The new right-wing meme for Obama is that he lacks “humility.” I just hear John Kyl say it on CNN Late Edition, and Mark Steyn barfs up the humble bit here.
It is quite laughable, but I guess it is better than calling him uppity. The best thing is that it is clear what they are trying to do, but some of the dimmer bulbs in the spin machine are not going to be able to stick with “humble,” and they are setting all sorts of traps for themselves, which is kind of funny. This line of attack will end badly for the GOP.
calipygian
not humble = uppity
It IS a thinly veiled racist attack. And needs to be framed as such. I’d love to see Charlie Wrangel get up there and say it just like that.
It’d make for great TV.
BH-Buck
Wow. Didn’t these same people recently claim Obama doesn’t have a resume?
How could they know whether the man lacks humility or not when they say they know nothing about him?
Republicanism makes teh head hurt.
SnarkyShark
I keep flashing on what happens to a washing machine when it starts spinning with an unbalanced load.
Especially when that washing machine is wore out and oh so tired.
The racist will out themselves and its gonna be ugly.
For them.
Mike
Fist-bumping is arrogant.
4tehlulz
HOLY SHIT A POLITICIAN THAT ISN’T HUMBLE?
The “uppity” fuck up, when it comes, is going to be hilarious. *buys popcorn*
ThymeZone
Obama does best, as we saw during the Wright flap, when he speaks for himself.
When he speaks for himself, people listen, and they will be able to figure out for themselves whether he has the requisite humility and other qualities they are looking for.
It’s a bit of a stretch to think that a horse’s ass like Jon Kyl, or that Republicans in general — architects of the miserable circumstances now despised by 80% of Americans — are the people we need judging the “humility” of Barack Obama. The very fact that these morons even have such an idea in their heads speaks to the complete ineptitude these people bring to the table, and have brought to government.
Keep talking, Kyl. I figure that every utterance you make is another chunk of votes for my guy.
Crusty Dem
Wherefore art the great humble politician of olde? Such as, umm, let me think here. hmmm… Well, shit, there ain’t no such thing.
Let’s just pile humble politician on the oxymoron stockpile right next to “Republican strategist” and “Larry Johnson thought”
ThymeZone
No biggie, but since you will be hearing from him a lot this year, I reckon … it’s Jon Kyl.
Jon Kyl, the bonehead, the empty suit. We love us some senators out here in AZ. McCain and Kyl, a pair to draw to if there ever was one.
yet another jeff
Fuck humility…I want a elite leading us. If you’re leading the country, you damn well should be better than me. I don’t want a regular guy in charge, regular guys are idiots.
Karmakin
This is a very stupid line of attack. They just ran into a buzz-saw.
Watch the video there, and try and think about Obama lacking humility. It’s ridiculous. Maybe you can ignore talking about how he has to try and be a better candidate. Maybe. But can you ignore him saying that if he lost Iowa…that would be OK? I mean really.
The guy’s the most humble presidential candidate in my lifetime. Not the right line of attack.
BH-Buck
yet another jeff, good point. The “good ol’ boy” turned to be one HUGE phuck up for the country.
John Cole
Exactly. Saying someone is not humble is not a racist attack at all. But the problem is they won’t be able to control themselves. One of them will get worked into a frothing rage and it will just slip out.
Not sure if you all watched the campaign, but the Obama folks are really good at slowly needling the opposition out of sight until they blow up publicly.
Wilfred
This is what they feared most – being outed for what they really are. Their core pyscho group doesn’t care but those out on the perimeter, the less extreme religious et al., are going to be so put off they’ll stay home rather than align themselves with the racist RedState crowd.
Keep talking Kyl.
slippy hussein toad
“Lacking humility????”
How about “Insufficiently obsequious to conservatives?”
This is the frame of all Conservatism gradually coming out in the open. You are WRONG if you question them. WRONG if you fail to fall all over yourself to cede their bullshit FAILED, WRONG, IDIOTIC talking points to them. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!
It is the political tactic of bullies who know nothing about anything and simply feel they are entitled to be in charge.
Perry Como
Ahem.
The Moar You Know
I’m not so sure about that, although I agree wholeheartedly that the “dimmer bulbs” aren’t going to be able to stick to the approved language. Much lulz will ensue.
No, the one thing I’ve learned this campaign is that racism is alive and well in America to a degree I’d never suspected. My family is from the South, and in one sense the old-school Southern racism is “better”, in that at least you know where the person stands.
The racism I’m seeing in this campaign is something completely different. It’s from people who would never, in a million years, self-identify as racist. And it’s largely from Democrats.
I wish I could believe that dog-whistle, or even straight-up naked racist attacks, would hurt the GOP. I did a year ago. I don’t now.
D. Mason
I look forward to seeing how much it hurts McCain to have supporters from his side tossing an occasional racist attack compared to how much it hurts Obama to have supporters from his side calling every attack racist.
Gold Star for Robot Boy
That’s an affront to the garment industry.
Rome Again
The shit eating grin I saw on Jon Kyl’s face on that interview was HUMILITY?
I thought it was haughtiness, who knew?
Davis X. Machina
Bingo!
One part of mankind is born booted, spurred, and ready to ride. And one part is born to be ridden.
And Obama is a little ….confused about which part is his part.
GSD
After 8 years of Bush and now these unseemly douchenozzles are consumed with a leader’s capacity of humility?
So?
-GSD
dreggas
They’re just using this line of attack because McShitstain has to be slow and deliberate when he speaks lest he forget his lines that he somehow sounds humble.
I can’t wait until Obama pops that balloon when he and his campaign needle McShitstain into blowing up and shooting themselves in the face.
SnarkyShark
But they don’t think they are racists. Thats one of the reasons they call themselves Democrats, it makes them feel better about themselves.
The naked racism that will come from the thugs will horrify them and force them to face their own inner racist and how important it is to them to hold on to that part.
Its a boil that will be lanced. We just don’t have the luxury of carrying around this shit anymore. Things are coming to ahead, and we will be forced to concentrate on what is important. Time marches on, and change is inevitable.
Sticking your head up your ass and pretending we can go back to some idealistic version of the 50s is no longer operative and thus the GoOper Boomers are well and truly fucked.
Thank Crom for that.
SamFromUtah
Didn’t these same people recently claim Obama doesn’t have a resume? How could they know whether the man lacks humility or not when they say they know nothing about him?
Rightie spin: best viewed (and written) under the influence of Korsakoff’s Syndrome.
Jason F
Because nothing says “lack of humility” like a campaign focused on the idea that the grassroots supporters matter as much, if not more, than the candidate himself.
Dennis - SGMM
If you totaled all of the straw men on all of the DVDs of “The Wizard of OZ” they wouldn’t come close to the number that Mark Steyn produced in his hacktacular column.
Make up something that the candidate or his supporters are supposed to believe then demolish it with teh wicked rejoinders. What a journalist. Steyn’s keen insight and lucid prose should have him panning columns for the Pennysaver in no time.
dreggas
Oh and the Clintons tried the “not humble” “arrogant” “uppity” line of attack, how’d that work out for them?
Dennis - SGMM
Should be “penning columns.”
Stupid thumbs.
passerby
I like your point, and I think this campaign IS bound to polarize along a racial front.
This is going to be interesting to watch now that Hillary’s out. I suspect that a number of her supporters were more anti-Obama than pro-Clinton. Claims to vote McCain were weakly linked to Hillary-the-victim-of-obama.
She’s out now and has thrown her support to Obama and those who fear a black president have nowhere to hide, except to claim that they will stay home or vote for McCain.
Hope Obama’s team is smart enough to respond wisely. It’s a tightrope. Unavoidable, I think.
T
Rome Again
Fixed.
John McCain is courting those who think Hillary got railroaded, and the racism is a clear signal that they are welcome.
I’m losing more faith in humanity everyday this goes on.
passerby
The point that D.Mason is injecting here is problematic for Obama because the racial aspects of his candidacy stick out like a sore thumb.
We all know it’s been lurking and now can/will come to the surface.
It is impossible to fathom the mind of another person so no one, none of us, none of the pundits can enumerate or make declarations of fact about how many voters are operating with a racially based mind set.
T
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Exactly. Saying someone is not humble is not a racist attack at all. But the problem is they won’t be able to control themselves. One of them will get worked into a frothing rage and it will just slip out.
Not sure if you all watched the campaign, but the Obama folks are really good at slowly needling the opposition out of sight until they blow up publicly.
Bill Clinton learned this the hard way. I’m convinced that the Nevada “Reagan vs. Clinton” flaps was one of the key turning points in this campaign. Obama stuck a slow fuse in Bill and lit it and stepped back to wait and watch the fireworks display. Bill didn’t disappoint.
All this “Bambi” stuff is BS – I’ve can’t remember ever seeing a politician who was as good at slipping the knife into you so smoothly you don’t even notice until the bleeding starts, as Obama is. This team knows how to play hardball.
I think part of it is that he and his team have an incredible reserve of patience – they play the long game, and opponents don’t see it happening because they aren’t thinking on the same time scales.
The way they slow walked the MI / FL decision is another good example. Hillary’s campaign did everything they possibly could to offend and alarm the superdelegates by playing that angle they way they did, and ironically it was all in vain because by May the super D’s were the only game left to play that could have gotten her the nomination.
empty
You guys are barking up the wrong tree. It’s not about racism, it’s about finding a meme that will stick. The truthfulness of the meme is irrelevant. Was Gore really a big liar? If a meme gets some currency in the corporate media than some small incident (think the visit to Texas by Gore) can be repeated endlessly as clear evidence supporting the meme. The place to focus on is not the statements of the republicans but on what the hacks of the corporate media start repeating. With the republicans the best strategy is to ignore them. However, when a meme hits the hack circuit it would be time for massive pushback.
Rome Again
Why do I feel like I just stepped into the Twilight Zone?
$4.00 a gallon gas (proposed to go up to $6.00 in just a few months), unaffordable groceries, BushCo gets away with anything they choose, a deep split in the Dem party over the difference between the most graceful candidate to come along in 40+ years being protrayed as a hater while the one who truly specializes in attacks is hailed as a hero –
Tell me this is all just a weird dream!
Rome Again
I don’t believe in Hell personally, but I’m starting to wish that it or something close to it’s equivalent does.
Joe Max
Yes, by contrast, John Sidney McCain the Third is oh so very humble, and he is justifiably proud of his great and abiding humility, which he is humble enough to humbly remind you of.
(Idiots.)
Rome Again
We really need to do a serious effort of boycotting media advertizers, en masse. Watch but don’t buy. Scrutinize, email, correct, but do not fund their paychecks.
Dennis - SGMM
Posted this a few topics ago but,I was late and it was dead-threaded.
Some really great photos of Obama and his campaign from an early supporter, Scout Tufankjian. These pictures show the angels of our better nature.
H/T: TBogg
Joe Max
No, you’re just insufficiently serious. Being serious is far more important than being right. Just ask George Will.
NR
Jon Steward said it best: “You’re running for president. If you don’t think you’re better than us, what the hell are you doing?”
Rome Again
Being serious is far more important than being right. Just ask
George WillJohn Cole.Chris Johnson
John Kyl- you only think that because he’s better than you :)
That’s why you’ll never be President.
Live with it…
passerby
True: it’s about finding a meme that will stick.
Debatable: The truthfulness of the meme is irrelevant.
Debatable: Al Gore is a liar.
But, empty, would you agree that the race issue is low hanging fruit aplenty? This presidential campaign is different from all others in that it has an abundance of unexploited, now out in the open, bare naked racial elements.
Politicians have used race, gender, religion (et al) to divide and conquer the electorate. This time around, race is easy pickings and it can be front and center.
T
NR
By the way, did anyone else see this article? It looks like Obama is planning to take the fight to the GOP on their home turf. It makes me happy that we won’t see a repeat of the Kerry strategy of betting everything on two or three swing states.
Obama’s also making some other smart moves, like hiring the guy who beat him in the primary there to run his GE campaign for the state.
El Cid
The truth is, Obama lacks humility because he arrogantly refuses to let the Republicans to claim that just because they ran everything imaginable into the ground over their past 7.5 years of heading the country, they are clearly the party which should be entrusted to fix everything they just messed up.
Scott H
I am self-confident and assertive: Clinton is pushy, Obama is uppity.
I have never seen Obama exhibit anything that could remotely described as a “lack of humility,” and I don’t think your pundits can possibly mean anything else. Not that an over-bearing arrogance on Obama’s part would matter.
If anyone said Clinton lacked “modesty,” no one would say it couldn’t be called a sexist attack. Let us not be tone-deaf here. “Saying someone is not humble is not a racist attack at all.” Not if you say it about John McCain, or John Cole, or me.
srv
I have a suggestion for the Obama campaign. They should set all sorts of crazy preconditions (ala Iran) to the Obama-McSame debates and then use that against him when he complains about it.
Dennis - SGMM
True humility is refusing to vote on benefits for the troops with whose blood you’re signing your “Strong on defense” chits.
passerby
NR, to me, this is the most exciting aspect of his candidacy. He, his camp, is displaying the courage and will to reach out to change hearts and minds. These dogs aren’t going to roll over, they’re going for the brass ring: GOP turf.
Obama will succeed because he has a good message and has the ability and courage to get the message out. h/t to Dean @ the DNC for this 50 state vision.
T
Dennis - SGMM
The insistence on preconditions has to be one of the most boneheaded ideas of a boneheaded party.
empty
You are right but it is also fraught with danger – for both sides. Assume the “lack of humility” meme begins to take hold. If, as John hopes, someone early on slips into overt racism then the backlash is going to hit the republicans. However, if the meme gets established and then someone slips over the edge pointing out its racist nature will actually become counter productive because the pundits will see it as an attack on themselves.
I have seen references to Obama’s “aloofness” before this so this might be a meme to look out for. But for now I would keep my powder dry and stay alert. And not be too focused on race so as not to become blindsided.
ThymeZone
The remedy for a meme attack is to speak against the meme.
Gore failed. His “no controlling legal authority” defense for the Buddhist fundraising thing became a household expression, a metaphor for the sound of a person in denial. Gore was technically right, but tone deaf, and failed to make his point. He didn’t connect with voters in a way that derailed the attack.
Obama is not Gore. When he speaks, he defuses the meme attack. His personality is different, and his approach is different.
Let the GOP try their various attack experiments. I think Barack is up to them, where Gore and Kerry were not. That’s why I backed him so enthusiastically.
Jon Karak
Its the classic Rovian tactic: attack your opponent’s strength and project your weaknesses upon him. We’ve endured 7+years of Republican Party arrogance. They want to confuse enough people that they think a vote for McCain is a vote for humility, whereas Obama means another 4 years of elitism.
Most political watchers won’t fall for it, but the tactic is intended to influence the casual disgruntled electorate who comprises the “swing vote.” Unfortunately, that is the most important demographic in America.
ThymeZone
I’ll never be president because I can’t speak in front of more than 2-3 dozen people. In a room of 1000 people, I’d have to have a shot of Ativan to even go up to the podium.
Fear is a weird thing. I can fly an airplane upside down, used to teach people how to do it. But I can’t climb a ladder more than about 6 feet without almost passing out.
Go figure.
handy
First paragraph is right on. Second one, I think the problem is the media. They love to just run with whatever narrative they think sounds great-and that narrative usually is the one that bolsters the rightwing position. A lot of the “swing voters” are already susceptible to the “Obama is secretly a Muslim” canard.
crw
One bit of news worthy of note:
According to an article in the NY Times today, Obama is hiring the guy who did oppo research for Bill Clinton in ’92. I take this as a clear sign he’s not going to fuck around. He’s going after McCain, and hard. For once, I think we have a candidate who can deal with the slime machine.
Perry Como
That just shows how out of touch you are with real Americans. Non-elitists have no problems speaking in front of 1000 people. Ask David Broder.
passerby
Right on. Right on. Go back and listen to some of W speeches when he’s talking about “terrarists”. ALL of his points EXACTLY refer to what his regime is guilty of.
Projection: a tactic.
I haven’t heard Obama once engage in this projection tactic. People will sense this and recognize it as truth-speech. I agree, TZ, and I think this head-on approach he uses is embedded in his personality. It’s not a tactic, it’s called integrity.
T
Conservatively Liberal
Arrogant Republican assholes like Kyl are saying that Obama lacks humility? What a fucking laugh! This coming from the arrogant assholes who have bankrupted our country, enriched their pals and their corporations at our expense, have tortured and killed untold numbers of people around the world in the name of keeping us safe and have shredded the Constitution? And they have the unmitigated gall to say that Obama lacks humility?!
In my opinion, they lack any semblance of humanity. They lack compassion and understanding. They are driven by fear. They are nothing more than animals fighting to get their share at the public feeding trough. They care for nothing except for themselves and those they identify with.
I want to see the right beat to a fucking pulp this fall, and I am going to do everything I can to help that happen. When I read shit like this, it just makes me all the more committed to ending their reign of fear and terror. The Republican party is a ‘downer cow’, and it is time to put it out of our misery.
Chris Johnson
Actually I think there’s a compelling reason why Obama above all others has to have humility- he could be the Second Coming, as honest as the day is long, the sharpest political operative out there but using his powers only for good, and with the charisma and message of JFK and FDR all wrapped into one and some of these assholes will STILL hate him because he’s half-Negro.
Unless you go around deciding that some people don’t count, that stuff forces you into humility because although you’re trying there are some people you simply will not reach. If you refuse to ever write them off (see Obama’s current plan to take it to the GOP states and try to win them over too) then yes, you’ll get some people impressed with your cojones and desire to reach them, but nothing will ever change the fact that some of those guys just want to lynch your ass.
The fact that some hearts and minds will never be changed is a recipe for humility.
Trying anyway is AWESOME. But that’s just my opinion…
mts771
I’ll throw this out there (concern trolling a bit). Sometimes in town halls, Obama will speculate or throw ideas out that aren’t that great, and that comes from his confidence, or lack of intellectual humility. For example, he said to some farmers “hey, have you seen the price of arugula lately?” implying that the farmers should grow more arugula (a green like swiss chard or collards). The media picked up on it as elitism, since it’s apparently a popular food item in yuppie kitchens. I wonder though if the farmers said to themselves “Man, this guy doesn’t know farming. Arugula ain’t that profitable.”
It’s ok to have ideas, but its better to run them up the flagpole in private, rather than look like an arrogant know-it-all in public. Again, this is a bit of concern trolling… I’m not sure this is as big a problem as I make it out to be.
WereBear
For once, I think we have a candidate who can deal with the slime machine.
Yes, by all that is toasted!
YES!
And he makes it look so easy.
So is it just as easy as many bloggers claimed all along (get up and fight back, you wimps, we cried) or does Obama have a special skill at it?
passerby
2nd that CJ.
Also, you bring up a subtlety “half-Negro”. To listen to the media (and ourselves) talk, the fact that he’s half white goes unacknowledged and there’s probably no way of swinging the attention of the pundits to that fact. Either way, half white/half black, it’s about race I guess.
T
SP
But I thought he was a Marxist? That’s what Tom Delay said lately.
Also, wasn’t Obama a Muslim at one point to? And an ‘elitist’?
Dulcie
He was speaking to arugula farmers when he made this statement in Iowa.
dnA
The picture of arrogance.
passerby
Yeah, looks like they’re trotting out the over-used kitchen sink strategy. Looking to see what gains traction, but nothing seems to be sticking, does it?
T
sidereal
Welcome to the one-drop rule, buddy.
By the time this campaign is over, so much crap will have come crawling out from under rocks that we’ll need a national colonic to clean it out.
wasabi gasp
The roots of Obama’s plight are porched on the lazy effort he puts into acting black.
TenguPhule
When they’re drowning, throw the SOBs an anvil.
redbeardjim
“porched”?
El Cid
These must be some pretty big rocks to hold all the Republican things which keep crawling out from under them.
Person of Choler
“I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal….”
Generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children…? Huh? What?
NOW I get it. Obama and his faithful disciples will live forever. Who needs that ol’ rapture thingy? We have a new Savior.The scales have fallen from my eyes. Where do I sign up? Halleluja! Glory! Amen!
A man who can heal the sick, job the jobless and lower the ocean need not be humble. Speak loud His Name (except for that middle one)!
Dennis - SGMM
The “Huh? What?” was the most insightful and articulate part of your comment. Please, do go on and let us know how to subscribe to your mailing list.
LiberalTarian
Choler
Interesting. Bombastic trolling. Good for you.
No go fuck yourself. According to the right, GW Bush was supposed to be “God in the Whitehouse.” What a bunch of dupes. Now we get, from the same crowd, that Obama is the devil incarnate. Maroons. You hate the modern world? Go strike a tent in the Sierras. I am perfectly fine with you living in the Stone Age–but you and your dumb fuck buddies are not welcome to take the rest of us with you.
PeterJ
OT but:
The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind
The British conservative/right wing newspaper Daily Mail doesn’t seem to like McCain at all. They seem to be doing some sort of timeline of all the people he’s left behind, starting with the Vietnamese that resuced him after he was shot down: How war hero John McCain betrayed the Vietnamese peasant who saved his life.
pinola
Humility:
http://about.reuters.com/pictures/prints/galleries/Stories/631934490319023750/Previews/ORH2003050200011.jpg
Jess
Great pictures, Scott! Thanks for the link. Boy, Obama sure looks arrogant and elitist in those picts, doesn’t he? I don’t know if I can vote for him now…
Person of Choler
Dear Liberaltarian,
Nice of you to check the dictionary. But, not only do I not hate the modern world, I now dream of B[NMI]O leading us to an even more modern and brighter future. It is a great mistake to think that I believe him to be the devil incarnate; I believe him to be the new Messiah.
The old dispensation is dead. The previous G*d only gave us his (so he thinks, haha) begotten son; our new Savior has given us Himself. No greater gift can a deity bestow.
By the way, while you improve your education by checking online reference material, please note that Maroons are descendants of escaped slaves.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_(people)
Not nice that you should speak ill of them.
smiley
It’s also apparent from the photos that he and his wife clearly hate whitey.
BTW, I know those were selected to be in the slide show because they’re positive, and I know that kissing babies comes with the territory, but man, he seems to have real rapport with kids.
El Cid
I encourage the GOP and their troll supporters to please, please, please push this meme of Obama being an over-rated messiah figure. Please.
Wilfred
Tips for better trolling: You forgot to capitalize ‘His’ and ‘He’.
cleek
the pie factory was a little understaffed, since pluk and lowiq have found other places to do their business. but, it looks like another couple of hard-workers have applied for jobs ! sweet !
4tehlulz
Is he seen as insufficiently racist for their taste?
Person of CHoler
Hello Cid,
The GOP and associated trolls have no need to push the idea that Obama is a Messiah figure. His supporters do a fine job of that without any outside help.
We will see whether or not he is over-rated after he ascends to the office of President.
Jess
And kids are great bullshit detectors.
Cain
This is awesome speech by the MUP. Quite inspiring. I’m ready to get down and kick some ass!
cain
conumbdrum
Herr Choler,
Far be it from me to speak on behalf of another BJ poster, but I believe the expression “maroons,” is a reference to Bugs Bunny’s use of the word in vintage Warner Brothers cartoons to mean “morons.”
Unless you really think that LiberalTarian was calling Bush-lovin’ wingnuts the descendants of escaped slaves… in which case you might be a bit of a maroon yourself.
w vincentz
person of Choler,
So nice of you to show up on BJ.
I don’t think Barack is the Messiah, and have never made that claim. It would be nice to see him in the White House as we both know that the current pResident has made Biblical prophecy come to fruition (though Haggee and I don’t agree). Here’s what Barack will replace:
http://www.bushisantichrist.com/
Brachiator
Sweet Jesus on a pogo stick! Any connection of “maroon “in this context with descendants of escaped slaves is a coinkydink.
The reference here is to a freakin’ Bugs Bunny cartoon (Re: What a Maroon).
And for the hopelessly dull, “ultra maroon” is a double play on the pigment “ultramarine,” which is why this kind of ignorant BS about words gives me the blues.
Between dimbulbs interpreting fist taps as signals to terrorists and maroons getting their panties in a twist over cartoon character lingo, well, it’s going to be a long campaign season.
On the other hand, “ascends” here is first class word play.
El Cid
Choler: I am all too eager for the country to be in the position of having you decide that Obama turned out to be far from a messiah once he has completed two terms in office. I happily anticipate lots of people, in fact, bitterly denouncing as inadequate the real, substantial, and objectively measurable improvements in our lives.
Davis X. Machina
the current pResident has made Biblical prophecy come to fruition
Are you referring to the claim in Ecclesiastes 1:15 that the wicked cannot be corrected and number of fools is infinite?
Balakirev
An uppity elitist Muslim Marxist formerly attending a terrorist church, yes. Definitely not in the same high class as the unprincipled, ass-kissing, Bush-loving sclerotic Pillsbury Doughboy we all know and love.
Beej
Oh good grief! I’m so damned sick of this “you guys think Obama is the Messiah” crap.
I am 61, white, female, and a lawyer. I lost my youthful idealism a long time ago. Nevertheless, I have gained in the ability to reason. Getting old does that, providing you actually try to think instead of just spouting someone else’s garbage. I support Barak Obama because:
1. He has expressed, more strongly than any other candidate, an intention to set the Constitution in its rightful place once more. No more imperial presidency.
Unless you vote for John McCain who has said that he thinks the President should have “near-dictatorial” powers. I can’t think of a statement more antithetical to the intentions of the founders.
2. He has expressed an intention to end the stupid, wrong-headed war in Iraq, albeit cautiously and judiciously. McCain would be willing for it to go on the “100 years.”
And unlike McCain, Obama actually seems to know the difference between Sunni, Shia, Al Qeada, and the Iranians. That’s a big plus.
3. He has pledged to fix the health care mess. McCain’s pronouncements on this subject have been so garbled as to be nearly unintelligible.
4. He has pledged to reach across party, racial, geographical, and other artificial boundaries to actually get things done. He has pledged to change politics, and if you have actually been following his campaign, so far it looks a whole lot different from most of the campaigns of the last 30 years. Can he actually live up to this? Who knows. But it’s sure nice to watch someone try instead of getting down there in the mud and sliding around.
The above does not equate to some fuzzy, mystical vision. So STFU alread.
w vincentz
Davis,
Try Rev 11: 7-10.
Rick Taylor
Via the field, I just saw this talk Obama gave to his campaign staff in Chicago. It’s incredible especially what he said about ego; i don’t remember a candidate talking this way before. There’s a video there too.
Balakirev
Oh, but Beej, how can you distrust the kind-hearted, intelligent pundits? Aren’t they bought with the cleanest, finest money by the largest corporations? They know McCain is a maverick, because he says so! And if Tweety and his ilk say that the sun sets in the morning and rises at night, you better believe it does, just as much as you should believe McCain is a maverick despite the record of his votes. What do facts matter? Five second soundbytes rule!
w vincentz
OT- Looks like this is really coming down:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Oil–Israel–Iran–America-by-Dave-Lindorff-080607-223.html
Leo
A generation is roughly 20 years. I, for one, hope to be alive 40 years from now. If I’m lucky I might make it 60.
And I’m pretty sure I will remember this election as a decisive historical moment, whatever the result.
smiley
It has always been interesting to me that people don’t even bother to scan the comments at a long thread like this one before they post.
Delia
Hey Peter, I came here intending to post the story about McCain and his first wife, but you beat me to it and had a matched set to boot. And Ross Perot thinks McMaverick is a two-timing jerk who can’t be trusted to tell you the time of day.
Well, I’ll say one thing. It’s good to know that humility is a seemly quality only in Dems and especially when they threaten to get popular. The goopers should be filled with the regal quality of our natural betters. Too bad McMaverick’s developed that zombie smile in his old age that appears to be set off by random electroshocks. It sort of undermines the illusion.
Rome Again
Coward!
Rick Taylor
That link didn’t lead to anything except the front page, at least for me. I found the article there by doing a search for Lindorff. looks like perhaps they don’t like people to link to individual articles.
w vincentz
Davis,
It seems to me that those of us that have a spiritual connection need to counter the on the “wingnuts” on the “religious right” (they are neither). Their Bible thumping is all too pitiful.
Here’s another verse for thought. Proverbs 24:1.
jake
And we know the ReThugs love them some pie.
w vincentz
Rick Taylor,
Sorry the link didn’t work. The op-ed is over at Buzzflash.
Worth the time to find. The nukes (“mistakenly” shipped from Minot) and the AF Gens resignations are connecting the dots. I just hope these vile bastards don’t allow Israel to initate, cause us to defend, and justify “martial law” to be imposed prior to the November elections.
I don’t trust these criminals after what I’ve seen from them
for the past 7 1/2 years. This might be how Bu$hCo retains their dictatorial power.
I sure hope not, but it looks like they’re starting to tip their hand.
Krista
You too? I thought I was the only weird one. I can do spins, controlled spiral dives and barrel rolls 3000 feet in the air, and not feel a lick of fear. But walking up a 2×10 plank up to the porch of my under-construction house freaks me out. I’m only about 5 feet off the ground, but I’m terrified to fall.
w vincentz
Krista,
The falling doesn’t hurt a bit. It’s the landing (owwwch!).
dreggas
Video of the address to Obama’s staff…nope no humility
Balakirev
I listen regularly to the BBC News, and I’ve heard them repeatedly refer to McSame as a “maverick.” Not as having a reputation for being a maverick, but as one. In short, it’s all about branding, and the media will absorb whatever they’re thrown without any self-reflection.
I fully expect to hear “Obama=no humility” tossed about endlessly for the next several months, then to find it on the BBC, too. Hell, if a geriatric flip-flopper who gives you barbeque says it, you know it must be true.
w vincentz
Balakirev,
Just a simple question, does a “maverick” cast 95% supporting votes for the criminals that he “flip-flops” for?
slightly_peeved
This is part of the skill of the Obama campaign. They created a meme about this election – change – and positioned their candidate as the embodiment of this meme.
Every opponent of Obama so far has tried to out-change Obama – see Clinton’s “I’ve already made change” speech, or John McCain’s continual aping of Obama’s campaign.
They can try and make Obama “arrogant” or “elitist”, but Obama and Axelrod have already made him “change.”
The lesson: Defence on these memes is important, but offence – creating the meme about yourself that you want – is more important.
Nancy Irving
Too bad the constitution says you can’t have both the prez and the VP from the same state.
Otherwise, McCain could choose Kyl as his running mate. Too bad.
Nancy Irving
Hey–how come the spell-check underlines “Obama” in red, but not “McCain”?
Nancy Irving
Oh, sorry, it must be because Obama is a Mooooslim, right?
nightjar
I’ve jumped out of perfectly good airplanes. Can’t say I weren’t scared though.
Beej
May I just make the prediction that once the Repugs discover the humility, they will then tell us how Obama is “too soft”, “too wishy-washy”, too-too. Have you read Glenn Greenwald’s past posts on how the Repugs try to cast Dem candidates as “girly” or effeminate and then call them weak? If you can find it in the Salon archives, it’s well worth the read.
Beej
Here’s a quote from the Greenwald post:
Person of Choler
Hello, conumbdrum and Brachiator,
yes, I know about Bugs Bunny and “maroon”.
But we must remember that, in these modern days of instantaneous worldwide communication, what we write or say may inadvertently give offense to people in faraway lands of which we know little. And we know that descendants of slaves are easily upset if they feel that insufficient attention is paid to their sensitivities.
HRA
Humility is described as meekness, inferiority, etc.
One can easily conjure up the racist connotation to it without any doubt. IMO they are baiting and/or testing the MSM waters ala Rove. Sometimes not responding to quirky statements works much better. Save the ammo for another day.
Re: the Clintons supporters ready to cast their vote for McCain – I can believe they were McCain supporters all along. The way this primary election has evolved it would not be surprising to have them planted by the McCain clan.
conumbdrum
Person of Choler lets one rip:
Oh, I see. The error was mine. Here I thought you were simply misunderstanding a cultural reference… turns out you’re just acting the douchebag. My bad.
Breschau
I ask this with the utmost sincerity:
How do people like Mark Steyn sleep at night?
handy
you sure he/she/it is merely acting, conumbdrum?
Porlock Junior
El Cid wants more of the Obama as Messiah theme. Always glad to oblige. To be sure, I don’t have a serious Republican example; but I think Tom Meyers got it nicely in today’s Chronicle, with a final panel that shows mastery in cartooning.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/08/EDMEYER.DTL&hw=tom+meyer&sn=002&sc=1000
Badtux
That last panel reminds me of Monty Python’s The Life Of Brian, where Brian is giving the speech from his back window to the crowd that thinks he is the Messiah, trying to get them to go away. “You are all individuals!” he shouts. “We are all individuals!” they shout. One befuddled soul says plaintively, “I’m not”, and is shushed by his neighbors.
I suspect Obama welcomes being thought of as a “messiah” by his most fervent followers about as much as Brian did…
– Badtux the Python-watchin’ Penguin
Darkness
Carter.
I’d love to see their faces when someone points that out to them. Oh, so you are saying you prefer the Carter type president?