The Democrat Thread

[HuskyCaucasian]

One's up front about it and one's doing it behind the scenes. It's all the same, though.

Defened your statement. In what ways has Obama worked "behind the scenes"?

[HuskyCaucasian]

[Steve9347]

When McCain pointed to Obama and said "that one over there", I was shocked. We already know you don't respect the guy, but that was just plain stupid. That had to offend a lot of people watching the debate.

 

The funny thing is, he was just trying to be sarcastic and "cutesie", but it came off as condescending... McCain, at least at age 72, is not made for debates.

[BigSqwert]

When McCain pointed to Obama and said "that one over there", I was shocked. We already know you don't respect the guy, but that was just plain stupid. That had to offend a lot of people watching the debate.

 

The funny thing is, he was just trying to be sarcastic and "cutesie", but it came off as condescending... McCain, at least at age 72, is not made for debates.

 

I also made a comment to my wife after McCain told that young black dude that he probably didn't know what Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac were before the economic crisis. Why is that McCain? You assume he's stupid? He's the one that asked a question about the economy. That was a dumb comment to make IMO.

Edited October 8, 2008 by BigSqwert

[HuskyCaucasian]

McCain Says Obama Asked for Money for an "Overhead Projector"... Right Idea, Wrong Name

 

McCain was referring to a spending request for the 2008 budget. And, indeed, the Web site of Obama’s Senate office shows Obama asked for $3-million for the Adler Planetarium. According to Obama’s office, the equipment had begun to fail and deprived people of a learning experience.

 

“The projection equipment in this theater is 40 years old, and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer,” his office said in a June 21, 2007, announcement.

 

I'm going to take a guess and it wasnt an "overhead projector" that Obama was asking for. Just to modernize an aging theater. Oh the horror!

 

I'd rather have a new projection system at Adler than do seal DNA research in Alaska.

[BigSqwert]

Seriously. Who cares. Leave the pettiness out of here.

[Soxy]

McCain Says Obama Asked for Money for an "Overhead Projector"... Right Idea, Wrong Name

 

 

 

I'm going to take a guess and it wasnt an "overhead projector" that Obama was asking for. Just to modernize an aging theater. Oh the horror!

 

I'd rather have a new projection system at Adler than do seal DNA research in Alaska.

I guess that depends, for me, on the research objective of the seal research.

 

In general, the public is far more likely to fund the Adler project than basic research--so which needs public funds more?

[BigSqwert]

[HuskyCaucasian]

[HuskyCaucasian]

Hussein returns to the campaign

Might the McCain advance folks tell local officials that they'd rather not this happen?

 

Reports my colleague Amie Parnes, travelling with McCain and Palin today in Pennsylvania:

 

Bill Platt, GOP chair of Lehigh County, just warmed up the crowd and referred to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama twice."

[BigSqwert]

If that's all they have left then they might as well pack it in.

[lostfan]

By the way, Hussein is an Arabic name. Arabic is a language, not a religion. These names existed before Islam.

 

Of course, expecting them to know something like that is asking a bit much.

Edited October 8, 2008 by lostfan

[HuskyCaucasian]

This may be the oddest comment form McCain yet:

"Across this country, this is the agenda i have set before my fellow prisoners and the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent."

 

 

American's are now POWs?

Edited October 8, 2008 by Athomeboy_2000

[Soxy]

This may be the oddest comment form McCain yet:

"Across this country, this is the agenda i have set before my fellow prisoners and the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent."

American's are now POWs?

It was just a slip.

[HuskyCaucasian]

It was just a slip.

oh I know. just a very random one. what was he thinking that got him to say prisoners instead of Americans?

[Soxy]

oh I know. just a very random one. what was he thinking that got him to say prisoners instead of Americans?

Probably something about how he was a POW or something? Who knows.

[NorthSideSox72]

This may be the oddest comment form McCain yet:

"Across this country, this is the agenda i have set before my fellow prisoners and the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent."

 

American's are now POWs?

Do you really have to point out every little verbal gaffe? All this does is make your own candidate look bad by extension.

 

[BigSqwert]

Do you really have to point out every little verbal gaffe? All this does is make your own candidate look bad by extension.

I disagree. It just makes him look bad and not the candidate.

Edited October 8, 2008 by BigSqwert

[BigSqwert]

David Brooks: Sarah Palin "Represents A Fatal Cancer To The Republican Party"

 

David Brooks spoke frankly about the presidential and vice presidential candidates Monday afternoon, calling Sarah Palin a "fatal cancer to the Republican party" but describing John McCain and Barack Obama as "the two best candidates we've had in a long time."

 

In an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg at New York's Le Cirque restaurant to unveil that magazine's redesign, Brooks decried Palin's anti-intellectualism and compared her to President Bush in that regard:

[

s

arah Palin] repre

s

ent

s

a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I fir

s

t

s

tarted in journali

s

m, I wor

k

ed at the National Review for Bill Buc

k

ley. And Buc

k

ley famou

s

ly

s

aid he'd rather be ruled by the fir

s

t 2,000 name

s

in the Bo

s

ton phone boo

k

than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't thin

k

tho

s

e were the only two option

s

. He thought it wa

s

important to have people on the con

s

ervative

s

ide who celebrated idea

s

, who celebrated learning. And hi

s

whole life wa

s

ba

s

ed on that, and that wa

s

al

s

o true for a lot of the other con

s

ervative

s

in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immen

s

e faith in the power of idea

s

. But there ha

s

been a counter, more populi

s

t tradition, which i

s

not only to

s

corn liberal idea

s

but to

s

corn idea

s

entirely. And I'm afraid that

S

arah Palin ha

s

tho

s

e prejudice

s

. I thin

k

Pre

s

ident Bu

s

h ha

s

tho

s

e prejudice

s

.

Brooks praised Palin's natural political talent, but said she is "absolutely not" ready to be president or vice president. He explained, "The more I follow politicians, the more I think experience matters, the ability to have a template of things in your mind that you can refer to on the spot, because believe me, once in office there's no time to think or make decisions."

 

The New York Times columnist also said that the "great virtue" of Palin's counterpart, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, is that he is anything but a "yes man."

 

"[biden] can't not say what he thinks," Brooks remarked. "There's no internal monitor, and for Barack Obama, that's tremendously important to have a vice president who will be that way. Our current president doesn't have anybody like that."

 

Brooks also spent time praising Obama's intellect and skills in social perception, telling two stories of his interactions with Obama that left him "dazzled":

Obama ha

s

the great intellect. I wa

s

interviewing Obama a couple year

s

ago, and I'm getting nowhere with the interview, it'

s

late in the night, he'

s

on the phone, wal

k

ing off the

S

enate floor, he'

s

cran

k

y. Out of the blue I

s

ay, 'Ever read a guy named Reinhold Niebuhr?' And he

s

ay

s

, 'Yeah.'

S

o i

s

ay, 'What did Niebuhr mean to you?' For the next 20 minute

s

, he gave me a perfect de

s

cription of Reinhold Niebuhr'

s

thought, which i

s

a very

s

ubtle thought proce

s

s

ba

s

ed on the idea that you have to u

s

e power while it corrupt

s

you. And I wa

s

dazzled, I felt the tingle up my

k

nee a

s

Chri

s

Matthew

s

would

s

ay.

 

And the other thing that doe

s

s

eparate Obama from ju

s

t a pure intellectual: he ha

s

tremendou

s

power

s

of

s

ocial perception. And thi

s

i

s

why he'

s

a politician, not an academic. A couple of year

s

ago, I wa

s

writing column

s

attac

k

ing the Republican congre

s

s

for

s

pending too much money. And I throw in a few

s

entence

s

attac

k

ing the Democrat

s

to ma

k

e my

s

elf feel better. And one morning I get an email from Obama

s

aying, 'David, if you wanna attac

k

u

s

, fine, but you're only throwing in tho

s

e

s

entence

s

to ma

k

e your

s

elf feel better.' And it wa

s

a perfect de

s

cription of what wa

s

going through my mind. And everybody who

k

now

s

Obama all have the

s

e

s

torie

s

to tell about hi

s

capacity for

s

ocial perception.

Brooks predicted an Obama victory by nine points, and said that although he found Obama to be "a very mediocre senator," he was is surrounded by what Brooks called "by far the most impressive people in the Democratic party."

 

"He's phenomenally good at surrounding himself with a team," Brooks said. "I disagree with them on most issues, but I am given a lot of comfort by the fact that the people he's chosen are exactly the people I think most of us would want to choose if we were in his shoes. So again, I have doubts about him just because he was such a mediocre senator, but his capacity to pick staff is impressive."

 

[Soxy]

Balta that article really get to the heart of what drives me the most nuts about Sarah Palin. I'll admit it, I'm kind of an intellectual elite. I think that the country should be governed by highly educated and knowledgeable people. So, I'll take the right's label as an elitist with pride.

 

And I look at Sarah Palin and it just frustrates me so much that this woman who seems to pride herself on ignorance and being outside these educated circles. Sometimes being educated means being out of touch with people--I'll admit that. But her whole cutesy, folksy attitude is such an affront to me. I am so proud to be well educated. To have a deep understanding about statistics, neuroscience, cognitive science. I work just as hard at my job to be well educated as a Joe Sixpack working at a construction site. We finally have reached the point where we can put a woman candidate up in a viable ticket (sorry Geraldine), and we pick this gorgeous non-threatening mess of a woman. We pick a woman that is in no danger of showing a man up in foreign policy or economic knowledge. We pick a woman who is PROUD of her ignorance. What the f*** kind of role model is that? We pick a woman who thinks she can win a debate by attacking her opponent and winking--WINKING. What is that teaching girls about how to debate--how to express themselves? We pick a woman that would rather resort to personal attacks and cliche slogans than an actual substantial debate. What kind of role model is that? Let's say that a male candidate pulled the winking and gibberish that she did. There is no way he would be taken seriously. NO f***ING WAY.

 

I am so incredibly upset that it is this woman who is proud of her ignorance and would rather rely on her cutesy folksy self than her knowledge and credentials is there. I think of all the generations of intelligent, capable women who were DENIED this opportunity and I don't even know what to think.

 

I know this probably comes off as crazy feminist gibberish (just like my Hillary supporting moments did) to a vast majority of this board. But dear god. If I am ever blessed with kids, I would be so ashamed to offer them Sarah Palin as a role model. I want my children, girls and boys, to have role models who rely on the contents of their minds and souls and not populist panderings. I want a Virginia Woolf, a Marie Curie, f*** it--a Hillary, a Shakespeare's sister to portray what it means to be a woman.

 

/rant

[lostfan]

I believe that the "elitist" label is the dumbest political attack that I've ever heard (Hillary's campaign coined that slogan btw). I WANT the people running for high office in this country to be smarter than me.

[BigSqwert]

Balta?

[Soxy]

Balta?

You see how upset it makes me? I can't even tell you two apart.

 

[Soxy]

I believe that the "elitist" label is the dumbest political attack that I've ever heard (Hillary's campaign coined that slogan btw). I WANT the people running for high office in this country to be smarter than me.

When? That's been around for much longer than this political cycle. I remember my college roommate got me a Proud Member of the Intellectual Elite button around the time I went to grad school.

[BigSqwert]

You see how upset it makes me? I can't even tell you two apart.

I'm the better looking one.