Hi everybody. My name is Jade and I'm a Democrat. Er, I need to be completely honest here, so let me amend that. I'm a liberal Democrat. A lifelong liberal Democrat. And my confession today is that I am nervous.

I've been following this election obsessively and complusively since 2004. Yeah, 2004. Just after the last Democratic "near victory." My obsessive compulsion went from being a chronic disorder to an acute, chronic disorder in January of 2007. That is when the rumors of a possible Obama bid started really swirling. I started watching for the telltale signs of domain names going AWOL, from hints by clued-in insiders who would be in the know.

Then came February. You know what happened then. I was ecstatic. I was hope-filled and hopeful. I was able to make it through the "coronation phase" of the then putative front-runner of the long Iowa summer. As the leaves began to turn that autumn, I'll admit, I was worried. We Democrats were blessed with not one or two great candidates, but eight.

Then came a debate in Philadelphia, and my concerns were assuaged. Mind you, I never lost faith. I never switched candidates. I never changed horses in mid-stream. Always a voracious reader, I found ways to read more: essays, and policy monographs, histories and legislative drafts. If I was sitting, I was reading -- even while pretending to watch TV. I tried reading on the treadmill, but fear of losing my front teeth in an unfortunate treadmill face plant ended that experiment. But a stationary bike was a safer choice.

I did not look forward to the holidays in 2007, but worried that New Hampshire would move their primary to December. And New Year's celebrations were curtailed by worrying about whether the caucuses in Iowa would be successful. On caucus night, I watched C-Span which had cameras stationed at my old high school, which hadn't changed as much in thirty-some years as I had.

There was a victory speech that brought me to tears.

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I may have to just hug Debbie Wasserman-Schultz for defusing the hate-speech delivered by Tom DeLay just a few minutes ago on Hardball With Chris Matthews.

DeLay called Barack Obama a "Marxist" -- claiming he (DeLay) called him out on that a few months ago -- a "Socialist," hanging around with "anti-Americans" like Bill Ayers, a "radical" and more. I could not write fast enough to capture everything he said.

But Wasserman-Schultz, employing that wonderful phrase, "with all due respect," called out DeLay for his corruption and leaving the House of Representatives under a cloud, and his hate speech for exactly what it is. 

With all due respect, Mr. DeLay, go "phuck yourselph."

Once again, John McCain -- today in Hershey, PA -- claims to have been "tested" during the Cuban Missile crisis. He continues to repeat this myth as if saying it will make it true.

"My friends," he begins, "I was on the aircraft carrier Enterprise and I know how close we came to war and I was tested!" Then he breaks into his "fight song!" (For a guy who can't lift his arms over his head -- and yeah, I know, he's a POW! Dammit! -- he's sure thinks he can throw a punch. Those jabs landing softly on Obama's arms must sure hurt, Owww! But I digress)

In full disclosure, I was tested too. I had to watch the "Duck and Cover" movie. Plus I had to practice diving quickly under my sturdy grade school desk with the flip-top lid and attached seat. Once under the desk, I had to assume the "safe" position of either crouching in a tight little ball or kneeling head down, rear up, with  arms covering the vulnerable head and neck, eyes squeezed tightly shut to avoid being blinded by the nuclear flash. Outside on the playground, when the Klaxxon sounded, we had to either find the nearest corner or wall to huddle against, or a low spot to "duck and cover". I also had to know where the Civil Defense shelters -- marked with bright yellow "CD" signs were located.  And finally, I was supposed to remind my parents and other siblings of what to do in case of nuclear emergency.  Pretty heady responsibilities for a seven-year old. But my friends, we are all here, so I must have passed that test.

The "Duck and Cover" movie was a staple of civil defense back then, the equivalent of plastic wrap and duct tape from the Tom Ridge days of Homeland Security.

Anyway, I was over at Slate magazine looking for the McCain version of the primary season's "Hillary DeathWatch" when I stunbled upon  Fred J, Kaplan who writes his take -- days ahead of mine recent tirade -- about what really happened behind the scenes during the Cuban Missile and McCain's non-involvement in the whole thing, other than as pilot.

Once again, a bigger brain than mine is making the case that you cannot "pass" a test if you weren't in the room where it was administered.

To revise Bob Dole from 1996, "Senator, stop lying about my your record!"

In his recent stump speeches, McCain makes a big deal about being "tested." In fact, McCain and company jumped all over what they (and the media lemmings) claimed was a gaffe by Joe Biden -- (paraphrasing) that early in his presidency Obama would be tested  by some agent and would be able to demonstrate his "spine of steel."

McCain played all three roles in the political version of the Nairobi Trio* -- Hear No Truth, See No Truth, Speak No Truth -- refusing to acknowledge that every president is tested by something unexpected in one way or another. (Kennedy, Cuban missile crisis; Johnson, assassination of Kennedy; Nixon, Vietnam and Soviet agression; Ford, an unexpected ascendancy to the Presidency and Watergate's aftermath; Carter, the economy; Reagan, Iranian hostage crisis; Bush I, economy; Clinton, WTC bombing, Somalia, Branch Davidians; Bush II, September 11). A President Obama will face a crumbling economy, two wars, skyrocketing debt and deficits, and a nation almost as divided as the years preceding the civil war -- thanks in part to the divisive politicking of McCain and his "Gal Friday," Sarah Palin.

But McCain sticks to his claim of having "been tested, my friends." Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght. Exactly when was that, Senator?

McCain, thinking he's ready for that question offers up his version of the Cuban missile crisis: "I was in my plane on the deck of the aircraft carrier Enterprise." Okay.... but Senator, pardon us for noticing you were merely one of hundreds of thousands of men and women in uniform on full alert during that time -- like my dad. And Senator, you were not called upon for your advice or consent to do anything with regard to the Russians and missiles and Cubans and the President, were you? No. You were standing by, waiting for orders from your Commander-in-Chief, John F. Kennedy.  Sorry, but you weren't tested then.

McCain, goes on to suggest that he was "tested" by his time in a North Vietnamese prison camp. With all due respect, you were tortured, but not tested as a Commander-in-Chief. You were not the Secretary of Defense, nor the President. That was Robert McNamara and Lyndon Baines Johnson. It was the President who ordered you and hundreds of other military pilots to "bomb North Vietnam back to the stone age," as Gen. Curtis LeMay said (and years later Dick Cheney parroted with regard to Iran and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.) You again, sir -- with all due respect -- followed orders to bomb Hanoi. That was not a "test."

When you returned from Vietnam, and entered Congress and later the Senate, you were a member of a Senate committee charged with answering questions, releasing information and providing an account of the whereabout of what many believe -- with good reason -- were the hundreds of US soldiers and civilians left behind in Vietnam. Senator John Kerry, a fellow Vietnam vet, was the chairman of this committee. Once again, you failed to lead.

Respected journalist and author Sidney Schanberg ("The Killing Fields") has a blistering report in a heavily researched article at the Nation Institute about your time as a POW, your involvement in the "The McCain Bill," (a piece of legislation designed to keep classified any and all information about prisoners held in Vietnam and Laos.) It is worth the read (and Kerry gets scuffed up a little, too.)

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Both John McCain and Barack Obama campaigned in Albuquerque today.

Who: John and Cindy McCain
Where: Expo New Mexico (state fairgrounds);
Attendance:1500
Time of visit: Noon
Weather: Bright, sunny warm day.

Who: Barack Obama
Where: University of New Mexico's Johnson Field:
Attendance: 35,000 inside and 10,000 to 15,000 outside
Time of visit: 9 p.m.
Weather: cool evening.

Enthusiasm gap duly noted.