he’ll probably get asked about it. Can you add your name?

A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

Here is the wording of the petition:

“People who helped lie this country into an unnecessary war should not be rewarded for it. Scott McClellan should donate all the proceeds from his book to a group that helps Iraq veterans–like Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.”

To add your name to the petition, please go HERE.

If McClellan would comply… it would be a small step in the right direction. Sadly, everything we know about McClellan’s character tells us that not a single penny of his profits will go anywhere outside of McClellan’s bank account.

It’s not just offensive, it’s criminal.

McClellan’s book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” as everyone knows by now, tells of deception, lies and propaganda in the George Bush White House. McClellan gets to play the hero in this little tale: the poor, loyal public servant who was deceived by his bosses into being the spokesman for the atrocities of the Bush administration.

Sounds an awful lot like the post-war Nazis who claimed they were only following orders.

Thousands upon thousands are dead or wounded because of the policies and lies of Bush and his cronies. McClellan was happy to be the spokesman for those policies, defending torture, murder and mayhem. He manipulated and deceived the press on an almost daily basis. In his book, remarkably, McClellan chastises the press for not being sufficiently persistent.

Furthermore, McClellan takes no responsibility for his actions. 

His biggest concession? “I allowed myself to be deceived into unknowingly passing along a falsehood…”

My God! That was his job description. He was paid- with taxpayer money- to pass along falsehoods. He acts shocked that Bush carried on a propaganda campaign for the Iraq War. He wants us to believe that the President’s press secretary was not involved in any of the planning or execution of that propaganda campaign.

If the way Bush and his cronies were conducting themselves bothered McClellan at all, he had plenty of ways of dealing with it:

* He could have taken his concerns directly to the President. Many press secretaries have served as advisors and confidants to their presidents.

* He could have quit quietly, realizing he no longer had the stomach to spew lies on a daily basis.

* He could have made his feelings known to the American people, not in a best-selling book (out just in time for Father’s Day), but in public statements. If he wanted to serve the American people, he should have made his feelings known in 2006 and not 2008.

McClellan helped convince America to go to war. Now he’s trying to prove to us that he’s a hero.

We won’t be fooled again. 

Much of White America will not vote for Barack Obama purely on the basis of his race. We have seen that in West Virginia. We have seen it in Kentucky. We will see it on a grand scale come the general election.

John McCain has tried to exploit race. Hillary Clinton has shamelessly played the race card in her desperate attempt to gain the Democratic Party’s nomination.

We may have come a long way since Brown v. Board of Education, but recent events demonstrate that we still have a long, long road ahead of us.

The race card is not the sole province of White America, though. Every race has been guilty of playing the race card and everyone who employs it is every bit as culpable and despicable as the bigoted Whites.

Let’s take the example of New York Mets manager Willie Randolph. Randolph played the race card last week and it was every bit as offensive as the racist statements made by reactionary Whites and some of the more subtle racism employed by the anti-Obama campaigns. 

For two decades, Randolph has been a fixture in the New York sports scene. Randolph had a terrific playing career with the New York Yankees and coached for 11 years in the Yankees organization. Randolph interviewed for several managing jobs and was rejected. Did racism play a part? Based on baseball’s horrible track record with minority hiring- there’s no question that race played a part in some of those decisions. 

Finally, in 2005, Randolph was named as the manager of the New York Mets. His managing career got off to a solid start. In 2005, the Mets won 15 more games than they had won in 2004. In 2006, the Mets won the National League’s Eastern Division title before being upset by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. Last year, things began to unravel. With the National League’s highest payroll, the Mets got off to a great start, then unraveled in the final weeks of the season. Blowing a seven-game lead with 17 games to play, the Mets took their place in the pantheon of epic failures.

This season, despite adding one of the best pitchers in baseball, the Mets are playing terribly. Virtually to a man, they are underachieving. Worst of all, they are playing sloppy, disinterested baseball. They seem clueless when it comes to the fundamentals of the game. Physical errors are excusable, but the amount of mental errors is embarrassing.

Worst of all, there is no accountability. Players who fail to run out balls are not disciplined. Players are undisciplined at the plate. When relief pitchers fail to deliver- over and over again- Willie continues to ride with them.

There are many things a manager can’t control. But there is a whole lot he is paid to control. Randolph, blessed with one of the most talented rosters in baseball, has failed to take care of the matters that are in his hands.

The result has been predictable and appropriate. The New York media has been calling for his head and members of the Mets ownership have expressed both publicly and privately their concerns.

Randolph’s response has been to lash out. He claims that his record as the Mets’ manager is stellar, saying, “My track record speaks for itself. We had a horrible meltdown last year, but prior to that we were the best team in baseball.”

Isn’t it part of the manager’s job to avoid “horrible meltdowns?”

Taking little or no responsibility for his team’s failures, Randolph has gone on the offensive- claiming that the criticism against him is not based on his performance, but is based on the color of his skin.

“Is it racial?” Randolph asked. “Huh? It smells a little bit.”

Randolph backed this up by saying the attacks on Isaiah Thomas, perhaps the worst executive/coach in New York sports history, were also racially motivated. This is not only absurd, it is so damaging to everyone who faces real racism.

Racism is rampant and destructive in this country. But, to paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., judge Willie Randolph by the quality of her performance and not by the color of his skin. Based on any color-blind judgment, Randolph has failed and must be replaced.

Randolph’s statements not only bring discredit to him, but gives ammunition to every racist who refuses to vote for Obama based on race. Arguments like the ones made by Randolph serve to undermine so much good that has gone before him.

To all of the Hillary supporters who say they will vote for John McCain rather than Barack Obama- You are insane.

I understand that in the heat of battle, there is a tendecy to demonize your competition. Hillary supporters can’t stand Obama and Obama supporters despise Hillary. But, now that the race is over (yes, Hillary… it is over), it is time for Hillary supporters to ditch the venom and embrace Obama.

With all of the acrimony in the campaign, everyone seems to forget that Hillary and Obama agree upon virtually every major policy, while the two of them stand in stark contrast to McCain:

WAR IN IRAQ: Both Hillary and Obama have called for a rapid withdrawal of American forces. McCain, on the other hand, not only believes in staying, he has made it abundantly clear that he would escalate hostilities.

ABORTION: Both Hillary and Obama are strong supporters of a woman’s right to choose. McCain has made overturning Roe v. Wade one of the key items on his political agenda.

JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS: This may be the most critical issue of all, because of the long-term ramifications. McCain will appoint Supreme Court Justices in the John Alito and John Roberts mold. They will overturn Roe v. Wade. They will sacrifice civil liberties in the name of “security.” And they will side with money and power over people and justice. The damage will go deeper than this. McCain will stock the Circuit Courts and District Courts with deeply conservative judges. Hillary and Obama would be seating justices more in the Ruth Bader Ginsburg mold.

EDUCATION: McCain has been silent on the issue of education. His enormous military budget and his pledge not to raise taxes leaves little room for funding education. Hillary and Obama have both made education a priority in their campaigns.

RACE RELATIONS, GENDER ISSUES AND TOLERANCE: McCain voted against making Martin Luther King’s birthday a national holiday. McCain called his wife a c**t. Obama and Hillary represent tolerance and inclusion.

CHILDREN: The Children’s Defense Fund gave McCain the lowest rating of anyone in the Senate. His 10% rating is in stark comparison to both Hillary (70%) and Obama (60%).

TORTURE: Even though he was a victim of torture, McCain gleefully supported George Bush’s veto of the anti-torture bill. Obama and Hillary have both come out strongly against waterboarding and other forms of torture used by the US military and intelligence agencies.

ENVIRONMENT: Both Hillary (73%) and Obama (67%) received high grades on their environmental voting records by the League of Conservation Voters. McCain’s score? 0%.

All of the above underscores the remarkable similarities (in terms of political stances) between Hillary and Obama and the stunning difference between both Democratic candidates and McCain. It just doesn’t make any sense for a Hillary supporter to choose McCain over Obama.

Hillary can play a critical role in bringing her supporters under the Obama umbrella. If she has any decency, any real belief in her political positions, then she will fight like hell for Obama… and the time to start fighting is NOW.

Maybe I’m just missing the point.

Someone needs to explain to me what terrible thing happens when we meet directly with our enemies. What is so terrible about diplomacy being an integral part of foreign policy?

Barack Obama is being vilified, ridiculed and crucified for his belief that we have a better chance of achieving peace when we talk with our enemies as opposed to the position of both the Bush administration and the John McCain candidacy that such discussions are tantamount to treason.

Here’s what McCain had to say on the issue:

“I have news for Senator Obama, I have met some very bad people before in my life. It is not fear that drives my opposition to unconditional meetings with Ahmadinejad, Khamenei, Kim Jong-Il, and Raul Castro. Rather, it is my clear understanding that such a course will fail to eliminate the threat posed by these rogue regimes. I don’t fear to negotiate. Instead, I have the knowledge and experience to understand the dangerous consequences of a naive approach to presidential summits based entirely on emotion.”

While this is certainly tough talk, McCain never answers the basic question- why? 

Exactly why won’t this course work? Why is it naive? Why are there dangerous consequences to talking?

And, on the other side of the coin, how does avoiding any meaningful talks bring us any closer to peace or resolution?

President Bush called such discussions “appeasement.” But what part of a face-to-face airing of differences amounts to appeasement? Bush’s policy of not talking with foreign leaders hasn’t exactly led us down the path to peace. Instead, relations with virtually every other country in the world- both our enemies and our allies- have deteriorated under the Bush presidency.

Didn’t Richard Nixon talk with Mao? Didn’t Ronald Reagan talk with Gorbachev? Didn’t John Kennedy talk to Nikita Khrushchev?

Didn’t those talks lead us to better relationships with our most mortal enemies? Didn’t those talks help put a nuclear encounter on the back burner?

Is there someone out here who can explain to me exactly what terrible things happen with enemies deal with each other on a face-to-face basis? What can possibly be more dangerous than the policy of attack first, talk later (if ever)?

Somebody, please fill me in.

A battle that has seemingly taken longer than the 100 Years War, will end with a whimper this evening.

When the smoke clears from the Kentucky and Oregon primaries, Barack Obama will emerge with a guarantee that he will hold the majority of pledged delegates at the Democratic Party Convention. That is the ultimate clincher.

Obama will be gracious… and cautious. He will not claim victory- it won’t be “official” until the Superdelegates gets off of their asses and commit- but he will note that the people have spoken. And they have. But, tonight, when he addresses the crowd in Iowa, Obama will be taking his victory lap.

Hillary Clinton, like the proverbial scorpion, will protest. Unable to shed her nature (and her ego) will not be listening. You will hear from her tonight how her overwhelming victory in Kentucky makes her the most electable candidate and you will hear from her that the disenfranchised voters of Michigan and Florida must be counted. You will hear that if she was playing by Republican rules, she’d be the winner.

That’s exactly the problem. Hillary has been playing by the Republican rules throughout her campaign. Right out of the Rove playbook, Hillary’s campaign has been fueled on fear and racism. That’s why she was such a hit in West Virginia last week and that’s why she’ll win a landslide tonight in Kentucky. Hillary has proved that she is the candidate of the lowest common denominator.

When it comes to the national campaign, the Demoicratic Party must aspire to something higher. The lowest common denominator gave us an unwinnable war in Iraq, a miserable economy and a country still bitterly divided.

Americ deserves something better. With an Obama presidency, we can have something better.

Because Hillary remains stubborn, we will continue to go through the motions of finishing out the primaries. On June 3, when the last American has been given the chance to vote, the race will officially end. The Superdelegates will come out of hibernation and give Obama the 2,026 pledged delegates he needs to officially clinch. Nobody wants an ugly scene at the Convention, and there won’t be one.

What happens then?

Hillary may be vicious and egocentric, but she’s not stupid. Once there is no mathematical chance for victory, she will take her spot on the Obama bandwagon. Most likely, she will leap onto it, acting as if all of her vicious attacks were just part of the game. No harm, no foul.

She may have done everything in her power to destroy Obama’ chances for victory in November, but the one thing she won’t do is commit political suicide… even if it kills her to play nice.

That’s the good news.

Two Hundred and Forty-Five days.

That’s the bad news.

If you haven’t figured it out already, the 245 days are the number of days George Bush has left in office. While it’s nice to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, it is terrifying to think about how much more damage Bush can do in his final eight months.

Undeterred by his miserable approval ratings, Bush is unwilling to let his presidency quietly expire. To the contrary, he appears hell bent on going out with a bang… looking for the elusive defining moment in his presidency. 

A bit late in the game, Bush has decided that his legacy will be a lasting peace in the Middle East. His ambitious goal is for an accord between Israel and the Palestinians in place by the end of 2008.  While the goal is an admirable one, Bush clearly has no idea of how to reach it. 

This is the same George Bush who has been in office since 2001 and didn’t even bother visiting Israel until 2008. Now he wants to wave a magic wand over the region and create peace out of thin air.

Nice plan. Unfortunately, it has all of the depth and detail of a Miss America speech.

Bush’s Kumbaya scenario- with Israelis and Palestinians holding hands and living in complete harmony- doesn’t include any discussions with Hamas. It also doesn’t take into account that both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have only weak support from their own people. And it certainly doesn’t take into account the fact that violence in the region is getting worse every day.

Of course, Bush has never let facts or reality get in the way of his policies.

Bush’s plan is to have all of the young Palestinians surf the Web (he actually said this) just to see how great life is in America and how much fun it is to live in a democracy. Give every Palestinian teenager a page on Facebook and they will immediately kick Hamas out and embrace both democracy and Israel.

Perhaps we should also ship them IPods loaded with songs from the Beach Boys, Brittney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. That all-American music should do the trick. 

Bush’s arrogance was in rare form during last week’s trip to the Middle East.

“America is deeply concerned about the plight of political prisoners in this region, as well as democratic activists who are intimidated or repressed, newspapers and civil society organizations that are shut down, and dissidents whose voices are stifled,” Bush said to area leaders. “Too often in the Middle East, politics has consisted of one leader in power and the opposition in jail.”

This hypocrisy is almost astounding. Political prisoners? Shutting down newspapers? Imprisoning the opposition? Now… why do those things sound so familiar?

Having Bush as the spokesman for democracy is like having Pat Buchanan as the spokesman for the United Jewish Appeal.

There was a time when American presidents had the kind of diplomatic skills and gravitas to broker a peace. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had it. Bill Clinton had it.

George Bush… forget it.

Peace is possible in the Middle East, but we can’t even begin to hope for it… at least not for the next 245 days.