OK, so the honeymoon is over. We all know now who the candidates for President from both of the major parties are going to be this November. (By the way, did you know that Ralph Nader of the Green Party, and Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party are also running? No? Didn't think so! *grin*) After a long, and often times brutal, primary campaign season where we Democrats often spent more time attacking each other than we did the Republicans; it is finally time to put that aside and focus our attention in on the stark differences between these two candidates.

I will be doing just that many times between now and decision day, and in many differing ways. For this first blog, I think it is only appropriate (again, given the fact that we Democrats have spent so long now tearing each other down) to look at the numerous negatives of John McCain from a Republican point of view.

1. Did you know that John McCain was one of the infamous "Keating Five"? Well, the far right-wing blog Free Republic sure does, and tells all about it in this story.

2. How about this revelation of John McCain the POW, as John McCain the "songbird", by Ted Sampley? You might also recognize the name Ted Sampley as the creator of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry.

3. You know we have to dip into the slime of right-wing talkers. Here is an interesting transcript from Fox News of Laura Ingraham and Bill O'Reilly chatting about why the former could not bring herself to support John McCain. Hmm, I wonder if she can now?

4. Rush Limbaugh is always good for a quote or two, eh? Here he is railing against John McCain, questioning his patriotism, his "Maverick" label, etc, etc. Classic Limbaugh.

5. Finally, a classic from 2000. This story is from The Nation, but the dirty tricks are straight from the Republican mind of Karl Rove.

These are just a few of the MANY stories out there to be found on the internets where Republican words and tactics are used to destroy the character of their own candidate. Always remember throughout this election season, as much as these same Republican talkers will spew venom and hatred at Barack Obama, as much as they appear to not like him as a person, a candidate or an American, they really kinda feel the same about McCain.