Sunday Roundup
While Obama was turning the trip McCain goaded him to take into a How to Look Presidential training film, McCain was melting down. There was the Iraq/Pakistan border gaffe -- and the far more serious confusion about the role of the surge in the Anbar Awakening. There was the ludicrous ad trying to pin high gas prices on Obama -- and the loathsome attempt to turn Obama's somber visit to a Holocaust museum into a political gotcha. There were the complaints about the media's "love affair" with Obama -- arriving at the same time CBS left McCain's surge blunder on the editing room floor. And there was the repugnant accusation that "Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign." File this week under: Be Careful What You Wish For.
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You know, it's one thing to talk about him on boards like this--but we're preaching to the choir here. Isn't there anyone out there who will bring some of the more blatant idiocies committed by McCain to light? Or is the MSM always going to be playing hardball with Obama while protecting McCain from himself?
What is it with those people? Has the MSM become so filled with hubris that they have presumed to control what information this country hears? Well, yes. They have and are. They have done so for many years now, throughout the Bush administration. People don't usually give up that kind of power easily, as we are now seeing. Sad commentary on the quality of what passes for journalism today. Makes me appreciate NPR more and more.
Mandalaina and the rest of us who preach to the choir,
Do like many of us do and write the MSM directly. I have made a point of sending at least one email each day to each of the major media outlets. Join me, and let our choir sing.
Here is another myth that needs exposing. The truth of the matter is that the oil companies aren't interested in more US drilling at this time, so it serves both the Republicans and the oil companies for Republicans to constantly push the notion that somehow the oil companies are being prevented from drilling by Democrats. Indeed, one suspects that the oil companies understand that the longer they hold off from exploiting US oil reserves the more valuable the finds becomes. So Republicans give big oil cover by blaming the non drilling on Democrats. A win win piece of propaganda for Republicans and their oil buddies.
Keeping American Oil companies from drilling where we have the oil is one reason gas is so expensive at this time. I do not support the far lefts policy of No drilling for oil, no new refineries, and no nuclear power plants.
There are all sorts of places American oil companies CAN drill... one problem is that people don't want drilling or refining in their back yards... "not in my state" mentality. And, sorry, but I don't believe that the "far left" is telling the oil companies not to build refineries.
My husband, who is a Republican voting for Obama, assured me that Republicans didn't whine like Democrats. WELL, this week I had to remind him of his statement because I've never heard so much whining as I did from them this week. AND with the McCain camp complaining so much about not receiving as much coverage with the media, it would seem to me that he wouldn't turn down any opportunities. Obama, fresh off the plane from his overseas tour sat down and did a Q&A with minority journalist at the Unity '08 convention (CNN ran it live). That would have been a perfect opportunity for McCain to tell the country where he stood on certain issues. He was invited just like Obama. He obviously prefers speaking to the elderly or very small crowds. I think it was, again, a missed opportunity the the McCain camp.
Yes! Yes! The Republicans and their henchmen are carrying whinning to the ultimate degree.
John McCain is totally unsuited for President in spite of his military record! The news media should be tougher on him than they are because there is a lot at stake in these elections.
By the way, one of the reasons I voted for Obama and not Hillary is because she was certain to
have Evan Bayh run as Vice-President. He is not tough at all against Republicans. I think there are other excellent choices.
I am a Conservative Republican who decided to vote for Obama as soon as Ron Paul stopped his campaign. But I was never disgusted with McCain.
Then couple of days ago I saw that McCain's TV ad where Obama was blamed for high gas prices! This was too much for me. Now when I see McCain's face on TV, I instantly change channels.
As an Obama supporter may I say welcome aboard and thank you for your support.
welccome
Welcome aboard. Nice to hear your take on that gas prices ad... that horrible ad is is not playing well in rural Ohio from what I can tell... people are seeing right thru the negative bullsh1t
Really hope that MoveOn will start to capitalize on all the accumulated gaffes as well as correct all the misinformation being spread by John W. McBush & Faux - especially pointing out the real value of the surge, McC's flip-floping & pandering, this offshore drilling garbage, etc...
People are too easily sold on sound bites - but they will understand the truth (I hope)
WE hope! (Gulp!)
Hope so. We need some body's help. As obvious as all of this is to us, there's a large chunk of population swallowing.
Must we wait until November?
Imagine how bush would have fared had he ventured onto the international stage during the campaign. Crickets chirping everywhere, when people weren't laughing at him--and America--for actually considering this guy for the presidency. And that was before his colossal blunder into Iraq. Obama makes us proud, give the rest of the worl hope that America is not lost forever after this disastrous administration...McCain just can't shake his bush-iness, and Karma is not on his side.
When Bush traveled overseas during his first year of office (whenever he wasn't taking one of his many vacation days), he did NOT make a good impression. Leaders had unfavorable opinions of him; as they probably fought the urge to outright laugh at him. [Reagan himself had an unfavorable opinion of Dubya]
- In June 2001, nearly 6 months after being in office, Bush went on his FIRST "EVER" trip to Europe (a 5 day trip to Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Slovenia).
- Europe cringes at Bush 'crusade' against terrorists
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0919/p12s2-woeu.html
Point(s)"
1. For those who cry that Obama has very little exposure and/or experience in the "International community", Obama has considerable MORE exposure with other countries than Bush ever had. Yet, this was somehow "okay" by the Bush Supporters; but it's somehow a detriment for Obama?
2. I would think that someone who was of "Presidential" caliber would do his best to shore up relations that may have been perceived as getting off on the wrong foot. Yet, from Bush's first year, to present, I see no major effort on Bush's part to do so. [remember Rumsfeld calling Europe "old Europe"?]
You have that G8 meeting years ago where Bush gave an inappropriate backrub; and then the picture from a subsequent G8 meeting (?), where Bush is pictured isolated from everyone else (they want nothing to do with him).
Dear Arianna,
A meltdown INDEED. More of the same, McCain has even taken up the fight for more drilling. Drilling that if started today wouldn’t make a change in Oil prices before 2016. Please, let’s not forget the Alaskan Pipeline NEEDS replacing,,, TOO.
More of the SAME McCain dependency on OIL.
I have warned of this up coming campaign that we will see the best and the,,,, WORST,,,, America. Fears and Hate that so typified the Rovian BUSH Strategies. Racism, Hatreds, Condemnation, Swift-Boating, PACs. Slander, False Flag, False Patriotisms, Xenophobia, Class divisions.
The WORST that now fills McCain adds.
McCain has attacked Obama on his faith, his wife, his patriotism, his love of AMERICA, his support for the troops, his children, his marriage, his family roots, his childhood, his Grandparents, even the love shown to Obama by people all over the world. McCain even attacks Barrak Obama over his support of Senior Citizens, Retiring Baby Boomers, and calls for assistance to the poor and equal rights, women’s rights.
Seniors, women’s rights and, and, and Baby Boomers???
WHAT?????
Look,, McCain may have his retirement all locked up, But others are watching their food and energy bills erode their savings on a daily basis.
McCain has jumped into the gutter. LOW,,, Trash Politics of FEAR and SMEAR.
Meltdown indeed.
My gosh,, now McCain blames Obama for high oil prices.
WHAT????
This,,, this,,, is even LOWER than BUSH!!!!!
Arrrrggg!
All the best
Knute Neo-LIB
Watching John McCain defend the "surge" in what appears to be a gotcha to Obama, I am reminded of Humphry Bogart in 'Caine Mutiny' nervously twiddling ball bearings as he is certain he knows who stole the strawberries. Bogart as Capt. Queeg of the Caine had convinced himself he was right but was subsequently found to be incompetent at courts marshall.
John McCain may be good person but he shows already signs that he may be too fixated on the 'strawberries'.
"Never understimate the power of denial." -- Wes Bentley as Ricky Fitts in "American Beauty," written by Alan Ball (Oscar winner).
Ricky's father, Col. Frank Fitts, USMC (ret.) portrayed by Chris Cooper, beautifully inhabits the narrow-mindedness that we are seeing in a willingly ignorant public and servile press corp regarding The Honorable Senator John McCain From The Great State Of Arizona; who, like Col. Fitts, also refuses to look into himself.
America--or half of America--needs to look into themselves and understand why they prefer this man to lead them.
"All of my former 'base' (as McCain used to call the MSM) are disloyal. But I know how to win in Iraq (even though in overthrowing Saddam, we accomplished that goal already). And I know how to capture Osama. I won't tell you until you elect me, President, but I know.
"And that little economy thing? Don't worry about the fact that the people who would benefit the most from my policies would continue to use their economic power to marginalize the bottom 95% of the population. The important thing is that we 'WIN!' (because if we 'WIN' we make the playoffs?)"
I just don't understand--- Why isn't anyone talking about Dennis Kucinich's July 25 hearing before the House Judiciary Committee?
Because having grown up during those unpalatable Nixon years and watching "Dick" wave goodbye not from a jail cell but while boarding a jet (Air Force One?), America remains skeptical to hopeless that dems will garner the sixteen repub votes they need to indict Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Gonzalez etc. for war crimes.
In a just world, a world tribunal at the Hague would deal with these leaders as the criminals they are.
The warmongering MSM does love BushCo forever war strategy. They don't want him impeached.
The MSM is basically BushCo and GOP private propaganda machine.
I am horrified I didn't get to watch it. Saw a little featuring Bugliosi's testimony. That was it.
If any one wants to know what kind of people we are just watch the TV commercials or listen to our radio commercials . They can also listen to our air wave programing . Our information media is delivered in a very infantile way which says our electorate thinks in an infantile way . It is obvious that after lines have been drawn we can be convinced to stand on and defend one side of that line . Look at Afghanistan . Before the first twin tower bombing the oil MOGULS were talking to the Taliban about an oil pipe line through the Taliban's country and were not getting the answers they wanted . Shortly afterwards we started seeing TV shorts of atrocious acts being commited by people dressed in quasi Afghan atire with a description which indicated it was Taliban acts . We began to like Pakistan a lot . The media said we had enemies and an enemy that had to be captured dead or alive and many of us must die to get it done . Think ! Do that many of us need to die to get one person ? Or has OIL done it to us again ?
The media is beholden to corporate interests... Of course they will be cozy with the conservative, money-driven candidate McCain. Beware Obama, as he's forced to shift further and further to the Right, just to maintain credibility in the eyes of the corporate elites of this country. And especially Beware Rupert Murdoch and his ilk...
Read my blog!
http://www.saibotchilizm.org
Republicans are waiting in the weeds for Obama to make - or appear to make - THE misstep that will give them a "plausible" argument against him and allow the doubting fringes of their party to return to the fold without appearing to be racist or radical.
Stay tuned...
Its like deja vu all over again.
The Kitchen Sink attacks, the whispers about waiting in the weeds for some huge Obama scandal . The other side trying to gloss over the weakness of their candidate by saying the media favors Obama.....THIS ALREADY HAPPENED!
And guess who came out on top.
The last campaign "waiting in the weeds" was Hillary Clinton's. Didn't work, and her campaign staff was a heck of smarter than tne numbskulls running McCains campaign.
Oh Arianna, You always manage to put a smile on my face.
I am a Democrat abroad I attended Sen. Obama’s speech in the Tiergarten. Actually the lastest tally was a crowd 0f 215,000 but this isn’t my point. We Europeans were cheering Mr. Obama to be the leader of the world not some pop star as Americans may think. We were waving your own Red, White, and Blue.
Why can’t Americans realize the same things affecting you over there are affecting just about everywhere you turn? Economies in shambles, war on terror and global warming. And we’re just as tired of George Bush too. How can anyone be foolish to believe that John McCain isn’t more of the same? As the leaders of the world America has not been leading much lately.
Sure only America can vote for its next president but in Obama the world now dares you live up to your own convections and constitution. Life, Liberty and Truth. No one is knocking McCain’s heroism but his vision for America standing its own has not worked for the last seven years. Obama’s vision is that we can only win these battles together.
Can’t you guys understand we want America to be the world’s leader? We’er always watching you.
Thank you harobamason! That was a great post! You are what Americans need to hear on a regular basis. This country too many times feels as though we are the "be all, tell all". We need to hear more from other parts of this world because we are not the ONLY ONES LIVING IN IT!! Thank you again! and keep hope alive! :-)
I too enjoy hearing from people abroad ... it gives us an outsider looking in perspective on america. I like the feedback we are getting about Obama's trip out.
As Arianna has written "what's wrong with america being liked by people in other countries"
What I like even more is that the Huffington Post ... is not only being read but readers like yourself think enough to post well thought out commentary.
Yeeeeeeee!!!!!
Thank you! Harobamason
I hear from folks abroad the same thing, they don’t hate America,, they are just upset over the directions America has taken. The way the Bush fanatics depend solely on WAR and invasion to solve world troubles.
It is not just CHANGE that they see in Obama,,, it is a little bit of sanity,, too.
After McCains,,, Bomb,, Bomb,, Bomb,,,,, bomb, bomb Iran speech, just how is he going to convince them of other intentions toward them?
Now McCain is all about winning in Iraq,,, What? We DID win. Saddam is dead,, now we have to BUILD,,, not just depend on MORE WAR!
How does Iraq get back on her feet? Can Jordan help? Can Turkey or Syria help? Can Saudi Arabia help? Yes,,,, Can even,,, Iran,, help?
A NEW,,, good neighbor,,, policy,, LOCAL investments,,,, that offer improvements in agriculture, infrastructure, oil production, industry and JOBS for Iraq and her people.
Not all on the backs of the American Taxpayers,,, either.
This cooperation, Diplomacy and International WILL, is what is needed to bring our troops home. International commitments that Obama is BUILDING!
The new word for the last few days, that I have heard is,,,, TOGETHER.
Together WE will WIN against terrorism and extremists.
TOGETHER!
Not more of the same, McCain,, go it alone, Bigger Hammer policies, Democracy at the point of a GUN!
IF terrorism is Global, then the answer is ALSO GLOBAL.
JMO
All the best
Knute Neo-LIB.
Most Americans that at least I encounter do realize the world doesn't end at our borders, but you are right, a truly appalling number are stubborn about challenging themselves to anything new. This is partly due to human nature--man and animal pursue paths of least resistance and familiarity. But at some point natural tendency can become unnatural and obsessive, and cultural myopia sets in. And it is very difficult to root out. A couple years ago I read somewhere that the number of people in Europe who have passports is over 70%, while the number of Americans is below 30%. Willfully insular.
I studied in London 2001-2003 and people always made a point of telling me they love Americans, but despise Bush and our government. I never experienced any anti-American sentiment. Perhaps someday soon, our country might begin to be as enlightened as yours. It was absolutely FANTASTIC watching Germans and people of other nations at that gathering waving American flags to a presidential hopeful! We hate being reviled. Obama talked to you about the importance of world leaders not only talking but LISTENING to one another. Had Bush had the capacity to listen before the invasion... Alas, all we could muster (or ketchup or mayonnaise) was renaming our french fries "freedom fries."
The 40-plus percent favorable for McCain in the polls tells me that there are still tons of misinformed, undereducated, dumbed-down Americans who can't tell the difference between a potentially great president and a has-been, mediocre Congressman. A good part of that is the press' (mainly TV and radio) blatant and not-so bias. Some of it's just racism. Some of it's that they really don't care what the rest of the world thinks about us or our leaders. Voting in the worst possible example "leadership" not once, but twice, is a clue to how dumbed down Americans have become.
Some of it could be corrupt polling - could be ....otherwise we'd have to accept the fact that there really ARE that many dumb people in America ....
I'm hoping all of this "crap" McSame has been saying about Obama is going to come back on him. His constant whining about the media loving Barack is just like a little child. McSame will say and do anything to get elected and he's proven that this past week. Barack had a successfull trip and he's already working on making the US viewed better by the rest of the world. There's no way in the world McSame has a chance to win....we all have to do our part with this election, so get out there and volunteer for Obama.....I do every weekend and twice during the week. I do voter registration drives at farmers markets and street fairs anywhere I see lots of people. I carry fact sheets on Obama that tells the truth about him NOt being a muslim and all the other lies. I give out Obama stickers and pins and bumper stickers to everyone I register. I'm finding that a lot of people have never even registered to vote before and they are in their 30's and 40's. Thats the thing that surprised me the most. Everone who supports Barack/Dem Party needs to help get him elected. You can't just talk about it...get out there...find groups in your area and join in. Be a part of history and make yourself and this country proud. ok enough of my ramblings ..........Thanks Arianna...great article!
THANK YOU! That's what I have been saying as well. BECOME PRO-ACTIVE!! :-)
Thanks to you, CallMeSweety. I am an Obama supporter who also feels that the best way we can help Sen. Obama is to get out there and spread the word. I was amazed to find so many people previously uninterested in politics who now support the Senator. Young people in my community are sitting up and taking notice. I spend every moment I can telling them about his new vision and hope for America. .
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