1

The Obama campaign truly has been the campaign of hope: as in, "I hope I can do this."

BWA-HA-HA ...i can haz irony?

...nailed it, Gabe.

2 I love Biden, though. May he never disappear (until after the election).

Did he just say at 1:47:

"Part of what a leader does is instil confidence, demonstrate that he or she knows what they're talking about...

... When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on television..."

Did he? Really? In 1929?

And this is the same clip where Biden said the Obama email ad was "terrible."

3

I'm torn on this.  One one hand (as a Christian Conservative) I believe in individual rights, strongly opposed to government abridgement of rights based on the belief that people are on the whole better able to shape their own destiny than Washington elites. 

On the other, most individuals are stupid; were it otherwise, Obama would be running a 20 point deficit.

Is it that people are stupid, or that the most readily available information (the MSM and education system) are misleading them?  I'd like to think the latter since Reagan did in fact win.  On the other hand, so did Clinton. 

4 This whole "serve as blank screen...people projecting their own hopes fears blah blah"... That was actually stolen...or is an homage to ...exactly what was said of Greta Garbo's face as she posed for the last shot of Queen Christina. Unless I see Barack pull off a very impressive Camille, I'd have to say, advantage: Garbo.

5 The race isn't so much between Obama and McCain as it is between public perception of the man and his very human, very flawed reality. Reality will eventually catch up--hopefully before November. Could any man or woman live up to the hype surrounding Barack Obama? I write this somewhat sympathetically, although the man himself leaves me cold--I've heard of his arrogance and 'I love humanity but hate people' detachment. The dread Obama must feel every time he is forced to endure an unscripted, un-rehearsed public moment must be well-nigh unbearable.

6 I can agree with Obama on that much: People annoy me too.

7 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122204781847961747.html

^ that's about the upcoming debate format... but check out the correction at the bottom:

"Corrections & Amplifications: A spokeswoman for John McCain's campaign says Michael Steele will not participate in the presidential candidate's debate preparation. The initial version of this article said that Mr. Steele will play the part of Barack Obama in preparing Sen. McCain for the debates."

hahaha. Too bad Michael Steele is a real man, not some pussied up boy.

8 I don't care what you say. I'm voting for Barack! Hey, wait a minute! What am I doing here? I've been dead for 18 years!

9

I never knew how bad shit smelled until I had to help dig up a septic tank back home where I grew up.  Just sayin.

That and it turns out that if you flush a balloon down the toilet when you're 8 years old, it'll still be there when you're 15.

10

And I still didn't learn not to reset your sockpuppet 10 minutes later.

11 Driving Daddy's truck? You mean something like this?

12 As if.

Bambi will be Orgasming  if he gets his hands on the levers of USA power.

He may be unsuccessful as President by standard metrics, but he will give the USA a big push towards Marxism, and that's his measure of success.

13 There is a scene in Robert Redford's movie The Candidate where, I believe it was, the Obama-character just won his Senate race and is trying to get to the acceptance speech --- but he is overpowered by the need to pull his campaign manager into a room and ask desperately, "What do I do now...." or something like that...The whole point of the movie is how a politician can have no say in the message of his campaign and little clue as to what government is all about --- well - should be all about --- and is propelled into office by the team that picks him.

14 Sorta on-topic:  a few years ago a young woman ran for the City Council in my small Silicon Valley suburb.  Early twenties, Ivy League graduate who just moved here, she had all kinds of "position papers" and was backed by the local lefties - in fact she raised the most money of any candidate!  Of course she was endorsed by the local rags.  With six people running for four seats she finished dead last.  Haven't heard from her since.  Hopefully Obama will meet the same fate.

15 "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views."

That is the essence of Obama. For all of the storytelling and historic significance his supporters promote, he remains the manufactured candidate we've (well, the right anyway) always publicly declared.

One need look no deeper than this. He's a nebulous mirage, an assemblage of smoke and mirrors crafted by a sophisticated political machine and sustained by the energy of a cult following.

Cardboard cutout. Sounding board. Puppet. "Blank screen." He is each and every one of these things.

Should he become President, no doubt Team Obama will decide the Presidency is too beneath Him as they try to promote Him ruler of Earth, a transnational figure surpassing anyone in our history. And what will he have accomplished, really accomplished, to do it? Tangibly nothing. He'll have survived being the front man to an army of others while having no opinion or policy of his own. Ironically, he'll have displayed a lack of brains, if not soul. Some would call that "something." Rational people won't.

16 Back where I grew up, this is what driving Daddy's truck was about:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/07/14/Boy-saves-father-050713.html

Obama could only dream to be as courageous as a Saskatchewan eight year old.

17 "Obama could only dream to be as courageous as a Saskatchewan eight year old."

I'm sure he does dream about that. McCain, on the other hand, has done it.

18 There is indeed no "deeper Barack", and I find that startling in any man who would be President. Has there ever been a candidate for which there is less apparent motivation to seek the job besides sheer self-aggrandizement? Has there ever been one with fewer apparent qualifications?

19

 Things are rolling now, but it's just starting to dawn on him that maybe he doesn't know as well as he thought how to control this thing. He's more likely to come to a screeching, crunching, grinding stop crash and burn than to make a graceful finish.

 

There, Gabriel- fixed it for ya.

20 Only slightly OT: Stanley Kurtz has an article up about Obama and Ayers over at OpinionJournal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212856075765367.html

"Obama and Ayers Pushed Radicalism on Schools."

21 Barack Obama's vagueness is the result of his desperate attempt to hide his real self.

Racially resentful, Black Nationalist, Marxist.

Simple as that.

When he says uhhhhh for fifteen seconds he's trying to figure what he should say as opposed to what he really believes in.

22 I'm hanging my hopes on McCain's debate-fu putting The One in a closed loop of mumbling helplessness.

23

>Has there ever been a candidate for which there is less apparent motivation to seek the job besides sheer self-aggrandizement?

The last Democrat president comes to mind.

24 Jones, of course Bill Clinton was very vain and wanted to glorify himself.

But he was a pretty good governor and did have a lot of ideas about the economy and getting people a lot of jobs, be they crummy or not.  I don't agree with the man's policies 100% or even close, but he could be an effective executive and a smart politician when he wasn't being an idiotic teenage boy.  Obama dreams of being half the leader or politician Bill Clinton was.  Sure, Clinton was not super experienced, but he was far more experienced than Obama.  He was an executive.

If Clinton had a thin resume, Obama's is antimatter.  I really cannot understand that core question: why does Obama want to actually be the president right now?  There are so many other great leaders who want the job.  Couldn't Obama grow a little, work on Capitol Hill a bit, and accomplish things?  Make mistakes and successes, and gain the confidence he needs to do a good job?  Does Obama actually want to do a good job?  W thought he could unite Washington and restore some credibility to his office (it sounded realistic at the time, given his abilities as an excellent governor).  Reagan wanted to defeat evil and get America off its depressed ass!  What is Obama doing this for?  He isn't going to end any war.  He isn't going to get legislation passed when he leaves the Senate.  He was just running to boost his profile, and he is scared of winning.

25 "Hitch writes that he's getting the feeling that Obama is a little scared of winning this contest. And why wouldn't he be? After two years of dancing to his minders' tune, being reduced to a mouthpiece for smarter, more experienced and more ambitious men and women, he can look forward to at least four more! This is an understandable fear."

If this psychoanalysis is correct, he will indeed self-destruct.

The internal pressure is only going to get worse and worse.  And the unconscious does funny things when true desires are repressed.

I think the true Obama was the guy who said that he wants to know what he's doing before he runs for President (after he was sworn in as US Senator.)  He would have been more fulfilled and successful had he actually acquired that knowledge.

But he never got that chance. 

John McCain has no such issues.  He wants to win because he's taken a look at the chump across him, and realizes it is his duty to win to save his homeland.

26 I’m not a McCain supporter, but I can’t help but think an effective ad for McCain would be for him to speak into the camera and say something like, “My fellow Americans, I know when times are good, it's tempting to take a chance on someone new and unproven. But tough times lie ahead of us. We are facing unprecedented economic and strategic challenges. It’s not the time to roll the dice and hope for the best. It’s the time for real leadership. Proven leadership.”

27

#22 Jones in CO:

"I'm hanging my hopes on McCain's debate-fu putting The One in a closed loop of mumbling helplessness."

Yes, but I want to also see some real McCain campaign ads; ones that lighlight BHO's poor choice in freinds, overall lack of success per-political-career, and poorer choice in advisors. Something significantly more severe than " ... not ready to lead".

I realize that it's only been 26 hours since the Jawa post, but even with a little research, the McCain campaign could walk with the report: there's enough linkage to show significant media manipulation on the part of the Obama campaign, will McCain start asking questions in the next 3 days?

With $700 billion at stake, will McCain start running ads of the form:

"Obama's Chicago friends and advisors invented the subprime mortgage problem, sent a Chicago bank under, and finagled a government bailout. 

I proposed legislation that would've prevented  re-occurances, yet was stopped by Obama and his friends in the Senate.

Now, they've repeated their mistake, on a national scale, at least one of them made $26million in bonuses, yet they want to be bailed out again.

We get rid of the people who make obvious mistakes. Obama hires them. 

Let's not make this mistake for the third time, this time with the nation's future.

Vote McCain / Palin: Experienced and proven leaders you can trust"

Something at least equally pointed about Ayres, Dohrn and the Chhicago Machine, and also Wright.

Discuss the fact that "community organizer" requires little more than graduating highschool.

Repeat the new astroturfing allegations and previous astroturfing incidents by Axelrod. 

Demand answers: Is BHO really getting complete and truthful information? How do we, and he, know? 

Can the rest of the government trust his advisers, or will there be more astroturf?

Can the American Public trust his advisers?

My guess is that Obama will be psychologically, if not physically, unable to appear at any debate.

 

28 Is it any wonder he reacted so badly to being compared to Britney? Because it's precisely true. If this whole thing backfires the way it should, look for him to get fatter than Al Gore.

29 The main thing we have to worry about is the fact that The Deciders in the MSM are doing their damnedest to shield American voters from all of this stuff.  We've got an undeclared 527 group (thanks, Maverick!) that's going to work its ass off to swing the election, and there's really nothing we can do about it, other than telling people we know who aren't as politically active as we are about all of this.

30

As you might guess from my alias, I've been accused more than once of thinking I'm smarter than everybody else.  I'm one year older than Obama, I am a lawyer and a political junkie.

I wouldn't want the job of President if they begged me to take it.  I would be in way over my head. 

It's not a job for mere mortals.  Even our bad Presidents were some of the best and brightest. 

Obama has done nothing in his life that would indicate he has the ability to do the job.  An Ivy League degree doesn't come close.  What's he done since?

I get the feeling he ran for President because he thought it would be really cool to live in the White House.

31 Even those of you who read no further beyond this blog than the back of a box of Froot Loops that this thread was initiated by an approach first encountered in junior high school, when the pimply faced goofoffs with one hand permanently stuck down the front of their pants spent 90% or more of just about any class that involved reading with no pictures snickering at the teacher, snickering at the students who put up their hand to offer responses to the teacher, snickering at Morris the Doofus trying to make himself very small so as escape attention, a noon hour beating and the daily theft of his lunch money etc. That's deliberate, because it's a learned technique in the process of instilling propaganda, and has been around for many decades. Hell, Senator McCain could tell you all how it works, because they according to "his" writing, the ones his publicist and minder ghost-wrote for him, they practiced the techniique on him. So you can see how destructive it is to the old IQ. Some of you may have even read a few lines from George Orwell's Animal Farm, where the pigs ran the show, with the assistance of the ducks and geese who thought the pigs must be so clever to come up with so many negative snark putodwn so "spontaneously" to put the other animals in place. Hitchens is such a pig, and scruffy idiot one to boot [Take a look at that ridiculous act of phoney self-conceit in his way-late-to-the-torture-chamber self-waterboarding- the idiot was cringing at the idea of even thinking about considering doing it to feel somehow "bonded" with ...something. Maloris such a pig too, but a minor oinker, more of porker at Ace's swill box [For all I know Ace and Malor both are so strong and fit and sauve and debonair they put Pierce Brosnan to shame, so this observation has to do with their BENT, not their personal appearance or hygiene.] You the Tools seem far too scruffy to qualify for the dignity of being labeled ducks or geese, but you're undeniably fowl, so I'm thinking some form of buzzard. Do you really think that when the entire corporate establishment media machine, the membership of which is for the most part utterly owned by wayout wingers like Richard Mellon Scaife and Rupert Murdoch and treated like unruly dogs when they get off the Republican party line, mocks Steve Schmidt and the entire McCampaign for their moronic efforts to intimidate them by going after the New York Times as "in the tank" for Obama, and every 5 minutes updates their reports to include the latest "fraudulent effort" or "crass lying piece of lighthandedness" by the McCampaign, all that is absolutely no reflection of what the McCampaign is doing? The only way any of this makes sense is if, just like in the Manchurian Candidate, Governor Palin attends his last debate with Senator Obama without warning Senator McCain, at the end of which she goes on stage to shake Senator McCain's hand, but in surprise his entire endocrine system suffers a massive seizure, causing him to collapse in her capable hard body arms, and before he expires he whispers to her "Haven't ...got ...much ...time.. you...you must go on without me..." whereupon he expires in full Hollywood style [He's done cameos in 6 movies, so unlike the other 3 in the POTUS-VPOTUS matchup, he's got the experience], whereupon she brushes one hair gone a little awry from his foreheard, applies a tender kiss to his temple, lets him down gently onto the floor, then rises up and spreads her fists at the end of her fully extended arms to the heavens. That could work. As for what you're doing here, well, you could do less harm to your brains pulling your pud every half hour. [oh sorry, guys, I just assumed you hadn't actually got to that stage]

32

".....he was mocked on Leno...."  Anyone have any details or links on that?

I have been saying for some time that thought Obama and his team really did not expect to get the nomination. I figure he thought he would lose to Hillary, and either be her VP...... be *the* VP if she won...... or be the Prez nominee next time around if she lost..... or worst-case, be a major Senate player AND black leader from here on out if any of the above did not work out. One wonders if, in some strange way, him actually winning the nomination first time out was sort of the least desireable result for him.

And of course, once you are in it, you are in it. There's too many people invested in you to do anything but see it through. But I really wonder if he was shocked when he really started to take off in the primaries, and had to stick it out when that wasn't even the real plan. (If it did go down that way, he'd be a much better candidate four years from now, I think, and a lot of his vulnerabilities would be old old news.)

Pardon my heresy, but I sometimes wonder if Sarah Palin similarly looks at that crowd of 60,000 Floridians, five thousand miles from her home, who are there for her and her alone, she ponders the reality that McCain will owe his election to her should he win (giving her HUGE clout), and secretly thinks "Holy shit, what did I get into here? No goin' back now."

 History is a kick in the ass, I tells ya.

 

33 Obama won't be allowed to self destruct. The MSM will not let that happen. For all we know he may already have gotten drunk and slapped someone.

And then that 8 yr old girl he slapped beat the crap out of him.

Nope, the MSM will never air that video.

34

Here in California its three strike you're OUT - as the rest of your life in the pokey.

Let's review:

#1: OBANMA WRONG on Iraq;

#2: OBAMA WRONG  on Russia;

#3: OBAMA WRONG in 2005 on McCain's Bill (S190) for restructuring Fannie & Freddie which with interest will is about to cost taxpayers 2.5 Trillion.

And this guy deserves to be President? Of what, the funhouse?

35 Diderot's dog:

Sorry, were we supposed to actually read that rambling, eye-melting wall of text you just posted?

36 . > Sometimes it takes him a few tries to figure out just what message his minders are projecting onto him. Perhaps he has a bright future performing on Whose Line Is It, Anyway?...? That's a great talent for use in Improv Comedy, Not a particularly useful talent for a PotUS, though... "Look, Ahminajad. Say things about the screen behind me. I'll make you laugh. Then you'll see that this whole 'Nuke Israel!!' thing was a bad idea..." .

37 Hey, look at Diderot's dog -- Watch me put this treat on his nose!! Hold it boy! Hold it! Don't move. Stay.... Stay.... .

38 If anyone knows how, #26 and 27 should be sent to the McCainn/Palin campaign offices.

39

OT:

If anyone had any doubts about ( http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13927 ) the ONLY motive Democrats are delaying the “bailout” - which they will approve in the end, anyway, because they love big government:
—
Democrats in the Senate and House believe that if they can string out negotiations on the federal financial markets bailout through Tuesday, “we can get everything we want and more, including solidifying the Obama campaign,” says a Senate Banking Committee staffer working for the majority.

“Let’s see what the White House has to say when the market is cratering again.”
—

True patriots: Obama first depended on a collapse in Iraq; now he depends on a new economic depression. Way to go, traitors!

40

... When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on television..."

Did he? Really? In 1929?

The Smartest Man in the World® said that?  It's hard to count all the mistakes in that statement.

Yes, but I want to also see some real McCain campaign ads; ones that lighlight BHO's poor choice in freinds, overall lack of success per-political-career, and poorer choice in advisors. Something significantly more severe than " ... not ready to lead".

That ad would run for an hour and a half.  McCain might have to trim it down a little.

41 David Axelrod: "If we run a conventional campaign and look like a conventional candidacy, we lose." As Hitchens notes, it's looking mighty conventional now.

42 Maybe this isn't the time for levity, but McCain should show up at the first debate with an iPhone, and use it in some context; maybe send a message to Obama's Blackberry like...:YOU ARE A DUMB DANGEROUS A'HOLE."  Actually, I kid about that part, but the iPhone idea, at least pre-financial crisis might have  been a cool idea.

43 Diderot's dog can sure puke up some word-salad.

44 That Obumbler has made it this far indicates to me that our political system is fatally flawed.  Every day I'm amazed that this worthless cocksucker has made it this far based on giant promise balloons filled with fart gas that people think will be perfume when they pop.  The complete lack of accomplishing anything tangible in his life and not being called out on that makes me continually wonder who is driving this.  I primarily blame the MSM for never asking him any hard questions to reveal the nothingness he represents.  But I also blame the people that have voted for him for not seeing through his facade; has education become so shitty that people lack the ability to do that?

45 Has there ever been a candidate for which there is less apparent motivation to seek the job besides sheer self-aggrandizement? Has there ever been one with fewer apparent qualifications?

William Jefferson "I Like Big Butts, but I have to LIE" Clinton. My Lord, the man pretty much said he had wanted to be President from the time he was four.

Though I'd argue that his resume was a bit more appropriate for the job. You know, that GOVERNORSHIP he held qualified him, even though he never was a Senator.

46 has education become so shitty that people lack the ability to do that? Yes, yes it has.

47

I think Hitchens is wrong about Obama.  He has the arrogance of incompetence.  How many of us have worked with people who are completely, utterly incompetent, but are utterly sure of their supreme competence?  I've been seeing people like this for years and years.  My last boss was one of them.  Could not manage his way out of a paper bag, but he could give a presentation to upper management like nobody's business.  I once worked for an attorney who managed to get a client to pay him $50,000 a month to do absolutely nothing.  Barack Obama is that guy.  One reason the PUMAs hate him so much is that women have seen that guy over and over again in their careers, and he always manages to talk his way into the top job ahead of the smart and truly competent woman.  And then he usually screws up the entire division or company once he take over.   But the best of them always manage to blame somebody else when they fail, or else they find another sucker to hire them before the shit hits the fan.

One reason our economy is so fucked up is because people like this continue to get top jobs in our businesses and they screw them right into the ground.  And yet we are about to elect one to the presidency of the United States, at a time when we may need competence in that office more than we have since World War II.

Obama has been glorified and worshiped by his acolytes for so long that I'm convinced he believes it.  He is not a bit afraid, which is why he keeps opening his trap and revealing how stupid he is. 

48

And everybody who has ever worked with lawyers knows they are some of the worst managers in the world.  Big law firms hire non-lawyers to do the actual management of the firm.  They don't teach management at Harvard Law.  Communiuty organizers do not learn how to manage. State senators have few staff and not much to manage.  U.S. Senators have chiefs of staff who do the managing. 

Barack Obama thought if he got elected all he was going to have to worry about was how fast he could lose the war in Iraq.  He has no fucking clue about how to manage a worldwide financial crisis or an oil shortage. 

49

Obama is like some twisted version of Micky Mouse in that magician’s apprentice cartoon. 

 In his quest for power, he has conjured up a host of mindless Obamabots that he cannot control.

 

50

Rockmom, you just gave Bambi the title to his next book - The Arrogance of Incompetence

The story of a foolish United States Senator who makes a vain attempt to become President who instead becomes the answer to that age old question - just how stupid and silly can you be before the Democratic Party nominates you as it's leader.

51

Diderot's dog  I believe your master had a quote that applies to you:

"I have been, and still am, angry at being mediocre."

Cheer up, for your god-king Obama can not possibly lose.  Right?

52 #15
the manufactured candidate

a nebulous mirage, an assemblage of smoke and mirrors crafted by a sophisticated political machine and sustained by the energy of a cult following.

Cardboard cutout. Sounding board. Puppet. "Blank screen.

#18
There is indeed no "deeper Barack", and I find that startling in any man who would be President. Has there ever been a candidate for which there is less apparent motivation to seek the job besides sheer self-aggrandizement? Has there ever been one with fewer apparent qualifications?

Perfect.

53 And yet DD remains unbanned............

Ace, what gives?

54 35 Diderot's dog:

Sorry, were we supposed to actually read that rambling, eye-melting wall of text you just posted?
Posted by: Evil Otto

Yeah, quit doing model airplanes in the closet while youre at it

55 See, this is what I'm uh talkin about. You uh clingers get on the internets and uh put forth the uh most uh viral stuff about me and uh, this uh doesn't help uh ah this doesn't ..uh, Fannie, uh, Mac, uh, Fred....uh that's what I'm talking about.

Diderot, uh you're what I need more uh of. You know the uh way to uh communicate. You can uh contact Davey Axelrod. He uh has some uh work that uh.....we'll get in touch .

For the rest of you uh, morons. Heh....that's uh funny. Morons. (Michelle, they call themselves morons...yeah....on purpose.) Uh...you uh, when I'm uh President you'll uh you'll see the error uh o your ways.

56 Buyers remorse Chris ??

57 #44
giant promise balloons filled with fart gas that people think will be perfume when they pop.

PURE POETRY. My sack just tingled.

58

Gabriel,

I think what you wrote was as good as what Hitchens wrote. Good job!

 

59

Ayers wanted teachers trained to instruct against “oppression” and to push schoolchildren towards political beliefs Ayers valued — apparently valuing them higher than actual education.  Barack Obama agreed, and for several years worked in close partnership with Ayers to implement that educational policy.  Even had Ayers never tossed a single bomb, this kind of educational philosophy would likely raise eyebrows with most parents, who desire a real education for their children and not some sort of political indoctrination camp.  With the context of Ayers’ violent radicalism, however, it makes the CAC even worse — a breeding ground for future Weathermen, ready to follow Ayers’ lead when the time comes for the revolution that Ayers and his wife (and co-terrorist) Bernardine Dohrn to this day desire.

Barack Obama not only supported this, he helped run this program for several years.  What does that say about Obama’s idea of mainstream, as he has repeatedly described Ayers and Dohrn?  What does that say about his own politics, his own ideas on education, and what kind of philosophy he brings to American politics?

 

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/23/the-obama-ayers-connection-chicago-annenberg-challenge/#comment-1447484

60 Think of it like this: every time Obama says "uh" on camera, what he's really doing is flinching from the possibility that his campaign manager, David Plouffe, is going to whack him on the nose with a newspaper. Again. Hence the stutter.

That is quite possibly the most beautifully angry line you've ever written.

61

Is it that people are stupid, or that the most readily available information (the MSM and education system) are misleading them?  I'd like to think the latter since Reagan did in fact win.  On the other hand, so did Clinton.

Yes. And yes.

Actually, I think the country has lapsed into a wish-fulfillment delusion due to the frantic pace of life in modern America. Life has gotten much more complicated in the recent past--it's a high-density minefield any more, moreso than at any time I've seen. We look around, and we see people who aren't doing the best job of hiding their unease. Maybe it's just because I live outside D.C., but I see people who look fit to snap all day, every day, "living lives of quiet desperation," as the expression goes. Job insecurity, rising prices/inflation starting to make the 401k look paltry, upside-down loans, multilingual frustrations, etc. 

As a result, I think a lot of people gravitate to the guy who looks least troubled. Mr. Smooth. They figure that if he's smiling, he's figured out an angle, and they want to be wingmen for the guy who can sidewind through the shoals of life. That guy is uber-hipster, smiling sage Obama. That guy is not John McCain. Obama is unwarranted confidence; McCain is grim determination. They shouldn't be mistaken for being the same thing.

That's the only way I can figure this guy's popularity. That, and the quadrennial love-affair (and subsequent, quadrennial disillusionment) with the college-aged voting bloc.

62 Rockmom... +1. Spot on. All gloss and no guts is Our Barry.

63 To "disappear" one has to put in a first appearance to begin with.

When did The One pull off that neat trick?

It is practically unheard of for the student editor of the Harvard Law Review to get that plum position without ever having written anything FOR the HLR.  Yet, The One pulled off that incredible trick and even got the "editor" title changed to "president". 

Just go from that point on in The One's career and let me know when you find evidence he actually exists at all.  Then I'll believe he subsequently "disappeared".

As POTUS, you can't vote "present" on important issues.

"Bomb Pakistan!  No, wait, I worded that poorly ... "

64 OT - Sen. Mike Enzi is kicking ass in the Senate Banking Committee hearing.  Actually getting applause from the audience.  Dodd just had to tell the audience to stop clapping!!!

65 Barry is Chauncey Gardner in Being There an idiot savant. Except for the savant part.

66

So, why the hell do his poll numbers keep going up?

I'm once again disturbed that so many Americans can look at a guy like this and think, "Hey, let's make him President!"

 

67 Hey DD  see if  this ramble compares to yours....

The registered attorney rails across an agenda. Dog unloads idiot. Dog runs with an about pointer. Idiot runs against dog.

68 This hits some of my distaste for Obama, I can't stand dithering.  I'd rather be confident and wrong than sit around and wring my hands.  Yes, it's necessary to gather information.  Yes, it's necessary to consider alternatives.  But then you have to act.  It's this paralyzing fear of acting that drives me nuts by anyone.  I truly do not want to see it in a President.  See re:  Carter. 

69 IT'S KIND OF LIKE WHEN YOU SMACK YOUR KID AND THEN HE KICKS THE CAT TEN MINUTES LATER.

This is some sort of encrypted sexual proposition...isn't it.

70 The problem is not Barry's ideas, which are typical liberal class envy, etc. The problem is that B Hussein Obama is terribly flawed as a man. The Wright and Ayers relationships (not associations, as the libtards want it to be) disqualified him out of the gate. Thanks to affirmative action, however, it is not the content of his character that counts, but the color of his skin...

71 I will also add that the last couple months have shown us a different Obama. The presumptive president was humbled by mainstream America’s response to Obama’s life-story, credentials, and policies. We poke fun at the liberal idea of Obama being a “Messiah” but until a few months ago he really believed it. He really thought that “he” could save America and went on a tour de Obama around the globe to show it. Upon returning, America wanted to know more about Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, his experience, his supposed tough upbringing, and most importantly what he intends to do with America. This last comment has forced a lot of Clinton supporters over to McCain and a lot of hard core conservatives grudgingly to McCain. This has been a shock to his own self-image, making him suddenly unsure of himself. www.trunkreport.com

72 We have assumed Obama wants to win the election, and maybe he does. Maybe it isn't important to win the election this time. Maybe the main goal is to flense the electorate of diverse sources of community activism. Obama's string pullers include Soros and Ayers who have been raised up on the principles of revolutionary politics and Marxist ideologies. One of these principles is that the narrative exists prior to the facts which will support it. Having decided upon revolution for the US, it is not sufficient to return the Democrat party as constituted in 2000 to power. That party must change or be by-passed. A win which takes in a veto proof Congress would be okay, but lingering patriotism might lead to defeat even after electoral victory. A loss which enables the New Party to return to the community with a vivid narrative, supported by freshly minted facts, about how unjust the victors have been, and a community deprived of its more traditional leadership, is much more malleable. After "The Loss" the communities which feel betrayed will be led by true marxist in lieu of their current leadership- who are motivated by concern for well-being. Trimming the revolutionary mass of its weaker leadership is always an early step in revolution. Time to recognize Ayers and Soros for their true reach.

73 I think it is true that Obama did not think he had any serious shot at securing the Democratic nomination but was instead both showing off and building his organization. If he had been serious he would have forcefully pushed himself away from the Chicago crowd at the start. He would have gone on more trips, done more interviews and op-eds. Sponsored more bills. No one, including the black community took him seriously prior to Iowa. Iowa was supposed to be his campaigns crowning moment and to show off his fledgling machine. Even winning I don't think anyone expected his momentum to carry. Edwards threw a wrench in Hillary's works and even though she successfully maneuvered him out she had foolishly counted on an early knockout. Obama's minions and the media seized the opening and managed to push him to a small lead which could not be overcome due to the primary process. Dooming the party in what should have been a banner year.

When the history of this election is written Obama loss will be chiefly attributable to a flawed primary process which would allow a clearly lesser candidate to secure the nomination. The left can have conniptions over Palin forever but they know she would never have won the Republican nomination. Even Reagan took 3 tries to get there. Obama's campaign this year was supposed to be equivalent to Reagan's of 1968 with a build toward 8 years from now. Instead he is about to become a foot note. There are too many ambitious people at the top of the Democratic party to ever allow someone 2 shots at the top prize.

74 So, why the hell do his poll numbers keep going up?

Sadly, I am more and more coming to the belief that there are a lot of people who WANT the kind of socialism that Barry is peddling. Too many people have bought in to the "eternal childhood" that our society sells. They just want Big Daddy Government to make all the hard calls for them, and tell them what to do, so they can get back to important things, like playing XBox and watching "America's next Top Model."

People don;t want to do the difficult work that adulthood and responsibility set forth for adults.

75 He seems vapid and hesitant because he's never really sure if the answer he's giving is the right one.

But all the sophisticated, la-de-dah lefties praise this because it's evidence that he's "thoughtful" and "nuanced".

 I'd rather be confident and wrong than sit around and wring my hands. 

Which is what Jimmy Carter did for most of his presidency, in particular, the Iranian hostage crisis. So here we have yet another incompetent bumblefuck lauded by the chattering classes as "thoughtful".

May God save this country from "thoughtful" men.

76 Synopsis of D-dog's post:

He think we stoopid. And dumb. And not as smart as him. Becuz we r stoopid.

77 Wait.  McCain isn't doing great in the polls; what's this talk about an Obama loss.  Please STFU about a win; it leads to complacency, no?  Thank you.

78 We have become a nation, collectively, of morons--and not the good kind.  I'm amazed we've hung on this long; that we're not already France.  Gosh, I turned conservative after living in France for about two years--it ain't no paradise.

79 Obama's a Robert Redford fan, right? Maybe he should watch The Candidate.

80 78 Wait.  McCain isn't doing great in the polls; what's this talk about an Obama loss.  Please STFU about a win; it leads to complacency, no?  Thank you.

WHAT !?!?

http://tinyurl.com/4vovfx

also tied 48% to 48% in rasmussen tracking Poll Take you MEDS !!!

81 Thanks (75) CrankyProf, I wasn't depressed enough already.

82 He was just running to boost his profile, and he is scared of winning.

I know that's the conventional wisdom, but if that's true, why didn't he find some way to cede the contest to Hillary, knowing she'd have to take him as VP? I really think rockmom nailed it. This arrogant douche really thinks he should be president.

When he appears hesitant, it's because he's trying to hide his true radical self, not because of any inner crisis of confidence.

83

I wouldn't want the job of President if they begged me to take it.  I would be in way over my head. 

It's not a job for mere mortals.  Even our bad Presidents were some of the best and brightest.

I disagree.  What's important in a president is the ability to ask the correct questions so one gets the information needed to make the proper decisions, having a coherent set of values upon which one bases those decisions, and enough backbone to stand up for what one believes if those decisions prove politically unpopular.

Take a look at who's been nominated to run for POTUS since 1980 - Carter, Reagan, Mondale, Dole, Clinton, Bush Sr., GWBush, Gore, Kerry, Obama, McCain.  These are our best and brightest?  In some cases yes, but for the most part no.  Reagan had a vision and the ability to communicate that vision.  Clinton was a supremely skilled politician and triangulator.  GWBush got the WOT right and almost everything else wrong.  America's best and brightest generally don't gravitate toward politics - they go into the private sector.  Politics tends to attract people who THINK they're smarter than everyone else but have never had to demonstrate that superiority in anything resembling a competitive marketplace.

Other than running for/being elect President none of the candidates we've seen since 1980 would have been particularly noteworthy otherwise.

The big unanswered questions about Obama revolve around his core beliefs.  I see nothing in his background to indicate he's anything but a doctrinaire socialist/communist.  If he's elected we can only pray he's incompetent because his politics are far, far to the left of anything we've seen (in the US...) since FDR.

84 More bad News for "THE CHOSEN ONE" http://tinyurl.com/4bbx69

85

He only speaks hesitantly because of teh racism!!!1!!

"His caution is evident from the way he sifts and searches the language as he speaks, stepping around words that might push him into the danger zone."

"These maneuvers are often painful to watch."

"The troubling part is that they are necessary."

86 Why is Obama doing so well in the polls?

It's backlash.  It's the reaction people have when the Olympic skater that's predicted to win the whole shebang is sidelined by someone that no one had paid any attention to, who suddenly gets on the ice and performs a perfect routine.  The audience goes wild, the microphone is snatched away while the star skater is in mid-sentence, still unaware of what's happened because they never even bothered to watch the other skaters' routines.

The unknown skater is followed by the crowds, interviewed by everyone, and suddenly hailed as the shoo-in for the gold.  Unknown skater is good, and just might win it, but still, just a skater.  The next performance is good, but not perfect, and, though the routine shows promise and basic skills that the Star had been lacking, not every move is picture perfect.  Yeah, the new one is technically better, and can probably win it all, but not flawless, so the fawners start to get bored.

The abandoned Star is hurt, tears dropping on skate laces, and the crowd starts to feel guilty.  The abandoned one gives an interview, vowing through tears to fight back and win, and the audience, feeling sorry for the fallen star, really wants that win to happen.  They feel guilty about promising the gold to someone who hadn't won it yet, because they see that the star had been celebrating as though it was over, and it's partly their fault.  The newbie hadn't ever expected to win, so losing will hurt that skater less.

If the final routine was scheduled for the next day, people would cheer harder for the abandoned star than for the newbie, because people are sympathetic.

But if the final routines are still weeks away, and they have to listen to tearful, faux tough interviews from the star, that aren't backed up by brilliance on the ice, while the newbie goes on working hard on routines, uncomplaining, the crowd is going to get very tired of the whining.  They might pay lip service to keep the whiney star from having a breakdown, and clap really hard as encouragement, but they start to secretly hope that the whiner breaks a fucking ankle so they don't have to deal with the tantrum that losing is going to bring on.

Long winded way of saying, crying is a great manipulation, but if it isn't backed up by real evidence of unfairness, it just pisses everyone off in the end.

87

GWBush got the WOT right and almost everything else wrong.

If by almost you mean tax cuts, judicial appointments, continued economic expansion in spite of 911 ,the WOT , natural disasters and the Democrats plus any number of more wonkish accomplishments having to do with domestic and foreign aspects, then I agree.

88 There is no there there.

89 Thanks (75) CrankyProf, I wasn't depressed enough already.

Oh, I feel you. My BIL and my MIL are hard-core Obamatards, and both  have basically said as I outlined above: "He'll take care of us, so we don't have to!" My BIL, in particular, is looking forward to socialized medicine so that he doesn't have to get a "real" job with benefits, and can continue to jerk off at playing contractor.

It makes me want to weep in abject frustration.

90 Please folks - the terminology is "Concerned Christian Conservative", ie, "As a Concerned Christian Conservative I am very unhappy to hear that Sarah Palin is a Wiccan high priestess."

Check your astroturfing memo.

Unless, of course, you are really a concerned Christian conservative...but then if you are, you love SP to pieces.

91 As far as Obama's poll numbers in a real sense he isn't going up. He has fluttered around 46 % forever. People want change. Other than Bush 41, who was only elected because Dukakis was the worst presidential candidate in living memory, no party has held the White House for more than 8 years straight since FDR. Any Dem would be at 46% right now, even Kusinich. A decent candidate would not have dropped below 50% prior to election day IMHO. Can anyone name a candidate from either party who wasn't the incumbent party  and polled so low after their convention? Dukakis was at 55%!

Why did Obama not find a way to cede to Hillary? Like all politicians he began to believe his own PR.

92 Judicial appointments?  Like Harriet Meirs?  Luckily he folded on that one.

Natural disasters?  Uh, Hurricane Katrina.  Perception is reality.

If he gets credit for economic expansion he gets the blame for what's happening now.

Oh, and you left off immigration, the largest expansion in entitlements in US history, No Child Left Behind, and the complete inability to use the Bully Pulpit of the Presidency to advance the conservative agenda.

93

I note that one of the previous posters said that Obama had become unsure of himself.  That's what comes from getting whacked across the nose with David Axelrod's newspaper maybe twenty or thirty times.  He's trying to teach that puppy to piddle in the backyard, not in the living room.

I recently came across a qoute from Eleanor Roosevelt saying,  "Franklin doesn't think, he decides."    Obama talked on 60 Minutes on Sunday night saying that he was very good at being in a room where people were expressing vastly different opinions, and getting people to achieve a compromise.   That's not quite the same thing as selecting the one "correct" opinion out of the options on offer.   But it is consistent with being a great waffler and Obama shows promise in that regard.

Oddly enough, out of the four  candidates for POTUS and VPOTUS only Sarah Palin has had much experience in actually "deciding" anything.

But I can say this about Obama and FDR---I've studied up on FDR, I've read the relevant history concerning FDR--and Obama--you're no FDR.

94

Gabriel,

I think what you wrote was as good as what Hitchens wrote. Good job!

Gotta agree, nice work.

Now if we can just cure you of that "international law" thing....I think my doctor has a cream for that.

95 I've been accused more than once of thinking I'm smarter than everybody else.  I'm one year older than Obama, I am a lawyer and a political junkie.

Can somebody please tell me why lawyers think they are so damned smart?  Law school is among the easiest post-graduate programs: Only 3 years, low dropout rate, no dissertation, no mathematics and no competition from foreign students.

Try working in a world where your competition is full of people who actually had a real education and weren't forced to spend half of their undergraduate years in wussmanities and socialist "science" classes.

Try working in a world where there is actually right and wrong, failure doesn't just mean more billable hours ("It was a tough case to win, to begin with. Sorry.  Here's your bill.") and demotion doesn't mean a 6-digit lifetime job.

If I had a lobotomy, the piece they took out could graduate from law school. 

Admittedly, only with a magna cum laude.

96

I'm glad you are able to predict what type of jurist Harriet Miers would have been. I guess we can assume she would have been no worse than OConnor or Kennedy.  Perception is reality to the nutroots and others who don't rely on facts. Are you part of that group? 

And if you want to blame Bush for what's happening now then you want to ignore what this site has been posting for the last couple of days. But you seem to be part of that 'group'  so so be it. 

I didn't leave off immigration because you can't discuss this with his critics. It doesn't matter that he's done more for immigration enforcement in his administration than has been done in the last 70 years.  You can't tell his critics that No Child Left Behind has been rated successful. 

And I guess the bully pulpit didn't work so well for Ronald Reagan either as we lost more seats in Congress during his administration than Bush's and we were left with the liberal framework that puts us in the tight postions we find ourselves in now.

97

Politics tends to attract people who THINK they're smarter than everyone else but have never had to demonstrate that superiority in anything resembling a competitive marketplace.

If you need a graphic example of this, turn into the Senate Banking Committee hearing right now.  Dodd, Schumer, John (I'm just a dirt farmer) Tester.... are interviewing Bernanke, Paulson, Cox the head of FHFA.  It's like watching a bunch of 5 year olds question their parents.  Paulson and Bernanke are trying to explain how economics works to these assclowns and they are sitting there like a bunch of golden retrievers giving a 10 degree head tilt.

Unfortunately, these 5 year olds hold our financial future in their hands.  Scary.

98 Okay, you're right.  George W. Bush has been absolutely correct in every decision he has made and will go down as the greatest leader in the history of human civilization.

99

Barack Obama = Franklin Pierce

But at least Pierce had military experience.

100 The whys of Obama are pretty simple.

One, you have a candidate who really is convinced he's God's gift, if not God Himself.

Two, you have a media that is doing everything in its power to spin, obfuscate, and cover up for him.

Three, though, you have a lot of people who have been told for nearly four decades the following:

1) Black people are never wrong

2) If they are wrong, it's the fault of white people

3) If you criticize or do not do exactly what black people say, you are a racist.

Without that, Obama would have had Biden numbers in the Iowa primary.

101

Baron Von Ottomatic at September 23, 2008 11:50 AM (4ZOxD)

Never said he was perfect. I just made a promise to myself to defend against repeated statements like yours whenever I heard or read them.  People have no problem saying these things but seem to be insulted that anyone would have the gaul to defend against them.

sorry to the rest for this OT discussion.  

102 #96 Amishdude.
And yet you don't have a lawdegree. How fucking dumb must you be?

103 Judicial appointments?  Like Harriet Meirs?  Luckily he folded on that one.

Natural disasters?  Uh, Hurricane Katrina.  Perception is reality.

If he gets credit for economic expansion he gets the blame for what's happening now.

Oh, and you left off immigration, the largest expansion in entitlements in US history, No Child Left Behind, and the complete inability to use the Bully Pulpit of the Presidency to advance the conservative agenda.

Don't forget he also signed McCain-Feingold. Bush was also really good at touting minority homeowner stats when he was running for re-election. He deserves as much blame as the rest of our ruling class for our current predicament.

Instead of wasting political capitol and our tax dollars trying to be a compassionate conservative he should have fixed this country's energy policy. If he'd have done just that ONE thing, it would have done much to prevent what's happening now.

104 Taken from #94

"I recently came across a qoute from Eleanor Roosevelt saying,  "Franklin doesn't think, he decides."    Obama talked on 60 Minutes on Sunday night saying that he was very good at being in a room where people were expressing vastly different opinions, and getting people to achieve a compromise.   That's not quite the same thing as selecting the one "correct" opinion out of the options on offer.   But it is consistent with being a great waffler and Obama shows promise in that regard."

He's all about consensus and compromise...I'll bet you that he has never had to make a serious decision in his life.  When given options to solving a problem, Zero will sit there and ask the room what they think and try to steer them into a mutually agreeable decision - he's a facilitator at heart.  The guy scares me if it came down to making a honest to God decision - HE WON'T BE ABLE TO DO IT ON HOS OWN!

I heard Bush 41 talk to the SCNO's and Officer of the 1st Marine Division about 12 years ago.  He talked about having to make the decision to start Desert Storm - having all of his advisers give him his options, then he asked them to leave the room.  He said that the decision to start Desert Storm was between him and God...no concensus building or compromise was involved.

Barry O doesn't have the skills or ability to do that - his training is based on the needs of the proletariat and party to do the right thing for the party's good.  Allinsky, Ayers and Dorn (with Michelle's help) took O's ability to make an independent decision away from him, and substitute it with groupthink.  Without his handlers, O is nothing but a ship adrift at sea...

105 Hitchens!

bwahahaha

"I hope I can do this" takes me back to a '60s family camping trip. My little sister pushed the Dodge 440 gear shift out of park and into neutral at the top of the hill while parents were rounding up the older siblings to go home. The station wagon was rolling downhill fast with the driver door open. I managed running to lunge in to reach the emergency brake pedal as the car dragged me down. I was spared; the brakes worked so long as they were utilized. Dad's still a Democrat.

106

103 - And yet you don't have a lawdegree. How fucking dumb must you be?

Amish don't need my (or anyone's) help, but I can jump in here with an exact reason for him not wanting - let alone choosing to pursue - a law degree (or hell, lawdegree if that's your odd spelling preference): a law degree would make him feel small and dirty.

...and would serve as evidence of both moral vapidity and intellectual turpitude.

Everyone knows that. Except lawyers**. Hmm ...ergo you must be a lawyer (or a symp). QED.

 

** well, journalism majors don't know this either ...but since they don't really know much of anything about anything, their ignorance don't signify evah

 

107 Imagine the damage to my intellect if I were to attend law school!  Going to law school classes would have the same effect as listening to Billy Madison day after day:

http://tinyurl.com/568d2o

108 Oh, and as to the topic at hand: It is obvious Obama was running for VP.  The idiot Dem voters got carried away and actually nominated him and Obama bought the hype.

109 "Then, after declaring that now is not the time for specific details to fix the problem he was mocked on Leno. "

Ha! 
[jumps up and claps self on back!]
Just six months ago, on this very blog, I predicted this would happen !

_{Of course, I was saying it would happen later that same week, but STILL...}

110 15/ Anon Driv "He's a nebulous mirage, an assemblage of smoke and mirrors crafted by a sophisticated political machine and sustained by the energy of a cult following.
Cardboard cutout. Sounding board. Puppet. "Blank screen." He is each and every one of these things."

See!  See!  He's ALL of those things AT THE SAME TIME!!  Talk about multi-tasking, baby, the O-ssiah is IT! 

111 Your essay, Mr. Malor, is dead-nuts on target.

112

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the -  Web Reconnaissance for 09/23/2008  A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.

http://thunderrun.blogspot.com/2008/09/web-reconnaissance-for-09232008.html

113 105/ Wiserbud " But to trash him on EVERYthing because he hasn't been 100% absolutely perfect is unfair to the man."

Know what I heard on the radio this morning?  I heard Bob Geldoff say something nice about George W Bush.  For about an hour, I was sure I'd heard it wrong, but then the story was repeated. 
It's still too early to rule out hallucinations, but I'm pretty sure I heard it.

114 I smell a 57 state thumping coming!

115 "...he sounded like a fourth grader aping a tour guide on Capitol Hill..." Posted by: Gabriel Malor Um, didn't Ace kind of put something like this off limits...?

116 Memory is a funny thing, eh?

117 [swearword!]
And this is AFTER both Mimeograph AND LauraW both spelled out how this is done. Bah, lemme just try again:
ahem
Memory, I say, memory is a funny thing, eh?

[pant, pant, pant, I need a new hobby ... or more Val-U-Rite!]

118 Hi "Stoop" (good grief) You call me a "fucking racist", yet I'm absolutely not a racist. Not at all. What makes you write such a thing? Normally I don't converse with those who bring nothing to the table but personal insults, but I am curious. By the way, I could pretty much write your reason for you... Also notice I didn't judge you on your ridiculous alias which seems to be mocking a rather famous rap "artist". Poor Stoop

119

Hurricane Katrina

What if, what if the Democrat Governor and the Democrat Mayor had been ordered by their Communist masters to do nothing in order to make GWB look bad.

Sound too far fetched?

Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae? Thank you Comrad Clinton.

Can't dig the clean coal out of Colorado?  Thank you Comrad Clinton.

Can't drill for oil anywhere?  Thank you Communist Democrats.

Pretty difficult to undo all the bad things that the Communists and Democrats have done to us since the 30's.  Reagan was a good start.  GWB?  Not so bad in as much that he has been hampered by the War on Terror and the Communist corrupt thugs in Congress.

120 'Uh' = Plouffe + whack him on the nose with a newspaper. GM = freakin' brilliant! [thanks, man - that mental image is going to bring me much joy and comfort in the daze to come.]

121 JR: "You call me a "fucking racist", yet I'm absolutely not a racist. Not at all. What makes you write such a thing? Normally I don't converse with those who bring nothing to the table but personal insults, but I am curious. By the way, I could pretty much write your reason for you... "

I keep hoping you'll tell me I'm wrong and get me to believe it.  Snot too late for that, either.  But I gotta admit, you posting stuff like "I have no idea why whites continue to have anything do with blacks, other than when necessary. I don't know why anyone would voluntarily put themselves in a position of proximity" just isn't helping.
Do you at least see the problem?

122 Obama is busy now a days I think.

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