There are gaffes, and then there is straight out BS. The man who has been singing the praises of whatever re-imaginings of actual reality he can manage to shove down the throats of the press corp slathered in gallon jugs of Kirkland-brand barbecue sauce is on a new theme.
Demanding Barack Obama hang out with his Mentholatum-dipped posse on their jaunts to the land of never-ending-ever-impending-undefinable victory, Iraq.
As I posted yesterday, McCain has engaged in a constant drum-beat the last nearly six-years praising Bush, but mostly himself, for the "always" successful policy that is the Iraq War. At least as it exists frozen in a Rich Lowry NRO special of May 2005, "We’re Winning". McCain styles himself the new Admiral Farrugut, "Damn the facts, full speed-o-wank".
Because Obama refuses to sit for three days as the meat in a "McCain-Lieberman sandwich" McCain gets to call him a coward, rather than what he clearly is, a person of at least modestly refined taste.
So now the self-styled "Mr. Straight Talk" is adding another layer of fertilzer to the pile, because Obama will do things on his own schedule, rather than toady to McCain’s agenda, the "Maverick" takes away his offer of a Werther’s Original and makes proclamations like this yesterday in Reno (the press corps went, just to watch him lie):
"Why is it that Senator Obama wants to sit down with the president of Iran but hasn’t yet sat down with General Petraeus, the leader of our troops in Iraq?"
That’s funny, I remember just last month, when all three of the remaining Presidential Candidates sat down and had talks with Petraeus. It was in all the papers and McCain was even there:
The Senator who mined this turf most profitably was … Barack Obama (a surprise, since you never expect a presidential peacock to be succinct or acute enough in these bloviathons). Obama hit Petraeus and Crocker with an artful series of questions about the two main threats: Sunni terrorists like al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Iran. He noted that al-Qaeda had been rejected by the Iraqi Sunnis and chased to the northern city of Mosul. If U.S. and Iraqi troops succeeded there, what was next? He proposed: "Our goal is not to hunt down and eliminate every single trace of al-Qaeda but rather to create a manageable situation where they’re not posing a threat to Iraq." Petraeus said Obama was "exactly right."
And it is Obama that is supposed to have the problem — not the self-proclaimed "Straight-Talker".
But then again, they do say short-term memory is the first thing to go.
Related posts:
- Public Option: Too Cheap or Too Expensive? Republicans Can’t Even Keep Lies Straight
- Changing of the Guard: US Troops Withdraw from Iraqi Cities; Maliki Declares “Sovereignty Day”
- Republicans Talk, Ahmedinejad Smiles
- Odierno and Petraeus vs. Cheney on Abuse as a Terrorist Recruitment Tool
- When Wilson Defines Debate, Democrats Squander Chance to Set Record Straight






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Why does Connecticut hate America?
But then again, they do say short-term memory is the first thing to go.
Sorry, could you repeat that?
”always” successful policy that is the Iraq War.
If thats McCain’s idea of success then his wife must be frustrated.
Will the real mascot step forward?
somebody has to challenge mccain and tell him point blank;
“there is no winning an insurgency, when they people don’t want you there you will either negotiate a truce and leave, or you will leave without that truce or you will anialate the people of that country, those are the three options, which do YOU think is our goal?”
and the follow up when he brings up japan;
“we are there at the pleasure of the japanese, if they want us to leave we would have only two choices which would be to leave or introduce them to another atomic bomb
we can no longer be seen as benefactors in Iraq since the president has done the unthinkable, he has condoned torture, and through some kind of sick justification tries to tell the american people we need to torture in order to win
when in fact Mccain, as you know or SHOULD know, we can’t possibly win BECAUSE we have policies that condone torture, when you have policies like that you can never be seen as a “benefactor”
Mccain will go balistic, this might be enough to have him flip his lid
Good Morning Attaturk and Firedogs,
o/t kinda, sorta
yo Matlock, Incoming!!!
Rupert Murdoch calls Obama a “Rock Star”, says he’ll beat McCain
my standing apology if previously posted
he said this as some kind of kiss of death, he knows the progressives hate him
he’s either giving the widowers kiss or he’s trying to buy favor for the progressive onslaught against media manopoly that he thinks might come when obama is elected
one or the other
He must have given up on HRC.
“Why is it that Senator Obama wants to sit down with the president of Iran but hasn’t yet sat down with General Petraeus, the leader of our troops in Iraq?”
Because Obama knows that Petraeus and all the previous commanders in Iraq cannot end the game. You talk to the opposing players you move your pawns, well technically Petraeus is GW’s pawn so why bother talking to him.
After all anything the General has to say will be said word for word by Military experts on all the channels.
At least, Arizona’s warmonger-in-chief tacitly acknowledges the opponent he’s likely to face in the general election. HRC’s popular/plurality vote advantage doesn’t seem to count, anymore. That’s probably a good thing.
Ouch. Considering I am from CT and just attended a shindig for David Sirota hosted by Ned Lamont, and in the audiuence were a lot of old supporters, some of us who worked our asses off phonebanking or pounding the pavement to get the Liarman unelected. Ouch.
Reverse Psych Murdock hopes that him supporting Obama will hurt him
How bout Barak taking McCain on a walking tour of the South Side of Chicago?
Shit, they could accomplish the same thing with a taxi ride from the Capitol.
Well the south side of chicago
Is the baddest part of town
And if you go down there
You better just beware
Of a man named leroy brown
Now leroy more than trouble
You see he stand bout six foot four
All the downtown ladies call him treetop lover
All the mens just call him sir
And its bad, bad leroy brown
The baddest man in the whole damn town
Badder than old king kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog
[Mod Note; Edited by Mod for length. To help keep the FDL servers running smoothly and to avoid any copyright issues, please do not post entire articles — include a link instead. Thank you. ]
And ya don’t mess around with Jim…
“Our goal is not to hunt down and eliminate every single trace of al-Qaeda but rather to create a manageable situation where they’re not posing a threat to Iraq.” Petraeus said Obama was “exactly right.”
This is great we need to get Obama’s ideas more coverage all Bush/McCain/Lieberman do is go for a prowar sound byte they don’t have a plan besides or beyond stay the course, but what about tomorrow no plan.
I’d love to see some racist Secret Service types get lost on the South Side at night.
Fear is a great motivator, and McCain hasn’t even begun to plumb that reality.
By exposing the true dangers of terrorism engendered in the Iraq War, by telling the truth about intelligence and how badly mangled and blindered BushCheney leaves this administration, Obama can “have a conversation” with a hell of a lot more gravitas than McCain offers.
Elitist Internationalist Corporatist Republican misanthropy has ruined this economy and this country
1. with the passage of the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000, and
2. with typical Republican violations of law and common decency that one can find in Nixon, Reagan, Bush I and, now, Bush II.
The Republican Party and its disreputable neocon enablers are smut and garbage that should be burned rather than sifted for any redeeming value. The Republican Party promotes a sociopathic disease that is manifested in anti-family & anti-humanist policies from start to finish for the U.S. and for the world.
They should end it now, form up a new Conservative Party, rebrand it with all the Libertarians and Fundamentalists they can find and begin anew, or we will have no two-party system in this country at all by the 2010 elections.
Not a serious comment on my part.
I know that many (at this point, most) CT residents are
embarrassed and angered by
Zell’sJoe’s antics.Peace.
I was born in a city that they call
“The Windy City”
And they call it the Windy City because of “the Hawk”
The Hawk
The Almighty Hawk
Mister Wind
Takes care of plenty business
‘Round winter time
Lou Rawls
“There’s still violence; there’s still some traces of al-Qaeda; Iran has influence more than we would like. But if we had the current status quo and yet our troops had been drawn down to 30,000, would we consider that a success?” Crocker, semi-speechless, chose to misinterpret the question, saying a precipitous drawdown to 30,000 troops would be disastrous.
http://www.time.com/time/natio…..25,00.html
my bold
Joke Klein wrote this about Obama? Has the MSM given up on McCain? Has somebody given the MSM a clue?
Again we need more press for Obama’s ideas.
In the ghetto?
I thought it was the second thing to go. I don’t remember what the first thing is, though.
I heard from that the same thing happened to McBush at Salt Lake City fund raiser that happened in Phoenix…. Baaahhhaaaa
Big ballroom booked…. not many takers…. the peace activist community planned a protest WITH the mayor of SLC – Rocky Anderson and the whole shebang was moved to a “private” home……
Anyone know where this train going next?
Love a fat, addicted, republican singing about the ghetto. . .
ha, that is good
Good Poem nice lines
Not the White House!
Hell.
Morning pups. It’s cold as hell up here in Canadaland, and the wind is blowing fierce out of the north. We had a few days of spring at the end of April. Where did it go?
OT: I was thinking about Hillary’s demise last night and recalled how high her husband was held in public esteem when he left office (70 percent approval). At the time I thought they were going to be the seat of an Official Opposition, and that he would use his formidable political savvy to map out a plan for the Democratic Party. Silly me. Like Colin Powell, he had the stature to oppose the tax cuts, the invasion, and untold other deliberate errors perpetrated by the Bush junta. And he had the savvy to know exactly what was going on at the top of that government. Instead, he decided to wait out the administration in order to get back into power when it expired. Unforgiveable, in my book, and to me at least, it clinches the case that it always was about them, not the country.
It’s a great song but none of the lyrics pages have the line where he talked about the “almighty Hawk blowin down Michigan Avenue like a razor blade”.
FWIW, Murdoch’s NY Post endorsed Obama and Murdoch’s daughter hosted a fund raiser for Obama.
Which means basically that Murdoch and family are a standard rich family trying to hedge all their bets.
Rupert’s problem is going to be the huge Dem majority in the House and Senate. Owning the Presidency is no longer enough to protect his racket.
You forgot lily-white and privilleged as hell!
Ding.
I’ll have to think about this. If Obama gets to stand behind McCain and whisper what to say, the trip might be of some value.
Dang we need some local bloggers perspective I did not hear about Salt Lake but yeah if this happens one more time we have to have a post.
Cartman is the ultimate GOPer!
No really fat mean and none likes him because those are his good qualities.
McCain is gonna rue the day he picked a fight with Obama … come Tuesday night, the Gloves are on …
… and bring JoeLie along, there are some great sidewalk sales …
I think Obama should immediately call for a retraction from McCain, saying something like, “Is Straight-talking McCain going to run a Swift-boat campaign of lies and slander? I met with Petreaus and he was there when I did.” That’s a soundbite.
All Aboard !
Joe is always for sale, the word you want is hostage if we don’t pay they would let him go!
Don’t worry I’m good for fifty:)
Well, he didn’t start out that way. . .course he was always white.
Whats Tuesday?
That’s fitty
Dear Senator McCain;
As a citizen of the U.S., I don’t care what happens to you. I don’t want anything to happen to Senator Obama because we need him to begin to straighten out the godawful mess you and the Republican Party have gotten us into.
Sincerely yours,
But if we tell the Latino Kings Joe is Rahm Emanuel we won’t have to pay a thing:)
You can talk with a Chicago accent? I can’t do that!
McCain won’t want to talk about the fact that the Republican Party keeps the families of the troops in suspense with talk of possibly striking Iran.
Oh yea, dat’s Cheegaga, sout side
That is a very interesting aspect we have all ignored what does more war talk do to people waiting for loved ones to come home? After all between stop loss and extended deployments the people at home have gotten disappointed a few times more war talk must be like chalk on a black board.
Or the Taylor Street Dukes for that matter.
One might also question the judgment of sending the two people most likely to be President on the same trip to a battle zone.
This is simple political and military logistics.
Better still, the West Side.
Cripes! Stop talking like that you’ll scare McCain with your foreign sounding talk John’ll assume your al Quieda instead of channeling Slats Grobnick :)
I think my Grandma had a shop there brewed beer during prohibition.
(I meant Cartman)
Drive by on the way out the door.
That assumes the “leadership” is concerned with those who must carry out the administration’s insane policies. They don’t. Troops, their families, friends, community do not figure into the equation other than as a raw resource required to achieve the administration’s goals.
You guys all sound like Scott McClellan!
Next to the currency exchange, across from the Jewel’s
Agreed bu the MSM are ignoring this I hope that a Poster could cover this story it deserves to be told.
I have no idea were it was on Taylor Street.
Like Obama exact details of my family from that time period are lacking.
Put a White Sox jersey on him and send him to Wrigley …
Actually, that was a reference to:
1: Chicago’s currency exchanges which cash checks, sell stamps and City licenses, but do not exchange currency.
2: The Chicago plural which appends an s on every business name.
I am “heart broken” to read these comments … *g*
Morning All :)
Attaturk, Nice!!!!
Sorry OT already, but this is about fluoride and I know lots of pups are following this sort of stuff…..
Better the opposite.
People have been shot wearing Sox garb on the Northside, but wearing Cubs apparel on the South Side is a certain way to get your a$$ whupped.
FDL
An out-of-body experience
Did y’all see Scottie on The Today Show ?
On Keith tonight!
Hmmm, linky-poo would help :)
http://www.pr-inside.com/print596428.htm
My dad’s family moved from the city to Villa Park in the 30’s. Had a Capone machine gunner up the street, they said he was a nice guy. He was a teacher/admin in Bellwood/Berkley so we kept in touch with the paisano side of life.
Can’t wait … Meredith is Rove-in-a-dress …
I’m not even that inclined toward personal loyalty when getting played for a chump.
Good Cookin:)
Later Everyone!
Meredith keeps trying to get Scottie to make libelous statements …
1,856 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Raven and Firepup Vets and Old Timers:
I’m home, hadda work later ‘cuz some poor kid couldn’t get ‘er ass outta bed in time fer work…the idea I had was to get a group of vets and other “boomers” from FDL tagether and create an essay or front page montage of experiences with what “war” and the experience of “war” did to folks, how that experience changed lives and how the greater society accepted or “excepted” folks…what it was like to try and integrate back into a society which denied the legitimacy of experiences no one else would even acknowledge happened. The idea is not to tell war stories but rather to tell POST-war stories, to share with folks the reality of having to live with experience that no one else in the “normal” world wanted to even recognize…to be the “new ******” that had no place outside the plantation of the war.
Ideally, we might get some folks who didn’t go, but can share the profound way the war changed their lives and how they reacted to the political and social alienation of bein’ part of the “youth generation” that reacted to the fact of war and ,ultimately worked very had to end it.
I gotta get some sleep, I’ll be back this afternoon after 1500 CDT and will try and hook up with some of ya to plan how we ken sytart ta put somethin tagether. I am not a computer “techie” so you folks’ll hafta figure out how we ken conference this thing on-line.
I’ll hang around for a few more minutes for a “roger” on the idea.
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, FDL IS WORTH TRYIN TA SAVE!!
[Mod Note; Comment edited by Mod]
Katymine -
did you see this over at Big Orange ?
here are some events not canceled at the Phoenix Convention Center -
6/7—The Giant Home Foreclosure Auction
6/8—Bridal Fashion Debut
6/13—Big Boys and Their Toys 2008 Expo
6/21—Babytime Expo
7/22—Eddie Izzard’s Stripped!
8/23—Pakistan Independence Day Celebration
9/10—Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Convention
9/18—American Massage Therapy Association Convention
10/22—National Wood Flooring Association Convention
Mark Your Calendars
“Why is it that Senator Obama wants to sit down with the president of Iran but hasn’t yet sat down with General Petraeus, the leader of our troops in Iraq?”
In what solar system does Johnny live?
Obama’s questioning of Petraeus convinced be that he’d be a fine CIC.
convinced me.
escusa
I meant that as a reply to GeorgeSimian’s 61 (“You guys all sound like Scott McClellan!”), but what’s one more.
If you referring to that Senate hearing, I would say that most Senators were blown away at Obama’s questions, which played Petraeus/Crocker’s “mission is a success” with their belief that a continued presence was the only way to win … I thought Crocker was going to cry …
I think Sharen stone is taking a page from Lou Dobb’s book.
This is the kind of remark about China that really pisses me off. First of all it happend in Szechuan (ethnic chinese) and was felt through the whole of Asia down to Taiwan and Vietnam, plus mudslides. There are multitudes dead (Buddhua bless them). And there’s sadness around Asia, because it’s a human disastor. And yet Sharon Stone glibly applies karma to the tragedy that has killed people not too unlike the Tibetans, because she believes that the “Chinese” are a homogenous and they should pay for government policy. Beeyatch. /rant off. Word to Sharon: China is diverse. And don’t call HK and Taiwan, Mainland, ok?
Glad that someone got it. Karl Rove said that his book didn’t sound like McClellan, but like a left-wing blogger.
It’s nice that this story seems to be gathering some traction in the press. Took them a day, but maybe it’s just beginning.
I remember that Nelson of Florida was seated next to Obama, with a sh*t-eating grin of admiration as Barack articlated.
This was the dumbest thing I’ve heard someone say for a long time. There was no strategy behind it. Just a side effect from her brain cancer.
I saw Leahy’s look of admiration as Obama continued. The best thing about Obama was that he did not overreach … short pointed comments which struck the heart of the matter …
No, he did not overreach.
The display of cool was impressive.
At ease with complex subject matter.
What a strange back-handed complement, of sorts.
After hearing repeated comments from folks at the WH say that it just didn’t sound like the Scotty that they knew and then the Rove quote about the left wing blogs, I wondered it they think the radical cultists at places like the Lake had kidnapped the former PS and brain washed him?
which hearing are you referring too? sounds like something i should watch (or rewatch). thanks!
Kirkland-brand barbecue sauce
nah, McThusaleh is more of a Sam’s Club kind of guy, Costco actually pays decent wages and has benefits
That was clearly the impression he was trying to make.
I was wondering if that meant he actually read these blogs, even trolled through them. How would he know what left wing blogs sound like if he didn’t?
The time Petraeus/Crocker appeared before two Senate committees in one day. Barack was on the second committee.
I hope a more informed firepup will tell you which one it was …
Jane has a brand new post up entitled “You Mean They Lied??!! Shocked, I Tell You!”
can you give me more of a clue? last fall? this winter? this spring?
Yeah it was more than dumb. It earns the title Beeyatch of the year. Or gender neutral arshole if preferred. Stone doesn’t seem to realize that among the major ethcnic groups of Szechuan, Tibetans are primo. I always thought Szechuan was a curious group, with very distinctive accents, made famous by Deng Xiaopeng. Kind of a spicy drawl.
Hi Selise, long time no see. Saw Nedlamont last night at a David Sirota book reading event. Ya should’ve been there!
Tell the truff, George, did you do that?
How many hours of herbal tea, tofu salads and trade-free chocolate sessions did it take before he finally broke?
I got him in a room with a bunch of Hollywood liberals, but you’re right. It was the beansprout-boarding that did it.
Foreign Relations. Not Armed Services.
I think I might have found it, on page 7 of CSPAN’s recent programs link. Currently second to last on that page, Senate Armed Services Hearing on Patraeus & Odierno Nominations on May 22. It’s 2 hrs 34 mn and I have no idea when Obama is up.
howdy! ((mui))
and awesome to see that lamont is supporting sirota and staying involved in politics (although, i confess thinking that the longer he hangs around the political types the less i may like him – hopefully insiderism won’t corrupt him too much).
can you tell more about the reading? did lamont speak? what did sirota have to say? was he well recieved?
Here are a couple from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..ature=user
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9wtAqXq7Sg
Oops.
Thanks!
lol.
armed services would be clinton’s committee (sorry, but i od’ed on the primary accusations, see this thread for an example)
if i knew for certain that was the one, i’d watch it. but it’s no big deal, just thought if folks were discussing it they could tell me which hearing they heard it on.
Bean sprout boarding. Ha. Good one.
You’re in LA, right?
Thanks for the links !
Selise, to provide greater context, I would suggest that you watch the entire hearing, especially the opening statements of Petraeus/Crocker.
Obama succinctly negated the “informed” testimony of P/C and everyone in the room knew it, though they might not admit it.
thanks. that had the date as 4-8-08, which helped me track it down. looks like this is the one:
http://foreign.senate.gov/hear…..0408p.html
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/…..d=204754-1
It’s the one where Barack is on the committee … sorry, hands doing 3 things at once, so am unable to look for it …
Ned Lamont sees pretty relaxed, down to earth and peppy. Actually more so than during the campaign. He’s involved with a central ct political project, and other things that escape me for the moment. It’s weird because I think David Sirota seems more going toward insiderishness than Lamont. The crowd, you can guess, you know them I am sure, even if you don’t know them personally: Tom Swan was there, citizens action group, old supporters. Sirota was politely >well-received. I think he made some glib jokes about the primary, that made some of us roll our eyes, rather than laugh on cue. That stuff gets tired. I don’t know how used to speaking Sirota is though. I like his work, so I am on his side. So I feel the need to be critical. I think the crowd was also taken aback when he compared popular uprisings (was it minutemen? Also Lou Dobbs lovers) on the right to popular uprisings on the progressive side. He needs to hash that out better in speaking like I noticed he does in his book (as I am browsingbefore cutting my teeth). Sirota said (my paraphrase, which may not be completely accurate): it wasn’t bad for progressives to try and speak the same language as the Lou Dobbs and the Pat Buchanan crowd, er. . . not being xenophobic persay, but putting up with or using xenophobic anger as Bernie Sanders did in an appearance with Pat Buchanen(who called Chinese dirty dogs), to push the idea of fair trade, or something like that. You can imagine how appalled I was when Sirota paraphrased Buchanens comments about the Chinese. I have issues with that to say the least. I have issues with Lou Dobbs.
I noticed the style of the book is more mainstreamy journalistic than Hostile Takeover. I am trying not to be put off by that. All and all I recommend the book, because it promises to be good.
I had David Sirota sign a copy for my mother: it said ” (my mother’s name), join the uprising.” I think she’ll be tickled, since she’s a secret Dennis Kucinich fan.
Thanks, selise!
Oh Selise, I think Spazeboy filmed the discussion. So if he uploads online. Maybe you can get a more accurate picture. Keeping in mind, we are all creatures of perception, myself included.
i already watched (or listened to) alot of both hearings that day. iirc, clinton did pretty good in the morning armed services committee hearing, but i don’t remember obama – which makes me think i must have missed that bit.
thanks mui! i appreciate your perspective and will also look to see if spazeboy posts the vid.
ah, those were the days – to have a semi-reasonable candidate running an insurgent anti-war campaign against one of the biggest warmongers. and a bunch of dfh and rapid local bloggers having a great time…. sigh.
Yes, I think my eyes glazed over and the brain went kapooey when Sirota repeated/paraphrased some Lou Dobbsian/Buchanen inflammatory statements about the Chinese . . . . *crickets* . . . and then went on to talk of the value of politically exploiting those messages for a good thing like fair trade. I would suggest that Sirota try and restate that in a way that doesn’t push the defensive reflex buttons, especially in front of an even more mixed crowd.
But do try and see a Spazeboy video in a youtube theater near you, because whatever emotions I was having probably colored my perception, just a tad.
Howdy Demi, rock on girl! (can we call ourselves girls?)
Oh Selise, in case you are around, a video might pop up on Ned Lamont’s site: http://nedlamont.com/ . Can’t find any video for last night on you tube though.
I still do and I’m 56. But, a very youthful 56, if there is such a thing.