I'm only on page 29 but already I've had to sit through several pages of right wing trolls unable to answer the question the article poses. They either try and deflect by trying to draw attention to Obama's shortcomings (something Salon addressed back when it was kissing Hillary's butt, in case you missed it), Some were directly racist (the "buckwheat" reference) and some had the striaght up balls to admit that yeah, it's just about abortion for them. Making me question whether or not they should even be allowed to vote. Others just went out of their way to avoid answering the question altogether, Teleologicus, I'm looking in your direction.

The only common theme I have noticed among these people, the ones who actually try and put up an argument anyway, is that all their reasons appear to be purely emotional. Thinking doesn't appear to factor into it. No, intellect isn't the only thing that matters but by the look of it, it doesn't matter to you guys at all. If we think your stupid, this is why. I would rather have an asshole that thinks before he makes decisions then somene who is nice but doesn't bother to consider things that conflict with her religion.

Saying you can relate to her and that she seems like you tells me nothing about her ability to fix the countries problems. And for all those who think she won on Thursday, every poll outside of Fox says otherwise. For good reason, she didn't bother to answer any of the questions put directly to her. Now if Obama did that, how outraged would you be?

As for all those who blame the democrats for the financial mess (another deflection tactic) I don't recall Barney Frank or anyone else holding a gun to these banks forcing them to hand out martgages to people they knew couldn't pay them back and then taking bets on whether or not they would. I do recall, however, these same, no doubt mostly repoublican voting, institutions begging the government to bail them out.

There is bottom line to this dumbing down by the Republicans, George W Bush & Sarah Palin. Australia dumped John Winston Howard for his pompous grandstanding as the 'Man of Steel. One of his own senators told the truth when he called him a lying rat & that was widely reported. 'You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all the people all the time.' Come on America, save the world. Get out of bed on voting day & dump the Republicans. The rest of the world needs a landslide.

The Republicans always put up a Dum Dawgy front.

==The Newly invented Reagan slept every afternoon and comfused Movie plots with History. In the end Nancy brought in psychics to help deal with foriegn policy. And while they slept over 20 of his appointees were indicted.

GWB was a C student and proud of it. He left Texs bankrupt. likes to be "underestimated. Wants people to believe he has an 85IQ Seems to have helpf him get away with gutting out the government and giving the work to Republican contributors.

Cheeney failed and was kicked out of Yale.

And McCain Graduated 795th out of a class of 800

Republicans THRIVE on Ignorance, so they can Bamboozal people into voting against their own interest. While they loot our treasury with tax cuts that 30% went to 130,000 people.

This will probably get me a lot of hate cross-posts, but I don't. I think she's unprepared and unqualified to be Vice President, and certainly President. There's a difference.

And yes, I saw the Couric interview, including all the cringe-inducing pieces.

Here's why I don't think Palin is dumb, certainly not in the sense the denizens of this site portray. I simply don't think she's thought about these national issues while governing up there in Alaska. She's been a part of the McCain campaign for about a month. That's not a lot of time to get up to speed. Yes, her answers are evasive and lacking in specificity. However, I defy 75% of the people out there to get up to speed on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, Darfur, the history of the mortgage mess, McCain's Obama's, and Biden's records, deregulation, constitutional law, Russia, etc, etc. all in 4 weeks.

I don't care how smart you are, it's not going to happen. But she gave a respectable showing during the debate, all things considered.

But therein lies the problem. She's probably only been thinking about these issues for 4 weeks. Obama has been dealing with all this for almost two years. He is more fluid; his ideas are more well thought out.

I think Palin is reasonably smart, probably above average. Sure, many will smirk that her answers were rote memorization and talking points; to a large extent, they probably were. But what do you expect in 4 weeks? That's probably the best you can do in that sort of timeframe.

However, what that means is that she is simply not ready to assume the office. I'll be happy to hear from her again in 2012, and she can try to make her case then. I promise to give her a fair hearing.

But in 2008, given what I've heard so far, she simply isn't ready.

This, incidentally, is the case the Left needs to make. Not these petty potshots about how dumb she is.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/21/164117/783

Obama's Senate Record

by Helenann

"Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 570 bills in the 109th and 110th Congress.

Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 15 bills that have become LAW since he joined the Senate in 2005.

Senator Obama has also introduced amendments to 50 bills, of which 16 were adopted by the Senate.

His record is in fact quite impressive for a junior Senator from Illinois.

Below I summarize Senator Obama's legislative record in the US Senate.

First I list the bills he sponsored that have become law.

Next I summarize the bills that he has sponsored or cosponsored since he became a US Senator in 2005.

I have only included major pieces of legislation and have not summarized continuing resolutions or naming post offices, for example.

His record suggests several priorities and the bills he supports address many of our most pressing problems.

Most of his legislative effort has been in the area of Energy Efficiency and Climate Change (25 bills), health care (21 bills) and public health (20 bills), consumer protection/labor (14 bills), the needs of Veterans and the Armed Forces (13 bills), Congressional Ethics and Accountability (12 bills), Foreign Policy (10 bills) Voting and Elections (9 bills), Education (7 bills), Hurricane Katrina Relief (6), the Environment (5 bills), Homeland Security (4 bills), and discrimination (4 bills).

Of the 15 bills Senator Obama sponsored or co-sponsored in 2005-7 that became law:

Two addressed foreign policy:

Promote relief, security and democracy in the Congo (2125)

Develop democratic institutions in areas under Palestinian control (2370).

Three addressed public health:

Improve mine safety (2803)

Increased breast cancer funding (597)

Reduce preterm delivery and complications, reduce infant mortality (707).

Two addressed openness and accountability in government:

Strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (2488)

Full disclosure of all entities receiving federal funds (2590)

Two addressed national security

Extend Terrorist Risk Insurance (467)

Amend the Patriot Act (2167)

One addressed the needs of the Armed Forces

Wave passport fees to visit graves, attend memorials/funerals of veterans abroad (1184).

Of the 570 bills Senator Obama introduced into the Senate during the 109th and 110th Congress (Senate Bill numbers are in parentheses), they can be summarized as follows:

25 addressed Energy Efficiency and Climate Change

Suspend royalty relief for oil and gas (115)

Reduce dependence on oil; use of alternative energy sources (133)

Increase fuel economy standards for cars (767, 768)

Auto industry incentives for fuel efficient vehicles (1151)

Reduce green house gas emissions (1324)

Establish at NSF a climate change education program (1389)

Increase renewable content of gasoline (2202)

Energy emergency relief for small businesses and farms (269)

Strategic gasoline and fuel reserves (1794)

Alternative diesel standards (3554)

Coal to liquid fuel promotion (3623)

Renewable diesel standards (1920)

Reducing global warming pollution from vehicles (2555)

Fuel security and consumer choice (1994, 2025)

Alternative energy refueling system (2614)

Climate change education (1389)

Low income energy assistance (2405)

Oil savings targets (339)

Fuel economy reform (3694)

Plug-in electric drive vehicles (1617)

Nuclear release notice (2348)

Passenger rail investment (294)

Energy relief for low income families (2405)

21 addressed Health Care

Drug re-importation (334)

Health information technology (1262, 1418)

Discount drug prices (2347)

Health care associated infections (2278)

Hospital quality report cards (692, 1824)

Medical error disclosure and compensation (1784)

Emergency medical care and response (1873)

Stem cell research (5)

Medical Malpractice insurance (1525)

Health centers renewal (901, 3771)

Children’s health insurance (401)

Home health care (2061)

Medicare independent living (2103)

Microbicides for HIV/AIDS (823)

Ovarian cancer biomarker research (2569)

Gynological cancers (1172)

Access to personalized medicine through use of human genome (976)

Paralysis research and care (1183)

20 addressed Public Health:

Violence against women (1197)

Biodefense and pandemic preparedness and response (1821, 1880)

Viral influenza control (969)

End homelessness (1518)

Reduce STDs/unintended pregnancy (1790)

Smoking prevention and tobacco control (625)

Minority health improvement and disparity elimination (4024)

Nutrition and physical education in schools (2066)

Health impact assessments (1067, 2506)

Healthy communities (1068)

Combat methamphetamines (2071)

Paid sick leave (910)

Prohibit mercury sales (833, 1818)

Prohibit sale of lead products (1306, 2132)

Lead exposure in children (1811, 2132)

14 address Consumer Protection/Labor

Stop unfair labor practices (842)

Fair minimum wage (2, 1062, 2725, 3829)

Internet freedom (2917)

Credit card safety (2411)

Media ownership (2332)

Protecting taxpayer privacy (2484)

Working family child assistance (218)

Habeus Corpus Restoration (185)

Bankruptcy protection for employees and retirees (2092)

FAA fair labor management dispute resolution (2201)

Working families flexibility (2419).

13 addressed the Needs of Veterans and the Armed Forces:

Improve Benefits (117)

Suicide prevention (479)

Needs of homeless veterans (1180)

Homes for veterans (1084)

GI Bill enhancement (43)

Military job protection

Dignity in care for wounded vets (713)

Housing assistance for low income veterans (1084)

Military children in public schools (2151)

Military eye injury research and care (1999)

Research physical/mental health needs from Iraq War (1271)

Proper administration of discharge for personality disorder (1817, 1885)

Security of personal data of veterans (3592)

12 addressed Congressional Ethics and Accountability

Lobbying and ethics reform (230)

Stop fraud (2280)

Legislative transparency and accountability (525)

Open government (2180, 2488)

Restoring fiscal discipline (10)

Transparency and integrity in earmarks (2261)

Accountability of conference committee deliberations and reports (2179)

Federal funding accountability and transparency (2590)

Accountability and oversight for private security functions under Federal

contract (674)

Accountability for contractors and personnel under federal contracts

(2147) Resctrictions awarding government contracts (2519)

10 addressed Foreign Policy:

Iraq war de-escalation (313)

US policy for Iraq (433),

Divestiture from Iran (1430)

Sudan divestment authorization (831)

Millennium Development Goals (2433)

Multilateral debt relief (1320)

Development bank reform (1129)

Nuclear nonproliferation (3131,977,2224).

9 address Voting/Elections

Prohibit deceptive practices in Federal elections (453)

Voter access to polls and services in Federal elections (737)

Voter intimidation and deceptive practices (1975)

Senate campaign disclosure parity (185)

Require reporting for bundled campaign contributions (2030)

Election jamming prevention (4102)

Campaign disclosure parity (223)

Presidential funding (2412)

Integrity of electronic voting systems (1487)

11 addressed Education

Increase access of low income African Americans to higher education (1513)

Establish teaching residency programs (1574)

Increase early intervention services (2111)

Middle school curriculum improvements (2227)

Public database of scholarships, fellowships and financial aid (2428)

Summer learning programs (116)

TANF financial education promotion (924)

Higher education (1642)

Build capacity at community colleges (379)

Campus law enforcement in emergencies (1228)

Support for teachers (2060).

6 addressed Hurrican Katrina

Hurricane Katrina recovery (2319)

Emergency relief (1637)

Bankruptcy relief and community protection (1647)

Working family tax relief (2257)

Fair wages for recovery workers (1749)

Gulf coast infrastructure redevelopment (1836)

5 addressed the Environment

Drinking water security (218, 1426)

Water resources development (728)

Waste water treatment (1995)

Combat illegal logging (1930)

Spent nuclear fuel tracking and Acountability (1194)

Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act (Introduced in Senate)[S.726.IS ]

4 addressed Discrimination

Claims for civil class action based on discrimination (1989)

Domestic partnership benefits (2521)

Unresolved civil rights crimes (535)

Equality or two parent families (2286)

4 addressed Homeland Security

Judicial review of FISA orders (2369)

National emergency family locator (1630)

Amend US Patriot Act (2167)

Chemical security and safety (2486)"