Been checking my cell phone every few hours and no message.

Sometimes I get that sensation of a buzz or 'ghost ring' as it is called.  Slide the cover and alas no message.  This is like crack for a political junkie having to know what will happen next.  Am I the only one in a tizzy over the speculation?  

When will the suspense end?  

AP reports Saturday will the moment Obama and his VP pick will make a formal announcement.

I think I speak for most of us when I explain how I feel regarding this election. Physically feeling...as in the surges of blood that rush to my head or the bowels that churn when I read or see something that suggests even remotely that Obama might not win the election for some reason or another. A poll, a 'gaffe', whatever.

This week has been full of that yucky feeling, with crappy polls and completely freaky John McCain exposure, not to mention cringe-worthy dialogue from the talking heads and traditional media (although, I suppose this is par for the course). I still feel my blood pressure rise just thinking about McCain's applause lines last Saturday. God help us all should he become president.

This brings me to the Chicken Little/Ostrich Wars that have popped up lately around here.

[ The following is a thought stream that I wanted to get off my mind.  If you're looking for an informative read that's well researched on more productive subjects, I recommend this diary, or this one.  ]

I appreciate Andrea Mitchell having the courage to try to be a somewhat truthful reporter even under the circumstances she finds herself in*.  In what seemed to be her effort to try to maintain (at least to some degree) the respect of the American people and her viewers, she mentioned a reasonable question that some Obama supporters were expressing about the events of the faith forum, or whatever that thing was that Reverend Warren conducted.  It is a shame she is getting in trouble for it.  But really, are we surprised?

Keith Olbermann says he has no time for pie.  Dirty bastage.  Does he not know the Way of the Pie?

Well, since pie is back on the table (har har), I thought I might clear a few things up for the few people (and the unsuspecting newcomers) who still don't understand what the big deal is.  I posted a short series (two!) of diaries on this a couple of years ago, and I'm going to lump them together and serve them up fresh and hot for you now.

Why now?  Because it will knock at least one hair-pulling, hand-wringing VP choice diary off the list, and that's good enough for me.

See, it's like this...

I am a Democrat.

Most people in the country have no idea who I am, let alone what I stand for.  My name may bring some vague bubbles of memory to mind, but I have not been well known on the national stage.  The polling about my spot on the ticket has been a mixed bag.  Some pundits think I will do well for the ticket; others are sure I will not help at all.

My home state is considered a swing state by some, but others believe it is safe and my place on the ticket won't make any difference.  The position I will be leaving to serve as vice president--as I am sure that Barack Obama and I will be able to win in November over McCain--is a significant one, but my absence, and the person who will replace me, is not so vital that it precludes my running.

The unconditional monetary love here at this site scares me.

Let it be known that your "friends of the left" include me and many others who are critical of his decisions as of late.

Would you like to continue?

Welcome to the first official Kos diary to announce the news that everyone will receive by e-mail.  This diary will updated when the announcement is actually made.  But the important thing is that this diary is here first.  Here we go:

BREAKING NEWS:  (Insert Name) is Obama's VP Pick.

Link to mainstream source will go here:  www.xxx.com

"A blockquote from the mainstream source, which basically just repeats the VP nominee's name, will go here."

More pre-formatted text below the jump.

Since Barack Obama has said that text messages will be the "first" method by which he informs the public of his VP choice, there are thousands of us Kossacks who could (if the campaign is true to their word and don't leak it to the press first) get that "scoop" all at once. And of course, that means we will be racing to be the first to post "BREAKING: Obama's VP is XXXXX"

Given that the time between clicking "New Diary Entry", typing in a title, at least 300 characters and a couple tags, clicking "Preview Diary" and then finally "Submit" is enough for several dozen other people to have easily begun and/or completed the same set of actions, I foresee an overwhelming rush of diaries all posted in that brief span of time, before everyone refreshes the front page to see that the news has already been posted.

Hell, maybe several of you already have a second browser window open in the background, sitting at the ready with a title, some generic copy about the Obama campaign, and the tags already filled in, so all you need to do is insert the VP's name in your title and click two buttons to have the rightful claim to have been "FIRST!" to post this historic news. So, since we're all clear this is likely to happen, I just thought I'd create a little poll to see how far everyone else thinks the hysteria will go.

As usual, Kossacks are doing terrific online sleuthing, tracking down the whole cross-in-the-dirt story.  By tomorrow morning, anyone who wants to know the full story about this will be able to find out anything they could possibly want to know about it right here.

What a waste.

Those research skills could be put to much better purpose!

Coming soon to a diary near you, the touching story of a blogger who called another blogger a derogatory name based upon the actions of a cartoon character, and the other blogger who retorted with a slur based on the actions of a different cartoon character.  Who will win the hearts of the bloggers en masse?  The ostensibly self-styled clever blogger who shouts "Chicken Little!" at the blogger who publishes thoughts on possible deficiencies in the Obama Campaign? Or the ostensibly self-styled clever blogger who shouts "Ostrich!" at the blogger who publishes sentiments of confidence in the Obama Campaign and its ability to win in its own way?

Okay, DailyKos, we need to talk about us. We need to talk about our Goals.

slinkerwink's made the rec list again with another chicken little, little campaign manager diary, that exists with the purported intent of giving Barack Obama advice and the implied purpose of trying to audition for a slot as a campaign advisor to Barack Obama. This has been followed by a pile-on of diaries all ranging from less than sane and less than lucid to well completely insane and completely not lucid. All again with the stated intent of ... well I guess trying to give Barack Obama campaign advice. Sometimes it is pretty hard to tell.

And, over and over again, as I read the somewhat sane to the completely insane stuff I sit and wonder: What's your point?

When you see a diary on the recent list, what makes you click through?

What topics, people, ideas or hooks get your attention?

Obviously, any Obama or McCain diary gets lots of play here these days.  But what about all the other topics?

First of all, I want to thank everyone who recc'd and pimped the Postgame Show resulting in its first appearance on the rec list last week.  I may now die a happy diary author, and relieve you of your pimping duties.  I give up any future spot on the rec list in favor of substantive diaries and/or edscan.  :-)

Welcome to the Postgame Show for Mojo Friday - Olympic - Edition!  Thanks to our most excellent host, TexDem!

First round stats, as of 3:21PM Central, are:

177 participants
1474 comments
8.3 average comments per participant
64284 total mojo exchanged
25.2% average participation rate

Stats will be updated tonight, and again Sunday morning, as revisions to this diary.  Tonight's update may be rather late, as I'm going party like it's 1974 and go see Star Wars.

Hey! Here at Top Comments we strive to recognize and promote the talent of this community by highlighting outstanding comments found throughout the day by the diarist, and more importantly through nominations made at TopComments at gmail dot com by your fellow Kossacks. Include your username so we can credit you, and send 'em in by 9:45pm Eastern to ensure they make the final diary.

These nominations are subjective, and certainly not complete (as no one can read the complete site on a daily basis!). But we hope they will serve to shine a light where deserved, and to give the reader a good starting point in finding conversation on the site.

Please come in and make yourself at home...

Umpteenth in a regular weekday evening series, a place to ask questions about how this place works and get them answered. We strive for accuracy in answers, but bear in mind the following disclaimer:

It's an irony of life that when the thought police come for you, they will be the stupid ones.

Thought police are portrayed as sinister.  
But there is always, always, a core of actual stupidity there.

The brilliant ones don't come pounding on your door with a nightstick.  
They have better things to do.

Could this be considered the Nuclear option regarding expanding to cover Talk Radio under the Fairness Doctrine?  Speaking at the Heritage Institute, I think the FCC commish just threatened us...

 "I think the fear is that somehow large corporations will censor their content, their points of view, right," McDowell said. "I think the bigger concern for them should be if you have government dictating content policy, which by the way would have a big First Amendment problem."

"Then, whoever is in charge of government is going to determine what is fair, under a so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine,’ which won’t be called that – it’ll be called something else," McDowell said. "So, will Web sites, will bloggers have to give equal time or equal space on their Web site to opposing views rather than letting the marketplace of ideas determine that?"

McDowell told BMI the Fairness Doctrine isn’t currently on the FCC’s radar. But a new administration and Congress elected in 2008 might renew Fairness Doctrine efforts, but under another name.

You can try to put Red State shit on this site, But I won't click the links...

I certainly don't want to see this diary on the rec list.  I post it to keep a record of a diary which was just deleted, and another diary that may be deleted soon.  The deleted diary garnered 639 recommendations and is still on the limited rec list - and that's a cryin' shame.  When inconsistencies in the diary were pointed out, the diarist deleted rather than editing the diary to explain glaring, factual contradictions between the highly rec'ed diary & one that he had published last month.  [Update: He later returned and discussed what had happened with numerous members of the dkos community.]  I added bold to emphasize some of the contradictions, and hope to return later to work on it some more.

Please Don't Recommend This Diary

The archive of those diaries has been moved to comments - links below the jump.