Campaign 2008

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

I saw Jonah Goldberg give a speech on CSPAN today. He's like just about every fat professor I've ever had if they were all fucking retarded.

The local newspaper prints his crap in the editorial page all the time here in NH. The inset photo of his face is your standard douche bag pic of some dude with a look that reads: "See I told you so because I'M the smartiest smart guy ever so you BETTER be listening to me." He was very clean cut and conservative with a collared shit and looked like everything you would expect from a righty-wing writer appealing to righty-wing readers. Then I saw him on MSNBC a couple weeks ago with a moustache /goatee combo that would have fit right in on an old school Star Trek episode (or that biker gang from the Clint Eastwood monkey movies). Jonah Goldberg rules.

 

He is to politics what Necro is to rap music. He rules cuz he sucks.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Apparently Clinton has basically given up on Wisconsin, with the primary coming up on Tuesday.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

What will kill Obama in the general election is an apaprent unwillingness to fight dirty.

 

The "Obama was raised a muslim and is trying to hide it" thing is already widely believed, though proven false. I see references to it EVERY DAY on the internet.

 

Campaigns are about creating a fog, an impression around a candidate, Just like 2004's campaign message was essentially "Kerry's kind of a pussy", hammered in so many different ways (I'll make a list if you want), hell it actually started WAY early during the primaries with the "he looks french" comment.... this one is going to be "Obama isn't a real american".

 

-In the general election, you watch, there will be a few opportune public references to Obama being raised a muslim.....

-lots of "reminders" that his middle name is Hussein

-remember the attempt at controversy about how he didn't wear his American flag pin?

-Him not putting his hand on his chest for the stars and stripes?

-George W's rare comment the other day about how he is going to "embrace" Iran's president?

-lots of people referencing the FOX News story as proof... why do you think they never retracted it? It's laying seeds for the general election

-I bet money a prominent figure "accidentally" refers to him as Osama just once, at the right time to get plastered on Drudge. I'm not talking about misspeaking like ted kennedy, I'm talking about, "misspeaking" if you catch my drift.

-Add to this the fact that by forcefully denying the claims (which you have to do or it'll stick) actually feeds the feelings that it's so bad if it were true.

 

Mark my words, Obama's losing because of prejudice, just not the kind people are focused on now.

 

 

If the republicans really are counting on 'Bah, Gawd his middle name is Hussien and he's Muslim!' slur they seriously need new ideas because that 's already gotten old. And anyone willing to believe such a paper thin accusation likely wasn't going to vote for Obama anyway.

 

Obama is way more of a threat to the repubicans than Hillary ever was, because they don't know how to deal with him. Like everyone, they thought Hillary was the inevitable candidate and planned accordingly (I've even heard they have a few of Bill's bimbos kept aside to tote out at election time). They could throw all the mud they wanted to at Hillary, and probably would have.

 

Obama's different, and a lot of why I think they're weary of him has to do with his race. I don't think every higher figure in the Republican party is racist by any means, but many of them do have limited experience in dealing with African Americans, due to the low numbers in their own party and other factors, and I'm willing to bet they're seriously worried about saying the wrong thing in regards to him. A lot of them are totally lost on multi cultural AMerica.

 

Besides, considering the unabashed sexist terms Hillary has been discussed in (somebody, asked McCain 'how do we beat this bitch?' and he was actually dumb enough to give it a straight answer) part of me does wonder how long it'll be before somebody makes a similar verbal gaff with Obama and does McCain a lot of damage.

[snuffbox 0]

I wonder if the big Obama-Edwards summit today will mean anything important.

[SuperJerk 0]

I saw Jonah Goldberg give a speech on CSPAN today. He's like just about every fat professor I've ever had if they were all fucking retarded.

If they're calling liberalism "Soft Fascism," is it okay to call what Jonah Goldberg, Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc., are doing "Soft McCarthyism"?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

If they're calling liberalism "Soft Fascism," is it okay to call what Jonah Goldberg, Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc., are doing "Soft McCarthyism"?

 

Yep, and appropriately, too.

[snuffbox 0]

Those twirps actually defend McCarthyism, they actually like Joe McCarthy. Not so much the case with liberals defending Hitler or the like. Jonah Goldberg is a fat dick.

 

I dont think this Obama-the-plagiarizer thing will pan out for Hillary. Patrick and Obama are pals, Patrick endorsed Obama, he more than likely either gave the words to Obama personally or one of his own speechwriters lent them to Obama before he ad-libbed them in Saturday night's speech. If she runs the two speeches in a mudslinging ad, she will only serve to twice refute her own anti-oratory spin.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Clinton's trying to paint Barack has some sinister, Manson like figure now. They're pushing that his campaign has a 'cultish' feel about it.

 

To be fair, there's things he's said, that coming from any other candidate would sound really arrogant and presumptious, but because he says them, it's okay. I remember Oprah's saying 'he is the the one'. Um, what? Is he Neo?

 

'The cult of Obama' is ridiculous, but I think he does have unearthly quality about him that is a little unnerving.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Not as unnerving as Ron Paul's campaign.

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

Clinton's trying to paint Barack has some sinister, Manson like figure now. They're pushing that his campaign has a 'cultish' feel about it.

 

To be fair, there's things he's said, that coming from any other candidate would sound really arrogant and presumptious, but because he says them, it's okay. I remember Oprah's saying 'he is the the one'. Um, what? Is he Neo?

 

'The cult of Obama' is ridiculous, but I think he does have unearthly quality about him that is a little unnerving.

I wouldn't say "sinister," but it is creepy and cultish, absolutely. Ron Paul Nation was more intense, but considerably smaller, and there was always sort of a disconnect between the candidate and the supporters: you get the impression that he wasn't 100% pleased with the nutjobs in his corner, and with his campaign, it was all about the ideas, almost to a fault, because everyone jumped on the gold standard idea in particular to belittle him as a worthless gadfly.

 

http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com for a humorous spin on the Obama campaign's increasingly uncomfortable messianic tendencies.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

This really is your one big issue for this election, huh? It's just so weird to me. This really isn't different from any other politician I can remember recently. Do your big general themes speeches for most people, save your micro-level policy issues for people who actually care about them, which is a fraction of America. Obama just happens to be the best politician at giving big general themes speeches since Bill Clinton.

 

In terms of cult of personality, Obama is no different than McCain, Romney, Clinton, Edwards, any of the hopefuls, except that he's better at it. What McCain or Clinton says on issues/policies/whatever has no more or less depth than anything Obama's throwing out there.

[Brett Favre 0]

He's too damn charismatic!

[snuffbox 0]

Well, being charismatic and being a cult-leader are pretty much the same thing.

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

This really is your one big issue for this election, huh? It's just so weird to me. This really isn't different from any other politician I can remember recently. Do your big general themes speeches for most people, save your micro-level policy issues for people who actually care about them, which is a fraction of America. Obama just happens to be the best politician at giving big general themes speeches since Bill Clinton.

 

In terms of cult of personality, Obama is no different than McCain, Romney, Clinton, Edwards, any of the hopefuls, except that he's better at it. What McCain or Clinton says on issues/policies/whatever has no more or less depth than anything Obama's throwing out there.

I think that McCain or Clinton would be a better leader. There's not much about Obama that I like. Why do you like him so much?

 

In terms of cult of personality, Obama is no different than McCain, Romney, Clinton, Edwards, any of the hopefuls, except that he's better at it.

What the hell? You cannot tell me that there is the same fervor surrounding them and mean it. If Mitt Romney could get a hockey rink full of college students to chant with him and faint during every speech he gives, maybe he'd still be in the race. Unbelievably misleading statement. You're such an apologist.

[EricMM 0]

No, Czech, it's like he said; Obama is simply better at it.

 

I can't believe that your (apparent) biggest beef with Obama is how many people like him...

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

If Mitt Romney could get a hockey rink full of college students to chant with him and faint during every speech he gives, maybe he'd still be in the race.

Well, yeah. What Eric said. That was my point.

 

I like the guy only marginally more than Clinton as a candidate, if at all. His voting record and stated policies line up nicely with my positions on a handful of pet issues, which is good enough for me. If you think X or Y is likely to do a better job, sure, I get that. I'm just getting this image of you watching YouTube videos of Obama through squinted eyes, nursing a tumbler of scotch and whispering "Asshole" every time the crowd applauds.

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

I do think other the candidates would do a better job. I have more respect for Clinton and McCain as politicians. What are your pet issues, exactly? My guy got smeared out of the race by the news media, so none of the remaining four really speak to me. Obama is too liberal for me, and the other three are just varying degrees of acceptable moderates. At this stage in the game, I don't see why I can't vote in protest of that charlatan. There's not a lot left to do with this field.

 

Speaking of his voting record, doesn't it mostly consist of abstentions? I know it did in the State Senate. His defenders claimed that frequent abstentions are "just part of the Illinois political culture," which confirmed that I would never vote for this man in my life. Illinois's accomplishments in architecture, NBA basketball, ethnic food, and house music are myriad, but every politician in the state is a fucking asshole.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

At this stage in the game, I don't see why I can't vote in protest of that charlatan. There's not a lot left to do with this field.

The point I'm making here is that he's no more of a charlatan than any other candidate in the race. Yes, it's naive to believe every ounce of hope and change and Food Man he'll give you without researching and investigating the likelihood of these claims for yourself, but I'd argue it's even more naive to believe that every other person running for president isn't conducting himself/herself in the exact same fashion.

 

My pet issues are the annihilation of No Child Left Behind and the continued rejection of school vouchers, abortion being awesome, and being realistic about taxes and what it costs to run a gigantic country. I'd also like to see steady progress for gay rights and some friendly faces on the supreme court next time around. Oh, and this war is pretty gay and is keeping plenty of other things I care about from getting fixed, so wrap it up soon if you can.

 

 

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

I'll just have to disagree. His candidacy isn't the same as anybody else's. They aren't conducting themselves the same way. Most supporters of Clinton, McCain, and Huckabee have real reasons for their support. Not one of them has the same groundswell of blind faith. I don't know what else I'm supposed to say anymore. It's like there is no possible opposition to anything concerning Barack Obama. I give up. So he plagiarized a speech from the governor of Massachusetts the other day. That doesn't matter at all. We have the idea drilled into our heads since 2nd grade that PLAGIARISM! is the worst thing that you can do. Obama does just that and gets off without a scratch; it's no big deal, sure, and I bet you think he went to a radical Muslim school too, you idiot bastard, how dare you.

 

Are you for or against abortion awesomeness? It was kind of ambiguous.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Very pro-abortion rights. Especially so after I went to see that Bodies exhibit with the plastinated corpses. The Preserved Fetii Room pretty much substantiated all my beliefs about being perfectly fine with abortion. I think it was at about 16 weeks that the little bugger was still the size of my pinky and clearly just a pile of non-sentient cells. Oh, and speaking of cells, yea to stem-cell research and a general belief in embracing advanced biological research. That's another huge pet issue of mine. The constant disavowal of science has probably been the most embarrassing thing about the Bush administration.

 

Also, I think the "plagiarism" thing is kind of a non-issue (cue sighs...now!). Lest I'm reading some heinous fabulist liberal sources, Obama's been referencing this other fella openly since last year, they're professionally friendly, and they've shared some of the same speechwriters. I think they've done pretty much everything short of type out the parenthetical citations together. Normally I would care a lot about someone ripping off somebody else, but that does not appear to be the case here.

[Nightwing 0]

... Food man?

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

It really should affect his reputation as the greatest speaker since God when he takes his Mighty Inspirational Lines from some communal line pool.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

... Food man?

$10 laptop motherfucker

 

It really should affect his reputation as the greatest speaker since God when he takes his Mighty Inspirational Lines from some communal line pool.

Come at Obama u best not miss

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

Most supporters of Clinton, McCain, and Huckabee have real reasons for their support. Not one of them has the same groundswell of blind faith.

 

Not really. Most McCain supporters seem to buy into the whole "straight-talking maverick war hero who breaks the rules to get the job done" image, which is just as transparent and superficial as Obama's "changehopechangehopechange yes we can!" schtick. Similarly, Huckabee's really playing up the whole "folksy southern preacher who plays the bass and totally hates taxes" thing.

 

Face it, politics in this country (especially wrt Presidential elections) is based almost completely on a candidate's ability to generate some kind of cult of personality. Obama just happens to be charismatic/smart enough to pull it off on a larger scale than anyone else in the race.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

In 1998:

 

John Mccain "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Cause..."

 

wasnt a big deal 10 years ago but..uhoh now

[snuffbox 0]

I don't like how so many of Obama's supporters seem to have no idea what they're cheering for or what they're doing. I keep meeting them amongst the wave of new supporters since Iowa.

 

I like Obama, for reasons I've already stated, and I like to see the rooms full and the votes pile in, but seeing people following along because it's the Cool Thing To Do is pretty lame.

[NoCalMike 0]

I don't like how so many of Obama's supporters seem to have no idea what they're cheering for or what they're doing. I keep meeting them amongst the wave of new supporters since Iowa.

 

I like Obama, for reasons I've already stated, and I like to see the rooms full and the votes pile in, but seeing people following along because it's the Cool Thing To Do is pretty lame.

 

Maybe, however it is no more lame then people voting for Bush because "he's someone I'd like to have a beer with"

[snuffbox 0]

I completely agree.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

I might not have a beer with Bush but I would totally snort a line of coke with him. We might actually relate to one another then. Progress!

[Jingus 0]

I think it was at about 16 weeks that the little bugger was still the size of my pinky and clearly just a pile of non-sentient cells.

So what do you think about Obama's support of partial-birth abortions?