The Election season and true campaigning will begin soon.  Next week is the Republican Convention and democrats plan on going to Minnesota and trying to step on republican messages just as republicans have tried to step on democratic messages this week.  But we also need to go after the republicans in other parts of the country also.

The following parody news story appeared seven years ago today. It was published and distributed by Yossarian Universal News Service (YU), the world’s first satiric news syndicate founded in 1980.

YU News Dispatch 038
Yossarian Universal News Service 082701
6:06:54:01 PM PST
START

DISCOVERY OF PARALLEL WORLD OFFERS NEW HOPE FOR BUSH PRESIDENCY
Other Presidential Pretender Appears To Be Exactly The Same As Ours Except For Cross-Dressing

Mountain View, Calif. (YU) -- In what is being hailed as the most important discovery of the new century, a tear in the space/time continuum has revealed the existence of a parallel world similar to our own, where another George W. Bush serves as its Presidential Pretender and where the future reveals his accidental death, a failed attempt to convince the public that he is still alive, and the subsequent power struggle by a number of presidential successors hoping to gain control of the country.

Right now, on radios and televisions, websites and blogs across the land, the cry is going out: the province of Anbar is safe, thanks to the brave efforts of Coalition forces and their Iraqi partners. Iraqi security forces are ready and waiting to take over. This will free up American troops to rotate out of country and into the once again restive theater of conflict in Afghanistan.

In reality it's... not quite going down like that .

Let's check the news together below the break.

It may be just about to rain on the Republican's parade. Bush's wall isn't going to keep this immigrant out!

Take a look at the "Hurricane Force Wind Speed Probabilities - 120 Hours" for Gustav (which will likely become a H3 hurricane soon). It is currently (mid day 08/27/08) projected to head right for the greater New Orleans area.

STAGE INSTRUCTIONS:  Do not say the parts in parenthesis.  Try not to look confused.  Do not attempt to smile -- children are watching and they frighten easily.

==================================================
TelePrompTer: Three Screens to give appearance
that McCain is not actually reading from
TelePrompTer.  VERY large type.  Please remember,
the Senator is 122 years old and vision is bad
because he was a POW.

Transcript follows this line.

==================================================

(Allow several seconds for light-to-moderate clapping, perhaps intermixed with whistles, catcalls, or noisemakers of some kind)

Almost all of the democrats involved in this are close friends and volunteers of my campaign.  They decided to investigate rumors of a racist, insensitive $3 bill at the Republican booth of the Washington State Fair.  When one of our volunteers, Carol Ronken, went to go photograph the booth, she was told to leave immediately.  Then security was called on her.  She said nothing until confronted.  Now, after the poor press hits, the party is claiming that "they had no idea" and "of course that isn't right!"

Yeah, right.

Well, this is the kind of thing that gets lost in the hoopla of the Convention:

WASHINGTON: Three U.S. soldiers killed four handcuffed and blindfolded Iraqi prisoners with pistol shots on the bank of a Baghdad canal last year, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Leave it to a state fair to provide an opportunity for the GOP to display its racism for all to view:

Snohomish County Republicans on Tuesday stopped selling phony $3 bills at their Evergreen State Fair booth bearing a picture of Barack Obama wearing an Arab headdress.

In addition to the image of Sen. Obama, the likely Democratic nominee for president, the "Obamanation Note" design includes a silhouette figure of a camel, identifies Obama as "Da Man" and is signed by "Teddy Kennedy, Chief Socialism Advisor," and "Al Sharpton, New Spiritual Advisor." The serial number, "IBD14UOK" when read aloud, is fractured English: "I be de one for you, OK."

These bills are an illustration of the true nature of the GOP, and the level of desperation they must feel in advance of the election to distribute these things for fundraising purposes.

Casualties, financial costs, etc. Show your local neo-con these statistics when he starts saying it was worth it.

The War that has gone on for around half a decade has cost us much in blood and treasure, and popular opinion around the world. This war isn't just unjustifiable, it's fiscally irresponsible, morally wrong, and continually deepining the financial wounds in the American Economy, with a shower of salt upon them to add to the pain.

Wow, am I sick of the Democrats are divided stories.  I am really tired of the "will the Clinton voters come home to Obama?" and stories about how "Obama will have trouble rallying segments of the Democratic Party."

Where are those stories about the Republicans.  John McCain ran unopposed for the last 15-20 primaries, and rarely got 70% of the vote.  Numerous traditional values and veteran's websites are pledging not to back McCain. http://usvetdsp.com/

Numerous prominent conservatives are backing Obama.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

Where are the stories about Republican disarray?

The republicans in our state legislature won't sign on to a budget that includes a tax increase of one percent on people with paychecks of more than $320,000 a year; they seem to have no problem approving an additional one cent on California's already horrendous sales taxes that add up to over 9 percent here in Torrance.

The rich protect their own; the regular folks get to pay the bills.

Time for a change!

Czech: otravný m.
German: ärgerlich de
Icelandic: truflandi
Italian: fastidioso
Japanese: うるさい (urusai)
Spanish: molesto es
Dutch: vervelend
Polish: irytujący

No matter in what language you say it, it all comes down to the same thing.

Milhouse: Why does Bart have a comic book?
Comic Book Guy: Your questions have become more redundant and annoying then the last three "Highlander" movies.

We all have things that annoy us. For me, my the most annoying behavior of others is when people try to speak for me, or claim to be able to do so.

<More after the break>

This will be short, but with all the whining about what the Republicans will think about Obama's stage at Invesco, I thought this might perk some people up. Via Senator Patrick Leahy hits McCain hard on the age issue

***UPDATE II***
DIGG the story here to get it more visibility. McCain's age is NOT off limits in this campaign and is a legitimate campaign issue.

Although the mainstream media is  screaming that Democratic Party is highly divided
It is in fact the Republican party that is divided

The naked fact is John McCain only received 46% of the  votes in the Republicans primary

The numbers below

That's right, I said it. I criticize people in my own family when they need it, even though I love them. I don't hold back.  Democrats have a serious problem, one that prevents them from winning.  

More after the fold.

Time to get back to the business of endlessly pointing out just how wrong John McCain is on foreign policy.

Ya'll remember the SURGE, don't you?  You know the tactic that McMilitary single-handedly forced the Bush Administration into.  He has that much power and creds at The White House, you know.  The man is a walking marvel.

Well, it seems that one of McPander's three people he would call on if he were pResident (and possible Veep shortlister, yeah right) Gen. David Petraeus simply will not say that the progress in Iraq was due solely to the SURGE.  Did Petraeus mention the Anbar Awakening?  Why, yes, children he did.  The one that occurred before the SURGE?  Right again.

Please come along for some pie (in Johnny's face)

Below the fold, I've slapped together a few quickies covering some of the great lines from tonight (plus, of course, a couple of other goodies).

Feel free to use, share, whatever...I didn't write the lines, I didn't take that godawful photo of McCain, so it's not really my work to own:

I did a diary on this news item last night. Tonight's diary is a follow up that includes some original research, some more video, and comments drawn from folks on the web.

This is the deal, so far: a Latin music superstar named "Daddy Yankee" appeared with John McCain at a mostly Latino high school in Phoenix. As Kos diarist LeftofArizona pointed out, that McCain appearance was a violation of Arizona state law.

But the story doesn't end there. Before a crowd of giggling, excited Latina teenagers, McCain plugged Daddy's big reggaeton club hit, "Gasolina." What McCain may not have known at the time was that "Gasolina" is a song about "f***ing." (continue)