2008 Primaries Thread 3: The Rejecting and Denouncening

Style equals accuracy. Put the word “change” in Comic Sans and the idea feels lightweight and silly.

lol isn't Comic Sans like universally considered the worst font in the world? Not a great example.

Here it is

Key grafs ("Tom" is Hagel's brother):

The two men saw the war from sharply different angles. Chuck Hagel "walked point" with an infantry company near the Cambodian border in some of the worst fighting in 1967 and '68. His brother Tom often went on patrol with him (the brothers circumvented an Army rule that bars family members from serving in combat together). "I don't know how many times we would be assigned to go out for a search-and-destroy mission," Tom recalls, "and we'd pass South Vietnamese villages with South Vietnamese soldiers lying around sleeping in hammocks. They're doing easy duty while we were out doing the hard part." The lesson to the Hagel brothers was obvious: "You cannot win somebody else's independence," says Tom. "They have to do it for themselves."

Ground-pounder Tom says that while he respects McCain's service, the bomber pilot could not have known what reality was like down in the jungle: "He was up in the air at 10,000 feet. He never saw the consequences of those bombs." (Tom is a Democrat who's tussled with his brother on partisan politics.) McCain acknowledges that different perspectives can produce different outlooks on the war. He brings up one of Hagel and McCain's mutual friends, Gen. Colin Powell, whose Vietnam service bred a strong reluctance to intervene in a foreign conflict without overwhelming force and a clear exit strategy--the so-called Powell Doctrine. "One of the most impactful experiences of Colin's life was holding a dying soldier in his arms in the battlefield in Vietnam," says McCain. "I can see how that would have a very significant impression on him."

http://media.gallup.com/poll/graphs/040408DailyUpdateGraph1_mnbvert.gif

huzzah

when the right wing comment trolls call him juan or captain amnesty it's yet another window into GOP-base racism. a distant third in the nickname stakes is "McVain", and there i think they really have his number. the guy views every single policy issue through the lens of personal honor and heroism. it explains his lurching around the ideological landscape on this or that issue, while being totally clueless about important systemic things. it's not that he has conservative opinions on economics or education or health care, he doesn't have much of an opinion at all. nothing in those problems has much in the way of a 'noble struggle on to victory' narrative, so he doesn't really give a shit. and in terms of the war his attitude is even more mindless than the bush doctrine itself.

otm

so i guess today, mccain gives a speech apologizing for his initial opposition to an MLK holiday -- while a black guy holds his umbrella for him. unsurprisingly, mccain is booed.

that is totally right about mccain! thanks, gff, i've never seen it articulated so clearly.

omg elmo

http://bp1.blogger.com/_ndAyv4BjPbk/R_WNoVLpe_I/AAAAAAAAARU/6dalIDAqQCE/s1600-h/Picture+5.png

http://bp3.blogger.com/_ndAyv4BjPbk/R_WNX1Lpe-I/AAAAAAAAARM/Sq1_Jzw2gi0/s1600-h/Picture+6.png

(indirect source)

duh

just clicky then

i know dan! i mean, i know mccain wouldn't be able to hold up the umbrella himself, but i can so easily imagine mccain's advisers cornering their one black staffer and persuading him, "come on, it will be good for his image to be seen next to an african american when he gives this speech. oh, and hold this umbrella over his head and keep quiet. there you go. perfect."

lol marc penn talking to colombia about trade deals.

lol marc penn in general

the guy is the legal definition of 'conflict of interest' wrapped in fat-suit

when the right wing comment trolls call him juan or captain amnesty it's yet another window into GOP-base racism. a distant third in the nickname stakes is "McVain", and there i think they really have his number. the guy views every single policy issue through the lens of personal honor and heroism. it explains his lurching around the ideological landscape on this or that issue, while being totally clueless about important systemic things. it's not that he has conservative opinions on economics or education or health care, he doesn't have much of an opinion at all. nothing in those problems has much in the way of a 'noble struggle on to victory' narrative, so he doesn't really give a shit. and in terms of the war his attitude is even more mindless than the bush doctrine itself.

so OTM. thanks for nailing this down

I dunno, "hey subprime victims, tough shit" sounds pretty 'conservative' to me.

She thinks it's funny? Great.

http://www.time.com/time/quotes/0,26174,1727918,00.html

sociopathy

Do Bill C.'s tax returns mention consulting fees?

making jokes about something you lied about = Dubya tactic

God, she's a dorque.

self-deprecating humor from politicians on talk shows and during speeches is totally weak, i think that kind of shit helped wreck gore's '00 run.

Self-deprecating humor that is (a) funny and (b) doesn't come over as condescending or patronizing, is very effective but that line is abjectly lame and treats us all like we were idiot children.

but it show's that she's a good sport fnar fnar

yeah, most of it comes off like bad leno zings applied to self

bad leno zings = ratings gold, irl :/

It doesn't show that she's good sport. It shows that she will stoop to anything to play off the fact that she told bald-faced lies meant to impress us with how brave she is or whatever, though I have to say, I think it's noble of her to make light of sniper fire during a time of ethnic cleansing. Clearly she's risen farther above the bitterness than I have today.

So former GOP Bob Barr might be running for prez as a Libertarian soon? Has this already passed into the middle zone of this thread?

http://thepage.time.com/2008/04/05/colombia-sacks-penn/

bahahaha

A lot of what's happened in these primaries will be water under the bridge soon enough, and I hope all these people find new jobs and causes to fight for.

Except for Mark Penn...I hope that twerp never works again and has to live in the back of a U-Haul, begging towns to let him park there and rest for just one night.

This thread sure slowed down. Is politics over?

Everything got talked about until it was solved.

http://media.gallup.com/poll/graphs/040608DailyUpdateGraph1dude.gif

round round round we go

i do wonder wth these people are changing their minds about this shit everyday

I think it's more likely that they aren't asking the same people every week.

or they are asking the same people and all of them are drunks

or ppl are still making up their minds but giving a gut response anyway cuz hey it's just some pollster on the phone no big deal

Oh no!

I think it's more likely that they aren't asking the same people every week.

i assume pollsters know how to control for this kind of thing -- people out there must be waffling

xp or that yeah

don't these selfish people realize what they are doing to us

Dudes, the Fickle Bloc is huge, but damn hard to capture...

I think it means that people are still waffling on their decision

Personally, I've been inspired by Obama

xpost John McCain just looks more and more like a future projection entitled David Furnish, age 80.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijDA5bgxiHlTvS_r-SSjskS1Tq1wD8VSL2O83

Mark Penn quits?

WOW

ho snap

round round round we go

-- banriquit, Sunday, April 6, 2008 4:11 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

except for obama, who's held at 49% for awhile now!

HOLY SHIT.