From the Political Radar:
ABC News’ Teddy Davis, Rigel Anderson, and Arnab Datta Report: Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Sarah Palin indicated for the first time that she does not consider Barack Obama qualified to be commander in chief and sharply criticized him for saying last year that U.S. troops in Afghanistan are “just air raiding villages and killing civilians.”Calling Obama “reckless,” Palin said that where she comes from Obama’s remarks “disqualify someone from consideration for the next commander-in-chief.”
“Some of his comments that he’s made about the war, that I think, in my world disqualify someone from consideration for the next commander-in-chief,” said Palin. “Some of the comments he’s made about Afghanistan, what we are doing there, ‘just air raiding villages and killing civilians.’ That’s reckless.”
[...]
Obama made his controversial remarks while campaigning in New Hampshire on Aug. 13, 2007. His comments came when he was asked how he would refocus U.S. troops out of Iraq to better fight terrorism.
Okay. This is a good start — one that needs to be followed-up upon by McCain in the next two debates.
Having said that, now’s the time to really start hitting back on the economic crisis, as well — specifically, the role of Democrats to Fannie and Freddie, and Obama’s own ties to those who pushed for the kind of legislation that turned lending into an obligation that could not be constrained by such minor points as bad credit or the demonstrable inability to pay back a loan. The Democrats have been emboldened to go on record blaming the “economic policies of the last eight years” for the current crisis; now is the time to point out the attempts by Bush and McCain (as well as warnings from Greenspan) to prevent the kind of meltdown they not only “warned against” — but introduced legislation to try to prevent.
Democrats insisted Fannie and Freddie weren’t in trouble. No Enron-like investigation demands were made by grandstanding Dem pols after accounting irregularities came to light. And Democrats (and some Republicans) scuttled the oversight attempts.
As I noted the other day, if the McCain campaign runs from this story out of fear that they’ll be labeled “racist” or are interested in “blaming the poor,” then they don’t have the stuff to lead, anyway. Because leadership means answering such attempts at race baiting and class warfare with facts that suggest that there was nothing racist or classist about calling for oversight (read: regulation) over a government related program while the party for regulating the private sector suddenly found self-regulation a bit too onerous.
Want to be a “maverick” and a “reformer”? Call out both the Dems and those in your own party who contributed to this mess. That’s straight talk. Fear of taking on racial demagogues is just more of the same.
Comment by Jeff G. on 10/4 @ 5:51 pm #
What are you talking about?
I haven’t as much as looked in the moderation cue, much less edited comments therein.
Is there an accusation you’d like to make? I welcome it, and I welcome the opportunity to answer it. So out with it, or else apologize for insinuating that I’m doing something untoward.
Comment by marcus on 10/4 @ 5:52 pm #
Shorter 2003 Dems:
“You’re doing a heckuva job, Franklin.”
Comment by Jeff G. on 10/4 @ 5:56 pm #
Cat got your tongue all of sudden, Semanticleo?
On with it. Here I am. Accuse me.
Comment by MikeD on 10/4 @ 5:56 pm #
John McCain, and anyone else for that matter, can not hurt themselves by running against the Congress of the United States! House or Senate, Republicans or Democrats–attack and excoriate them all for the self-serving incompetence that has driven their approval to below 10%. It matters little at this juncture that he has been a member of one of the two cesspools, by attacking and condemning these two bodies he sets himself apart as recognizing the problem. It can only help–people hate George Bush but they hate the House and Senate more and if you can link its members via malfeasance and criminal action to personal pain the general populace will begin to support you. Besides, what has he got to lose if he really is down 5-7 points in the polls.
Comment by Hadlowe on 10/4 @ 5:57 pm #
If McCain wants to play populist, there’s no more popular position than hatin’ on congress. Nine out of ten dentists agree.
Comment by Jeff G. on 10/4 @ 6:00 pm #
Why would I spend my day checking the cue? In case you hadn’t noticed, the previous post is being inundated by new commenters. Word Press is likely scanning them for spam, etc., which delays batches from appearing on occasion.
How you went from that to my “editing comments” is not something I understand. What’s the basis for the suggestion?
Comment by Jeff G. on 10/4 @ 6:02 pm #
And yet it took you all of 3 minutes to post the first two comments in this thread — one of which contained an accusation.
When you drop a gauntlet you should perhaps accustom yourself to sticking around to see if someone picks it up and is prepared to slap you with it.
Comment by Patrick Chester on 10/4 @ 6:02 pm #
“How you went from that to my “editing comments†is not something I understand. What’s the basis for the suggestion?”
Cleo’s martyr-wannabe desires?
Comment by Jeff G. on 10/4 @ 6:04 pm #
I dunno. How about emailing me, as others have, and asking me to check the Spam filter. Or do you honestly think I sit around waiting to review the thousand or so comments that come through here some days before “allowing” them?
Besides. What has that to do with “editing comments”?
Comment by Patrick Chester on 10/4 @ 6:09 pm #
Jeff, you might as well get that neural implant so you can moderate the blog 24/7 so Cleo doesn’t have a hissy fit. FOR THE APPEARANCE OF… something or another.
Comment by Jeff G. on 10/4 @ 6:09 pm #
You’ve commented here a trillion times, Cleo. Why would I selectively chose certain of your comments to delete before they appear?
I’m not anxious. And you haven’t really apologized. Instead, you keep trying to rationalize an accusation you had no right to make in the first place.
But I think 17 -20 comments is enough derailing of the thread. So that’ll be that.
Comment by B Moe on 10/4 @ 6:19 pm #
Next thread down, Cleo. You will be among equals.
Comment by Salt Lick on 10/4 @ 6:23 pm #
Besides, what has he got to lose if he really is down 5-7 points in the polls.
I’m thinking he could irretrievably lose those 3% black “undecideds.”
Comment by MikeD on 10/4 @ 6:24 pm #
Sorry my comment got mixed up in the matter of that tussle!
Comment by D Kite on 10/4 @ 6:31 pm #
I wonder if one of Palin’s many filleting knives is stuck in one of McCain’s campaign manager’s butt.
“I didn’t come down here from Alaska to lose”.
Derek
Comment by steveaz on 10/4 @ 6:32 pm #
Jeff,
“You’ve commented here a trillion times, Cleo.”
Come on ‘Cleo. If you think you’re not getting enough exposure at Jeff’s site, you may want to re-calibrate your expectations of your host. I’ll bet he’ll return the grace while visiting your site.
Other option is, consider that your own need for attention may be overweening. Jeff charges no cover to get in, the drinks are free, and the velour couch is, oh, so comfy: you may want to pull in your elbows a little bit.
Just sayin’s all.
Comment by Warren Bonesteel on 10/4 @ 6:35 pm #
Cleo did successfully hijack the thread, so you know, it wasn’t a total loss.
Comment by D Kite on 10/4 @ 6:36 pm #
steveaz:
I’ll second that. I usually don’t hang around anywhere they let me in. Somehow this place is different.
I think it’s the vocabulary.
Derek
Comment by McGehee on 10/4 @ 6:42 pm #
Who is this “Semanticleo” with whom you’re all conversing? Another mass hallucination?
Dang, why are all the red pills gone by the time I get here?
Comment by Patrick Chester on 10/4 @ 6:45 pm #
McGehee: If you mean the Sudafed, I have allergies. Sorry.
Comment by steveaz on 10/4 @ 6:47 pm #
As late as yesterday afternoon, ABC was chewing on Palin’s skirts, and now they’re reporting this?
On their little FM blurb yesterday about the debate, ABC said “Expections for her were at rock-bottom, and her performance beat expections.” The innuendo was, there is nowhere but up for her to go.
We cal that damning with faint praise in these parts.
Meanwhile, about Biden they said, “Biden had control of the facts.” Despite his demonstrable lies, ABC awarded his performance with unequivocal praise.
I’ll say one thing for ABC: they’re all over the place this election.
May the best man and woman win!
Pingback by Palin: “Obama Not Qualified to Be Commander-in-Chief†at Traction Control on 10/4 @ 6:51 pm #
[...] h/t Potein Wisdom [...]
Comment by Carin on 10/4 @ 7:17 pm #
#19 wins the thread so far.
And, Jeff … could you edit a POINT into Cleo’s comments?
Just askin.
Comment by Carin on 10/4 @ 7:19 pm #
What is this Trollhammer of which you speak? I’ve been away. I asked for an update.
Comment by McGehee on 10/4 @ 7:27 pm #
Carin, here’s TrollHammer.
Comment by physics geek on 10/4 @ 7:29 pm #
Saw somewhere that Maverick doesn’t want to explain the Dem problems with FM and FM because “he’s not good at explaining” things. If that’s the case, I might as well stay home on election night. If he doesn’t really want to be president, withdraw, move Sarah to the top of the ticket and draft Mitt for Veep.
I’ve been sick of McCain for years. He’s not endearing himself to me anymore these days.
Comment by Daryl Herbert on 10/4 @ 7:30 pm #
if the McCain campaign runs from this story out of fear that they’ll be labeled “racist†or are interested in “blaming the poor,†then . . . they are guilty of the same things that led to this mess in the first place (people were afraid to stand up to the Dems and say:
“No, our companies aren’t racist, and we’re offended that you would accuse us of that with shit evidence. For whites and blacks with the same credit scores–which we use to guess at the likelihood of repayment–they have the same chance at getting a loan. We aren’t racist.”
But no one high up in the lending industry had the balls to say that.
Comment by cynn on 10/4 @ 7:40 pm #
What the fuck are you doing here? You go from “reckless” remarks by Obama in 2007 to exhorting your following to hit back on the economic crisis. And then there’s the obligatory racist and blaming the poor festooning. Evidently, there’s not even a dumpster to hide behind anymore.
Comment by Patrick Chester on 10/4 @ 7:43 pm #
Care to elaborate where the “obligatory” things happened, cynn?
Comment by cynn on 10/4 @ 7:52 pm #
Sorry, I skipped directly from Jeff’s intro.
Comment by cynn on 10/4 @ 8:01 pm #
OK, first of all, I don’t represent anyone. The End.
Comment by cynn on 10/4 @ 8:14 pm #
Agreed, Daryl Herbert!
Comment by Dread Cthulhu on 10/4 @ 8:16 pm #
Obama… Dodd… Frank… Raines… Johnson… Gorelik…
What is it that all these individuals have in common?
Comment by cynn on 10/4 @ 8:37 pm #
They aren’t drooling conservatives!
Comment by Sdferr on 10/4 @ 8:37 pm #
In light of Biden’s hallucination regarding Hezbollah, Lebanon, the US and France, then topping the whole glob of CRAZY off with a dollop of NATO for fucks sake, that quote is one of the funniest things I’ve seen this weekend.
Comment by pdbuttons on 10/4 @ 8:44 pm #
Obama-Dodd-Frank-Raines-Johnson-
Gorelick met at Katie’s and had a super-secret meeting
Comment by Christopher Taylor on 10/4 @ 8:48 pm #
Well technically nobody except someone who has already been president is really qualified to be president, but some have a LOT further to go before they’re ready. Certainly anyone sane and reasonable wants that preparation time before taking over the hardest, most powerful job in the world to be as breif as possible. And Senator Obama is nearly total in his lack of readiness.
Comment by pdbuttons on 10/4 @ 8:55 pm #
do-over-”table for six”
Comment by Matt, Esq. on 10/4 @ 8:58 pm #
Putting Palin on the attack is good for a lot of reasons. One, she’s an actual reformer. Two, she’s a woman so every feminazi out there has to be real careful and three, she’s bright and thinks on the fly. The debate showed that.
Give her a position and tell her to defend it. As a lawyer, I can safely say plenty of non-lawyers do our jobs better than we do. Palin is one of those people.
Comment by Matt, Esq. on 10/4 @ 9:00 pm #
*Obama… Dodd… Frank… Raines… Johnson… Gorelik…
What is it that all these individuals have in common?*
They are George Bush’s fault ?
Comment by Talking pitbull on 10/4 @ 9:08 pm #
Wow! They taught Palin to bark on command and not wet herself and put her tail between her legs when answering a question-impressive!
Comment by pdbuttons on 10/4 @ 9:09 pm #
” Hi- I’m your waiter-Joe Depot- and I’d just like to remind you;tipping is patriotic!”
Comment by Warren Bonesteel on 10/4 @ 9:27 pm #
ou can get anything you want at Katie’s Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Katie’s Restaurant
Walk right in it’s around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Katie’s Restaurant
Comment by Freedoms Truth on 10/4 @ 9:34 pm #
“Having said that, now’s the time to really start hitting back on the economic crisis, as well  specifically, the role of Democrats to Fannie and Freddie, and Obama’s own ties to those who pushed for the kind of legislation that turned lending into an obligation that could not be constrained by such minor points as bad credit or the demonstrable inability to pay back a loan.”
Even Alec Baldwin is out there (on Maher) saying Barney Frank let them down by pretending fannie mae was a-okay. The meme has traction because it is so profoundly and obviously true once you connect the dots…. CRA –> Subprime lending –> countrywide & others lending spree —> fannie mae underwriting —> mother-of-all-bubbles –> bursting into a godawful mess
Comment by Freedoms Truth on 10/4 @ 9:39 pm #
Meanwhile, about Biden they said, “Biden had control of the facts.â€Â
By which the media meant: Biden had the facts tortured and placed in a lockbox backstage, and was able able to gibber on in the debate safe from the threat of the facts coming
onstage and biting him in the arse.
Comment by pdbuttons on 10/4 @ 9:42 pm #
menu-catfish 10 dollah
blackened catfish-2 dollah-no money down!
pig in a poke
d’ja want a fingerbowl?- um….yes we have footbaths
Comment by Dread Cthulhu on 10/4 @ 9:42 pm #
cynn: “They aren’t drooling conservatives!”
No, they’re frothing liberals, but that’s not the important connection…
Comment by Dread Cthulhu on 10/4 @ 9:44 pm #
pdbuttons: “do-over-â€Âtable for six—
Close enough for government work…
Comment by pdbuttons on 10/4 @ 9:47 pm #
that’s correct- everything on the left side of the menu is free….
Comment by J. Peden on 10/4 @ 10:52 pm #
Comment by Talking pitbull:
Wow! They taught Palin to bark on command and not wet herself and put her tail between her legs when answering a question-impressive!
Your jealousy is understandable, pitbull. But you really should direct your complaints to your trainers.
Comment by Jeffersonian on 10/4 @ 11:11 pm #
Michael Vick, call your office!
Comment by peter jackson on 10/5 @ 12:07 am #
No Enron-like investigation demands were made by grandstanding Dem pols after accounting irregularities came to light.
That is an excellent and damning observation, Jeff.
yours/
peter.
Comment by maggie katzen on 10/5 @ 1:07 am #
They’ve never been in my kitchen.
somebody had to go there.
on to the next post… I can’t leave you people alone for a few hours. geeze.
Comment by MAJ (P) John on 10/5 @ 2:47 am #
I am rather displeased by the idea that Sen Obama would go from “I’m just trying to figure out where the men’s room in the Sentae is…” to CinC. I am quite interested to hear who would be his Natn’l Security Advisor, who he would consider for various key uniform positions, etc. Not appearing to listen to GEN Petraeus is kind of a bad bit of foresahdowing, I think.
Comment by MAJ (P) John on 10/5 @ 5:48 am #
Ah, things must be returning to normal…my number of typos is increasing with each post!
Comment by sashal on 10/5 @ 7:15 am #
McCain’s campaign manager is on record saying this campaign is not about the issues. Republicans have nothing left after the last eight years so the best they can do is offer character attacks.
Hopefully Obama will win in a landslide and the Republicans can do some serious soul searching. If Republicans figure out that they should run (and really mean it) on a platform of smaller government and leave behind all of the divisive wedge issues, maybe they will regain the majority and we’ll all be better for it.
Comment by eaglewingz08 on 10/5 @ 7:31 am #
For fear of being labeled racist or evil and of taking on the racial demagogues McCain may let a racial demagogue become the next President. Time to change stategery McCain.
Comment by Patrick on 10/5 @ 8:28 am #
If by character attacks, you mean pointing out serious and unmistakable flaws in someone’s character, guilty as charged. A candidate who takes counsel from a virulent racist and anti-Semite preacher, asks a man who stole millions from the taxpayers to pick his VP, and blew over 100 million on a failed attempt to improve education in Chicago – has no character. He’s absolutely all sizzle and no steak, and half of this country buys it.
Comment by Christopher Taylor on 10/5 @ 9:33 am #
There’s nothing funnier than Obama supporters claiming that the nasty GOP won’t discuss issues – unless it’s the same guys claiming inexperience should prevent someone from being vice president.
It’s like NASCAR drivers complaining that other people turn left too much.
Comment by Sleeper on 10/5 @ 10:08 am #
Obama’s Cabinet (incomplete)
Secretary of Defense William Ayers
Secretary of the Treasury Antoin (Tony) Rezko
Secretary of State Rev. Jeremiah Wright
Secretary of Homeland Security Bernadine Dohrn
Attorney General Joe Sandler
Secretary of Labor Jimmy Hoffa (well, he’d vote in Chi!)
Comment by dbn.poison on 10/5 @ 10:47 am #
Comment by sashal on 10/5 @ 7:15 am #
“McCain’s campaign manager is on record saying this campaign is not about the issues. Republicans have nothing left after the last eight years so the best they can do is offer character attacks.
Hopefully Obama will win in a landslide and the Republicans can do some serious soul searching. If Republicans figure out that they should run (and really mean it) on a platform of smaller government and leave behind all of the divisive wedge issues, maybe they will regain the majority and we’ll all be better for it.”
This is word for word what commenter PC wrote on the Volokh Conspiracy site under the entry “What is the Significance of Obama’s Ties to Ayers (and Wright?)” (10.5.2008 1:49am).
Are some things so self-evident that they write themselves, or is there some repository of boilerplate text that Obamabots have access to?
:-)
Comment by dbn.poison on 10/5 @ 11:31 am #
OK, I’m an infrequent lurker just catching up on PW posts in no particular sequence and have just waded into the moronic cesspool that is the comments section of the “palling around” post – regulars excluded. Explains it all.
Comment by Rusty on 10/5 @ 11:57 am #
#49
Well. Hell. They taught you to type.
Comment by Pilgrim on 10/5 @ 1:56 pm #
You have an appointment? What? Yes look at the time and date in your taskbar right now? There are so many days or even moments to when your appointment happens?
It is appointed for man to die once and after this comes judgment, Heb 9:27.
Are you ready for your appointment? If you put off the decision to when your appointment happens then will you be in for a big surprise of your life, or should I say your soul. What decision, the decision to call on Jesus to save you? You and I have a problem called sin. We can either face God with our sin or we can have a substitute in our place? Jesus can be your substitute for you. Jesus can be your sin bearer. You may ask why? For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Jesus left heaven and came down to earth because of our sin problem to save you. Jesus died on the cross for the penalty of our sins.
Will you let him save you by calling out to him?
Your response is your responsibility.
The promise can only be yours if you tell God that Jesus died for you and that God hath raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You have the opportunity to call on Jesus to save you. here and now! Do you want to face God with your sins or do you want it known there and now between you and God that you accepted his love expressed through his son Jesus!
http://www.shipwrecksoul.blogspot.com
Comment by Cave Bear on 10/5 @ 2:10 pm #
Comment by dbn.poison on 10/5 @ 10:47 am #
Comment by sashal on 10/5 @ 7:15 am #
““McCain’s campaign manager is on record saying this campaign is not about the issues. Republicans have nothing left after the last eight years so the best they can do is offer character attacks.
Hopefully Obama will win in a landslide and the Republicans can do some serious soul searching. If Republicans figure out that they should run (and really mean it) on a platform of smaller government and leave behind all of the divisive wedge issues, maybe they will regain the majority and we’ll all be better for it.â€Â
This is word for word what commenter PC wrote on the Volokh Conspiracy site under the entry “What is the Significance of Obama’s Ties to Ayers (and Wright?)†(10.5.2008 1:49am).
Are some things so self-evident that they write themselves, or is there some repository of boilerplate text that Obamabots have access to?”
I’ve been saying all along, ever since this faux “sashal” showed up, that he was a sockpuppet. This just proves it.
Comment by maggie katzen on 10/6 @ 12:06 am #
oooooh, Jeff, it may be time for an update. (I can’t seem to find the original)
Comment by LIES, DAMN LIES, JOHN MCCAIN on 10/6 @ 11:22 pm #
ACCEPTING CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ASSOCIATES OF KNOWN TERRORISTS?
The Ayers-Weber-McCain connection. Truth? Guilt by Association? We report. YOU Decide!
Arnold R. “Arnie” Weber is a Chicago Annenberg Board Member and Chicago “insider”. He was a part of the Nixon White House. Arnie Weber has held other Washington “insider” jobs too. He is a LONGTIME REPUBLICAN DONOR. But get this: Arnie Weber was a BOARD MEMBER of the infamous **CHICAGO ANNNENBERG CHALLENGE** organization, which was founded by known “TERRORIST” Bill Ayers!
Sarah Palin was using “guilt by association”. This, however, is a two way street but Gov. Palin may not understand this.
NEW INFORMATION SHOWS THAT JOHN MCCAIN HAS ACCEPTED “TAINTED” CAMPAIGN MONEY FROM ARNIE WEBER, AN ASSOCIATE OF BILL AYERS.
Arnie Weber has given the maximum legal amount of $1,500 to the McCain campaign in 2008. He probably would have given more if allowed by law. In 2008, Arnie Weber made two separate donations of $1,000 and $500 to McCain’s presidential campaign run by EX-LOBBYIST AND WASHINGTON INSIDER RICK DAVIS.
I demand that Senator McCain denounce this man, Arnie Weber, and his associations to “terrorists” (as defined by his vice-president, Sarah Palin). I call on Senator McCain to reject these tainted donations. John McCain should then investigate how such a thing could possibly happen inside HIS OWN CAMPAIGN before seeking to cast stones at Senator Obama. McCain’s campaign CEO, RICK DAVIS, needs to explain to the AMERICAN VOTERS his reasons for accepting this dirty money. Are they really that desperate to win this election? Doesn’t John McCain still believe in the honor that he felt when defending this country against the enemy in Vietnam where he served as a prisoner of war for years?
THE “LIBERAL MEDIA” SHOULD ASK JOHN MCCAIN WHY HE ACCEPTED THIS TAINTED CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THIS “TERRORIST” ASSOCIATE. Incredible as it may sound, Arnie Weber doesn’t even DENY that he ASSOCIATED FOR YEARS with a “KNOWN TERRORIST”.
This is probably because he hasn’t been asked.
Now for the reality check: It turns out that these types of “facts” are simply BASELESS SMEAR ATTACKS WITH NO MERIT! Yes. It is true. Attacks like this are meant to distract the uninformed voters near the end of an election. We don’t hear about them very often because most candidates have too much integrity to run them. They know that winning an election based on lies is unacceptable. Besides, people want to talk about REAL issues affecting REAL lives, not play a game of “6 degrees of Kevin Bacon”.
Random associations are EASY to find. For instance, it turns out that you can trace Obama’s FAMILY TREE to both George W. Bush (10th cousins once removed) and Dick Cheney (eighth cousins). Yep! They are legally RELATIVES. This is yet another useless “fact” for Trivial Pursuit lovers, but it is not worthy of any media time in this national election for the greatest country on God’s green earth.
If you want some more guilt by association, here is something to find out for yourself. Who said this? Who supports this guy and his political party? “The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government. And I won’t be buried under their damn flag.”
Guilt by association is an attack on voters and on the electoral process. Voters need to learn about the issues. Governor Palin should apologize for raising this STUPID guilt by association tactic against Senator Obama. And if she REALLY believes what she is saying, she REALLY should demand that they return “Arnie” Weber’s campaign donations. Seriously. To do anything short of that would be blatant hypocrisy.
“Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don’t have much of a vision for the future or you’re not ready to articulate it.” [John McCain - The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer - 2/21/2000]
Comment by Pellegri on 10/6 @ 11:32 pm #
Hey, newsspambot.
Do you understand first-order and second-order relationships and the qualitative difference between them?
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