Obama in enemy territory
Why do this?
Perhaps they have a little too much money - or perhaps they feel they have secured all the votes they can in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Or (more likely) they want to create a news story that further drowns out John McCain's "redistributionist-in-chief" effort.
But will a few adverts become a "surprise" Obama trip to Arizona over the weekend.
Downside: it's the arrogance, stupid.
Upside: a huge news story that dominates the free media final cycle and stymies Mr McCain's effort to tell a tale of come-backs and last ditch stands...
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I've had a feeling for some time that having too much money might eventually start to get the better of the Obama campaign, and I worry that the 30 min prime time ads could be symptomatic of this. As anyone on the campaign email list will testify to the push for more and more cash is utterly relentless but what are they going to spend it on that hasn't already been done to death? The biggest danger now is that it starts to look like the result is taken for granted - the voters may have other ideas!
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Hallelujah ! A change of subject.
Come back Nutkin - we need you.
Re Arizona, I understand that it is the workers on the ground there who, finding themselves with a breakthrough, are asking for Obama to visit.
This shows the dilemma of a campaign. Does he take the risk and reward those good folks who have been working so hard ? Or does he stick to his programme and the must-win states ?
I don't think that either option shows arrogance.
Just an insight into the decisions that have to be made at this stage of the campaign.
I suppose the more relevant question could be - is McCain going to visit Arizona ?
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Sometimes I wonder Justin, both in the nomination and now Election campaign your leanings have always been so obvious, at times on TV some of your comments of leaning for one candidate come over as arrogance as well.
Barack Obama often is a no win situation currently, if he did not visit a territory he would be accused by some of being arrogant, visit some States were it is felt he stands only a small chance of success and he is still arrogant.
This last few days it has been interesting to see how some polls by some parts of the media also lean to who they clearly lean towards, but they don't ever tell the full story of how the sample was done?
At least your colleagues show a real good independence and report openly! on what has been an amazing political year in the USA.
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Hate to be the first post but....polls in AZ are close, why not put some effort into the state, all the states for that matter if you can? Is a candidate just supposed to ignore the 45%+ voters in AZ who support him? Plus...there are zillions of those little psycho tactical reasons such as you mention ... put McCain on the defensive, make him angry, point out that even his home state polls are close, etc etc etc. Don't think arrogance plays into it apart from that basic "arrogance that is practically insanity" required for anyone to think they can be (or would want to be) POTUS.
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Because it's a beautiful gesture to almost half of the Arizonians ;-)
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It makes sense for Obama to gather as much support as possible because post the election I expect Obama will appeal directly to all Americans to pull together in a non-partisan way to get the country back on track.
As part of this process, I expect Obama to appoint people to administrative positions based purely on ability, irrespective of which party they are members of, or independents.
America needs radical change and Americans are the people capable of making that transition successfully - as the election of Obama will hopefully demonstrate.
I think it will be good, very good for all of us.
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Arizona is not all that "safe" for McCain, and it would be a lovely coup de grace....Discussed here
Peace and fun in Ed Abbey Country
ed
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Even the hint of a possibility of a surprise visit has energized Obama supporters here in Arizona. They have been working long and hard to elect him even when they believed Arizona's Electoral Votes would most likely go to McCain. The chance that Obama could actually win Arizona is just unbelievable and many are excited.
I believe that Obama has not had a high personal presence here out of respect for McCain. We saw quite a bit of him, as well as Michelle, during the primaries.
If our state is actually tipping as the polls are showing, I do not believe that it is arrogant for the DNC to send some energy here. We would be happy to see Biden, either of the Clintons, or Michelle. If Obama, himself, came I think that people from all over the state would rally. It would be very interesting.
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Ok, this one is a better topic to bring up on than a couple of your previous blogs.
Arrogance? Not at all. What, should Obama then hold back on his attacks on McCain when he is throwing kitchen sink at him? There is no time for modesty. When McC/RNC is airing attacks with more Wright video
(http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/conservative_group_to_run_anti.php) and talking up old and buried Khalidi story, why should he? He's got the money and he has the arguments. It comes across nothing like an arrogance. Not only will it dominate the a few precious remaining news cycles with his messages of hope and McC hypocracy, it will illustrate his predicament that will hurt; his dwindling support even in his own state where he used to enjoy 20+ lead that's now evaporated to nothing more that statistical dead heat.
I say hit him and hit him hard.
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Or maybe it's psychological warfare? McCain needs to look and act confident if he's to have any hope of swinging voters to his cause in the last days... difficult to do that when his opponent is testing him out on his home turf. Good tactics I'd say.
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Or, maybe, as voters finally pay attention to who Barack Obama really is, and what he really intends...he has reason to worry.
He may have to suddenly scramble to keep all the plates in the air, while maintaining that cool, unruffled exterior.
Most Americans who work, work for small businesses, or own them. This gives them great pause as they reflect on the long laundry list of promises he keeps making.
Who will pay for this, especially given the debt incurred lately on behalf of the taxpayer?
Where will the spending end?
What happens to our freedoms?
What happens to our lives if we ask the wrong question at an inopportune moment?
(The last guy who did that found that government operatives unearthed his confidential records to a hostile press.)
If the voters pay attention to who Obama really is, and what he really intends, he is in serious deep water, everywhere.
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Justin, I think you should go bowling with Sean Hannity.
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Or, perhaps, it is part of a strategy to force McCain to defend his own turf and keep him away from states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia which would guarantee a Democratic victory next week.
Obama has money to spend because we, his supporters, have donated as much as we could to ensure we rid ourselves of the Republican ideology that is destroying our country. We simply can not afford another four years of Republican trickle down economics, borrow and spend, tax breaks to the wealthiest while the middle class is struggling to make ends meet, and making a mockery of democracy both at home and abroad. It seems to me like the real "Joe the Plumbers" are fighting the establishment...
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It's not arrogance. What's wrong with making the point that Obama represents people in every state? His supporters in Arizona certainly appreciate getting a little attention, lest people assume everyone in that state is a McCainiac.
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Has anyone noticed that Bush is pushing deregulation acts through behind the scenes? Is that being mentioned at all?
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Palin Fears Media Threaten Her First Amendment Rights
Poor dear.Peace and negativity
ed
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Reply to justin
No. Its insecurity about the polls.
The state polls are compiled by companies with low standards on the cheap with small samples and limited time to recontact voters who don't reply to the initial polling call. Obama's internal polling must be showing a closer race.
The National polls are better, but the demographic weighting requires hand tuned parameters this year. I think the assumption that there won't be an increase in white voter turnout is questionable.
The fact that Gallup has two different sets of results "Traditional" and "expanded" shows these people are not certain what is going on.
Averaging different polls together is also dangerous. If they all used the same methodology there might be a case for it, otherwise... it stinks.
However, all the above dosn't change the fact that the economy is allready in recession. Logically, Obama should be ahead. I also think Virgina will be a blue state this year.
John looked happier during his stump speaches in the past few days. I think his pollster is better to be honest. I guess there might be an actual doubt about the result.
3 Networks with a 30 min broadcast simultaneously? You turn the channel change on terrestrial TV and get the same face?
Creepy.
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i think this arizona thing is more strategy than actually any hope of winning arizona. as you can see, everyone is talking about it, one less story about mccain. Now
McCain is spending some of his money in his own state now, thats money he could be spending in one of the swing states,he wont let obama ads in arizona go uncontested.
Also if Obama is already flooding the air waves with ads in all the swing states, then makes no sense putting in more ads, that will only let voters get tired of him , diminishing returns.
it would be even more interesting if obama can get mccain to leave his campaign traila nd go back to his home state to campaign. They are trying to stretch mccain thin.
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A good commander attacks his enemy's weaknesses.
A great commander attacks his enemy's strengths.
(Did Sun Tzu say that? It sounds like something he might say...)
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The Big Empty
Looks like Yosemite Sam (Quick Draw John) is out manoeuvred and out gunned...Peace and Desert evenings
ed
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At a time when Americans are cutting back on and tightening the belt, Obama spends 4 million on a half an hour gloss love myself fest its bound to back fire with the majority of people, he made a mistake doing it, talking to grassroots people, even New Yorkers (Democrat stronghold) commuting on my train out of Penn, were turned off by it.
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For Mr Obama to win Arizona would plainly be icing on the victory cake - a reversal of the situation when Al Gore failed to carry his own state. That must have been very satisfying to Mr Bush - and similarly it would give great pleasure to Mr Obama to beat his rival on his home turf.
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9. At 6:07pm on 31 Oct 2008, Byungmoon wrote:and talking up old and buried Khalidi story,
Who dictates if its an old or buried story? who buried it, the LA Times?
This story never came out properly. Give a good reason why it should not come out. Had it been McCain giving a glowing report about a Neo-Nazi, it sure as heck would not be an old and buried story
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# 3 jaybs1 wrote:
"Sometimes I wonder Justin, both in the nomination and now Election campaign your leanings have always been so obvious, at times on TV some of your comments of leaning for one candidate come over as arrogance as well."
Ho hum
If his leanings were 'so obvious', why would he have been accused of being clearly in favour of, at different times, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain?
I know - he's biased in favour of all of them!
[Of course, if he says something favourable about eg McCain, the Reps will say - 'he's just trying to cover up his clear bias in favour of Obama.' So he really can't win.]
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~ 11 ~ Old South
Your post is enigmatic but I suppose you are talking about CIA Agent Valerie Plame and her ex-Ambassador husband Joseph Wilson.
Of course the exposure of Plame (after her husband had opposed some of the WMD nonsense) happened under the George W. Bush administration and led to the senior Bush White House officer, Scooter Libby, being tried and convicted.
You are quite right to say that that sort of behaviour in the White House is shameful.
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alexmarymartin (#15), it was reported on KCBS radio this morning.
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This election is a lot more fun with the entertainment provided by persons like DMT (#17). What is more satisfying than knowing that your adversaries hate you and that they can't do anything about it?
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# 11 OldSouth wrote:
"Or, maybe, as voters finally pay attention to who Barack Obama really is, and what he really intends...he has reason to worry."
My problem with this is a recent poll, which I linked to - think it was in the NYT - which showed that the more the voters saw Obama and McCain, the more Obama's ratings went up and the more McCain's went down.
"What happens to our lives if we ask the wrong question at an inopportune moment? (The last guy who did that found that government operatives unearthed his confidential records to a hostile press.)"
Who? Not Joe-sorta the Plumber-sorta - that well known Independent? And 'government operatives' turned on him? My, what strange power does Obama have over George W?
If it's not him - who? Are we supposed to be mindreaders?
"If the voters pay attention to who Obama really is, and what he really intends, he is in serious deep water, everywhere."
I love [ie I hate] this sublime arrogance of Republicans - that people can only vote Democrat because they don't see the truth, or because they've been hypnotised. Never because they make a rational choice.
I think it was on Pajamasmedia, the site Justin linked to in his last posting - most of the comments were extreme right wing, but one person asked why it is that, whoever the Democrats nominate, it always turns out to be the most dangerous, extreme socialist/liberal imaginable - at least, according to the Republicans. And someone replied - 'because the last 3 were'. Yup, Obama, Kerry and Gore, those dangerous Marxist radicals.
Finally, a question it would be nice if all Republicans on here answered. OldSouth, did you vote twice for Bush? [Your name and your postings would certainly suggest so.] If so, considering the disaster he's been, why should anyone take you seriously?
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No, it's not arrogance; it is political aggression that is perfectly calculated: at the very least, it puts down a deposit for swinging Arizona in 2012; at best, it is the final coup de grace that sends the Republicans into 20 years of self-destruction and self-analysis. Arrogance would be putting Texas into play (at least this time; next time the election will be fought there).
The two polls for Arizona today have McCain 48 Obama 47 (Daily Kos/Research 2000) and McCain 50 Obama 46 (ARG). The average of those two is McCain 49 Obama 46.5 with the difference of 2.5% being within the margin of error. Of the Kos poll, the sampling for Hispanics was 19%, whereas they are closer to 30% of the population and they support Obama 68-24. If these polls are undersampling Hispanic voters, then the result would be the other way round. For that reason alone, I genuinely hope that Obama holds a major rally in Arizona on Sunday. Apparently McCain will campaign in his own state Monday and is running Robocalls.
For what it is worth, my view is that the election will fall out as follows. Obama keeps the Kerry states. He wins Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada clearly. The big surprises are Mississippi and Louisiana which are 34 and 36% African American respectively and which may have an 80%+ turnout for that group voting 90-95% Obama, leaving McCain having to win 80% of the rest of the electorate. McCain keeps West Virginia and scrapes home in Montana. The four knife-edge states are North Dakota, Indiana, Arizona and Texas (the last again because of the combined Hispanic-African American vote), of which either North Dakota or Arizona, or possibly both, fall to Obama. The 2012 election is then fought entirely on present 'Republican' ground.
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excuse me Gary_A_Hill(27) and alaexmarymartin(15) -
Are you telling us GW is acting unilaterally?
What part of the American, "Balance of Power" do you not understand?
When it comes to finance and regulation, the President can enable (sign) or inhibit (veto).
Your Senate and Legislature is doing 2/3 of the work.
The concern of the "wicked right conspiracy" is that Obama will rubber stamp the rubbish Reid and Pelosi impose on the country.
That is the very same Reid and Pelosi behind the deregulation you referenced.
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Yesterday McCain, for once, was in the right place (Ohio) saying the right things (I feel your pain and I'm gonna help).
Obama should be saying the exact same things in Ohio, PA, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.
Flying into Arizona at this point is not wise. The gamble is that he's going to win the election anyway, and should be concentrating on making it a rout. He's probably right, but it's a dangerous game.
I didn't like the half hour on the air either. The only groups you're likely to move are those who've had their favorite shows cancelled, not to mention sports fans who may dislike the World Series being delayed.
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11, OldSouth writes "What happens to our freedoms? "
Can I ask for one freedom that will be lost?
One freedom to gain would be the freedom that you have control over your body and not the government.
Under Bush the freedoms were lost due to wire-tapping.
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David Cunard ~
Sorry you put the kibbosh on Sam-as-Bill fantasy. It was fun while it lasted.
About HRC - we would certainly be in a different race if she had been selected as VP.
Firstly Palin would never have been selected, but I also have to remind you that the GOP wanted her as candidate.
I always believed that they thought that they had lots more dirt on Bill and would have loved to fling it around. It's dirty enough now, but I believe that it would have been a mudbath if the Clintons had been in the front line.
Given how shattered she was at the end of the primaries, I believe that she is well out of it. Her loyalty to Bill is totally admirable, but you have to admit that he does bring an awful lot of baggage with him which would have totally skewed OHB's message.
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"Free media" ...what pray tell is that? Another sheepish oxymoron. There's nothing "free" about the corporate media, it's as closely controlled by moneyed interests as the corporate political parties. Which is why, of course, despite saturation coverage of the most insipid trivialities of the Duopoly Party candidates, there's nary a word about any third-party candidates to be found anywhere in the "free media", outside of fringe publications. This near blanket blackout on any reporting outside of the narrow confines of the fraudulent - and extremely expensive - two-party system is a news story of the first order, that the "free media" always "drowns out". After all, the "adverts" are as important to the "free media" as they are to the prostituted political system in mercenary America. Not surprising then, if Obama Copacabana should want to "drown out" any noble "redistributionist-in-chief" hopes among any of his naive adherents that still believe he's anything other than the "arrogant" corporate puppet he's always been.
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Thank you Justin, for a fresh idea to debate.
Obama's push for Arizona is masterful for many reasons, as you suggested.
- it creates real news to drown the mudslinging
- it shows awareness and respect for the 1000s of his activist supporters, paid and especially the unpaid volunteers, in the "red" states.
- they have so much money donated by normal Americans, many from red states .... use it to win something new, not just more of the same in the safe areas.
- I'm sure it would delight him to take McCain's home state (remember Gore lost his to Bush)
.... but arrogance.
No. He wants people to see that his policies are for everyone. He wants to reunite the country.
Arrogance would be to assume it was in the bag and not try.
Think Arizona .... think about it ..... and then vote Obama.
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# 28 Gary_A_Hill wrote:
"This election is a lot more fun with the entertainment provided by persons like DMT (#17). What is more satisfying than knowing that your adversaries hate you and that they can't do anything about it?"
And I think we know the message to send DMT if Obama wins
'Rejoice, Rejoice'
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"It's not even worth trying to make a buck anymore."
I'm with you, what with it being sent directly to the banks and all. Clearly the better plan is to go eyeball deep in debt like they did, and then take in a government handout.
Or would I not get one, being only middle class?
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Well, the Dame at 17 did admit that Obama's going to win. No wonder she's swinging her handbag
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26. At 7:20pm on 31 Oct 2008, eightypercent wrote:
~ 11 ~ Old South
Your post is enigmatic but I suppose you are talking about CIA Agent Valerie Plame and her ex-Ambassador husband Joseph Wilson.
Of course the exposure of Plame (after her husband had opposed some of the WMD nonsense) happened under the George W. Bush administration and led to the senior Bush White House officer, Scooter Libby, being tried and convicted.
You are quite right to say that that sort of behaviour in the White House is shameful.
"Some of the WMD Nonsense" now what would that be the fact Joseph Wilson is the liar perhaps ? The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions. The fact that Wilson was sent to Africa to confirm that Saddam purchased WMD making material and he was told this by the country's PM, yet for his own political agenda, Wilson choose to Lie instead. The fact this is now coming out as found Proves both Bush and Blair were correct, (In fact even Clinton for once was correct because he too said there was WMD in Iraq)
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17. At 6:48pm on 31 Oct 2008, DameMargaretThatcher wrote:
He's not even president yet, and I'm already looking forward to the next election when we can vote President Obama out.
He is the personifcation of arrogance. A snake who lied about accepting public campaign funding and parleyed a sick relatonhip with the left wing media.
So called comedians: John Stewart, Bill Maher, SNL. The writers strike proved you were just a bunch of socialist sock puppets.
It's not even worth trying to make a buck anymore. "From each according to his ability to each according to his needs" - Karl Marx
-------------
You mean the arrogance of going to war on the premise of WMD while there are none. Or the arrogance responsible for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives , more than 4000 american citizens and a trillion dollars?
By Socialism you mean Alaska distributing the oil revenue to its citizens? Or the bailout of financial giants?
Each taxpayers losing thousands of dollars due to Iraq war is certainly "fiscally responsible".
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I am surprised by your characterization of Obama's visit as "arrogance". McCain is currently campaigning in states where he is more than 10 points behind. Surely that is "arrogance" as well? Would if not be more arrogant if Obama campaigned in a state where he is far ahead? Or is it simply arrogant because Obama should act the gentleman and leave McCain's home state alone? As an Arizonan voter, I certainly and emphatically disagree!
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DMT at 17
If I am right about this guy, there won't be another one. President for life, Barack Obama, not that there will be much left of the US after "reparations for slavery" have been executed, with a little help from his "friends."
Did you see how quickly those reporters from papers that had endorsed Mccain were kicked off Barack's plane? That is the first raindrop of the force 5 hurricane to come.
Also notice how 2 magazines that mainly write for African Americans replaced them. That is the whole point, as rev. Wright said, Barack will turn the tables..
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#17. DameMargaretThatcher: "He's not even president yet, and I'm already looking forward to the next election when we can vote President Obama out."
Douche or not, it's good to see that you concede that Mr McCain will fail in his attempt to be elected President.
BTW - Karl Marz didn't devise the statement you attribute to him, it was Louis Blanc. In any case, it has a Christian ring to it, as all Evangelicals should acknowledge, but don't.
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Never mind Arizona, Obama needs to go to Alaska!
He said that he would visit every one of the 50 states - got to at least 48 with Hawaii, but what's left?
And it's a logical last move...
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#22 bluepaddy13 wrote:
"At a time when Americans are cutting back on and tightening the belt, Obama spends 4 million on a half an hour gloss love myself fest"
The money was freely given by those same belt-tightening Americans in order for him to publicise his message.
I don't know about "love myself fest". All politicians have a certain degree of that .... after all you have to be pretty secure to put yourself in the spotlight.
At least Obama talks about what HE will do ..... McCain just scaremongers about what Obama might do (incorrectly - please don't start on marxism again)
By the way ... I've worked out who you are ....
an unlucky democrat-voting Irishman.
Peace and Guiness
ps where are the previous 12.
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26. At 7:20pm on 31 Oct 2008, eightypercent wrote:
~ 11 ~ Old South
Your post is enigmatic but I suppose you are talking about CIA Agent Valerie Plame and her ex-Ambassador husband Joseph Wilson.
Of course the exposure of Plame (after her husband had opposed some of the WMD nonsense) happened under the George W. Bush administration and led to the senior Bush White House officer, Scooter Libby, being tried and convicted.
You are quite right to say that that sort of behaviour in the White House is shameful.
"Some of the WMD Nonsense" now what would that be the fact Joseph Wilson is the liar perhaps ? The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" ? the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment ? was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions. The fact that Wilson was sent to Africa to confirm that Saddam purchased WMD making material and he was told this by the country's PM, yet for his own political agenda, Wilson choose to Lie instead. The fact this is now coming out as found Proves both Bush and Blair were correct, (In fact even Clinton for once was correct because he too said there was WMD in Iraq)
Yeah right. The WMD material has eventually reached Bin Laden, but fearing a strike from US he has hidden it on the moon. On the next lunar eclipse when no one can see the moon he is going to unload the material and start making a bomb.
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McCain has a very good chance of losing his home state and that will make an Obama victory even more sweet. The GOP can also use it as ammunition to split off the evangelical christians while the more moderate conservatives figure out how to salvage their party.
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I'm sure Obama has some friends in those enemy states as well.
As a president for all americans he should visit all the states at least once.
Same for McCain of course
Is there any statistics about where presidential candidates campaign?
I bet there are a couple of states where no one ever went.
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I find the Republican expressions of outrage at Obama's financial campaign prowess nothing short of comical. Where was the outrage the past two decades when Republicans received twice as much money in contributions and were able to outspend Democrats 2:1?
As for the 30-minute "info-mercial" most Obama supporters loved it, not only because it addressed topics of interest in a very positive manner and it highlighted the populist Democratic agenda at a high level, but because it was targeted at toss-up states whose vote could prove pivotal four days from now. Similarly, it is not too difficult to understand why Republicans hate it. I know I would if I was one of them!
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Ed Iglehart is nuts.
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Oh great, the thread barely gets going and the nut bars are out in force already, no doubt we will soone be treated to another rehash of the birth certificate, or maybe tonight its back to ACORN, or another replay for marxism? My only hope is that if Obama wins they'll all spontaneously combust...
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40, bluepaddy13,
Even Bush and Blair admitted that they were wrong about WMDs in Iraq. All they found were aluminum pipes.
You probably have your own spy network that tells you where the WMDs are. Bush and Blair can certainly use your help.
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# 40
Remind me, where was the WMD found in Iraq ?
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Arizona is not a dead certainty for McCain. The state Democratic party has been pushing Obama to visit and to advertise in the state.
The polls are closer than anyone, especially McCain, would like. The second city in the state, Tucson, is traditionally quite blue. Phoenix is in perpetual "changing demographics" mode.
So, yes, Obama can afford, it. And, yes, a visit over the weekend would be just one more thing to keep McCain's message off the airwaves.
Besides, Arizona has 10 electoral votes. Not to be sneezed at. Obama wants to win, but he also wants to win big.
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neil_a2 (#31), all I'm doing in reporting that I heard on the morning drive-time news radio that President Bush is attempting to get some deregulation measures in place in his last few weeks in office. I don't know the details, but have no reason to believe that things are not being done by the book.
Please don't shoot me. I'm just the messenger, and have not expressed an opinion one way or the other on this item.
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#22 bluepaddy13 wrote:
"At a time when Americans are cutting back on and tightening the belt, Obama spends 4 million on a half an hour gloss love myself fest"
Looks like lessons were not learnt after 150,000 wardrobe fiasco. The campaign money can be used only for campaign. Handing it out to arbitrary people for arbitrary reasons is illegal.
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22/bluepaddy
"At a time when Americans are cutting back on and tightening the belt, Obama spends 4 million on a half an hour gloss love myself fest "
He is spending donations given to him by supporters for the purpose they were donated! What would you prefer, thirty one-minute hate-and-fear-fests? (oh wait someone's already doing that). Or should he just keep the money in the bank and give McCain a fighting chance?
And hang on a minute, isn't Mr McCain using Public Funding - ie tax-payer's money, to fund the ultimate in self-interest vanity projects? Talk about scraping the bottom of the pork barrel! Perhaps public campaign funding should be the first thing he axes with his spending freeze.
Given that he has very little chance of winning (either that or America's polling industry is about to collapse), surely in this time of economic strife he should stop wasting public funds on a badly planned and executed campaign that most of America no longer supports...
Hang on another minute, that's reminding me of something else now... maybe it's time for a Surge?
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#43 exserviceman wrote:
"If I am right about this guy, there won't be another one. President for life, Barack Obama, not that there will be much left of the US after "reparations for slavery" have been executed, with a little help from his "friends.""
Where do you get this stuff from?
President for life .... is he now, like Caesar, going to take his army (which doesn't respect him as he's not a warrior!!! - see several previous posts on the other string) and force the Senate to vote him lifelong powers?
Is there a river Rubcon anywhere in the USA?
You are deluded.
Reparations for slavery .... and here was I thinking all the straws had been clutched at!
And why do his friends have these " " around them? Do they not like him really?
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# 30
Good to read an interesting assessment from Mark. You has been missed.
Want a virtual bet on Montana ?
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Or maybe it is just another Marxist sacheeing around on his supporters dime, before the American people send him home like Dukakis, Kerry, and Gore which the media were all sure would win also! America still the land of the free, despite the efforts of leftists everywhere.
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pkkmres (#33), we can hope that one freedon which will be lost, by those in a position to exercize it, is the freedom to loot our financial institutions with impunity.
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Ref 43
"Did you see how quickly those reporters from papers that had endorsed Mccain were kicked off Barack's plane? That is the first raindrop of the force 5 hurricane to come."
Whatever happened to the Dixie Chicks or for that matter what happened to our Constitutional and Civil Rights on issues such as torture, habeas corpus, eaves dropping, "enemy combatants", renditions, etc?
Instead of worrying about Katrina-style disasters (both the natural and the man-made), you should rejoice at the distinct probability that our Rights and Freedoms may be restored in the not too distant future.
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It would be very funny if Obama managed to lose the election at this point - let's see if his tendency to clown gets the better of him.
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# 24 bluepaddy13
Let's me paraphrase a CNN reporter Dana Bash on AC 360.
Bash asked a McC campaign insider something along the lines of "why do you bring up a six month old story NOW?" Answer. "because in six days time, there is a very real possibility of Obama entering the White House"
The point. Smear, smear, smear. That's why the story is being brought up. In everyway he can, he will try to scare the voters. That's the only tactics that McC has. No vision, no plan of his own to speak of to bring solutions to the current crisis and so all you can come up with is simply the other guy is dangerous.
Talking about guilty by association, let's leave out AIP, Keating 5 etc etc for the moment. Khalidi that Obama was supposed have been in some banquette, was payed 450000 dollars by an organization that McC is a chair of. Now McC is a monetary sponsor of anti-semite? Mind you, Obama is on record to disagree with practically everything that Khalidi says about Israel-Palestinian issues, and is allegedly in Khalidi's presence for some kind of leaving party to toast some drink. McC? He's given him half mil. Explain that.
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Justin,
One good thing(among others) about conservatives is that they do not take opinion polls for granted. They go out and vote to ensure that their candidate wins.
Historically liberals lack such enthusiasm. So the move is not arrogant, its very pragmatic whether Obama wins or not.
Among the causes of electoral debacles of liberals are too much trust in opinion polls and hope but no action.
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#34. eightypercent: "About HRC - we would certainly be in a different race if she had been selected as VP.
Firstly Palin would never have been selected, but I also have to remind you that the GOP wanted her as candidate."
It didn't show much independence by the Candidate, did it? Being manipulated by those who thought they knew best doesn't say much for his judgement.
"Given how shattered (HRC) was at the end of the primaries, I believe that she is well out of it. Her loyalty to Bill is totally admirable, but you have to admit that he does bring an awful lot of baggage with him which would have totally skewed OHB's message."
I agree that she's probably more fortunate than she thought when she conceded and it must have been a bitter blow not to have been properly considered as VP material. I'm not so sure that Bill's 'baggage' would have any effect, after all, the other side is not criticising him for appearing with Obama. But after Tuesday (or Wednesday . . .) we'll know how the land lies and then see if she's any part of the (presumed) new team. Of course, if by chance McCain sneaks in, she can think, but not say, "I told you so!"
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"Under Bush the freedoms were lost due to wire-tapping. "
This is a gross understatement. W. launched a systematic assault on the Bill of Rights much wider in scope than any ever seen before and worse in its particulars than anything in US history I can recall besides the Alien and Sedition acts and Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus.
He has created, in particular, a world in which people can be held indefinitely without trial, on the grounds that they are terrorists.
But who has made this determination? And if it is fail-safe--or if, in any case, we ought to trust it rather than grant these people their day in court, why persist with the legal process for anyone? Why not simply throw everyone in jail and throw away the key if they are ever arrested?
Because, remember, there are two violations of all the US holds sacred in the treatment of prisoners of Guantanomo. The first is the violation of their rights to due process. The second is the denial of their opportunity to serve whatever punishment is deemed fit for crimes.
The irony is that this practice serves no one's interests, least of all the US government, which is left with the bill for feeding and incarcerating a considerable group of people until they die.
I have to wonder what world anyone can live in who is frightened at what Obama might do, yet not appalled at what W. has already done.
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little-green-man (#49), your last sentence reminds me of the James Blaine Society in Oregon. It was named for a candidate for president who never visited Oregon, setting an example for others to follow (in the hopes of the society's members).
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Dear John McCain, Thirty years ago, my party left me and I chose another. I supported Reagan and Bush (twice each) and I was planning to support you in this election. I was there at your rallies in Nashua, NH in the 2000 campaign and believed that I had found someone I could vote for proudly. Your choice of Sarah Palin appalled me. Her politics, her behavior, her morals, and her lack of experience are unacceptable to me. But, even then I remained undecided.
The behavior of yourself, Ms. Palin, your supporters, and the Republican Party over the last two weeks has dishonored us all, our party, and the United States of America. I am decided. This is NO LONGER my party. I will support NO Republican candidate for any office at any level.
As you walk away after this election I will try to remember the man I thought you were and the hopes I thought we shared for the future of this nation.
Thank you again for a lifetime of service.
Heartfelt best wishes for your future.
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ref #26
Let's get something straight Valarie Plame was never an agent. She worked at the CIA as in a office capicity.
Karl Rove never recealed her name, her husband mentioned at cocktail parties she worked for the CIA.
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Not that it will make any difference to the conspiracists, but the CIA Director admitted the Niger/Nigerian uranium story was false.
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eightypercent at 34
HRC had more supporters at the democratic caucus. Its just an "accident" that they didn't get counted.
Really that's it for me, only a Stalinist would do that. If he wins the general elections we are all seriously.. well you know.
I pity Bidden if he becomes VP, because he is target number one when Barack is ready to initiate his coup.
I suppose I might laugh from a far as members of the MSM, NBC, ABC, NYT etc are dragged off to "re-education" camps, but I know sooner or later Barack and his "friends" will arrange a little "accident" for my country as well. Must save a nice strong bit of rope.
That could come in handy when my "knock at the door" at 4 a.m. comes.
It is so sad that noone asked any real questions about this guy, back when it could have made a difference.
Really, nobody even asked him why his education records are all sealed, locked and barred by his campaign. You would have thought someone would have checked. No. Nothing.
The only people who cast a critical eye were the more hard core conservatives and libertarian bloggers, typically *not* popular with the main stream media. Barack gets through it and he is closer than ever to the revenge he seeks.
You've got to laugh though, all those academic snobs who hate Palin never even noticed the difference between "Why Organise" and "dreams of my father." What a joke they are in their ivory towers.
She did try to warn you "he palls arround with terrorists." But no, an ordinary American woman from Alaska couldn't possibly be right...
All those white academics who think they are so clever. Fools, they have doomed us all. In the years ahead frontiers people like Sarah will be the only resistance to "the one" and the only faint spark of freedom left.
Once he's president we are so, so, [expletive deleted]
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#61 politejomsviking
"Or maybe it is just another Marxist sacheeing around on his supporters dime, before the American people send him home like Dukakis, Kerry, and Gore"
All right tried to ignore them but this one demands a reply. Gore won the popular vote, he was 'sent packing' by the supreme court, sorry to mess up your theory with mesy facts.
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# 51
Oh Boy !
That's so bloody sad.
As Dr. Johnson said "If you're tired of London you're tired of life"
And if you don't appreciate Ed Iglehart's blogs there is no hope for you on this site, matey.
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Romestu at 59
Black Liberation Theology = reparations for slavery + Marxism, to sum it up.
This guy has been planning this for nearly a decade.
Caesar? No, think Pol pot with a grudge against white people.
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ref #63
Besides the reporters kicked off the plane, don't forget the Orlando and Philidelphia stations who dared to ask tough questions and will not have press access.
As for the no talent Dixie Chicks, no one stopped Natalie Mains for expressing her hate. But no one should stop other people from booing and urging a boycott.
This country still has free speech, untill the Fairness Doctrine is passed.
Oh and Stevie Nicks version of Landslide is much better.
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David Cunard
I didn't make myself clear. I was very suspicious of the way the GOP wanted HRC as candidate for President - not VP.
I don't believe that OHB allowed himself to be leant on by anybody.
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Please can someone explain to me how the BBC is biased in favour of Obama after reading this...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7700913.stm
It is a propaganda piece by George W Bush's former deputy assistant called "The Case against Obama".
There is even a link to it from the BBC website front page.
Really left wing, the BBC. Hhmmmm
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Lets talk about McCain for once, doesn't his having to beg for donations basically reflect a campaign that's falling apart? Empty campaign offices, not paying for volunteers to come out and help get voters to the polls so he can spend more on TV ads, which most people are screening out by this stage. Does McCain have a plan or is he just crossing his fingers and secretly hoping for a 'Bradley effect' to save him?
Also if the campaign phase gives a hint of the man as president can anyone really have confidence in McCain's ability.
Love him or loathe you have to admit that Obama's campaign has been a well oiled machine, it's owned the media and controlled the agenda, McCain's been on the back foot since the debacle over whether he was going to show up for the first debate.
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exserviceman started out on 3 October as someone who was relatively sensible
His #73 & 76 suggest that he has become totally irrational.Complain about this comment
Time columnist Joe Klein is not welcome on the McCain and Palin planes, either. This is just normal politics. Airplanes have a limited number of seats, for which there is competition. Should a candidate give them out without regard to which side they are on or whether the associated media outlet is helpful to the campaign? If Obama weren't assigning seats in the manner most beneficial to his campaign, I wouldn't believe he learned the political ropes in Chicago.
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Dominickvila at 63
Laughs at you.
This guy is out of Bushes league by 4 or 5 orders of magnitude.
He has the Charisma of Jesus, the cunning of Beria and a sky high intelligence. While he is getting ready, he will use all those gifts, in the end he will win. The revenge will be complete and total.
The problem is that US Armed forces will obey him until the critical moment. Too late, the russian first strike will allready be on its way
Liberty? You really have no idea do you. maybe CPUSA members will have a few limited freedoms.
If you are in a mainly white city in the south you can save time by buying an asbestos suit and factor 5000 sun screen. Game over baby.
We actually thought the Cold War was won. I even thought Putin could be a friend amongst free nations. That hope is dead and so are we.
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"Stevie Nicks version of Landslide is much better."
Had to leap in at the one point I was ever likely to find something I agree with Magic Kirin about.
Then I realized that while it is true, it misses the point that it was Christine McVie who wrote the song and did the best version of it.
So I don't know where that leaves us. Showing our age, I suppose.
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Also McCain's vaunted experience. When it comes to foreign policy it seems stuck somewhere around 1980. He still thinks the USA can 'muscle' Russia and the PRC. Imagine him at a summit trying to intimidate the Chinese; they'll wet themselves laughing and remind him that if he wants to pay for all the handouts to his corporate cronies he better shut up and play nice. As for the Russians, well whose got all the oil? It's those damn Russkies and their new friends in Venezuala, and probably Iran soon enough. But not to worry there's always Alaska, drilling there might delay another price hike by a whole six months. Or maybe he can count on Saudi Arabia, I mean all the Saudi's love the USA, right?
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# 71
Sorry Magic, wrong again.
I never mentioned Karl Rove.
I mentioned Scooter Libby, former Chief of Staff to Dick Cheney who was indicted, tried and convicted.
Although, if you want to bring Karl Rove into it, do feel free.
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60: 80%
I' d love to think Montana will swing: what I don't yet get is why. In states like Arizona, Mississippi, Lousiana and Georgia I can see why the polls are under-sampling specific groups and the potential consequences. On the other hand, maybe in Montana it will just be a matter of being out of love: Palin may simply convince some republicans to stay at home ... I hope so :)
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ref #86
Wrong yourself Scooter was convicted of the most minor count.
Valarie Plame was a clerk
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To#30Markfromoxford
Really enjoyed your post and I hope your assessment is correct.
Southern Arizona is very blue! We are filled with joy that this state could go for Obama.
Senator Jon Kyl(Republican) recently remarked that he was "happy not to be running for re-election during this cycle." Interesting comment, no?
I will make a prediction that whomever wins the presidential election (Obama!), our Representatives will be Democrats, as well as, most of the locals running for office this time.
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ref #84
I think Stevie did it on the first of two reunion tours
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67, David.
Undoubtedly Obama will owe the Clintons something for their support. Obama will think of a safe place to put her that will not interfere with his policies. There was talk of the Supreme Court. That would be a safe place, but I can't quite see her there. There is not a bright enough spotlight.
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Ex-serviceman writes.....
"Black Liberation Theology = reparations for slavery + Marxism, to sum it up.
This guy has been planning this for nearly a decade.
Caesar? No, think Pol pot with a grudge against white people."
Pol Pot .... my friend you are running out of unpleasant dictators with home to compare Obama.
I'm respectful of any former military man, but I'm concerned that you may be suffering from shell-shock as your posts are getting wilder and wilder.
I'm aware of black liberation theology, as I'm sure are many democrats. Has he fooled them all ..... except you?
I'm sorry you are so scared of what so many people all over the world see as a bright hope for the future.
If you turn out to be right I'll be the first to send you a big apology..... but for the moment please just take some deep breaths.
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63, Dominick.
McCain kicked Maureen Dowd off his plane, and then another journalist. That was some time ago. I suspect that Obama's act, which is disappointing, may have to do with keeping his last minute plans from leaking.
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To#87Markfromoxford
Montana is an interesting state.
My understanding is that while people tend to be conservative there, they are also very independent in their thinking, such as many in my state. They tend to distrust government on general principles.
I also understand that the environment is very important to many in Montana. McCain is no friend to the environment and look at Palin's record, neither is she. The people of Montana have a beautiful ecology to protect.
It is difficult to predict how things will go but I will say that many Western states have been mostly ignored, especially by Republicans, in previous elections because are EV contributions are small and it was taken for granted we would vote for Republicans.
I am enjoying seeing them sweat!
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Justin
Obama showing up in McCain's backyard sounds good to me. The polls say it's close there and it may force McCain to turn up there instead of campaigning in the marginals. It sounds like it puts the McCain team on the defensive.
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#88
Convicted all the same. Not good.
I am astonished by your sexist attitude towards a CIA operative of 20 years standing with a classified covert identity. An Ambassador's wife to boot.
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43, exserviceman.
You might want to look up the meaning of "paranoia."
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To#91Allmymarbles
While I think she would make an excellent choice for the Supreme Court, I agree that this would not allow enough scope for her ambitions.
I think she will work herself into great power in the Senate, where she can be more visible.
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Ref 76
"Caesar? No, think Pol pot with a grudge against white people."
So now Obama has gone from being a terrorist, communist, socialist, Muslim, Arab, radical Christian, son of a Kenyan, to being a genocidal maniac determined to exterminate white Americans? Wow!
The truth is that not much will change when it comes to foreign policy. Don't be surprised if Obama keeps Gates at the DoD, and Gen Petreaus remains in charge of the Central Command. The most dramatic change in the Persian Gulf/Central Asia will be a re-deployment of troops from Iraq to Afghanistam and greater focus on Al Qaeda and the Taleban. US troops will probably remain in Iraq for at least two more years, but they will be re-deployed from urban areas to bases along the Iranian and Syrian borders, with some in Kurdish areas and others protecting the oil fields and pipelines.
The focus on domestic policies will be on solving the financial crisis and on giving tax cuts to the middle class to stimulate the economy. I doubt changes to healthcare and education will take place right away, if nothing else because we are broke.
The truth is that regardless of who wins next week, the only change we can expect immediately will be in consumer confidence and a sense of hope, everything else will move as slowly and as deliberately as it usually does.
Sleep well.
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#78. eightypercent: "I didn't make myself clear. I was very suspicious of the way the GOP wanted HRC as candidate for President - not VP."
I wouldn't have thought that the GOPs wishes were a consideration; it's quite possible that despite the apparent friendliness, Obama really didn't care for Mrs C. If he wins, we'll see what reward she gets for supporting him so ably.
"I don't believe that OHB allowed himself to be leant on by anybody." Agreed, but McCain did.
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ref #82
Good point, but the two I know of that were kicked off the McCain plane were Joe Klein and Maureen Dowd. Both are columnists not reporters. And when Dowd has been writing Bash Bush editorials she writes pro Obama/anti McCain Palin ones. The NYT still has a reporter on the plane
Obama kicked three newspaper reporters whose papers endorsed McCain
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Oldnat at 81
I am actually in the center of politics, except for the fact I believe democracy [free elections] actually has to be defended.
He's a Marxist all right. Marxists belive in the dictatorship of the prolertariat, hence the stealing of the democratic nominaton.
I have presented a link to democratic party voters who detail how Obama organised that.
Check his defense policy, his video to the peace group caucus. CND could have written it. Ask a defence specialist about
"negotiating with Russia about taking our ICBM's off hair trigger alert" and they will tell you it can't be verified.
That means if he can get rid of the US SLBM's [defense cuts] and the tactical nukes, he can actually call Putin and request Nuclear fire support for his "civilian national security force" [track down another Obama speech] as it carries out a coup.
The give away is the desire to move 3 brigades to Afghanistan, clear of the US mainland.
With Israel allready strategically naked [de-nuked] he can then ask the russians to Nuke Israel and US forces in the Middle East.
Then he's won.
If you don't think he's capable of it on a moral level check out the 1982 documentary about the Weathermen. A FBI agent informer describes the ultimate aim of the weathermen if they succeed in overthrowing the US Government.
Bill Ayers is the most significant influence on Barack.
That alone should tell you that we are, well you know. Its too late to stop him. Once he's president, nobody will believe anthing bad about him. He is just too good.
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This should make an interesting read. BE WARNED, OBAMA IS A FAKE.
By: bestCandidate “…I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to "The War Zone". I wanted to share with you what happened. He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram. As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn't say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service. So really he was just here to make a showing for the Americans back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you. I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States . I just don't understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country. If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake.”
In service, CPT Jeffrey S. Porter Battle Captain TF Wasatch American Soldier October 31, 2008 at 7:43 a.m
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Gary_A_Hill (56), there's more here:
http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2008/10/in_the_bush_world_regulation_i.php
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#71. MagicKirin: "Valarie Plame was never an agent. She worked at the CIA as in a office capicity."
#88: "Valarie Plame was a clerk."
Would you care to substantiate that?
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Hang on. A presidential candidate is visiting a state in the country he is soon hoping to run and this is seen as a bad thing?
Surely democrats and democratic voters in Arizona should have the opportunity to see their candidate in the flesh so to speak.
The same applies applies to republicans in 'safe' democrat states.
As Jed Bartlett said in one episode of teh West Wing
'Im the president of the whole country not just the parts that voted for me'
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8, Aqua.
"I believe that Obama has not had a high personal presence here out of respect for McCain."
I think that may have been true at one time. He may have also felt he had no chance in Arizona. But as one battleground state after another turns blue, and Arizona polls show McCain dropping in his own state, Obama sees an opportunity.
But there is more involved. He may see his late campaign in Arizona as demoralizing to the Republicans in general and McCain in particular. It also makes people question McCain's claim of a comeback. Some people are reluctant to back a loser.
There is probably a spark of vengence as well. McCain has run a filthy campaign. This should take him down a peg or two.
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Romestu at 22
Did you check the link to the amateur vids from the workers at the democratic party caucaus?
If you haven't seen that its tough to explain what going on.
I am smiling as I right this, because everyone who guesses what the agenda is will have about as much chance of convining others as I do. Thats why he's going to win.
Once he's president, well anyone who says a word against him will go on the FBI's list as a possible danger. He is just so charismatic, he has the press eating out of his hand.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
I don't understand why people are worried that Obama will overturn the constitution and end democracy in America.
Shouldn't McCain be the one we are more worried about? After all, he has the military on his side, he has big business on his side and he has the evangelical right on his side. The military's support or inactivity is always required for revolution, big business holds far more power than the office of President (and everyone knows power corrupts), and the evangelical right follow a creed that supercedes all earthly powers, including the constitution, democracy, and the rights of other people, where the Word of God is the ultimate authority and anything they do is justifiable if done in His name. They also have all the guns.
Surely the only logical conclusion is that if McCain were to win he will turn America into a right-wing totalitarian Republic, run at gunpoint by Real Americans, and anyone who admits even slightly liberal tendencies will be shot by firing squad.
It's ridiculous nonsense of course... but... if one group WAS going to go rogue and destroy democracy and liberty, it won't be the Democrats or the liberals. I mean, that's obvious just by looking at the words.
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If you're running for President of the USA, how is it arrogant to campaign in as many states as possible? I appreciate that the financial reality makes it impossible to be everywhere for either candidate, but if I was an independent or dem voter in Arizona, I'd welcome a little presence from the campaign. It might make me run for School Board, or back a candidate for the state legislature. Hey presto. Grass roots local activity.
Mr Webb, I screamed myself silly at the 'strategic' approach of the DNC for years. If you only campaign in 'winable' parts of the union, you consign the 'unwinable' to outer darkness for ever more. And the unwinable (rightly) gets larger, not smaller. It is disrespectful of the electorate in those areas.
Ignoring that Dem orthodoxy seems to me to be a contributing factor in the Obama campaign's success to date. A new chair of the DNC certainly hasn't hurt in that respect.
I'd be interested to know how Mr McAuliffe would have played this one.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
#102 Exserviceman
Not going to quote that but, wow, seriously, show that to a good shrink and Ex will be in a rubber room before the day is out.
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Tipp - the worlds most accurate polster has him bouncling between 2.8 and 4.4%.
http://www.tipponline.com/
8% are undecided - so I figure it's pretty close.
Looks like he's going to win based upon the electoral college predictions though.
(unless they find a dead white chick in his trunk)
Switching from "trickle down" to "bottom up" economics is going to be REALLY fun. Ever see a patient flatline for 6 straight months?...just watch!
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I don't think it is arrogance for him to spend money in states democrats generally don't win. He is running for president of the UNITED STATES right? United??? Anyone remember that preface to the states? We the people all have a chance to hear what John McCain and Barack Obama have to say in this extremely important election. Who cares if he is going to Arizona or Georgia? If I recall correctly, Illinois has been a red state for the past few elections. P.A. has been a blue state for the past few elections but McCain is doing tireless campaigning there. Let's not forget John McCain voted with George Bush roughly 90 percent of the time. John McCain said he is going to take care of the "real" people. I am comforted that he is no longer representing fictional people, or fairytale people. That's really good to know; in fact it's great, it’s just great. Is the media about to collapse on in to itself with all of these non-issues they are making issues? Where is the real news?
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This just in: Snarknews, AZ 10/31/08 - "An anonymous source from the Obama campaign disclosed that his real reason for traveling to AZ is cover to sneak over the border to NM, Roswell, where he has an appointment with aliens who have been carefully orchestrating his campaign from outer space. The source discloses that two journalists were nearly on to him so were kicked off the plane...they promptly left to squash Ms. Palin's first amendment rights to free speech by reporting her words verbatim. Reading this text caused the aliens to implode from confusion. Hundreds of forged birth certificates drifted from the wreckage."
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Time to cut your loses McCain, and by that I mean the election. No one wants to give a lavish millionaire more money. Nov 4th is fast upon us and I cannot wait until this circus is over. Hopefully we can move on as a country and fix some problems no matter who wins.
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To#107Allmymarbles
Excellent point!
I am enjoying this all so very much.
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i believe if the republicans are able to win this election it will prove that the majority of american voters are still pretty gullible and susceptible to spin, regardless of how obsurd they can be.
since the beginning of campaigns obama has been the one suggesting solutions for the nations problems, while mccain has basically waited to hear obama's ideas and then criticize and distort them and say why he believes the idea wont work, while never offering any fresh ideas outside of the same basic ideas that republicans have pushed for the past 20 years.
If Obama stayed quiet, McCain would have nothing to say, his entire campaign has been anti obama and not pro mccain.
His entire campaign he has not given an offer to the american people explaining what he can do, instead his only argument he was a POW.
if mccain does win this election its a stamp of approval and validation of the last 8 years.
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allmymarbles at 97
Watch that Wright video again and remember its a week after 9/11.
Black Liberation Theology is a strange, set of ideas. Reparations and revenge is a theme that keeps coming up. Barack attended that church for on Sundays for 20 years and Wright married Michelle and Barack.
And yes, I accept that no matter what I say, it won't be believed. If the candidate had been challenged earlier, it might have been different.
Hillery tried, but she has a youthfull radical past as well, although she is a mainsteam Democrat now and has been for her main political career.
Did you see the debate where after being challenged by Hillery on Ayres, he nails her by bringing up President Clinton's pardon of one of the imprisioned weathermen.
To be honest I think Barack has enough dirt in his files to control half the Senators in the Democratic party.
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My goodness!
We may need some hungry squirrels soon (sorry to Oldnat for reviving a painful subject) but the nuts seem to be piling up!
We will all soon be on the FBI "danger list."
I am not sure I can worry about that since I have probably been ease-dropped upon for years as I make and receive a lot of calls outside the USA. (Hope the listeners enjoyed my family gossip)
I understand that ferrets will eat their young, perhaps they could also be induced to enjoy nuts, as well.
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The hatchet job on Obama by Peter Wehner, ex staffie for Prez Bush, is a kind of variation on the strategy of 'executive rendition' - political rendition: trump up a case against the subject you wish to destroy, distort the evidence to fit the charge of 'liberal in the first degree', execute the character assassination the name of all 'real Americans'. The most poignant feature of this campaign has been Obama's liberation from the liberal left and his coming of age as his own man, while McCain has surrendered his uniquely feisty independence to the Republican and religious right. Obama's stance is that America MUST win BOTH wars. McCain's successful support of the Iraq surge has distracted him from the disastrous state of affairs in Afghanistan. Furthermore, McCain has no idea how economies work, and seemingly little capacity for learning lessons late in life.
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#102. exserviceman: "He's a Marxist all right. Marxists belive in the dictatorship of the prolertariat, hence the stealing of the democratic nominaton. . . Bill Ayers is the most significant influence on Barack."
To use a fine old Americanism - "you're nuttier than a fruit cake!"
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I have an addendum to my#121
I understand that Palin believes it is against First Amendment Rights for any one to criticize her.
I consider that very chilling!
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73 exserviceman wrote:
*SNIP raving paranoid rant*
!Must save a nice strong bit of rope.
That could come in handy when my "knock at the door" at 4 a.m. comes."
_______________________
If a 4 A.M. knock on your door comes, it will be the men in white, and NOT for political (or racial, as you imply) reasons....
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Payback time for the eight long years of Republican mismanagement.
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To the Mods.
I have pushed what it is possible to post on a public message board right to the limit tonight.
I have nothing else to add. Its all off my chest now.
If someone wants a question answered, or if they are angry about what I've written and what me to justify part of it, I could de-lurk.
but for now lurk mode=on
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89, 94 Aqua
I wish, in fact, Obama had said more about environmental projects in the western states, and more about rail in Virginia and North Carolina: it is a way of keeping all of them blue. I wish you the best of luck come Tuesday, and I hope Obama has a rally in Tuscon come Sunday :)
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#116 frayedcat
Kudos for that!
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The contrast between the slick Obama campaign and the erratic McCain campaign is stark.
Don't be tricked by those who say that money and good presentation proves Obama has no substance - this does not follow. It is just as possible for someone with money and good presentation to also be capable and to have credible policies, that's a judgement you have to make on it's own merits. The smoothness of the campaign has nothing to do with it (if anything it demonstrates an ability to lead, to work in a team and to get things done).
There is no dissent within the Obama campaign. There are no significant gaffes in the Obama campaign. They have a message and they stick to it, consistently. Everything is stage-managed to perfection. It looks professional. It makes Obama look like a President.
I think it is blatantly obvious that the opposite is true of the McCain campaign. "Where's Joe the Plumber?" "People who say nasty things about Western Pennsylvania - I couldn't agree more." Those are the two most memorable (to me) but most McCain rallies have the sort of moments where even unsympathetic Democrats cringe.
I agree it is not really a fair fight. Obama has more money, more volunteers, and his famed eloquence, honed at the Bar. And McCain has tried to make lemonade from this lemon, by contrasting himself with Obama, associating himself with everyday Joes, playing the little guy, standing up for other little guys. But I don't think that approach has worked, Americans envision themselves being led by heroes, not average Joes.
A little less winging it, a little less homespinning, and a little more stage management would have done wonders for McCain's campaign. It is especially surprising given the famed "Republican machine" that managed to get a not particularly appealing George W Bush elected twice.
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With the likes of MagicKirin, DMT, icetayoa, etc., we can attribute the ludicrous accusations of Marxism, terrorist sympathies, etc. against Obama to a desperate attempt to turn the election round. When it comes to exserviceman, however, we are clearly into psychpathological territory. Get yourself some help, man. Seriously. Your mention of a "length of rope" is worrying.
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What arrogance?? As a resident of Arizona, I feel strongly that this state is definitely in play. As a matter of fact, it is 50-50 at this point that Obama will win Arizona. I would call that pretty good odds. It will be very close; we will not know until the 5th. But we will see.
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I have a feeling of deja-vu about this campaign. The pretender home and dry and the old stager out for the count!
Turn your minds back to the UK election of 1992. Kinnock thought he was holding the keys to the door of number 10 in exactly the same way Obama feels he has those of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in his hands today.
Now, as then the underdog is coming up on the rails to draw victory from the jaws of defeat!
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"114. At 10:07pm on 31 Oct 2008, DameMargaretThatcher wrote:
Tipp - the worlds most accurate polster has him bouncling between 2.8 and 4.4%."
I never heard about this pollster. But I am just curious if this is worlds most accurate pollster because the numbers look good for McCain?
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ref #111
Remeber Al Gore lost his home state in 2000 if he won it he would have won the election
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To#116Frayedcat
Love it!
You do realize that we will now have more than 'nuts' to deal with? I am not sure that squirrels or even ferrets will be enough. Do you have any suggestions?
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#121 aquarizonagal
Good news!
We red squirrels seem to be developing an immunity to squirrel pox, so amity once again can exist among squirrel kind!
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102
(sigh) I'll try this again without the "m" word.
The reason people trust Obama is not because "he's just too good", but because of the quality of his opponents. They discredit themselves.
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There isn't anything arrogant about this strategy. Right at this moment Sen Obama is ahead in 7 of the 8 toss up states to go into other states is a way of getting as many votes in as many places as possible.
While this election has been exciting to watch there are other people down ballot even in the "red" states. A candidate like sen Obama has long coat tails so long in fact that several GOP candidates have tried to us him in their ads.
Whether he wins Arizona or not equally important are the other Dems running in the state.
Not arrogant at all.
More smart strategy.
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To#128Markfromoxford
We were not blue but red until this campaign and there is only so much he can focus on right now with the economy in such a terrible place.
I will say that I trust him more about the environment than I do McCain who has said that he wants to change CAP and would "Drill, Baby Drill." I have looked into Obama's ideas about the environment and I feel trust that he will protect our environment and work to reduce global warming.
Obama has to be for all of us as a whole. It is up to our local representatives to bring our local issues to be heard and I believe that we may now have someone who will listen.
Thank you for your kind wishes.
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Sad to say that over 14% of us are still undecided. Mostly because of the negative ads on TV. I've made up my mind a long time ago to vote for Obama and find it difficult to understand those who have not made their decision. As for the additional expenses associated with the ads, they are for those who are undecided. We are working out of an antiquated system with the electoral voting system. If we could use a popular voting system it would clearly show how the US currently and has in the past voted. I am very concerned about International opinions regarding the US. Most of us never voted for Bush, most of us I hope, will not vote for McCain, however they have to go after the electoral college vote of each individual state and hence, the ads. Sorry if I'm being too simplistic but maybe you "folks" aren't aware of our frustrations.
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To#138Oldnat
I so hope they are!
Send in the squirrels, ferrets and fruit cake bakers!
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114, Dame.
"Tipp - the worlds most accurate polster has him bouncling between 2.8 and 4.4%."
Tipp says it is the most accurate and you say it is the most accurate. (1) Is Tipp related to you? (2) Do you think it may show Republican bias that Tipp included socialism in its poll questions?
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Speleocast at 125
*de-lurk*
I was making a reference to a spate of suicides in wales, UK. That means if free countries fall everywhere, I really don't think I would want to go on after that.
Given the partly historical nature of the conversation, that was a dumb and insensitive reference.
I apologise for it.
As for Paranoia, that is a qualification for counter-intelligence people. I was offered the chance to go for that, but went for a "teeth" combat arm instead.
But Wright, Ayres, Kalidi *and* a stolen, completely fixed democratic caucus?
Does noone even suspect there might be a problem with this guy?
A peacenik on nuclear policy wants to send 3 extra brigades to afghanistan?
A "civilian national security" force? That could easily be a Presidential private army. If the officiers are not West point, they will be Obama's men through and through.
He announces *before* the election he wants to meet Iran etc Why? The Only rational reason to make public potentially sensitive diplomatic contacts like that is to prepare the US public to accept a future radical change in US middle eastern policy.
The whole point is he must allready be in contact with Iran, so he already knows the approximiate date of their Nuclear test.
Then, after a Iranian nuclear test he can make a big diplomatic show of disarming both Iran and Israel, a "zero option" in Nuclear arms speak. The Iranians would gain a huge stategic military and diplomatic victory, and Obama would shine like JFK.
This is what Bidden is refering to I believe when he was caught refering to an international incident 6 months in. Barack could have just shared intel, knowing which parts are correct, not expecting Bidden to spill the beans.
The reason to tell the VP is that people will accept radical change to a policy if given notice of it in good time. Otherwise you could get a VP resignation.
Thats enough from me.
lurk mode =on
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124, Aqua.
"I understand that Palin believes it is against First Amendment Rights for any one to criticize her."
She apparently believes the First Amendment was intended to suppress free speech. She is an idiot who should stick to meese hunting. And, no, I do not find her "chilling." She is about as chilling as the kid in the seat next to you who couldn't pass his math test.
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To137Magickirin
I do not know why I am even responding to your post but I think it will be fun for a while.
Our rights have already been trampled by Bush and his minions for several years
Go read The Patriot Act.
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I'm saying this here because I don't know where else to say it. Studs Terkel has died. From a purely selfish perpective, I'm devestated. His writing was a huge part of my education - particularly when I disagreed. I never got to say thank you.
An honest voice, and an educating voice. I hope that there are many who can take up that mantle.
And he should have been alive for the coming week. Damn mortality.
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#135 Magickirin:
"Remeber Al Gore lost his home state in 2000 if he won it he would have won the election"
Or if they had counted all the votes in Florida...
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133, downwith.
We have a different system in the States, the electoral college. The popular vote is relatively close, but Obama is miles ahead on electoral votes, and it is the electors that elect the president. It would take some sort of unforseen monmuntal event to turn the election around at this point.
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120. At 10:26pm on 31 Oct 2008, exserviceman wrote:
allmymarbles at 97
Watch that Wright video again and remember its a week after 9/11.
Black Liberation Theology is a strange, set of ideas. Reparations and revenge is a theme that keeps coming up. Barack attended that church for on Sundays for 20 years and Wright married Michelle and Barack. "
Yeah but white rascism is hardly rational is it?
Or is it in your eyes?
And Wright is a decorated veteran -so have served his country better than many of those who criticise him.
"And yes, I accept that no matter what I say, it won't be believed. If the candidate had been challenged earlier, it might have been different.2
No I don';t think you would have been believed then either. These things were said from the begining.
"Hillery tried, but she has a youthfull radical past as well, although she is a mainsteam Democrat now and has been for her main political career."
And an excellent Senator.
"Did you see the debate where after being challenged by Hillery on Ayres, he nails her by bringing up President Clinton's pardon of one of the imprisioned weathermen.
To be honest I think Barack has enough dirt in his files to control half the Senators in the Democratic party. "
Possibly. And the Republicans might hit back if they were continually being found out for corruption. One of their Senators is apparently going to chokey.
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Re:134 pkkmres
No - Seriously, thats what they call themselves "The worlds most accurate polster"
They were within 3/10th of 1% accurate in 2004.
Don't expect any sense from MSNBC - only 20% of their respondents are American.
I don't think I can take 4 years of comrade Obama. When he's finished giving away his "40 acres and a mule" - there will be nothing left.
Maybe I should emigrate to England. Spend a few years with my English cousins. I hear that Mr. Cameron has politics that are closer to my heart.
I could get used to rainy days at Brighton....It's just like Seattle with bad coffee!
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Quite frankly, isn't it about time to give up hope when it comes to the USA ?
I for one, I've had enough of it.
After following the campaign closely for a couple of months, I feel like I've been brainwashed, like every single virtue I hold dear has been questioned .
However, a few days before the election, I'm wondering what on earth is going on in that country.
I've travelled it, been spending a lot of time there for 8 years, yet I must admit I don't understand any of it.
McCain, well, I can appreciate some people can relate to him as a person.
His campaign, the tone of it, the spirit of it, how can it be accepted by anyone, I don't get it.
He sounds like a 3rd world tyrant defending his throne.
The foul language, the silly arguments, the repetitive accusations lacking any substance.
Palin. Grown men and women, educated people, started taking her seriously within a few weeks in the US.
All because ...- they didn't have a choice. What a sad joke.
Call my thick, I deserve it - but it has never been as obvious to me as it is now how far the USA are from being a 'First' world country.
Did I mention Palin, or other GOP campaign details ?
No offence, but any discussion , any political process getting that low is not worth further comment.
40+ percent of 'Joe' types .
Either way, the USA are losing this election, the plumbers with their six packs and their dozen of credit cards and their tacky drywall homes and their arm-wrestling take on politics are pulling them down.
I don't think this country needs change, I believe it needs to reinvent itself.
Out of here, Fritz .
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I have a question for the UK people:
Will we be able to see the winner on the BBC before it's reported in the states?
This has probably been discussed somewhere before, and if so I apologize for the repetition, but my schedule is odd and I don't get to follow the blog as closely as I'd like.
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To#142Justamom
I have read that the undecided vote is really about 9% at this point and sadly many of them may not bother to vote.
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To#149Revolvinggrandma
Amen, sister!
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CartPony (51),
I agree. Care to elaborate?Peace and cashews
ed
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To#147Allmymarbles
You are stronger than I am.
Ignorance gives me the shudders as well as that boy in math class who picked his nose.
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...or maybe, just maybe...the good Senator from Illinois knows full well that Arizona is still Republican territory but would like them to know that (should he be elected) they will not be shunned or ignored, and are part of the good ol' US of A (remember, the first word in our name is "United") as we struggle to regain some sort of respect throughout this world. We can only hope.
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Justin, do we sense no little 'fear of a black planet' here? I thought the BBC was supposed to be above such undertones? And this posted alongside an article by an ex-advisor to President Bush??? If I'm not mistaken, he was the one who got everyone into this mess in the first place.
I think I will be making a complaint about this post of yours, Justin.
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Shame on you Senator McCain for manipulating Governor Palin to try to win an election. Her career as governor is now over also as a result. Shame on you for trying to tie Senator Obama to a terrorist. Matter of fact, your whole campaigns been a shame. You will lose by a landslide for your short sightedness. Good riddens, "Mr." McCain and "Mrs." Palin!!
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#110. StephenDerry: "Surely the only logical conclusion is that if McCain were to win he will turn America into a right-wing totalitarian Republic, run at gunpoint by Real Americans . . ."
Although you say this is' ridiculous nonsense', I wonder if there might not be a grain of truth in it should McCain win - and die early in his Presidency? The thought of Mrs Palin as being the most powerful woman in the world should worry even the most diehard Republican, and even the zealots who post here. It needs to be repeated that a vote for McCain is a vote for Palin, and thus a vote for intolerance. He may be a maverick, but she would be a disaster.
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146/exserviceman
If there were such a thing as a paranoid Democrat, might he not conclude from McCain's alleged covered-up fatal car crash, his alleged luxury stay as a POW, his on-the-record palling about with murderous dictator General Pinochet, and a couple of other outrageous rumours that someone just made up and posted 20 times a day on Justin's blog until they gained credibility through repitition...
...that it was surprising that no-one was just a little suspicious about this guy?
You guys have spent the last year building Obama into a boogeyman. You've been keeping a list, not of facts, but of "suspicions" and you're working on the logic that enough unsubstantiated allegations added together must mean there is something there. No smoke without fire right? Surely one of them must be true, right?
Wrong. Factual stories get reported by the media, get put to the candidate in interviews or debates, where he has the opportunity to admit or deny them. Genuine investigative reporting that produces verifiable evidence becomes an issue. Smears just remain smears. And if you collect a long list of smears chosen BECAUSE they haven't been picked up by the media, you are actually engaging in something akin to Darwinian natural selection in reverse, adding only the most feeble allegations to your list.
I doubt most people outside these sort of discussion groups and the more right-wing blogs have even heard of half the rubbish people are spouting on here (usually forgetting to use the word "allegedly" surprise surprise). If you can't even make up a rumour good enough to appear on Obama's campaign website SmearWatch section, you may as well give it up.
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#8
Aqua,
How much of Michelle did you see? Any pictures?
Interested Sam
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Ironic, my comment on Magickirin's possibly libellous comment has been referred I can only assume because I quoted his comment, though Oldnat's mention is still here.
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I write this under the influence of a couple of glasses of Friday night wine, so apologies if rambles a little.
If you look at the larger sample polls (Gallup, Rasmussen), they typically state that Obama is up about 7 points nationally. Because their sample-size is in the thousands rather than hundreds it means that their results should be more reliable.
In terms of the electoral collage Obama appears to have a more convincing margin. RCP puts him at over 300 electors, without any toss-up states being included in the count. Whilst recent state polls have indicated Obama's statewide support slipping back within the margin of error (Missouri and North Carolina for example), he still seems to have a clear advantage.
My overwhelming thought at the moment is that Obama supporters are expecting him to achieve some kind of landslide, 10 points nationally and 370 plus in the electoral college, whilst McCain's supporters are banking on 270 college votes. This can come across as arrogance on the part of Dems. However, the fact that the battlegrounds (bar PA) are all Bush states from 2004, would lead me to believe that this arrogance is justified. Remember to win the election, Obama only needs to hold Kerry's states plus win Iowa, Colorado and New Mexico (or IA and VA). Obama has many more options when it comes to victory, McCain needs all of the undecideds to break for him.
I don't believe it will be a landslide for the Dems. McCain is a compelling personality whose patriotism and service cannot be questioned. He will attract a lot of independent support on election day, but realistically we seem to be looking at a five percent and 300 electoral vote win for Obama.
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#158 Arizonaquagal:
"I have read that the undecided vote is really about 9% at this point and sadly many of them may not bother to vote."
I think at this point 'undecided' is code for 'can't be bothered'.
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#162 aquarizonagal
"that boy in math class who picked his nose."
I didn't know that you went to school with Gordon Brown!
(UK joke for those who have seen the relevant coverage of Brown in the House of Commons)
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#60, 87
Mark, 80,
Of course Montana will swing. Didn't you see Bareback Mountain?
Inquisitive Sam
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170 I've just had my first referral to the moderators for responding to the same post!
Or going by Kirin's understanding of the world, the moderators' comment has been referred to me...
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#155. DameMargaretThatcher: "I could get used to rainy days at Brighton....It's just like Seattle with bad coffee!"
Would you really be happy in Brighton, the gay capital of the United Kingdom? Baghdad-by-the-Channel may not be be as big as San Francisco, but with regard to "bad coffee" it does have six Starbucks, and one in Hove, actually.
Don't plan on moving soon, since, for various reasons, I don't think you'd get through immigration.
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One word sums up this thread. Cor blimey (thanks to Joe the Senator for that).
I am inclined to think that Ed is nuts, but only because I suspect he likes it that way. It doesn't mean that his links are not informative, funny, and even on occasion right on. In a sinister sort of way.
Ed does not have a monopoly on nuts, however. Now why can't americans make proper fruitcake? The UK version is an entirely different (and considerable more edible) animal.
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The tightening of the polls was last weekend, all week they've been stuck at between 5 and 6 points difference. For McCain to have had any chance, he needed the polls to keep tightening so that he is within reach on Tuesday.
October is over, and any "surprises" have not had any visible effect.
If anything the polls I've seen (on the BBC) are widening again.
For McCain to win this election from this position would be beyond anything Truman or Kinnock achieved. The undecideds could swing it his way if they all went the same direction en masse, but there is no reason to think they will. Even 50/50 is being generous.
Never, in the history of polling, has every single poll been wrong to such a degree as would be required for McCain to turn this around. I don't think Americans are liars, which is the obvious implication if the polls are wrong.
Obama will win. He will not say so, but I will. It's over. I'm going to start collecting names of anyone who disputes this, and post an "I Told You So" list on Wednesday :)
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Aqua, Marby,
I am calling you both 'Butter', because you are both on a roll.
Go Girls!
Cheerleader Sam
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#155 Dame....
Please stay where you are - we had one already and she was a disaster for us - and the coffee in Seattle I found was too weak .
It is really good to see such a schism developing with these posts - the entertainment value is really high - but I am learning quite a lot about the American people . As I found in my stay in the US in general the bloke on the street is amenable and polite - it's just the overlay of extreme capitalism and aggressive desire to make the rest of us just as you are ( democratically?) which rankles. On November 5 we burn effigies of Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament a couple of hundred years ago - in effect celebrating a failure - whilst letting off fireworks , it would be nice to celebrate a victory this time with lots of blue splashes of colour.
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rref #148
The Patriot act had nothing to do with Joe the Plumber being investigated by the democratic Ohio Secretary of State.
I am worried about my rights from the Obama administration.
If asking a question can have your personal life opened like that.
By the way where is the ACLU on this?
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To169Samtyler1969
Eat your heart out!
No pictures but she was quite charming and gave a great talk. We liked her.
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RomeStu said "I'm respectful of any former military man"
Even those creeps posing for photographs at Abu Ghraib? Never show automatic respect to "any" anything. People should be judged on their individual merits not by their job.
Don't be dazzled by a uniform - there's no guarantee that the person wearing it is a hero.
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27
Gary_A_Hill wrote:
alexmarymartin (#15), it was reported on KCBS radio this morning.
It was on the BBC News webpage yesterday . . .
138. At 11:22pm on 31 Oct 2008, oldnat wrote:
#121 aquarizonagal
Good news!
We red squirrels seem to be developing an immunity to squirrel pox, so amity once again can exist among squirrel kind!
Excellent.
Unfortunately this one has contracted a serious nut allergy: to any nut buried to the right of anything.
It's making hibernation preparations down in the nuclear-proof squirrel bunker and the star-wars defended tree nest a bit awkward just at the moment.
Anyway, we are developing a big campaign on persuading ferrets to be pro-life. (We did once have one on dogs, but had to give that up: "dog don'teat dog", you know; one of our failures that, I admit. Couldn't persuade them.)
Anyway, Obama's ploy seems tactically pretty sound: it's applying Morton's Fork to campaigning, isn't it?
If McCain rushes off to defend his 'own' state, he's admitting he's in danger of losing; if he doesn't, either he doesn't care or he is arrogantly over-confident.
If you've been given enough money, why not spend it where it might hurt? If it doesn't, there's still plenty left squirrelled away.
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#182
Aqua,
I take your Shakespeare and raise you a Monty Python.
'Ooo, you're no fun any more'
Morris Day Sam
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#180. jabber_jabber: "On November 5 we burn effigies of Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament . . . "
And this will show Americans how it's done!
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Former Reagan adviser endorses Obama
Peace and Commonsense
ed
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To#177Seanspa
My feelings are hurt.
I make excellent fruit cake from my mama's recipe. There are two secrets:
1)Candy and preserve your own fruit.
2)Lots of really good brandy.
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Exserviceman
I'm touched that a Brit takes such personal interest in our USA politics, but I have to wonder how on earth you formed some of the views you've expressed. One of my best college friends went on to Gulf War I (or as he wrote about it, "the 3rd cousin of all battles") with American SP artillery, and he's still a libertarian at heart, but your similarities end there; whether cold sober or 3 sheets to the wind he never came up with anything as muddled as some of your posts.
We are in an economic crisis that is lost retirement savings salt in the wounds of a burst housing bubble. But we are in no danger of chaos, loss of civil liberties, martial law, etc. My very worst rational fear is a much slower recovery - and somewhere between a decade and a generation lost from our global competiveness, counting most of the Bush years - under McCain rather than Obama.
Your ideas about Obama are way out there. If he seeks a disarmament deal, then that puts him in league with the notorious softie Reagan (trust but verify was a great legacy). Any foreign policy moves will be well counseled, because *listening* and *thinking* are Obama's distinguishing characteristics.
I am not sure if it is true for EVERY state but my state followed its local caucuses with a state democratic convention where a *vote* tallied delegates for Clinton and Obama who went on the national convention. Obama came into the national convention with a majority of delegates.
All this nomination conspiracy talk is *yet another* unbelievable (except to the faithful) red herring.
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177. seanspa wrote:
"Now why can't americans make proper fruitcake?"
Well, you see, like the ferrets, or dog eating dog, it would be a form of cannibalism if they did.
(Well, not all of them, of course. Just the ones like all those here who can't raisin.)
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To#181Magickirin
Joe the plumber is a Republican plant. Have you not figured this out yet?
I will regret this post.
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154, Simon.
Wright is an old man whose mind is still in the 60's. The blacks at that time were in a pitiful situation and very angry. I knew them. But times have changed and Wright has not. Do I understand their feelings at the time? Yes.
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AsaScot (#172), "undecided" can also be a polite way to say "none of your business."
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# 46 RomeStu wrote:
[of bluepaddy13]
"By the way ... I've worked out who you are ....
an unlucky democrat-voting Irishman."
Take that back at once!
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#20 Stephen Derry
Right philosopher, wrong concept; the idea is to aim for your enemy's weaknesses, and avoid his strengths:
...just as flowing water avoids the heights, and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness.
But, it does apply here, for the polls have definitely shown an unexpected weakness in McCain's home turf.
(And Ed Inglehart, last night's quote was also Sun-tzu, not the estimable Lao-tzu.)
Oops, both Chinese, and Sun-tzu was one of Chairman Mao's favorite books... which strengthens the communist claims against Obama. Darn, blew my cover.
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"We cannot continue to rely on just our military. We've got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded." --Barack Hussein Obama
He has also said he intends to increase the size of active military. Dept of Defense budget is 500 billion. He's going to create a civilian national security force with this level of funding. And when he does, TO DO WHAT??!!!
I just heard it at utube. The Media is not reporting everything they know. Go there and hear him in a speech. This is not normal rhetoric coming from candidates anywhere in the history of the United States.
Citizens, do your job.
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155, Dame.
"Don't expect any sense from MSNBC - only 20% of their respondents are American."
Is that your toaster speaking to you? I really think you are better off listening to your washing machine.
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181/Kirin
You're still having problems identifying cause and effect!
Thousands of people have asked Obama questions on the campaign trail. Joe/Sam asked a good question and got a straight answer, and there it would have ended, but for one John Sydney McCain deciding to give him instant celebrity in the second debate, and exposing him to all that celebrity entails.
Don't blame Joe for asking the question, blame McCain for making a mountain out of that particular molehill, and opening his new spokesman up to the attentions of a hungry 24-hour news media.
If you stand up on a national television broadcast and say "This guy is my guy and represents what I represent" how naive do you have to be not to realise that his credibility becomes your credibility, and every journalist within 200 miles is going to make a beeline for that story?
As for your rights, they are protected under the constitution, and Obama is quoted as seeing the constitution as if anything too restrictive, and wanting to add MORE rights. He's quite happy to take the attacks by the McCain campaign, but Sarah Palin thinks it's not fair that people have the freedom to criticise her... if your rights are your main concern I'd avoid the Republicans (the only modern administration to officially endorse rendition, torture and detention without trial).
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# 43 exserviceman wrote:
"DMT at 17/ If I am right about this guy, there won't be another one. President for life, Barack Obama, not that there will be much left of the US after "reparations for slavery" have been executed, with a little help from his "friends.""
What planet are you living on? "President for life"?
"Did you see how quickly those reporters from papers that had endorsed Mccain were kicked off Barack's plane? That is the first raindrop of the force 5 hurricane to come."
No I didn't, because you neglected to provide a link or evidence. I did read however that Joe Klein of Time was barred from McCain's plane
"Also notice how 2 magazines that mainly write for African Americans replaced them. That is the whole point, as rev. Wright said, Barack will turn the tables.."
Yes, they're taking over. First one moves into the neighbourhood, then they flood in - they take our jobs, sh*g our women, they come over here from Africa...
I wrote the above a few hours ago before I went out for the evening, but didn't have time to post it then.
I must congratulate you exserviceman. I thought with this posting you'd reached the limits of your paranoia delusions.
Looking at your subsequent postings, it seems that I was wrong.
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180. jabber_jabber wrote:
"On November 5 we burn effigies of Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament a couple of hundred years ago - in effect celebrating a failure . . ."]
I tend to view it more as kind of a reminder to politicians as to what could happen if they ever get above themselves too much . . .(I'm sure that's the subconscious reason we've kept it going for 400 years.)
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#102
Although it might be bad form to quote oneself, you bring up the silly "civilian national security force" idea again. I defined and refuted it in the last thread, and, since nary a word in response- time to whack the hornet's nest:
"The meaning of "civilian national security force" should be obvious, if you read/listen to the entire statement in context. The reference is to the one-dimensional, military force only outlook on foreign policy, that the solution to our problems are found at the end of a gun barrel. Bush & co. have been the most aggressive American proponents of this philosophy in ages.
Obama's civilian national security force is the other, more subtle application of national will, via the more effective means of persuasion and diplomacy. This civilian angle in the end is usually more effective- efforts like the Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps, student exchange programs, and of course the State Department show good intentions, foster good relationships, and make the world seem a smaller place.
The argument isn't about eliminating the military- far from it. But to rely solely on armed force is to try playing with a single card in your hand. It's a limiting, trinitary strategy- you either use your force, you don't, or you bluster and bluff about using force. If someone calls your bluff, all you can do is put up or shut up."
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149.revolvinggrandma wrote:
"Studs Terkel has died. . .
An honest voice, and an educating voice. I hope that there are many who can take up that mantle."
I doubt it, somehow. God knows the
USA could do with one just now.
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181, ubermensch.
"I am worried about my rights from the Obama administration."
Does your paranoia annoy ya?
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For Ed:
In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling, be just.
In business, be competent.
In action, watch the timing.
No fight: No blame.
L-t
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171
McCain's service IS being questioned by Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain among others. Look at their site before you make such a statement.
There was another mention on the news of Palin's still unreleased medical information. There must be some reason they're postponing the release of even a summary.
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Even Matt Drudge's favourite Gallup model is now indicating an Obama landslide
http://www.gallup.com/poll/111679/Gallup-Daily-Obamas-Lead-Widens-Some-All-Bases.aspx
According to early voting returns, Obama may have already won New Mexico and Colorado.
Another funny Palin video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh9BmNuqeiQ
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I think the Obama campaign is trying to put pressure over the McCain team. The thirty minutes long advert might play some roles, but not too much. I think it's a little more than just expending some money to air advertisements in a state like Arizona. But he, Barack should have paid much attentions in the swing states like Ohio, Florida etc.
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I recommend (to everyone, regardless of their shades of opinion) the very thoughtful and reflective piece by Gary Younge in today's Guardian: "Me, my son and Obama: one father's story".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/01/obama-race-black-americans-equality
It seems to me this is what an 'opinion' piece should be: one that stimulates a reader into thought and reflection, instead of merely regurgitating whatever claims and counter-claims are most popular that day.
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To#200Britishish
What a lovely celebration!
We really should consider something similar here but it would have to be 'truly' American. Perhaps some of our posters could contribute ideas. This would give us something to do while we wait for election results.
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#177. seanspa: "why can't americans make proper fruitcake?"
(Way off topic!) Most all of American cakes are quite different and not as heavy as those 'back home'. However, it's not inexpensive to buy them made by Tesco, Marks and Spencer or even the Co-op, all available on-line. Google British foods and you'll find a number of suppliers. I think even Fortnum and Mason can help you.
#188. aquarizonagal "I make excellent fruit cake from my mama's recipe."
But I'll bet a nickel to a dollar that it's nothing like a British fruit cake - Google Christmas cake UK to see some recipes. Most of them will be in metric measurements so would be difficult to duplicate, but a glance will show you the difference.
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207, shafiqulislam.
He is spending lots of time in Ohio, Florida and the other swing states.
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It appears that Joe The Plumber was foreseen by prophecy
http://wonkette.com/403984/the-onion-predicted-joe-the-plumber-crap-in-1993
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To#197Allmymarbles
I have been told that coffee makers will sometimes communicate but do not have personal experience of this.
Washing machines seem a bit impersonal so maybe she should continue to listen to her toaster until the microwave decides to speak. I understand they have the real 'voices of authority.' If you are receptive to this type of transmission.
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43 exserviceman wrote:
"Did you see how quickly those reporters from papers that had endorsed Mccain were kicked off Barack's plane? That is the first raindrop of the force 5 hurricane to come."
One of the papers says it had nothing to do with an endorsement.
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/10/the-dallas-morning-news-and-th.html
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201. Via-Media wrote:
#102
"you bring up the silly "civilian national security force" idea again."
Obama has only himself (and his political advisers) to blame. It seems to me part and parcel of the mindset that developed thanks to right-wing propaganda over the 'militarisation' of 'national security' after 9/11 in the US.
I don't think it can be just me, but phrases like that send a little chill down my unrepentantly left-wing spine too.*
Isn't a "civilian national security force" the police? That's what we've tended to understand here in Britain since Robert Peel.
It is ironic that in pandering, even a little, to the right's 'national security' and 'wartime' paranoia in using their phraseology he has accidentally increased it.
*But then, so does the (sadly now not uncommon) sight in parts of London of policemen carrying sub-machine guns.
I was in France when the 7/7 epsiode occurred, and said to a French friend I was feeling unhappy about going home to London. She misunderstood: it was the prospect of seeing more and more armed policemen on the streets I wasn't looking forward to, not the fear of any more bombs.
Fortunately, they were not then much more obvious than before, and still aren't.
But whatever Obama really meant I don't like the phrase and its connotations. But you have to be 'tough on national security' don't you, whichever side of the (right of) centre you are in the US?
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To#202Britishish
That was a negative comment but I can understand the source given some of the posts here.
However, please do hold out some hope for us. I try to.
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I get both the Obama and McCain e-mails. Obama has been running his for supporters for many months. McCain was a late starter.
Obama's is very attractive and a thoroughly profession job. The writing is clear, sparse an to the point. McCain's layout is unattractive, the type is boring, the writing is pedestrian (and runs off at the mouth). The writer isn't even clever. Through his protestations of confidence the fear leaks through. He would never make a good con man.
Not only is McCain on Mars -- so is his staff. How can he take responsibility for such a secon-rate job.
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To#210Davidcunard
I may be old but I can translate recipes into and from metrics. A lot of my relatives do not live in the US and we do swap recipes.
I will check your sources but you have maligned me, sir. What makes you believe that my mama's recipe is 'American?'
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To#208Britishish
Thank you for the link.
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#18. aquarizonagal "What makes you believe that my mama's recipe is 'American?'"
The emphasis on:
1) Candy and preserve your own fruit.
2) Lots of really good brandy.
I'll think you'll find that the two types, US and UK, are quite different. If it weren't so, then Seanspa and I would have no problem in finding what we prefer!
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214. john-In-Dublin wrote:
43 exserviceman wrote:
"Did you see how quickly those reporters from papers that had endorsed Mccain were kicked off Barack's plane? That is the first raindrop of the force 5 hurricane to come."
One of the papers says it had nothing to do with an endorsement.
I don't know how ex-servceman thinks most non-American journos cover the election. They won't be on either plane. Anyway, it can be a dam' sight more costly to be on the 'official' plane than get there under your own steam. It's often used, to all intents and purposes, as a subsidiary campaign contribution.
They only want to be on the plane to snatch at the 'background' briefings or get a snippet from a "source close to . . ."
It makes life much easier than having to thumb through your contact book and get "I am away from my desk' or "he's away, will be back later" or "We have no comment to make at this time" or any of the other avoidance tactics they all use on the phone or to reply to emails all the time.
Just curious: I don't suppose one of the journalists from Al-Jazeera was invited by either campaign?
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218. At 03:50am on 01 Nov 2008, aquarizonagal wrote:
To#210Davidcunard
I may be old but I can translate recipes into and from metrics. A lot of my relatives do not live in the US and we do swap recipes.
I will check your sources but you have maligned me, sir. What makes you believe that my mama's recipe is 'American?'
Anyway, I think the sort of fruitcake that was originally mentioned was a 'Dundee' fruit cake. Which would be Scottish, really.
It's not converting from metric measurements to imperial or vice versa that puzzles me. It's American 'cup' sizes I've never grasped.
(Oh, dear. We'll get Sam all excited again, if we're not careful. I mean in recipes.)
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197, 213
I've heard that domestic implements sometimes pick up radio transmissions. Perhaps their toasters and coffee machines are picking up those horrible 'jerk-jocks' like Rush Fallingoffthebough, or whatever they call them.
(Being a compassionate, concerned leftie, full of bonhomie for my fellow squirrelkind, I tend to go for the most charitable explanation.)
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"Downside: it's the arrogance, stupid."
You must be kidding me.
McCain is trying hard in PA, which Kerry won in 2004 and Obama is up with a double digit lead.
Through his efforts Obama now has Nevada and Colorado leaning his way. He has to fight for Florida now too. From day one he said it was a 50-state strategy. He is employing his that strategy as best he can.
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And your point is?
Why? Because Arizona is definitely in play.
The BBC reporting on the US the past few years has been wanting; especially Radio 4. I have found a distinct loss of quality since the Hutton report.
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It looks like the people have spoken Justin.
Stupid arguement, did McCain visit California or NY in his campaign cos Obama has much more chance of taking Arizona than he did of taking those
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#43 Exserviceman said:
If I am right about this guy, there won't be another one. President for life, Barack Obama, not that there will be much left of the US after "reparations for slavery" have been executed, with a little help from his "friends."
Did you see how quickly those reporters from papers that had endorsed Mccain were kicked off Barack's plane? That is the first raindrop of the force 5 hurricane to come.
Also notice how 2 magazines that mainly write for African Americans replaced them. That is the whole point, as rev. Wright said, Barack will turn the tables..
1) you always know how to push my buttons to make me respond
2) Every other race that has been discriminated against has received some type of compensation for US actions against them. Why not a race that had contributed more than most to this country. America was built on the backs of minorities.
3) And McCain wouldn't have kicked off reporters that supported Obama?
4) And why shouldn't publications that reach millions of blacks be included? Correct me if I am wrong, but I am almost positive they are not on the McCain plane.
5) For once and for all, stop making this an issue of race. Leave it alone.
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Justin, you are clearly biased in favour of [insert candidate name] and with every post you reveal you bias.
I can't believe everyone can't see your preference for [insert candidate name]. At least the other reporters are more neutral.
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An Obama campaign in Arizona has an interesting (and encouraging) parallel with a relatively recent election here in Australia.
This time last year, Australia's prime minister John Howard had won 4 consecutive federal elections and had been in power for the best part of 12 years. The opposing Labor party had decided to seriously target the PM's own seat in parliament, selecting a high-profile candidate and waging a major local campaign to unseat Howard personally at the next national election. The point was to thereby distract and unsettle Howard and his party in the contest to win government at that election - regardless of whether or not the targeted seat in question remained, post-election, occupied by the Howardly bottom. So to speak.
It's probably helpful to note that despite a genuinely rare genius for passing himself off as a humble and moderate man of the centre, Howard's policies located him in a political sense some way to the right of the UK's Tories, though arguably not as hard-right as Dubya's administration. Suffice it to say that Howard and W got on together like a house - or indeed world - on fire.
Howard had held his seat for all of 30 years - and of course he had all the advantages conferred on him by being PM. And yet on 24 November 2007 Howard lost both government and his own seat...
Gobama!
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#222. british-ish: "It's American 'cup' sizes I've never grasped."
For cooking, 1 US cup = 0.5 US pints; 1 US pint is 473 ml, while a UK pint is 568 ml.
As for bra cup sizes, A,B,C and D are the same in both the UK and US, but after that, E is F; G is I - and so on. But in Italy, a B cup can be nothing. Really.
Hope that I've cleared it up for both you and Sam!
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228, soulgrind.
No one is neutral, nor should they be. We have something between our ears for a reason.
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My son lives in Phoenix & up until recently was in the unenviable position of voting for Obama without that vote counting for anything in the end. Now my son has the chance to help turn the tide away from McCain. Obama's projected weekend trip to Arizona - "arrogance" you say? I say EXCELLENT - that trip is the result of many many hours of hard work and sacrifice on the part of us Obama supporters - and, is a real encouragement to the Obama voters in that now "light-pink" state. YES WE CAN.
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229 ArthurPutey wrote:
'Encouraging', eh? Now you'll bring doen the wrath of the not-alas-so-mythical-monstrous-kirin on your head.
Anyway that was in another country, and, as they say, they do things differently there. (Apparently.)
What intrigues me (I'll whisper it very close to your ear, so no-one else hears) is the lessons the Obama campaign has pretty obviously learnt from left(ish-ish) parties elsewhere around the world. Possibly with, shall we say. a little help and advice from certain quarters?
(Shouts): Yes, magic and ex and Dame and putn-it-on, I mean from Cuba and Venezuela and the PRC and North Korea, even from redsquirrels . . .!
(Back to normal tone of voice)...oh gawd give me strength . . .
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231. allmymarbles wrote:
"228, soulgrind.
No one is neutral, nor should they be. We have something between our ears for a reason."
Some of us have something between our ears . . .and for some, reason just doesn't enter into it.
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"Can't this just be over?"
I can't wait until Tuesday
I dread on the possibility of Obama losing this
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233. Grrrlie wrote:
"My son lives in Phoenix & up until recently was in the unenviable position of voting for Obama without that vote counting for anything in the end. Now my son has the chance to help turn the tide away from McCain."
Well, I live in a London parliamentary constituency (and a borough) that's been Tory for ever (sigh) thanks to the posh folks who live to the south of me. And the horrid yuppies who've been moving into my bit of Notting Hill over the last few years. I keep voting though. One day, one day . . .
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228. soulgrind:
I think your post requires a slight amendment, before one of the nuttty-flavoured-right refers it to the moderators and it disappears.
Thus:
"Justin, you are clearly biased in favour of [insert Obama] and with every post you reveal your bias.
I can't believe everyone can't see your preference for [insert suitably silly deprecatory corruption of 'Obama']. At least the other reporters like [insert 'Rush Limbaugh', 'Michelle Malkin' or any name from Fox] are more neutral."
Now your post will be safe.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
#238. DameMargaretThatcher: "Couldn't resist posting a clip of THE VERY CLASSY keith Olbermann of MSNBC."
Interesting that you should link to a site called "Hot Air." Suits you well.
I feel sure that neither Mr Obama nor Mr Olbermann would want you, let alone your children (aren't they adults?) around them either, so it's a wash.
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238. DameMargaretThatcher's link.
. . .is, it seems (just to prepare those readers here who have some sort of sense of decency) another of those virulent 'Pajama Games'.
It is, to put it bluntly, a pile of steaming tasteless shameful manure.
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241:
I thought my post might get referred. I was referring to the dirty little tricks that the right keep playing to denigrate anyone who disagrees with them.
I can get what Dame MT really means by "not wanting this creep around my children" but it appears the moderators are frightened by the word I used and suggested the Dame dare not, choosing the 'cut indirect' just so his friends, to whom he doesn't need to spell it out, can snigger.
Now, if the BBC will only get some kind of software, or even a moderator or two that can understand the context of a word or phrase, I wouldn't have to waste my time inventing unnecessary circumlocutions.
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# 229 ~ Arthur Putey (I didn't realise you were writing from Oz). You did a great job on Howard.
# 155 ~ The Dame threatens to emigrate to England - first reason I have ever heard for supporting McCain.
# 51 ~ Was typo. He meant to write - Ed Iglehart HAS nuts.
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And what the hell was wrong with post #232?
I make a good point about MSNBC and it gets "Kinnocked" by the loony left.
Are MSNBC and the BBC the same company now?
A plague on both your houses!
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Thats because we Americans have perfected your language British-ish.
You need to brush up on your indirect put downs - and stop being so literal.
A nods as good as a wink to a blind bat...eh?...eh?
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Another conservative has had enough :
Peggy Noonan, eloquent former Reagan speechwriter says of Obama, "He has within him the possibility to change the direction and tone of American foreign policy which need changing; his rise will serve as a rebuke to the past five years, which need rebuking."
And more :
"Let's be frank. Something new is happening in America. It is the imminent arrival of a new liberal moment.
History happens ......... "
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248. DameMargaretThatcher wrote:
"A nods as good as a wink to a blind bat...eh?...eh?"
So I was right in 241 about the insinuation you are making? I thought so. And I think it's despicable.
You won't mind then if I refer your post to the moderators as being 'defamatory' and 'potentially libellous'? Or alert the company's lawyers? I think you need to comprehend that a defamatory allegation or a libel can be 'indirect'.
I can't stomach the site you linked to; but unless I'm wrong, the person you are writing about was giving a cheque to charity in the lack of which you appear not dissimilar to your namesake.
But that is all I have to say to you directly.
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Hey Obama - go to Arizona and show the old has-been how tough you are! I am sick and tired of having my country run by the Repubs. I know lots of Repubs; they are dumber than hell and proud of it! They are running my country into the ground.
I fear the election will be much tighter than the polls indicate - lots of dumb people out there, who don't understand they are voting against their best interests when they vote for McCain and whats-her-name
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246. eightypercent wrote:
# 155 ~ The Dame threatens to emigrate to England - first reason I have ever heard for supporting McCain.
I've never quite made out whether the Dame is all-American, British, of part one or the other. If he has dual citizenship, perhaps it's not 'emigration' but 'deportation' he should be worrying about, the kinds of thing's he's been coming up with lately.
Either way, I'll be picketing at Heathrow against letting him off the plane, I can tell you. Though they might just let him in so he can be sued in a British court for defamation or libel; that can be even more expensive than American health care, but he doesn't seem to realise that.
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#230
As sor bra cup sizes, A,B,C and D are the same in both the UK and US, but after that, E is F; G is I - and so on. But in Italy, a B cup can be nothing. Really.
Au contraire, Blackadder!
A, B, C, D & DD are the same, but after that in the UK it goes DD, E, F, FF (and continues to alternate to the implausible K). But there's no I
In the US it goes DDD/E, F, G, H, I, J....
Most confusing, I'm sure you'll agree.
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Why the Dame gets away with it, and my pointing out the dubiety of his sly slurs gets referred, I do not know, but it's making me very angry.
Dear moderators: I happen to be (as I've told you before) in the same profession as Justin, and I am very well aware of the laws of libel and defamation. I've had to be.
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Where does the man get his energy? I feel tired just watching him.
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248 DameMargaretThatcher
I have tried three times to reply to your post 238 and been 'referred to the moderators' each time.
Still, at least I can refer others (I hope) to your 248: "A nods as good as a wink to a blind bat...eh?...eh?"
And they can perhaps draw their own conclusions.
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Arrogance? What's up Justin? Nose out of joint?
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As a diversion from bra sizes (and nuts), I offer the following caveat from Nate Silver about IBD/TIPP (The Institute of Policy and Politics) polls :
'Questioned about under-sampling of young voters, Ragharan Mayur, President of TechnoMetrica, told me that he he was equally surprised by the results saying that the wide perception that Obama is leading by a large margin in that group is "my perception too". He blamed the result on a small sample size.'
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Too much money? In enemy territory?
What would you expect from a so called grass roots group who has it together and who show reason and justifies their ways.
The Obama campaign has shown to the world a high level of responsibility to a country and world that few have ever witnessed. But the most important is that they are not playing all politics. They see real problems and issues with the country and with our citizens and use a real problem solving approach.
I hear of people from Maryland (mostly a democratic state) say they want to move to Virginia because it's a more republican state. Surely they are free to move. And surely they have the freedom in the USA to choose their religious preference. I feel that some of us see our two party system the same as religion ... so committed that nothing will change them. Democracy is not religion. Unfortunately, some think so.
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Justin,
He's doing "this" because as we all know the polls tend to tighten towards the end of a presidential race, and in this case they are tightening in Arizona. If anyone had the disposable amounts of cash that Barack has, they would be doing exactly the same thing, irrespective of what they may tell you.
The fact is that Obama has executed his campaign with the precision of a well thought out military operation and more importantly, as has been borne out in relation to Arizona, he has NOT taken his foot off the gas pedal. This lack of complacency is what I believe will win him the election on Tuesday.
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Note from the BBC licence payer file :
We hear that Jim Naughtie has taken himself from Las Vegas to Florida. How that man suffers for us all.
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250 eightypercent
I've heard Peggy Noonan on BBC Radio 5 a few times, and she's always appeared to be considered and thoughtful, not at all the kind of Raygunite I like to demonise. . .
(I have wondered, though, as I have with some other American commentators -- at least those not directly allied with those right-wing thinktanks -- if she felt more free to say things on the Beeb than she might at home. It;s always intrigued me that when Sky News has to pay lipservice to its 'sister station' Fox, and take a report from them, it's couched very differently to what appars to be the general Fox style in the US.)
Gary Younge, in the Guardian today (I posted the link earlier back at No 208: not posting it again, the moderators are being very strict with me this morning) interestingly has the same kind of feeling. Well worth reading I think. I like Gary Younge's writing, too.
(Hint to DMT -- mentioning her seems to cause me trouble with the mods, hardly surprising really, given what she was like with anyone even slightly left of far right -- who appears to think 'British' English needs 'perfecting', though what Younge has to say won't tickle her handbag at all.)
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Nutkin
The Dame is ignorant and full of horsefeathers.
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Folks like OldSouth almost makes one want to throw one's hands in the air in desperation. Fan of a president who wasted billions against an enemy that they fabricated just to keep OS and his mates back home from thinking and now he's complaining that Obama wants to spend money on education and health care at home. OS must have been sold a few lemons in his day, he's so gullible.
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Hey, British-ish. I've never complained about any comment you have made.
Seriously, I think someone is pulling your chain here.
I enjoy your venomous candor.
It's just like that Brit that drew a few lines on a map - called it Iraq, then p*ssed off to play cricket. They should stop their meddling!
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260. eightypercent wrote:
"Ragharan Mayur, President of TechnoMetrica, told me that he he was equally surprised by the results saying that the wide perception that Obama is leading by a large margin in that group is "my perception too". He blamed the result on a small sample size.' "
My suspicion too: I think US pollsters should be using much larger samples than they appear to be doing. Especially when it became obvious pretty early on this could be a close election.
On the other hand, could it be that younger voters have finally decided "this is no country for old men"? Though goodness knows, I have to keep reminding myself here that Obama is nearly fifty, not exactly in the first flush of adolescence.
I've never understood this American penchant for liking old men in public life. Strom Thurmond . . .that Alaskan felon-senator who is, what, 84? Reagan . . . Even people like Dan Rather on the telly; why don't they get pensioned off? Or can none of them afford to be?
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# 264 ~ thanks for the tip. Gary Younge's piece this morning is beautiful.
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This must be some kind of record for banned posts.
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Exserviceman, of course we are all born igmnorant, but the level of numbwitted ignorance that you have managed to achieve proves that you have really worked at it. My congratulations!
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246. At 07:29am on 01 Nov 2008, eightypercent wrote:
# 155 ~ The Dame threatens to emigrate to England - first reason I have ever heard for supporting McCain.
(I suggested the kind of welcome she/he might expect were he/she to return, but was moderated away. I was only proposing a demo. The moderators must have thought it might end up as a kind of anti-poll tax riot.)
# 51 ~ Was typo. He meant to write - Ed Iglehart HAS nuts.
(I must have missed one of those right-wing personal attacks. They are so frequent. One of them had suggested he didn't? Wouldn't put it past any of them.)
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ref #191
To paraphrase Asa Scott you have proof of this?
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# 265 (pulled) was an attempt at an accurate assessment of the Dame. Failed by the Mods/Gods.
Proposal - if we all ignore the Dame, we will lessen the load of the Mods/Gods and speed things up.
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270. everyoneiscrazy wrote:
This must be some kind of record for banned posts.
Yes; the moderators don't seem to be exercising any discrimination this morning. They seem to think anyone refuting a suspect allegation and asking the author to retract it is endorsing it, for example. I've been stung finally into making a formal complaint.
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I Came, I Saw, I conqoured.
Please remember, the USA is an amalgume of Fifty semi- autonomous regions. Most of them have something akin to a bipartisan Legistlature and Govenership very simalar to Washington's template. Obama can win the White House, the Democrats can win both the House and the Senate, but there is one fly in the oniment.
The current problem is making sure that the Democrats carry majorities, maybe even big majorities (unlikely) in all the rest of the state Legistlators and Governmanships.
This is how consititional changes are made,
( again, unlikely).
This does though insure that federally mandated legistlation is enacted at state level, literally "boots on the ground".
Ok, he looks like he's arrogant and rubbing it in, but he knows what he's doing. He's trying to neutralize Republican held state legislature into split party, non-effective bodies that won't be a thorn in his side because they don't have veto proof majorities on his mandates. If he cant win the state, he can disable it.
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267. DameMargaretThatcher wrote:
"Hey, British-ish. I've never complained about any comment you have made."
But I do not make disguised defamatory comments about people.
(Lay off, OK? It's boring. Look: I'm half-Italian. I'll offer you a new target for free. Try blaming me for Ethiopia, the Mafia, Mussolini, the Brigate Rosse, cowardice or soggy pasta or something as well, why not? Heard all that before too. Just don't pick on pineapple-and-ham pizzas, those horrible things were invented in America.)
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# 272 Brit
See post no. 51.
Just a typo I guess.
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73 exserviceman: I mean this as nicely as possible. You are off your trolley mate!
PS: I guess that could apply to the Dame as well ...
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ref #227
On the Obama plane:
1. It is his plane he can have whomever he wants.
2. This is a payback to news papers whose edtorial boards did not genuflect to Obama
Does one or more moderators work on the Obama campaign? they seems to have the same intolerance for dissent.
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274 eightypercent wrote:
# 265 (pulled) was an attempt at an accurate assessment of the Dame. Failed by the Mods/Gods.
Proposal - if we all ignore the Dame, we will lessen the load of the Mods/Gods and speed things up.
I'd agree normally, but at the time it seemed as though she might a bit lonely and get left out. But now another one's turned up again, they can post to each other (great minds/fools . . .) and the rest of us can now ignore two instead of one.
That should save the mods lots of time. They can use it to study the meaning of the words 'irony' and 'satire' and put their feet up and read a few examples.
That would help.
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278. eightypercent wrote:
"# 272 Brit
See post no. 51.
Just a typo I guess."
Ah yes, I had skipped over that one. I do tend to, with all these racist anti-squirrel throw-away remarks about.
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270. everyoneiscrazy wrote:
"This must be some kind of record for banned posts."
This is getting absolutely ridiculous. I'm not rewriting any more posts. It'd be easier to get a letter into The Times.
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283: Just to give an example, apparently I cannot write the name of an Italian organisation, now long defunct, because it's a 'foreign language'. Well, it would be, wouldn't it?
That it was associated with t*rr-*ism, not that I wrote anything whatsoever in support of it, may of course have something to do with it.
It's either that, or because I mentioned 'pineapple and ham p-*!a in a rather derogatory manner. . .
Or because of 275.
I've had enough. Bye.
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"But will a few adverts become a 'surprise' Obama trip to Arizona over the weekend."
It's a question mark, stupid.
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Ref 261
"I hear of people from Maryland (mostly a democratic state) say they want to move to Virginia because it's a more republican state."
One of the most fascinating outcomes of this election is going to be the realignment that is going to take place within the Republican party in months to come.
I anticipate a major power struggle between the social conservatives that have controlled the party's agenda during the past four decades, the neocons responsible for our international blunders, fiscal conservatives, and moderate Republicans.
It would not surprise me if we end up with a third party that in addition to GOP moderates also includes Center-right Democrats and most Independents. That would leave a far right GOP controlled by social conservatives (mostly evangelicals) and neocons, a Democratic party controlled by the left wing of the party, and a third party that represents the majority of Americans.
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Obama needs to hit every state as hard as he can, so why not Arizona? There's nothing in the rules that says you can't target your opponent's own state. And since when did any candidate say "OK, we've campaigned enough; let's just leave that last state alone"?
ArthurPutey's comparison with the Labour campaign against John Howard (post #229) was a highly perceptive one, suggesting an angle which I hadn't considered before. It makes a great deal of sense.
Quite apart from anything else, Obama needs to establish as wide a margin as possible in case the Republicans try to rig the vote again.
If McCain miraculously wins against overwhelming odds (and I still fear that he might), it will be impossible for his team to deny that skulduggery was involved.
Better for Obama to swamp McCain in a tidal wave of blue states and prove that he won fairly. He can't afford to be complacent; we know from the last election that the Republicans are desperate enough try anything - and they will.
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But then I saw this, so I came back to post it. Having read both Peggy Noonan and Gary Younge today, it seems depressingly relevant. Especially as neither Obama nor McCain will face up to any form of gun regulation.
SUMTER, South Carolina (AP)
A 12-year-old boy trick-or-treating with his family in central South Carolina was shot from inside a home Friday and killed, and his father and brother were wounded by the gunfire, authorities said.
. . .The family was headed home from a city-sponsored event downtown when they decided to stop at a few homes. . .As the family was at the door, they thought they heard fireworks. The 12-year-old boy, his father and brother were all hit by the gunfire. The boy died at a hospital. . .
Is this what the paranoia we see displayed here from just a few people leads to?
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Going somewhat off-topic here, does anyone know what the plans are in the UK for coverage of the election on Tuesday/wednesday (GMT)?
I'm guessing that the polls won't officially close until 8am GMT, in which case they won't be counting, but does that mean that we'll get coverage in the morning/afternoon.
How does it work! (I can't remember from last time around).
The reason I ask is because I happen to have both Tuesday and Wednesday off work. Any ideas?
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Sorry, just answered my own question:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/10_october/22/us.shtml
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# 288
There is an inability among the civilized to comprehend what the evangelicals are capable of doing.
America has its natural Talebani. Naturally a bit retarded, they have been mentally conditioned with sin and its projection and then taught to hate.
As noted before, what ones sees on this blog is but a pale version of the paranoid projection evident in Bible Belt blogs.
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And even more shocking news from CNN:
"According to UC Davis officials, researchers will launch a birth-control program to curb the population of the so-called Fox Squirrels."
I demand both candidates explain their position on squirrels' constitutional rights.
And may I point out this deplorable infringement is being carried out in a state run by a Republican governor?
This is the sort of thing you can expect from a Republican president, obviously. First squirrels, then Democrat voters . . .?
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The civilized World should try to organize itself, independently of what happens in the USA.
The Dohar Debates this morning showed the audience 87/13 in favor of Obama-
the main motivation being disgust with the American actions in the Mid-East under Bush.
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Justin, this is what people describe as, "leave no stone unturned." Obama, simply does not want to take any chance and at the same time does not want to miss out on a single opportunity, to amass votes.
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One American True Believer here expressed the idea that, no matter what happens, it is God's will, so be content.
She might be surprised to be considered ecumenical, for:
(a) that sounds like the Arabic "inshallah",
(b) and has a lot in common with the Chinese Tao.
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The better question is, "Why not?" Obama has run a better organized, more intelligent campaign and Arizona is the last stop for his strategic objectives.
Brilliant!!
Go Obama, go!
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Xie, you are mistaken about Inshallah. It is more of a hopeful (or even, you'll be lucky)expression than a fatalistic one. Are you going to get this work done? Tomorrow, Alllah willing.
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Joel C,
BBC coverage on Television is billed to begin aroundm 11:30 GMT
News 24 And BBC One (TV)
Peace and up all night
ed
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294. acenavigator wrote:
Justin, this is what people describe as, "leave no stone unturned."
Or "no voter left behind"?
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Xie Ming,
Peace and Tao
ed
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292/british-ish
I think the Fox Squirrels deserve everything they get, with their blatant right-wing bias and Rupert Murdoch bankrolling them.
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# 286 ~ Domenick,
Interesting thoughts.
I was surprised that you envisage left-wing Dems peeling away from the main party. The Democrats seem to have been amazingly disciplined this time round, running on the "Democratic big tent" concept.
I agree with you about the GOP which is in all sorts of trouble and now the finger seems to being pointed firmly at the Rove/Bush/Cheney administration for abandoning every principle of St. Ronnie's conservatism. They have a serious problem when thinkers like George Will and Peggy Noonan start articulating the point of Obama and everything that he stands for.
Much depends on Obama if he wins. His priority - because none of the rest will follow without it - must be calming and unifying the country. I am encouraged to see that he is already speaking about this.
If he even half way succeeds with his unity message, I believe that the Democrats will stick with him - simply because after the last eight years they will see that the alternative is too awful to contemplate.
The scenario you paint resounds in the UK when Labour, in the '80's was being torn in two and many of the most electorally popular members of it left to found the Social Democratic Party. In the end, to cut a long story short, this foundered, and a more disciplined and blander Labour party rose from the ashes to triumph eventually in 1997.
The comparison between the '97 Tories and the current GOP is so close to be almost painful. It has taken ten years for them to recover from their disaster.
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298. Ed Iglehart wrote:
Joel C,
BBC coverage on Television is billed to begin aroundm 11:30 GMT
The puzzle is, though, whether the Beeb will be bound by the same restrictions the American networks I think are, in that they won't report the East coast results until the West coast polling stations close.
What I'm trying to work out is not when it starts, but when it's going to finish?
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Sean's Pa,
or a mini-prayer, as I've heard Irish folk (and other Catholics?) say, "Please God", or "God willing".But, a Muslim friend, when asked the meaning of "Islam", said simply, "Submission to the will of Allah." And it is this aspect of Inshallah to which Xie Ming refers.
Peace and humility
ed
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Brit,
Hallow'een tragedy.
I believe tragedies like this happen most years. Certainly a Milwaukee family I knew lost a teenage child this way.
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301 StephenDerry wrote:
292/british-ish
"I think the Fox Squirrels deserve everything they get, with their blatant right-wing bias and Rupert Murdoch bankrolling them."
Well, now you put it like that, perhaps I was being a little hasty in coming to their defence. Renegade right-thinking (er, I mean, wrong-thinking) squirrels, eh? Depriving them of their nuts might not be such a bad idea after all . . .
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Nessie 205. I'm talking about the McCain brand. He's still running 5pts ahead of the GOP in general.
I prefer not to look at negative accounts of McCain's service, because that kind of thing sounds frighteningly similar to what happened to Kerry in 04. Regardless of that, anybody who chooses to serve in the military, knowing that they may be putting themselves in harm's way deserves my respect.
I'll be glad when the election is over. At the moment it's like the Jets and Sharks or Bloods and Crips on these message boards. Nobody can remember what the argument is really about, we just know we don't like the other guy.
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Dominick,
True independents will never join any party, ever!Peace and uindependence
ed
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Ed,
Likewise the Irish often say "DV" which I would translate from the Latin if it wasn't for the fact that British tells us that the mods are going through an anti-foreign languages (alive or dead) phase.
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Dominick,
True independents will never join[Broken URL removed by Moderator]any party ever!Peace and independence
ed
Moderated? Why?
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305.eightypercent wrote:
"I believe tragedies like this happen most years. Certainly a Milwaukee family I knew lost a teenage child this way."
Good lord. It's the triviality of it that gets me. I heard yesterday that an electrician in a village I know in France was killed by his wife with his shotgun. (They hunt wild boar there, and many villagers have them.)
Their son was one of eight youngsters who have been killed or seriously injured in car crashes there in the last two years. Only he has been in a coma at home ever since. His father was drinking a lot (we gave him work, to try to help, even though he was often barely capable; but we're very much foreigners there, so there wasn't much else we could do) and she obviously couldn't stand the strain any more.
I feel terribly sorry for her. Being France, she will no doubt be treated leniently and given the psychiatric help I only wish she (and her husband) might have been given before.
But I cannot feel any sympathy for the 22 year old who did that.
Somehow, the date didn't register. That it's All Soul's day today seems to make it even more poignant.
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309.eightypercent wrote:
"British tells us that the mods are going through an anti-foreign languages (alive or dead) phase."
Actually, I think we might be in the hands of a different team now. I've noticed there seems to be a change when what I think must be the 'overnight shift' knocks off. I don't think 'Insh'allah' would have got through a few hours ago . . .
(Just testing!)
Still, better safe than sorry.
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BBC reports that "The ex-film star (Swarz) said Mr McCain was the real action hero who had spent more time as a prisoner of war than Barack Obama had served in the US Senate"
It's exactly that kind of stupid macho talk that makes me sick
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Dominick,
True independents will never join any party, ever!Peace and independence
ed
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"It is a propaganda piece by George W Bush's former deputy assistant called "The Case against Obama"."
He's not a BBC employee.
Next feeble attempt please!
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Obama has it all well and truly wrapped up.
Now let's show the Repubs that they are marginallized.
If you live in a state where Obama has a double digit lead...
Cast your vote for Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party.
If Cynthia gets more that 10% of the vote then the Green Party must be on the ballot in all 50 states for the next election.
The Green Party is no longer the alternative, it is the imperative.
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# 228 soulgrind wrote:
"Justin, you are clearly biased in favour of [insert candidate name] and with every post you reveal you bias.
I can't believe everyone can't see your preference for [insert candidate name]. At least the other reporters are more neutral."
Soulgrind, you couldn't be more wrong.
Anyone can see that Justin is in fact totally biased in favour of [insert other candidate's name]. It's only the fact that you yourself are so prejudiced in favour of [insert other candidate's name - again] that blinds you to this fact.
I, on the other hand, remain objective and impartial.
Go [insert candidate name] '08!
;-)
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As is my custom on Saturdays, a link to my favourite financial columnist
And, as is my custom, if anyone can't get the link to work, let me know, and I'll archive a copy...Peace and acerbic wit
ed
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# 313 Parrisia
Arnie seems to be getting a little confused. Only a week or so ago we were reading that he would like to serve in an Obama Cabinet.
God only knows what service he had in mind.
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Re 307
Regardless of the inordinate amount of trivia that is being bandied about, I think most people really ARE aware what this election is about, and there is clear blue water between the candidates on many positions.
Obama wants to increase the taxes of a few to reduce the taxes of the majority.
McCain wants to reduce the taxes of the few.
Obama wants to restore America's integrity with the world and explore diplomatic solutions with problem states.
McCain is maintaining a hawkish stance on Iran and Iraq.
Obama wants to get out of Iraq and to do the job in Afghanistan properly.
McCain doesn't want to leave Iraq until, in his opinion, the job is done.
Obama wants to develop alternative energy sources to encourage energy independence.
McCain wants to drill wherever possible, and invest in nuclear power.
There are also differences in their positions on healthcare, education and numerous other issues I probably don't understand as well as the average American voter.
This election matters. It has nothing to do with protecting democracy, saving the Constitution or preventing world war III, but both candidates claim to be taking the country in the opposite direction from GW Bush and making America a better place, but they have different ideas of the definition of "better." Do you want an America where the emphasis is on social justice and equality or one where the emphasis is on individual responsibility and rewards?
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Ronald Reagan endorses Obama
Peace and surprises
ed
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318. Ed Iglehart quotes:
" If, he calculates, savings were to get back to the normal postwar level of about 8%, it would cause a contraction in yearly consumption of something in the neighborhood of $700 billion."
What an interesting figure. Reminds me of something . . .
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321 Ed Iglehart wrote:
Ronald Reagan endorses Obama
I thought nothing could surprise me about claims made in this election any more.
For a moment there . . .
So I can put the Ouija board away then?
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I think someone noted that Obama's 30 minute "infomercial" featured some folk who were, to be politic, carrying a wee bit of extra flesh, but what about this?
On further thought, it may be that both Obama and McChip are reacting against the perceived "elitist" image of slim, fit and healthy folk...., and trying to plump for the "cuddly" vote.
Peace and puddings
ed
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Brit,
I'm surprised you didn't notice that Alan Abelson is also paying attention to the habits of the family Sciuridae.
Do we have any literature we might send him? Or perhaps a robocall?
Peace and providence
ed
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How presumptuous to dub this election 'the greatest political show on earth' . Its only in your opinion. I think the Brits are obsessed with America. I can tell you this much: Americans are not even half as interested with the UK as we are with them.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
# 324
Of the two sets of picture options offered in this post, I endorse the second.
Its a cold, miserable, rainy November day in this neck of the woods and pics of Obama in the surf did me a power of good.
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# 325 ~ Alan Abelson and the Sciuridae genus :
Go on you two. E-mail him and tell him he's talking nuts.
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ref #307
I disagree with some of your anaylisis
StephenDerry wrote:
Re 307
Regardless of the inordinate amount of trivia that is being bandied about, I think most people really ARE aware what this election is about, and there is clear blue water between the candidates on many positions.
Obama wants to increase the taxes of a few to reduce the taxes of the majority.
McCain wants to reduce the taxes of the few.
(McCain wants tax breaks in several areas that help all of us who work or invest. Obama want to give a tax break to the middle class but a hand out to the 40% who don't pay federal income tax)
Obama wants to restore America's integrity with the world and explore diplomatic solutions with problem states.
McCain is maintaining a hawkish stance on Iran and Iraq.
(Obama want to subscribe to a George Soros philosophy of a world govr run by the U.N, McCain believes that America is still the moral leader in the world)
Obama wants to get out of Iraq and to do the job in Afghanistan properly.
McCain doesn't want to leave Iraq until, in his opinion, the job is done.
(Obama wants to run out of Iraq, McCain see the fallacy of cut and run)
Obama wants to develop alternative energy sources to encourage energy independence.
McCain wants to drill wherever possible, and invest in nuclear power.
(McCain subscribes to the T Boone Pickens philosophy everrything on the table.)
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#316 R-Snail:
"Obama has it all well and truly wrapped up.
Now let's show the Repubs that they are marginallized.
If you live in a state where Obama has a double digit lead...
Cast your vote for Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party.
If Cynthia gets more that 10% of the vote then the Green Party must be on the ballot in all 50 states for the next election.
The Green Party is no longer the alternative, it is the imperative."
I believe that's the kind of logic that led so many peopel to vote Nader in 2000, and look at the results. In the name of sending a message about the environment and restraining big business they helped put an oil man in the Whitehouse. If you want to do something for the environment bombard Obama with letters and emails after 4th November, on the 4th vote Obama or brace yourself for the Bush presidency MkII.
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Yo Kirin
I understand you analyse everything in the sense that Obama is always wrong and McCain is always right, but I would like some more detail on your assertion about the tax plan.
Obama's tax plan is clear, you pay less income tax than you do currently if you earn less than $250,000 per year. Surely that doesn't affect people (you say 40%, I've no idea but that seems remarkably high) who pay no income tax anyway?
Care to explain in a bit more detail?
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#320 StephenDerry:
"Do you want an America where the emphasis is on social justice and equality or one where the emphasis is on individual responsibility and rewards?"
Well surely the answer is that you need a balance between the two? The last eight years seem to have seen the scales tip overwhelmingly towards rewarding a very small group of individuals.
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Jeez! All of my eloquent posts have been pulled.
All that is left is waffling about nuts from people who sound like Hugh Grant.
I gotta tell you about the reason I support Sarah Palin.
She's a hot, out-doorsey chick. I look at those pictures of her in Alaska, holding a 20lb sock eye salmon and I just want to shout, "I love you Sarah! - Lets have some down syndrome sprogs together!"
I think that says it all....
McCain Palin 08!
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McCain says that every time he's in the presence of Sarah Palin he's "uplifted"...
I wonder what Sindy has to say about that
Peace and Pfizer
ed
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Some while ago OldSouth trotted out the yellowcake story. The stuff in question was not recently brought into Iraq, it was there about a decade ago and had then been sealed up in barrels.
As for Bush and Blair being proved right, well as I'm British I'll just speak for the Brits. When Blair and Co were justifying the invasion, they didn't say "Hey, folks, Saddam has some chemicals which could be processed to make weapons." They said there were actual weapons which could be deployed in 45 minutes. So even if the OldSouth version of the yellowcake story were true, Blair still lied.
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To the Democrats at this thread:
You need to join with others in the Dem Party who are trying to take your Party back. Those on the outer fringe kook left have taken over your party completely and no longer represent those who admire John Kennedy, who has more in common with McCain. McCain is a 1960s Democrat.
Kennedy lowered capital gains taxes. He lowered a lot of taxes. He was like Ronald Reagan, too. Go study Kennedy at Heritage dot org. Kennedy and Obama are on opposite sides of the ideological fence; and Kennedy is on my side...I have never in my life voted to increase any one's taxes, rich or poor, because I love my neighbor.
Ideological fence:
on the far right are Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin...they believe in limitations set on government with a Constitutional Republic. On the far left is totalitarianism (dictators, communism, democracy...). Where you are on the line depends on how much state power over your life that you will tolerate. Most Americans are center Right, exactly where McCain and Kennedy are.
Realize that a secondary event has happened in the USA. The elites have already aligned with the "New United Socialist States of America." They have abandoned us, the little guys, because in a totalitarian regime, big business and the wealthy will always survive in any regime. It is us--small business owners, working people--who will suffer. To get a clue what they think of working people, look what they did to Joe the Plumber; he is a private citizen and the Obama camp used government computers and abused Obama's senatorial power to destroy him for merely asking a question that exposed Obama's socialism. Joe is a private citizen not running for anything--he can't raise taxes, can't send out the national guard.... Look what happens to journalists who do not parrot the uniformity of thought: Three newspapers kicked off the O plane and two local news stations blackballed (for merely asking journalistic q's). American presidents who uphold the Constitution do not do such things. They TAKE criticism and uphold the Bill of Rights (Free speech, Free press...) The press has a right to ask questions because the people have a right to ask questions. Come to your senses...this is beyond party...this is country...our loyalty is to each other when we say loyalty to country--and our loyalty is not for centralized, concentrated power invested in the federal government in Washington. It's to the guy who runs a vacuum cleaning shop in town, etc...You owe We the People your loyalty...and you will owe us and be accountable if you sell out our freedom.
You will also be responsible for maintaining ZERO American civilians killed since 9/11, which our enemies and allies all know Obama will blunder.
The American people will always do the right thing IF they have the information. Hopefully, they heard these "slip ups" from O that reveal his true intention; these are little cracks when, for a moment, he tells the truth, and it is chilling. He doesn't speak freedom; he speaks totalitarian. The MSM has been complicit in keeping you uninformed. You have to take your fellow citizens word for it when they plead with you, as I am, to use your compass in your spirit to discern truth and act on it.
You know the truth. You know freedom from totalitarian rhetoric and actions.
Presidents do not complain on radio shows about the limitations on the US courts for "redistributive change." They don't stifle debate and information. They don't call for Civilian National Security Forces. They don't attend racist liberation theology churches for twenty years. They don't remove the US flag from their planes. They don't sit on boards with unrepentant terrorists. They don't call for the "transformation of fundamentals" in the USA because the fundamentals are the Constitution and Bill of Rights. They don't build platforms in imitation of Greek temples. They don't call taxpayers "selfish," or paying taxes "patriotic." They don't require journalists to repeat only The Party narrative. They don't destroy the reputations of private citizens like Joe, who can't hurt anybody---Joe will forever be an emblem for all future private citizens who suffer under totalitarianism IF O is elected.
Come to your senses. Remember who you are. A great cloud of witnesses including our Founders are watching from Heaven. They are not going to return and fight for your freedom again. It is your job to maintain what they gave you. It is your turn to die to self for the sake of future generations. You do not want to be the generation that overthrows the Revolutionary War, (which is what this election is really about), and you do not want to have the Revolutionary patriots's characteristics contrasted against yours as the reasons you sold out on the Bill of Rights:
Dependent vs Independent; Government-made vs Self-Made; Lazy vs Hardworking; Ungodly vs godly; Selfish vs Sacrificial; Coward vs Bold; Immature vs Mature; Uniform vs Individual; Sheep vs Leader; Government-controlled vs Self-controlled; Blind vs Visionary; Prideful vs Humble; Willfully ignorant vs Informed; Trust Government vs Distrustful of Government; Irresponsible vs Dutiful;
Do your job.
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#11 Most Americans who work, work for small businesses, or own them. This gives them great pause as they reflect on the long laundry list of promises he keeps making.
In the past few days I've seen more questions about people with your conception about wealth than I can count. The questions usually run like this:
"Why would any American who works, works for a small business, or owns one, who nets $200,000 per year or less, vote against his own tax interest by voting for McCain?"
I've tried listing what I believe is the main problem: That these Americans identify with the wealthy more than they identify with their own income group because of the lure of the "American Dream."
I also strongly suspect that part of it comes from a fear that's been nurtured from the RNC that the $200,000 involved is somehow GROSS earnings, and not NET, which is what is ALWAYS the bottom line on an income tax form.
But since you are one of these people, and I am not, could you please clear up the reasoning, please?
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StephenDerry, the question is, what is the magic number? For quite some time Obama was consistent on $250,000. A week ago he was talking about 200,000. A few days ago Biden said that is would be 150,000. Now Richardson is saying that Obama will set it at 120,000.
Change you can believe in!
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I am amused at the thought of a Certain Person coming to this country because David Cameron's policies would appeal to her more than Obama's. She would in fact find out that he is much further to the Left than is Obama.
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#11 Where will the spending end?
What happens to our freedoms?
What happens to our lives if we ask the wrong question at an inopportune moment?
I fail to see how one leads to the cause of the other. Somehow you have made some great leap of illogic from "spending" to having freedom curtailed. The only connection between the two is that they are both things you are clearly afraid of. Otherwise, one has nothing to do with the other.
However, if you would like to talk about having freedom curtailed, may I bring up the Republican PATRIOT ACT and loss of WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS for the prisoners at Gitmo?
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Stephen
40% is actually not too far off for those who have filed a tax return, of course he doesn't quantify it with adding that most of these people don't earn enough to actually qualify for paying income tax once their deductions are taken into account.
It just goes to prove Obamas point about taxing the super rich 5% not people who can't afford it.
Not like him to let inconvinient facts get into the way of a sensationalist statement.
Oh and Majic "McCain believes that America is still the moral leader in the world"
He's about the only one, the rest of us see your government, and unfortunatly, as an extension, your country as a bully, greedy, dumb and guilty of war crimes.
That's what Bush's foreign policy has done for America. Thats what Obama has spoken about addressing.
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#283 british-ish
"I'm not rewriting any more posts."
Sorry if this is old news, but there's no need to retype. Click your browser back button, and your original text is still hibernating there.
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#337 Jcputn5349
"To the Democrats at this thread:
You need to join with others in the Dem Party who are trying to take your Party back. Those on the outer fringe kook left have taken over your party completely and no longer represent those who admire John Kennedy, who has more in common with McCain. McCain is a 1960s Democrat."
this is truly pathetic, an admission that McCain can't win so he wants the Democrats to throw it way. Yeah Obama is a Marxist, Black Liberation fanatic, that's why all those nice Republican's have lined up to endorse him. Reading your posts doesn't even make me angry now, its just plain sad that you can't handle the notion of a black man in the Whitehouse.
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#337 - You know freedom from totalitarian rhetoric and actions.
Yes, I certainly do. And I have to say that the most frightening point in my life, from a political standpoint, was the time just prior to the 2006 elections, when the Republican president and Republican-controlled Congress removed the writ of habeas corpus from the prisoners at Gitmo, citing that they, as a group, were not deserving of it.
Even if I could agree that every one of them was a terrorist (which I can't), it would not have frightened me less. What can be justified for one group can be justified for another. And then another and another. It's the slippery slope.
I have no CLUE how you can somehow rationalize loss of freedom from anything Obama has said, no matter how abysmally you choose to interpret it. The only way you could come to such a conclusion is to define words according to meanings they never had. Obama is far from a socialist, but EVEN IF HE WAS, so what? Socialism is NOT communism, although rabid Republicans seem to think they are two words that mean the same thing.
People seem to have run away with their own fears this election, turning one into another and into another, all without rational thought. It's just sad that so much fear has been encouraged in order to generate votes. It makes Karl Rove seem like Peter Pan.
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I've been reading your blog for a while now and I only have one thing to say: you are wasting your time with the BBC, you are definitely a CNN material!
And that is not a compliment...
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http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgz5J
damn that man is running a smart campaign. Quality video turning McCains negative campaigning against him.
Must see.
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# 335 McCain's "uplift"
I think he's telling porkies anyway and Cindy knows it.
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ref #332
First we keep hearing the amunt is changing
Biden said $150K and Richardson said $125
Everyone is the U.S over 18 is required to file a tax return. 40% of those pay no federal income tax. They will still get money from the Obama plan; that is why I define it is a handout.
It's certanatly not a tax break.
In McCain's plan I would also get a tax break, I would also get a cut on my capital gain taxes and I couple aplly his $5K health insurance tax break to my entirely self paid health insurance.
So although I do get a tax break under Obama overall I would get greater benefit from McCain.
In response it seems you are Obama is always right McCain is always wrong
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Here is an example of civil liberties that would be in danger from an Obama Presidency
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/10/31/new-report-ohio-employee-was-ordered-to-snoop-on-joe-the-plumber/
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The thing about negative campaigning that is so useful is that what each side says about the other is usually largely true. I have concluded that neither Obama nor McCain is even close to being qualified to serve as President of the United States for different reasons. Therefore this Tuesday, I will vote NO. I don't endorse either of them. IMO, whichever one wins, the US will be in for some very hard times ahead which will be made even worse by the shortcomings of the next President. America has survived a lot of misfortune in the past, will it survive this too? I'm not so sure this time but I think we've faced worse. The difference is at those times we had Presidents who were leaders. Here we have two incompetents at least one of which is a liar and the other seemingly clueless. Which is which? Does it matter?
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Masking the truth?
Peace and incognitanceed
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America's future is in our own hands
Hal Lindsey
As a "Watchman on the Wall," I believe Election 2008 will permanently determine the future path America will take. I fear that most Americans do not understand the true issues they are voting on.
Among other things, this election may determine whether the government will be empowered to forcefully take money earned by some Americans and redistribute it as it chooses to others.
As I have taught before for 50 years, there are certain divine institutions God set forth in the Bible. They are intended for the good and welfare of all mankind. To whatever degree a people honors these institutions, they will be blessed, preserved and prospered.
First, the institutions of freedom to choose one's own destiny and the "sanctity of life"-- these were enshrined in the U.S. Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
We are given by God, not our government, the freedom to choose our own destiny and to pursue a career that brings prosperity and happiness. Our forefathers knew only too well that a government that is powerful enough to confiscate and redistribute wealth is also strong enough to take away your freedom to choose and pursue happiness.
Thomas Jefferson clearly warned us about this: "Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have."
In this election, we are making a choice -- either continue to pursue our own destiny and well-being, or give the government the power to establish a "welfare state" in which it slowly takes over our basic freedoms.
James Madison, considered the father of our Constitution, wrote, "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
Samuel Adams also spoke along these lines, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. ... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
As you prepare to vote, remember what made this country great and what has kept God's protection over her.
[...]
Some [Obama in a radio address in 2001] call ours a "negative constitution" since its authors devoted more effort to "limiting government" than they did to "empowering" it. The Bible does not teach that governments should have the authority to seize the fruits of one's labor and give it to others. It encourages us in every way to voluntarily give to the poor and give them a hand up, not a hand out.
The great patriot Patrick Henry warned of this when he said, "Now what liberty can there be where property is taken away without consent?"
[...]
You owe it to God and our forefathers who sacrificed to give us this freedom to VOTE. God can only use your vote if you cast your vote. Take the time to study a sample ballot and weigh the issues against biblical principles [before you go to the poll.] Weigh the character of the candidates. Heed the exhortations of the godly Founding Fathers of our great country.
Patrick Henry wisely said. "Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom." Godly morality is important.
Thomas Jefferson also advised, "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of the laborer the bread he has earned. This is the sum of good government. ..."
Government must not be put in the place of God. At best, it is created to enable each citizen to pursue his or her own destiny. By all means, pray for God's guidance and vote your conscience.
[...]
May God bless America.
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Geomapgir,
Like Humpty Dumpty?, "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "It means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."Peace in Wonderland
ed
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Obama's aunt living in Boston illegally....
Oh the shame!
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/01/obama.aunt.ap/index.html
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Magic wrote # 330 in response to Stephen Derry (307) and each of the policies Magic propounds are but an extension of the last eight years.
That's (a) lazy (b) defeatist and (c) got us where we are today.
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#52 - Oh great, the thread barely gets going and the nut bars are out in force already, no doubt we will soone be treated to another rehash of the birth certificate, or maybe tonight its back to ACORN, or another replay for marxism? My only hope is that if Obama wins they'll all spontaneously combust...
Not a chance. My only hope is that they simply continue to complain here because if they're sitting at the computer at home paying attention to this or another blog, they won't be out in force trying to ACTIVELY be obstructionists.
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JC,
He also said,Hmmmmm
Peace and neighbourhood
ed
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#337 - Dependent vs Independent; Government-made vs Self-Made; Lazy vs Hardworking; Ungodly vs godly; Selfish vs Sacrificial; Coward vs Bold; Immature vs Mature; Uniform vs Individual; Sheep vs Leader; Government-controlled vs Self-controlled; Blind vs Visionary; Prideful vs Humble; Willfully ignorant vs Informed; Trust Government vs Distrustful of Government; Irresponsible vs Dutiful;
Your post isn't going to convince anyone that doesn't already agree with you because you flat cannot convince people by calling them names, which is what you have done here.
I AM independent, I am self-made, I am hardworking, I believe in God, I am not selfish, cowardly, immature, irresponsible, or any of the other insults you have so nastily hurled at me. And until the Republicans get their act together and stop browbeating everyone who disagrees with them, this former Independent is a Democrat!
You want to talk about curtailing freedom? How about the party that insinuates half of the country is un-American? What message is that sending? That if I don't fall into lock-step with the Republicans they will arrest me for treason as soon as they are back in power? THAT'S something to be fearful of, not stuff you made up to browbeat us.
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# 337 Putin writes that "Kennedy and Obama are different sides of the ideological fence"
Remember when Teddy Kennedy was one of the first to endorse Obama in ringing tones ? Remember Caroline, his only living child at the covention ? Remember how he entrusted Caroline with the vetting of his VP choices ?
If they are ideologically so far apart, I do not think that Obama would have the wholehearted endorsement of the Kennedy family (including Arnie's wife) to carry his mantle.
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#350 - Here is an example of civil liberties that would be in danger from an Obama Presidency.
Find me an example from an unbiased source. Michelle Malkin is in bed with McCain. She would print any bad thing anyone tells her about Obama; it wouldn't have to be true.
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#354 Ed - "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "It means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
Ha ha ha! Exactly. And with about the same amount of brains, too.
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Jc if Obama wins will it be because people heard your plea and voted with their conscience in front of god?
Will this somehow damage your faith?
Or is it likely that if people vote for Obama and he wins you will no doubt be here spoutinghow people didn't do what god wanted.
If Obama wins it will be gods will as god is all powerfull right? It would be what god wants.
You are the worst kind of hipocrite. there have been people on this blog "speaking" for the right, for the blacks, for electrical engineers for democrats. You have been the only one with the audacity to speak for god. You can't possibly know what god wants, you wrap your lies and your hate in gods words and impose it on other people.
Two quotes, from the bible no less
"Deuteronomy 18:21-22 (NIV, courtesy of Biblegateway.com):
You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
Lamentations 2:14:
The visions of your prophets
were false and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.
The oracles they gave you
were false and misleading."
and another
""Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits." That one came direct from jesus.
You my friend are a false prophet.
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Okkkaaaayyyyy . . . one more time --
Why do it?
Why not? A lot of people gave a lot of money to his campaign, so, why not spend it on what counts -- TV ads?
Seems pretty practical, to me. It's better than blowing it on a Loius Vitton handbag for Palin's daughter -- that's fersure!
Besides, McCain's more vulnerable in AZ than the talking heads would admit -- at least, that's what I hear from folks who live there, or used to.
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Everyone is the U.S over 18 is required to file a tax return.
Absolutely not true. We are only "required" to file a tax return if we owe taxes. In fact, if you have overpaid your taxes and are due a refund, you have the option of not filing if you don't care if the government pockets the extra money.
Somehow, the phrase "spreading the weath around" has come to mean giving all the money to welfare leeches. In fact, "spreading the wealth around" is what is done with ALL tax money - it's spread around the federal agencies and used for things like infrastructure, defense, farming and other business subsidies, etc. Welfare actually makes up a very small part of the U.S. budget. However, the welfare leeches are the part of the budget that is universally hated (except by the leeches themselves), so an opposition candidate will naturally focus attention on that to stir up his supporters.
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353. At 3:07pm on 01 Nov 2008, jcputn5349 wrote:
"First, the institutions of freedom to choose
one's own destiny and the "sanctity of life".....
Now you should be more careful as to write "sanctity of human life" other wise you probably may end up sounding other animals are not alive, which by the way can be tortued for pleasure without guilt.
My bad, that's wrong again, not even human life because a decision based on rigged intelligence has lead to more than half a million deaths. So your final statement probably should read "sanctity of human life that belongs to my tribe"
Also in your statement what if the freedom to choose is in conflict with "sanctity of life"?, which one prevails?
"As you prepare to vote, remember what made this country great and what has kept God's protection over her."....
Now if I remember right, the nation was founded on the decimation of the natives. Correct me if I am wrong.
One more point, Thomas Jefferson also kept slaves. So which of his actions are right and why?
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~ 351 ~ Like a great black condor Marcus swoops onto our earthly screens, spreads doom and gloom and, mercifully, sweeps off again.
Maybe next time, we will be able to vote for the Marcus Party (It's Being So Miserable That Keeps Me Going - The Total Negativity Party)
It will have to be a global movement because Marcus undoubtedly has a negative view of the world as a whole.
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JC,
You did know, didn't you, that this is the text for Jeremiah Wright's sermon from which the "G-D America" selective clip is taken.....but you don't want to know that, do you?Peace and open minds
ed
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325. Iglehart wrote:
"Brit,
I'm surprised you didn't notice that Alan Abelson is also paying attention to the habits of the family Sciuridae.
Do we have any literature we might send him? Or perhaps a robocall?"
I did spot it; nice to see the word is spreading; thought I paid a passing tribute somewhere, but then certain humans (or aliens, anyway) unfriendly to the "Reds" (could they be Fox Squirrels?) turned up, so I left.
(I mean, I just found myself trying to work out on which day God created government, but then I realised I must be going nuts instead of storing them.
So back to hibernation now until Justin posts something new.)
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"You will also be responsible for maintaining ZERO American civilians killed since 9/11"
What about those killed by poverty, gun violence and lack of access to healthcare? Or do only military deaths count?
Good use of the word civilian though, sweeps away the thousands kiled in an unjust and illegal war.
Good christian attitude.
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R.J. Godlewski
As once stated, I am not a racist. I hate everyone equally. ;o) However, I have found many people questioning this simply because I refuse to vote for Barack Obama. This is completely asinine. It is not my fault that he is black -- a person's race must never be considered for anything -- but it IS his fault that I do not like him. His actions speak far louder -- and more truthful -- than his mere words. His methodical calls for "change" do not suggest an improvement for the future, the inspiration of Americanization, or even the jumpstarting of capitalism. No, his intention is for change:
Change (chaynj) v. 1. To alter; make or become different; vary. 2. To substitute. 3. To exchange.
However, the question must be asked, do you really want to alter, differentiate, substitute, or exchange America, as we know it? I doubt very much that you do. If anything, you have been preached to that the last eight years of the infamous Bush Administration is behind your need for "change" even though many other administrations in U.S. history presented their citizens with actions no less intolerable than our current example. Yet, none of our ancestors preached change as much as Senator Obama does. What could he be hiding within his platform? Why is his vision for a "better" America so secretive? Most importantly, the question needs to be addressed, if his "hope" for a better and brighter future is so damn good then why must he resort to intimidation, deceit, fraud, and the silencing of his opponents in order to achieve it?
I bolted from membership in the Democratic Party when Bill Clinton became the favorite but, damn, even Slick Willy never resorted to what this character has been guilty of. Furthermore, Bill Clinton served as governor for a number of years and, hence, there goes that fundamental rule again, held executive experience. [...] And what, might you ask, has [Obama] done (or will do) that deserves such an uncivilized characterization? Glad that you asked.
There is a red glow upon our horizon; a fire line that bodes of destruction and chaos. It is a Red Holocaust unlike anything the world has seen or will ever see again but in true Biblical fashion, many of us may not even know of its existence or its arrival until it is far too late. Some of the characteristic signs that I, and many others like me, see are:
Pro-Abortion
Barack Obama is perhaps the most abortion-friendly candidate to run for President of the United States. His desire to see little babies suffocate to death just because an act to save their lives may have had questionable political attachments is absurd. None of us would pass a stricken soul on the street just because they did not have insurance or any other legislated document so why would Obama come up with an excuse to ignore any child born alive?
Anti-Military
The would-be commander-in-chief of our nation's military has never, ever worn a uniform, voted to deny our forces in combat their hard-earned pay, funds for their resources, and desires for them to return home in defeat. That's not being a commander. That's not being a chief. That's merely being "in" with the liberal left who wish to see America denigrated in full view of the world. There's a word for that in the dictionary:
Treason (tree-z'n) n. 1. Sedition. 2. Treachery; betrayal.
Pro-Iranian
I don't even know where to begin with this one. For the past couple of months my class project (yep, I've returned to serious study after twenty-seven years!) has been an in-depth study of the Iran-Israel conflict and the six-inch thick (I've measured it) stack of documents next to me presents a dire view of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the ruling clerics in Tehran. Who, in their right mind, may I ask, would like to sit down across the table from Ahmadinejad and discuss anything? Barack Obama, that's who. Senator Obama wants to sit down all nice and cozy with one of the world's foremost lunatics and make play. Ahmadinejad does not want Twinkies; he wants nukes!
Anti-Israel
[...]
The point is that I know enough about my friends to care about who they are. I care about their heritage, their families, their livelihoods and, yes, by all means, their safety. This has nothing to do with Middle East politics, it's all about knowing that some maniacal monster in Iran desires to vaporize seven million people in a single flash. That's one million more than the Holocaust. I doubt very much that I'll ever be invited to Iran (unless there is a profound political change over there) but I have been invited in the past to visit Israel, even purchase some real estate there. I'd like that. I like the historical and cultural significance of the land. I just would not want to come back to my beloved United States glowing like a damn bug lamp.
Anti-Gun
Barack Obama's rating from the National Rifle Association ranks in the cellar. The sewer beneath the cellar, to be more precise. That's regarding a fundamental right of all Americans that ranks second only to free speech within the Bill of Rights. He is against handgun ownership (recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court as America's protection of choice), against hunting, and desires to prosecute Americans who defend their own lives. His supporters quip that he can't change such Constitutional protections -- but with a mandate in Congress, he can do as he pleases.
Anti-Religion
Let's face it, we're "One Nation under God." We have always been. There is no need to debate that fact; one only needs to tour our national monuments to discover this reality. Perhaps a tour of Arlington National Cemetery would defeat any naysayers. Regardless, Barack Obama does not profess to any religion of truth, faith, and justice. For twenty years, a hateful, anti-American preacher has indoctrinated him. That's during his adulthood. During his childhood, he had been dragged around one Muslim country after another. Any person, in my opinion, who does not believe in God should not run the "One Nation" under that deity. But that's just my opinion.
Untrustworthiness
I would like to hear from any federal employee with a Top Secret government clearance who has as tarnished a background as does the junior senator from Illinois. For the rest of you, I will "enlighten" you to the process. First, you, Joe the Fed, have to fill out documents relating to all of your acquaintances, travels, jobs, periods of unemployment, and residences (but only back to your eighteenth birthday). Then you have to go through a polygraph examination, a psychological examination, and, I did, a medical examination where they poke, prod, and pinch every square inch of your body. Next, comes the challenging part. The background investigators (in my experience, from the Department of Defense) then canvas your neighborhood, your places of employment and education and talk to everyone who knows of you. If you are a typical "new hire" this may take upwards of 12-18 months to complete. When they receive all of the data back from the people that knew you (or thought that they knew you and you them), then they bring you down into the local federal office and grill you over any discrepancies they may have found. If you have had any kind of "colorful" life, you may find yourself defending your thoughts and actions against a stack of sworn (but perhaps not honest) testimony a foot and a half thick. Now, I ask you in complete honesty, how the hell could someone with Barack Obama's tainted background gain the kind of security clearance needed by the President of the United States? Remember the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! when the character played by E.G. Marshall lamented over the removal of FDR from the "cleared" list just before Pearl Harbor was attacked simply because someone in the President's office left classified documents in the trash? What if our very president was the security breech?
Joe the Autoworker
I don't want to talk about Joe the Plumber. I want to talk about Joe the Autoworker, my late father. For decades, my dad worked his way through horribly brutal factories (not the air-conditioned "laboratory" manifestations of today). As a child, I toured these factories during the local family get-togethers and, let me tell you, an old foundry is filthy, loud, and very hot. The most that my dad ever made -- when he retired -- was 9 dollars an hour. When I was born, he was involved in a Hi-Lo (forklift) accident that tore off his heel. It happened because at the time, his workplace was horribly unkempt and dangerous. You would think that after a lifetime of paying union dues, working for the likes of Jimmy Hoffa (who once personally bailed my father out of jail when he was wrongfully arrested for what they considered to be an "illegal" strike), and voting both pro-union and pro-Democratic, they would have done more to help him. No, they didn't. The people today employed in what would be considered the closest semblance to his old position -- the unions drove most of the old factories out of business -- now make about fifty dollars an hour. My dad switched to voting for Republicans when Clinton got the nod, but still today, they swamp my mother daily with pro-Obama/anti-McCain literature paid for, in part, by his dues. Is this how unions work? "You pay us so that we can tell you how to vote"? Now they want open ballots. Puh-leaze.
The Media
Free speech has gone out through the window in this nation. While Princess Obama pays for a twenty-four-hour DISH Network channel and shells out Six Million to buy air time on the major networks, his cronies attack dissenters through the Internet and in person. They yank anti-Obama opinions off the Web, manhandle the press into supporting him unchallenged, and should I, for example, say anything hostile towards their candidate, one of their staffers will digitally manifest into several "different" opponents and hound me as if I were the Antichrist. What they don't know is that everything through the Internet can be traced, contrary to Hollywood movies and television shows. The actions of Barack Obama and his "campaign" people bring to mind only two words: [A famous mean Socialist]. If you have proof that everything that [this Evil Leader] stood for isn't being repeated in some manner by Senator Obama. I'm all ears. Don't wait for the translation, tell me now!
Yes, we face a looming disaster ahead. The world is awash in chaos and the nuclear club is rapidly growing. A mere "charitable organizer" will not be able to stop it. Neither will his buffoonish sidekick. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, its former Muslim nations found themselves possessing 2,730 nuclear weapons of which about 1,330 represented the tactical variety. Not all of them have been accounted for. In the old Soviet system, there were grave consequences for failure in production, so many institutions simply falsified their uranium, plutonium, and weapon devices production records. We have no way of knowing...
Add to this North Korea, Iran's ambitions, the once-destroyed-now-apparently-rebuilt Syrian nuclear facility and what we are left with is a powder keg ready to be touched off. Enter a kid with no practical experience. Perhaps this is what Joe Biden warned everyone about. In case you have not noticed, we are engaged in a culture-shattering war with radical Islamists who have attacked the United States non-stop since 1979. Twice they attacked us in New York (1993 and 2001). They will not stop and if Barack Obama believes that he can sit down and have a chat with them, well, let's just say that you can't have tea and crumpets with people who behead their adversaries for entertainment. The Red Holocaust rising upon the horizon will affect us all. Now is most definitely not the time to treat the untested as some noble knight riding in on an immaculate stallion. This Crusade is being played for keeps.
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Justin,
my problem from the UK is that I really do not understand is what is the Obama position in respect of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey. I include Turkey because of the incursions into Norther Iraq.
Will Obama say that there must be no more incursions into foreign territory outside of the direct war zones, namely Iraq and Afganistan. The situation is very dangerous for all the parties. What will Obama do. What is he telling the
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Yo Kirin,
Obama's campaign website is sticking with $250,000, and that's the figure he has used throughout the campaign, because only 5% of the population earn more than that. Perhaps you misheard.
I suppose it is possible that he could keep his promise by dropping the figure to $125,000 or $100,000, perhaps they are factoring in the speed your economy has been collapsing under the Republicans - if everyone's income is crashing, the threshold can drop drastically yet still protect 95% of families - that is the important principle, it's not an arbitrary figure.
I still don't understand how tax relief for people who pay taxes becomes a handout for people who don't. If you don't pay tax, you don't have anything to be relieved from, if you pay 0% then any cut in the tax rate is irrelevant. You are unaffected by Obama's tax plan.
Perhaps you are thinking of another Obama policy unrelated to taxes when you say "they still get money from the Obama plan." You're either mistaken or lying. The Obama tax plan says no such thing. It's on his website, read it.
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349. At 2:55pm on 01 Nov 2008, MagicKirin wrote:
ref #332
First we keep hearing the amunt is changing
Biden said $150K and Richardson said $125
Everyone is the U.S over 18 is required to file a tax return. 40% of those pay no federal income tax. They will still get money from the Obama plan; that is why I define it is a handout.
It's certanatly not a tax break.
In McCain's plan I would also get a tax break, I would also get a cut on my capital gain taxes and I couple aplly his $5K health insurance tax break to my entirely self paid health insurance.
So although I do get a tax break under Obama overall I would get greater benefit from McCain.
In response it seems you are Obama is always right McCain is always wrong
-----------
On the other hand I would pay lot less under Obama. http://www.freep.com/article/20081028/MULTI/810280385
So I guess its just a matter of personal interest rather than right or wrong. I do not need to worry too much about debt because historically repubs are more likely to increase debt while dems are likely to reduce it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
Now lets see who's arguing based on evidence. Also why would I want taxpayers money to fund $10 bill/ month for Iraqi freedom/democracy? Its just common sense to keep money in the country rather than "spread the wealth" around the world.
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JC referred to his being a "Watchman on the Wall" and I hadn't a clue what that was, so I googled it.
I'd like to refer others (ed and everyoneiscrazy specifically) to the fifth line of the fifth paragraph of the Watchman on the Wall webpage.
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By the way for the religious right here, the Bible says
"Let not the wife depart from her husband...let not the husband put away his wife" (1 Corinthians 7:10-11), but he also includes the Pauline privilege, which is
To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband ... and that the husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest I say, not the Lord, ... But if the unbelieving partner desires to separate, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. For God has called us to peace. (1 Corinthians 7:10-15, RSV)
Does that mean you should choose Obama over McCain since McCain divorced and she(ex-wife) is still alive? Both Barack and Michelle have not divorced.
I am not saying that your vote should not be based on this but for once its nice to see some consistency from the religious.
If you keep religion away from your arguments for/against a candidate, all my points in this post are void.
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Pennsylvania Sanity Check
Answer? Nine out of ten scenarios....So, time for a desert excursion, and anyway, Pennsylvania's hardly at risk.Peace and a fifty state strategy
ed
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I, like some other friends of mine, have waited until the last moment possible to clearly analyze the situation and pick the person we want as the next POTUS.
We are childhood friends that stayed in touch 13 years after we all graduated high school, primarily through e-mail distribution list and social networks. I have always joked that we can start our own UN, as we represent many different cultures, religious beliefs, social beliefs, various levels of formal education, ect.
This is the one election that we all agree on the choice for POTUS. We came to that decision at different times, and for different reasons, some of us reluctantly.
I watched McCain in 2000, and one of his best interviews was on Comedy Central, where he was Mr Straight Talk. He took punches and threw some back, all in good fun. This was the guy who I could see as POTUS, partly because he was energetic and COULD pull people from all sides of the table to reach a decision one way or another, and partly because the other candidates were lacking.
I was excited when McCain was running again in 2008. When things looked like he was going to go away early on, he pulled an eleventh hour rally and came back strong, riding on the ideals that he had in 2000. Yes, part of the appeal for McCain was that he held a 'rock star' appeal for the slightly conservative person who wants to get the job done, and this guy, now rivaling the age of dinosaurs, still had the best grasp of what was happening in this country both in foreign and domestic affairs.
As the Democratic race was looking toward making history for whichever candidate came out alive, I looked in awe as I thought in the back of my head, "Whoever is going up against McCain is in for the fight of their life." McCain looked to be the person who would take the conservatives, the independents (where I am), and the liberals (if we want to put easy-to-read labels on people's thoughts and ideals).
Then, things changed. A well-rested, easy-going, here's my plan of attack McCain wasn't there anymore. At first, my personal thoughts were that he's just gearing up for the rough road ahead. Then, I saw Sara Palin. Again, I saw Sara Palin. And again, I saw Sara Palin. Then I saw John not talk about his plans, or stay on his path that would be all-inclusive to reach people of all demographics and make this nation stronger. The John McCain that posessed energy and vitality was no more present. The well-rested man seemed to have vanished. The man who had scruples and a sense of honor started using tactics that he said he wouldn't use. The substance of this man kept being washed away. Then I heard this nonsense by way of insinuation that Obama is a Muslim, and therefore a terrorist. After a rally in Tampa, I had the opportunity to hear some of the audience, and the mood of hate and chants of terrorist, Muslim, and then anti-American was being echoed throught the majority of the crowd. Finding an actual intellectual was like finding an oasis in the Sahara. When I spoke and said that Obama is neither terrorist nor Muslim, and is as much an anti-American as myself and my Muslim friend, Ashraf, I was looked at much differently by those who overheard me. I was told that I should leave because I was not welcomed here anymore.
Then, Colin Powell spoke. We all have opinions of this man, and that is for a different blog, but what he said could not be any closer to the absolute truth.
One of my friends attended the Obama rally in Ohio. He supported McCain. He brought questions to the Obama rally that were pro McCain. While he was looked at as a trouble starter, the people there were not looking to beat him down for thinking differently. Part of that was the way he asked the questions, but we still believe it was because the crowd was excited in a different way than what was experienced in Tampa. The people here were excited for a better outlook of America... one that involved everyone. Tampa was definitely an "us vs the un-American".
We all compared notes, policies, checked references (thank you, domestic engineers!), and then compared experiences with how people act and react to the messages of these people, and the party.
Please count 37 votes for Barack Hussein Obama. May the United States of America, as well as the rest of the world, benefit from the positive ideals he represents, and the positive actions he plans to enact.
My personal note: If the John McCain of 2000 and early 2008 was running, AND there was no Palin in the picture, this would have been completely different. Still, as it stands, I would be very surprised if this was a close election, as it would be indicative of a much deeper problem within the US.
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ref #361
So Wikipedia is fine but a nationaly syndicated colmnusts is not?
Did you even read the article or did you see Malkin and reject it.
I will take Malkin over the censors at Wikipedia any day.
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And, let's all spare a moment to pray that a certain dear old lady in Hawaii lives long enough to see her darling grandson triumph.
Insh'allah
ed
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ref #356
Defeatist is:
Running away from Iraq
Putting heads in the sand about the reform needed to save social security
Lazy
Rewarding people who don't work
Giving entitlement jobs (like Michelle Obamas)
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Justin,
I thought that Oliver Stone came up with a very good answer to a question posed to him with regard to whether or not he thought Ameica to be a christian country.
His answer was along the lines of it is not very christian to be involved in three major wars, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is very difficult to argue.
I wonder what answer Obama would give to such a question, has anybody asked.
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eightypercent #367
"It will have to be a global movement because Marcus undoubtedly has a negative view of the world as a whole."
With people like you in it, how could it be otherwise?
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349. At 2:55pm on 01 Nov 2008, MagicKirin wrote:
"Everyone is the U.S over 18 is required to file a tax return."
Not true. Look at Cornell law link below. There are many cases where you can be over 18 and still not required to file.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/26/6012.html
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jcputn
I don't know who Hal Lindsey is, but his reference to a Obama talking about a "negative constitution" is a little misleading; firstly the actual term is "a charter of negative liberties" and uses negative not in the perjorative sense but in the technical sense, that it is a charter that says what a government CANNOT do (negative) rather than what a government MUST do (positive). And secondly, Obama didn't come up with the phrase, I understand he was quoting a Supreme Court judgement.
And in another post, you gave a long list of things Presidents don't do. There's three responses to this.
The first is "Your next one does."
The second is "All those things are either completely trivial to the capability of a President to discharge his office, or misrepresentations of the truth."
The third is, where do we begin with a list of things George Walker Bush and John Sydney McCain have done which Presidents don't do? Torture? Detain without trial? Invade sovereign nations? Lie to the American people to do so? Get arrested for drink driving? Draft dodge? Pal around with murderous dictators? Crash planes? Fund terrorist groups? Use racist terminology on the record? Sing about bombing Iran?
Presidents, actually, do quite a lot of things which you may not like and which may not be wise. Roosevelt lied about his health, Truman ordered the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians, Kennedy slept with famous actresses, Clinton liked the odd cigar, and Nixon... which party did he come from again?
Guess what. After all those hopelessly unqualified lunatics, your country is still standing. America will survive President Obama, possibly even President McCain, however bad it gets.
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I gotta ask all of the severly paranoid people out there that if Obama wins in a years time are you gonna look back on these kind of comments and feem more than a little embarassed?
Or will you be in the woods and the bunkers by then waiting fir the "4 am knock on the door" that will never, ever come.
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At the masked Ball,
Yeah! Right!Peace and Desert Solitaire
ed
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Not so sure if his attempt at dirision will work, read first thing this morning how McCain voters don't even need to vote, its over.
What kind of sad media reporting is that, the only races being played out is not the presidential race. We have highly contested seats in congress, bonds and liquor/road/police issues being on the ballot.
I am finding more wrong with this whole election, not just Obama or McCain, but the strong feeling 'We The People' are being sold a bill of goods. The over the top 'selling and marketing' of the presidential office like it is product to be used to control us.
A marketing tool is being displayed out on how much crap will the people actually believe, how many changes in policies and taxes can be thrown before us where we know less now than in the beginning on where either stand, on all but one or two items.
We know the pro-lifer, we know the pro-deather, we know the Alaskian, the Delaware and the Arizona and the Illinois.
Tax plans have changed and grown, shrank and from high of 250 thousand to the low of 42 thousand will be effected and every one inbetween, beyond and before those ammounts. Big whoop.
The change man Obama has all of the existing and prior cabinet and bankers of yore, including the same foriegn relations committee chairman as his runnnig mate. Change my ass, just change from the same of one party to the same of the other.
Obama people cheery and bright in the streets, to others they look like the buyers of a lemon, but don't know it till the thirty day no exchange period is over.
just words, just speeches
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#337/372 Jcputn5349: Sir, we are all entitled to our opinions, and in my humble opinion you need help! : )
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"You will also be responsible for maintaining ZERO American civilians killed since 9/11"
I though people thought military lives were more valuable. Bin Laden killed 3000 americans and caused losses in billions.
Afghan was a reasonable response, but Laden is still there.
But Iraq war killed more than 3500 american soldiers, and caused losses about a trillion$.
Looks like foolishness kills more of our people and causes more monetary loss than an enemy can.
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JC,
From which legitimate owner, I wonder...Peace and restitution
ed
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Majic, jc, paddy and the rest.
I wil no longer be posting any more due to the quote below.
"I will take Malkin over the censors at Wikipedia any day."
I have just died of shock.
British-ish. "Off the wall" lol
Too bloody right!!
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Continuing my post 390,
Why would people want to continue to spend their tax dollars in a war that is killing more and more american soldiers.
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@320 Steven.
Sure, not disagreeing that the election is critically important and that there are clear divisions between the two men in terms of policy. My point though is that far too many of the people commenting upon the election aren't really engaging facts and policy, they're throwing mud in a partisan manner and pretending that their opinion is the truth. Just take a look at some of the nuttier posts on this page, or go to some of the left or right wing blog sites.
My personal feeling is that the right is probably more guilty of the demagoguery than the left, but both sides have form when it comes to mud-slinging. The problem is that when you lose track of facts and balance, it does just become a tribal contest, which turns off people who don't automatically associate themselves with either group.
Lets do away with the poorly educated loudmouths who are brainwashing the population into believing that their small-minded prejudices are a key part of the American way.
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378 Oden: Have to agree with you that if McCain had stayed true to himself and controlled his campaign, instead of letting the RNC dictate, then thi race would be super- close. Sadly he did'n't, and that is a significant reflection on his character. Whoever one votes for, to give it the time and consideration that you and your friends did can only do the democratic process good.
Peace and good luck to you and your country in these difficult times.
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OdenKnight,
Thanks for that. Well said.
Peace and inclusiveness
ed
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# 378 ~ a thousand thanks to Odenknight for a rational post, based on his and his friends assessment of the campaign and the candidates as they are today.
No religious posturing, no input from the shoutier right-wing-bats - just a progression leading to an analysis of the situation and a decision as to the outcome he wants.
Refreshing and honest.
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388. At 4:17pm on 01 Nov 2008, DougTexan wrote:
"Not so sure if his attempt at dirision will work, read first thing this morning how McCain voters don't even need to vote, its over. "
That is true , election day is still ahead but 60% of votes have been cast already in CO, NV and NM the battlegrounds that Obama need to win and the turn out is hugely democratic.
However McCain can still take PA.
"We know the pro-lifer, we know the pro-deather, "
You mean the pro-life who kills Moose for fun and the pro-deather who votes against a war that killed more than 3500 american soldiers?.
Besides, pro-choice is not same as pro-death. The person who makes the choice to abort can be the "pro-deather", not the person who supports the right to make such a choice.
On this abortion issue it would be nice if we could make them rare and still keep it legal. No point in taking an innocent life, including other animals.
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jcputn5349 #337, 353, 371 -
Too long, too long, too long!
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#349. MagicKirin: "Everyone is the U.S over 18 is required to file a tax return."
Judged by his spelling, grammar and juvenile postings, I can only assume that he is not yet old enough to do so.
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# 383 - thank you Marcus for proving my point.
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388 Doug: have faith in your fellow citizens, and in your country. Whoever is elected, America will be a better place ... It is time for people to stop being so fearful. America is exceptional ... prove it and look forward to a new morning with confidence. : )
PS: am normally quite pessimistic, but there seems to have been such a lot of doom and gloom on this blog I wanted to say something cheery!
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jcputn
I know you are biased, but there is a way to "put a spin" on your favoured candidate that doesn't involve outright lying! A point scored with the truth is worth 1000 points scored by making smears, and an outright lie is worth nothing at all. And you are lying, not just smearing this time.
Obama is NOT pro-abortion. He does not want there to be more abortions than there currently are. He does not want any woman to have to undergo an abortion. He simply believes that women should have the choice. That is why it is called pro-choice, not pro-abortion. You are lying.
Obama is NOT anti-military. Like all reasonable people, he is anti-war but recognises that sometimes war is necessary. He is not proposing that the military be abolished and America left defenceless, and I give you a stone-wall cast-iron guarantee he will not do that in office. You are lying.
Obama is NOT pro-Iranian, nor does he hate the Iranian people. He disagrees with the Iranian government just as much as Bush or McCain do, but he thinks blowing them up or ignoring them isn't a responsible way to resolve disagreements. He is seeking a diplomatic process that will result in a safer world. You are lying.
Obama is NOT anti-Israel. He has stated on numerous occasions that Israel is America's most important friend and ally and will remain so under his administration. However, that does not mean Israel has carte blanche to trample the rights of innocent Palestinians. If my best friend and ally proposed a murder or a burglary, I would not offer him unconditional support just because he was my friend. Obama is not anti-Palestinian or anti-Israel, he is pro-peace. You are lying.
Is Obama anti-gun? I would certainly hope so, however he has stated on the record that he will not impose gun controls that would deprive the people of the mid-west from engaging in their favourite violent sports. The accuracy of your commentary is questionable, but in principle, I think any sensible person would be anti-gun.
Obama is NOT anti-religion. Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last year, you will know he actually attended a certain church for 20 years, he is a Christian, and he believes in the same baloney you do. Anyway, God seems to like him. Saying he is anti-religion is as ridiculous as saying he is a devout Muslim. You are lying.
That's it, in 5 of your first 6 points you are telling outright lies. Why should anyone believe ANYTHING you post?
I would really enjoy it if you tried to deny you are a liar after this...
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#80. Ed Iglehart: "And, let's all spare a moment to pray that a certain dear old lady in Hawaii lives long enough to see her darling grandson triumph."
Let's also hope that the strangely timed 'revelations' about his aunt in Chicago aren't blown out of proportion - in Britain The Times has it as the front page headline. It can't be long before the right-wing zealots pick it up and inflate the issue. Although it's November, this could be the "surprise".
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pkkmres #390
"Why would people want to continue to spend their tax dollars in a war that is killing more and more american soldiers."
Because they believe that they are fighting an enemy who if he wins there will eventually find his way to America and fight here where even more Americans will die. Better to blow up and trash Baghdad and Basra than Boston and Baltimore. Al Qaeda has certainly invested some of its resources in Iraq. Once they are defeated there, the US can leave and let the Iraqis kill each other if that's what they are determined to do. Obama hardly talks much anymore about leaving Iraq. He only wanted to pull out immediately when he thought the situation was hopeless and we were losing. You have to wonder where else he will surrender so easily when he is commander in chief. What happens when Americans die in larger numbers in Afghanistan, will he pull out from there too?
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Mes braves
British and Everyoneiscrazy :
Obama said on Thursday night "It's gonna get nasty, I'm sure, in the next four days"
He was right
- but I'd hate to see you both give up just because Magic truly thinks that Michelle Malkin is the voice of the people. That's Magic's sad problem, not yours.
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The ongoing U.S. election campaign is now poised on a feverish pitch with the independent polls showing the gap closing in rather fast between the two contenders for the Oval Office. Analysis of recent turn of events reveals two rather pivotal issues that might eventually form the turning point of this historically novel and exceptional political contest particularly with respect to the body of its undecided voters.
Chronologically, the first is Senator Obama’s longtime association with the infamous Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayres and Prof. Rashid Khalidi, who are well known for their anti American tirades dating back to the seventies of the last century. Though these alleged scandalous associations had surfaced at the beginning of the election campaign, lack of adequate media coverage sent it behind the props. This has now re-surfaced. On being repeatedly questioned about his association with these highly controversial personalities, Senator Obama has obviously evaded any reference to the alleged nexus. The only statement he has offered contextually in the past has been to describe these individuals as quote, “they’re just guys in the neighbourhood”. It is intriguing that these long term associates of Senator Obama have refused to face the media or offer any light on their relationships with the senator.
It is notable that Senator Obama himself is on record making a comment describing the US constitution as “flawed”. This is the very constitution to which he must swear by, if he is elected to office.
The second pivotal issue is the pledge by Senator Obama on the promise of “redistribution of wealth” with a wage related taxation policy as his primary election manifesto. Incidentally, US president Herbert Hoover is known to have introduced a similar tax levy of around 25 per cent that is known historically to have had a predominant effect on the turn of events leading to the financial collapse of 1930. Also in context, ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has endorsed Senator Obama for the presidency, has made a comment on Fox News expressing his concern in relation to this issue of taxation. He has clearly stated that Senator Obama should abandon any tax increase for according to him quote, “any tax increase is bound to increase unemployment”. Senator Obama has declared to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” in his campaign speech this week. Hope this ‘fundamentalistic’ predilection will not have anything to do with the long term association with his above mentioned mentors and associates.
Every election resolves itself into a referendum. Hope the referendum in context of this presidential election will finally take the United States beyond the serious controversies of its presently botched domestic and international policies.
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# 385 StephenDerry wrote:
"jcputn
I don't know who Hal Lindsey is....."
Stephen
Some extracts from his Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Lindsey. I think they will tell you all you need to know - and probably all you need to know about Mr Putin...
"In The Late, Great Planet Earth, Lindsey wrote that he had concluded, since there was no apparent mention of the United States of America in the books of Daniel or Revelation, that the USA would no longer be a major player on the geo-political stage by the time the tribulations of the end times arrived. Lindsey also interpreted from Revelation and prophetic texts that the European Economic Community, which preceded the European Union, was destined (according to Biblical prophecy) to become a 'United States of Europe', with ten members, which in turn he says is destined to become a "Revived Roman Empire" ruled by the Antichrist. The European Union currently has 27 members and the Western European Union (a military alliance) has 10 primary members./ A later book, bearing the title The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon, implied that the battle of Armageddon would take place in the not too distant future. Lindsey's earlier predictions all assumed that the Cold War would continue indefinitely, and had eschatological significance; he explicitly identified the former Soviet Union with the apocalyptic figure of Gog. He also assumed that the 1960s counterculture would eventually become the dominant culture, and become the source of prophesied "immorality" that would lead to the establishment of a false religion.
Hal Lindsey stated that the end days would be before the generation that sees the establishment of Israel in 1948 would pass away....."
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392. everyoneiscrazy:
"British-ish. "Off the wall" lol Too bloody right!!"
Explains a lot, doesn't it? What puzzled me a little is that it seems to be based in Canada.
It's not very informative, except that 'prophecy' seems to play a major part, which always makes me a bit suspicious.
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Over the last few days it has been fascinating reading ex-serviceman's slow decent into madness. It's like watching Betty Blue (37°2 le matin).
I feel for the guy...
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At 3:44pm on 01 Nov 2008, jcputn5349 wrote:
Beautiful said with intelligence and design. I would like your permission to e-mail and post this elsewhere.
DougTexan
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eightypercent #401
"thank you Marcus for proving my point."
And thank you for proving mine.
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http://www.gallup.com/Home.aspx
Obama now has 10 point lead in (likely voters - traditional) , 10 point lead in likely - expanded and 11 point lead among registered voters.
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MAII
"Better to blow up and trash Baghdad and Basra than Boston and Baltimore"
You've hit a new low. I'm not surprised. Iraq has never once attacked America. Bin Ladin is in Afghanistan. These are innocent people who are dying, that fact that they are middle eastern, arab muslims makes it ok in your book.
You are a dispickable human being and should be ashamed of yourself.
80%, it's ok, pure hate and ignorsance has ressurected me once more!
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361. At 3:27pm on 01 Nov 2008, geomapgirl wrote:
#350 - Here is an example of civil liberties that would be in danger from an Obama Presidency.
Find me an example from an unbiased source. Michelle Malkin is in bed with McCain. She would print any bad thing anyone tells her about Obama; it wouldn't have to be true.
And the Obama faithful have rewritten Wikipedia,.. literally. From the "Community Organizing" page, re written 200 plus times to purge any prior page showing him not there,(check the re-write date, one after another) nor in the manner they show now. I know this as I was on that page in the beginning, he wasn't nor is a 'famous' top ten community organiser. Though wiki says he is.
Same with any anti-Obama you-tube, suspect no foul play when all is 'video no longer available'
The liberal mind is an odd thing, as it should be calling foul here, really, have a McCain video removed because of its content and it would make the news.... "What is he Hiding?"
No school records, no old flames nor friends, no history.
just words, just speeches
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# 337 jcputn5349 wrote:
"To the Democrats at this thread:
You need to join with others in the Dem Party who are trying to take your Party back. Those on the outer fringe kook left have taken over your party completely and no longer represent those who admire John Kennedy, who has more in common with McCain. McCain is a 1960s Democrat."
I'm not going to bother engaging with this person's vast screeds.
But surely I'm not the only one who think this smacks of desperation?
You spend all your time propagandising against the Democrats. And then, when all else fails, you reveal that the Democratic candidate - isn't really a Democrat.
So who is the Democrat? Why - it's the Republican!
So if you're a Democrat - vote Republican....
[Ignoring of course the significant number of senior Republicans who are supporting the Democratic candidate.]
As Orwell might have put it
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
The Republican is the Democrat......
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How can Obama not know about his illegal aunt living in a Boston estate?
Doesn't he read Drudge? Doesn't he watch Fox? Hasn't he been reading these comments pages?
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Hey John in my hometown.
I've always wondered what these guys do when their deadline pass.
It must be really embarrasing for them to realise that the world is still there. What do they say to their followers? I reckon they just feign death until everyone leaves and then slink home to "alter" their beliefs.
British-ish, a point i missed on first reading was how his newsletter was "like a deposit of fresh oil"
See it's all about the oil!!
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405. At 4:48pm on 01 Nov 2008, MarcusAureliusII wrote:
"Because they believe that they are fighting an enemy who if he wins there will eventually find his way to America and fight here where even more Americans will die. Better to blow up and trash Baghdad and Basra than Boston and Baltimore. Al Qaeda has certainly invested some of its resources in Iraq. Once they are defeated there, the US can leave and let the Iraqis kill each other if that's what they are determined to do. Obama hardly talks much anymore about leaving Iraq. He only wanted to pull out immediately when he thought the situation was hopeless and we were losing. You have to wonder where else he will surrender so easily when he is commander in chief. What happens when Americans die in larger numbers in Afghanistan, will he pull out from there too?"
Al-queda in Iraq formed after the war started. So do not confuse between the cause and result.
Baltimore and Boston, you must be kidding. US is much safer now, of course credit goes to the late awakening from Bush, but not on Iraq. Iraq is a nice place to financially bleed to death.
The "nation-building" foreign policy is non-sense. If someone attacks then bomb them to stone age and have tight homeland security. That is sufficient.
You do not need to be militarily present in those countries and bleed to death. That is stupid.
Also on a separate note, Saudi also qualifies the same response as Iraq because 19 hijacker of 9/11 were from Saudi. Also Saudi is sunni, so was Saddam. Looks like arbitrary standards.
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Doug,
Permission? (s)he'll probably pay you to spread the manure.Peace and compost
ed
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"I know this as I was on that page in the beginning, he wasn't nor is a 'famous' top ten community organiser. Though wiki says he is."
Doug, are you seriously willing to name 10 community organisers more well known right now than Senator O?
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Why do these folks who are driven by a particular religious perspective take up so much space ?.
They should cop on and realise that this is the wrong medium to rehearse their obsessions.
Huge amounts of words with no paragraphs go nowhere because they are totally impenetrable on a blog.
If you have a point to make - just make it.
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Justin
I know you are in love with America it's pretty obvious but to call the US election the 'greatest political show on earth' is just a bit much. Greatest in what respect? Farce, comedy, possibly, potential for corruption possibly. Organisation certainly not.
Democracy no, all those votes and then go to the electoral college who then decide. Length of time for the process to complete that's the one definitely the greatest. Of course the other greatest the amount of money spent.
It's like so many other things claimed by the US to be the greatest on earth, only to them. A bit like the 'World Series' really.
Don't take this too much to heart guys and gals we love you really. Good luck Obama we're all counting on you.
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ref #392
Well crazy that just confirms that like Joe Biden, you are not willing to debate when the evidence is against you.
I keep hearing provide refrences from so many of the Obamaphiles, but only references they approve of?
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Ed :
DougTexan is back on the old "no friends, no history" Obama.
Maybe time to put up last Sunday's observer article and even Ryan Lizza (which will silence him with its boredom)
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re #410
gotta completely agree with you. He's off the reservation. Jc of course hasn't descnded into madness, he has risen up just enough to share his "wisdom" with us.
Majic and MAII are just scared, hate filled, bitter little men.
If it wasn't so funny, it'd be scary
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stephenderry, i dont think politicians read papers that will never have anything to say about them. What's the point?
As for the illegal status, for anyone who has relatives from other countries would know, you dont go around asking relatives, especially more distant ones about their immigration status, when they come to the country. so its pretty easy not to know that a relative isnt in the country legally.
I suppose when she contacted him 2 years earlier and said 'im in boston' he should have asked, 'how did u get here are you here legally' and accuse her of being a criminal like a good nephew.
I suppose the media can go dig up all the other relatives that he has and find seomthing interesting about their lives too.
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# 407 mchakravarty wrote:
In the middle of a long anti-Obama screed
"Also in context, ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has endorsed Senator Obama for the presidency"
Please provide a link to the news report you're relying on here
If it's not true - which I suspect - it says little for your credibility
[If it IS true then the Reps are in even more trouble than I thought.]
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"ref #392
Well crazy that just confirms that like Joe Biden, you are not willing to debate when the evidence is against you.
I keep hearing provide refrences from so many of the Obamaphiles, but only references they approve of?"
Sweet jesus, do you righties not even have a sense of humour on top of everything else.
I meant that you would pick a right wind columnist is hardly a shock, as you can obviously see i have continued to post, and will continue to do so. However when i post links i don't limit my self to left leaning sources. If i see one wit .ov i'll use that.
Sites quoted here include therealobama.com and unbelievably enough obamacausedaids.com
Re #419.
It's not a seperate note, it's completly connected, Bin Ladin is a Saudi, the hijackers were Saudi's but no bombing them.
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# 427
I understand she is a "half aunt" I will have to work that one out.
We have a half sister living in my part of the world - and a very accomplished lady too.
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#correction fo post 427 "stephenderry, i dont think politicians read papers that will never have anything to say about them. What's the point? "
i meant politicians dont read papers who will never have anything good to say about them even if they are good things to say.
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# 415 DougTexan wrote:
"No school records, no old flames nor friends, no history."
This is one of Doug's favourite mantras.
More than one person linked to the story in the venerable UK paper 'The Observer' - think it appeared last Sunday - where old friends of Obama, from his schooldays onwards, talked about him.
But why confuse prejudice with the facts?
Then again, at # 411 Doug pronounced that one of the long, weird, fundamentalist anti-Obama rants by jcputn5349 - the one at # 371 - was "Beautiful [sic] said with intelligence and design"
Mmmm. "Intelligence and design". Now why do those words sound familiar?
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ref #426
I thought you were leaving Crazy?
More hate filled people than me:
Rev Wright
Michelle Obama
William Ayers
George Soros
KKK
American Nazi Party
Russel Brand
Michael Savage
Jimmy Wales
Ward Churchill
Angela Davis
Norm Chomsky
Keith Obermann
Rev Fleiger
I hope you notice both white and blacks are on this list.
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everyoneiscrazy #414
It's not racism. It's the same reason we fought the Nazis in Europe instead of waiting for them to attack America. Better to trash St. Lo than to trash Saint Louis. Innocent people always die in war. That's why the Iraqis should have avoided it by complyi