True to form, when their backs are to the wall, even the mavericks in the GOP can not avoid the seduction of a little Dolchstoßlegende :
I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.
Video here.
This is for you, Johnny McMaverick. I hope you understand my straight talk:
Does anyone still doubt he is any different from the current occupants of the executive branch? This was inevitable when he got folks like Goldfarb and Rove apparatchiks running your campaign.
*** Update ***
Even Jokeline is shocked, and that jackass will excuse anything.
TCG
Have you considered Hand Modeling?
Just wondering.
DannyNoonan
There’s little doubt that quote made Rove’s nipples hard. McCain’s getting easier to loathe by the soundbite. Douchefuck.
The Other Steve
Your daily dose of crazy
Just Some Fuckhead
Obama can win the November contest RIGHT HERE. He needs to blast this in every speech for the next few weeks. America is sick of this stupid Iraq shit and he needs to capitalize on that with McCain’s sick remarks.
This is where Obama can distinguish himself from John Kerry and motherfucking TAKE the presidency.
El Cid
How dare you impugn John McCain’s integritude? Next thing you know, you’ll make Bob Schieffer stammer and cry again.
lurker
Where are Obama’s surrogates?
They should be pounding this shmuck day after day.
Then again, maybe this week is positive week for Obama and next week is pound McCain week.
Krista
This is just a preview. If things keep going well for Obama, as McCain gets more desperate, he’s just going to get uglier.
Dulcie
This is full of win
My favorite part:
McCain, whose campaign has battled charges of incompetence — even from some within his own party — joked, “A lot of our paid staff, a lot of them are on work release programs as you know.”
Heshe
Well, the Maverick campaign doesn’t have much going for it. Anger, they got plenty of that. What two bit trick will they pull at this years show? Purple index fingers in the air like in 2004 seems so old fashioned and stale. They need a new brand. How about smile faces on balloons?
cleek
he just released an ad blaming Obama for high gas prices, for fuck’s sake.
he’s going into full kitchen-sink full-on berserker panic mode. launch all Vipers! set the controls to the heart of the sun! a rush and a push and the land that we stand on is ours! never surrender!
liberal
John Cole wrote,
I think much more dangerous (and despicable) than Rovian apparatchiks is that his foreign policy staff is dominated by neoconservatives, IIRC.
liberal
Just Some Fuckhead wrote,
IMHO in the primary Obama wasn’t so good on offense, but was an effective counterpuncher.
I think in the past couple weeks he’s been way too light on McCain, from a tactical perspective. This “stay above the fray” thing just might not cut it.
r€nato
when your opponent is committing suicide…
AnneLaurie
“I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.”
But it played so *well* when Nixon said it!
Montysano
“Old man yells at cloud.” Fire away, Gramps, but it’s not working. In fact, it seems to be backfiring. BO has had a stellar week so far. Somehow, the shit that stuck to Gore and Kerry just doesn’t seem to stick to him. Don’t know how he does it, but it’s refreshing.
This is Rovian? I don’t think so, unless Karl has lost his mojo. Who’s running this trainwreck of a campaign?
Just Some Fuckhead
I’ve never been a fan of the Obama method of “hitting back”. He spends a lot of time claiming to be a fighter but when given the opportunity, he comes out with – at best – lame Dukakishness. Time to punch back hard, Mr. Obama. Start with Republicans starting this war as an election gimmick followed by the surge as another gimmick. Smash back, asshole.
Wilfred
Maybe the Repubs are getting ready to Torrch McGasbag. The wheels are coming off way too early, no? He got his shot, fucked up, and now gets eased out for someone with an ostensibly better chance.
His statement here is just beyond – no way he comes back from this.
Notorious P.A.T.
Smash back
Hear, hear.
Leo
“I think in the past couple weeks he’s been way too light on McCain, from a tactical perspective. This “stay above the fray” thing just might not cut it.”
I am getting the idea that Obama’s strategy at this point may be to lay the groundwork for his attacks but not to execute. The execution may be waiting until the post-convention period when he has no spending limits but McCain does.
At that point he will be able to flood the zone with attacks that McCain will be in no position to respond to equally.
On the other hand, I may just be full of shit.
ThymeZone
McCain is unraveling, just as we thought he would. Let him unravel. He won’t disappoint, I predict he will put on quite a show.
The only thing worse, this week, than the image people are getting of Obama overseas is the image people are getting of McCain’s reaction to it.
Show of hands? How many want to see this crazy old fuck have the red telephone?
Mike P
Obama’s playing the statesman right now and accordingly isn’t going to probably address McCain directly or indirectly while he’s abroad. Surrogates perhaps should say something, but McCain’s idiocy is being dwarfed by the overseas show at the moment…Obama’s walking the walk and McCain’s weak attempts to work the refs (the NY Times op-ed sham) are a lot of epic fail.
AnneLaurie
Actually, if my local (Boston-area)news station got it right, McCain said this in response to a tearful townhall questioner, a white lady past her first youth, asking why “we” couldn’t “bring our kids home” when “hundreds of Iraqis — the prime minister — they want us out now”. In other words, the patented Rethug “Fvck you, peon, nobody questions The (Would-Be) Codpiece-in-Chief! Your kids leave Iraq when *I* feel like it, not one second sooner!”
Ash Can
Maybe McCain’t is just miffed because he never got to ride shotgun for King Abdullah.
The Briscoe Kid
Olbermann unearthed another McCain gaffe. During a Katie Couric interview McCain criticized Obama for not understanding the surge and in the process he (McCain) got the history of the surge wrong. This portion of the interview was left out of the aired footage, but the transcript was posted on the CBS web site.
Montysano
Or maybe BO perceives that people truly are sick of this type of politics. So far, above-the-fra is working. Sure, the 28% dead-enders are a lost cause, but at this juncture, who cares?
The question is: will anyone other than Keith Olbermann make Gramps pay, and pay hard, for this nastiness?
dmsilev
RIght now is exactly the wrong time for Obama to go after McCain for things like this. Right now, Obama looks like a President, and McCain looks like a cranky old man.
McCain will stick his foot in his mouth next week. And the week after. And the week after. Plenty of opportunities for Obama to rip into Senator Maverick McStraightTalk.
-dms
daphne
John McCain thinks he is the SURGE MAN? Think again.
Father of the Surge would disagree.
That link won’t stick for more than a few days, so click it!
nightjar
Oh noes!, then they might tap the Mittster to come in and clean Obama’s clock. Or maybe Bo Derek, if she’s not doing anything important.
Dreggas
I agree. Right now McCain looks like the dottering old fool in the corner yelling at his shadow while Obama has the spotlight. Occasionally the old fool screams look at me, at which point people point and laugh.
zuzu's petals
What a bunch of farkin’ idiots.
It wouldn’t matter if Obama was born in Luxembourg. He qualifies as a natural born citizen by virtue of his mother being a citizen.
For those not in the know, Obama’s mother graduated from high school in Washington state. Before moving to the state of Hawaii.
Duh.
croatoan
McCain Memo: ‘Respectful Campaign’:
PeterJ
And McCain is still whining about being treated unfairly by the press…
Jay C
I think it’s gonna depend on how Sen. Obama responds – if he does – pace Wilfred and JSF: part of Barack Obama’s public “image” problem (real problems, not GOP smear shit) is that he’s been easy to portray as an inexperienced lightweight – not “Presidential” material. If he spins out TOO badly over McCain’s bullshit speechifying, it might just make him too easy to portray (by our wonderfully fair-and-balanced media) as a hothead. Maybe a touch of above-the-fray is what’s needed…
That said, I personally would like to see Obama tear Sen. McCrankypants a new one over this: but hey: any implosion will do in a pinch!
TCG
NO SHIT
cleek
the press will ignore it and his base will eat it up.
nothing really changes.
Phoenix Woman
Just think: John Bolton, the guy Bush picked to be our ambassador to the UN, gave two interviews to this twit. I don’t think his eyes went above her neck the whole time.
Word Salad Pam, a national treasure.
Just Some Fuckhead
A John Kerry supporter, obviously. Does Obama actually have any real men supporting him other than about a handful of us?
Incertus
The problem with Obama hitting back hard is that he has cultivated this image of being cool under pressure, in part because he didn’t want to be easily dismissed as the angry black candidate. He’s got a tightrope to balance on, because there are a lot of people who want to turn him into the second coming of Huey Newton, since that’s likely the only way to get McCain a win here.
J. Michael Neal
The question is how they’d go about doing that. Maybe they’ll just go with the guy who has the second largest number of delegates, and the Huck will ride again.
I also have to confess that I was wrong in my disappointment when McCain emerged as the top guy in the GOP primaries. I was afraid that, out of a huge pack of candidates who were really funny, they had managed to select the one guy who brought no humor factor to the table. Romney? Funny, in a self-parody kind of way. Huckabee? Pure wackiness. Paul? Funny, in the same way as a crazy old uncle. Giuliani? Funny, in a way that words can’t begin to describe. McCain, not really very funny, or so I thought. It turns out that he decided to stage a production of A Comedy of Errors in 267 acts. Who knew?
Just Some Fuckhead
Bullshit. Even Obama said he ran in the primary different than he would in the general. At this point, he’s a big fat ATNA, or Kerry Redux.
cleek
which we have to assume McCain knows.
so, this is bait.
KRK
Sorry to be pedantic, but I think you’ve got a double negative problem with this query. I think you mean “Does anyone still believe McCain is any different from the current occupants of the executive branch?” It’s the belief in any difference that has passed its sell date, not the doubt/disbelief.
Jake
It’s picking up a little steam. Anderson Cooper led with it, and it’s currently the main story on HuffPo.
The best part: Marc Ambinder got this started by posting the exerpt of the transcript early, without comment. Spencer Ackerman then jumped all over the obvious error by McCain.
The worst part: not only did CNN edit out McCain’s response, they kept Couric’s question and swapped McCain’s response with one he gave to another question. Like he said, they’re his BASE!
I wish I was joking. Jesus fucking Christ.
J. Michael Neal
Some of us think that being a real man means more than just hitting things hard.
To expand on what someone said above:
If your opponent douses himself with gasoline, give him a match.
If your opponent douses himself in gasoline, and pulls out a lighter, get as far away as possible.
The second more accurately describes what is going on here. Further, I have to think that Obama is looking beyond the election. At this point, I think he’s almost a lock to win. Given that, piling on McCain doesn’t increase the chances that he’s going to win. Obama is trying to position himself to govern, and not going on the attack improves his position to do that.
Just Some Fuckhead
You can’t even spell “doddering”, fool and you want to be accepted as some sort of authority, no less the sort that LOLs at someone else’s casual mistakes?
Just Some Fuckhead
How’d that work out in the last coupla elections, Real Man?
Jake
I don’t think this is bait so much as McCain trying to get onto the news cycle, in any way, shape or form, while Obama’s overseas. Their campaign really does reek of desperation right now, but it seems like just about every day we hear something from them that makes the cable news.
Chris Johnson
If Obama remains above the fray and stays up to speed, he will get at least one utterly devastating riposte in the debates they’ll eventually have. Like, “there you go again” grade. PLUS he will look as much better than McCain as Kennedy looked better than Nixon- largely because of his youth and the fact that he’s taller than McCain.
I’m serious- he need do nothing. Debates on TV are very influential, and Obama is sharp enough to be able to deliver a really devastating riposte. I’m talking like three or four words at just the right moment. Example:
Suppose McCain is going on about how the troops in Iraq have to be kept there to ensure a really great victory for blah blah blah and Obama cuts him off, gives him a stern look and- “Senator, their war is over!”
Crowd goes nuts, standing ovation etc etc.
It could happen in any number of ways, on any number of issues, but for the most effectiveness, Obama needs to refuse to get drawn into it no matter what, save it up for a massively televised debate, wait for his moment and THEN the frustration comes out, except it’s not a tirade but a very few devastating words.
For which there will be no apology, because they’ll be the absolute truth.
But the thing is, it’s gotta be just that- a few perfect words, not a lengthy statement. Ideally, it’ll be almost contemptuous but perfectly dignified and civilized.
I think Obama can do it. He’s good with words and he’s a Chicago pol. He knows he can’t get into mudslinging but there will be opportunity to get in a deadly zing before the widest possible audience. We can hope.
Chris Johnson
say WHAT?
They didn’t!
J. Michael Neal
Not well. Then again, McCain wasn’t the nominee in either case.
You have to respond aggressively to effective attacks. Pointless, self-defeating attacks are best ignored. Let me know when something McCain says draws a positive reaction from anyone other than his fluffers.
Keith
The big question mark is whether or not that quote ends with the patented McCain “Heheh?” along with the forced smile ala Lilith Sternin-Crane
Martin
Agreed. McCain is a ticking bomb with that temper. If Obama doesn’t rise to the attacks emotionally, but still counters them and looks Presidential doing it, it’s only going to ramp McCain up. Sooner or later – and preferably during a debate or town hall, McCain is gonna blow his top.
Further, if you read Obama’s statements on this trip, he actually is speaking as though he won, which is very good while he is abroad. He’s not just undermining McCain here, but Bush as well, and speaking on a much broader canvas than I’ve ever seen McCain do.
This trip is all win so far.
slip
You haven’t seen it? It does.
Just Some Fuckhead
You don’t fucking get it. Your candidate just got accused of wanting to lose a war for personal political gain, in much the same way as Kerry’s Vietnam service was portrayed and you got what, some high-minded dissertation about what constitutes an “effective” attack?
Here’s what I think: you PUSSIES ain’t tough enough to win an election because you’ll fucking do anything to avoid a confrontation.
Look at Cole’s image in this post. At least HE gets it.
Martin
And another fictitious appeaser speaks. How soon before someone accuses him of waiting this long in order to get his (obviously!) made-up story straight?
Koz
What do you want? In a recent interview, Obama said that he oppposed the surge to “change the debate”.
Martin
Obama will respond strongly, but probably not as strongly as some here think he should. See, some think Obama needs to come down to McCain’s level and hit him hard and low, but that doesn’t help Obama – it helps McCain by opening the floodgates for this crap. Obama will hit hard but hit high and make McCain look like a small man again who is unfit to even be in this contest, which is how this has gone all along. And clearly it’s working if even a turd like Joe Klein can see McCain in that way.
The attacks on Kerry were totally different – they didn’t come from the Bush – they came from invisible people on the sidelines. You deal with them differently than the person who might be President. Further, Bush wasn’t going to self-destruct. There was no benefit in giving him rope. McCain is doing this all by himself – Obama isn’t even in the country, so why get in his way?
J. Michael Neal
1) People believed it about Kerry. I have yet to see any evidence that McCain’s comment is gaining any traction whatsoever.
2) The problem in 2004 was not so much that Kerry didn’t respond to being Swift Boated, it’s the particular way he went about not responding.
3) The Swift Boat attacks were over something that wasn’t a campaign issue, and so the only way to refute them would have been to attack them head on. McCain’s bogus attack is directly about one of the two most important issues in the campaign. Obama can parry it by demonstrating that McCain is wrong, without mentioning the attack at all.
Mindlessly thinking that there is one correct approach to all situations is the exact wrong approach.
JoyceH
It’s our job as Obama supporters to be outraged at McCain’s outrageous comment and make sure the news media knows how outraged we are. It’s the job of the Obama campaign to explain McCain’s outrageous comment. The voting public has GOT to understand that in McCain’s mind, leaving equals losing. Despite the fact that the vast majority of both Americans and Iraqis want our troops out of Iraq, to McCain, withdrawing our troops is the same thing as losing a war. Which means that if McCain is elected, the troops are NEVER coming home.
zuzu's petals
Why is comparing someone to a woman’s private parts an insult to their courage?
zoe from pittsburgh
I really hope that all of Obama’s surrogates come out swinging on this one– McCain is basically saying that WITHDRAWAL = LOSING, therefore we can NEVER LEAVE IRAQ.
It’s one of those comments that sounds sort of good but it’s really just a pile of sassy-sounding shit.
The GOP is freaking out right now, Obama appears to be beating them in the ONE area that they’re ahead. After this week he’s had abroad? They might be losing the only edge they have left.
Get ready for some serious mudslinging– with rocks and broken glass packed into it.
zuzu's petals
Why is comparing someone to a woman’s private parts an insult to his courage?
Just Some Fuckhead
There is no degree of expressed outrage that is too strong for this type of attack.
None.
Are we clear on that? There is no downside to the strongest imaginable response. Challenging McCain to a duel is well within the bounds at this point.
In regards to the rest of your comment, blah fucking blah. You pussies were all telling us there was no way Disaster Bush could win again in 2004 and here we are. Now yer singing the same tune about McCain. How about we try to win this instead of hoping really hard with squinched up eyes that McCain does us all a favor and loses?
Brachiator
One of the local radio stations here had audio of McCain saying this shit somewhere (New Hampshire?). The audience aupplauded.
Unfortunately, McCain and a substantial portion of the American people, believe that the Iraqis and other people who cannot oppose America’s will exist solely to give jingoistic motherfuckers a victory hard-on.
This presidential campaign has released all kinds of demons in people who cannot deal with an Obama candidacy. But one of the most despicable demons of all is the fetid desire to see American imperialism unleashed among weaker nations.
Conservatives mock liberals for developing the self-esteem movement. These people have a lot of nerve.
There are a lot of real men and real women supporting Obama, including, it appears, some savvy Obama advisers. McCain is wearing himself out as he becomes increasingly more shrill and foolish. He spits and sputters during conference calls to an increasingly credulous press about how he has always been right and Obama always wrong about everything. And even though the press has been accomodating, how long do you expect this to continue when McCain whines to a friendly press that they still love Obama more than they love him?
Meanwhile, despite hamfisted attempts by the Bush Administration to give McCain cover, even Iraqi officials become more bold and openly admit that 16 months sounds right to them, forcing McCain to declare that he knows better how to dispose of Iraq than actual Iraqis.
Hell, Kerry is the wrong comparison. You think that Ali did a number on George Foreman when he pulled the rope-a-dope? Obama isn’t even letting McCain land a blow.
Let’s see, what else? McCain has had to push Gramm into the background, and Obama didn’t even have to lift a finger to nudge Gramm under the bus.
Right now, Obama’s smartest move is to stay serene and continue with his world tour. When he gets back to the US, safely on American soil, then he can get back to schooling McCain on the “Chicago Way.”
Just Some Fuckhead
Fuck you, I didn’t say anything about a woman’s private parts.
zuzu's petals
I agree. And if the media doesn’t pick up on the outrageousness of the comment, Obama’s outrage and that of his supporters won’t mean much. Seems to me, anyway.
Montysano
Do you remember Obama “brushing it off”? Some people can pull that off; some can’t. Kerry couldn’t. So far it seems that BO can.
Well….. yeah. This ain’t Red State. DFH’s would rather fuck than fight.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’m not suggesting there is one correct approach to all situations: you are. I’m saying we do things differently this time and smash back. Only a fool keeps trying the same thing expecting different results.
zuzu's petals
Right, it’s a word free of any connotations whatsoever.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
In Nixonland (p. 162), Perlstein quotes Nixon as saying “the only time to lose your temper in politics is when it is deliberate.”
This is advice both candidates should heed, but only one of them has the temperament to actually do it.
If Obama can keep his cool, McCain may get even worse. Between this and the Bob Novak-Jindal4VP stunt, it seems like we’ve reached the point where McCain will do almost anything to get attention from the press, and the longer Obama denies it to him, the more unhinged McCain may get in order to attract attention.
This week’s press coverage has to be killing McCain inside, because Obama is stealing his girl! For Obama to run away with the press corps is like the kid from the debate club taking the cheerleader girlfriend away from the Quarterback of the Football team. Expect fisticuffs to ensue.
More popcorn, please!
Just Some Fuckhead
A connotation YOU made, not me.
zuzu's petals
You’re joking, yes?
Montysano
Fuckhead, you poor dear, you must have lost your way. Click here and you’ll be taken home.
zuzu's petals
No kidding, what was the deal with that?
KRK
Maybe he meant Tunch, et al.? Naw.
In a more productive vein, this is a good thread at VetVoice observing what happens when you apply the transitive property to McCain’s notion that Obama wants to lose in Iraq: the troops who also think it’s time to move on — want to lose!
Just Some Fuckhead
Good luck John, you see what you’re up against now.
*takes long drag off of doobie*
McCain really stepped in in this time.
*takes another long drag off of doobie*
Yep, he’s sure to lose now.
*takes another long drag off of doobie*
Hey, did one of us say something insensitive about a woman’s vaginer?! That’s out of bounds!
Montysano
Stealing your girl, and then taking her to go hang out at all your favorites places. Remember, before this trip, John McCain owned the foreign policy debate.
zuzu's petals
Those letters from vets ought to be on the front page.
OriGuy
When someone is about to shoot himself in the foot, it’s not a good time to step on his toe. McCain just said this tonight; give it some time to soak in. I don’t see the “he wants to lose the war” having legs after he met with al-Maliki and Petraeus except with the “secret Muslim” crowd. You can’t run a campaign by trying to win over the fringe.
Just Some Fuckhead
“If John Kerry responds to this Swiftboat nonsense, he just gives them stature. Best to ignore them.”
slip
Here is how it was done half a century ago.
zuzu's petals
Class act.
Ironic that Nixon eventually did serve with a Dem Congress.
J. Michael Neal
I have never figures this out, either. I happen to be very fond of female genitalia, and would prefer to have more of it in my life.
Joshua Norton
Any time now, we wake up, stumble to the bathroom, and find President Gore in the shower.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
JSF,
The 2004 election is not the only one which may be relevant. Does the phrase “extremism in defense of liberty is no vice” ring a bell? How well did that work out?
If Obama and his team pound on McCain for his comments like you want them to, they will firm up support amongst some Dems, maybe turn a few Indys, and help rally the GOP base in defense of McCain. Net gain: maybe 1-2%, if that.
On the other hand, if a lack of media attention drives McCain into full fledged meltdown mode, that could be what it takes to blow this election wide open. If Indys look at McCain and see an old guy who can’t keep his temper under control, then TZ may actually win his bet.
In Presidential politics a loss of emotional control (or the appearance of it) is the kiss of death. Just ask Howard Dean. If the voters don’t trust you to stay cool under pressure, then you’re toxic.
Just Some Fuckhead
You devised a situation where Obama himself could cause a clear gain versus hoping the media might cause a bigger gain and you chose which? …
Aren’t you the same guy that was telling us back in February that we could just ignore Hillary because she was gonna pull outta the primary any day?
zuzu's petals
Not to mention being a pretty courageous body part.
NonWonderDog
Leo:
Don’t kid yourself. There are no spending limits post-convention. The RNC can spend as much as they want in support of the Republican candidate, and they can raise money in $70,000 increments. They’re technically barred from coordinating with the McCain campaign for more than $20M of ad buys, but who’s to stop them? The FEC is completely crippled, since Bush has refused to appoint anyone competent or confirmable to it.
The DNC does the same thing, but at least Obama’s not quite as dishonest about it. The DNC doesn’t have anywhere near as many wealthy donors, either.
This seems like a good rundown of the shenanigans. Public financing is a farce, and the only thing Obama gained from turning it down was the ability to ask for donations of less than $25,000 without looking like a crook. Both candidates expect to have $200M-$300M to spend in the general election campaign, regardless.
Brachiator
It wasn’t that long ago (June, actually) when Karl Rove thought that he had Obama pigeonholed as an arrogant elitist:
Who could have predicted that Obama would steal a page from the Dos Equis commercials built around “The Most Interesting Man in the World.”
But Obama isn’t just standing against the wall. He turned down an application for membership, but then turned up at the country club just for shits and giggles, rolled up his shirtsleeves and helped the hired help clear the plates, and then, like a gentleman, rescued the cheerleader girlfriend from the quarterback because she was sending out desperate signals that she was bored stiff sitting around a boring clod.
Of course, the thing is that the only person who thought that McCain owned the foreign policy debate was McCain himself.
McCain reminds me a bit of Hillary Clinton here. She thought that she could fool everybody into thinking that she had magically absorbed all of Bill’s foreign policy mojo. Similarly, McCain apparently still thinks that he is a foreign policy maven just because he once proudly (and righteously) wore a uniform for his country. But while Senator Clinton was a least a fast learner, McCain has demonstrated that if he doesn’t have Joe Liberman at his side to tell him the difference between Shia and Sunni, his foreign policy experience consists of little more than farting that he was always right and Obama always wrong.
About something. No one is quite sure exactly what it is that McCain is right about.
Big E
The more America sees & hears McCain, the more they will vote for Obama.
I can’t wait for the Obama/McCain debates……
Calouste
And the fisticuffs are going to be a bit of an issue because this debater guy has been doing all these nerdy oriental martial arts. Aikido mostly.
AnneLaurie
Joshua Norton FTW!
Heck, even the Republicans are beginning to enjoy that fantasy…
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
No, that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that McCain is starting to lose it rather than just sticking to the script, based on his recent statements (who jokes about their own paid staff being “on work realease programs“? WTF was that?), and based on the stupid Novak-Jindal stunt. My speculation is that all the publicity being given to Obama’s overseas trip is messing with McCain’s head, and what McCain wants more than anything else right now is some attention.
If Obama attacks him directly, that gives him the attention he wants, and also gives our idiot press corps a golden chance to start writing stories about how Obama is being mean and nasty to John McCain POW-War-Hero (burp! more BBQ please!).
On the other hand, if Obama lets him stew and he gets even more mad (about being deserted by the press) than he is now, he may very well explode. And when that happens all the BBQ in the world won’t be able to save him, because there is no way a genuine volcanic temper meltdown is not going to make it onto the TV screens. It will be the “Dean scream” moment of the election. Game – set – match.
That certainly isn’t how I remember the primaries. I did predict after Texas/Ohio that Obama’s eventual victory was a near certainty from that point forward given the delegate math, and that Hillary would bow out after the Oregon primary put Obama over the top rather than take it all the way to the convention, which wasn’t too far off as predictions went.
IIRC, where you and I differed during the primaries was over how nasty to be towards the Clintonistas. You wanted to skin them and eat them alive right there on the spot without even cooking them first, whereas I was suggesting that we might actually need them come November, so perhaps just applying a little dry spice rub and then packing them away in a nice marinade might be more appropriate.
zuzu's petals
As if McCain couldn’t get more tone-deaf help:
Yeah, the same Bud Day who defended the SBVT smears against Kerry as “revealing the truth” about Kerry. And who wore his MoH in one of those very same SBVPT smear ads.
Way to go !!!
zuzu's petals
Hey, where’d my exclamation points go?
To many, I guess.
Ninerdave
Geez, TZ…the phone was black, not red and it was 3am. Get yer facts straight.
Conservatively Liberal
Substantiative and reasonable debate is all and good, but when someone like McGoo says what he did about Obama then John’s response is all of the debate needed on the issue.
Obama is going to continue to respond in a ‘restrained’ manner, but he will respond. No doubt about it. And he is right to approach it this way. I learned long ago that when you are dealing with a person with a hot temper, if you want them to go off then keep calm and politely respond to them. Especially if you work with customers like this for a living.
My wife had one customer blow up on her, and all she did was remain reasonable. The more reasonable she got, the more pissed the customer got. In the end, he complained to her boss, who just happened to be listening in discreetly. She tried to peg him down on anything my wife did that was out of line but all he could do was not utter how polite she was. He finally stormed out of the store, and both my wife and her boss were glad to see him go.
My wife works in womens apparel, so it was not like they were losing a regular customer. ;)
Obama is right to keep his responses tempered and even, but still a clear rejection of whatever McGoo or the right throws at him. He has done well so far, and I trust he will continue to do so.
This will only piss them off more, leading to more outrageous behavior on their part. No doubt about it. Get lots of popcorn, it’s going to get messy.
Chuck Butcher
I’m all for slash and burn politics – when it’s to my advantage and when somebody is trying to hang themselves, I’m a fan of handing them rope. I also know something about displays of anger or outrage – there is a very fine line there and it is very personally determined. Hillary got whacked for being shrill, she was – it was the tenor of her voice, her method should have been to get quiet and intense. A raised voice for her killed the message, on the other hand I can pull it off, for one I’m male, two the right tenor, three construction site have made me experienced at loud. A furious Obama isn’t gonna work.
Best, it’s getting done for him. “Flat Earth” Joe Klein is doing it? He’s got the 28%ers calling him a leftist hack? Jayzus how does it get better than that?
This real man crap is pretty lame, I can be a firebreathing barn burner politically and as for the rest of it…let me put it this way, paper cuts are way down the list of job or amusement injuries I might incur. My little piss ant blog gets regular attention from HouseInfosys, SenateSgtArms, Pentagon, a couple arlington ISPs with blocked IDs, and other govt arms. Maybe they’re fans.
First rule of politics, don’t make enemies – you’ll have them anyhow. Be good to your friends, reasonable with your opponents, and absolutely gut your enemies, unless you can find someone to do it for you.
Whatever catagory McCain & campaign belong in, there are a lot of people around him who are simply opponents, it is unwise to turn them into enemies. If you can’t win them over then you have to win over them – but you leave them their dignity because sooner or later you’ll have to work with them or around them. Politics is a shifting game, today’s opponent is tomorrow’s ally, just depends on the issue.
Wilfred
Looks like McCain’s base covered for him again because I haven’t seen any mention of his comments in the MSM – expected at least some eyebrow raising and am honestly shocked to see nothing.
I never realized how unintelligent McCain actually is. He has to be the stupidest fuck to gain a Presidential nomination in a long time. It’s not his age or his temper – he’s just stupid. Obama should treat him as such.
4tehlulz
Oh shi-. This is bad. If the McCain candidacy self-immolates in RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGE now, the GOP might replace him at the convention with someone that might actually win.
harlana pepper
Oh, John, you really *should* become a hand model after all!
harlana pepper
Although looks like you could use a lil Jergen’s hand cream. You know how summer can dry out the skin.
Ben Roethlisberger
I don’t know. I guess I’m used to this kind of attack against Democratic candidates. I differ on policy with some but I don’t accuse them of the worst simply because of it. This is an example of where Democratic candidates just don’t go as far as Republicans.
Geeno
Obama is NOT going to respond while on this trip. A foreign capitol isn’t the place to respond to that.
There hasn’t even been a convention yet, FH. Obama will unload on McCain in the general if it’s even necessary anymore.
Bob In Pacifica
How can we lose the war? I thought we won it when Dubs landed on the flight deck with the flight suit and the codpiece.
jrg
Obama does not need to go on the offensive because of this idiotic assertion by McSame, for a number of reasons:
1) Dems and Obama supporters will do it for him.
2) McSame is damaging himself more than Obama possibly could. The Obama campaign has been painting McSame as Bush III – How can it hurt the Obama campaign if McSame continues to act like Bush?
3) Everyone not in the 28% crowd knows that the Iraq war was started by the Republicans, for political purposes. If McCain is dumb enough to keep pushing this line of attack, he’s going to be worse off. McSame is asking for trouble, like he did when he insisted that Obama go to Iraq.
4) Every BS talking point that bounces off Obama causes a loss of GOP/McSame credibility, and reduces their ability to form a cohesive narrative. Why give more weight to these allegations by denying them? “I know the allegations are not true, but make the SOB deny it” is the oldest trick in the book, and is usually indicative of a campaign in distress.
Chris Johnson
Someday someone will auction off the “Mission Accomplished” dick padding.
Can there be a more collectible item?
Watch how it turns out to be Depends, because loudmouthed little frat boys typically piss themselves when being landed on a carrier, and we can’t have that on TV, can we?
Neo