Larry LaRocco, running for U.S. Senate in Idaho, is holding a LIVE online video town hall meeting at 3pm ET today.  

You can watch -- and ask your questions -- right here:

crossposted at daily kos

You will find that my demands are not unreasonable and are consistent with the progressive platform that you have advocated since you entered the political stage.

It seems that the past weeks did portray John McCain as a serial liar.  The list is long but I'll try to list some of the areas that jumped at me.

Just shortly Iran test-fired some missiles this week, McCain came out to claim that the test was conducted by the Revolutionary Guards that he (McCain) voted to label a terrorist group.  

McCain said: "It's my understanding that this missile test was conducted by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This is the same organization that I voted to condemn as a terrorist organization when a amendment was on the floor of the United States Senate. Senator Obama refused to vote, called it provocative. Called it a provocative step. And the fact is, this is a terrorist organization and should have been branded as such."
http://mediamatters.org/items/2008071000 08

Well it turned out that he did not vote on the bill - a bold face LIE.  Media Matters has the video and the comments from CNN  

Then there was the lie about his time as POW in Vietnam, replacing the Greenbay Packers in his famous book with the Pittsburg Steelers at an interview event in Pennsylvania.  ABC has this on the story:

"In Pennsylvania, McCain Tells a New Version of Heroic P.O.W. Story -- Subbing the Pittsburgh Steelers for the Green Bay Packers"  
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/ 2008/07/in-pennsylvania.html
It's a lie of Tuzla proportion.  It's McCain's Sniper-Fire moment.

Again on his votes in the Senate, McCain could not admit that he voted against measures that would have forced the insurance companies to give women a pill choice as they gave men a Viagra choice:  
"I certainly do not want to discuss that issue," the Arizona senator said aboard his "Straight Talk Express" bus in Ohio when asked about his views on health insurance covering the medication.

However, the record was presented to him and he refused to acknowledge it:

McCain has voted against Senate measures that sought to require insurance companies to cover birth control medication.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/200 8/07/10/mccain-avoids-viagra-question/

Then McCain claimed that he did not say that he don't understand economic as he should.  Think Progress has it here:
 This week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is traveling through Colombia, making a push for a free-trade agreement. In an interview with ABC this morning from Cartagena, McCain was asked about his now infamous statement that he doesn't understand economics well. McCain quickly interrupted the interviewer, denying he ever said this:
Q: You have admitted that you're not exactly an expert when it comes to the economy and many have said -
McCAIN: I have not. I have not. Actually, I have not. I said that I am stronger on national security issues because of all the time I spent in the military. I'm very strong on the economy. I understand it. I have a lot more experience than my opponent.
But here is what McCain said in January 2008:
McCain: I Never Said That I Don't Know Much About Economics»
This week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is traveling through Colombia, making a push for a free-trade agreement. In an interview with ABC this morning from Cartagena, McCain was asked about his now infamous statement that he doesn't understand economics well. McCain quickly interrupted the interviewer, denying he ever said this:
Q: You have admitted that you're not exactly an expert when it comes to the economy and many have said -
McCAIN: I have not. I have not. Actually, I have not. I said that I am stronger on national security issues because of all the time I spent in the military. I'm very strong on the economy. I understand it. I have a lot more experience than my opponent.  
In fact, McCain and his advisers have repeatedly admitted that he is weak on economic issues:
"The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should," McCain said. "I've got Greenspan's book." [December 2007]
Seeking to explain his shift on economic issues, McCain claimed: "I didn't pay nearly the attention to those issues in the past. I was probably a 'supply-sider' based on the fact that I really didn't jump into the issue." [January 2000]
Carly Fiorina, a top McCain adviser, acknowledged that McCain has said he knows little about the economy, noting that "he did say it one time, no question, maybe twice." [6/10/08] http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/02/mcca in-dodge-economics/

McCain also lied about his divorce in his famous-book.  Here is the LA Times take on McCain divorce saga:
1.    McCain said in his 2000 book, "I spent as much time with Cindy in Washington and Arizona as our jobs would allow," McCain wrote. "I was separated from Carol, but our divorce would not become final until February of 1980.".  This indicated that he had separated from Carol before he began dating Hensley.  But according to court documents,  McCain did not sue his wife for divorce until Feb. 19, 1980, and he wrote in his court petition that he and his wife had "cohabited" until Jan. 7 of that year -- or for the first nine months of his relationship with Hensley.
2.    LA Times also write that, "Although McCain suggested in his autobiography that months passed between his divorce and remarriage, the divorce was granted April 2, 1980, and he wed Hensley in a private ceremony five weeks later. McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife."  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/ nation/la-na-divorce11-2008jul11,0,59249 26,full.story

McCain even lied on the Veterans.  A Kossack blogged about it here:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/8/1 42125/0361/907/548283

And on and on the list goes to more and more and more lies.

A late term abortion without justification is murder.
Unless the mother's life or physical health is in danger, the baby should be allowed to live and his/her life should be protected by law. The little baby has a right to live like each one of us.  Mental distress; we all have that at work from time to time.
It should not be reason enough to kill a baby.  Do you cut off one of your arms whenever you're mentally distressed from work or family?

No defenseless baby deserves to die for the Mom's temporal mental distress.

Did anyone review McCain's latest Economic plan and its fantasies including how he plans to balance the budget in four years using "Victory gains" from deficit financing of Iraq and Afghanistan wars?

Go to show you that McCain has no clue when it comes to economics.

SusanG at Kos said it best:  
"just because I stop charging on my credit card doesn't mean I'm suddenly making income to pay off the debt I've run up, does it?"

So the next time John McCain admits that he knows nothing about economics, better believe him.

I am looking at Morning Joe this Monday and all I have seen is a continual bashing of Senator Obama.

Everything has been negative - his efforts to expand his base has been touted negatively (guns, faith based orgs);

The FISA website at barackobama.com is being cited as proof of unrest among his consitutents;

He has not moved his position on Iraq, but it's construed by the MSM (especially on Morning JOe)that he has;

Another day in the neighborhood. Time to rev up the Democratic base!

There has been a lot of talk this week about Obama's sudden lurch to the right. While it is fun to watch his supporters run around waving their hands in the air and crying, we must not become too complacent.

Most of this week's accusations of flip-flopping have been a little weak on substance. Guns, no real change, but we can still throw it in there to add to the count. The same holds true for abortion, death penalty, and NAFTA. I wish we had stronger claims for a "lurch" to the right on these, but maybe if we keep bringing them up no one will really notice.

The biggie is FISA. Hopefully, no one will notice that the bill in question was passed in the House and not in the Senate. They also might not notice that Obambi said he was still against immunity and would work to remove it in the Senate version. Don't give up, guys and gals, keep pounding on this one. It's our best shot.

The more we work to defeat this horrible candidate the less traction we seem to be able to get. It's time we reviewed some of our tactics and discussed new, more effective ones. During the primary, we tried to paint him as an inexperienced, ineffective liberal. That didn't seem to work. The fools voted for him anyway. It's time for something new.

The biggest problem we are having is that Barry won't stand still and let us smear him. We'll make up a new smear about him, like throwing Clark under the bus and then he'll do or say something that makes us look stupid. Well, I'm tired of looking stupid. Aren't you?

At first, we tried to say he was weak. Then he built a powerful campaign machine that beat Hillary, so our "he's too weak" claims had to be discarded. The next step was to claim he was "too good of a politician". That gave him too much credit so our new claim is that he is a 'typical' politician who was schooled in the rough-and-tumble Chicago school of politics. Please stay with this meme until we can come up with a new one.