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We can always count on George W. Bush and now John McCain to liven up the day by reordering that GOP staple of let us count the ways to scare the **** out of you. Bush's bizarre bleating in Israel was bad enough but for McCain to back up the appeasement angle "as taking him at his word" says plenty about the McCain foreign policy thrust -- more of the Bushian same as in bluster first with faith-based incompetence to follow. It's clever by half to attack Barack Obama to distract from the messes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Come to think about it: what else can McCain or Bush do but call up the ghost of Neville "Peace in our time" Chamberlin from 1938 and hope nobody notices that it was the Bush-McCain war in Iraq that strengthened Iran and handed the hard liners in Tehran a gift that keeps on giving.

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How do we know we're in general election mode? John McCain tells us all about his the accomplishments in his first term -- including most troops coming home from Iraq in 2013 (details to come later) -- while the Tennessee GOP goes after Michelle Obama on patriotic grounds. Lke the moronic congressman who offered the world the policy shift from French fries to freedom fries in 2003 (as proof of patriotic purity), they offered this hymm: "The Tennessee Republican Party has always been proud of America. To further honor the occasion of Mrs. Obama's visit, the Tennessee Republican Party has requested the playing of patriotic music by radio stations across the state."
The Obama folks fired back: "This is a shameful attempt to attack a woman who has repeatedly said she wouldn't be here without the opportunities and blessings of this nation...and if the Tennessee Republican Party has a problem with Senator Obama, maybe next time they'll have the courage to address him directly instead of attacking his family."
And who said the general election fight will be a principled joust? Me thinks not. The racial undertones that has emerged in the Clinton-Obama fight likely will be small time compared to what's to come. The stakes are too high and too historical to imagine otherwise.

Delegate update
The Obama campaign sent out this reminder about the Dem delgate chase as their version of the magic number to clinch ahs dropped to 121.5.
Yesterday, Obama secured the support of 4 superdelegates (Reps. Henry Wexler, Jim McDermott and Howard Berman and Larry Cohen (CWA DNC)), 1 pledged delegate in North Carolina (because of updated vote tallies in the state) and 7 pledged delegates that had previously supported John Edwards. That means that the number for Obama to secure a majority of pledged delegates has gone down from 25 to 17. And the number Obama needs to secure the nomination is 121.5.
The Math
Total Pledged Delegates: 3,253
Pledged Delegates needed for a majority of pledged delegates: 1,627
Total delegates needed for nomination: 2,025
Edwards Pledged Delegates who are now Obama Delegates:7
Obama Pledged Delegates:1,603
Obama Super Delegates: 293.5
Obama Total Delegates:1,903.5
Delegates Obama needs for a majority of pledged delegates: 17
Obama need to secure the Democratic nomination: 121.5
Here's the not-so-breaking-scoop: Even if the string plays out until June 3, the race will be 99 percent done by Tuesday's in Kentucky and Oregon.
(UPDATE) Obama added SuperD Rep. Pete Stark of California -- another SuperD in a state that Clinton won back on super Tuesday.

Going down fighting but hold the negative, please
She may be broke and hoping for a miracle, but Hillary clinton is keeping to her word and not going down without a fight -- and she's not leaving any bullets in her campaign gun. Clinton has released new ads in Oregon and Kentucky touting her desire to be a partner and her quest to take on the special interests and create a level playing field -- and there's no mention of Obama at all.
In one of the Kentucky ads, Hillary "vows to stand up for the middle class and provide solutions to our toughest challenges in the 30-second spot, entitled 'Partner.' "
Hillary Clinton: We're going to roll up our sleeves and provide the solutions that America desperately needs.
Woman 1: We're living paycheck to paycheck.
Man 1: It's hard to decide between a gallon of milk and a gallon of gas.
Hillary Clinton: It's time that the American worker had a partner in the White House.
Man 2: Hillary Clinton can turn this country around.
Woman 2: Hillary has what it takes.
Hillary Clinton: The wealthy and the well connected have had a president,
It's time the middle class had a president who will stand up for you.
Woman 3: She will put up a very strong fight for people like me.
Hillary Clinton: I'm Hillary Clinton and I approved this message.

In the other Kentucky ad entitled “Right Track,” "Hillary promises to close corporate tax loopholes and put America back on the right track."
Hillary Clinton: It is wrong that a Wall Street money manager making fifty million dollars a year pays a lower percentage of his income in taxes than a nurse or a teacher or a truck driver or an auto worker making fifty thousand dollars.
ANNCR: Hillary Clinton will end loopholes for special interests and cut taxes for working families to pay for college, healthcare and retirement. It's time for action.
Hillary Clinton: We will put America back on the right track.
I'm Hillary Clinton and I approved this message.

The Oregon ad entitled What’s Right "details Hillary’s commitment to end the No Child Left Behind Act and provide quality, affordable health care for every American. And it emphasizes Hillary’s opposition to the Bush Administration energy bill, which removed local control over the siting of liquefied natural gas terminals on Oregon’s coast."
ANNCR: In Washington, they talk about who's up and who's down.
In Oregon, we care about what's right and what's wrong.
She's the one who will end No Child Left Behind so we teach children to learn, not take tests.
She's the one who voted against the Bush energy bill that threatens liquefied natural gas plants along Oregon's coast.
She's the one insisting on health coverage for every American
She's been right when it matters.
She'll be there when it counts.
HRC: I'm Hillary Clinton and I approved this message.

Lay down the odds
For those seeking an exotic investment in an uncertain economy, the folks at Dublin, Ireland-based Intrade offer an exchange with political value -- buy low, sell high and bet on the next president. In the latest weekly rating, Obama has surged to winning the presidential election at 58.7 percent while John McCain is at 38 percent. Hillary Clinton is as 6.1 percent. Read more fun predictions here.