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Source: (consider it) Thread: Purgatory: The political junkie POTUS prediction thread
Alfred E. Neuman

What? Me worry?
# 6855

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quote:
Originally posted by mjg:
...Exactly, and you can wager McCain is going to be playing up the experience disparity between him and Obama.

McCain has been playing up his experience all week during his Biography Tour. He gave a speech at the airbase named for his father and visited his former highschool. His engaging personality was shared with the students when one of them asked, "We're told this isn't a political event, so what exactly is your purpose in being here?" McCain's crotchety response:

"I knew I should have cut this thing off! This meeting is over!" [Killing me]

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Littlelady
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# 9616

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quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
But we don't know what's he's like in the long haul, because he hasn't been around very long.

Did you (as in the American public) know when he was elected what George W would be like 'in the long haul'? Did you know what Bill-I-didn't-have-sex-with-that-woman would be like? My guess is that not many people would have projected how either man evolved, yet if I remember right, both had what appears to be deemed relevant experience before they were elected.

Maybe exactly what America needs just now is someone who hasn't been molded by high-powered political experience, with all that entails? America may not need someone like that, of course, but it may well do. I certainly think it needs an Obama in terms of foreign relationships, but that's only one part of the picture (and I'm sure a very small one for some people).

--------------------
'When ideas fail, words come in very handy' ~ Goethe

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beza
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# 10581

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quote:
Originally posted by ken:
Philadelphia, Clinton, Rocky?

Hmmm, I wonder if Hilary has ever actually watched Rocky? Somehow I don't think it is a must have in white, middle class, liberal feminist DVD collections. Is she saying she will fight to the end like Rocky only to be beaten by the black guy?
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Living in Gin

Liturgical Pyromaniac
# 2572

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Rocky didn't have a net worth of $109 Million.

--------------------
It's all fun and games until somebody gets burned at the stake.

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Campbellite

Ut unum sint
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quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
quote:
Originally posted by Gort:
quote:
Originally posted by Campbellite:
Thinks back to 1968

Wasn't that the election in which the leading Democratic candidate was assassinated? [Votive]

Yes. This question haunts me daily. Please, Lord, not again. Protect and advise Barack Obama.
Yes, I worry about that, too--for both Barack and Hillary. Not to mention the country. My memories of '68 are basically Bad Things and Riots.

[Votive]

1968 was the year the whole world came unglued.

--------------------
I upped mine. Up yours.
Suffering for Jesus since 1966.
WTFWED?

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Choirboy
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quote:
Originally posted by Gort:
Gaah! Howard Dean says hotel rooms have been reserved for Florida delegates in Denver. He's "committed" to seating them at the convention. What ever happened to rules and regulations?

But he also says:
quote:
Dean has come under criticism that he hasn't done enough to bring an end to his party's prolonged presidential campaign. The Republican race was decided nearly a month ago.

"I have to chuckle a little bit -- the people who are complaining that I'm not taking a stronger role [would] like me to be a strong leader and adopt [their] point of view and then ram it through the DNC," he said Tuesday.

"I'm not going to do that -- for either side. There are going to be donors and supporters on both sides that are mad at me. I'm going to play this one by the rules."

This is a non-story spun by a media outlet desperate to say something. Dean is just transferring the pressure to come to some agreement to the campaigns. It would be better if a way could be found to set "a" Florida delegation (not the one based on the nullified vote, in my opinion, and, I believe, Dean's) as it does no good to piss off Florida Democrats. However, it seems pretty impossible at this point to do anything other than award the delegates 50-50 to both sides, essentially removing their power to actually decide anything.
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tclune
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# 7959

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quote:
Originally posted by Littlelady:
Did you (as in the American public) know when he was elected what George W would be like 'in the long haul'? Did you know what Bill-I-didn't-have-sex-with-that-woman would be like?

The sad fact is that both men lived up to the expectations of them, as exhibited in their known track records to that point. It would be wonderful to be able to say that we would not have actually selected these folks had we known what they were like, but we did.

--Tom Clune

--------------------
This space left blank intentionally.

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Alfred E. Neuman

What? Me worry?
# 6855

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quote:
Originally posted by Campbellite:
1968 was the year the whole world came unglued.

MLK & RFK assassinated, the Tet offensive, Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia with 5,000 tanks and 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops, first manned orbital mission to the moon, North Korea captures the USS Pueblo, Highway patrolmen break up a civil rights protest in Orangeburg, SC, killing three college students, My Lai massacre kills 500 Vietnamese civilian men women and children, London Grosvenor Square anti-Viet Nam War protest - 92 injured, 200 arrested, US Dollar goes off gold standard, Johnson announces he won't seek re-election, Shoot-out between Black Panthers and Oakland Police - several dead, Johnson signs Civil Rights Act, Student protesters take over administration buildings at Columbia University in New York City, Strikes nearly bring down the French goverment, U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Scorpion sinks with 99 men, Football stampede in Buenos Aires leaves 74 dead and 150 injured, Saddam Hussein becomes Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Iraq after a coup d'état, Two charter buses fall into Japanese river killing 104, France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, A student demonstration ends in a bloodbath in Mexico City - 10 days before Olympics, Military coup d'etat in Panama overthrows democratically elected government, Richard M Nixon elected, 3 million tons of bombs are dropped on Laos in attempt to disrupt Viet Cong supply routes, Dr. Benjamin Spock and others are indicted on conspiricy to encourage violations of military draft, Peaceful protest at Dem Convention in Chicago turns into orgy of violence as police send hundreds to hospitals - Mayor Daley later famously explains, "The policeman isn't there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder.", Gort graduates highschool, Gort receives US military draft notice.

Well, it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
Next stop is Viet Nam
And it's five, six, seven
Open up the Pearly Gates
Well, there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! We're all gonna die.


~ Country Joe and the Fish

--------------------
--Formerly: Gort--

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SeraphimSarov
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quote:
Originally posted by Gort:
quote:
Originally posted by mjg:
...Exactly, and you can wager McCain is going to be playing up the experience disparity between him and Obama.

McCain has been playing up his experience all week during his Biography Tour. He gave a speech at the airbase named for his father and visited his former highschool. His engaging personality was shared with the students when one of them asked, "We're told this isn't a political event, so what exactly is your purpose in being here?" McCain's crotchety response:

"I knew I should have cut this thing off! This meeting is over!" [Killing me]

May there be many such examples of his glowing personality in the months to come!!!


[Big Grin] [Devil] [Paranoid]

--------------------
"For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like"

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Golden Key
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# 1468

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Gort said:

quote:
Gort graduates highschool, Gort receives US military draft notice.
I was in grade school. Given the news list Gort provided, plus having a relative in Viet Nam, plus watching all of this on the news during dinner every night...no wonder I remember the year as Bad Things and Riots.

[Tear]

--------------------
Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

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Golden Key
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quote:
Originally posted by Littlelady:
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
But we don't know what's he's like in the long haul, because he hasn't been around very long.

Did you (as in the American public) know when he was elected what George W would be like 'in the long haul'? Did you know what Bill-I-didn't-have-sex-with-that-woman would be like? My guess is that not many people would have projected how either man evolved, yet if I remember right, both had what appears to be deemed relevant experience before they were elected.

Maybe exactly what America needs just now is someone who hasn't been molded by high-powered political experience, with all that entails? America may not need someone like that, of course, but it may well do. I certainly think it needs an Obama in terms of foreign relationships, but that's only one part of the picture (and I'm sure a very small one for some people).

Well, Dubya wasn't elected the first time, and possibly not the second. That aside, lots of people were VERY worried about the possibility he'd be president...partly because we could see his track record as governor of Texas.

As to Bill Clinton...he had a history of infidelity. That was known. Put that together with the fact that there really WAS "a vast right-wing conspiracy" out to get him, and that mess was predictable.

And a great many Americans *are* greatly concerned about our relationship with the rest of the world.

--------------------
Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

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Littlelady
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quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
That aside, lots of people were VERY worried about the possibility he'd be president...partly because we could see his track record as governor of Texas.

As to Bill Clinton...he had a history of infidelity. That was known. Put that together with the fact that there really WAS "a vast right-wing conspiracy" out to get him, and that mess was predictable.

Well, in that case, what does it matter that Obama has less experience than is usually expected? If you guys have a good idea ahead of time that someone may turn out to be a disaster but the majority go on to vote for him anyway (thinking Bush) then what's the point in relying upon experience? Just curious ...

(Bill just made the POTUS look ridiculous for a while there. The cigar jokes still, um, pop up now and again!)

quote:
And a great many Americans *are* greatly concerned about our relationship with the rest of the world.
I'm sure they are; I didn't mean to suggest they aren't. I'm just aware that - obviously - your priority is on the home front and I speak as someone not on the home front. But unless something dodgy is unearthed on Obama before an election (assuming he gets that far) - and I'm sure people have been looking! - then from a foreign perspective Obama seems to have a lot of potential to build bridges and mend fences. He certainly seems to be popular over this side of the Pond, fwiw.

--------------------
'When ideas fail, words come in very handy' ~ Goethe

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RuthW

liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13

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quote:
Originally posted by Littlelady:
Bill just made the POTUS look ridiculous for a while there.

And a year of his and Congress' time was completely wasted, something that wouldn't have happened if the Republicans hadn't simply wanted payback -- we're supposed to believe that all of a sudden they cared about who the president did or didn't fuck? Please.

But Bush has for some time been on the low road to tyranny.

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Timothy the Obscure

Mostly Friendly
# 292

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quote:
Originally posted by Campbellite:
[/qb]

1968 was the year the whole world came unglued. [/QB][/QUOTE]

Yeah, but the music was great.... And "To be young was very heaven" (which is probably a bad sign, in retrospect).

--------------------
When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
  - C. P. Snow

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Zwingli
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# 4438

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I came across a comment about a speech on financial regulation by Obama that I thought worth repeating:

"Obama’s speeches frequently include passages that flatter their listeners who aren’t quite intelligent enough to realize how shallow his thinking actually is into thinking that they are more intelligent than they are."

From here, and thanks to www.samizdata.net/blog for the link.

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tclune
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# 7959

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quote:
Originally posted by Zwingli:
I came across a comment about a speech on financial regulation by Obama that I thought worth repeating:

"Obama’s speeches frequently include passages that flatter their listeners who aren’t quite intelligent enough to realize how shallow his thinking actually is into thinking that they are more intelligent than they are."

The amazing thing is that you were able to read that quote without applying it to the quote itself.

--Tom Clune

--------------------
This space left blank intentionally.

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Alogon
Cabin boy emeritus
# 5513

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quote:
Originally posted by Timothy the Obscure:
Yeah, but the music was great.... And "To be young was very heaven" (which is probably a bad sign, in retrospect).

Heaven? The young were protesting because they were being drafted and sent off to fight and die in a foolish war. I suppose it might have been heavenly for those who weren't. I had a love-hate relationship with the whole scene, as a hard-working music major in the local liberal-arts college. Although I wasn't very well adjusted and came frightfully close to considering suicide in 1969, I suppose much was relatively heavenly in my existence, notably the opportunity to be steeped in musicmaking. I always felt blessed and privileged to be there and kept my nose to the grindstone. Most of my radicalized classmates were much richer than I was and I couldn't figure out why the result of so much good fortune was their becoming unkempt ingrates who affected anger and rudeness at almost everything, including their university. Where did such fury come from? Yet I was increasingly sympathetic with the anti-war stance per se and participated in at least one peace march.

A few days ago, I saw such a colorful anti-war demonstration in front of the local county courthouse, only a few blocks from my home, that it brought back memories of those days. If the present or next administration reinstitutes the draft, we might see an uprising from the young that will make 1968 pale by comparison.

--------------------
Patriarchy (n.): A belief in original sin unaccompanied by a belief in God.

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Lolly

Ship's Lollygagger
# 13347

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"Where did such fury come from?"

For me, 1968 was the culmination of years of frustrated rebellion and repression. We were demoralized with our limitations and despairing of constantly being let down by authorities. The anti-war movement had persevered by pursuing one plan after another believing that solidarity was the key to success. By 1968, sheer frustration, hopelessness, and fury prevailed.

One, two, three, four! We don't want your stinking war!

--------------------
And draw us near and bind us tight
all your children here in their rags of light - LC

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Zwingli
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# 4438

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quote:
Originally posted by tclune:
quote:
Originally posted by Zwingli:
I came across a comment about a speech on financial regulation by Obama that I thought worth repeating:

"Obama’s speeches frequently include passages that flatter their listeners who aren’t quite intelligent enough to realize how shallow his thinking actually is into thinking that they are more intelligent than they are."

The amazing thing is that you were able to read that quote without applying it to the quote itself.

--Tom Clune

Would you care to drop the attempts at insults? Read the link - he explains exactly why Obama's speech on financial regulation was misinformed and not actually that clever, and why other people (who also don't understand financial regulation) might think that they were awfully clever for supporting that articulate man Obama. And yes, I really did understand the blog post on financial regulation, you arrogant prick, thanks for insinuating otherwise.
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Orb

Eye eye Cap'n!
# 3256

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Steady on, lads! You don't want to sink to their level...!

--------------------
“You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.” Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

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Timothy the Obscure

Mostly Friendly
# 292

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quote:
Originally posted by Alogon:
quote:
Originally posted by Timothy the Obscure:
Yeah, but the music was great.... And "To be young was very heaven" (which is probably a bad sign, in retrospect).

Heaven? The young were protesting because they were being drafted and sent off to fight and die in a foolish war. I suppose it might have been heavenly for those who weren't. I had a love-hate relationship with the whole scene, as a hard-working music major in the local liberal-arts college. Although I wasn't very well adjusted and came frightfully close to considering suicide in 1969, I suppose much was relatively heavenly in my existence, notably the opportunity to be steeped in musicmaking. I always felt blessed and privileged to be there and kept my nose to the grindstone. Most of my radicalized classmates were much richer than I was and I couldn't figure out why the result of so much good fortune was their becoming unkempt ingrates who affected anger and rudeness at almost everything, including their university. Where did such fury come from? Yet I was increasingly sympathetic with the anti-war stance per se and participated in at least one peace march.

A few days ago, I saw such a colorful anti-war demonstration in front of the local county courthouse, only a few blocks from my home, that it brought back memories of those days. If the present or next administration reinstitutes the draft, we might see an uprising from the young that will make 1968 pale by comparison.

I was being sarcastic, though it was not well-executed (probably should have used [Roll Eyes] ), with the allusion to Wordsworth and 1789. But there was a certain giddiness in the conviction that we were taking over the world and that any day now it all be peace, flowers, and sex whenever the mood struck you... It almost made up for the horror.

--------------------
When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
  - C. P. Snow

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CorgiGreta
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# 443

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"1968 - The year that rocked our world" is one of the lead articles in the current issue of (gasp) The AARP Magazine. I recall that one of our rallying cries back then was "Never trust anyone over 30!"

Greta

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Alfred E. Neuman

What? Me worry?
# 6855

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[Killing me] I've turned into everything I despised in my twenties!
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Golden Key
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# 1468

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quote:
Originally posted by CorgiGreta:
"1968 - The year that rocked our world" is one of the lead articles in the current issue of (gasp) The AARP Magazine. I recall that one of our rallying cries back then was "Never trust anyone over 30!"

I saw an ad on tv that had a Baby Boomer saying, "Never trust anyone over 90"!

[Smile]

--------------------
Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

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SeraphimSarov
Shipmate
# 4335

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Really, I don't see how Hillary can keep a straight face when she repeats her "party line" about Democratic delegates.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89476099

--------------------
"For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like"

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Bullfrog.

Prophetic Amphibian
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quote:
Originally posted by Zwingli:
quote:
Originally posted by tclune:
quote:
Originally posted by Zwingli:
I came across a comment about a speech on financial regulation by Obama that I thought worth repeating:

"Obama’s speeches frequently include passages that flatter their listeners who aren’t quite intelligent enough to realize how shallow his thinking actually is into thinking that they are more intelligent than they are."

The amazing thing is that you were able to read that quote without applying it to the quote itself.

--Tom Clune

Would you care to drop the attempts at insults? Read the link - he explains exactly why Obama's speech on financial regulation was misinformed and not actually that clever, and why other people (who also don't understand financial regulation) might think that they were awfully clever for supporting that articulate man Obama. And yes, I really did understand the blog post on financial regulation, you arrogant prick, thanks for insinuating otherwise.
Clearly, Obama should listen to former President Lyndon B Johnson's sage advice...
quote:
"Did you ever think that giving a speech on economics was like pissing down your own leg? You may think it's really hot, but nobody else does."



--------------------
Some say that man is the root of all evil
Others say God's a drunkard for pain
Me, I believe that the Garden of Eden
Was burned to make way for a train. --Josh Ritter, Harrisburg

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Littlelady
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# 9616

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quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
quote:
Originally posted by Littlelady:
Bill just made the POTUS look ridiculous for a while there.

And a year of his and Congress' time was completely wasted, something that wouldn't have happened if the Republicans hadn't simply wanted payback -- we're supposed to believe that all of a sudden they cared about who the president did or didn't fuck? Please.
Oh, I'm sure there was an element of 'bring the president down' to the Republican determination to impeach but I wouldn't be entirely surprised by at least some Republicans genuinely caring about who the President slept with. Maybe they'd be in a minority - I'm not in a position to say - but from what I learned of Republicans in and out of office while over in the States, some would definitely have cared. Whether they would have wanted the international impact or not is another matter. By today's standards, though, what Clinton did - regardless of a person's moral position on Presidents and their private lives (albeit happening in the Oval Office with someone other than the First Lady) - it all seems so tame now. And really not worth all that effort.

I have to confess, though, it was all fun to watch from this side of the Pond! [Biased]

--------------------
'When ideas fail, words come in very handy' ~ Goethe

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Alogon
Cabin boy emeritus
# 5513

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quote:
Originally posted by Gort:
I've turned into everything I despised in my
twenties!

In my twenties, I nearly turned into everything I had despised earlier-- or at least my parents had despised. In other words, I became one of those rebels about the time that my contemporaries were giving it up and turning into good little yuppies.

--------------------
Patriarchy (n.): A belief in original sin unaccompanied by a belief in God.

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moron
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# 206

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quote:
Originally posted by SeraphimSarov:
Really, I don't see how Hillary can keep a straight face when she repeats her "party line" about Democratic delegates.

She learned from one of the best. [Devil]


Anyway, I note our mutual friend Bob Barr is considering running as a libertarian. I've been voting third party on principle (anything to rattle the current oligopoly) but he's testing my commitment. I might have to go with McCain - experience and all that... [Big Grin]

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Alfred E. Neuman

What? Me worry?
# 6855

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Keith Olbermann of MSNBC is beginning to edge out Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as my favorite political satirist. This evening, in a regular segment of his show called "Bushed", he lampoons the 300,000 employees of the Bush administration and their use of GSA "purchase cards" meant for items like office supplies and travel expenses. It seems nearly half the government employees have decided your tax dollars should pay for (amongst other things):
quote:
...hundreds of laptop computers, iPods and digital cameras worth more than $1.8 million. In one case, the U.S. Army could not say what happened to computer items making up 16 server configurations, each of which cost nearly $100,000.
A review of card spending at more than a dozen departments from 2005 to 2006 found that nearly 41 percent of credit-card purchases, whether legitimate or questionable, did not follow procedure — either because they were not properly authorized or they had not been signed for by an independent third party as called for in federal rules to deter fraud. Among the expenditures cited in the report:
quote:
An Agriculture Department employee fraudulently wrote 180 convenience checks for more than $642,000 to a live-in boyfriend over a six-year period. The money was used for gambling, car and mortgage payments, dinners and retail purchases that went unnoticed until USDA's inspector general received a tip from a whistle-blower.

U.S. Postal Service workers separately billed more than $14,000 to government credit cards for Internet dating services and a dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Orlando, Fla., for 81 people at a cost of $160 each for steaks and crab. The dinner bill also included more than 200 appetizers and more than $3,000 worth of wine and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold.

In the Internet dating case, a postmaster charged $1,100 over 15 months for two online services, including the Ashley Madison Agency. The expenses went unnoticed for more than a year even though he was under internal investigation for viewing pornography on a government computer.

At the Pentagon, four employees purchased $77,700 in clothing and accessories at high-end clothing and sporting goods stores. The spending included more than $45,000 at Brooks Brothers and similar stores for tailor-made suits — $7,000 of which were purchased a week before Christmas. The credit-card holders said the items were for service members working at U.S. embassies with civilian attire.

The list goes on. Total for misappropriated purchases? ...nearly $14 billion USD. My favorite was Olbermann's mention of a State Department credit-card holder who bought $360 worth of women's lingerie at "Seduccion Boutique" in Ecuador for use during jungle ops by trainees of a drug enforcement program.

One can only assume the bustiers were suitably camouflaged.

Welcome to GSA Smartpay.

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--Formerly: Gort--

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RuthW

liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13

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There's a great story about John McCain visiting Mo Udall in the hospital on Slate right now. It confirms my feeling that deep down McCain is a decent human being.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Alfred E. Neuman

What? Me worry?
# 6855

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Thanks for that. I'm beginning to think that Hillary is also a decent human being. Witness her speech in Memphis last week on the 40th anniversary of MLK's death. She was so upset over his assassination, she hurled her bookbag across the room. Such sincere and raw emotion cannot but stimulate a sympathetic response in my skeptical heart.

My support for Obama is wavering. <sniff>

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RuthW

liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
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quote:
Originally posted by Gort:
She was so upset over his assassination, she hurled her bookbag across the room.

Aw, poor thing.

The thing is, she's just like so many others of her generation -- she wore a black armband when MLK was killed and even did some good organizing work when young, but soon she managed to shuck off the ideals of her youth and go to work for the Rose law firm and sit on the board of Wal-Mart.

The one good line in "Reality Bites" was when Winona Ryder's character says her generation's parents "disembowel[led] their revolution for a pair of running shoes." I about stood up and cheered -- it's how I've always felt about all that 60s crap and the many people who have talked about how awful it is that I "missed the 60s," as if life somehow weren't worth living because I was born in 1962.

[ 10. April 2008, 17:01: Message edited by: RuthW ]

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Mamacita

Lakefront liberal
# 3659

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I lived through the sixties, I loved much about the sixties, and Winona Ryder's character was absolutely right.

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Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

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CorgiGreta
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# 443

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In contrast to McCain's kind regard for Mo Udall, McCain's first wife was rather brutally dumped when she ceased being a young beauty and, unfortunately, became a middle-aged cripple.

He chose instead another young beauty, who had the added attraction of being rich enough to fiance his early political career.

Greta

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Orb

Eye eye Cap'n!
# 3256

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quote:
Originally posted by Gort:
My support for Obama is wavering. <sniff>

It'll pass. The next time she lies and distorts and then pretends she didn't.

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“You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.” Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

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Campbellite

Ut unum sint
# 1202

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That shouldn't be too long a wait.

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I upped mine. Up yours.
Suffering for Jesus since 1966.
WTFWED?

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Alfred E. Neuman

What? Me worry?
# 6855

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In the Stranger Than Fiction category, blogosphere reports are circulating of spontaneous healing incidents at Obama rallies. Evidently hundreds of people are claiming to have been healed by the Democratic candidate as he reaches out to touch their hands along rope lines. A legally blind woman, a deaf man and even a cancer sufferer, among others have said they were healed by his touch.
quote:
"Reporters have shied away from the story, chalking it up to "Obama-mania" and people’s feelings of elation. We don’t talk about it a lot, but yeah, it does happen," says one staffer who says he has seen multiple people healed on a rope line. "We don’t know exactly how or why it’s happening, and the Senator won’t talk about it. He usually insists that people keep it quiet and just report it to their pastor or priest."
The Second Coming?

More here.

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--Formerly: Gort--

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Choirboy
Shipmate
# 9659

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Oh for the love of Pete! How many more days until that Pennsylvania primary? Quite clearly, the news does not sufficiently abhor a vacuum.
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CorgiGreta
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# 443

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I would put my faith in Obama to heal me before I would trust the likes of Benny Hinn, Richard Roberts, Kenneth Copeland, or Creflo Dollar.

Greta

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Swish
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# 8566

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quote:
Originally posted by Gort:
In the Stranger Than Fiction category, blogosphere reports are circulating of spontaneous healing incidents at Obama rallies. Evidently hundreds of people are claiming to have been healed by the Democratic candidate as he reaches out to touch their hands along rope lines. A legally blind woman, a deaf man and even a cancer sufferer, among others have said they were healed by his touch.
quote:
"Reporters have shied away from the story, chalking it up to "Obama-mania" and people’s feelings of elation. We don’t talk about it a lot, but yeah, it does happen," says one staffer who says he has seen multiple people healed on a rope line. "We don’t know exactly how or why it’s happening, and the Senator won’t talk about it. He usually insists that people keep it quiet and just report it to their pastor or priest."
The Second Coming?

More here.

What do you reckon then - silliness of the Blog, legitimate misunderstanding or a clever plot to make Obama seem the anti-christ come down a bit ahead of schedule, and so stop your Right-Wing-Evangelical-Christian voting for him?

(ed. to specify who wouldn't vote for an antichrist)

[ 12. April 2008, 07:48: Message edited by: Swish ]

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Sorry Ted. I was concentrating too hard on looking holy.

Posts: 114 | From: Sheffield | Registered: Sep 2004  |  IP: Logged
Alfred E. Neuman

What? Me worry?
# 6855

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Larknews is obviously a spoof news site but I thought it was fairly relevant given the messianic emotional furor of Obama's rallies.

An interesting blog listing many excerpts from print journalists and television reporters speaking to the phenomenon of Obama as Messiah can be found here. Lots of "inspirational" graphics, too.

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--Formerly: Gort--

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Swish
Shipmate
# 8566

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quote:
Originally posted by Gort:
Larknews is obviously a spoof news site but I thought it was fairly relevant given the messianic emotional furor of Obama's rallies.

An interesting blog listing many excerpts from print journalists and television reporters speaking to the phenomenon of Obama as Messiah can be found here. Lots of "inspirational" graphics, too.

Oops. Put it down to 4 hours sleep and a daunting essay. Please.

Seriously, it seems to me that much of the 'Obama is a messiah/look at his cult following etc' rhetoric seems to be coming from the right and suggests to me a fear that if the election becomes something other than who's got the experience, who's got the expertise, who's the safe pair of hands, then McCain won't win. So I've heard a lot of criticism over it from more right wing areas (and Clinton). Not sure I believe it myself - personally think it's more the strong reaction an obvious candidate of change (love the alliteration in that btw) after about 20 years of very divisive American politics, rather than anything he's done to try to create a personality cult.

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Sorry Ted. I was concentrating too hard on looking holy.

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RuthW

liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13

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quote:
Originally posted by CorgiGreta:
In contrast to McCain's kind regard for Mo Udall, McCain's first wife was rather brutally dumped when she ceased being a young beauty and, unfortunately, became a middle-aged cripple.

He chose instead another young beauty, who had the added attraction of being rich enough to fiance his early political career.

Yes, he was entirely an ass in that matter. Both he and his ex-wife say it had nothing to do with his stay at the Hanoi Hilton or their long separation, and everything to do with his heading into middle age and wanting to turn back the clock.

So how much trouble is Obama in now for saying Pennsylvanians are bitter?

quote:
From the Huffington Post (and many other places, I'm sure):
"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."



[ 12. April 2008, 18:21: Message edited by: RuthW ]

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Comper's Child
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# 10580

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Hillary's making a huge issue out of it, but in truth many people in these smaller towns and rural areas are right to be bitter about their abandonment by both parties in the past 20 or so years.

He's just told the honest truth.

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Hiro's Leap

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# 12470

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I doubt they'd mind just being called bitter. The problem is when it's combined with "they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them". I wouldn't want my home town to be described in those terms, true or not...cling isn't a good word.

That said, it must be incredibly hard being a political candidate. Constant speeches, meeting people, and always watching your words, knowing anything can be taken out of context and used for years to come. It's no wonder they sometimes cultivate a public persona of baby-kissing amiable blandness.

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SeraphimSarov
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quote:
Originally posted by Comper's Child:
Hillary's making a huge issue out of it, but in truth many people in these smaller towns and rural areas are right to be bitter about their abandonment by both parties in the past 20 or so years.

He's just told the honest truth.

yes he has but telling the honest truth at such a politically sensitive moment was not the smartest thing to do especially as he must have known that Hillary and the GOP were RIPE to pounce on something like this.
I can see people being offended by the words "clinging to religion" as indicative of an elitist mentality which does not help Barack (and I want to see him as President)
What was he thinking???

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"For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like"

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Living in Gin

Liturgical Pyromaniac
# 2572

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I'd rather support the candidate who keeps getting in trouble for speaking the truth, than the one who keeps getting a slap on the wrist for being a pathological liar.

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It's all fun and games until somebody gets burned at the stake.

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Beeswax Altar
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# 11644

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Obama made the remark in San Francisco. He was pandering to a part of his constituency that thinks people in middle America are a bunch of poor, ignorant bumpkins obsessed with religion and guns who need to get over it and elect intelligent Democrats who know what's better for them than they do. This is going to hurt him. I read the quote and decided to vote for McCain (and I don't even like McCain).

The Republicans beat Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry by arguing that they were elitist liberals who didn't share their values. This is the one strategy in the Republican playbook. Over the past few months, the Obama campaign has been doing their best to play into it. It might not hurt him in the Democratic primary. However, he will loose Pennsylvania and similar states. Its a given his remarks won't sit well in the South. Fine...he's not going to win the South anyway. On the other hand, it also won't play well in the rural parts of other swing states like West Virginia, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The McCain campaign is going to take the "bitter" remarks, Jeremiah Wright, the Weathermen, and Michele Obama and bang Obama over the head with it from now untill November. Obama may still win by linking McCain to the failures of the Bush administration. However, he's turning a short walk in the park into the Boston Marathon. If John McCain was more of a paleoconservative and not the poster boy of the neo-cons, the Republicans would win in a landslide.

The Democrats have elected officials who would win the general election in a landslide and govern the country competently and with bipartisan support. Unfortunately, none of them would make it through the primaries.

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Losing sleep is something you want to avoid, if possible.
-Og: King of Bashan

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moron
Shipmate
# 206

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quote:
Originally quoted by RuthW:
"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

I keep thinking about this: ISTM part of Obama's miscue is his ignorance of what those 'small town' people want. Many of those types have little or no use for those who apparently truly believe some administration can 'regenerate' them. They'd rather be left alone.

It could be no small error in this comparatively largely rural country.

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