DNC Open Thread
August 27th, 2008 at 09:01pm Mark Noonan
Day Three, boys and girls - have at it.
UPDATE: Slick Wiily takes the stage.
UPDATE: Biden is making a fool of himself.
UPDATE: John McCain has selected a running mate…
UPDATES:
THE HILL: Biden fumbles military terms
AP: Biden hasn’t always had kind words for running mate
AFP: McCain camp gleefully mocks ‘temple of Obama’
Entry Filed under: Announcements
68 Comments
1. Kahn | August 27th, 2008 at 9:40 am
How does “Ted Baxter” Obama expect us to believe he can solve the Islamic extremist and fascist Russian issues, when he can’t seem to solve the “Clinton” issue?
I thought that he was the “new” way? That all he had to do was explain things in his magical voice?
2. SEW | August 27th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Barry is a uniter! He will unite Republicans, Democrats, Independents and the entire world—to his socialist Marxist beliefs–yet can’t even unite the liberal left! Awesome, and it keeps getting better. Thank you world President.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=5660266
3. Autorotate | August 27th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
We need to welcome the blue-collar and moderates into our party, the ones who are being misled and misrepresented by the lunatic fringe left.
4. WhatChange | August 27th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
The HRC voters will respond to Obama’s Greek rock star platform about the same way as flyover country gun clinging red blooded Americans will. The RNC needs to start hitting on HRC supporters for campaign contributions. Maybe we are witnessing the end of the far left insanity. I would welcome a sane Democrat Party, like it used to be, before being held hostage by the far left.
5. SEW | August 27th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Iran is just a tiny country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhH2q6h7_Ow
6. Gatedcommunity | August 27th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Ditto fellas, and he’s black.
7. Kahn | August 27th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Haven’t seen you post here before gated….
Usually “liberals” bring up race.
8. Herkimer X. Arbuthnot | August 27th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Kahn,
Your first point (folding like a cheap suit to the will of the Clinton’s) is a very good point. We’ve joked here before that Obama will take on world class thugs and criminals like Ahmadinejad and Medvedev when he’s afraid of Brit Hume and FOX News. But, isn’t an equally telling issue the selection of a VP candidate that would assure him of a victory (Clinton) but would cause problems at home (Michelle)? Much like diplomacy, are we here to win or are we afraid of confrontation?
How is the selection of a tired old windbag (Biden) a move in the direction of hope and change? Isn’t he just another Washington business-as-usual insider? Does being in the Senate since Nixon still qualify one as an agent of change?
On the left side of the blogosphere, the party faithful are crying for Obama to take on McCain with corresponding vitriol; fight fire with fire. Bring up the Keating scandal; throw Cindy’s million$ in McCain’s face; McSame; McBush; Bush’s third term. Is this the new politics of HOPE?
And how is “do you want four more years of Bush?” an answer to the question “how will Obama grow our economy?” Is “McCain wants an Iraq War for one-hundred more years” a rationale for an ever expanding government sponsored give-away?
I’m certainly no fan of McCain; but the more I hear Obama’s minions the less like his message; the more I hear Clinton snipe at the hapless Obama the less I trust him. The more i learn about Obama’s friends the less I want to be in his company.
I thought I’d vote Obama because after all, how much damage can he do in four years? Now that Clinton has shown him to be weak and feckless the answer is; more than we can afford.
9. New Conservative | August 27th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
If you get the chance please go vote in my VP polls.
http://thenewconservatives.blogspot.com/
10. megapotamus | August 27th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I dispute those who insist that Hillary would have been a good pick for Barry. Rather it would have demonstrated a fatal stupidity; believeing a Clinton. Biden is a walking joke but the Biden Machine has little chance of swamping or overshadowing the Hope Train.
On a seperate note, McCauliffe was on Hannity and had to admit, after an interminable pause, that he had never heard the Ayers statement of dissappointment that he had not been more successful in his terrorism. Can this really be true? McCauliffe is the Clintons head thug. This creep is the stick-up guy for all the most loathesome Clintonite practices and yet he is foundationally ignorant of the true depravity of Ayers. And THAT appeared in the NYT on 9-11! How can he have avoided even the basic public and undenied facts of this case? On top of all the other bad things these mooks are, they are also incompetent. They just couldn’t stand to pollute their eyes with any uncomfortable facts. Hilarious! This is like playing darts with a blind guy. The MSM has been cradling Barry like a weaning puppy all along as Hillary has observed. Now, it comes acropper. They are blindsided by easily available (though not easily refutable) facts. And this is not the only anti-Barry oppo research that is just now ripening. Barry thought it was all over once he bagged up Hillary. The simple fact is, it had not even begun. These doofs are taking victory laps at their convention and the starting gun has just sounded! This is not genius but a profound anti-genius; a stupidity so deep and pernicious that its sufferers cannot see it like a fish knows nothing of water. Delicious is this spectacle, friends. Identity/victim politics and liberal journalism collide, implode, and take the Clintons along for the ride? How could it get any better?
11. jayhay | August 27th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I know all you folks are terrified of Obama, but here’s the guy you should be afraid of, Schweitzer from Montana. His speech last night nailed it as predicted - you might want to keep your eye on him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8iatxuU3OU&e
Oh I forgot, you guys never want info that threatens your made up, jingoistic, tear down the other guy, slime-slinging world view (and I use the term “world” loosely).
12. SEW | August 27th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Obama tells Pelosi to shut up and move along. What a group–Screamin Howie, Fake War Hero Francois, The End is Near Al, Reid, Edwards, Pelosi and World President Barry.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13768
13. William of Orange | August 27th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
SEW:
Thank you, thank you, thank you! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the link to that tidbit! (Not sarcasm; I am truly grateful!)
What started out as a dismal week for me (how could I *ever* bear to watch that circus from Denver) has morphed into a raging delight watching these fools and their internecine bickering.
This convention — like this election — for them may yet turn out to be a cruel sequel to the 2004 soiree. The insipid salute by Kerry, the erzats PBR-Boston Whaler in Boston Harbor, the old sluggard from Georgia sitting with that fat, puss-bag, “Cheeseburger” Moore, the sequestration of their demonstrators behind chain-link fences, and the crumbling, negative post-convention bounce the wind-surfer received will be superseded by this egomaniacal buffoon’s machiniations.
Truly “a mile high and an inch thin.”
A Greek Theater podium in a football stadium? A biodegradable balloon drop with balloons that won’t degrade? The “drama” of HRC’s bland recommendation speech (”No way, no how, Nobama — er McCain”)?
This is all too delicious.
I am going home early tonight, steam up two tubs of popcorn (and non-PC melted butter), fire up the tube, and watch Billy Boy wow ‘em on foreign policy (*if* he stays on topic)!
..and the best of all is if this jug-eared jerk *does* win in November, America will only have itself to blame and it will guarantee another Reagan revolutuion in 2012..
..if we are still around after the terrorist nukes!
14. Retired Spook | August 27th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I thought I’d vote Obama because after all, how much damage can he do in four years?
I confess, I was an early supporter of Obama, about a year ago. Well maybe “supporter” is a bit of an exaggeration, but, when he first burst on the scene, my first reaction was that he might be that magic individual who could unite a hopelessly divided country. That illusion was shattered by the Rev. Wright tapes and the Ayres and Rezko connections. It became quite evident that Obama’s lack of experience was overshadowed by his lack of character and lack of judgment. He stands as a towering example of the Peter Principle, and the damage he could do as President would take a generation or more to repair.
This is like playing darts with a blind guy.
ROTFL!! Megapotamus, long time no see. Welcome back.
15. Fantasyteam | August 27th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
11. jayhay | August 27th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
While the cons fill their heads with Fox news and hate radio a new type of Democrat is rising in the West. One day Repugs will awaken from their power drunken stupper to find the West is now in Democratic control. If any of them had any sense they would watch this video. But between you and me jayhay I hope they don’t. Let them sleep off the last eight years of Bush.
16. Magnum Serpentine | August 27th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Unity my eye. They went through the floor and removed anyone from the floor who opposed to Nominating Obama by acclimation.
So the DNC cannot stop me from writing in Hillary Clinton’s name this November.
17. Barry | August 27th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Did the DNC secretary even give anyone a chance to say ‘No’ to the acclamation vote before she pronounced Obama as the nominee? What a transparent display of choreography to hide any trace of dissent on the floor. Actually, the whole convention has been that way.
18. Fantasyteam | August 27th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I was an early supporter of Obama, …my first reaction was that he might be that magic individual 14. Retired Spook | August 27th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
“magic individual” I believe the term you were searching for was “magic Negro.” Get your Limbaugh talking points down straight.
19. Casper | August 27th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Retired Spook
“I confess, I was an early supporter of Obama, about a year ago.”
Interesting, because a year ago I would have voted for McCain. That was before he flip-flopped on issue after issue (taxes, torture, oil policy, etc. etc.). What I see now is a man who will say anything, do anything to become president. A man who will pander to anyone on any subject if he thinks it will help him.
I also see a man who out of touch. It’s not that he makes gaffes, everyone does that, it’s that he makes the same gaffes over and over. The man doesn’t even know how to use the internet or how many houses he owns. I just don’t see him as someone that I would trust to lead this country for the next four years.
20. Retired Spook | August 27th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
“magic individual” I believe the term you were searching for was “magic Negro.” Get your Limbaugh talking points down straight.
First of all you sniveling little son-of-a-bitch, I meant individual, not Negro. (Why is it that Liberals always see an “individual’s” skin color before anything else?) Second, the “magic Negro” description came from an L.A. Times oped, not from Rush Limbaugh. Get your Leftist taking points straight, F-team.
21. Casper | August 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Fantasyteam,
While there are people on this blog that are racist, Spook isn’t one of them.
22. Retired Spook | August 27th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Casper, I thought you had voiced support for McCain a while back. It is interesting how circumstances change. I have never been a big McCain supporter, and would prefer that someone else was the GOP candidate. Depending on who McCain picks for VP, I may or may not vote for him. I’ll still vote down-ticket no matter what happens. I haven’t missed a general election in 42 years.
I do have a question for you that relates to a comment you made in an earlier thread about Obama’s selection of Biden as VP. If memory serves me, you’re a teacher. If you had two students who handed in exemplary term papers, but you discovered that one of them had plagiarized the entire paper while the other’s only offense what that he was wearing an expensive pair of sneakers, how would you grade each of them?
23. Carlos Mendez | August 27th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Open Thread? Get this!
Leahy told Vogel yesterday the media has given McCain a free pass on flubs including mixing up Middle East geography, Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and referring to Russia’s relationship Czechoslovakia — a country that hasn’t existed for 15 years.
“It was the same way with Ronald Reagan in the last few years he was president,” Leahy said, referring to the belief that Reagan experienced early signs of Alzheimer’s disease late in his presidency.
24. Kahn | August 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Carlos,
Yah Ronnie had some tough days. Well, after he took a bullet for us. Remember that? That he got shot?
Czechoslovakia ? What a pathetic post. Grow up. Everyone mis-speaks sometimes. Everyone. Meanwhile, Leahy is a pomus asshole, and your a dick.
And Obama says that Venuzueala and Iran are tiny and are no threat.
25. Kahn | August 27th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Here is Democratic “change”.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Conventions/story?id=5668622&page=1
26. Rich | August 27th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Carlos- Obama said hello from St. Louis the other day when he was in Kansas City. Do you think it could be from the crack that he smoked when he was younger? Or do you think that maybe, just maybe when people are recorded hundreds of times a day they might make a mistake. That or Obama really does not know how many states there are.
27. Retired Spook | August 27th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Carlos, perhaps this is just early onset Alzheimers too.
28. Casper | August 27th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Retired Spook,
Sorry it took so long to get back to you, but the grand kids showed up.
You are actually asking about two separate issues.
First, I don’t grade students based on how much money their families have, or who their parents are. To be honest, I’m not sure I would recognize the difference between a twenty dollar pair of sneakers and a hundred dollar pair. I’m not much into fashion. I also don’t compare students work. A good paper is a good paper.
Plagiarism is a different issue. If someone cheats in my room, he or she gets an F on that assignment, regardless of who it is. That doesn’t mean that the person who cheated will funk the class. That depends on the rest of his or her work.
29. js | August 27th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
chew on this one…..
In the lawsuit, Berg states that Sen. Obama was born in Kenya, and not in Hawaii as the senator maintains. Before giving birth, according to the lawsuit, Obama’s mother traveled to Kenya with his father but was prevented from flying back to Hawaii because of the late stage of her pregnancy, “apparently a normal restriction to avoid births during a flight.” As Sen. Obama’s own paternal grandmother, half-brother and half-sister have also claimed, Berg maintains that Stanley Ann Dunham–Obama’s mother–gave birth to little Barack in Kenya and subsequently flew to Hawaii to register the birth.
Berg cites inconsistent accounts of Sen. Obama’s birth, including reports that he was born at two separate hospitals–Kapiolani Hospital and Queens Hospital–in Honolulu, as well a profound lack of birthing records for Stanley Ann Dunham, though simple “registry of birth” records for Barack Obama are available in a Hawaiian public records office.
Should Sen. Obama truly have been born in Kenya, Berg writes, the laws on the books at the time of his birth hold that U.S. citizenship may only pass to a child born overseas to a U.S. citizen parent and non-citizen parent if the former was at least 19 years of age. Sen. Obama’s mother was only 18 at the time. Therefore, because U.S. citizenship could not legally be passed on to him, Obama could not be registered as a “natural born” citizen and would therefore be ineligible to seek the presidency pursuant to Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution.
http://obamamashup.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2244229%3ABlogPost%3A264
30. Magnum Serpentine | August 27th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
I agree with you JS, I have been wondering why Mark hasn’t mentioned this Lawsuit. I hope the person who files it wins, a Win will knock obama out of the race.
31. Retired Spook | August 27th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
That doesn’t mean that the person who cheated will funk the class. That depends on the rest of his or her work.
So if the student who cheated also lied about other educational accomplishments and made derogatory comments about minority students, you would still favor him over a student who didn’t cheat, but wore expensive shoes and didn’t know how many houses his family owned?
I gotta say, Casper, you have some seriously misplaced priorities. I’m glad you’re not teaching my grandkids.
32. js | August 27th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
filed by a democrat to pre empt a suit by the GOP…in PA….
strange how that works, eh?
33. gotbrains? | August 27th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Ahhhhh. I love the smell of Republican fear in the morning. It smells like… victory.
34. js | August 27th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
so what happens when barry gets burned for lying about his citizenship…does hillary get the nod?
and gotnobrains…its pretty obvious that you cant tell the difference between facts and fear…why waste our time posting here? go back to your hole at kos….at least you other mental midgets to compete with…..
35. Retired Spook | August 27th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
No offense, js, but it doesn’t appear to have worked.
I have to say I’m more than a little surprised that the Clintons went as quietly into the good night as they appear to have done. Hillary in particular put on a good front as she requested Obama’s nomination by acclamation. One could almost visualize some internal bleeding going on there.
36. kmg | August 27th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
js,
This should have equal billing with the lawsuit you posted:
“For years, the mainstream news media has refused to stop idolizing the so-called straight talking maverick John McCain long enough to question the mental health consequences of the years he spent as a “special” prisoner of the communists in North Vietnam.
“McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate for President, who could one day have his finger on the “red button,” claims the communists subjected him to 5 ½ years of nonstop indoctrination sessions so intense that he attempted suicide.
“Unfortunately for McCain, after his bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire near Hanoi on October 26, 1967, he parachuted into the hands of an evil communist enemy who 7 years earlier had adopted Soviet methods of prisoner interrogation.
“At that time, the Soviets were perfecting techniques designed “to put a man’s mind into a fog so that he will mistake what is true for what is untrue, what is right for what is wrong, and come to believe what did not happen actually had happened.”
“Psychiatric Journals are flush with reports concluding that former POWs may remain entangled in “harsh psychological battles” with themselves for decades after returning home including difficulty in controlling intense emotions such as anger and stress.
“In political circles, McCain, sometimes referred to as “insane McCain,” is well known for having a “volcanic” temper which his colleagues say often erupts into vulgar language and personal insults.
“Democrat Paul Johnson, the former mayor of Phoenix, experienced McCain’s in your face temperament up close. “His volatility borders in the area of being unstable,” Johnson said. “Before I let this guy put his finger on the button, I would have to give considerable pause.”
“The Journal of America Medicine reported in an 1996 article that being a former POW is associated with “increased cumulative incidence rates of chronic disorders of the peripheral nervous system, joints, and back and an increased hazard rate of peptic ulcer.”
“The 71 year-old McCain most certainly suffers pain and the weakening effects of chronic arthritis. He broke both arms when he was forced to eject after his bomber was hit. He says the Vietnamese periodically re-fractured his bones during years of interrogation and torture which rendered him permanently incapable of raising his arms above his head.
“McCain has never been publicly vetted about what and how much medications he is taking. Aside from his anger and arthritic pain issues, McCain has had reoccurring bouts of malignant melanoma, a deadly form of cancer that can spread quickly throughout the body.
“These facts alone beg the question on how a President McCain, in the absence of his campaign staff handlers, would deal with a snap decision that had to be made “if the White House phone rang at 3 a.m.”
http://www.usvetdsp.com/mar08/mccain_manchurian.htm
37. Retired Spook | August 27th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Gotbrains, there’s something seriously wrong with your sense of smell. You better get yourself to the ER ASAP. Better yet, just take two aspirin and check back here on November 5th. BTW, I hear crow doesn’t taste too bad if you put enough ketchup on it.
38. Kahn | August 27th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
“That doesn’t mean that the person who cheated will funk the class. That depends on the rest of his or her work.”
That does NOT hold true where McCain went to college.
39. js | August 27th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
kmg
are you gotnobrains? both of you have very little grasp on reality here….you posted all that rhetoric for your ego…how stupid can you get?
40. Retired Spook | August 27th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
That does NOT hold true where McCain went to college.
Kahn, that’s the difference between a code of honor and a code of moral relativism.
41. Casper | August 27th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Retired Spook,
“So if the student who cheated also lied about other educational accomplishments and made derogatory comments about minority students, you would still favor him over a student who didn’t cheat, but wore expensive shoes and didn’t know how many houses his family owned?”
“Where the hell did I say I would favor any student over another? I don’t play favorites when it comes to teaching. Now, if you want to compare Biden to McCain, that’s a whole different subject.
“I gotta say, Casper, you have some seriously misplaced priorities. I’m glad you’re not teaching my grandkids.”
So you wouldn’t want a teacher that loves what he is doing, constantly pushes his students to do their best, doesn’t have favorites, isn’t afraid to pat a kid on the back or give him or her a “kick” on the butt, sponsors three clubs, and says the pledge with his students every morning to teach your grandchildren. Well, I guess that’s their loss.
BTW, I have never told students who I vote for. When we have discussed politics, I make sure that all sides are covered. Over the 17 years I have taught, when I have asked my students who they thought I voted for, over half have been wrong.
42. Casper | August 27th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Kahn,
“That does NOT hold true where McCain went to college.”
I teach 6th and 7th graders. Should they be treated the same as college students?
43. navydad | August 27th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
If the donks get any bounce at all, they’ll claim it was more than they expected….what BS. But they’ve certainly fooled Gotsh*tforbrains and others that shed tears while Slick, Hill, Plugs and Smugs did their best to promote everyone….except Barack.
If anyone has had the chance to watch CSPAN, many Dem callers believe the Clinton speeches were disingenuous and scripted…no sh*t….LOL!!
44. js | August 27th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
casper…ya really dont register do ya? you are so outclassed against Spook and still you think you are standing your own ground…you really should concentrate on what you read instead of blurting out impulsively….did you ever wonder why you are labled a stooge?
tell us the truth, you hung out for the last 50 years with blinders on, right?
45. gotbrains? | August 27th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
toast.
Do you like it black and crispy?
46. Retired Spook | August 27th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Casper, the point I was trying to make, apparently not very effectively, is how do you reconcile this statement from a couple days ago:
with this statement from earlier this evening:
I’ve bolded the parts that I’m confused on. Or is it just that you hold people that are potential leaders of the free world to a lower standard than you do your students?
BTW, I wouldn’t refer to the numerous Biden comments as gaffes so much as nasty, condescending, thoughtless remarks. Anyone can, as you (or someone) pointed out earlier, make a misstatement due to being rushed or tired. The kinds of things Biden is on record saying are either much colder and more calculated or else he’s guilty of the ailment pointed out long ago by Ann Landers:
I also find it rather remarkable that you don’t notice the shoes of your students, but you know how much John McCain’s shoes cost, or, even more remarkable, that it matters to you more than cheating, lying and making disparaging remarks about minorities.
47. Kahn | August 27th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Casper - when it comes to ethics? Yes.
I have two Eagle Scouts and an 8 year old who will be one. They understand about honor, loyalty, duty, and honesty. You think the path to Eagle starts at age 14? It does NOT.
So yes. If you are not teaching middle school kids ethics and expecting them to behave ethically, do you you expect them to come under some magic spell when they reach high school? College?
Cheating should at a minimum mean a zero. At a minimum.
48. Retired Spook | August 28th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Casper, as one of the youngest Eagle Scouts in our region (one month shy of my 15th birthday), I second what Kahn says. The single trait that I find most repugnant among Liberals is moral relativism. You may not discuss who you vote for with your students, but as much as your moral relativism shows up in your comments here, I’d be surprised if many of your students don’t pick up on it also.
49. thrower | August 28th, 2008 at 12:18 am
You’ve got two strikes against you when it comes to these guys Casper. You’re a public school teacher and you are critical of Republican incompetence. The fact that you are also critical of Democratic incompetence counts for nothing.
I get your point. The kid who cheats gets an “F” on the assignment, and I am quite confident gets a parent-teacher conference on top of it. If it doesn’t end there, punishment accelerates. That’s entirely appropriate and I would be pleased to have you teaching my grandchildren when I have them.
In the meantime I wouldn’t waste my time reasoning with people who believe middle school kids who cheat on an assignment should get harsh treatment, and a guy who cheats on his first wife should be President.
50. Casper | August 28th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Spook,
Your original question was
“If you had two students who handed in exemplary term papers, but you discovered that one of them had plagiarized the entire paper while the other’s only offense what that he was wearing an expensive pair of sneakers, how would you grade each of them?”
I took that as a teaching question and that is how I answered it. Understand that I teach 11-13 year olds. If a 12 year old plagiarized a paper in my room, he or she would receive a zero on that assignment. If it was a major assignment, the student would end up with an F for the course. Not all assignments are worth the same. I have 10 point assignments and 100 point assignments. If it was a minor assignment the student might still pass with a C or D. It’s happened and it will happen again. What a student wears has nothing to do with it. In truth though, it is very hard for a student to cheat in my class. I never sit at my desk while teaching. I am always moving around checking up on my students.
College is a different matter. I taught college courses on using computers for six years. Plagiarism wasn’t a problem because of the type of projects I assigned my students (it’s hard to commit plagiarism when you have a teacher that is watching you through every step of a project).
The question you probably should have asked is why would I vote for someone like Joe Biden who has been accused of plagiarism?
I guess there are several ways I could answer that. One answer could be: Why would you vote for someone who admits to cheating on his first wife? That’s answering a question with a question. Which brings up a couple of other questions: Should plagiarism or adultery be factors that eliminate a person from becoming president? Which is the worst crime?
As for the comment on the shoes, there were two reasons why I made it.
First, I find the attacks on Obama for being an elitist ridicules, and pointing out that these attacks are coming from people who support a man who spends more over $500 on one pair of shoes hopefully points out the hypocrisy of this line of attack.
As for the rest, I really do connect with Biden. I also grew up as a poor Catholic kid in a working class family. I am where I am today because of hard wok and not giving up. I have been married to the same woman for 33 years. Those are some of the values I believe in and I really don’t think that McCain shares these values.
51. Retired Spook | August 28th, 2008 at 1:06 am
I wouldn’t waste my time reasoning with people who believe middle school kids who cheat on an assignment should get harsh treatment
I can’t speak for others, Thrower, but I was pointing out that a lying, cheating bigot who would be a leader of the free world should be held to at least as high a standard as a 6th grader who cheats on a test or plagiarizes a term paper.
and a guy who cheats on his wife should be President.
At the risk of putting words in your mouth, Thrower, I’ll assume that you were not an avid supporter of William-serial-adulterer-Clinton.
52. Retired Spook | August 28th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Fair enough, Casper. I was trying to make an analogy using something you’re close to — teaching, and it obviously didn’t come across very well. As I said, I’m not a big McCain fan, but I think Biden is one of the most intellectually dishonest, bigoted creeps in the entire Congress. I suspect there are an awful lot of people who are going to be very uncomfortable with the thought of him being a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
53. thrower | August 28th, 2008 at 1:26 am
I don’t trust cheaters at anything Spook, and I can’t stand the Clintons. If she had been the nominee, I would have left my ballot blank. No way I could vote for McCain after learning that he cheated on and then dumped the first wife. Evidently you don’t have that problem.
54. Retired Spook | August 28th, 2008 at 1:51 am
No way I could vote for McCain after learning that he cheated on and then dumped the first wife. Evidently you don’t have that problem.
Fidelity is extremely important to me personally. I’ve been married to my first and only wife for 42 years as of last Wednesday, and I have NEVER been unfaithful, but I think the way McCain’s first marriage ended has been blown way out of proportion as a means of disparaging him. I saw his first wife interviewed recently (incidently, she was the model, not Cindy). To hear his first wife, Carol, tell it, it was not a bitter divorce, and they are still friends. He and Cindy have been married for close to 30 years. The ties that Obama has to Ayres, Rezko and Wright bother me way more than whether or not John McCain was unfaithful to his first wife in the last few months of their marriage nearly 30 years ago. McCain freely admits that is was not one of his proudest moments, but it was, by all accounts, an isolated event in his life. IIRC, in the Saddleback Church forum he even went so far as to call it his greatest moral failure. Obama, OTOH, has shown a pattern of bad judgment over his entire adult life and now merely says “Ayres, Rezko and Wright are not the people I once knew.”
BTW, am I recalling correctly that you were a big Edwards supporter? Just sayin’
55. MattM | August 28th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Wait, Spook, you mean the Ayres who committed his crimes when Obama was 8 years old?
Or do you mean Jim Hensley who McCain praised the other day, yet has been tied to the Mob and racketeering?
56. Nevada Pundit | August 28th, 2008 at 2:16 am
What does anyone think of Obama’s stage? Excellent for him to gain back his Cesarian status. Is it just me or does anyone else think that Hillary would have made an outstanding Brutus?
57. Mark Noonan | August 28th, 2008 at 2:23 am
Nevada,
Someone suggested that Obama enter the stage through a cloud of smoke.
Of there, there is the most effective way to take down Obama’s image, and ensure it gets on You Tube - have a belching contest using Obama’s name. I mean, “Barack Obama” belched out will be highly vulgar, but probably also very funny…
58. Mark Noonan | August 28th, 2008 at 2:32 am
Spook,
Our lefties can be a rather unforgiving bunch, can’t they?
For some time now some people have been trying to get this blog to put out some stories about Obama’s alleged past - but even if they are true, I wouldn’t bother. Things from 20 years ago have no bearing on a person, unless they are doing those things, or similar things, within the past year or two. Its the difference between McCain being mildly involved in the Keating Five scandal and Obama being involved in Rezko’s dealings…whatever Keating Five was, it was quite a long time ago and nothing similar to it has emerged about McCain since that time…on the other hand, the more we dig into Obama’s recent past the more Rezkos we find (political and economic).
People do change - once upon a time a friend and I were in some sort of bizarre effort to see just how many times we could head out and party in the course of a year. We weren’t conscious of it at the time, mostly because we frequently drank ourselves into a stupor…after it was over, we realised that we had done quite a lot of partying (it must have been in the range of 300 out of the 365 days…while holding down jobs! Ah, the strength of youth!). For a while, that is what I was…and then I became someone who didn’t do that sort of thing anymore…and now I’m a person horrified that I did it. If a lefty could dig up my bar tabs from 1988, they would astound…and might make a great line of attack on me for those who are uninterested in fairness or forgiveness…but whatever eventuated, they wouldn’t be doing anything to the Mark Noonan of 2008.
59. MattM | August 28th, 2008 at 2:37 am
Hey Nevada, look around. countless courthouses, city halls, county buildings, and national monuments have Greek columns.
But I’m sure you’ve mocked Lincoln for having Greek columns at his memorial, or the Supreme Court justices for working in a building with them…
60. Dennis | August 28th, 2008 at 3:27 am
Retired Spook | August 28th, 2008 at 1:51 am McCain freely admits that is was not one of his proudest moments, but it was, by all accounts, an isolated event in his life.
This immensely fortuitous “isolated event” was the fork in the road that opened to McCain the remarkable wealth and political connections that allowed him to enter politics unencumbered by the pressures of earning a living as ordinary folks must do. Without leaving his disfigured wife Carol for the wealthy heiress 18 years his junior, McCain would have had to build a career and future the way most people do - hard work and merit.
It is one thing to speak sorrowfully of a youthful mistake, but quite another to repent of the royal standard of living, senatorial prestige and ultimate presidential bid that regrettable “isolated event” bought and paid for.
61. Dennis | August 28th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Retired Spook: McCain freely admits that is was not one of his proudest moments, but it was, by all accounts, an isolated event in his life.
[McCain] reminisced about an exotic dancer he had once dated. ”Marie, the Flame Thrower of Florida,” he said. Asked what she was like, he replied, ”She was pretty volatile,” and then slapped his knee and laughed, ”Har, har, har!”
The candidate occasionally used curse words, usually foreign to campaigns. He called himself a ”wacko” and ”an old geezer,” and his answers often degenerated into jokes. Sometimes his comments went over a weird edge…
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05EFDC153FF931A35751C0A9669C8B63
…setting out to have a good time, the young McCain hung out with a group of young officers who called themselves the ‘Bad Bunch’.
His primary interest was women and his conquests ranged from a knife-wielding floozy nicknamed ‘Marie, the Flame of Florida’ to a tobacco heiress.
Carol fell into his fast-living world by accident. She escaped a poor upbringing in Philadelphia to become a successful model, married an Annapolis classmate of McCain’s and had two children – Douglas and Andrew – before renewing what one acquaintance calls ‘an old flirtation’ with McCain.
It seems clear she was bowled over by McCain’s attention at a time when he was becoming bored with his playboy lifestyle…
…Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.
‘When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it. Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html
62. js | August 28th, 2008 at 8:39 am
so mark…what do you think about obama’s birth certificate being a forgery…
Forensic analysis of Obama birth certificate
http://obamacrimes.com/index.php/component/content/article/1-main/4-forensic-analysis-of-obama-birth-certificate
63. kmg | August 28th, 2008 at 8:53 am
The truth about Obama’s birth certificate:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html
js, why can’t you say anything positive about your candidate instead of spreading lies about Obama? I posted the Manchurian Candidate article last night to show there are just as many assinine stories out there about McCain as there are about Obama. The difference is most people are not as stupid as you and don’t believe any of them.
64. js | August 28th, 2008 at 9:29 am
i am really not concerned about what you have to say kmg….
65. navydad | August 28th, 2008 at 10:03 am
KMG…if you can’t handle the heat…….oh hell…just leave.
66. megapotamus | August 28th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
One should have sympathy for the O-bots but patience is wasted upon them. They declared this whole thing over after Iowa. (Of course, we know Barry cheated in Iowa by bringing in out of state college students to puff his numbers, but that’s okay, right?) Oops. Even mainstream polling that always under-reports Rep electoral performance show Barry just even and that is post-Biden and Hillary. From what I’ve seen Bill didn’t help. (Not that he wanted to.) We shall see what we see but it’s not going according to the Obama script right now and the Grande Finale is hours away. This weekend’s polling has got to bounce hard for Barry. Hard.
67. HeyHey | August 28th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Re: Greek gods and columns
Never let it be said that Republicans and their counterparts in the conservative blogosphere can’t attempt to manufacture a scandal out of thin air that shows just how stupid they are.
The impetus of this scandal is this article from Reuters, which breathlessly described the set for the upcoming speech by Barack Obama at Invesco Stadium as looking like an ancient Greek temple since there will be a series of columns behind from which Obama will appear and then walk onto a raised stage.
How dare Obama? Is he trying to suggest that he’s a God or something??? The presumption! Do you see how messianic he is? His supporters are like a cult! You people clearly haven’t traveled. If you had actually ever gone to the seat of our federal government, Washington DC, guess what you’d see? Columns! Know why? Because most of our federal buildings were designed in an architectural style called…wait for it…Greek Revival. Which means, you know, lots of columns. Like the ones in the front and back of the White House–where Obama will reside in January, by the way. And the ones in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where exactly 45 years ago today, Martin Luther King gave a speech in which he said these words:
” I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Barack Obama will take the stage, designed symbolically to be reminiscent of the city from where he will be leading this country, and the site of one of the most stirring orations in our history (is this too nuanced for your conservative brain?), and accept the nomination of the Democratic Party for the Presidency of the United States, having earned that nomination not because of the color of his skin, but because of the content of his character. It is the fulfillment of that dream Martin Luther King espoused 45 years ago. A dream that your conservative compatriots have worked endlessly to suppress.
Doesn’t that make your righteous indignation over Greek temples and Greek gods seem just so pathetically ignorant? By the way, do you have any memory of the stage from which George Bush accepted his nomination? Don’t look now, but there were columns! *gasp!*
68. js | August 28th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
the only thing i am convinced about is that biden and obama are two cards from the same deck…nothing about race makes a person lie, cheat or steal…and both of them are part of the same old BS establishment that has been playing games with the american peoples hopes and dreams while destroying this nation under thier disguise of democratic process….while they push socialism and make back door deals for favors and them lie about it….