In an announcement that by sheer coincidence came the afternoon before Michelle Obama’s speech, John McCain told a waiting world that Cindy is traveling to Georgia.

No, not that Georgia. The other one. The Christian one. The other Christian one.

Wait: The Georgia with the pipelines. And Russian tanks. That one.

Cindy, whose humanitarian efforts are legendary among McCain staffers, will meet with Mikheil Saakashvili (thanks, copy & paste!), visit wounded Georgian soldiers, talk to representatives of the land-mine removal organization she works with, and not be criticized by the Fox News hosts who would rake Michelle Obama over the coals if she did anything similar.

Her aides swear the timing has nothing to do with the Democratic convention. Even if she does plan to return Wednesday night — checking off every item on her list in a whirlwind 36 hours.

Cindy McCain’s Mission to Georgia [Time]

Lieberman? Smokescreen.

Update: The nice lady in the video is Debra Bartoshevich, a pro-choice Democrat who also appeared Monday at a Republican-sponsored press conference — apparently unaware that her new candidate is a diehard opponent of Roe v. Wade. You go, girl!

The Blind Leading the Blind [Washington Monthly]

Did you know John McCain is a former POW? Strange but true! Seems the Geezer spent a few years cooling his heels in Hanoi while Democrats were figuring out new ways to disgrace America.

Or maybe you have heard — McCain’s been using his POW experience as a political cudgel since his first race for Congress, in 1982. Some fatuous opponent accused him of being a carpetbagger, and the Geezer’s response is legend:

“I wish I could have had the luxury, like you, of growing up and living and spending my entire life in a nice place like the first district of Arizona, but I was doing other things. As a matter of fact, when I think about it now, the place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi.”

Good day, sir! And for any voters who missed that thrilling exchange, here’s the ad that saturated local television:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAi2cJZSLvo

That would be McCain limping off a plane after his release as a POW.

As for the carpetbagging, we know McCain married an Arizona beer heiress, so what’s the problem? Turns out it’s not Arizona as such — instead, a Congressional seat opened up, and the McCains quickly moved to that district.

In other words: One of those houses the Geezer tends to forget is the one that qualified him to run for Congress. Cindy bought it. And soon as he won his first Senate race in 1986 and no longer needed the district residence — she sold it.

Which brings us back to the quote. Opportunistically moving into a Congressional district may have raised uncomfortable questions during McCain’s first candidacy. He learned in 1982 how to shut up such questions, and he’s been pulling that move ever since.

POW status was key factor in McCain’s first race [AP]

Long Lost McCain Video Exhumed [TNR]

Tempe homeowners own piece of McCain history [East Valley Tribune, Phoenix]

“I’ll continue to say I am blessed and very proud that [his late father-in-law] Jim Hensley, a war hero, a man who barely graduated from high school, was able to pass on to his daughter what he struggled for and saved for. That’s the ambition that all of us have for our children and grandchildren. If someone wants to disparage that, they are free to do that.”
– John McCain to Katie Couric

Kathleen Hensley Portalski says her father left her $10,000 in his will, and nothing to her children — his grandchildren.

Oh, you mean Cindy. Never mind.

For McCains, a Public Path but Private Wealth [NYT]

Unless you’re a numismatics groupie, you probably missed the recent story about the new Susan B. Anthony Sacagawea Andrew Jackson dollar coin, minted in honor of his opposition to paper money, or maybe because engravers love his hair.

But keen-eyed Grand Rapids newspaper readers noticed something else engravers love: Satan. The new coins lack the comforting inscription “Render Unto Caesar” “In God We Trust”.

Well, just not on the front or back. God is relegated to the edge, where He may as well be the fine print in a drug commercial.

“That’s dirty pool putting it on the edge,” complained Press reader Ann Holmes. “Who knew it was there? Did they tell us it was there?”

Apparently they didn’t. Ms. Holmes learned of the godless coin from a forwarded email.

Peggy LaPenna doesn’t care whether God is in the details. “Send the U.S. Mint a strong message,” she wrote. “We insist that God stay on ‘the front’ of our money!”

Dollar coins not ‘Godless’ despite urban myth [Grand Rapids Press]

Sources: Obama picks Joe Biden as VP candidate [CNN]

Obama to Name Sen. Joseph Biden As Vice Presidential Running Mate [WSJ]

Breaking: Obama selects Joe Biden as his VP running mate [LAT]

Obama Chooses Biden as Running Mate [NYT]

The ticket: Obama-Biden [Politico]

ABC breaks the shocking news that prostitutes are coming to Denver!

(One… two… three…)

That pause provided by The Committee to Allow You Sufficient Time to Shout “Which Ones?”

Sex Trade Spikes During Conventions [ABC]