Obama proved to me today that he is nothing out of the ordinary. A complete hack, already corrupted by beltway politics, willing to compromise any principle to win. Although I am a Democrat and despise the Republicans with a loathing I normally reserve for seal-clubbers and vampires, Obama has, by supporting this anti-American-values, awful bill, lost my vote.
... but he's counting on supporters having no place else to go.
Obama has demonstrated that it doesn't matter who gets elected.
Supposedly he made this decision because the political calculus said he had to do it to appeal to more moderate voters. The problem with this logic is that the political calculus will always dictate support for special interests. The corporate media manipulates public opinion to make it so.
So, we can chose McCain, who will willingly screw the country, or we can chose Obama, who will reluctantly do exactly the same thing because he thought he had to for political reasons. Either way the result is the same.
Enough Obama bashing.
Yes, FISA sucks. But you know what'll suck worse, losing this election to John McCain. Obama did not vote for FISA because he felt a deep need to piss off the left wing of his party. He voted for it because he doesn't need to hand the Republicans a bludgeon with which to hammer him for the next four months.
Democrats need to stop whining all the time. It's time to win dammit, it's time to win a damn election. It's time to put our trust behind a nominee and give him our support. If he doesn't deliver on important issues like health care and Iraq after we put him in the White House, then we have the right to complain. But to nitpick over his FISA vote is just that, nitpicking. One senator's vote on one bill is insignificant compared to what the man can do if he wins the Presidency and we finally have a decent person running this country.
I'm so sick of the whining, stop whining and get behind your candidate for once.
I love you to death, but Obama didn't betray anybody today. The bill was going to pass. If he voted no, we would have seen the "Obama Soft on Terror!" ads in November and it might have lost him the election.
And for what? A symbolic vote that made NO difference?? The bill was going to pass anyway. This was a politically smart move that any sane person running for president would have done.
Please, Please pull it together and help this man win. Please wake up.
I'm glad Obama fucked us all before the election so we can clearly see who we'll be voting for.
Mr Obama, ya lost me.
I'll find some place else to go, don't you worry Ms. Walsh.
As you may recall, back in Jan 08 or so, Obama appeared on S&L and removed his mask on national TV. This is the same Obama that has no problem stealing a nomination (with the help of DNC) that belongs to Senator Clinton. I will not vote for him no as he does not need my "racist" vote. remember he said Hillary supporters were not voting for her but were voting against him because they are racist!!! He should be ashamed of himself. I am glad the rest of the world is seeing Obama in the same light as many of us have seen him for a while now.
If he voted no, we would have seen the "Obama Soft on Terror!" ads in November and it might have lost him the election.
So instead, we will see ads about how Obama doesn't keep his promises and he'll still lose the election.
This was a lose-lose situation for Obama. He could has chosen to lose with dignity, but instead he chose to lose with shame.
Obama's sellout on FISA (and the death penalty and his odious remarks about mental distress made while using the GOP frame of "partial birth abortion") makes the devil I know a more attractive choice than the devil who has yet to reveal himself fully.
As I have said over and over, a president from the opposition party should at least be moderated by an adversarial Democratic congress. A Democratic congress would be nothing if not submissive to Obama. I'll take my chances on the adversarial relationship, so yes, I do have a place to go.
Matthew Yglesias? He apparently likes living in rivers...like De Nile. Never saw what others saw in Yglesias in the first place. He's a kid. I half expect him to become a raving right wing loon before he's 40. In any case, he isn't someone to look to for political wisdom...or wisdom of any sort.
Truthfully, I had expected to see Hillary Clinton cave on FISA today. I figured she would not want to show up the Demopublican nominee, and I figured a quid pro quo had been established on the Demopublican nominee's help with retiring her campaign debt. Apparently I was wrong and the lady is made of sterner stuff than I knew. Good on her.
Obama? Not for me. Like I said, better the devil that I know...
Let me refer you to Rebecca Traisters article about hog farms and the joys of making your own bacon and reply - In a pig's eye.
Like I said, better the devil that I know...
Yeah, the devil that wants to go to war with Iran so bad he can taste it. The devil that wants to increase defense spending and stay in Iraq indefinitely, at the same time, cut taxes. Don't even get me started on social security, the economy in general or abortion rights.
No thanks...I know this devil too well.
As much as I am disappointed in Obama lately, it's still an easy choice to vote for him.
Please, stop with the silly justifications. They hold no water. Dems who stand up for what they believe in, win. Dems who resort to the kind of "please, don't hurt me" cowering in the corner fear that leads to capitulation on fundamental constitutional right that you seem to advocate, lose.
Obama committed an atrocity today. He voted to undermine a right so basic that the framers sought to enshrine it in the Bill of Rights. That's a deal breaker...but like Obama says...that's OK.
Now then, shouldn't you be getting back to the flock of Demopublican sheeple? It's dangerous out here.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox