I don't write diaries often, but this recent incident between John McCain and Barack Obama has gotten me unusually interested.  First off, I couldn't make sense of it.  The whole thing just seemed...wierd, unexpected.  But the more I thought about, the more I came to realize what this signals. I'm curious to know what others might think about my theory. It's a bit long, but I hope you think its worth it.

As I said, the McCain-Obama tiff seems like a strange and rather unexpected one. After all, Senator Barack Obama is a well-regarded, well-spoken senator known for his courtesy and sincerity.  Additionally, McCain is known to work in a bipartisan manner on some high-profile issues, and by all accounts does so in a manner becoming a Senator of the United States.  That is what makes McCain's reaction to, and attack on, Sen. Obama so puzzling.

But put into the proper perspective it becomes all too clear exactly why John McCain chose to attack Barack Obama.  John McCain, before all else, wants to be President of the United States.  And the lengths to which he will go to in order to attain that position could be first seen when he endorsed George W. Bush at the 2000 Republican National Convention after the Bush campaign had slandered and smeared Mr. McCain and his family.  Since then, John McCain has made numerous efforts to cozy up to the Bush team, to the point where he now operates as a close ally to the administration, if not as one of them. And the Bush team, well aware of John McCain's popularity amongst the electorate, understands that he may be the GOP's best bet to hold onto the White House come 2008 (further proof here).  Knowing that, it is rather logical to conclude that the man behind this attack was not McCain or one of his operatives, but someone from the Bush team -- political operative #1, Karl Rove.

Another effect of Bush's trickle-down budget: less money for the states means cuts to vital services to help the poor. And it's not just in PA. From the Inquirer:

Okay, it's caught me.  The media/government/blogosphere obsession with Terry Schiavo has sucked me in.  I didn't really care before; I viewed it as a private affair.  But with all that's happened in the past week or so, I'm hooked.  Why?  Because now, this matters.  Not that it didn't before - it mattered deeply to the family, Terri's parents and siblings, and to her husband, whose diligent care of her is a testament to his love for a wife who has not spoken to him in fifteen years.  But it mattered to them because it was a personal tragedy, their tragedy, a family dilemma.  Today, it has become a national dilemma, a dilemma about our rights as individuals, about the role government should play in our private affairs, and about the say that others have in regards to the decisions we make for ourselves.