(cross posted at dailykos, but I come in peace!)

Barack, I always suspected that you had nefarious intentions, and now we all know for sure, thanks to the delightfully informed John McCain. After all, he's a smart guy.  He says you're more extreme than Bernie Sanders.  And we all know that ole Bernie is a pinko-commie-Jane Fonda-loving-gay rights supporting-believer in the Constitution. Poor Bernie, he just doesn't know how insane it is to supports rights for people.

Good afternoon, all!

John McCain's not a bad guy, really.  As Republicans go, well, we could easily do worse.  I'm okay with him having a government job, good health care (he needs it, frankly), and a healthy retirement plan.  The good news is that this honorable public servant already has a job - he's a Senator.

Let's keep him there.  I don't want to promote him.  Anybody here think he's done a good enough job to warrant a better office?  New digs are nice and all, but I think he's got a good gig now.

In the over half a century that I have been politically engaged I have never seen such an unqualified presidential candidate as John McCain.  There are tens of millions of Americans in their seventies and beyond that have been smart enough to become technology literate, but not McCain, who is unable to even use the Internet.  The man has a medical history that makes Dick Cheney look like the picture of great health.

I'm here in the main convention hall at Netroots Nation, and as has been the case the last couple years I have found it slightly difficult to keep up with the news and blogging. However, there are many, many upsides to being here, of course, chief among them the ability to see some great panels. And in a few minutes I will be seeing the conversation between Sam Seder and former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who was seemingly prosecuted by an overzealous prosecutor because he is a Democrat.

I had a chance to talk a bit with Siegelman yesterday, and today ahead of the panel the Governor has made some news: calling on John McCain to compel his informal adviser Karl Rove, who appears to have played a role in Siegelman's prosecution, to testify before Congress on the matter. Sam Stein has the story for The Huffington Post.

On Friday, former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman called on John McCain to compel his informal adviser Karl Rove to testify before Congress, and to remove Rove from any and all campaign capacities.

"Sen. McCain should distance himself from Karl Rove," said Siegelman. "And I think it is important and a smart political move [for him] to call on Rove to go and obey the law and to show up before the Judiciary Committee, to put his hand on the Bible, and to try to tell the truth - or at least plead the fifth."

Siegelman, whose controversial trial for corruption contained many Rove fingerprints, would not go so far as to claim that by employing Rove as a consultant, McCain was sullying his own good-government credentials. "That's a question that is left to the people and the electorate and they will have an opportunity to express themselves in November," he said.

But he argued that it was absolutely vital that the presumptive Republican nominee -- who, according to published reports, has received money from and privately consulted with Rove -- insist that the former Bush confidante respect Congress' investigative prerogatives. Barack Obama, he added, should do the same.

"I would like to see Senator Obama speak out on this issue and call on Congress to hold Rove in contempt because no man is above the law," he said. "And I think its set a terrible example going forward if we do not hold Rove accountable."

It has just been a few days since Rove refused to testify about his role in the prosecution of Siegelman, and it is definitely the case that McCain should tell his informal advisor to come clean. If he doesn't, it will be clear that McCain is comfortable with the type of corrupt politicization of law enforcement that we have seen during the Bush administration -- a politicization that needs to be stopped immediately.

Update [2008-7-18 12:0:16 by Jonathan Singer]: Just to add one more thing I noted yesterday over at the Huffington Post's Twitter feed from Netroots Nation (which is a good way of following the conference): I thought it was only countries like Cambodia that locked people up for their partisan affiliation.

Update [2008-7-18 12:6:37 by Jonathan Singer]: Siegelman just announced a new effort launching today -- ContemptForRove.com. Here's the letter the site is asking Americans to sign:

Recently, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Karl Rove, demanding his testimony about his own role in the politicization of the Department of Justice and politically motivated prosecutions of Democratic leaders, including me.

Karl Rove refused to even show up for the hearing, claiming that Congress has no power to compel senior White House officials from testifying. That's outrageous. Yet again, Karl Rove has showed his callous disregard for the law and for Congress' constitutional role as a co-equal branch of government.

It's time for Congress to act: Forward an email to your Member of Congress below, urging him or her to support a contempt resolution against Karl Rove. If Karl Rove won't respond to a legitimate Congressional subpoena, it's time to turn up the heat.

Again, you can sign the petition over at ContemptForRove.com.

John McCain announced today that he will ALSO go on a tour abroad. First, he'll take a European tour. Countries he will visit:

Czeckoslovakia
Prussia
Alsace-Lorraine
Yugoslavia
Vichy France
Ottoman Empire
Savoy
Bavaria
Hanover

and of course, don't forget:
Poland

As thought, the Obama campaign kicked open the doors of the DNC fundraising operation in June, raising over $20M; and the Obama campaign did much better than expectations, raising over $50M.

So lets review the numbers after May and June.

McCain
          May      June...    Sept-Nov

Raised    22       22       
Spent     12       27
COH       32       27 
GE                            84


Obama
          May      June...    Sept-Nov

Raised    22       50(+2)       
Spent     27       23
COH       33       60  
GE                            12

So lets review. While Obama pulled into about a 5 point lead, over the past month nationally, McCain outspent Obama by $4M. Meanwhile, Obama is ahead in a number of battleground states, and leads pretty solidly in the electoral vote count right now. Little wonder then, why the McCain camp did some serious reshuffling of their campaign leadership at the beginning of the month, as they tried (spending $15M on TV) to move McCain ahead in June, and failed. Or maybe they were just trying to keep him close (and given the macro environment that may be as best as they could do) in the battleground states.

One other thing. I believe that Obama could have raised $100M in June if that's what they wanted to do. In fact, there may have been plans to do just that too, but they changed. Notice that just $2M was raised for the GE by Obama, they certainly could have raised a ton more money there if they had wanted, for the GE, at least $20-30M, and combined with the $74M that was raised between Obama and DNC, over $100M.

So, either the Obama camp isn't as committed to self-funding for the GE, and might still go the route of taking the $84M in public financing (unlikely); or they are holding off their donors to give for the GE later (there are accounts of projecting a $100M month in Sept); or the Obama camp will use July and August to raise big numbers for the GE, as the decision to opt-out was made on June 19th, late in the month for fundraising plans. It could be either of these last two it seems.

I'll take a look at the DNC vs RNC numbers, and how they are both now funneling money into the states through a loophole of McCain-Feingold, in the next post later today.

Key to selling the Bush/McCain stay the course Iraq policy has been their insistence that Iraq is the "central front in the War on Terror." So, when Ambassador Crocker admitted in April that he was more concerned with al qaeda on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border than he was in Iraq, it shook the underpinnings of the entire rationale for staying in Iraq. That fragile facade has taken another hit this week with John McCain's admission that we do need to add troops to Afghanistan, which, not surprisingly, is a shift in position for Mr. McCain. The risk in such a shift in this case is greater than usual, however, because McCain is essentially adopting what has been Barack Obama's position for at least a year, reinforcing Obama's claim that he is the one with judgment to lead on National Security. Luckily for McCain, though, it's really only risky if the media reports it and, well, let's just say McCain hasn't lost his base, although at least The New York Times is admitting McCain's position represents a shift.

Mr. McCain said that both Iraq and Afghanistan were important battlegrounds and that the United States had the ability to fight in both places as long as it retained the will to do so. But on Tuesday, after saying for months that no additional forces were needed in Afghanistan, Mr. McCain changed course and advocated the deployment of an additional three brigades, or about 15,000 troops.

I'm not entirely sure why the Obama campaign is not shouting from the highest mountain that John McCain has adopted Obama's position on the issue but their strategy appears to be, instead, to use this latest McCain flip as an opportunity to continue the "confused" meme that they have introduced into the ether, for not only did McCain flip but his multiple strained explanations and clarifications that followed it made him look like quite the fool.

First the Obama campaign released a campaign memo yesterday that documented McCain's deep confusion (via Ambinder):

TODAY (MORNING): McCain Called for Sending Three Additional Brigades to Afghanistan and Suggests They Would Come From Iraq. According to a press release issued by the McCain campaign on Tuesday morning, McCain would announce in a speech that he now supports sending at least three additional brigades to Afghanistan: "The status quo in Afghanistan is unacceptable, and from the moment the next President walks into the Oval Office, he will face critical decisions about Afghanistan. ... John McCain Supports Sending At Least Three Additional Brigades To Afghanistan. Our commanders on the ground say they need these troops, and thanks to the success of the surge, these forces are becoming available, and our commanders in Afghanistan must get them." [McCain press release, 7/15/08]

TODAY (AFTERNOON): McCain Clarifies His Proposal On Increasing the Number of Troops, Saying They Could Come From NATO. "Speaking to reporters on his bus after today's speech, McCain indicated that he'd be open to those additional troops coming from NATO." [MSNBC, 7/15/08]

TODAY (EVEN LATER IN THE AFTERNOON): McCain Campaign Further Clarifies Proposal, Saying The Troop Increase Would Be Comprised Of Both NATO And US Forces. "McCain spokeswoman Nicolle Wallace said later that U.S. troops will compose some of the additional brigades McCain would send to Afghanistan, but not all of them. `Will we contribute? Of course we will,' she said." [Washington Post, 5/15/08]

Then there was an Obama conference call this morning during which  Barack Obama's Senior foreign policy adviser, Dr. Susan Rice, flat out referred to John McCain as "confused." From HuffPo:

"Up until a few days ago, his view was that we hadn't diverted any effort and attention from Afghanistan to deal with Iraq. That there was no need for additional American forces in Afghanistan. That all, in effect, was going well," Dr. Rice said Wednesday, adding: "Yesterday, he woke up and came to the sudden conclusion that indeed Afghanistan merited more strategic focus -- something the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been saying for months -- and that we would therefore be willing to put in additional combat brigades. But then he got confused again, as to whether those needed to be American or NATO [troops] or some combination thereof."

It appears that the Obama campaign is continuing the sort of soft attack style that worked so well for him against Hillary Clinton but I agree with Rachel Maddow who said on Countdown the other night that she's afraid he's not being tough enough on McCain, especially since the media insists on giving him a pass. Josh Marshall has a must-watch video of the entire Afghanistan confusion and wonders, rightfully, where any mention in the media of the fact that John McCain, supposedly the experienced one, has now pivoted toward Barack Obama's position is.

The chirping crickets truly are deafening.