ElodieStClair's Comments (24)

“Teabagging and aggressiveness should not mix. Someone's liable to get hurt.”

“This isn't about racism, guldurnit! This is about racism!”

“Huh?”

“Bless that man.”

“This is typical left wing bloggery. God bless left wing bloggers. God bless 'em. But, when it comes to this sort of thing, 99% of the time the conversation is relegated exclusively to a discussion of celebrity politicians as opposed to there being a discussion of who is actually best qualified.

This isn't about celebrity, kids. This is about competence.

The fact of the matter is that both Richard Holbrooke and Richard Danzig are unquestionably more qualified than anyone being mentioned here. The idea that this has been narrowed down to Kerry, Richardson, and Lugar is just flat silly. Not only are Holbrooke and Danzig more experienced statesmen than the three you mention, they bring with them an earned diplomatic gravitas that none of the three others can touch. (The same could be said of Wes Clark also although the Obama and Clark camps still haven't seemed to mesh well.)

If you had a list of Holbrooke, Danzig, Richardson, Lugar, Clark, Craig, and Kerry, Kerry would be maybe 5th or 6th on that list.”

“I agree completely. More than any other cabinet post, a Secretary of State has not just a competency role, he/she has a symbolic role.

Kerry not only has the stigma of a loser, he has also been turned into a caricature by the other side. It's irrelevant that this is unfair and unjust. What matters is that it is what it is.

A Secretary of State needs to exude stature, gravitas, and strength. Kerry simply doesn't offer this.”

“Um, back in Factland... both Richard Holbrooke and Richard Danzig have more diplomatic experience than Bill Richardson. By a very good margin. Heck, even Wes Clark has more diplomatic experience than Bill Richardson. And all three have backgrounds clearly more well-suited to wartime detente.

I'm not saying that Richardson would be a bad choice. I'm only saying that we shouldn't just be making stuff up willy nilly in order to make a case for someone.”

“Richard Danzig or Richard Holbrooke.

Kerry ain't even top 2.”

“Pure academics like Fukuyama, Wolfowitz, Perle, and Strauss?

I'm not sure that pure academia is in itself a qualifier.”

“No human in the history of the species has been 100% right on every issue. It is terrifying that you could think that of anyone, much less that you could think it of a man who- for all his ideological endearment- is a bumbling incompetent on the leadership front.”

“Larry has also been a true advocate for deregulation. Let's not forget that Larry was behind Phil Gramm's Enron Loophole. Larry Summers is as much a culprit in the current financial crisis as anyone. Larry Summers has an absolutely jawdropping lack of foresight.”

“Actually, yes, it is completely true. 100%. To this day, there is not a single piece of evidence showing that Powell knew he was delivering false intel. Meanwhile, there are mountains of evidence that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz knew. They guy was marginalized, lied to, and used.”

“Powell did not lie FOR Bush. He was lied to BY Bush... or more precisely by Cheney and Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. The Neo-Con "intellectuals" marginalized him; they left him out of the loop; and then they used him, exploiting his good name. And he resigned with honor just as he will endorse with honor.

And by vilifying him, you carry the water for the Neo-Cons. You are their errand boy.”

“For four decades, the Republican Party has been building a brand around one theme: Republicans are more patriotic than Democrats, Republicans love this country more, ALL soldiers are Republicans, etc.

If you are a Democrat and you don't understand how huge it is every time a solider like Colin Powell or Wes Clark or Pat Tillman comes out as siding with the Democrats, then you don't know political diddley. A Powell endorsement would shoot a gaping hole into four decades of GOP branding efforts. This is a major endorsement.

And if nothing else, you should be able to enjoy the fact that this will make Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly and Michelle Malkin just burn with anger.”

“What a naive version of the historical record. Powell was lied to. They used his good name. And he resigned with honor when the lies were exposed. You carry the water of the Neo-Cons by falsely denouncing Powell.”

“That is nowhere remotely close to the MAJORITY view. This is major news. It shoots a gaping hole in the GOP brand. Remember: "every soldier supports the Republicans."”

“Tens of millions of Americans. That's who.”

“Mainer, false righteousness doesn't equal reasoning. Powell was lied to. He was used. He had been all but completely marginalized in the Bush White House. And they screwed him. If you blame Powell, you let the true criminals run free.”

“The historical record will show that Powell, by the time of the U.N. speech, had been completely margiinalized in the Bush White House. He was all but totally left out of the loop by that point as he was among those who had expressed reservations about the war. They lied to Powell. They used him. They exploited his good name. And he resigned as a result. The historical record will exonerate him. The historical record on people like Nolalily, however, will be much more harsh. Your assessments show no understanding of what occurred and how.”

“Let's not forget to mention that they set Powell up and lied to him, these Neo-Cons. They used him. They exploited his good name in order to sell their lies, and they lied to Powell to do it. He will never and should never truly forgive them.”

“Be fair. She was also the head of the Wasilla Christmas decorations committee. And as a kid, she once ran her very own lemonade stand.”

“Bayh didn't just vote for the war, he co-sponsored the Iraq War Resolution. He even attended the Rose Garden announcement of the IWR and President Bush personally thanked Bayh for his hard work in ensuring that we could go to war.

Besides the fact that this shows a monumental lack of vision and judgment on Bayh's part, the McCain camp would HAMMER Obama on this. It would undercut the one thing that holds Obama's national security credibility together, his war opposition. The last thing that Obama needs is a for-it-before-he-was-against-it VP.”

“Are you kidding me? If this is all you've got on Jim Webb, then we might as well start printing the Obama/Webb bumper stickers now.”

“Why was this given a platform on a news site? No. Really. Why?”