Friday, August 29, 2008
Obama's Rope-a-Dope
The Republicans have been George Foreman, hitting Obama with everything they had in their evil arsenal over the past few weeks.
Obama let them punch themselves out and then tonight he hit them with a solid right and then another and then a straight left hand.
The fight isn't over, but McCain is on the canvas.
Don't these people ever learn?
Obama is smart and tough. Very tough. McCain didn't know how tough until tonight. He might get up and throw some more punches, but they will have lost their steam...while Obama is loading up that right hand again.
Obama bomaye!
Obama let them punch themselves out and then tonight he hit them with a solid right and then another and then a straight left hand.
The fight isn't over, but McCain is on the canvas.
Don't these people ever learn?
Obama is smart and tough. Very tough. McCain didn't know how tough until tonight. He might get up and throw some more punches, but they will have lost their steam...while Obama is loading up that right hand again.
Obama bomaye!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
"Get on board, you don't have any other choice," happens to be the truth.
That's what one Hillary Clinton supporter said today. She's right. Any rational human who decides to vote for John McCain deserves John McCain, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Alberto Gonzalez, Condi Rice, John Ashcroft, Ronald Reagan, big oil, polluters, homophobes, wife-beaters, racists, anti-abortionists and those who have besmirched any moral authority America had left.
Is that what you want?
Really.
Did Barack Obama's campaign win because the Supreme Court decided so? Did it steal votes? Did it disenfranchise any voters? Did Obama call Clinton's character into question? Does Obama have a clear record of fighting against women's issues?
The answer is no.
He won fairly and with dignity, which is more than I can say for the sore-losers in the Clinton camp.
Clinton waged a dirty campaign, but she earned the right to have her recognition at the convention. Other than that, she lost.
L-O-S-T, lost.
If John McCain wins because of former Clinton voters' support…..
You know, I can't even imagine what's in the minds of these people. Four more years of Republican rule?
Come to your senses, people.
Is that what you want?
Really.
Did Barack Obama's campaign win because the Supreme Court decided so? Did it steal votes? Did it disenfranchise any voters? Did Obama call Clinton's character into question? Does Obama have a clear record of fighting against women's issues?
The answer is no.
He won fairly and with dignity, which is more than I can say for the sore-losers in the Clinton camp.
Clinton waged a dirty campaign, but she earned the right to have her recognition at the convention. Other than that, she lost.
L-O-S-T, lost.
If John McCain wins because of former Clinton voters' support…..
You know, I can't even imagine what's in the minds of these people. Four more years of Republican rule?
Come to your senses, people.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Gen. Clark & Joe Biden's Statements Pretty Much the Same. Why No Fuss Now?
"I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," – Gen. Wesley Clark, June 29, 2008
"These times require more than a good soldier." – Sen. Joe Biden, August 23, 2008
There's not a whole hell of a lot of difference between these two statements. Perhaps if Gen. Clark hadn't been officially declared a pariah by the weaker, more politically-correct folks in the Obama campaign, Obama wouldn't be perceived as not hitting back at the vicious Republican attacks on his character.
The simple fact remains that the plain and honest statement by Gen. Clark is right on the money.
McCain was a failure at Annapolis and a failure as a pilot. Yeah, we're sorry he got locked up for five years, but how many innocent people have we locked up in jails all over America? And how many more have we put through the same kinds of torture McCain suffered? In Guantanamo and our franchise dungeons all over the world?
Let's not forget, McCain's voting record on torture. He was against it when he was being tortured, and for it when it was politically advantageous.
It's time to stop kissing McCain's red white and blue butt on the subject of serving in the military, especially since he has supported Bush in denying our current military the equipment it needed to fight and protect itself, and in the shameful manner in which it has treated the troops when they came home, dead and alive.
So, stop saying how much you respect his service. Tell the truth. Call him on his pandering on his Vietnam experience. Dig up some other ex-POW's who will call him on using his experiences for current political gain.
And anyway, his five years in a POW camp over thirty years ago apparently has nothing to do with the situation into which the Bush administration has put us. Wait, maybe it has everything to do with it…and getting rid of the last of the pro-Vietnam War leaders is a good thing.
Our military is not to be worshiped. It is to be used as a last resort, and to present a strong face to those who would attack us. Period. They do the job they applied for, just like everybody else. Cops and firemen are no less heroes. Garbage collectors and those who deliver the mail, also.
General Clark? There are many of us who applauded your statement. I'm sorry you won't be at the convention. It's a big mistake on the part of the Democratic Party (no strangers to big mistakes).
Tom does a talk show live Thursdays at 5:30pm ET with fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine. Listen here.
"These times require more than a good soldier." – Sen. Joe Biden, August 23, 2008
There's not a whole hell of a lot of difference between these two statements. Perhaps if Gen. Clark hadn't been officially declared a pariah by the weaker, more politically-correct folks in the Obama campaign, Obama wouldn't be perceived as not hitting back at the vicious Republican attacks on his character.
The simple fact remains that the plain and honest statement by Gen. Clark is right on the money.
McCain was a failure at Annapolis and a failure as a pilot. Yeah, we're sorry he got locked up for five years, but how many innocent people have we locked up in jails all over America? And how many more have we put through the same kinds of torture McCain suffered? In Guantanamo and our franchise dungeons all over the world?
Let's not forget, McCain's voting record on torture. He was against it when he was being tortured, and for it when it was politically advantageous.
It's time to stop kissing McCain's red white and blue butt on the subject of serving in the military, especially since he has supported Bush in denying our current military the equipment it needed to fight and protect itself, and in the shameful manner in which it has treated the troops when they came home, dead and alive.
So, stop saying how much you respect his service. Tell the truth. Call him on his pandering on his Vietnam experience. Dig up some other ex-POW's who will call him on using his experiences for current political gain.
And anyway, his five years in a POW camp over thirty years ago apparently has nothing to do with the situation into which the Bush administration has put us. Wait, maybe it has everything to do with it…and getting rid of the last of the pro-Vietnam War leaders is a good thing.
Our military is not to be worshiped. It is to be used as a last resort, and to present a strong face to those who would attack us. Period. They do the job they applied for, just like everybody else. Cops and firemen are no less heroes. Garbage collectors and those who deliver the mail, also.
General Clark? There are many of us who applauded your statement. I'm sorry you won't be at the convention. It's a big mistake on the part of the Democratic Party (no strangers to big mistakes).
Tom does a talk show live Thursdays at 5:30pm ET with fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine. Listen here.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
There's Something About Televangelists
I am reading "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins on the folly of religion.
Then I ran across this which proves it.
Then I ran across this which proves it.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Russia: Foreign Policy Issue #1---Or SHOULD Be
On June 16, 2001, with Vladimir Putin at his side, George Bush said of the Russian President, "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. "
That part of the story we know.
The part we don't know for fact, but can make an educated guess about is what Putin thought when looked Bush in the eye. Given Putin's actions since then it was probably, "Jesus, this guy is a fucking idiot. I can put anything over on this fool."
And so he did.
U.S. relations, or lack of them, with Russia should be a hot campaign issue. I mean, is there another country in the world with a giant nuclear arsenal who has invaded a sovereign country in order to control the flow of oil? Well, besides us.
Yes, Obama made a typically nuanced statement when Russia invaded Georgia, but it didn't say a whole hell of a lot. And it certainly didn't assuage my concerns. Of course, it was vastly superior to McCain's war-mongering on behalf of his client.
Is this the first time in American history that one of an American Presidential candidate's chief advisors was in the employ of a foreign government. Is there any doubt that McCain's statements on the Russian invasion are a direct result of Randy Scheunneman's lobbying contract with Georgia? I have no doubts at all.
Clearly, McCain never met a war he didn't like, except one where he's getting shot at.
Still, when Russia goes running around invading other countries, especially ones which use to belong to it, (Georgia = Sudatenland) and threatening others nearby (Poland), I expect Obama to tell us what he's going to do. If he's going to be running the show come January 20, I'd like to know his plans for Russia.
This should be the major foreign policy question of this campaign. A few religious nuts in the mountains of Pakistan don't even come close.
Tom D'Antoni and fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine do a talk show on Blogtalkradio live on Thursdays at 5:30pm ET. All shows are archived. Listen here.
That part of the story we know.
The part we don't know for fact, but can make an educated guess about is what Putin thought when looked Bush in the eye. Given Putin's actions since then it was probably, "Jesus, this guy is a fucking idiot. I can put anything over on this fool."
And so he did.
U.S. relations, or lack of them, with Russia should be a hot campaign issue. I mean, is there another country in the world with a giant nuclear arsenal who has invaded a sovereign country in order to control the flow of oil? Well, besides us.
Yes, Obama made a typically nuanced statement when Russia invaded Georgia, but it didn't say a whole hell of a lot. And it certainly didn't assuage my concerns. Of course, it was vastly superior to McCain's war-mongering on behalf of his client.
Is this the first time in American history that one of an American Presidential candidate's chief advisors was in the employ of a foreign government. Is there any doubt that McCain's statements on the Russian invasion are a direct result of Randy Scheunneman's lobbying contract with Georgia? I have no doubts at all.
Clearly, McCain never met a war he didn't like, except one where he's getting shot at.
Still, when Russia goes running around invading other countries, especially ones which use to belong to it, (Georgia = Sudatenland) and threatening others nearby (Poland), I expect Obama to tell us what he's going to do. If he's going to be running the show come January 20, I'd like to know his plans for Russia.
This should be the major foreign policy question of this campaign. A few religious nuts in the mountains of Pakistan don't even come close.
Tom D'Antoni and fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine do a talk show on Blogtalkradio live on Thursdays at 5:30pm ET. All shows are archived. Listen here.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Countdown ---Too Much McCain Bashing, Not Enough Obama Reporting
We know what Fox News' function is in the universe…the Republican Party line.
We know that CNN is still hopelessly stuck in the Crossfire concept of two opposing points of view, given equal weight even if one of them held that the world is governed by dancing cantaloupes wearing fake monkey heads and lime green leisure suits…and the other held that they didn't exist. Plus, except for Cafferty, it is the residence of boring pundits and conventional "wisdom."
That leaves us with MSNBC which is an uneven collection of solid reporters, airhead anchors, scenery-chewers and the stars of the channel Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow.
But although many of us rely on Countdown for our only national television leftie news, it is devolving into a McCain bash-fest rather than the only place on cable where we might find out what Obama is doing and saying. Yesterday Obama did not appear at all! It was all McCain bashing. The closest they came was a quote from an Obama surrogate put up on the screen as text, read by Olbermann.
When Obama was in Germany, Countdown focused not on what he had to say, but on what McCain was doing. There was much more of McCain in the supermarket than a thoughtful presentation of Obama's day in Germany. The Brian Williams grab at the end was a great touch, but that was not generated by Countdown This is a pattern. Yes, there is an obligation to point out McCain's daily errors and horrors, but where else is anyone going to find out what Obama is saying?
The networks are in the same Crossfire mode as CNN, they promote controversy rather than dealing in fact-finding, truth-finding journalism. With studies finding that there is more negative coverage of Obama than positive, Countdown's daily beatdown of McCain and Fox/O'Reilly is missing the point.
We know that CNN is still hopelessly stuck in the Crossfire concept of two opposing points of view, given equal weight even if one of them held that the world is governed by dancing cantaloupes wearing fake monkey heads and lime green leisure suits…and the other held that they didn't exist. Plus, except for Cafferty, it is the residence of boring pundits and conventional "wisdom."
That leaves us with MSNBC which is an uneven collection of solid reporters, airhead anchors, scenery-chewers and the stars of the channel Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow.
But although many of us rely on Countdown for our only national television leftie news, it is devolving into a McCain bash-fest rather than the only place on cable where we might find out what Obama is doing and saying. Yesterday Obama did not appear at all! It was all McCain bashing. The closest they came was a quote from an Obama surrogate put up on the screen as text, read by Olbermann.
When Obama was in Germany, Countdown focused not on what he had to say, but on what McCain was doing. There was much more of McCain in the supermarket than a thoughtful presentation of Obama's day in Germany. The Brian Williams grab at the end was a great touch, but that was not generated by Countdown This is a pattern. Yes, there is an obligation to point out McCain's daily errors and horrors, but where else is anyone going to find out what Obama is saying?
The networks are in the same Crossfire mode as CNN, they promote controversy rather than dealing in fact-finding, truth-finding journalism. With studies finding that there is more negative coverage of Obama than positive, Countdown's daily beatdown of McCain and Fox/O'Reilly is missing the point.
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