McCain is a proven war hero. Palin represents the average American. Biden is a babbling fool. And Obama is a Muslim in disguise. Keep our country in the hands of the real Christian Americans.
You know Rose, comments like the above are just what I was talking about yesterday, the sort of BS perpetuated by beating the Ayers drum. McCain had the decency to reject them publicly. Do you?
(Of course McCain is still beating that drum, so his embarrassed rejections don't exactly ring true.)
October 24, 2008 New York Times EDITORIAL Barack Obama for President
Hyperbole is the currency of presidential campaigns, but this year the nation’s future truly hangs in the balance.
The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.
As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.
•
Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.
In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.
Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound.
Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans’ bank accounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government’s role and responsibilities.
In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, “Government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.”
Since the financial crisis, he has correctly identified the abject failure of government regulation that has brought the markets to the brink of collapse.
The Economy
The American financial system is the victim of decades of Republican deregulatory and anti-tax policies. Those ideas have been proved wrong at an unfathomable price, but Mr. McCain — a self-proclaimed “foot soldier in the Reagan revolution” — is still a believer.
Mr. Obama sees that far-reaching reforms will be needed to protect Americans and American business.
Mr. McCain talks about reform a lot, but his vision is pinched. His answer to any economic question is to eliminate pork-barrel spending — about $18 billion in a $3 trillion budget — cut taxes and wait for unfettered markets to solve the problem.
Mr. Obama is clear that the nation’s tax structure must be changed to make it fairer. That means the well-off Americans who have benefited disproportionately from Mr. Bush’s tax cuts will have to pay some more. Working Americans, who have seen their standard of living fall and their children’s options narrow, will benefit. Mr. Obama wants to raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation, restore a climate in which workers are able to organize unions if they wish and expand educational opportunities.
Mr. McCain, who once opposed President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy as fiscally irresponsible, now wants to make them permanent. And while he talks about keeping taxes low for everyone, his proposed cuts would overwhelmingly benefit the top 1 percent of Americans while digging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.
National Security
The American military — its people and equipment — is dangerously overstretched. Mr. Bush has neglected the necessary war in Afghanistan, which now threatens to spiral into defeat. The unnecessary and staggeringly costly war in Iraq must be ended as quickly and responsibly as possible.
While Iraq’s leaders insist on a swift drawdown of American troops and a deadline for the end of the occupation, Mr. McCain is still talking about some ill-defined “victory.” As a result, he has offered no real plan for extracting American troops and limiting any further damage to Iraq and its neighbors.
Mr. Obama was an early and thoughtful opponent of the war in Iraq, and he has presented a military and diplomatic plan for withdrawing American forces. Mr. Obama also has correctly warned that until the Pentagon starts pulling troops out of Iraq, there will not be enough troops to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, has only belatedly focused on Afghanistan’s dangerous unraveling and the threat that neighboring Pakistan may quickly follow.
Mr. Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but he has already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these critical issues. His choice of Senator Joseph Biden — who has deep foreign-policy expertise — as his running mate is another sign of that sound judgment. Mr. McCain’s long interest in foreign policy and the many dangers this country now faces make his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska more irresponsible.
Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia, including NATO, and strongly support Israel. Both candidates talk about repairing America’s image in the world. But it seems clear to us that Mr. Obama is far more likely to do that — and not just because the first black president would present a new American face to the world.
Mr. Obama wants to reform the United Nations, while Mr. McCain wants to create a new entity, the League of Democracies — a move that would incite even fiercer anti-American furies around the world.
Unfortunately, Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, sees the world as divided into friends (like Georgia) and adversaries (like Russia). He proposed kicking Russia out of the Group of 8 industrialized nations even before the invasion of Georgia. We have no sympathy for Moscow’s bullying, but we also have no desire to replay the cold war. The United States must find a way to constrain the Russians’ worst impulses, while preserving the ability to work with them on arms control and other vital initiatives.
Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled out military action to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But Mr. Obama has called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and tougher sanctions. Mr. McCain’s willingness to joke about bombing Iran was frightening.
The Constitution and the Rule of Law
Under Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the justice system and the separation of powers have come under relentless attack. Mr. Bush chose to exploit the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, the moment in which he looked like the president of a unified nation, to try to place himself above the law.
Mr. Bush has arrogated the power to imprison men without charges and browbeat Congress into granting an unfettered authority to spy on Americans. He has created untold numbers of “black” programs, including secret prisons and outsourced torture. The president has issued hundreds, if not thousands, of secret orders. We fear it will take years of forensic research to discover how many basic rights have been violated.
Both candidates have renounced torture and are committed to closing the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
But Mr. Obama has gone beyond that, promising to identify and correct Mr. Bush’s attacks on the democratic system. Mr. McCain has been silent on the subject.
Mr. McCain improved protections for detainees. But then he helped the White House push through the appalling Military Commissions Act of 2006, which denied detainees the right to a hearing in a real court and put Washington in conflict with the Geneva Conventions, greatly increasing the risk to American troops.
The next president will have the chance to appoint one or more justices to a Supreme Court that is on the brink of being dominated by a radical right wing. Mr. Obama may appoint less liberal judges than some of his followers might like, but Mr. McCain is certain to pick rigid ideologues. He has said he would never appoint a judge who believes in women’s reproductive rights.
The Candidates
It will be an enormous challenge just to get the nation back to where it was before Mr. Bush, to begin to mend its image in the world and to restore its self-confidence and its self-respect. Doing all of that, and leading America forward, will require strength of will, character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.
Mr. Obama has those qualities in abundance. Watching him being tested in the campaign has long since erased the reservations that led us to endorse Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries. He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility.
Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000 primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has been replaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tactics and tacticians.
He surrendered his standing as an independent thinker in his rush to embrace Mr. Bush’s misbegotten tax policies and to abandon his leadership position on climate change and immigration reform.
Mr. McCain could have seized the high ground on energy and the environment. Earlier in his career, he offered the first plausible bill to control America’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Now his positions are a caricature of that record: think Ms. Palin leading chants of “drill, baby, drill.”
Mr. Obama has endorsed some offshore drilling, but as part of a comprehensive strategy including big investments in new, clean technologies.
•
Mr. Obama has withstood some of the toughest campaign attacks ever mounted against a candidate. He’s been called un-American and accused of hiding a secret Islamic faith. The Republicans have linked him to domestic terrorists and questioned his wife’s love of her country. Ms. Palin has also questioned millions of Americans’ patriotism, calling Republican-leaning states “pro-America.”
This politics of fear, division and character assassination helped Mr. Bush drive Mr. McCain from the 2000 Republican primaries and defeat Senator John Kerry in 2004. It has been the dominant theme of his failed presidency.
The nation’s problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing “robo-calls” and negative ads. This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.
Bob - hate to break this to you but the NYT's has gone down the shitter. If you are impressed by their editorial, them I feel badly for you. You would agree wouldn't you that a newspaper is only as good as its writers and editors. Bad writers, bad editors and even the most prestigious of papers goes into the crapper.
NYT is losing advertising by the droves and is likely to go under.
I guess I'll have to forgive ya, Bob - for not realizing that the NYT endorsed Obama a lo-o-o-o-n-n-n-n-g-g time ago. They just made it official, that's all.
I'm sure that forgiveness will be beaten out of me in reeducation camp.
3:38 PM: "The NY Times is by far the most respectable national newspaper in the country."
"Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Thursday lowered The New York Times Co.'s corporate credit rating to junk bond status, citing weak prospects for advertising revenues...On Thursday, the Times reported a 51.4 percent decline in third-quarter profit.
S&P said it removed the company's rating from CreditWatch, where it was placed on July 23 and the rating outlook is negative."
Maybe "Pinch" can get a job as Jug-Ears' press secretary?
Of course I knew the NYT is on the side of the good guys. And, yes, the newspaper biz is tough, I work for one so I know first hand. I posted the editorial because is touches on something I was writing about here previously, the "politics of fear, division and character assassination" that you Rose, seem to be embracing.
I notice you did not disavow the know-nothing anons who claim, "Obama is a Muslim in disguise," and say,"Keep our country in the hands of the real Christian Americans," and "No Muslim Terrorists in the White House." I repeat: that's the BS I'm talking about.
If you believe that crap, well I won't say you need re-education, it's too late for that, but you need to re-examine the moral basis of your argument.
Why is McCain losing? Because he failed to articulate a neo-Republican ideology beyond a rehash of hate-based fear-mongering and inviting the extreme right into his bed. The economy trumped that line and all he did was flail around offering a different plan every couple of days, the latest being a pile of BS about resisting creeping socialism and how continuing tax cuts for millionaires is going to help Joe Six-Pack/The Plumber, and now, a too late rejection of the Bush legacy. Poor W. even his own party finds him embarrassing.
I didn't address the "he is a Muslim" thing because it is just too stupid to address, Bob.
It's clear he is not a Muslim. His Church, however, preaches "Black Liberation Theology." They are the racists, in my opinion.
But I don't think he is particularly 'religious' in any aspect. the Church was a means to an end, going there, a tool in his political journey, a necessary evil. I think he is rather like Gallegos in that regard. He does what he has to.
I find it interesting that you are so quick to sing away all rights to hold dissenting opinions - so quick to jump to the "re-education camp" notion. You're not alone. And that's the problem.
Explain to me, Bob, WHAT OBAMA DID, while ineither of his two offices, his some 300 days in office, whatever that number is - what did he ACTUALLY DO that so inspires you. NOT how good he SOUNDS. What has he DONE.
Where's all this hate going to go once Bush is gone, let's say Obama gets elected... where is it going to go? I know where it will go if he loses.
"I didn't address the "he is a Muslim" thing because it is just too stupid to address..."
Not too stupid for General Powell, who said,
"I’m troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America."
Of course at this point you probably think Powell is just another uber-left-wing-whackaloon.
As far as signing away the right to dissent, far from it, although I don't see much dissent here, just mudslinging, which is something else altogether. You have every right to post whatever you please, and to express your sometimes misguided opinions, and I have the right to chastise you and offer counter opinions. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Forgive my dry sarcasm, but any mention of re-eduction was intended as a joke, although I imagine your clip from an old report on the "washed-up" Weathermen was posted in total seriousness, as were your links that are supposed to show us that Democrats are evil racists, and Republicans fully support civil rights and equal opportunity. (I somehow ended up on the mailing list for the National Black Republicans Association, so I've heard all that before, and IMHO the NBRA has fallen into the uber-right-wing-whackaloon camp of late.) And let's not forget that the post-Palin Repubs are now love feminists and are like totally down with womyn.
Okay, so now I'm supposed to play the "is he experienced" game. What did he do? He voted against the war on Iraq for starters. Truth is, I support him for what he represents, not for what he's done. (I suspect you feel the same way, although for different reasons.) I find irony in the fact that McCain has turned "eloquent" into a barb as if being smart and articulate was some sort of negative. Gen. Powell calls Obama a "transformational figure." I agree. For me he represents hope in the face of fear.
You ask, "where is all the hate going to go once Bush is gone"? I'm not totally sure what hate you're talking about. Hate for Bush? I'd have to say I feel sorry for him more than I hate him. He was a tool for the most part. And you'll have to admit, the bulk of the hate being generated in this campaign is coming from the right, which is not to say that the extremes of both sides have not been guilty sometimes. What I find distressing is that hate speech, be it robo-call smears about terrorists or shrillness from Palin, has become part of the mainstream Republican Party message. It's disappointing to see someone like you fall in line with that sort of vile tactic. It shows me that the constant drumbeat of fear has proven all too effective.
You LOVE to lump all Republicans into the boogeyman camp. As far as you are concerned, Republicans hate blacks, feminists, environmentalists, gays - anyone except fat southern white men I guess.
It's funny, Bob. I think that's what it is about Palin that has all you guys so upset. It exposes the lie in that thinking.
I am a Republican, Bob. I'm not against civil rights, nor is anyone I know. I'm not against working women, far from it. Nor is ANYONE I KNOW!
What you guys forget is that OOOHHH Republicans! are PEOPLE, no different from you, and if Dick Cheney's daughter being gay doesn't show you the lie, I don't know what can. Did he boot her out of the family, Bob?
We don't march in lockstep, and from what I am seeing lately, we are FAR MORE LIKELY to vote OFF party lines than anyone in your camp.
I sure hope they find a cure for Bush Derangement Syndrome, 'cause I think the poison isn't going to leave the system when he does.
And I thank you for your honesty - you like Obama for what he REPRESENTS - all your hopes and dreams. All your high ideals. Everything that is good about you, you see it reflecting back at you and you revel in it, and you imagine that he is as good as you are.
I do not think he is. And I think alot of good people like you are going to be very disappointed.
That lovely mirrored facade blinds you to the Chicago machinations behind this man, allows you to overlook the uncalled for meteoric rise, allows you to tolerate that which you would not tolerate out of a county supervisor, and that is running for the next office the day you win the first one.
I wish he was what you think he is. A savior would surely be a lovely thing for the earth.
But he is not. And there are a whole lot of people trying to tell you exactly why he is not. But you cannot hear it.
But you need only look at what Gallegos has done to the DAs office to see what is coming. It is the same dynamic in play. Mirrors. And an empty facade.
McCain is a proven war hero. Palin represents the average American. Biden is a babbling fool. And Obama is a Muslim in disguise. Keep our country in the hands of the real Christian Americans.
ReplyDeleteVote McCain/Palin
No Muslim Terrorists in the White House. Al-Qadea will win.
ReplyDeleteYou know Rose, comments like the above are just what I was talking about yesterday, the sort of BS perpetuated by beating the Ayers drum. McCain had the decency to reject them publicly. Do you?
ReplyDelete(Of course McCain is still beating that drum, so his embarrassed rejections don't exactly ring true.)
October 24, 2008
ReplyDeleteNew York Times EDITORIAL
Barack Obama for President
Hyperbole is the currency of presidential campaigns, but this year the nation’s future truly hangs in the balance.
The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.
As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.
•
Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.
In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.
Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound.
Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans’ bank accounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government’s role and responsibilities.
In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, “Government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.”
Since the financial crisis, he has correctly identified the abject failure of government regulation that has brought the markets to the brink of collapse.
The Economy
The American financial system is the victim of decades of Republican deregulatory and anti-tax policies. Those ideas have been proved wrong at an unfathomable price, but Mr. McCain — a self-proclaimed “foot soldier in the Reagan revolution” — is still a believer.
Mr. Obama sees that far-reaching reforms will be needed to protect Americans and American business.
Mr. McCain talks about reform a lot, but his vision is pinched. His answer to any economic question is to eliminate pork-barrel spending — about $18 billion in a $3 trillion budget — cut taxes and wait for unfettered markets to solve the problem.
Mr. Obama is clear that the nation’s tax structure must be changed to make it fairer. That means the well-off Americans who have benefited disproportionately from Mr. Bush’s tax cuts will have to pay some more. Working Americans, who have seen their standard of living fall and their children’s options narrow, will benefit. Mr. Obama wants to raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation, restore a climate in which workers are able to organize unions if they wish and expand educational opportunities.
Mr. McCain, who once opposed President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy as fiscally irresponsible, now wants to make them permanent. And while he talks about keeping taxes low for everyone, his proposed cuts would overwhelmingly benefit the top 1 percent of Americans while digging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.
National Security
The American military — its people and equipment — is dangerously overstretched. Mr. Bush has neglected the necessary war in Afghanistan, which now threatens to spiral into defeat. The unnecessary and staggeringly costly war in Iraq must be ended as quickly and responsibly as possible.
While Iraq’s leaders insist on a swift drawdown of American troops and a deadline for the end of the occupation, Mr. McCain is still talking about some ill-defined “victory.” As a result, he has offered no real plan for extracting American troops and limiting any further damage to Iraq and its neighbors.
Mr. Obama was an early and thoughtful opponent of the war in Iraq, and he has presented a military and diplomatic plan for withdrawing American forces. Mr. Obama also has correctly warned that until the Pentagon starts pulling troops out of Iraq, there will not be enough troops to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, has only belatedly focused on Afghanistan’s dangerous unraveling and the threat that neighboring Pakistan may quickly follow.
Mr. Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but he has already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these critical issues. His choice of Senator Joseph Biden — who has deep foreign-policy expertise — as his running mate is another sign of that sound judgment. Mr. McCain’s long interest in foreign policy and the many dangers this country now faces make his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska more irresponsible.
Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia, including NATO, and strongly support Israel. Both candidates talk about repairing America’s image in the world. But it seems clear to us that Mr. Obama is far more likely to do that — and not just because the first black president would present a new American face to the world.
Mr. Obama wants to reform the United Nations, while Mr. McCain wants to create a new entity, the League of Democracies — a move that would incite even fiercer anti-American furies around the world.
Unfortunately, Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, sees the world as divided into friends (like Georgia) and adversaries (like Russia). He proposed kicking Russia out of the Group of 8 industrialized nations even before the invasion of Georgia. We have no sympathy for Moscow’s bullying, but we also have no desire to replay the cold war. The United States must find a way to constrain the Russians’ worst impulses, while preserving the ability to work with them on arms control and other vital initiatives.
Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled out military action to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But Mr. Obama has called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and tougher sanctions. Mr. McCain’s willingness to joke about bombing Iran was frightening.
The Constitution and the Rule of Law
Under Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the justice system and the separation of powers have come under relentless attack. Mr. Bush chose to exploit the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, the moment in which he looked like the president of a unified nation, to try to place himself above the law.
Mr. Bush has arrogated the power to imprison men without charges and browbeat Congress into granting an unfettered authority to spy on Americans. He has created untold numbers of “black” programs, including secret prisons and outsourced torture. The president has issued hundreds, if not thousands, of secret orders. We fear it will take years of forensic research to discover how many basic rights have been violated.
Both candidates have renounced torture and are committed to closing the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
But Mr. Obama has gone beyond that, promising to identify and correct Mr. Bush’s attacks on the democratic system. Mr. McCain has been silent on the subject.
Mr. McCain improved protections for detainees. But then he helped the White House push through the appalling Military Commissions Act of 2006, which denied detainees the right to a hearing in a real court and put Washington in conflict with the Geneva Conventions, greatly increasing the risk to American troops.
The next president will have the chance to appoint one or more justices to a Supreme Court that is on the brink of being dominated by a radical right wing. Mr. Obama may appoint less liberal judges than some of his followers might like, but Mr. McCain is certain to pick rigid ideologues. He has said he would never appoint a judge who believes in women’s reproductive rights.
The Candidates
It will be an enormous challenge just to get the nation back to where it was before Mr. Bush, to begin to mend its image in the world and to restore its self-confidence and its self-respect. Doing all of that, and leading America forward, will require strength of will, character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.
Mr. Obama has those qualities in abundance. Watching him being tested in the campaign has long since erased the reservations that led us to endorse Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries. He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility.
Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000 primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has been replaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tactics and tacticians.
He surrendered his standing as an independent thinker in his rush to embrace Mr. Bush’s misbegotten tax policies and to abandon his leadership position on climate change and immigration reform.
Mr. McCain could have seized the high ground on energy and the environment. Earlier in his career, he offered the first plausible bill to control America’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Now his positions are a caricature of that record: think Ms. Palin leading chants of “drill, baby, drill.”
Mr. Obama has endorsed some offshore drilling, but as part of a comprehensive strategy including big investments in new, clean technologies.
•
Mr. Obama has withstood some of the toughest campaign attacks ever mounted against a candidate. He’s been called un-American and accused of hiding a secret Islamic faith. The Republicans have linked him to domestic terrorists and questioned his wife’s love of her country. Ms. Palin has also questioned millions of Americans’ patriotism, calling Republican-leaning states “pro-America.”
This politics of fear, division and character assassination helped Mr. Bush drive Mr. McCain from the 2000 Republican primaries and defeat Senator John Kerry in 2004. It has been the dominant theme of his failed presidency.
The nation’s problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing “robo-calls” and negative ads. This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.
In my best Nelson sotto voce: Ha-ha!
ReplyDeleteAt least Bob hasn't forgotten his cut and paste lesson from computers 101. He may now proceed to the head of the class.
ReplyDeleteBob - hate to break this to you but the NYT's has gone down the shitter. If you are impressed by their editorial, them I feel badly for you. You would agree wouldn't you that a newspaper is only as good as its writers and editors. Bad writers, bad editors and even the most prestigious of papers goes into the crapper.
ReplyDeleteNYT is losing advertising by the droves and is likely to go under.
The NY Times is by far the most respectable national newspaper in the country.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll have to forgive ya, Bob - for not realizing that the NYT endorsed Obama a lo-o-o-o-n-n-n-n-g-g time ago. They just made it official, that's all.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that forgiveness will be beaten out of me in reeducation camp.
3:38 PM: "The NY Times is by far the most respectable national newspaper in the country."
ReplyDelete"Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Thursday lowered The New York Times Co.'s corporate credit rating to junk bond status, citing weak prospects for advertising revenues...On Thursday, the Times reported a 51.4 percent decline in third-quarter profit.
S&P said it removed the company's rating from CreditWatch, where it was placed on July 23 and the rating outlook is negative."
Maybe "Pinch" can get a job as Jug-Ears' press secretary?
Of course I knew the NYT is on the side of the good guys. And, yes, the newspaper biz is tough, I work for one so I know first hand. I posted the editorial because is touches on something I was writing about here previously, the "politics of fear, division and character assassination" that you Rose, seem to be embracing.
ReplyDeleteI notice you did not disavow the know-nothing anons who claim, "Obama is a Muslim in disguise," and say,"Keep our country in the hands of the real Christian Americans," and "No Muslim Terrorists in the White House." I repeat: that's the BS I'm talking about.
If you believe that crap, well I won't say you need re-education, it's too late for that, but you need to re-examine the moral basis of your argument.
Why is McCain losing? Because he failed to articulate a neo-Republican ideology beyond a rehash of hate-based fear-mongering and inviting the extreme right into his bed. The economy trumped that line and all he did was flail around offering a different plan every couple of days, the latest being a pile of BS about resisting creeping socialism and how continuing tax cuts for millionaires is going to help Joe Six-Pack/The Plumber, and now, a too late rejection of the Bush legacy. Poor W. even his own party finds him embarrassing.
I didn't address the "he is a Muslim" thing because it is just too stupid to address, Bob.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear he is not a Muslim. His Church, however, preaches "Black Liberation Theology." They are the racists, in my opinion.
But I don't think he is particularly 'religious' in any aspect. the Church was a means to an end, going there, a tool in his political journey, a necessary evil. I think he is rather like Gallegos in that regard. He does what he has to.
I find it interesting that you are so quick to sing away all rights to hold dissenting opinions - so quick to jump to the "re-education camp" notion. You're not alone. And that's the problem.
Explain to me, Bob, WHAT OBAMA DID, while ineither of his two offices, his some 300 days in office, whatever that number is - what did he ACTUALLY DO that so inspires you. NOT how good he SOUNDS. What has he DONE.
Where's all this hate going to go once Bush is gone, let's say Obama gets elected... where is it going to go? I know where it will go if he loses.
"I didn't address the "he is a Muslim" thing because it is just too stupid to address..."
ReplyDeleteNot too stupid for General Powell, who said,
"I’m troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America."
Of course at this point you probably think Powell is just another uber-left-wing-whackaloon.
As far as signing away the right to dissent, far from it, although I don't see much dissent here, just mudslinging, which is something else altogether. You have every right to post whatever you please, and to express your sometimes misguided opinions, and I have the right to chastise you and offer counter opinions. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Forgive my dry sarcasm, but any mention of re-eduction was intended as a joke, although I imagine your clip from an old report on the "washed-up" Weathermen was posted in total seriousness, as were your links that are supposed to show us that Democrats are evil racists, and Republicans fully support civil rights and equal opportunity. (I somehow ended up on the mailing list for the National Black Republicans Association, so I've heard all that before, and IMHO the NBRA has fallen into the uber-right-wing-whackaloon camp of late.) And let's not forget that the post-Palin Repubs are now love feminists and are like totally down with womyn.
Okay, so now I'm supposed to play the "is he experienced" game. What did he do? He voted against the war on Iraq for starters. Truth is, I support him for what he represents, not for what he's done. (I suspect you feel the same way, although for different reasons.) I find irony in the fact that McCain has turned "eloquent" into a barb as if being smart and articulate was some sort of negative. Gen. Powell calls Obama a "transformational figure." I agree. For me he represents hope in the face of fear.
You ask, "where is all the hate going to go once Bush is gone"? I'm not totally sure what hate you're talking about. Hate for Bush? I'd have to say I feel sorry for him more than I hate him. He was a tool for the most part. And you'll have to admit, the bulk of the hate being generated in this campaign is coming from the right, which is not to say that the extremes of both sides have not been guilty sometimes. What I find distressing is that hate speech, be it robo-call smears about terrorists or shrillness from Palin, has become part of the mainstream Republican Party message. It's disappointing to see someone like you fall in line with that sort of vile tactic. It shows me that the constant drumbeat of fear has proven all too effective.
You LOVE to lump all Republicans into the boogeyman camp. As far as you are concerned, Republicans hate blacks, feminists, environmentalists, gays - anyone except fat southern white men I guess.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, Bob. I think that's what it is about Palin that has all you guys so upset. It exposes the lie in that thinking.
I am a Republican, Bob. I'm not against civil rights, nor is anyone I know. I'm not against working women, far from it. Nor is ANYONE I KNOW!
What you guys forget is that OOOHHH Republicans! are PEOPLE, no different from you, and if Dick Cheney's daughter being gay doesn't show you the lie, I don't know what can. Did he boot her out of the family, Bob?
We don't march in lockstep, and from what I am seeing lately, we are FAR MORE LIKELY to vote OFF party lines than anyone in your camp.
I sure hope they find a cure for Bush Derangement Syndrome, 'cause I think the poison isn't going to leave the system when he does.
And I thank you for your honesty - you like Obama for what he REPRESENTS - all your hopes and dreams. All your high ideals. Everything that is good about you, you see it reflecting back at you and you revel in it, and you imagine that he is as good as you are.
I do not think he is. And I think alot of good people like you are going to be very disappointed.
That lovely mirrored facade blinds you to the Chicago machinations behind this man, allows you to overlook the uncalled for meteoric rise, allows you to tolerate that which you would not tolerate out of a county supervisor, and that is running for the next office the day you win the first one.
I wish he was what you think he is. A savior would surely be a lovely thing for the earth.
But he is not. And there are a whole lot of people trying to tell you exactly why he is not. But you cannot hear it.
But you need only look at what Gallegos has done to the DAs office to see what is coming. It is the same dynamic in play. Mirrors. And an empty facade.
I actually feel very sorry for Clif if is able to get elected. I don't think he is going to enjoy it much.
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