425 thoughts on “My PUMA is flummoxed by Palin.”

1. 399 · RahulD said

   I got the play on “Country First”…and I do agree with trying to corner the market on patriotism part. But too many of the comments on here are baseless diatribes against the Republicans, making this no different than the opinions from a sewer like DailyKOS

   ---

   I’m not responsible for others comments or opinions. However, I would suggest you remember that criticizing either party, the Democrat or Republican, is important responsibility for all of us in democracies.

2. This is getting interesting! 🙂

   Sarah Palin’s mother-in-law uncertain about how she’ll vote

   “I’m not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she’s a woman and a conservative. Well, she’s a better speaker than McCain,” Faye Palin said with a laugh.

   Palin’s Teen Daughter Is Pregnant; New G.O.P. Tumult

   Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina said that he had heard no discussion about removing Ms. Palin from the ticket. In fact, he said, he thought her daughter’s pregnancy would not hurt her with voters.

3. Where are my fellow Americans in the Republican Party, who would say enough is enough to the special interests?

   Where are they? They’re the people that voted the Republican Congress out. Shifts don’t happen overnight and the bureaucracy of the federal government is huge. Each party gets to re-shuffle the deck of cards when they rule. Also, special interests aren’t resident on the right, they exist in left as well. One party’s “right” thing for the country is another’s special interests.

4. 399 · RahulD said

   But too many of the comments on here are baseless diatribes against the Republicans, making this no different than the opinions from a sewer like DailyKOS

   Maybe, but they’re a product of something. The Republican party (along with, but not led by the Democratic Party) led by its base and its politicians and its movement has a) allowed the deterioration of the country’s infrastrcutre to the point where major cities have been destroyed; b) destroyed Iraq and is participating in the destruction of Afghanistan; c) expanded the national debt to an unsustainable point; d) (with Clinton and on their own) supported a theory of easy credit and punitive policies towards the poor, lgbt people, women, black people, criminals, immigrants, Muslims, and others for several decades; e) promoted a culture of militarism for 60 years; f) undermined the ability of the bureaucracy in the departments of the interior, the department of justice, the federal emergency management association, and other parts of the government.

   I agree that a broader analysis that “Democrats good, Republicans suck” is necessary, but some people with less analysis are offering what you call “diatribes” it might be because the product of these social effects has finally reached a point where it actually damages the ability of capitalism and disempowered groups to continue to function to the point where they’re out of touch with the interests of the hegemony. And the Republican party and the social movement that forms its base is largely responsible for it in politics.

   I got the play on “Country First”…and I do agree with trying to corner the market on patriotism part.

   How about “world first”? Or people first?

5. Point taken

6. RahulID says, People like Jyotsana, whose perspectives I actually read/respected in the past, have resorted to cheap puns and then we have the rest of the audience indulging in perfunctory retorts that can hardly be termed as the level of debate that has existed on this blog before…Referring to the DailyKOS as a reliable source of information is a leap of imagination the likes of which my small brain can’t deal with. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

   Thanks for the appreciation. As a rule apart from Valmiki, Razib, and Kush, my comments herald the end of a discussion, so ponderous and dull I think they are! McSame/McWhine is an apt name for McCain. It is impossible to respect a guy who can’t defend the name of his daughter. Let’s forget all the heavy lifting he did when Cindy got caught a few years ago stealing Rx drugs from her own non-profit to sustain her Rx habit. Everything about the party McSame represents is repugnant. There isn’t an institution they have broken and abused. =================================================================================================================================================================================================================================bleh says, Awesome. This kind of raw hatred and bigotry really worked well for the Kerry campaign in 2004. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

   Let’s see Kerry was called “looking French”, he’s a true war hero, while his opponent used his dad’s influence to party in Texas and for that he was called an elitist and war fraud. There was a person called John Mccain in 2000 who said something like, “As a POW in Vietnam I slpet soundly knowing Geroge W was defending the shores of Texas from the Viet Cong.” And many veterans went along with the smear campaign. This country is the work of men and women of extraordinary learning before everything else. All the rest, faith, marksmanship, banjo strumming, come a very distant last. I live in a city in Ohio where right now a school district is hearing the notorious case of a teacher who branded his students with a crucifix while teaching them creationism. And that school district is barely a couple of hours from my home. The last election that featured an intellectual appeal from the repugs was 1964. After Nixon they have not ever nominated an intellectually able candidate or one with any respect for learning. It is another matter that Nixon with the Southern Strategy began the tradition of mocking rational and decent discourse. Just as Reagan learned to ride a horse and tool around a ranch a few years before he went national W did. And now that he is done with the posturing it is reported that George and Laura are selling their ranch and moving out to Dallas. Kerry is a very successful senator and much beloved in Massachusetts, so all residents of that state are infused with raw hatred and bigotry? No let’s try this differently. Almost as many people voted for Kerry as did for Bush. So about half of those who voted in 2004 expressed raw bigotry and hatred? Or OK try this one. Obama won >50% of the Illinois vote in 2004, so >50% of Illinois expressed raw hatred and bigotry?

   We know Adlai Stevenson said, But I need a majority to win.” But ignorance isn’t OK. It is unacceptable. It is not OK to insist that a woman in coma for >10 years with more water than brain tissue inside her head is “lving” and then pass a law to prevent her husband from turning off her ventilator, while in Texas a famous repug Congressman can do the same for a member of his family and a poor woman’s child in a county hospital can be put to sleep because she can’t pay the bills. It is not OK to insist that a clump of ~16 cells are babies and prevent research into cures for cancer. It is not OK to appoint an ill-read candidate with a fake resume to oversee NASA’s cosmology research program. It is not OK dismiss scientists’ findings on climate change in some place in the middle of nowhere and claim that they know nothing compared to someone’s grandpa or grandma who can predict the weather with their horsesense. It is not OK to claim that drilling here and there (everywhere except McSame’s backyard and Bushe’s ranch) will solve our oil woes when the oil companies are sitting on enough unexplored leases already. It is not OK to call FDR a fascist in 1978 and claim to praise his legacy accepting a nomination in 1980.

7. 404 · Dr Amnonymous said

   How about “world first”? Or people first?

   Globalists are not welcome in the anti-imperialist league. Why wasn’t it just yesterday that the prophet Buchanan warned us about the borderless Mexican battle robots who infiltrated our cities by posing as road-side vendors and other kinds of small business owners?

   /super jk/North American Union Awesome!!!!

8. Sarah Palin’s got a crazy pastor too.

   Disempowered my ass. We’ll see a black person, a brown person, a person with two X chromosomes and all their combinations before we see a POTUS who doesn’t identify as a Christian, and then we’ll see POTUSes believing in all sorts of chosen gods and deities before we see an atheist POTUS who doesn’t have any pastors, crazy or otherwise. The same day, Dick Cheney will shoot a flying pig in the face.

9. Palin seems like a sweetheart.

   Yet one aspect of American life did not come to town until 1996, the year Sarah Palin ran for mayor and Wasilla got its first local lesson in wedge politics.

   Anti-abortion fliers circulated. Ms. Palin played up her church work and her membership in the National Rifle Association. The state Republican Party, never involved before because city elections are nonpartisan, ran advertisements on Ms. Palin’s behalf. Two years after Representative Newt Gingrich helped draft the Contract With America to advance Republican positions, Ms. Palin and her passion for Republican ideology and religious faith overtook a town known for a wide libertarian streak and for helping start the Iditarod dog sled race. “Sarah comes in with all this ideological stuff, and I was like, ‘Whoa,’ ” said Mr. Stein, who lost the election. “But that got her elected: abortion, gun rights, term limits and the religious born-again thing. I’m not a churchgoing guy, and that was another issue: ‘We will have our first Christian mayor.’ ” “I thought: ‘Holy cow, what’s happening here? Does that mean she thinks I’m Jewish or Islamic?’ ” recalled Mr. Stein, who was raised Lutheran, and later went to work as the administrator for the city of Sitka in southeast Alaska. “The point was that she was a born-again Christian.”

   Ms. Palin’s first months in office here were so jarring — and so alienating — that an effort was made to force a recall. About 100 people attended a meeting to discuss the effort, which was covered in the local press, but the idea was dropped.

   Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question. Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said. The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article.

   Once in office, Ms. Palin asked many of Mr. Stein’s backers to resign — something virtually unheard of in Wasilla in past elections. The public works director, city planner, museum director and others were forced out. The police chief, Irl Stambaugh, was later fired outright.

   Ms. Palin, her critics note, was not always the fiscal watchdog she has since boasted of being. In her second term as mayor, she pushed for a half-cent raise in the local sales tax to pay for a $15 million sports complex. The complex is popular and a junior league hockey team plays there now, but the city recently had to pay more than $1.3 million to settle an ownership dispute over the site.

   Ms. Palin also began annual trips to Washington to lobby for federal money for specific initiatives, including rail projects and a mental health center.

10. It is not OK to call FDR a fascist in 1978 and claim to praise his legacy accepting a nomination in 1980.

    “One factor was the rise of Ronald Reagan, who greatly admired Roosevelt and who dominated conservative thinking by 1980.[2] When, in 1981, Ronald Reagan was quoted in the New York Times saying that fascism was admired by many New Dealers (not including Roosevelt), he came under heavy criticism, for Reagan himself was a leading New Dealer in Hollywood.”

    Also, important to note, facism was not used as a slur in the 30’s. Many serious thinkers were enamored by it, especially Mussolini’s version of right-wing collectivism. martin Heidegger was famously duped. Of the New Dealers, Joe Kennedy comes to mind but I’m not sure who to whom Reagan may have been referring.

11. Added to that John McSame’s own smears of Hillary, Chelsea, and any other woman, inclusing his own wife whom he called a trollope of a ****.

    Also, in light of the smears leveled at Palin and her Daughter, we shouldn’t let this little misogynistic swift boating go unchecked. there’s no proof Mcain called his wife a cunt. The claim comes form a swift-boating type book (as you can tell from the cover) where 3 unnamed sources, who happen to be reporters that requested anonymity for no given reason, say they heard this.

    the annoying liberal tendancey to introduce bigotry into the conversation under the guise of exposing conservatives.

12. 406 · jyotsana said

    As a rule apart from Valmiki, Razib, and Kush

    whoa! this whole time I thought you were Valmiki going under another name, like prema, etc. “delusional” is one of his favorite words too.

13. Manju says, I’m not sure who to whom Reagan may have been referring.

    Ask Ted Kennedy or read his speech at the Dems’ convention of 1980

    Also, in light of the smears leveled at Palin and her Daughter…

    Hardly. Everyone is questioning the judgement of a Governor who insists that abstinence education is all we need and no sex education is required whatsoever. Especially when the US has a teen pregnancy rate way above that of Europe. No smear here. Teens shouldn’t be having babies, they aren’t mature enough bodily or otherwise.

    …we shouldn’t let this little misogynistic swift boating go unchecked

    The boat left the dock many years ago, my friend. That’s history and Mccain bristles when asked with good reason, and because it has been confirmed so many times over, McSame has given up trying to refute it, and now wears it as a proud badge of his simpleness! He hasn’t changed on bit in any case. There’s that remark about HRC, “that’s a good question,” and Chelsea, who for frickin’ sakes was a child then, “Why does she look so ugly? What do you expect when she has ….for a father and Hillary for a mother? And of course he still thinks it’s a good idea for Cindy to join the Buffalo Chip contest! These are mean misogynistic streaks in McSame that have run thru for years and years. The repugs revel in them, they love putting women in their place. McSame also dissed Lily Ledbetter. Ad the list goes on…

    I have seen tonnes of misogynistic movies made by “rationalist and progressive” film writers in Tamizh. And the “taming” of a a woman who speaks for herself by a submissive establishment approved woman is quite a common theme. Let’s say I know it when I see it. McSame is just that, a misogynistic McSame, who won’t speak up even for his own daughter. In parts of world where there is still honor, including many parts in this land, there is a word for a man who keeps quiet and sucks up to people who diss his daughter.

    And Manju spare us that righteous indignation over swiftboating, coming as you do from he camp that invented it. McSame has not once spoken up for his fellow solidiers, sailors and airmen who have in exercise of their freedoms supported the Democratic Party. McSame kept quiet when Ann Coulter smeared Max Cleland and dismissed his triple limb loss as due to a DUI accident. McSame kept quiet when his fellow senator in georgia Chambliss dissed Cleland’s record and questioned his patriotism. mcSame kept quiet while an assorted bunch of scumbags smeared John Kerry’s distinguished service. McSame kept quiet when repug attack mice like Jonah Goldberg dubbed Gen. Clark another phoney from Arkansas. The list grows lengthier. McSame’s honorable service ended many years ago. Ask his cell mate from Vietnam Phillip Butler who was POW longer than McSame

14. Ask Ted Kennedy or read his speech at the Dems’ convention of 1980

    Why don’t you just admit your wrong if you can’t back up the statement?

    That’s history and Mccain bristles when asked with good reason, and because it has been confirmed so many times over,

    OK, lets see your proof

    And Manju spare us that righteous indignation over swiftboating, coming as you do from he camp that invented it.

    “coming from the camp”…nice gulit by association. i suppose by that logic you’re coming from the camp that put japanese americnas in an internment camp or the one that just ran a southern streategy against obama. And you’ve been swifht boating mccains POW expericene for a while now–questioning his injuries, his decsion to stay a POW rather than accept release b/c other prisoners, and his personal decison to leave his wife– while disenenuously bemoaning the very swiftbaoting that mccain condemed while it was happening to kerry.

    you don’t just come from the camp. you are the camp.

15. there is a word for a man who keeps quiet and sucks up to people who diss his daughter.

    The word is Clintonian

16. McSame has not once spoken up for his fellow solidiers, sailors and airmen who have in exercise of their freedoms supported the Democratic Party. McSame kept quiet when Ann Coulter smeared Max Cleland and dismissed his triple limb loss as due to a DUI accident. McSame kept quiet when his fellow senator in georgia Chambliss dissed Cleland’s record and questioned his patriotism. mcSame kept quiet while an assorted bunch of scumbags smeared John Kerry’s distinguished service. McSame kept quiet when repug attack mice like Jonah Goldberg dubbed Gen. Clark another phoney from Arkansas.

    I fact checked the your kerry claim. b/c i remember him condeming it. turns out your wrong:

    McCain condemns anti-Kerry ad

    you have a lot in common with the smearing “scumbags” and “mice” you condemn. hell, you even sound like ann coulter. i thought you were prema this whole time.

17. What I’d really like to know is, how many of us at SM have tasted a mooseburger? Just curious… Please report if you have.

18. …Ask Ted Kennedy or read his speech at the Dems’ convention of 1980 Why don’t you just admit your wrong if you can’t back up the statement? …That’s history and Mccain bristles when asked with good reason, and because it has been confirmed so many times over, OK, lets see your proof …And Manju spare us that righteous indignation over swiftboating, coming as you do from he camp that invented it. “coming from the camp” …nice gulit by association. i suppose by that logic you’re coming from the camp that put japanese americnas in an internment camp or the one that just ran a southern streategy against obama. And you’ve been swifht boating mccains POW expericene for a while now–questioning his injuries, his decsion to stay a POW rather than accept release b/c other prisoners, and his personal decison to leave his wife– while disenenuously bemoaning the very swiftbaoting that mccain condemed while it was happening to kerry. you don’t just come from the camp. you are the camp. McSame has not once spoken up for his fellow solidiers, sailors and airmen who have in exercise of their freedoms supported the Democratic Party. McSame kept quiet when Ann Coulter smeared Max Cleland and dismissed his triple limb loss as due to a DUI accident. McSame kept quiet when his fellow senator in georgia Chambliss dissed Cleland’s record and questioned his patriotism. mcSame kept quiet while an assorted bunch of scumbags smeared John Kerry’s distinguished service. McSame kept quiet when repug attack mice like Jonah Goldberg dubbed Gen. Clark another phoney from Arkansas. …I fact checked the your kerry claim. b/c i remember him condeming it. turns out your wrong: —McCain condemns anti-Kerry ad you have a lot in common with the smearing “scumbags” and “mice” you condemn. hell, you even sound like ann coulter. i thought you were prema this whole time.

    This is delicious! Manju you should check your sources before you speak up for McSame!

    a.The Ted Kennedy reference is wrt Reagan not McSame. Please read up the speech for examples of the duplicitous utterances of Reagan, who among other things also opposed housing desgregation in California! b.It is not a question of guilt by association, but guilt by associating with a camp that is run by, for and is composed of lobbyists and smear merchant notables like Michelle Malkin – who BTW is a leading light of the repugnant attack machine. malkin’s claim to fame is a book justifying the internment of Japanese Americans, that was used by several other scumbags on the repugnant side to make a case to detain Arab-Americans! The Japanese-American internment horror of course is now part of our history and though we may forgive we never forget it even after their descendants have been compensated monetarily. This community has turned out enthusiastically for Obama! While we all make mistakes, some never repent and in fact go beyond that to justify the deed. The more honorable thing to do is to not only issue an apology but also reject the flawed principles that drove these deeds in the first place. What’s a weak apology or a routine “condemnation” when Joe Corsi returns to work for the McSame camp with calling Obama an abomination? That makes sense given that at the Texas Repblican Party convention this year some delegates sported a pin that read “If Obama is President will we still call it the White House.” while some sported one that read, “Republican Women Like Men”, and another, “Life is a *****, don’t vote for one – Hillary” This is campaign stuff not loon territory. If McSame had any scruples he would have stepped in a while ago to put an end to this sort of bigotry and prejudice. But then don’t we know that this is all there is to what was once the proud party of leaders and visionaries many many decades ago?

    Re POW, here’s Philip Butler who spent more time than McSame at te Hanoi Hilton,

    People often ask if I was a Prisoner of War with John McCain. My answer is always “No – John McCain was a POW with me.” The reason is I was there for 8 years and John got there 2 ½ years later, so he was a POW for 5 ½ years. And we have our own seniority system, based on time as a POW. John was badly injured when he was shot down. Both arms were broken and he had other wounds from his ejection. Unfortunately this was often the case – new POW’s arriving with broken bones and serious combat injuries. Many died from their wounds. Medical care was non-existent to rudimentary. Relief from pain was almost never given and often the wounds were used as an available way to torture the POW. Because John’s father was the Naval Commander in the Pacific theater, he was exploited with TV interviews while wounded. These film clips have now been widely seen. But it must be known that many POW’s suffered similarly, not just John. And many were similarly exploited for political propaganda. John was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart for heroism and wounds in combat. This heroism has been played up in the press and in his various political campaigns. But it should be known that there were approximately 600 military POW’s in Vietnam. Among all of us, decorations awarded have recently been totaled to the following: Medals of Honor – 8, Service Crosses – 42, Silver Stars – 590, Bronze Stars – 958 and Purple Hearts – 1,249. John certainly performed courageously and well. But it must be remembered that he was one hero among many – not uniquely so as his campaigns would have people believe.

    John McCain served his time as a POW with great courage, loyalty and tenacity. More that 600 of us did the same. After our repatriation a census showed that 95% of us had been tortured at least once. The Vietnamese were quite democratic about it. There were many heroes in North Vietnam. I saw heroism every day there. And we motivated each other to endure and succeed far beyond what any of us thought we had in ourselves. Succeeding as a POW is a group sport, not an individual one. We all supported and encouraged each other to survive and succeed. John knows that. He was not an individual POW hero. He was a POW who surmounted the odds with the help of many comrades, as all of us did.

    Ah! Clintonian! Did you read that Newsweek article? That’s about calling up a smear merchant for contributions to a charity! Seriously is this the best you cnan come up with?

19. not drawing any conclusions about Sarah Palin … but “someone” in the the McCain camp thought it would be a good/strategic idea to put a woman’s name in the VP slot in order to win in November … never thought i’d see the day …

20. 406 · jyotsana said

    it is reported that George and Laura are selling their ranch and moving out to Dallas. Kerry is a very successful senator and much beloved in Massachusetts, so all residents of that state are infused with raw hatred and bigotry? No let’s try this differently. Almost as many people voted for Kerry as did for Bush. So about half of those who voted in 2004 expressed raw bigotry and hatred? Or OK try this one. Obama won >50% of the Illinois vote in 2004, so >50% of Illinois expressed raw hatred and bigotry?

    Blah..blah.. I’m talking about condemning large swaths of people because of where they happen to live which you do so easily. The fact that you can’t even recognize that is very sad. All that hate’s gonna burn you up.

21. The Ted Kennedy reference is wrt Reagan not McSame.

    I know it is. I was responding to your assertion: “It is not OK to call FDR a fascist in 1978 and claim to praise his legacy accepting a nomination in 1980.” which I debunked in #410. it’s not a big deal., just admit you were mistaken if you can’t substantiate the claim. otherwise, you are just like the very smear merchants you rail agianst.

    It is not a question of guilt by association, but guilt by associating with a camp that is run by, for and is composed of lobbyists and smear merchant notables like Michelle Malkin

    So why is this not applicable to you? You’re asociated with a cmp that, l;ike Mark Penn, tryed to portry Obama as foreign, let Marc Rich go free, cheatted on and sexually harassed young women, had an iconic former VP candiate tell america obama is lucky to be black, spreads vicious 911 copnspriacy theorise like rosie o dennel and michal moore do. why are you not responsibel for this?

    Re POW, here’s Philip Butler who spent more time than McSame at te Hanoi Hilton,

    How does this substantiate yuor charge that he was ordered to staty a POW rather than chose to do it in accordance with protocol?

    Ah! Clintonian! Did you read that Newsweek article? That’s about calling up a smear merchant for contributions to a charity! Seriously is this the best you cnan come up with

    ?

    Hows this? No charity involved here just political expediency. And from the newsweek article:

    “Last month Ruddy posted a softball interview with Clinton on the Newsmax site (sample question: “What is the best thing about being an ex-president?”). A worshipful cover story followed in the current edition of the magazine. Clinton, it gushed, is “a political and cultural powerhouse” who is “part Merlin and part Midas—a politician with a magical touch.”

    “it’s not hard to figure out why the Clintons would embrace a former nemesis. As they prepared for Hillary’s presidential run, the Clintons made quiet attempts to disarm, or at least neutralize, some of their most vocal opponents”

    “The New York Times reported that the Clinton camp has also made efforts to open a line of communication to blogger Matt Drudge, who has served as a conduit for anti-Clinton GOP leaks.”

    “But his lawyer, Yale Gutnick, says Bill Clinton and Richard Mellon Scaife are now members of a “mutual admiration society.” Cue the apocalypse.”

    Yes, its all about charity. no politcs here. I look forward to you asking “What type of father licks the boots of the men who abuse his daughter?” I won’t hold my breath.

22. What’s a weak apology or a routine “condemnation” when Joe Corsi returns to work for the McSame camp with calling Obama an abomination?

    So you concede he condemned corsi but smear him with the charge that corsi works for him. can you substantiate the charge?

23. 420 · bleh said

    Blah..blah.. I’m talking about condemning large swaths of people because of where they happen to live which you do so easily. The fact that you can’t even recognize that is very sad. All that hate’s gonna burn you up.

    Actually that is the conclusion one would draw from your characterisation of John Kerry. San Francisco values – to which Nancy Pelosi delivered a stinging rebuke; Hollywood values; far left in Taxachussetts; city *******, New York values etc. These are all terms conjured up by the radical nut fringe over the years. It is about making a virtue of ignorance, and a vice of knowledge. Pointyheads, eggheads, liberal professors, and the list goes on.

    It is hard not to generalise when you hear it from people who have pounded the pavement and marched on after fighting water cannon, police K9 equipped beat cops, and vicious mayors – all for the right to vote.

    Arnold Pinkney…in 1984, he was the national campaign manager for presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. When I ran Jesse’s national campaign in ’84 and traveled around the country, given the attitude of people of people — particularly in northern, blue-collar areas and in Appalachia — absolutely not. Through the years, we would try to encourage Lou to run for the United States Senate from Ohio. We knew he was popular enough in Northeast Ohio, but we knew that he would never win statewide. In ’84, campaigning with Jesse in West Virginia, going door to door, we were up on a porch where an old, white fellow was sitting on the porch. Jesse shook hands with him and the man said, “You know, Rev. Jackson, everything you say is true and everything you say is best for me and my people, but I could never vote for a black man for president of the United States.” And other people said the same thing, but didn’t say it as nicely.

    In fact that is possibly why many senior black political leaders stayed clear of Obama to begin with – some of them have told me in person, “We never thought it was going to happen.” This is not bigotry but realism. There are some smears that should be off-limits even for garbage scroungers like Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove. Dubbing Obama a celebrity or questioning his patriotism are some of them. Even the GOP convention theme “Country First” is a cheap shot at the Democratic Party. Calling Al Gore a liar for his alleged claim of inventing the Internet is a smear when Vint cerf confirms that Gore did more than anyone to popularise it and is justifiably the inventor of the modern net.

    I have been following US politics since the Nixon years from his re-election in 1972. i learned about Barry Goldwater and Eisenhower much later. This is not the party they represented. This is a bunch led and controlled by scam artists, scum bags, smear merchants, and ignorant ranters. Goldwater and Eisenhower would be appalled to see what has become of their party.

24. I know it is. I was responding to your assertion: “It is not OK to call FDR a fascist in 1978 and claim to praise his legacy accepting a nomination in 1980.” which I debunked in #410. it’s not a big deal., just admit you were mistaken if you can’t substantiate the claim. otherwise, you are just like the very smear merchants you rail agianst. It is not a question of guilt by association, but guilt by associating with a camp that is run by, for and is composed of lobbyists and smear merchant notables like Michelle Malkin So why is this not applicable to you? You’re asociated with a cmp that, l;ike Mark Penn, tryed to portry Obama as foreign, let Marc Rich go free, cheatted on and sexually harassed young women, had an iconic former VP candiate tell america obama is lucky to be black, spreads vicious 911 copnspriacy theorise like rosie o dennel and michal moore do. why are you not responsibel for this? Re POW, here’s Philip Butler who spent more time than McSame at te Hanoi Hilton, How does this substantiate yuor charge that he was ordered to stay a POW rather than chose to do it in accordance with protocol? Ah! Clintonian! Did you read that Newsweek article? That’s about calling up a smear merchant for contributions to a charity! Seriously is this the best you cnan come up with ? Hows this? No charity involved here just political expediency. And from the newsweek article: … Yes, its all about charity. no politcs here. I look forward to you asking “What type of father licks the boots of the men who abuse his daughter?” I won’t hold my breath.

    Read the Ted Kennedy speech, surely by now you could have done that? I am not going to point out what the problem is with your argument, because you don’t know it. Mark Penn campaigned for whom this time? You know that right? And even if I wouldn’t like to have Mark Penn on my side, Michelle Malkin is so far out into the nuttosphere and is actually celebrated by routing repugs. Penn wass booted out. That’s the difference. Surely you have seen Moore’s Fahrenheit 911 and where’s the conspiracy apart from showing the duffer-in-chief read my pet goat, and the haves and have-mores “my base”? I can understand it must hurt to have your side shown up for the pretenders and hypocrites they are. But someone’s got to do it. In any case Rosie O’Donnell and Moore aren’t campaigners. Malkin is. That’s the difference. And what’s this thing about accusing Barack Obama of being a Muslim? That’s your good old friend – moonbat Ann Couler – who continues to refer to the Democratic Party Presidential candidate as B. Hussein Obama and Bill Clinton as a rapist. You haven’t heard how Clinton dissed Coulter. That’s what you get when you go against a guy who fights the smear. You still don’t get the point about that Newsweek article – that’s about working with the media not sucking up to a rival and licking his boots like McSame does these days.

    Re McSame’s POW excuse (a noun, a verb, and POW) it was just to tell you that McSame is at best as heroic as about 600 other POWs, several of whom who have sacrificed as much take a very poor opinion of his milking the story for personal gain and profiteering from it.

    And don’t hold your breath… McSame isn’t about to grow a spine and confront his handlers. He gave up all pretense of dignity several years ago.

25. Read the Ted Kennedy speech, surely by now you could have done that? I am not going to point out what the problem is with your argument, because you don’t know it.

    Kennedy quoted reagan as saying; “Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal.” so you assertion that he called FDR a fascist is wrong, though understandable for ann coulter like thinkers like you. reagan was pointing out that fascism was once a respectable ideology (mussolini’s version) and was intertwined with various collectivist ideologies of the time, of which the new deal was one. many intellectuals praised it and it wasn’t until the end of the non aggression pact that many of the left turned virulently anti-fascist. that and the spanish civil war. he didn’t call fdr a fascist.

    Penn was booted out. That’s the difference

    he was booted out for his connections to columbia, not for his southern strategy. he worked on clintons dnc speech, btw.

    Bill Clinton as a rapist.

    You don’t believe Juanita Broderick? let me guess, you belive Anita Hill though.

    Re McSame’s POW excuse (a noun, a verb, and POW) it was just to tell you that McSame is at best as heroic as about 600 other POWs, several of whom who have sacrificed as much take a very poor opinion of his milking the story for personal gain and profiteering from it

    And this makes him different from Kerry how?

    You still don’t get the point about that Newsweek article – that’s about working with the media not sucking up to a rival and licking his boots like McSame does these days.

    so you’ve created media exception to you “boot licking” smear artists charge? Not that I blame the clintons for doing it, thats politcal reality. Obama has licked hillary boot, but i’m sure you’ll find an exception for that as well, in your simplistic world where wyou swift boat people while denouncing swift boating and talk of “ignorant ranters” while you ignorantly rant.