LonesomeThunderbolt's Comments (103)

“No doubt financial ties keep Lieberman in the insurance industry's pocket. But deeper motives lie behind his treachery. Lieberman has been a GOP Trojan Horse since he was Al Gore's running mate in 2000. Remember his "debate" with Dick Cheney that was widely described as a lovefest.

During the Florida recount, Lieberman undercut the Democrats by supporting GOP claims that overseas military ballots for Florida (likely to benefit Bush) were not being counted. Even before the Supreme Court ended the recount, Lieberman made known his intention to be in Washington to be sworn in as Senator. (Connecticut law allowed him to run for vice president and for re-election to his Senate seat.)

Lieberman believed being the vice presidential nominee entitled him to be the 2004 presidential nominee. Out of step with most Democrats on the Iraq war, his campaign was a dismal failure. He went on to lose the Senate Democratic primary in 2006. Because Connecticut allows "sore-loser candidates" to run as independents, and after the Bush White House appealed to Connecticut Republicans to dump own their weak and discredited candidate, Lieberman held onto his Senate seat.

Despite Lieberman's massive betrayal in endorsing John McCain, Democrats thought they could still do business with him. Surely now they know the truth. Lieberman's threat to filibuster Obama's most important domestic political goal is clear evidence that he intends to bring down the Obama presidency. The Democrats need to move against Lieberman--and do it now.”

“Who are we kidding here? Cao's vote for the health reform bill is based on the same political calculation as most of those Blue Dog Dems who voted against the bill. They're all looking at 2010 and what they need to do to get re-elected. The Democratic opponents are in Republican-leaning districts that mostly voted for McCain in 2008. Cao's district is largely African-American and heavily Democratic, and his election there as a non-Africa­n-American Republican was probably a fluke. If he is to have any hope of being re-elected, he sure can't be seen lining up with John Boehner against Barack Obama's number one domestic priority. And guess what else: the Republicans will go all out to help Cao keep his seat, despite his voting for this Democratic bill. Even if he votes against his party on every bill from now to Nov. 2010, the one vote the GOP can count on will be his vote to make Boehner Speaker if the Repubs come back in 2010.”

“At some point when Democrats have had enough of the Republicans' harangue about the stimulus "spending spree," maybe a few Democrats will have the guts and integrity to point out that the Iraq war will end up costing three times as much as the stimulus bill by the time all the residual costs of war are paid off.”

“The U.S. reaction to Israel's attack on Gaza defies all reason. It is as though a baby in a high chair throws some food at his stepfather, and the stepfather responds by beating the baby unconscious with a baseball bat. Bush and Obama weigh in that the baby must stop throwing food but say nothing to
restrain the stepfather from beating the child. It is a scenario that would shock even the most callous observer. Bush and Obama would be condemned for failing to protect a victim while enabling the victimizer in child abuse.”

“No, Cheney is still the president.”

“Israel thinks by massacring as many people as its warplanes are capable of that it can beat the Palestinians into submission. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Israel is only building a legacy of hatred toward itself and its U.S. patron who bankrolls and gives diplomatic cover to barbaric Israeli attacks on a desparate subject people. Palestinians are suffering greatly from Israeli atrocities, but Israel will gain nothing from its campaign of state terror.”

“Not to defend al-Zawahri, but what he said about Obama is virtually identical to what Harry Belafonte said about Colin Powell in October 2002 as the Bush administration was in a headlong rush to get the Iraq war started. I don't recall what Belafonte said described as a "racial epithet" against Powell. These things should be kept in context.”

“Having contributed to and worked for Obama in North Carolina, I am heartened that my state has broken loose from its red-state shackles. But it's not enough to keep NC blue or even color more southern states blue. To break out of the "red state/blue state" trap once and for all, we need the National Popular Vote (NPV) plan. Participating states who join an interstate compact would agree to cast all their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote, effectively creating a direct nationwide popular vote for president. NPV would take effect once enough states with 270 electoral votes join. Last year, the North Carolina Senate passed NPV, and next year will see a big push to pass NPV in both chambers of the NC legislature. NPV will make every vote equal and make every state a purple state.”

“Schwarzenegger is wrong that McCain "came back and got nominated.­" As conservative columnist Robert Novak put it, McCain "was the last man standing" among some pretty marginalized contenders at the end of the GOP primary. This time, there's someone else "still standing," and that person is standing a lot taller and a lot more solidly than McCain.”

“I live in North Carolina and remember how this procedure came about. Unfortunately, it was put in place by a Democratic legislature in 1984 to protect federal and state Democratic candidates. So, it can't be blamed on the GOP. The Democrats were afraid Ronald Reagan's popularity would attract voters to cast a straight Republican ticket, thus denying votes to al lot of down-ballot Democratic candidates who normally benefitted from straight-ticket voting. So, the Democrats set up the ballot so you had to vote first for president (likely Reagan) and then cast a straight-party vote for federal and state Democrats down the ballot. It may cause some confusion but hopefully not too much.”

“Brokaw let McCain make one blatant misstatement about today's Reuters/Zogby poll that has Obama down to a 5-point lead. McCain said "a 3-point gap today in Zogby." Brokaw had to have known that was wrong but he said nothing to correct it. It follows McCain's pattern of deliberately misstating obvious facts and getting a pass from certain media allies.”

“100,000 people and I bet not one yelled "kill him" or "off with his head" or "traitor" or any such threat against McCain. Maybe this is why they call Missouri the "show me" state.”

“The incident with Greensboro reporter Joe Killian was not mentioned in the New & Record's coverage of the Palin rally in nearby Elon College. Don't know why but it wasn't in their own story.”

“A Colin Powell endorsement lost a lot of its luster after what he did to give credibility to Bush's WMD lies. I'll be looking forward to a Chuck Hagel endorsement that should also be at hand.”

“Has the "Straight-Talk Express" turned into the "Hate-Talk Express."”

“"...he was glad it was happening under his presidency, because he had a good group of people in D.C. working for him..."

And they're "doin' a heckuva job."”

“He is also off on "House" UnAmerican Activities Committee. Joe McCarthy was a Senator. But then again, Joe Biden can make the mistake of thinking FDR "went on television" after the 1929 stock market crash four years before he was president.”

“McCain may have had another plan in mind when he grabbed onto Palin. Let her pump up his flagging campaign, fire up the base, bring in big crowds to otherwise sparsely attended McCain rallies. Then after the election is won, she would follow the Kathleen Parker script and make the selfless decision to "spend more time with my family." That's right, the McCain strategy may have envisioned that Palin would forgo the vice presidency after getting credit for delivering a come-from-behind McCain victory. Then McCain would be free to appoint as vice president someone he could never have gotten past the GOP convention--Joe Lieberman.”

“It's hard to believe McCain would have any quarrel with the paper after David Yepsen's fawning column asserting that he "won" last week's debate with Obama. Most of the reaction was disbelief, many commenters asking if Yepsen was "watching the same debate" that everyone else did.”

“What if there's more Machiavellian intrigue to the Palin pick than any of us realize. Knowing his campaign badly needs a game-changer, McCain startles the political world by choosing Palin. She fires up the dispirited conservative base and turns out large enthusiastic crowds in the campaign's final stretch. Knowing she's ill-prepared, the campaign would keep Palin shielded from the media but pump her with just enough facts to get through a vice presidential debate. Even if she flops, her adoring fans still love her. Then right after the election, Palin follows the Kathleen Parker script and makes the selfless decision to forgo the vice presidency to devote more time to her family. McCain is free to appoint as vice president--guess who--Joe Lieberman.”

“Wait a minute. Isn't the first debate supposed to focus on foreign policy? So, how would that interfere with working cooperatively on the economic crisis? If McCain and Obama want to agree to a brief suspension of advertising, and maybe even campaigning, nothing wrong with that. But there is absolutely no reason or justification to stop the debate Friday night.”

“And Obama thought he might need a food-taster with Hillary as veep.....”

“He does appear to be "ducking" the question. It's the same tact McCain took when asked how many houses he owns. It would be better to appear not to know than to be recorded on camera saying he owns 6 or 7 or 8 or how ever many houses he has. It may look like he wasn't sure who Zapatero is, or whether Spain is in the Americas or Europe. But McCain knew what he was doing. He isn't willing to commit to meeting with leaders "who are not our friends." And he apparently considers Zapatero in that category for pulling out of Iraq 4-1/2 years ago, even though Spain has troops in Afghanistan. Unbelievable!”

“I'm an Obama supporter and want to feel encouraged. But some of these numbers aren't so impressive when you take a closer look. The author cites 3 million newly registered voters across the country, many of whom he acknowledges, aren't even Democrats. Three million votes was George Bush's margin of victory in 2004. So, how does that assure an Obama victory in a dead-even race?

The author cites Florida's "most impressive numbers...­441,225 new voters...4­5% of which are Democrats.­" So, who are the other 55%? Even if 20% are unaffiliated, that means 35% of new Florida voters are Republicans. A modest Democratic registration advantage won’t be nearly enough to overcome McCain's firm lead in Florida. Ditto for North Carolina Democrats' 49% of new registrations.

New Democratic registrations in Pennsylvania (67%), Ohio (65%), Michigan (63%), and Nevada (53%) will help. But two of those states—Pennsylvania and Michigan—Obama can’t win without. The author hypes that a large share of new voters are "under 35." But a large portion of those thirty-somethings are newly registering as Republicans. So, they cannot be automatically counted in Obama's corner.”

“Forget analyzing Sarah Palin. Democrats need to borrow a line from Ronald Reagan and start asking, "Are you better off today than you were eight years ago." Make George Bush the center of their campaign focus and carry right through to election day..”