With Barack Obama on the verge of clinching the Democratic nomination, the pundits are already speculating as to who will run as his vice president.

Will it be his rival for the past five months, Hillary Clinton - forming the “Dream Ticket” many Democrats have talked about for months?

Will it be someone whose strength is national security? A governor from a swing state? Someone who can tap into a key demographic of voters. Even a Republican or independent to bring ideological balance to the ticket?

Our response to the veepstakes game: Forget the Dream Ticket and bring on the Dream Team! Imagine if Obama could assemble 12 contenders, not one, combining each of their strengths and creating Uber-Vice President!

They would be the political equivalent of the 1992 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball squad, a juggernaut so unstoppable it would just nonchalantly elbow John McCain aside like Charles Barkley did that poor Angolan player.

Here’s a look at the Dream Team we’ve assembled for Barack Obama …

Top row: Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. Middle row: Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. Bottom row: Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Did we leave any good Democratic contenders for vice president off the Dream Team? Leave a comment and let us know who!

Considering the bias Keith Olbermann has shown toward Barack Obama throughout the Democratic Primary - which we mean as a compliment, Donkey Dish strongly encourages reader bias! - it’s not surprising that he was salivating at the chance to attack Hillary Clinton for her misguided reference last week, during which she invoked the Robert Kennedy assassination of 1968.

And attack her he did!

During a Special Commentary on his MSNBC program, Olbermann laid into Senator Clinton. He was irate and passionate, but he was also reasonable, acknowledging that there’s no way Mrs. Clinton actually wished physical harm on Obama.

Still, that’s no excuse for a presidential candidate - in this America, Olbermann emphasizes - to use such rhetoric. Let us know what you think of this clip:

Maybe Bill Clinton was right about the conspiracy against Hillary. After all, Google seems to adore Barack Obama - and Google controls the universe, right?

According to Google Trends, Barack Obama has led Hillary Clinton and John McCain in search engine traffic and news volume - for the past 12 months.

Check out the graph below comparing the three contenders …

This is likely due to Obama’s relative newness and awesomeness. Either way, all three of the White House aspirants’ online buzz peaked on Super Tuesday in early February, representing the biggest traffic spike on the chart.

Looking ahead to the likely November match-up, more web users are likely to search for Barack Obama than John McCain, but this cuts both ways.

McCain remains the “safe” choice for many Americans, while Obama is still more of a mystery. Will people like what they find on their Internet searches?

On the flip side, if Barack Obama continues to lead John McCain in news reference volume - most of it positive - it could bode well for the Illinois seantor.

The recent surge in gas prices leaves us conflicted.

While no one likes to pay more money, this kind of explosion in prices is the only thing that will get many Americans to reassess our dependence on foreign oil - not to mention the urgency of global warming.

Let’s face it, most people don’t care about polar bears, nor do they make the connection that cutting back on fossil fuels is good for national security and the environment. Their bank accounts? That’s another story.

Sadly, it will get worse before it gets better, and (despite what a pair of pandering candidates and their stupid gas tax holiday tell you) the already-strapped middle class will disproportionately bear the burden.

The cartoon below, entitled “Hitting the Road,” tries to capture the current mood of the energy crisis causing widespread economic panic.

NOTE: This political cartoon was created by and is property of journalist, cartoonist and friend of Donkey Dish, Andrew Wahl. Visit his blog, Off the Wahl, for more!

In his controversial new book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan reflects on some of the outright lies told to the American people.

Equaled only by the quagmire that is the Iraq war, the most devastating of George W. Bush’s many failures as President was his response (or lack thereof) to the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

According to Scott McClellan, the famous photos taken of George Bush overlooking New Orleans from his plane after the storm were entirely staged.

The brainchild? You guessed it, former Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. Bush’s brain, the sultan of sleaze and master of media manipulation recommended taking the photos to show just how much Bush cared. *sniff*

The duplicity of Rove and Bush has tarnished the office of the presidency more than any two photos can adequately describe. But the staged images below are some of the most chilling examples of this culture of deception …

George W. Bush poses for the cameras as he surveys New Orleans.

For a change, Scott McClellan isn’t answering questions about the news.

The former press secretary to George W. Bush is making it.

In his new book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception, McClellan holds little back. He writes that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated “political propaganda campaign” led by President Bush and aimed at “manipulating sources of public opinion” and “downplaying the major reason for going to war.”

Harsh, accurate words for sure.

McClellan admits to standing at the White House podium and attempting to lead reporters in the wrong direction on issues such as the Valerie Plame case. Watch his exercise in tap dancing around questions regarding it below:

Unsurprisingly, some of those criticized in McClellan’s book - such as Karl Rove, who McClellan says he unknowingly exonerated when discussing the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - aren’t pleased with this turn of events.

Rove responded to the book by saying it sounds like it comes from the mind of a “left wing blogger.” Here he is on his home away from home, Fox News:

With four more superdelegates going his way yesterday (apparently), Sen. Barack Obama is now just 48 delegates away from the nomination.

He’s likely to win about half of the remaining 86 pledged delegates in three upcoming races, so the countdown to victory is on. Right?

Hold up. If you think the Democratic presidential race is going to end at that point, or soon after, or at all diplomatically, think again.

Sen. Hillary Clinton will do anything to win. Anything.

No angle will be unexplored, no argument left on the table. This race will have no graceful bow-out, no congenial exit strategy.

People expecting Hillary Clinton to go quietly are kidding themselves.

When she calls herself a fighter, she couldn’t be more right. But it’s as much for herself and her own legacy as it is for America. This race is like a WWE match, only unscripted. Somebody’s going to be left bloodied on the Democratic mat. No one’s walking away from the ring, head held high.

Comments and actions from camp Clinton in recent days prove beyond a doubt that the top priority is not the Democratic party. The attacks have ratcheted up, the talk about sexism and media bias reaching a fever pitch.

A former President of the United States is even espousing conspiracy theories.

There’s been talk of trying to energizing HRC’s supporters to finagle the vice president slot on the ticket, but the chances of her actually getting that dwindle with each hair-brained attack. This is about winning. Period.

Continue reading this article …

Donkey Dish strives to whet your appetite for political punditry, be it with our own rants or turning our attention to what’s being written and spoken elsewhere on the issues you care about most. Here are some of today’s top stories …

Clinton vs. Obama

• A week from today, the marathon will be over. Hillary Clinton hopes to close strong in Puerto Rico, while Barack Obama is looking to win over enough superdelegates to pass the 2,026 threshold. Some feel the former First Lady should think about exiting now, with dignity.

Obama vs. McCain

• In other to win, Obama will need new electoral math for a Democratic hopeful - and he’s laying the groundwork now by going toe-to-toe with McCain out West. In a race this historic, and with all the issues at stake, will voters simply go for the one most like them?

Politics & Media

• Bill Clinton’s conspiracy theories aside, few will dispute that MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann worship Barack Obama - but it’s possibly to his detriment, not HRC’s. On a similar note, here’s an interesting commentary on the evolution of Clinton hatred.

Global Warming

• As evidenced by a political ad he’s already run, John McCain is battling much of his own party on this monumental issue - and the fight has just begun. While environmentalists won’t even go there, some experts feel the only way to combat the energy crisis is to go nuclear.

Life on Mars

• Is it out there? Yes, according to a 2003 episode of The West Wing entitled “Life on Mars.” It was never really discussed, however - merely used as a side note in the scandal leading to the Vice President’s resignation. Back in reality, a new glitch could delay our effort to answer that question … one that has always played a role in the red planet’s mystique.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will officially capture the Democratic presidential nomination soon after next week’s final primaries, the Illinois senator’s top campaign aide, David Axelrod, is predicting.

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Obama’s campaign adviser said that after the June 3 primaries in South Dakota and Montana, Obama will “be at the number we need to claim the nomination.”

“We’re very close now,” Axelrod said.

“When the primaries end, I think, we’ll be where we need to be. We’ll be at the number we need to claim the nomination.”

Barack Obama is closing in on victory over Hillary Clinton.

Obama is just 52 delegates shy of clinching the Democratic nomination while Clinton is 246 short. There are still 86 pledged delegates up for grabs in the remaining three contests - Puerto Rico, where Clinton is favored, votes June 1, ahead of South Dakota and Montana, where Obama has the edge.

Over 200 superdelegates are still publicly undeclared.

Continue reading this article …

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, a.k.a. “Bush’s Brain,” is the sultan of slime. The king of slick. The best at the worst.

Even he can’t hide it any longer.

Interviewed Sunday by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Karl Rove betrayed his guilt as he bungled his own tactics. Instead of changing the subject without appearing to be changing the subject, as is the custom of true, evil, conniving manipulators like himself … Rove just flat out changed the subject.

Asked by Stephanopoulos about his involvement in the Don Siegelman case, the master of cover stories absolutely bungled his non-denial denial.

The Lou Pearlman look-alike claimed he found out about it by reading the newspapers, while not refuting that he talked to anyone in the DOJ…