2008 Primaries Thread 2: THE QUICKENING

I still don't see why Russert's hypotheticals were awful. If/when we withdraw from Iraq, Al Qaeda will almost certainly increase their profile and the decision on whether or not to RE-intervene will be on the table for the next four years. Asking what course of action a presidential candidate would take once in office is a pretty valid question, imho.

Maybe a timed debate isn't the greatest place to address the issue, but these are things that need to be asked.

it was like a TRIPLE hypothetical

I kept wanting to say "and what if a unicorn appears .... WHAT THEN???"

a red unicorn

Okay, maybe Russert was foaming at the mouth a little bit with his set up, but for Hillary to dismiss the premise altogether was a bad move.

Meanwhile, surprising to no one, Obama's church denomination is being investigated by the IRS, cuz, like, he spoke there, and stuff.

In other thoughts, this is of course really obvious, but I have a mixed feeling of both anticipation and apprehension for how the rest of the campaign is going to go. Just for the insanity of all the RWA follower-types losing their shit over a Democrat possibly getting elected, much less one of THESE Democrats.

I mean, there'll be all sorts of weird shit come summer, but once we hit october, it's going to be Jodorowsky-level unhinged. I mean, look at all the great fun we had in October 2006. So many mad political types running about like a Bloom County cartoon, only these assholes are probably going to be more violent.

dudes, the "denounce vs reject" thing showed Obama at his best. He showed how tedious the semantics game is.

the early returns are not kind to hillary

http://i25.tinypic.com/axi8li.jpg
http://i26.tinypic.com/25exq1c.jpg
http://i32.tinypic.com/znx9jd.jpg

http://i32.tinypic.com/9898r6.jpg
http://i26.tinypic.com/xn6wxx.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/20qfllj.jpg

somehow drudge has the mildest headline?

now we are all drudge

that nytimes article is unbelievably bad

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/us/politics/27watch.html

it accuses obama of mispronouncing massachusetts?

dude it's alessandra stanley - tv critic

i thought this bit was good -

When Mrs. Clinton insisted on adding to her remarks about Iraq when it was time for a break, the usually unflappable Brian Williams looked affronted. “Television does not stop,” Williams said sharply. “Can you hold that thought until we come back from a break?”

can you believe these f*cking people, that doesn't even make sense

lol tv critic - i did not catch that - explains a lot

Why I keep saying McCain will win the GE. McCain -- the grizzled War Hero -- is seen as stronger and tougher.

"Television does not stop. Can you hold that thought until we come back from a break?"

My wife also thinks McCain will win for the same reason (couldn't actually read that article due to log-in requirement).

I don't know if that's the case. Obama could win on GOTV and charisma. One obvious comparison is Dole/Clinton, although McCain might not come off as kindly and grandpa-like as Dole.

I logged in with the first one here

I wouldn't underestimate McCain's age as a potential drag on his campaign.

Maybe, Hurting. But Obama's on the roll of his life now, and he still at significant disadvantage vis-a-vis McCain. (xp)

still at significant disadvantage

whaaaa? hes way ahead in every poll and has been all along

Obama is within the margin of error from McCain in that poll.

And you're talking about a very established, well-known candidate vs. an upstart at this point, so Obama still has the chance to win plenty of people over.

Not to mention that you're matching a candidate still fighting it out in primaries with one that's already the presumptive nominee.

lol one poll where theyre tied and like 20 that obamas ahead by as much as 15 points

mccain can win but the deck is srsly stacked against him - independents are all voting dem in the primaries - the gop is just hemorrhaging voters - its really hard to overstate the damage bush has done to the party - for further evidence see the 06 elections

lol the gop still wont line up behind mccain - huckabee polling @ up to 40% in texas

tell me I'm not the only one who wants to see a Tim Russert slasher flick

You're not alone -- he was scary when he started screaming "GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY NOW!"

obama was great. he has really gotten much, much better at these things.

-- YGS, Tuesday, February 26, 2008 10:43 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

^^^this

that ny times article is awful, russert was an asshole to both of them, and he cut off obama a number of times also

He acted like he was the one running for president.

If either of those two are elected he'll be running from the president.

We'll see. Let's put it this way, given how much Bush has damaged the GOP brand, I think most Democratic leaders and strategists would have been very surprised if you told them, six months ago, that they'd be running neck-and-neck or behind the GOP nominee in February. And don't discount the key findings of that poll: McCain seen as the stronger leader, and better equipped to handle Iraq and terrorism.

To me, much of what you need to know about this election comes from the early graphs of an article in the current edition of Rolling Stone:

Behind me, a pair of aging Soccer Moms in acrylic sweaters sing McCain's praises. "I can't even imagine being a prisoner of war," says Mom Number One. "It must be so hard."

"Yeah," agrees Number Two. "You know he won't surrender over there."

"Mm-hmm," says the first. Then, after a pause: "Oh, hey, you know what I watched yesterday? Saving Private Ryan. And We Were Soldiers."

"Oh, those are great war movies," says Mom Number Two. "Great war movies."

Another pause. Then, "Oh, I went to that new buffet," says Mom Number One. "The one with the salads. I have to say, I'm not that into sweetbreads."

I want to choke the life out of both of them. But how do you communicate to someone the sheer insanity of voting to bomb the fuck out of some distant country while you sit safe and cozy in the Virginia suburbs, evaluating sweetbreads — just so the world can keep on feeling like the heroic war movies you rock yourself to sleep with on Sunday afternoons?

The answer is you can't.

So again, we'll see . . .

those women sound like REPUBLICANS. no one is saying that there aren't a lot of republicans in the US, and many of them support mccain.

also, I have a hard time reconciling people finding mccain as the 'strong leader on iraq' when every other poll states that americans want us out of iraq by a 2/3rds margin.

I'm sure they are, akm. And as to the disconnect between public opinion on Iraq and McCain's position on it, that's been true in the GOP primaries, as well. McCain -- for whatever reason -- cleans up among people who want us out of Iraq the fastest. I don't think it's because people don't know his position. I think it's because people vote on vague impressions (sometimes including vague impressions of policy positions) and character, less so on policy positions.

I call bullshit on that Rolling Stone article - there's no way two soccer moms were discussing great war movies and sweetbread buffets.

That article is embarrassing.

http://www.hbo.com/thewire/img/castcrew/character_season05/character/scotttempleton.jpg

You're right that the article is analytically shoddy (lots of RS political coverage is), but that has nothing to do with the paragraphs I quoted.

no, I'm referring to the quotes being totally fabricated in order to advance the author's argument.

STRAWWOMEN

OK that was his best debate answer ever.

Which one was that?

Obama: "If you've watched Saturday Night Live for the last year, Hillary's a haughty ice-bitch."

I turned on WNYC when I got home last night, and they were replaying the debate; I lasted 15 seconds of a Rodham nonresponse. You folks are masochists.

daniel get a hold of yrself its one poll plz to look at million other polls that have obama up by double digits jeez cherry picking

You folks are masochists.

I gotta agree. (In that I'm honestly surprised so many of you are watching these debates still -- then again I've avoided them entirely, they strike me as being huge distractions at best.)

when you don't have cable,have blown thru your batch of Netflix films, and are single, it's a decent way of spending 45 minutes.

I'm all of those things (Netflix aside) but have resisted this conclusion.

it's a decent way of spending 45 minutes

that's true ... too bad they last for 90

I skipped the texas one but felt like this one was the last stand and I should watch ... there were a couple interesting bits but mostly I was annoyed at russert trying to manufacture news

For someone as dedicated to right-wing political blogs as yourself, Ned, I'm not sure that you're in a great position to be calling other people masochistic!

Hooray!

(I'll say that the big advantage with reading as opposed to watching/listening -- I don't have visuals and voices stuck in my head whether I want it or not.)

The debates I've seen have been 100,000,000,000,000,000% more informative than any coverage (and that includes the entirety of "liberal blogosphere")