"He was the fattest man when he got off the plane....He didn't want to talk about how he turned in all those names"
"Respectfully, I am going to disagree about Senator McCain's service...."
That was an exchange between the "O" man and a supporter in one of his town hall meetings today.
I watched that exchange and I was trying to figure out what about it bothered me so much. It wasn't the fact that the old guy called out McCain. Hell he looked like a veteran of the damn war himself, and he had the look of a guy who had been through some shit his damn self. He was just the type of guy you expected to be living in Reno, Nevada. I was struck by his statement, and the bold and confident way which he said it [Besides, look at that picture? The guy just might have a point]. No, the guy questioning Obama didn't bother me; Obama's answer did.
"Respectfully I am going to disagree about Senator McCain's service, I think his policies are terrible, I think his service was honorable." Duh! We all know that "O" man, please stop stating the obvious on behalf of your opponent. Contrast that statement with the frat boy, when one of his supporters said this about Kerry back in 2004:
"'We got a candidate for president out here with two self-inflicted scratches, and I take that as an insult.'" To which the frat boy replied: "Well, I appreciate that, thank you..." This from a guy who never set foot in Vietnam his damn self.
Now that's how you answer a question like that. Don't apologize and come to the other guy's defense. Say what you want about the frat boy, but he is a typical down and dirty republican who knows how to get elected. The frat boy and his ilk show their opponents no respect, and that's how they win elections.
That might be the "O" man's problem: he is too damn respectful. And that is what bothered me about the exchange. Why did he have to jump to Mr. Morton's defense like that? Hell, do you think if someone in one of Mr. Morton's town hall meetings said some shit like that about the "O" man he would have come to the "O" man's defense? I doubt it. You would have gotten a smirk maybe, or an answer similar to the frat boy's, but not the stand by your man shit his "O" ness was pulling.
But Obama continues to be a gentleman. He continues to try and convince A-merry-ca that he is harmless, and that he is a non threatening safe Negro. He continues to play the smiling shoe shine man, or the old Negro who steps aside on the sidewalk without daring to make eye contact when the white man is coming.
Of course he didn't have to co-sign with what the man said, but he didn't have to go out of his way to come to Mr. Morton's defense either. He could have said something like: Now now, I understand your passion, but let's stick to the issues. Or, let's not resort to the types of tactics that the republicans are using on me. But he didn't. Instead, once again, he went out of his way to show A-merry-ca what an honorable gentleman he is.
Fine "O" man, and I am sure you will give a very honorable concession speech come November.
49 comments:
Simple answer is to find out the truth...was the service honorable or not? No matter what, "Barry" has to play safe negro or he's toast in the general. He will not have the luxury of the free ride given the frat boy. Deck stacked solidly against him thanks to all the loud voices that money can buy.
Lower class white folks I implore you to wake up and kill your TV before it's too late. Hell, it's already too late. Never mind.
Mccain is weasel ...
maybe even a feret.
Same thing,ya?
Z
Hell, do you think if someone in one of Mr. Morton's town hall meetings said some shit like that about the "O" man he would have come to the "O" man's defense? I doubt it.
Kinda how like Salty reacted when that dude at a town hall meeting called Hillary "the bitch." Just let it hang there.
By the way, there's a group of Vietman vets out there that despises McCain. How come? Check out Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain and count the ways.
The major media so far have had nothing to say about this.
Field Negro, I know you didn't think Obama was going to win in 2008.It doesn't matter what the hell Obama says are does at this point.
The fix is in for McCain and the Republicans to win this time around. Obama job was only to stop Hillary Clinton. Looking back I wonder if it had been better for Clinton to win. But the Republicans had other plans.Now, I can tell you one little secret the Republicans never thought McCain was going to win. But since they are stuck with the guy there making the most of it.
I bet anyone $100 bucks the Republicans planned in advance to make Obama our pick. They wanted to destroy the Clintons all along.
Good post, field.
But I have to be honest. It's hard to get past a guy getting shot just driving down the street in his car and 5 murders in 5 days in a small part of Philadelphia.
How many times have I posted this, Field?
If Obama says one more time:
"I honor and respect John McCain's service to our country and he is a genuine hero but,....."
Well, then good. Why then are you running against him? If he's such a winner, pack up your tent and go home to ChiTown and vote for him.
Obama has got to stop with this preamble before he attacks. It makes him seem like a pussy and I'm not the only one who is saying this.
Obama needs to get South Side nasty or else he will lose this election.
This is hubris at its worst and someone needs to kick him in the nuts and remind him that nice guys finish last.
"But I have to be honest. It's hard to get past a guy getting shot just driving down the street in his car and 5 murders in 5 days in a small part of Philadelphia."
macdaddy, when you are here you don't even notice it.
Damn undercoverblack...I didn't know about that group. I guess the MSM wanted it that way.
ziyena, is a weasel and a feret the same thing? I wish someone whould help me with that one.
anon 10:38PM, I agree that the repubs really wanted Hillary out, and that they thought they would have a better shot at his "O" ness.
Christopher, I know you have been saying this all along. I am on your bandwagon now.
"South side nasty"? Is that a Chi thing r.j.?
All I can say is:
Watch the VP pick and Convention.
The Viet Nam war created so much enmity among the Vets. So many burned out on drugs, insane and damaged, plus the righteousness of the most honorable in an unhonorable situation, the Vet both for and against the war; created a lot of antagonism instead of camaraderie. 40 years later is is still not sorted out and does not have a place in the campaign.
I don't think Obama is weak. In fact, I'm willing to bet that he is a lot stronger than what meets the natural eye. Men who act tough all the time, usually, are the ones that are that name Christopher called Obama, and they are insecure on top of it. All talk and talk is cheap. It's the guy who acts mild mannered and quiet who usually turns out to be the man the strong and courageous one,and wise. Someone acting tough is like a fool riding on a mule in the wrong direction.
I had an uncle that was mild mannered and humble, never raised his voice sort of puts me in the mind of Obama. Some underestimated my uncle too, which gave him the upper hand and surprise, surprise, because he was anything but the name that Christopher called Obama.
A wise man walks with a soft stick.
40 years later is is still not sorted out and does not have a place in the campaign.
It should've had no place in the last campaign either... but it did. I'm just saying...
Obama has gone where no Negro has gone before and he did it without the support of most other Negroes for th first year he was runnning. Most of us were going to vote for Clinton before he won Iowa, so if you think about it does he really need advice from a bunch of pessimistic Negroes, myself included who never believed he could win the nomination? If Obama had the mindset of the average field or house negro he wouldn't have run for Senate, let alone the Presidency. If the Rethugs needed Obama to bet Clinton that's because they knew he could do what they never could. If he already bet their toughest opponent then he can beat them too. And he Clinton by scarcely attacking her, which he knew as a black man he couldn't do because she was a white woman. He didn't need to because he found a better way.
Also if you want to know why Obama stays away from McCain's military service check out what happened to General Welsey Clark, who is four star general and white! Anyone who suggest that McCain is anything less than a hero will be tarred and feathered by the media who, love McCain. Even Bush, or Karl Rove, was smart enough not attack Kerry's record directly. That's what 527 are for. If McCain's record is going to be hit on that front it will have to be done by POWs For Truth or some shit like that. Obama doesn't need to touch it. Ever.
So chill and trust the Negro who has already beat all expectations and remember that Obama knows what he's doing and white folks very well, he was raised by them after all. And he got to where he is now by working them with an intimate knowledge of white folks that most Negroes don't. As far as kissing ass goes, he is a politician and most of the ass he'll have to kiss is white because this country is 75% white. What was McCain doing at that forum Saturday? Kissing white Evangelical ass. So your "shoe shine" reference is tired an disrespctful to our ancestors who had to endure that kind of humiliation so that you and I could talk shit on the inetrnet.
If you think successful people have gotten to the top by never humbling themselves and occasionally swallowing their pride to get what they wanted you are living in a dream world and the most prideful negroes I know ain't got shit. Field negroes where slaves just like house negroes where slaves. There was no special pride to be had in being in the house, but there was no special pride in being in the field either.
I actually do agree that Obama's campaign needs to be more Machiavellian, but the key is to have his surrogates do the dirty work to take down McCain and the Republicans. The country can't afford a noble loser among Democrats in 2008-- we gotta win this thing, and it's all about hammering the Republicans on the economy with simple messages, "Are you better off today than you were 8 years ago?"
Winning elections is all about framing the issues, giving simple "bullet" sound-bite on-point messages, and appearing down-to-earth to the American people-- not answering the questions as much as pushing the media to pose questions that are good for Democrats (e.g., on the economy), and changing the subject to the Republicans' blunders on the economy is important at every opportunity.
Main thing is, Obama and the Democrats have to hammer in the message about the floundering economy, inflation and unemployment and hit John McCain hard about it-- point out that the GOP has brought us 10% inflation and mention real-world examples that resonate with ordinary Americans-- things like the cost of milk and butter, the cost of filling up a car's gas tank (hit the oil companies and John McCain's links to them, to show his corruption), the cost of just surviving a single day straining people's budgets. Simple, on-point and very relevant to ordinary Americans.
Talk about exploding unemployment levels and mention the true unemployment levels-- remember that the US Labor Department uses the "Enron method" to calculate unemployment, based only on unemployment filings rather than people who are actually out of work (like the rest of the world does). True unemployment is 10-11% and getting worse every day, and Obama should bring this up.
Mention the disclosures, and how ordinary Americans have been hit extremely hard by this.
Obama's surrogates can then do some dirty work on John McCain's ugly divorce from his first wife and all the apparent affairs (much of the Republican base is not happy with that), his calling his wife a c**t, the corruption in his campaign staff.
There are also quite a few things that us Field Negroes can do to help Obama win election:
1. Help sponsor and work on big registration drives in minority-rich precincts, especially in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Michigan. Our voter registration levels are improving but there's still a lot of work to do. Remember also that in regions with a high Latino population, the law requires ballots to be made available in Spanish, which can also be of help.
2. Write letters to the editor criticizing McCain on his stands on things like the economy in particular, showing how they hurt ordinary Americans. Make sure to use names that sound "Anglo", make people think you're White. People read these letters to the editor, and they have an effect on voting decisions.
3. Call into talk radio stations (the ones that are semi-moderate, not the ones controlled by wingnuts), and criticize McCain-- politely but forcefully, showing how his policies and decisions make him a poor choice for President. Use specifics, resonate with ordinary people, and hammer the message in!
BTW, by "VP Pick", I mean Joe Biden. Dude has his downsides but if there's ANY Democrat that could serve as a mean ass attack dog, it's Biden. Dude already ethered Giuliani last year, he would tear into McCain nicely.
However, THIS I fear....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/the-october-surprise-shou_b_119207.html
....is the real threat to Obama's candidacy. Shoutout to Trey Ellis.
In his town meeting with Rick Warren McCain joked (?) that being rich should start at $5 million. It's unclear whether he was talking net worth or income but either way Obama should take that quote and plaster it all over the place.
Obama does seem to lack a killer instinct of sorts.
FIELD,
WHEN I GOT MARRIED MANY, MANY YEARS AGO, WELL, I WANTED TO "GET" MARRIED, BUT I DIDN'T REALLY WANT TO "BE" MARRIED. MY POINT?
OBAMA MIGHT WANT TO "GET" ELECTED, BUT HE MIGHT NOT REALLY WANT TO "BE" PRESIDENT.
HE JUST MIGHT WANT TO "GET" TO THE WHITE HOUSE BUT NOT ACTUALLY "BE" IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
THERE'S A BIG DIFFERENCE BETW. THE TWO.
"If you think successful people have gotten to the top by never humbling themselves and occasionally swallowing their pride to get what they wanted you are living in a dream world and the most prideful negroes I know ain't got shit."
Hi my name is Field Negro, I have a blog where I talk a lot of shit.
Nice to meet you. Ookay anon. 2:08AM, now you can say that you know someone who NEVER "occasionally swallows their pride", and who has some "shit". But I get your point; a politician, is, after all, a politician.
"So your "shoe shine" reference is tired an disrespctful to our ancestors who had to endure that kind of humiliation so that you and I could talk shit on the inetrnet."
They didn't HAVE to endure it. They chose to endure that shit. Don't even get me started on the shoe shine man. Your ancestors might have endured that kind of humilitation, but I know a little about mine, and they didn't. Sorry.
" actually do agree that Obama's campaign needs to be more Machiavellian, but the key is to have his surrogates do the dirty work to take down McCain and the Republicans.."
Great point catazz, and this is the difference between him and Mr. Morton. He is telling his surrogates to play nice while the rethugs are saying, go get em. Do you think they have Rove's former operatives in the campaign for nothing? Check the polls (dead even now),that's what playing nice gets you.
But why do I even care? I already predicted the guy would lose, and here I am trying to give advise and feeling sorry for him. Shheez:(
At this stage in the election process, if white voters still need to be persuaded that Obama (although not perfect) is a better choice than McCain, then this country is farther than the sewer than I care to acknowledge.
If this country believe, after four years of the destructive policies of Bush, that the country will be better off with McCain steering the ship of state for the next four years to continue the destructive policies of Bush, then the people of this country are crazier than I care to acknowledge.
The general election will tell us more about the American people, than it will tell us about either candidate.
If McCain is the next POTUS, I may just drop out of the political process altogether.
Can anyone give me a sensible reason why I shouldn't?
shady_grady: "In his town meeting with Rick Warren McCain joked (?) that being rich should start at $5 million. It's unclear whether he was talking net worth or income but either way Obama should take that quote and plaster it all over the place.
Obama does seem to lack a killer instinct of sorts."
Yeah, Obama does need a lot of a killer instinct here. I thought he lacked in too much late in the primaries, when Hillary said some truly preposterous things-- Obama needed to nail her. It's like Frank Rich said in the NYT, "you need to score points" to win. It's fine to run a respectable campaign, but you need a killer instinct to win this thing.
And I don't buy the explanation that "whites wouldn't approve of it"-- there's a way to hit McCain over stupid statements w/o sounding over-the-top, and that's by defending the American people and sympathizing with the common person as one mentions McCain's statement. American whites are hurting now, and they're irritated at Bush and McCain mismanagement of the economy, Katrina and other things. If Obama hits the Republicans while sympathizing with ordinary Americans, he comes off as a champion of the people.
"Great point catazz, and this is the difference between him and Mr. Morton. He is telling his surrogates to play nice while the rethugs are saying, go get em."
Yeah, THAT I agree is a mistake-- to win elections in the messed-up system we have in the USA, somebody's gotta do the dirty work. I don't mind Obama appearing above the fray himself (except in cases above, when he *should* be attacking McCain), but he's gotta have people in his group who hit McCain hard on areas where he's vulnerable. (This is something we can even help with, through letters to the editor for example.) Obama is learning, in any case, and he does need to go on the attack more.
I'm actually a lot more optimistic about Obama's prospects, though. The economy is so lousy as it is and getting worse-- remember, true unemployment is much higher than 7%, it's more like 11%, with awful inflation and severe debt levels. Americans really are ticked off about the floundering economy, and Obama is learning to exploit this better. Ultimately, people vote as blocs because they're not just voting for a candidate, they're voting the team the candidate brings in. This year, it's the Democrats who are bringing in the team "to repair the blunders the Republicans have made."
If anything, I ironically worry about Barack Obama's rating as President if and when he is elected. The GOP, they've made such an enormous mess of things, that President Obama would likely be blamed for the problems when things really fall apart in 2009 and 2010. The GOP can do a decent job of messing things up for everyone else besides themselves.
Maybe, just once, class will trump crass.
The reason I hate repulicans is their win at all cost approach to elections more than their failed policies and contradictory rehtoric. Do you really want someone in office who is going to stoop to those low levels?
I don't see the "O" man avoiding eye contact and crossing the street like some old negroe. I see him being above the fray and thats what makes him an attractive candidate to me.
Four words for Barack Obama:
STOP PRAISING JOHN MCCAIN.
I don't know who is advising him to do this but it has to stop.
Write it on a cue card, a post-it-pad, the back of his hand, or all of the above but, Obama needs to stop praising John McCain.
It's passive-aggressive behavior and sends the wrong message to his base and the rest of the electorate.
Obama needs to pick an attack dog for his running mate.
Field, you're right. But it's sad that when a candidate tries to conduct himself with some dignity and class, it's seen as a nagative. SMH America will get the president it deserves. If they keep falling for thay negative shit...
~
Yawdie = project Negroe
Yah Mon, Irie.
`
Off-topic again: About Bolt "easing up", Ive been watching the races, and it seems like most of the runners do the same thing. Whats up with that?? Well, I guess if you know youre winning...heh.
L
Or, let's not resort to the types of tactics that the republicans are using on me.
Which would have been perfect.
But he didn't. Instead, once again, he went out of his way to show A-merry-ca what an honorable gentleman he is.
Or if not honorable, because the man is not who I think he is if he's not pissed off, media savvy.
I would have said "politically astute," but I don't think that's the case. I think he is shaping himself for media consumption. It's probably wise, on some level, because the wholly biased and utterly shameless US media will savage him if he so much as lifts his foot to make a misstep.
But I think, I believe, that Americans are longing for someone who will speak the truth. Who will call these scumsucking trashtalking rethug bastards on their shit.
I stay angry because I pay attention. But I think on some level there's an anger in virtually every one of us who don't get our news from Fox.
If Obama could somehow touch that, getting to the whitehouse would be a cake walk.
Field,
I gotta agree with you and others that Obama needs to bloody Johnny boy up a bit. McSame comes out with something stupid out his mouth everyday, but Obama does not pounce on these statements. I can understand not knocking Hillary's teeth out because the media would have portrayed him as the mean black man vs the sweet innocent white woman.
But with McCain, he needs to counter punch, stick and move and when necessary, knock his teeth out his mouth. McSame gives him opportunities every day. Plus people will continue to call him soft, weak..etc. And America will not elect someone perceived as soft. He can have all the issues down and explain them in eloquent terms, but if he cannot say them, and then point out how dumb McSame is, he will lose.
BTW - them Yardies ran everyone off the track in them sprints!!! Hats off to them, although you boy Asafa Powell CHOKED!!
B1bomber
Forgive the article, instead of the link... but Frank Rich directly responds to this thread. This was published in the NY Times on Saturday:
Op-Ed Columnist
The Candidate We Still Don’t Know
By FRANK RICH
Published: August 16, 2008
AS I went on vacation at the end of July, Barack Obama was leading John McCain by three to four percentage points in national polls. When I returned last week he still was. But lo and behold, a whole new plot twist had rolled off the bloviation assembly line in those intervening two weeks: Obama had lost the election!
The poor guy should be winning in a landslide against the despised party of Bush-Cheney, and he’s not. He should be passing the 50 percent mark in polls, and he’s not. He’s been done in by that ad with Britney and Paris and by a new international crisis that allows McCain to again flex his Manchurian Candidate military cred. Let the neocons identify a new battleground for igniting World War III, whether Baghdad or Tehran or Moscow, and McCain gets with the program as if Angela Lansbury has just dealt him the Queen of Hearts.
Obama has also been defeated by racism (again). He can’t connect and “close the deal” with ordinary Americans too doltish to comprehend a multicultural biography that includes what Cokie Roberts of ABC News has damned as the “foreign, exotic place” of Hawaii. As The Economist sums up the received wisdom, “lunch-pail Ohio Democrats” find Obama’s ideas of change “airy-fairy” and are all asking, “Who on earth is this guy?”
It seems almost churlish to look at some actual facts. No presidential candidate was breaking the 50 percent mark in mid-August polls in 2004 or 2000. Obama’s average lead of three to four points is marginally larger than both John Kerry’s and Al Gore’s leads then (each was winning by one point in Gallup surveys). Obama is also ahead of Ronald Reagan in mid-August 1980 (40 percent to Jimmy Carter’s 46). At Pollster.com, which aggregates polls and gauges the electoral count, Obama as of Friday stood at 284 electoral votes, McCain at 169. That means McCain could win all 85 electoral votes in current toss-up states and still lose the election.
Yet surely, we keep hearing, Obama should be running away with the thing. Even Michael Dukakis was beating the first George Bush by 17 percentage points in the summer of 1988. Of course, were Obama ahead by 17 points today, the same prognosticators now fussing over his narrow lead would be predicting that the arrogant and presumptuous Obama was destined to squander that landslide on vacation and tank just like his hapless predecessor.
The truth is we have no idea what will happen in November. But for the sake of argument, let’s posit that one thread of the Obama-is-doomed scenario is right: His lead should be huge in a year when the G.O.P. is in such disrepute that at least eight of the party’s own senatorial incumbents are skipping their own convention, the fail-safe way to avoid being caught near the Larry Craig Memorial Men’s Room at the Twin Cities airport.
So why isn’t Obama romping? The obvious answer — and both the excessively genteel Obama campaign and a too-compliant press bear responsibility for it — is that the public doesn’t know who on earth John McCain is. The most revealing poll this month by far is the Pew Research Center survey finding that 48 percent of Americans feel they’re “hearing too much” about Obama. Pew found that only 26 percent feel that way about McCain, and that nearly 4 in 10 Americans feel they hear too little about him. It’s past time for that pressing educational need to be met.
What is widely known is the skin-deep, out-of-date McCain image. As this fairy tale has it, the hero who survived the Hanoi Hilton has stood up as rebelliously in Washington as he did to his Vietnamese captors. He strenuously opposed the execution of the Iraq war; he slammed the president’s response to Katrina; he fought the “agents of intolerance” of the religious right; he crusaded against the G.O.P. House leader Tom DeLay, the criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and their coterie of influence-peddlers.
With the exception of McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, every aspect of this profile in courage is inaccurate or defunct.
McCain never called for Donald Rumsfeld to be fired and didn’t start criticizing the war plan until late August 2003, nearly four months after “Mission Accomplished.” By then the growing insurgency was undeniable. On the day Hurricane Katrina hit, McCain laughed it up with the oblivious president at a birthday photo-op in Arizona. McCain didn’t get to New Orleans for another six months and didn’t sharply express public criticism of the Bush response to the calamity until this April, when he traveled to the Gulf Coast in desperate search of election-year pageantry surrounding him with black extras.
McCain long ago embraced the right’s agents of intolerance, even spending months courting the Rev. John Hagee, whose fringe views about Roman Catholics and the Holocaust were known to anyone who can use the Internet. (Once the McCain campaign discovered YouTube, it ditched Hagee.) On Monday McCain is scheduled to appear at an Atlanta fund-raiser being promoted by Ralph Reed, who is not only the former aide de camp to one of the agents of intolerance McCain once vilified (Pat Robertson) but is also the former Abramoff acolyte showcased in McCain’s own Senate investigation of Indian casino lobbying.
Though the McCain campaign announced a new no-lobbyists policy three months after The Washington Post’s February report that lobbyists were “essentially running” the whole operation, the fact remains that McCain’s top officials and fund-raisers have past financial ties to nearly every domestic and foreign flashpoint, from Fannie Mae to Blackwater to Ahmad Chalabi to the government of Georgia. No sooner does McCain flip-flop on oil drilling than a bevy of Hess Oil family members and executives, not to mention a lowly Hess office manager and his wife, each give a maximum $28,500 to the Republican Party.
While reporters at The Post and The New York Times have been vetting McCain, many others give him a free pass. Their default cliché is to present him as the Old Faithful everyone already knows. They routinely salute his “independence,” his “maverick image” and his “renegade reputation” — as the hackneyed script was reiterated by Karl Rove in a Wall Street Journal op-ed column last week. At Talking Points Memo, the essential blog vigilantly pursuing the McCain revelations often ignored elsewhere, Josh Marshall accurately observes that the Republican candidate is “graded on a curve.”
Most Americans still don’t know, as Marshall writes, that on the campaign trail “McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries’ names wrong, forgets things he’s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused.” Most Americans still don’t know it is precisely for this reason that the McCain campaign has now shut down the press’s previously unfettered access to the candidate on the Straight Talk Express.
To appreciate the discrepancy in what we know about McCain and Obama, merely look at the coverage of the potential first ladies. We have heard too much indeed about Michelle Obama’s Princeton thesis, her pay raises at the University of Chicago hospital, her statement about being “proud” of her country and the false rumor of a video of her ranting about “whitey.” But we still haven’t been inside Cindy McCain’s tax returns, all her multiple homes or private plane. The Los Angeles Times reported in June that Hensley & Company, the enormous beer distributorship she controls, “lobbies regulatory agencies on alcohol issues that involve public health and safety,” in opposition to groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The McCain campaign told The Times that Mrs. McCain’s future role in her beer empire won’t be revealed before the election.
Some of those who know McCain best — Republicans — are tougher on him than the press is. Rita Hauser, who was a Bush financial chairwoman in New York in 2000 and served on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board in the administration’s first term, joined other players in the G.O.P. establishment in forming Republicans for Obama last week. Why? The leadership qualities she admires in Obama — temperament, sustained judgment, the ability to play well with others — are missing in McCain. “He doesn’t listen carefully to people and make reasoned judgments,” Hauser told me. “If John says ‘I’m going with so and so,’ you can’t count on that the next morning,” she complained, adding, “That’s not the man we want for president.”
McCain has even prompted alarms from the right’s own favorite hit man du jour: Jerome Corsi, who Swift-boated John Kerry as co-author of “Unfit to Command” in 2004 and who is trying to do the same to Obama in his newly minted best seller, “The Obama Nation.”
Corsi’s writings have been repeatedly promoted by Sean Hannity on Fox News; Corsi’s publisher, Mary Matalin, has praised her author’s “scholarship.” If Republican warriors like Hannity and Matalin think so highly of Corsi’s research into Obama, then perhaps we should take seriously Corsi’s scholarship about McCain. In recent articles at worldnetdaily.com, Corsi has claimed (among other charges) that the McCain campaign received “strong” financial support from a “group tied to Al Qaeda” and that “McCain’s personal fortune traces back to organized crime in Arizona.”
As everyone says, polls are meaningless in the summers of election years. Especially this year, when there’s one candidate whose real story has yet to be fully told.
Dude, this is that same Law Review versus Moot Court shit you so hilariously pointed out yesterday. On Law Review, you dispassionately cover all the angles. On Moot Court, you sink your teeth into your adversary's weakest argument, and bite down hard like a motherfucker.
Lemme guess: Field Negro kicked some fucking ass on Moot Court. Am I right?
Read the art of war,& you will see that this brother is winning. & will be your next prez.Remember,this is probally the best ran political campaighn in history.they say your campaighn is a reflection on how you will govern.We will see.
Well, Nice Guys Finish Last, but blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall see God, inheirit the kingdom--something like that.
Um...yeah, I'ma need for Obama to step it up, WAYYYYYYY step it up and do so quickly. I'ma need for him to channel his inner uppity Negro and actually do what it is uppity Negroes were accused of doing which was challenging the status quo of whites who thought w didn't deserve the same rights and privileges that they had.
I mean, hell, you couldn't have at Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years and nothing have rubbed off!
Black 'Diaspora questioned "Can anyone give me a sensible reason why I shouldn't?"
Because this is where we are. And having looked around some of the happier corners of the world, it is still the best place and I would say still the best place for people of color. The laws of this country are just a beginning--it is what we make of it. So we must keep slogging, but I will be crushed if we reinsert the Republican party into the White House.
OFF TOPIC: Field would you please develop a little more mental agility and use another word besides shit--it is not always useful or as effective as you might think.
Lightweight. I repeat for 978th time. What to do? Hell, maybe he SHOULD pick Hillary as VP just to spice things up?
And yes, thank God for Bolt. Phelps overload was killing me, though it would serve NBC well if the only black folks really making something at the Olympics are those millionaires on the Redeem Team. Feeds the stereotypes in Peoria nicely...
I've been saying this for weeks... Oh well maybe in 2012.
I certainly agree with you! Obama needs to get mean! If he loses it's because of garbage like this. He'll be respectful during the concession speech and saying that McCain was the better candidate, blah blah blah.
Field--you better be careful, b/c the Obamaholics are like the "fremen" in "Dune."
"BTW - them Yardies ran everyone off the track in them sprints!!! Hats off to them, although you boy Asafa Powell CHOKED!!"
Yes B1, Asafa did choke. But hopefully he will get a gold in the 4x1.
Jody thanks for that nice rant. You are an Obamaholic, but you did spit some truth about the MSM.
"Lemme guess: Field Negro kicked some fucking ass on Moot Court. Am I right?"
Well actually physiopof, that would be correct :)
"OFF TOPIC: Field would you please develop a little more mental agility and use another word besides shit--it is not always useful or as effective as you might think."
sorry ladycracker, at the end of the day my brain is pretty tired. When I post or make a comment on the blog, I an not trying to be agile, I am trying to speak my mind. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of room for bullshit (whoops I used it again) when I do ;)
Yes Chrisptopher, I know he is your homie, but one more Phelps story and I do believe that I will die :) Still, the cat is unreal.
jubreel, something tells me that you will be voting for Obama this year. Just a thought.
Field,
I agree the "O" man needs to get a little tuff. McCain wears his military service/POW as if he is owed something. He was a POW, the rest of his service was a disaster. The facts are all out there for anyone to look at. He lied at the Saddleback Church with his POW story [lie].
Spin, Spin, Spin Kerry was a hero and it got him Swift--Boated. McCain graduated at the bottom of his class but is given the opportunity to fly anyway because of his family connections. He is a disastrous pilot and is shot down because he did not properly set controls. Daddy gets him special treatment as a POW and he caves anyway—making 30 anti-America propaganda pieces. All this and McCain is called a war hero?
I agree Obama is to much of a nice guy, but that's just who he is. It would be hard for him to go really negative. He half-heartedly tried that against Hillary & just didn't sound good.
I agree he should be tougher but for the really nasty stuff he should keep his hands clean. That's what surrogates are for.
There's a big double standard. Not only because O is black, but because people are used to this sort of churlish behavior from the Repugs. It's not fair but who said life was fair?
Americans, more specifically, white America, loves tough guys. Most people feel secure with a tough guy in charge.
Nevermind him being a "C" average student, as long as he talks tough, they'll feel safe.
McCain is playing that shit out at the right time. As you said in your recent blog, he got the best of Obama at that church thing in Saddlebrook.
Politics is a dirty game, and you're right, Obama is looking alot like a "safe negro" in an attempt to convince people.
I think its time for him to turn up the heat, and dig deep inside for that inner gullyness. I don;t think he has alot of it, but I'm sure Michelle has hit him upside the head a time or two for him to develop maybe an ounce of it.
If he keeps it up, they'll make him a doorman at the white house; I don't think there's a vacancy for a shoe shine man.
I, too, tire of the O Man's preface of "John McCain is a great American but..." Man does that chap my hide. And it's NOT a winning argument. I take most of my ques on this issue from my training as an attorney. And I can tell you this as a litigator... you never win an argument starting out with "my opponent is a good person, but he's wrong because ..." A better play would be to simply not make the prefaratory statements. Just make your point about the problems with the other guy's plans/policies.
I'm not sure who's advising Barack on this, but it's a loser. Attack McCain on where you disagree and dispense with the gentlemanly nonsense. You'll be perceived as a gentleman anyway, because your tone and speech is that of a gentleman, but seriously Rak undercuts his own argument every time he starts of with that bi-polar preface. Just attack, 'cause folks can't understand (and don't care about) the whole "he's a great guy, but I disagree." They just want to know how the O Man's policies differ from Morton's. And frankly, a candidate expecting to win, shouldn't care about how his opponent is perceived publicly. That's his opponent's job.
Plus, let me add that his whole "John McCain is a great American" defense undercuts the argument that McCain's POW service shouldn't be a qualifier for the presidency. Wes Clark was a true Field Negro when he said about a month back that McCain's POW stay more than 30 years ago qualifies him to be President. And you know what... he was right... damn right.
Whenever the O man brings us back to this, he sends a subliminal message that the guy's POW status does qualify him for the high office. So the O man cuts himself twice in one comment... First, he subliminally makes the arguement that Morton's POW status is a qualifier to be POTUS and Second, he subliminally brings focus to the fact that he did not serve in the military.
So to the O man, I say, stop with the Morton as a great American bit. Just say how you and he differ and why we should choose you over that "old wrinkly white-haired guy"
john b, politics is a rough game, there is nothing fair about it. I agree with rippa,he has to get "gully". And esmond, you make some great points. Spoken like a true litigator.
Ah,ye gentlepersons of little faith!
Indeed,these are tough times,and EVERYONE here is itching for a new direction in the course of this country.
So your impatience and doubts about Obama are understandable. BUT PLEASE BE PATIENT!
His intelligence, focus,judgment and discipline have gotten him this far. Don't forget that his amazing primary campaign( I feel that THAT was a good indicator of how he'll govern as president) beat the hallowed Clinton machine,so his prevailing over McCain is a given!
After the convention and his VP pick,I have no doubt that his campaign will kick into a higher gear, the attacks against him will be forcefully answered by his VP and/or surrogates, and the grassroots supporters(like ME,who is volunteering to register new voters at the mall Saturday) will be fired up and ready to GO!
No one said this would be easy,people.After eight years of Bush-Cheney, Obama will have a long,hard road ahead of him,and WE need to be strong in helping and supporting him. We cannot afford to fall prey to distractions and lose heart now.
We WILL take our country back!!!
Classysbf said, "the attacks against him will be forcefully answered by his VP and/or surrogates, and the grassroots supporters"...
Yeah, but this issue isn't about attacks against the O man, this is about the O man, himself, undercutting his argument with unwarranted praise for the other guy who is out to cut the O man's throat.
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