Letters to the Editor
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We got the script - Lets make a movie
Shapiro falls into the same trap all journalists do, that is the script once it gets started is more appealing than the facts. This is entertainment right? A little artistic license is warranted, no?
Well, no. Obama's K-Mart shot was not retaliation to the Clintons Rezco shot, in this debate it was Obama who flung mud first. But the script demands that the shrewd tough, Hillary politicial hack has run up against the young and pure Obama politician who does not get dirty but gets tough when backed into a corner. Sheesh, get me a producer, we'll have Art Chudabala play the innocent and pure and any actress from any day time soap who plays the part of the bitch play the shrewd politician. Skip the fukkin election and we'll just make a fukkin movie and be done with it.
Look, when someone becomes a politician, they leave certain things at the door that most decent people would not. Obama like Hillary, like McCain is a politician. Obama acting the part of the more humble, honest, or ethical politician is no more than a political strategy. Look at his religious pandering to Christians to see his true colors. Look at his "present" votes, not making a vote which allows him to criticize the ones who did vote. I am not saying he is more of a political hack than Hillary, I am saying he is no better and its annoying when people go starry eyed, fall in love with the script and avoid the obvious.
And comments like "Would anyone want to have coffee with the woman we saw in that debate?" do not help.
The dumb-ass sentiment that question comes from is related to the "He's the type of guy you'd like to have a beer with", method of evaluating a candidate. And that worked out real well.
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sajwan
I thought it was a reference to "Hot Coffee."
Look it up.
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It's the Islamo-fascists, stupid
The Republicans will be running a 24 hour "they're coming to get us" campaign. We all know that. When steady and stalwart daddy John McCain tells us all in that calm and reasuring voice that the Islamo-fascists are out there, they want to kill us and he will keep us safe and warm you better believe that simple, clear and visceral message will resonate far more strongly than whichever Democrat is nominated going on and on about their murky, Byzantine healthcare plan that nobody will be able to fathom. I have been shocked that none of the Democratic debates and none of the Democratic candidates have addressed homeland security and real foreign policy in any meaningfull way. Joe Biden did but got zero traction.
"I like MLK better" "No, I like MLK better!" "My incomprehensible healthcare plan that will never wind its way through our bloated government is better than yours." "NO mine is better than yours." "I'm a woman." "Well I'm black."
"I will keep you safe."
Like it or not, its a primal message that everyone understands and responds to. Its clear and its simple and it hits its target. The Democrats better start addressing the issue in a meaningfull and intelligent way or they'll go down in a Titanic defeat in November. So far, they're shrugging it off as "Oh those silly fear mongering Republicans." There's alot more to foreign policy than, "I'll pull all combat troops out of Iraq and say'Hi how are you?' to our enemies." Joe Biden got it. I don't think these three have a clue.
"I will keep you safe." That will put McCain in the White House.
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Don't fret, Mr. Shapiro.
Politics is a nasty business, but in the end we'll still end up with a Democratic nominee (hopefully the "irrelevant" John Edwards -- thanks for nothing, Walt), and we Democrats will rally around him or her and send that person to the White House.
Anyone but a Repug in 2008!
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sad
I don't think Obama did well in this debate, and at times he seemed almost to stoop to the Clintons' level, which saddened me... still, I believe he is our best for change.
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Salon - Working Overtime for Fox
All summer, we're going to see the pro-Republican "mainstream media" ignore the savagery and sleaze of the Republican primary, while conflating any competition in the Democrat primary with "knives coming out", "race and sex conflict", etc.
The purpose of this strategy is plain - the Democrat who wins the primary will emerge tainted.
Good to see that Salon is on board with Fox and Time!
Apparently anyone whose name is associated with the words "Washington Bureau" is guaranteed to produce the same old one-sided anti-Democrat crap.
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My impressions as an Obama supporter
I don't understand the reordering of events in the article. Particularly the Wal Mart/Rezco exchange. Obama brought this up in the context of a very effective explanation of the "Reagan had all the good ideas" BS coming from Bill and HRC. Consistent with his position from the start he said he recognized Reagan's ability to assemble a huge majority to get his agenda passed, but drastically disagreed with the results he saw with the closed steel plants on the South Side. Where was Hillary - staunch Democrat and change agent? Serving on Wal Mart's board.
On the defensive she pulls the slum lord crap.
What hasn't been mentioned is the only big audience boo of the evening: Clinton's Rovian my weakness is really my opponent's weakness about I can't tell where you stand on ANY vote. It didn't fly.
Over the last 48 hours Obama's done two things that will be in the history books - the talk at Ebenezer on sunday and "I can't tell who I'm running against."
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h-Lance is right
This is a Republican script--Dems bloodying each other, will kill them in the general--when all that's going on is the sometimes sharp back-and-forth of a primary season. I mean, go back and read what Howard Dean said about some of his Democratic competitors in 2004 (who he implied weren't even Democrats), or what sainted Al Gore and his supporters said about Bill Bradley in 2000. Nothing that went on on that stage last night can compare with some of the savagery McCain and Bush shot at each other in 2000. Let's stop being so touchy, okay? Unless, that is, we feel our favored candidate has a glass jaw and can't take the shots--in which case, I'd be rethinking my candidate if I were you.