Watch the town hall comments and then watch the press conference. Frickin' brilliant

Posted at May 16, 2008 4:21 PM in response to Obama Hits Back: Debate With McCain And Bush Over Foreign Policy Is One "I Will Win"

Mark McClellan is a fairly impressive guy. He was head of FDA and CMS and on the CEA, and a professor at Stanford. Scott on the other hand is a complete douchebag and a hack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_McClellan

Posted at May 16, 2008 4:15 PM in response to McCain Responds: Americans Have "Every Reason To Doubt" Whether Obama Can Keep Us Safe

You are thinking of Scott McClellan.

McKinnon: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mark_McKinnon

Posted at May 16, 2008 4:11 PM in response to McCain Responds: Americans Have "Every Reason To Doubt" Whether Obama Can Keep Us Safe

Making fun of Stockdale's hearing loss, as easy as it seems is in rather poor taste. Please read the wiki article.

Similarly, it is not necessary to mock McCain for infirmities he does not have. He has plenty of flaws that he himself will reveal.

Posted at May 16, 2008 4:06 PM in response to McCain Responds: Americans Have "Every Reason To Doubt" Whether Obama Can Keep Us Safe

Right, if you think Aikido is an ineffective form of defense then I would see why you have been afraid.

McCain is coming at Obama with his biggest weapon--his supposed experienced and toughness in foreign affairs--and revealing that in fact he has used that experience to practice politics as usual and support policies that the vast majority of Americans can see readily as failures.

Mr. McCain is Iran more of a threat to the world's security today than it was 8 years ago?
Mr. McCain is Hezbollah stronger or weaker than they were 8 years ago?
Mr. McCain why is Al Qaeda stronger today than at any time since 9-11?
Mr. McCain i sISreal closer or further form peace today than 8 years ago?

And on and on...

Posted at May 16, 2008 4:00 PM in response to McCain Responds: Americans Have "Every Reason To Doubt" Whether Obama Can Keep Us Safe

He will stand up to them with arguments and facts and the truth--all delivered in his brilliant oratory-- not with equal measures of invective. He will treat the people like adults and they will reward him for it.

Posted at May 16, 2008 3:43 PM in response to Obama: I'll Debate McCain On Foreign Policy "Anywhere, Anytime"

But the admission was "anonymous", so how can you prove it?????

It's amazing that journalistic ethics permits this.

Posted at May 16, 2008 3:38 PM in response to But Bush Was Talking About Obama, Wasn't He?

Gas tax redux.

Obama is hitting McCain with a double whammy, (1) his politics are divisive and insulting to the American people and (2) his policies are just as wrong and wrongheaded as Bush's.

Another way of putting this is: he doesn't trust you enough to tell you the truth, why should you trust him to address your problems?

"John McCain and George Bush have a lot to answer for."

Indeed.

Posted at May 16, 2008 2:50 PM in response to Obama: I'll Debate McCain On Foreign Policy "Anywhere, Anytime"

The press conference right now by Obama is brilliant. He is laying out in a mature, commanding and knowledgeable way the difference between his approach and Bush/McCain's. He is describing what happened historically and how the Bush/McCain policy is the aberration from history, not the norm. He has specifically pointed out Bush/McCain's hypocrisy. He has told them to bring it on, anywhere, anytime.

It IS a tour de force.

More important, he is talking to the American people as adults while Bush and McCain are using invective, innuendo, and rhetorical tripe. He is calling them out on it, and thus linking thsi sometimes esoteric and complex debate on foreign policy to his overarching theme, that we need a new politics. A huge part of that politics is to tell the people the truth and stop trying to manipulate them with fear, division, etc...

My guess is that this is going to go like the gas tax. The politics may seem appealing to Bush/McCain, but the people can tell the difference between name-calling and what they all now has been a massive failure of policy.

Posted at May 16, 2008 2:37 PM in response to McCain Responds: Americans Have "Every Reason To Doubt" Whether Obama Can Keep Us Safe

Why do horrible people like you even though you say you hate them? The best you can do is repeatedly reject and denounce the people you already hate. But that doesn't change the fact that they still seem to like you (think you will do something good for them, or won't be able to do something bad to them). That's why unchallenged this works (to some extent)

I think you are wrong to think asking for proof makes a difference (even though in this case it is not even Hamas making any kind of official statement). Clinton did the same thing to Obama when Farrakhan said he preferred Obama.

The question to ask Lieberman is, if a serial killer endorses John McCain should we ask ourselves why they think he will be so good for murderers? If the KKK endorses John McCain should we ask ourselves why do racists think so highly of John McCain? If people who favor the use of torture endorse John McCain, should we not wonder why they think he will be so good for torturers?

The point is, the accusers will never accept the same absurd argument made about them--no one would--so you have to confront them with it. make them explain why it applies to the other guy but not you.

Posted at May 15, 2008 6:18 PM in response to Joe Klein's Undeveloped Method for Puncturing Guilt By Association