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Sunday Roundup


This week brought yet more proof that John McCain's grasp of his signature issue -- the war in Iraq -- is less than firm. "I can look you in the eye and tell you [the surge] is succeeding," he told a town hall crowd. "We have drawn down to pre-surge levels." Only we haven't. There are currently 155,000 troops in Iraq; there were 130,000 before the surge. He also announced that Mosul is "quiet" -- even though earlier that day three suicide bombings rocked Mosul and a nearby town, leaving 23 dead. The day before, McCain mocked Obama for declining to accompany him on a trip to Iraq, saying: "We've got to show him the facts on the ground." Which facts are those, Senator -- the ones you're making up as you go?

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10:30 PM on 06/01/2008
Good article. I agree with M.S.Bellows however. Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton had no intentions of accepting the vote of the rules committee. The "hang-up" over Mich. gives her the hook to continue her claim of "count everyone 100%," otherwise they are only one half (three fifths) a vote, or are not counted (women's suffrage). "I have the voice of the majority" bulls**t. She is going to fight with her used car salesman McAulife and the vicious eel Ickes by her side until to the end and to hell with the risk for the Democratic Party. She doesn't care about anyone or thing other than herself.

Even if she'd have been given the four additional candidates, Ickes was instructed to say the same as he did. Truly a snare for Obama.
08:49 PM on 06/01/2008
McCain, WE NEED HELP HERE! Does he know anything other than war?

I myself am more concerned about Health Care, Jobs and the cost of gas. What is McCain doing about all of this?

I am a 56yr young white woman who IS an Obama supporter, where are they getting there information from? This California girl, is an Obama girl.
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Binx101
10:11 PM on 06/01/2008
John McCain doesn't know much about war either. Now if you were to talk about the benefits of shilling for war contractors ... he's an expert.

McCain's time in grade as returned POW didn't exactly put him on the top list for Professor at any of the War Colleges. Everyone wants to stay away from criticizing his BS military career for fear of alienating our military. It probably is the best approach to avoid other fabricated arguments ... but as a veteran of the military and of foreign public service - McCain is a zero, with enough chips to become Senator. However, Barry Goldwater, whose seat John McCain actually occupies, tolerated McCain at best, and was highly critical of his serpentining and lack of substance

Barry Goldwater a Maj. General in the USAF (Reserve) had military experience. Granted he had no POW experience, but that would only be necessary if one were called to vote banning torture by the US. Then POW experience would really be useful. Of course ... McCain didn't vote to ban torture but supported Bush Co.

Binx101
The Almost Daily Binx
http://binx101.wordpress.com
08:46 PM on 06/01/2008
McCain has a decent chance of beating Obama who will have an uphill battle in the swing states + white women of all ages, older white women, white blue collar, Hispanics, and Jews.

Hillary could easily repeat Kerry + FL + OH. This would be a walk in the park.

Obama has this huge uphill battle plus more smoking guns out there. The guy has not been forthcoming about all his past dealings and relationships. And for icing on the cake there is "Obamarosa".
08:58 PM on 06/01/2008
OBAMA 08 - older white woman from California, you can't believe everything you read.
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stamper
09:13 PM on 06/01/2008
60 year old white woman from ny,nj and currently mn-Obama'08
09:05 PM on 06/01/2008
As noted recently in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Jews voted for Obama over Clinton by at least four percentage points in seven of the the eight primary states where they have the greatest numbers- the exception was New York. Jews prefer Obama to McCain by 65-32%. There is no doubt that in the general election Obama would get the vast majority of the Jewish vote. To infer otherwise is just Hillaspin.
09:21 PM on 06/01/2008
Most of the Jews in the USA are in the New York tri-state area (I was born&raised in that region and I am a Jew). Obama had a mixed reception in Florida. The consensus opinion in FL was they want to see what Obama tells a Muslim audience in the USA. McCain will press the Obama approach to meetings with Iran and if Obama can't explain his Iran strategy to the Jewish community he won't get their votes.
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returnofthejedi
Trolls have no chance!
08:25 PM on 06/01/2008
I have not read any other post yet , but i have a question for posters here. How can any thing occuring
in Iraq be considered a victory when it is pretty clear that our Military had no business going there in the first place? It is almost a given that the Iraq war is one of the biggest errors America has ever been involved in. It is certainly the worst foreign policy errors i've seen in my 34 years. I woudn't care if only one soldier or innocent Iraqi died,that is one too many when we have no business there in the first
place.
07:01 PM on 06/01/2008
Although I am convinced that McCaine will continue to demonstrate ignorance of all the particulars on the ground in Iraq, we must be wary of those in the background of the McCaine campaign: There are very powerful interests in rescuing McCaine from self-destruction. Just as gas prices dropped and remained low in for a number of months preceding the November elections, it is more than likely that we will see a pronounced decline in American casualties, and much spin about the success of our troops in Iraq. This, of course, can be achieved at any time if the commanders in the field are told to keep troops out of harms way.

It is vital that the actual situation in Iraq be closely monitored and effectively communicated to the electorate. Interviews with the troops, the opinion of Iraqis on the Street concerning troop presence in dangerous areas, and Iraqi casualties, which may also climb unless they too dig in. Despite reports to the contrary, I'm sure the Iraqi government's ability to secure the areas credited to them is tenuous and possible only with U.S. backing and a continueing cease-fire with the militias. It is doubtful that the Shiite militias, particularly forces under the control of Muqtada al-Sadr, will assist Republicans in perpetuating a myth of the successes of the American backed regime. McCaine is already crowing about success, apparently because his handlers have told him that the fix is in.
06:58 PM on 06/01/2008
John McCain is having trouble getting his details right as of late, but to his credit he did say one thing that was correct. When he said that it would be OK with him if we had a military presence in Iraq for 50 to 100 years, he knew what he was talking about. He knows that we will have to be there for
ALL ETERNITY, if we hope to preserve the progress that has been made. Our problem in Iraq goes so much deeper than when do we declare victory and get out. We DO NOT have a way out that will be clean and sacrifice free. President Bush did not have an exit strategy because he did not think we would need one. He took Vice Pres. Cheney at his word when he said " We would be greeted as Liberators."
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06:10 PM on 06/01/2008
What I expect McCain III to do the rest of the campaign:

I think he will talk in the broadest generalities, and omit as many details as possible. The reason for this is simple. Since he shows repeatedly that he does not understand what is going on in the world, about anything except partying and having a good time, the safest thing for him to do, politically, is to say nothing. Since during a campaign he must be seen as actually uttering words, the only safe thing for him to do is to utter words that have no specific meaning.

If McCain III tries to talk sense, about anything at all, he immediately exposes himself as a nincompoop. A very likeable, charming, idiot. Not someone that anyone who cares about our country, and the world, would think about voting for.
06:00 PM on 06/01/2008
Iraq has been fighting foriegn armies for over a hundred years and none of them ever succeeded, anyone who thinks they will stop soon is a dolt.
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06:19 PM on 06/01/2008
The Vietnamese were fighting invaders for hundreds of years before McCain showed up there, and he has said over and over again how we should have stayed until we won. He has ignored the role that the Republican President, Nixon, had in stopping our involvement in their affairs, and blames our withdrawal on Congress. This man is a very brave soldier, but a military and historical fool. Defending waging wars for which we have no national self-interest, and for which we have no other goal than to be able to say that "We Won!", is the action of a totally incompetent leader. We lost the Vietnam War, even though we won all of our battles, and the only conclusions that make sense are that we should never have invaded Vietnam, and once having invaded, the sooner we un-invaded, the better it would have been for both the Vietnamese and the Americans, and all of our allies.
09:21 PM on 06/01/2008
As the commanding British general said during his country's bloody occupation of the former Ottoman provinces that now comprise Iraq, post World War I," the biggest problem we have here is to protect the liberators from the liberated."
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racetoinfinity
restore Glass-Steagall now!
05:59 PM on 06/01/2008
The Mainstream Media should be much more "all over this". It's appalling that they're continuing to feed (by neglect) the meme that McCain is the one with "expertise" in Iraq.
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JTyroler
Hoping Congress doesn't destroy the nation.
05:37 PM on 06/01/2008
I'm glad that McCain's willing to spend so many tax dollars to visit Iraq fairly often so he really knows what is going on there...
09:41 PM on 06/01/2008
Yes, absolutely! Not only thousands in tax dollars to fy his entourage over there, I know that when Big Cheeses come around, the whole place is going crazy, with patrol to guard them, interrupting their day to show them around, brief them, feed them, etc. I know marines have better things to do with their time. Its pathetic..


del8300
ie7
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JTyroler
Hoping Congress doesn't destroy the nation.
03:41 PM on 06/02/2008
I wonder how many trips to Iraq does it take before McCain learns the difference between Sunni and Shi'a.

Right now, MSNBC is showing McCain talking about Iraq and how we cannot afford to lose this "war". Unfortunately, no one has really stated what would constitute "winning" the war in Iraq.

McCain also has this huge banner with "Straight Talk Express", which I thought became a local with a meandering route.
04:30 PM on 06/01/2008
How this little puffed up man can ever hope to win this race is way beyond me. Oh, wait, we've had one in for two terms now.....
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racetoinfinity
restore Glass-Steagall now!
06:46 PM on 06/01/2008
Unfortunately, in my opinion, a large majority (way too many) of the electorate goes by myth and image, not rational informed analysis.
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Anonani
A woman of substance
06:49 PM on 06/01/2008
Anything is possible. I hope that Americans will note vote for a 3rd term of the incumbent but....anything is possible if the populace allow themselves to focus on things that have nothing to do with who is best qualified.
03:27 PM on 06/01/2008
The day McCain can actually walk relatively safely on Bagdad's streets without a massiff military escort is the day McCain can crow about big gains by the surge. Until then, he should be ashamed of this boondoggle instead of praising it.
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zippywpinhead
04:33 PM on 06/01/2008
no, even if he could manage to walk the Baghdad market w/o military escort, he's not entitled to crow about the surge working. It was never just about security gains, it was about making significant political progress- something that has yet to happen.You can flood an area with troops and make the violence levels go down, that's a no-brainer. If that drop in violence doesn't lead to political solutions, all you've done is temporarily suppress the violence- until you pull the troops...
03:22 PM on 06/01/2008
“A lie told often enough becomes truth”
Vladimir Lenin.
04:15 PM on 06/01/2008
Look how well that worked for the Russians! :-)
05:56 PM on 06/01/2008
Look how well that worked for the U.S.! :-)
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Anonani
A woman of substance
02:56 PM on 06/01/2008
The US voter needs to be told the truth no matter how "inconvenient" that truth may be. If we are doing well in Iraq, then say so. But please don't lie and please don't mis-speak and be too trifling to admit it. We can all accept imperfection in our elected leaders, but we will not accept obsfucation.
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2sleepy
02:44 PM on 06/01/2008
Make that 63, Yvonne Gates just endorsed him http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGByf5