The Short List — Thurs., July 24
July 24th, 2008 by Joe Bardi in Media Watch, Politics, Presidential Politics, The Morning PapersMcCain insists he was right when he said The Surge led to the Anbar Awakening, despite the fact that the Awakening happened in 2006 and The Surge happened in 2007.
- Poor John McCain, he just can’t catch a break. (This is possibly the most ridiculous story ever published by the Washington Post.)
- Obama gets double the airtime of McCain, and double the tough questions.
- “If somebody told me that I would save the people on the airplane by taking my pants off out in public out there, I wouldn’t mind doing it, but this was not necessary.”
- The director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center warns his employees to limit their cell phone use to avoid tumors. Ah, what does he know?
- Jewelry stores and investment banking firms prepare for the rush of new customers as the U.S. minimum wage jumps to just $6.55 an hour.
- Headline of the week: “Motor racing chief wins ‘Nazi’ orgy lawsuit.”
- The Bucs on the verge of landing Brett Favre? Just what they need, another really old QB.
- The Bruce B. Downs “flyover” opens, traffic remains somewhat snarled.
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July 24th, 2008 at 10:08 am
And, yesterday, Obama claimed he sat on the Senate Banking (”My”)Committee…this was before his people set up campaign signs in Hebrew at the temple wall. Disgusting.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I suppose you think WaPo’s Watergate coverage was “so much piffle?” The travel schedule and day to day attempts by each campaign to one-up the other so they can be the focus of the neverending appetite of the 24-hour news cables and interwebs is important journalism. Or at least akin to the kind of work that Jeff Goldblum’s character did on The Big Chill.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
That was sort of my point…The banking committee comment and the anbar comment. Jesus it’s nonstop. I want to ffwd to November and get it over it.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
What has Obama’s posturing, presumptuousness and making stuff up about “his” banking committee got to do with WaPo Watergate coverage? What does major media following Obama around like a pack of small dogs got to do with “important journalism”? What does what Jeff Goldblum’s character did in “The Big Chill” got to do with anything? Mr. Garcia, the weight you’ve lost seems to have been replaced by fatuousness. Agreed, the 24 hour drive-by news cycle is a voracious beast (OK, like that carnivorous plant in Little Shop of Horrors, to use a puerile movie comparison). The partiality the media show The Obama is repulsive. I find Obama now repulsive, campaigning for American elective office by speechifying in front of adoring German crowds. What does he want to be President of? The EU? CNN International?
July 24th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I don’t get the anger from Republicans over Obama’s trip, aside from the sour grapes. If McCain could travel to Berlin and speak to 200,000, I’m pretty sure he’d do it. You guys would then fawn over it and talk about how, when it comes to dealing with foreign policy, McCain obviously has levels of gravitas and respect that Obama can only dream of.
Instead, it’s somehow an insult to America that Obama is packing them in overseas. It portends bad things for the USA. Huh? Is it really better that he rest of the planet thinks our fearless leader is a lobotomized chimp alternating his index finger between ass scratching and caressing the button?
I’ll totally agree with you on one thing, Czech: I wish we could FF to November too. Shit, I’ll one up you and skip right ahead to 1/20/09.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
You don’t get it, Bardi. It has nothing to do with sour grapes. I don’t even consider myself a Republican. Most Republicans are appalling too. If McCain tried to speak in front of the Brandenburg Gate, I’d say he was a pompous fool too. Americans are electing a President, not Europeans. I look at the “Obama Euro Tour” and see unprecedented presumption and monumental posturing. The man doesn’t even have the Democratic nomination yet and he’s acting like the President already on a good will trip, despite his patently phony disclaimer. He may be popular now but this may prove ephemeral, or without much substance. It’s like Beatlemania. Here’s a more sober view:
http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles-new/?p=602
July 24th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/files/2008/07/article-0-020e3a3600000578-500_468×293_popup.jpg
I feel pretty
Oh so pretty
I feel pretty and witty and gay
And I pity
Any candidate who isn’t me today
I feel charming
Oh so charming
It’s alarming how charming I feel
And so pretty
That I hardly can believe I’m real
July 25th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I was less bothered by the Euro trip than I was at his visit to Jerusalem - mostly because of the “Obama ‘08″ banners in Hebrew hung across the guard rails. I am not an overtly religious or symbolic person, but the Western Wall is one of thoe few international spots that one should simply not use as a campaign prop.
After examing a few more photos of the bannners, it occured to me that Obama’s Achilles’ Heel might yet be his satffers and his supporters, who are so ga-ga over him. They’re the ones who hung the banners, created the faux Presidential seal, and scheduled the Brandenburg event - and have such a hard time enduring criticism of their Messiah. Their presumptuousness is no less filled with the same hubris we’ve been plagued with the last 8 years.
I think it might me the youthfulness of the supporters - unaccusomed yet to the bare knuckle world of politics.
But blaming staffers and supporters only goes so far - it ultimately comes from the top.
July 25th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
You’re right, Rock, I don’t get it. The response by the Republicans and the MSM to Obama’s trip is ludicrous. McCain practically dares Obama to go. Then, when he does, McCain rips him because by going he’s undercutting the country. Look guys, I know it hurts and you’re envious that while your candidate is standing in a supermarket lying about the Surge and hot rodding it with Daddy Bush in his golf cart, the future president is rallying our allies, so they will be there to advance his agenda in 2009.
Let’s be honest, the only thing that pisses you guys off more than the massive crowds Obama gets around the world are the massive crowds he gets right here at home. And that he’s optimistic. That’s the kicker. This moron thinks he can help make things better! The motherfucking nerve of this guy! When Reagan talked about America as a shining city on the hill, I’m sure you were right there to deride him as a bullshit dreamer. Oh, I forgot, you were too busy cheering to make a comment.
Here’s another one I don’t get at all: He’s acting like he’s the president already and that is wrong! In point of fact, he’s acting like Barack and being *treated* like he’s the president, which is really what ticks you guys off. It makes sense, though, since we’ve had a lack of leadership at the top for going on 3 years now (following four years of being governed by The Joker minus the makeup and scars). You really blame the Europeans for being glad there’s a new face on the scene? Please remember, they’re the ones who are going to eat Iranian rockets and nuclear fallout if we decide to cash out the Mullahs. Are you suggesting that rather than “acting like he’s already the president,” he should act non-presidential until after the election? And this is because being an inspiring figure on the world stage is not appropriate for a US presidential candidate? That’s horseshit man! Stop eating it.
Look, I wasn’t born yesterday. I don’t think Mr. O has some magic wand that he can wave and — Presto! Chango! — the world is a better place. Obama’s big proposals will require hard work, political skill and guts to see the light of day. (Not to mention a major shift in attitude in the US.) No, I don’t think Obama can do it alone, but that too is something you miss about Obama. His catchy slogan isn’t “Yes I can!” It’s “Yes WE can.” As of this week, that WE has gone international. Deal with it.
July 25th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
This is a disturbing comment: “Their presumptuousness is no less filled with the same hubris we’ve been plagued with the last 8 years.”
Whereas the blind following enjoyed by Bush was a mix of conditioned babyboomers (”duck and cover, the russians are gonna nuke you!”) to the the “it’s not illegal if he’s the president’ or all the apathy that let this go un-checked….this new ‘messiah’ phenomena we are facing is something that’s been brewing as we watched our nation duck in and out of the gray area between unchecked capitalism and police state fascism. It’s coming from being suppressed for 8 years when you couldn’t have a civil conversation with your neighbor about this country’s priorities.
I went to see Bush at the Sundome many years ago when he was at the peak of his popularity. They took my signs away at the door and then when he came on stage and I yelled at him for not giving the weapons inspectors more time in Iraq two ‘reps from the state department’ escorted me out. What the hell was that nightmare? Why couldn’t i scream and yell at my President when at the time (along with most of the rest of the world) I knew we were making a mistake? This is what the messiah factor is all about — the ability to get our country back; to speak and be heard; to not be called an idiot when I tell someone what they just saw on Fox News was FAR from fair and balanced, to ask the obvious question “Why can’t we get a working school system with teachers who are paid properly instead of killing 300,000 iraqis who never really did anything to me?”
When Obama went to Europe and showed THIS side of America, the rational one, the ‘mature’ one…they couldn’t wait to hear him. Remember, there are people alive there who saw their “liberty [died]… with thunderous applause.(to quote Padme from Star Wars)” The German’s saw it, the Spanish Saw it, the Italians saw it — just like us — their neighbors went crazy with nationalism and let their leaders piss all over their laws. If you don’t call what Obama is saving us from what it is — you’ll never understand the justifiable admiration his supporters have for him.
So you can keep on hatin’, but unless we have another stolen election, that ‘i told you so’ attitude is gonna come pouring out even faster when he gets elected.
July 25th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Thank you both for proving my point. It’s not often criticism of the Messiah generates 9 paragraphs in less than 2 hours.
Nationalism is creeping up in Europe again. They have failed to force the Muslim immigrants to assimilate, and in less than 3 years you have had terror attacks in London and Madrid - and riots in Paris.
Some might look at this as a bad thing - others see the awakening as the Europeans taking the Islamic extremism threat pretty seriously. While the U.S. conservtive movement has been lambasted by Europe over the last 8 years, the French and Germans have gone back to the right with Sarkozy and Merkel.
Do they know something we do not? Or did they finally stop paying attention?
July 25th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
errr…START paying attention
July 25th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
sorry you didn’t read/understand what I wrote; thought I could shed some light on your confusion over why the messiah phenomena exists in the first place by pointing out that what is driving admiration in Obama supporters is not the same ‘hubris’ that empowered Bush.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
also — you aren’t seriously saying that european conservatism looks anything like US conservatism are you?
you’re smarter than that.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I like this “messiah” put-down you (and others like you) are using to somehow marginalize Obama. The implication being either a) Jesus was a fraud and so is Obama, or b) The people who follow Jesus are brainless sycophants just like Obama supporters.
I’m guessing Christians might be a little offended by this, but not me! Keep insulting Jesus and the Christians, Czech. It’s so entertaining.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Like Christians who get offended when their Messiah is blasphemed, Obama supporters tend to lash out, throwing reason and accountability out the window.
I wish that US conservatism was more like European conservatism - a healthy balance between limited social policy and market enterprise. They overregulate, we under. They socialize, we place value in personal freedom and deicision-making. Somewhere lies a perfect balance - but perhaps I am now the ideologue.
I think European fear of the nationalism that drove it to 2 world wars has caused an overcorrection - a fear to offend anyone - and has resulted in the problems they face with Muslim immigrants. They have allowed the problem to fester socially and now security, but now seem to be awake enough to do something about it…Ask average, antive Euros what they think about Muslim immigrants, and you’ll find a vitriolic bigotry much worse than white/black issues in America…But the fear that causes such xenophobia is brought by the immigrants themselves.
So long as there are those in the world who look to annihilate us ny any means possible, this “one World” will never exist unless we are prepared to fight fire with fire. The next US President must be willing to continue that battle - much as the Euros have indicated they want their leadership to do the same. Perhaps that is the appropriate common, conservative ground.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Mr. Reality,
now you are assuming that europeans are all the same. When I lived in Prague I would travel to Vienna — there was a racism there unparalleled. When I lived in Copenhangen there was no racism at all and they had a large turkish population; when I took the boat over to Sweden (all 5 km away) it was a totally different story. Hate crimes were pretty common there.
I think US conservatism will get there as our educational systems improve. It will take two or three generations. Right now the pundits have the ability to just scream small little sound bytes that somehow get accepted by the ‘conservative’ US base as THE final answer (I already miss buckley); at least in europe you have a discusssion. Also, they don’t get caught up on abortion (now _I’m_ assuming europe is all one; this isn’t true in the latin states or ireland)…and they certainly don’t get caught up on the death penalty. They can move beyond the stupid conversations we get endlessly stuck in. My point in saying this is a European conservative would be pro-choice, against capital punishment, and pro-gun control — so it’s a very different persepctive.
the next president has to be able to do what you said ‘fight fire with fire’ but must be smart enough to recognize what is fire and what is just empty rhetoric. He must be able to properly identify what interests each sect of islam places as a priority, he must recognize that war is Failed Diplomacy and the only way you can get to war is if you exhaust every diplomatic attempt. This ‘if you talk to them or appease them’ they’ll keep on coming is a bunch of BS.
one final thought — i’m socially liberal i suppose, but fiscally conservative (maybe like a conservative european?)…When it comes down to this election neither candidate will be a fiscal conservative; so i think people who ‘get’ that will vote on whether or not they want their tax dollars going towards domestic infrastructure or funding a mismanaged and practically commercial military entity. My bet is they spend the money on themselves.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
We agree that the definition of “conservatism” has been bastardized beyond the point of recognition - or perhaps it is much more malleable than any of us would like to admit (the same can be said for “liberalism”.)
As for war, I do agree diplomacy as far as it can go. But when you have factions on the world stage today like Hamas, Hizbollah, and Al Qaeda - and those who fund them (Iran and Syria) - it’s clear diplomacy will never work when their sole M.O. is destruciton of our ally.
We talked the Palestinians, put up with Arafat’s bullshit for 40 years and accept Fatah - and what good did that get us? The people turn around and put Hamas in power.
We talked to the Syrians - and for what? So they can assassinate the first real democractic Lebanese ruler in decades? So they can give money to terror groups firing mortars at our troops?
We talked to Saddam. He thumbed his nose at us repeatedly.
Has diplomacy not already failed with those who wish us dead?
July 25th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
And a little child shall lead them…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4392846.ece