MSNBC’s First Thoughts:
So was this week a turning point in the presidential race? The Obama campaign certainly believes it was, and that this will be the moment that Obama grabs the lead for good. If McCain never catches up at this point, his campaign’s actions this week (its blistering criticism of Obama and the media, the visuals it picked, its body language, its VP games) will get second-guessed for months. We know this was a significant week; the question is was it enough to erase the doubts voters have with Obama about his ability to be commander-in-chief? But just asking: Did this week tell us more about Obama or McCain?
I thought this week has had the potential to be that turning point, as noted here earlier. The latest Gallup tracking poll gives Obama a 6% lead — the same pop he got at the start of his World Tour. But Gallup showed that pop petering out (as did the FNC poll), while Rasmussen suggests that most think that the trip does not make Obama more qualified. So waiting until next week for a judgment would be prudent.
The MSNBCers wonder if this week shows that McCain will be reactive for the rest of the campaign, asking:
Why, for instance, did the campaign insist on the equal treatment (see network interviews) this week and not simply attempt to create its own week of coverage from the nets? They were second fiddle all week, and seemed to almost demand being highlighted in that way.
Camp McCain — even if it had its act more together — was not going to come up with better “optics” than Obama this week (though emphasizing throngs of cheering germans may not play well universally).  The McCain campaign did try for a dramatic photo-op at an offshore oil rig, but had to cancel due to weather. Their fallback event at a German restaurant in Ohio at least allowed for the message that McCain is focused on voters at home — and was probably guaranteed coverage in a swing state. It certainly beat the earlier optics of McCain riding in a golf cart with former Pres. George H.W. Bush.
Team McCain may have seemed whiny to the media regarding their coverage, but Howard Kurtz notes that it paid off with interviews on the networks — and perhaps influenced the anchors’ interviews of Obama. The MSNBCers gloss over the fact that Obama coverage consistently overwhelms McCain, so any free media time he gets on the big networks is valuable. Playing the media underdog probably does not hurt McCain (esp. w/ GOP base voters), so long as he does not overdo it. And I suspect that the general public probably has a higher tolerance for media criticism than the media does.
OT: Someone recommend a really good distopian sci-fi novel… I’m going over to Borders in a few minutes and I need some inspiration.. (fyi- my taste runs to stuff like PKD stories..)
Why, for instance, did the campaign insist on the equal treatment (see network interviews) this week and not simply attempt to create its own week of coverage from the nets?
The sad fact is they had to actually “ask” for equal treatment.
What has Obama ever done to garner his huge amount of coverage? I remember in 04 they were putting him on the cover of the WaPo every other day. Now it has only gotten worse, you can’t buy a magazine without him being on the cover let alone it being filled with articles singing his praises. The guy has never accomplished anything other than running a political campaign. Once he got into the Senate or the Illinois Senate he only used it to run for his next campaign, never to actually conduct the business of what he was elected to do. This coverage of him is not earned, not diserved, and not warrented.
The very seeds of destruction held on high by the adoring press and proclaimed as the triumph of Obama’s mind over the oppressions of life.
He is his own undoing.
Ouroboros get a book by George Martin. I prefer Game of Thrones myself but it is not sci-fi like the spaceship type if that is what your looking for.
You want a really cheesy but good sci-fi novel get Deathstalker by Simon Green.
The media is in the tank for Baracky angle got gloriously cemented this week. Combined with Hillary supporters still keenly aware of how the media knee-capped their girl, this week was a turning point for the credibility of the media. For reals. Look.
This is the moment when the media and the MSNBC and the NPR and the Newsweek flew past the point of diminishing returns and accelerated into the curve.
OT: Voice of the Whirlwind or Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams
I actually am beginning to think that McCain’s campaign may be playing this just right. I get the sense that Obama’s european tour will actually do 2 things – (1) cause McCain’s base to rally and (2) cause a backlash amongst the vast middle.
For example, I have never been a huge fan of McCain’s and have been toying with the idea of not voting. I certainly never thought I would ever donate a red cent to his campaign.
I was so disgusted by Obama’s speech in Berlin and the arrogance and implicit anti-americanism of it, not to mention the extreme leftism implied in everything he said, and of course the media’s ridiculous campaigning on Obama’s behalf, that I actually went to McCain’s web-site today and donated $100. I also signed up to (potentially) do some volunteer work.
If I am even remotely representative of conservatives, McCain’s base just became enthusiastic – not necessarily for McCain, but for defeating Obama.
Also, the “water-cooler” talk I have been hearing from wishy-centrists is that they are put off by Obama’s European tour and the media’s fawning over him.
So, I would not be surprised if at the end of this campaign people are pointing fingers at this European trip as the moment when Obama lost the presidency.
It is really getting to be pretty much Greek tragedyish (minus the customary acknowledgeable virtues of the hero) isn’t it hf? Hubris….Nemesis
Splat.
MSNBC is a 24 hour Obama infomercial.
Also,
For all the Obama is destiny and Obama is crushing McCain talk, the facts are the opposite. Most Democrats are up by higher margins in the polls at this point in the race. With all of the wind at Obama’s back this year, he is barely ahead of McCain in the polls. that does not seem to bode well for Obama. With the trouble the GOP brand is having, Obama should be up by double digits and ahead in all of the battleground states. He isn’t.
This indicates that most people have doubts about Obama and that when the rest of the middle starts actually paying attention and see Obama for what he really is, his numbers are going to drop significantly.
Finally, if there is any kind of “Wilder Factor” in the polling (people claiming they will vote for Obama b/c they don’t want to be accused of being racist), we can probably discount his polling numbers by 3-6% anyway.
‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ Phillip K Dick
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
It has the added bonus of being set in post nuculear/destroyed San Franscisco IIRC
I second “Game of Thrones” series. Martin is a seriously good writer and while the genre is fantasy, the writing is literate and the tone is dark and unfantastical.
For more “spacey” science fiction try “The Reality Dysfunction” By Peter K. Hamilton.
Baracky’s kraut orgy of ecstasy also preemptively stole some cache from his super-duper rockstar stadium nomination acceptance extravaganza in Denver. Been there done that, and it won’t be getting less creepy with repetition.
Barack is pretty wild now
Barack’s a super freak
The kind of boy you read about
In Der Spiegel magazine
“If This Goes On-” might be a more appropriate read these days.
hf,
Good point. And guilty pleasure of a song, though it’s not one that springs to mind when I think of Urkel.
“Stop. Hammer time.” — That would be Hillary using the same tune at the convetion.
Also, I’m curious as to why you guys are so adverse to the speech. Many of the lines could have just as easily been delivered by Bush – in fact, the thing about oceans no longer being able to protect us was pretty much cribbed straight from dozens of 2002-2003 Bush speeches (and is just as silly as it was then in light of, you know, ICBMS having been in existence for decades). And all of the environmental talk could have easily been given by McCain.
“I was so disgusted by Obama’s speech in Berlin and the arrogance and implicit anti-americanism of it…”
I’m curious as to which line you would point to as the most arrogant and implicitly anti-American of the speech.
Since the race seems to be getting tighter, does that mean that our country is growing more racist, since you have to be a racist not to vote for Obama?
Old Man’s War by J Scalzi (has the Instapundit seal of approval)
Baracky’s entire gambit is predicated on an implicit recognition that Europe hates our fucking guts, Barrett, and his speech powerfully underscores that for the whole world to nod and murmur yes yes, help us not hate you. Does Baracky wonder what the consequences will be when he loses? I don’t think he does. But now it will represent an ineluctable validation of anti-Americanism. God damn America they will nod and murmur yes yes, this is why we hate you. Win-win for Baracky. Sucks for the country though.
Overkill.
In a media saturated society you have to do so much to get attention, but you also have to re-invent yourself every so often (like Madonna did) or you get stale. End of the worship service, onto the next celebrity, next over-hyped thing.
BJ I especially like the way he kills off main characters at random. It is the kinda book you pick up and never know what is going to happen.
“Baracky’s entire gambit is predicated on an implicit recognition that Europe hates our fucking guts, Barrett, and his speech powerfully underscores that for the whole world to nod and murmur yes yes, help us not hate you. Does Baracky wonder what the consequences will be when he loses? I don’t think he does. But now it will represent an ineluctable validation of anti-Americanism. God damn America they will nod and murmur yes yes, this is why we hate you. Win-win for Baracky. Sucks for the country though.”
I suppose all the talk about the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift and how Americans and Europeans have common values and how the Germans should help us fight terrorists in Afghanistan was just thrown in there to make it *seem* like he wasn’t giving an anti-American speech, eh? Obama’s a crafty one, innit?
Mr. Pink: Exactly, especially the ones you grow fond of, dammit!
BTW: Our own Lisa is a huge George R. R. Martin fan.
I can’t even watch news anymore. Every time I turn it on I swear I am watching an Obama campaign commercial.
Talk about the Berlin airlift, yeah, especially the part where the heros of the piece were found to be the starving peasants on the ground, fighting for the freedom to eat another day.
The election won’t be a referendum on who can kiss German ass more better, Barrett. His cloying ass-kissing lends them a de facto moral veto of our policies, as Baracky works the crowds to elevate the stature and weight of European disapproval.
It’s like how Europeans have increased their carbon emissions as ours have fallen, and yet we’re the ones who are morally deficient Baracky says. Baracky’s like those parents who sign the release form so the principal can spank their kids. Spare the rod, spoil the child, burbles Baracky happily.
“And that’s when the airlift began, when the largest and most unlikely rescue in the history brought food and hope to the people of this city.
The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.
But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up.
And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city’s mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. ‘There is only one possibility,†he said. “For us to stand together united until this battle is won, the people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty,†he said, “and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world, now do your duty. People of the world, look at Berlin.'”
That’s what Obama said. How about you? Are you saying that, in not giving in to the Soviets who were trying to blackmail them with hunger, that the people of West Berlin – sorry, the “peasants,” as you say – were simply “fighting for the freedom to eat another day”? And if Obama doesn’t agree with you that these “peasants” were just hungry pragmatists, does that mean he is elevating these “peasants” to the status of “the heros [sic]” of the story at the expense of the Americans, even though he termed the Berlin Airlift to be a “rescue” conducted by the Americans?
“The election won’t be a referendum on who can kiss German ass more better, Barrett.”
Okay, I don’t recall saying that it would be, so I guess you win this round.
“His cloying ass-kissing lends them a de facto moral veto of our policies, as Baracky works the crowds to elevate the stature and weight of European disapproval.”
Characterizing something as something doesn’t make it so, and certainly isn’t going to convince anyone that is so.
“It’s like how Europeans have increased their carbon emissions as ours have fallen, and yet we’re the ones who are morally deficient Baracky says. Baracky’s like those parents who sign the release form so the principal can spank their kids. Spare the rod, spoil the child, burbles Baracky happily.”
I’m waiting to see a line from the speech which would imply that the U.S. is morally deficient in comparison to the Germans.
Look at Berlin! Look at Berlin! Look at Berlin! Gack. Look at India I say. It’s the future. It ain’t Berlin. Useless cowards in Afghanistan is what they’ve proved to be, useless cowards we ought not flatter and fawn upon.
Agree happyfeet. Wasn’t Afghanistan the “just” war? How come our nato allies are coming up short? What’s up with that?
“…But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. …”
Who refused to give up? Oh, yeah, that’s right, the victims of the Soviets ugly onslaught, who had no say in the decision to institute an Airlift and nothing, outside of magnanimously agreeing to starve otherwise, to do with making the airlift a success. But they kept that flame of hope burning, for warmth no doubt.
So where are Barack’s noble sentiments for the people of Iraq today? Oh good luck to them, as we’ll wave from our rearview mirrors if Barack has his way.
The former chancellor of the descendants of the victims of the Soviets’ ugly onslaught works for the Russians now. And the whore Germans are comfortable with that. Baracky as president won’t make them not be whores, Barrett, he’ll just have to pretend really hard they’re not is all. This is what citizens of the world do.
“But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning.”
Only because they didn’t want to burn the furniture.
“So where are Barack’s noble sentiments for the people of Iraq today? Oh good luck to them, as we’ll wave from our rearview mirrors if Barack has his way.”
Where are your noble sentiments for the people of West Berlin yesterday? Obama has not denounced the people of Iraq as “peasants” who are interested only in bread, as you have with regards to the West Berlin “peasants.”
There is a difference between the people of West Berlin and the people of Iraq today, though. The people of West Berlin and their mayor were requesting help. The people of Iraq and their president are requesting that we leave in about 16 months assuming that things continue on their present course. So, perhaps Obama and the majority of Americans who agree with him (and with the majority of Iraqis and their president) on this point can be forgiven for wanting to, you know, do that. Of course, the risk remains that someone will be able to characterize it all as “waving from our rear-view mirrors,” but I think that most reasonable people will recognize those kinds of fact-independent metaphors as the last resort of a fellow who has no real data that he can use to back up his argument.
Maybe. Was plenty of jew furniture still laying about though, N. O’Brain.
“The former chancellor of the descendants of the victims of the Soviets’ ugly onslaught works for the Russians now. And the whore Germans are comfortable with that. Baracky as president won’t make them not be whores, Barrett, he’ll just have to pretend really hard they’re not is all. This is what citizens of the world do.”
I’m curious at to which of your preferred candidates have denounced the Germans as “whores” or would be capable of eliminating all of this whoredom from Germany, in contrast to Obama, who apparently cannot be trusted to do this.
The people of Iraq and their president are requesting that we leave in about 16 months assuming that things continue on their present course.
What were they requesting when Obama opposed the surge and tried to get us out of there years ago?
I don’t need a candidate to denounce the Euro-weenies. Simply ignoring them is sufficient.
On the SF front: Iain M. Banks writes some magnificently mind-bending stuff. His spaceships have really good names, too.
“The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.”
Yet another baraky lie.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/07/the_audacity_of_fiction.html
“Before adoring throngs in Berlin and the entire world’s media, Barack Obama stated that “many planes were forced to turn back” from the Berlin Airlift because of the bad weather. Great imagery, but contrafactual.
Obama should have read my book before making his claim about the Berlin Airlift. Barely a handful of the nearly 28,000 flights “turned back” in the face in the cruel winter of 1948-1949.
Obama obviously has limited knowledge of the Airlift, and automatically assumes that the USAF would send up aircraft in prohibitively dangerous weather (it didn’t) and that, once up, large numbers of pilots aborted their missions.
Ironically, just last month I contributed to an article in the German publication Flugzeug Classic on the US aircraft that went down in the Soviet Zone.”
Ooops
“…But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. …â€Â
Yea, so much for the US Air Force and the US military. And no mention of Ronald Reagan, either. Another airbrushing of history to suit the Black Jesus.
But, I love the leftwing pivot in the comparison to a W speech, like that’s a reasonable standard to them, suddenly.
You know what I’m hearing a lot of? That Barack looks like a Commander-in-Chief now. I mean, look at him on that world stage. There is no denying he could be commander-in-chief when the world cheers for him like that.
SGT Ted,
Had BO mentioned RR, it would have just been more obvious that BO was ripping off the whole wall tearing down thing. Plus, his base vote at home would have been infuriated.
MayBee,
You may be hearing that, but the Rasmussen link in the post suggests otherwise.
Where are your noble sentiments for the people of West Berlin yesterday? A people that given the chance have enthusiastically chose the protection of tyrants over the advance of freedom. But not so fast really. The German government knew a free Iraq was in their best interest, but they also knew they could make us pay dearly for it in terms of prestige among their own people. They’re really creepy I think. It’s just like they know a free Afghanistan is in their best interest, as long as other fight and die for it. Baracky wants us to stand as one with these creatures. Baracky is smoking crack I think.
I wonder if Barrett is a lefty or if he’s one of those confused guys like thor, who have valid complaints about both parties, but have hit the crack pipe so much that they think Obama isn’t just another leftwing Dem poll from Chicago.
“But, I love the leftwing pivot in the comparison to a W speech, like that’s a reasonable standard to them, suddenly.”
As you should be perfectly aware, my point is that *you* guys were fond of that particular talking point. Did you notice how I referred to it as being as “silly as it was then in light of, you know, ICBMS having been in existence for decades”? I’m not sure how you managed to read that and conclude to yourself, “It sounds like he’s calling this ‘reasonable.'” It wouldn’t hurt to take a vitamin, anyway.
oh. *chosen* … also they’re enthusiastically building coal plants while lecturing us on our evil emissions. Baracky is okey dokey with that too.
“…The people of Iraq and their president are requesting that we leave in about 16 months assuming that things continue on their present course. …”
That’s stilted polling bullshit and I ain’t buying, sorry. I don’t think majorities of either country agree to this pap, but we will be seeing the answer to this question you presumptively prejudge in a few months.
O dear, did I mislable the vanquished surviving Nazi people of Germany as peasants? How politically incorrect of me, even should it turn out to be the case that a great many of them WERE peasants under any ordinary reading of the term. I’m so ashamed and chastened. Thank you for correcting me Mr. Brown.
“I wonder if Barrett is a lefty or if he’s one of those confused guys like thor, who have valid complaints about both parties, but have hit the crack pipe so much that they think Obama isn’t just another leftwing Dem poll from Chicago.”
I try to stay away from the pipe these days, but, yes, I have valid complaints about both parties, think that Obama is a very talented rhetorician from Chicago who is definitely an old-school leftist in most respects but surrounds himself with technocratic advisors for whom I have some respect, and whose foreign policy is somewhat closer to mine than is McCain’s. But I’m not, like, sitting around thinking about how dreamy he is and how he’s going to change everything forever and whatnot, so we can probably skip that whole discussion.
Barrett Brown –
“I suppose all the talk about the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift and how Americans and Europeans have common values and how the Germans should help us fight terrorists in Afghanistan was just thrown in there to make it *seem* like he wasn’t giving an anti-American speech, eh? Obama’s a crafty one, innit?”
It was my impression that the Berliners caught their collective breath very early on into the speech.
Europe in ashes? Check.
Clash of looming totalitarian empire and extreme edge of representative democracy? Check.
Just what were the Russians doing in Prussia and Silesia, and why was Europe in ashes…? Not so check.
The crowd was waiting for Obama to get around to mentioning the “whys” in that last bit there. They are… sensitive about that stuff.
Damned krauts didn’t overcome squat in 1948. The U.S. Air Force kept them from freezing and starving. If anybody “won”, it wasn’t Uncle Joe’s minions working in our State Department and it for damned sure wasn’t the defeated dregs of Nazi Germany.
Want to talk about overcoming adversity? Go find a Leningrad resident who survived the 1941-42 winter.
Obama. The presidency. I can’t believe we are even having this discussion.
oh. *others* fight and die for it … this is because Germans are cowards I think. They search for redemption in the eyes of the world by practicing non-violence against the jew-hating gay-killing Taliban. Creepy inversion of never again I think.
Ouroboros — I’m not a knowledgeable dystopian sci-fi reader, but my brother gave me “When Dies the Fire” by S.M. Stirling. Premise — The laws of nature change (The Change) and electricity and gunpowder no longer work. People separate out into clans, tribes, and feudal orders and fight for survival and dominance in NW America.
“Just what were the Russians doing in Prussia and Silesia, and why was Europe in ashes…? Not so check.
The crowd was waiting for Obama to get around to mentioning the “whys†in that last bit there. They are… sensitive about that stuff.
Damned krauts didn’t overcome squat in 1948. The U.S. Air Force kept them from freezing and starving. If anybody “wonâ€Â, it wasn’t Uncle Joe’s minions working in our State Department and it for damned sure wasn’t the defeated dregs of Nazi Germany.
Want to talk about overcoming adversity? Go find a Leningrad resident who survived the 1941-42 winter.”
If it’s your intention to denounce someone for giving a speech in Berlin that covers the post-war period without describing how it was that the war came to be in the first place, and to claim that failing to describe how the war came about is a sign of cowardice or moral ineptitude or some such, you should probably check first to make sure that you didn’t just also describe Reagan’s most famous speech.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan%27s_Berlin_Wall_Speech
I look forward to the next round of qualifiers. “Well, it was different when Reagan did it. There are some other circumstances that allow such things but I simply forgot to mention them.”
Reagan understood we were responsible for these German children, not partners with them for Christ’s sake. We keep an eye on them so they don’t do that thing where they slaughter millions of people. They haven’t done much to suggest this should change, and their ardent proto-fascist embrace of green ideology bears watching I think.
If it’s your intention to denounce someone for giving a speech in Berlin
Actually, it’s a lot easier than that. I denounce a guy who has an unremarkable record only3 years in the Senate, no foreign policy experience, a personal history of associating with terrorists, race-hatred, anti-Americanism, pandering, and dishonesty, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate and being considered anything but a laughing stock and poseur. But I’m picky that way.
I think Obama has really moved us forward in our discussions. The change we’ve been waiting for is to rehash the Berlin airlift.
“…The people of West Berlin and their mayor were requesting help. …”
This is how the mayor of Berlin requests help: “People of the world: now do your duty! People of the world, look at Berlin!”
Sounds rather more like a demand than a request. Your duty to save us, our duty to be saved.
Your duty to stand up against Nazism. Our duty to create Nazism so that you will have it to stand up against.
The change we’ve been waiting for is to rehash the Berlin airlift.
It’s a pretty good summary of how Barry works. Listen closely to his speeches and he says nothing new. He’s like a high school student who’s learned a text and is giving a speech at a competition. There is nothing behind it. Where’s the beef?
What was the point of the speech? To rally the Germans in the battle against islamic terrorism? Hell he stands as the head of a political party which won’t even acknowledge the War on Terror as legitimate. Democrats strategy is to send the FBI and the ACLU, They act like if only Bin Laden is read his Miranda rights everything will be right. The Democrats and Obama refuse to recognize that the use of multitple islamic terror groups is a strategy to stymie the law enforcement approach and turn our civil rights into a tool to use against us.
Even when Ronald Reagan gave the speech at the Berlin Wall he did not have every news anchor in the country following him. According to the news today Obama is a greater president than RR after his speech, which carried absolutely no weight or new policy.
Barrett Brown –
“I look forward to the next round of qualifiers. “Well, it was different when Reagan did it. There are some other circumstances that allow such things but I simply forgot to mention them.â€Â
I have no qualifiers. Please read Feet’s cogent and just damned elegant post at #56.
It’s not the merit of the performance. It’s the message being sent.
Ronald Reagan spoke to a world that must needs be united in defense of a noble idea.
Barry Obama? Vote for me if I hit enough tropes!
Thanks all.. On my way to Borders..
I’m afraid that Feet’s elegant and shapely post does not contradict the fact that you were attacking Obama for not prefacing a speech to the Germans on the subject of post-war Europe with an account of how the war came to be in the first place and that, in doing so, he did the same thing that Reagan did, and yet you will not attack Reagan for it because you are not arguing in good faith.
“I have no qualifiers.”
Well, in that case, I apologize for saying that you wou-
“Ronald Reagan spoke to a world that must needs be united in defense of a noble idea.”
… uh, okay, see, that’s called a “qualifier.”
He’s not requesting it, he thinks it’s possible. like he says every few months. Maliki has a a tendency to be rather optimistic about what the Iraqi government and security forces can do.
yes, as one reporter told Obama’s people earlier this week, “but he’s not the President”
There was no requirement that he preface it with anything – but the reaction of the audience indicated that they were at a loss where his rhetoric was going, and in my opinion it was because they are pretty well aware of who is doing the heavy lifting in this current war, and why,and are aware on some deep level that maybe, just maybe, they might not be doing their part of the job.
But Barry didn’t call them on it. Like I said, tropes. He got what I call “golf applause” most of the speech. Not a bad crowd for a visiting senator speaking before a foreign crowd. After a free concert.
But not Reaganesque, which wasn’t the objective – and not nearly Kennedyesque, which it most certainly intended to be.
This event will go down the memory hole, except for still photos, within the week.
BTW, I can’t believe I used the word “Krauts” up there. That’s uncalled for, inappropriate, and a sure sign I’m not using my time off in a useful way. I denounce myself, and apologize to the German people who do in fact have troops on the ground, even if they are ineffective, out of harm’s way, and are whose mission is regarded as an embarrassment by most of their countrymen rather than making at least a token contribution to their NATO commitments and the defense of Western Civ.
I really can’t put “Obama” and “Reagan” in the same argument. It’s just… senseless.
Then again, there’s Pelosi as speaker and Reid as majority leader, so who is to say what is senseless, or wrong, eh?
FWIW, I have a fair amount of German heritage (shocka) and the “krauts” reference didn’t even register.
They were second fiddle all week, and seemed to almost demand being highlighted in that way.
Rush was advocating a low profile approach for McCain today, because in his opinion the best strategy is to make it a Obama/NotObama election. Given that most of Obama’s early momentum was gained by being NotClinton, you gotta love it.
Someone recommend a really good distopian sci-fi novel…
Audacity of Hope- Barrack Obama.
I know, but it was just sitting there, all teed up…
Serious Reporter™ Karen Tumulty of TIME weighs in with her very important updates of the day:
July 25, 2008 2:58
This is More Pathetic
Posted by Time Edit | Comments (60) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This
On behalf of a plane-stuck Karen Tumulty
Network guy on plane (third hour on tarmac) has gone from playing Edith Piaf to Don’t Worry Be Happy. Need way more wine. Which, by the way, isn’t French.
—
Sphere Related Blogs & Articles | AddThis
July 25, 2008 2:11
This is Pathetic
Posted by Time Edit | Comments (32) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This
On behalf of a plane-stuck Karen Tumulty
A few hours in Paris, all spent on tarmacs and filing rooms. We are now stuck in the plane and one of the network guys is trying to make us feel better by playing Edith Piaf on the loudspeaker of his iPod. I’m living the dream.
Meanwhile, Sarkozy all but endorsed Obama. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up the Democratic convention keynote speaker. Bruce Crumley will post a story shortly.
—–
Her bestest trip ever has hit a bit of a snag, so she’s drinking wine on the plane with the rest of Obama’s PressCorps.
I just thought you might all want to know, because sometimes the press doesn’t keep us up to date enough on their travels with Barack.
“If This Goes On” Yep we’re certainly in Henlein’s “The Crazy
Years” Barry’s kind of a controversial choice for Nehemiah Scudder, but it just might apply. If you want cyberpunk with
a post-peak oil flavor, try David William’s The “Mirrored Heavens”
I really can’t put “Obama†and “Reagan†in the same argument. It’s just… senseless.
That’s a good point. I think Baracky gains way more gravitas points just by virtue of being selected to run against McCain than by anything he achieves by basking in smarmy euradulation and pretending to take war counsel in sandy places.
Screw the speech, it’s just huckstering to the eurorubes. What I want to know is, Barret, why go to germany at all?
I’m afraid that Feet’s elegant and shapely post does not contradict the fact that you were attacking Obama for not prefacing a speech to the Germans on the subject of post-war Europe with an account of how the war came to be in the first place and that, in doing so, he did the same thing that Reagan did, and yet you will not attack Reagan for it because you are not arguing in good faith.
Barrett Brown,
I guess that we can just call the fact that Reagan was actually the President of the United States vs. Barack Obama being the presumptive nominee of one of the American political parties as a “qualifierâ€Â… right? His foreign speeches might carry a little more weight or deserve the respect Reagan got & still gets if Barrack actually wins Presidency or at the very least maintains a stated policy for longer than the span of a public appearance or change in his internal polls.
Of course I guess we can totally ignore that Reagan had years of executive experience governing the most populous state in US vs. Barrack’s… hmm… 153 days spent in the Senate before running for higher office. Reagan was there to re-enforce his Administration’s policies in regards to it stance against the USSR & the US’s defense of Western Europe, whereas Barrack was there merely to “appear†Presidential or pass John Kerry’s “Global Test.â€Â
I’d say you’re arguing apples & oranges, but in reality you’re arguing rocks & oranges.
P.S. – Reagan never had to fake the numbers of his crowds while abroad.
I already denounce myself for qualifying!!!!11!!!
Y’all. So. Rock.
McCain finally slipped the thong off the hammer today,too.
And he didn’t even have to take his passport to give the speech, either.
Good job, senator.