Keith's final Campaign Comment imagines an alternative, parallel reality where Barack Obama made the verbal gaffes that McCain has made and poses the question, would Obama be considered a realistic candidate for the office? And if not, why should anyone consider McCain a realistic candidate?

We all know exactly what would be happening tonight if Senator Obama had made all those mistakes, contradictions, gaffes, Freudian slips, and hypocritical pronouncements. He would have long since ceased to be taken seriously by any measurable part of the voting public, as a viable, responsible, self-aware, mentally vigorous, non-dangerous, non-risk. We'd all be going home to our beds well before midnight tomorrow night.

But while all that is hypothetical, this is not: This cascade of incompetence and irresponsibility I have enumerated tonight -- all the sound bites, all the foot-in-mouth moments, all the no-brainers-gone-wrong - all these, John McCain has said. No hyperbole and no hypotheses are required.

This is who John McCain has showed us he is.

Transcripts below the fold:

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Good morning. I’m Brad Jacobson, the dog behind the face of MediaBloodhound, and I’ll be your guest host this week at the round-up. I’d otherwise attempt to whet your appetite with some witty observation…but I just spent nine hours in an Ikea in Elizabeth, NJ, on a Saturday. Best. Birth control. Ever. (I’m sorry if that’s offensive to young children, but they shouldn’t be reading this anyway.) All right, here we go:

Even as the destroyed CIA tapes scandal widens, most national news outlets refuse to utter the word t-o-r-t-u-r-e. Greg Mitchell has the details.

Via Think Progress: NBC not only caves to pressure from White house front group Freedom’s Watch, but rewrites its ad standards guidelines to do it.

Vast Left at Corrente points out that “nice guys” always finish last, unless they’re Republicans. Then the majority of our MSM turns a blind eye to gay-bashing, interminable hypocrisy, deranged episodes and bald-faced lies. (Don’t miss the New York Times video within the links of Vast Left’s post – a prime example of what’s wrong with big media campaign coverage.)

C&L’s Logan Murphy posted on this earlier in the week. But in case anyone missed it, Walter Cronkite says, “Our troops must leave Iraq.” That used to mean something to a president in this country. When Cronkite (who’s in his ninth decade on this planet) said this on CBS News in February 27, 1968, President Johnson knew it was time to hang it up.

A Tiny Revolution’s Jonathan Schwarz says, “Robert Parry's Consortium News is starting a $50,000 fundraiser. Parry is one of the greatest investigative journalists in the United States, and I encourage you to donate.” I encourage you to do the same. Here’s an interesting interview Mr. Parry did over at BuzzFlash in 2004, discussing his book Secrecy & Privilege: The Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq.

Finally, Happy Chanukah to all my Jewish friends out there! I hear ham is a "delicious" way to spice up the Festival of Lights this year. Who knew?

That’s all for now. Please send tips and suggestions to mediabloodhound (at) yahoo (dot) com.