Say Anything Blog

So what Obama is telling us now is that he’s already made up his mind on his Iraq policy…

That’s right...he wants to end the war. The hint I got was his comment “I am absolutely committed to ending the war.”

And that his previous comments about “refining” his stance after a visit to the country weren’t really meant to imply any refinement at all?

I’d include timing and speed of withdrawal, redeployment plans, leaving observers/trainers/whatever in place or not, etc. as details subject to refinement.

I recognise that spinning is part of the electoral game and that all parties spend way too much time doing it but if this identification of alleged “flip flopping” on Obama’s part is representative of the current Republican efforts then the GOP must really feel up against it. I also think that those who genuinely and honestly believe that a flip flop has occurred are the same people who believe that Obama’s position has been a precipitous and immediate withdrawal from Iraq with no regard to the conditions and to the safety of the American troops.

In short...it’s a pretty lame claim IMO and it doesn’t credit the public with much intelligence.

"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced if the nation doesn’t want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”
Cicero, 55 BC

right on, Mike, right on!

Let’s see here.  Obama has no pertinent experience, no record of accomplishment, no noteworthy achievements to point to, has essentially done nothing, nor has he ever run any sort of an organization for any period of time with any meaningful success.  The list of his mentors and closest personal advisors starts with Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright.

And now we are informed that what he says is not to be taken seriously.  That his word is to be counted as worthless.  His policy positions on virtually every major issue raised thus far in the campaign have been altered or subject to revision, depending, presumably on who his audience happens to be at the time.  And this is a young man who thinks he’s prepared to be president of the United States?

What this tells me is that Obama really doesn’t have a clue what he thinks or what he believes.  And just like every other hack politician from what is arguably the most corrupt city in the country, young Mr. Obama is not accustomed to having people actually examine what he says and hold him to account for it.  Instead, he is so used to doing what his masters in City Hall and Springfield tell him to do, he simply doesn’t know how to respond to voters who aren’t already bought and paid for.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

It’s nice to see the public becoming so mistrustful. Refine does not mean a stance change. He has always planned to leave up to 100,000 troupes in Iraq for “advisory and protection purposes”.

There are a large number of people giving him heck about his FISA support in his blog at barackobama.com

Since he and Hillary have been spending some quality time, look for a number of his positions to soften. McCain with a different name.

ews48,

The picture you paint isn’t of a man of character and principle, as Obama and several others have variously described him, but a man of expediency and dishonest opportunism.

Either the man is essentially devoid of character and principles, or his latest moves toward the center are little more than a callous, cynical attempt to obfuscate his true leftwing beliefs from the general election voters in an effort not to scare away those moderate and uncommitted voters who will be needed to win in November.  Question is, who exactly is the real Barack Obama?

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Question is, who exactly is the real Barack Obama?
Bat One on July 5, 2008 at 04:02 pm

Answer is, if you don’t know by now you will never know. You will be stuck in neverland and wonder what the hell happened.
Look B1 examine him all you want. It matters not because you and your likewise thinking conservatives were/are never going to vote for as you say “young Mr. Obama.”

Hey, Ellinas, you forgot to add that Obama is a Muslim in disguise, who wants us to lose in Iraq; wants all the women in the US to wear Burkas; is an enemy of the United States; supports terrorism in the US, is a flipflopper, who also hates our troops; is a racist, marxist, lightworker, who really isn’t a citizen of the US; is the messiah for the left who was taught in a Madrassa in Indonesia.

Wow, sorry about the runon sentence.

B1

Obama has no pertinent experience, no record of accomplishment, no noteworthy achievements to point to, has essentially done nothing, nor has he ever run any sort of an organization for any period of time with any meaningful success.

Just to show that I’m not a total hack, I think Bat’s summary as quoted is quite fair. The fact that McCain hasn’t accomplished much politically may render the point moot however. Obama is fortunate to be running at this time in history...the Republican tide is at the lowest of ebbs and the electorate seems to want a sweeping change. Obama may turn out to be a revelation or he may turn out to be a politician who talks a good enough game to capitalise on the desire for change and ends up doing zip as President.

I doubt that anyone really knows which way that will go.

"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced if the nation doesn’t want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”
Cicero, 55 BC

Wow, sorry about the runon sentence.

Puzzle,

You should instead apologize for a truly pitiful attempt at sarcasm.  Whatever your life’s true calling might be… clearly this ain’t it.

Perhaps if you stopped kidding yourself that you’re still an adolescent, and instead started acting the part of a grown-up?  Your floundering attempt at sharp repartee does nothing but prove my point that there is virtually nothing defensible about the Obama candidacy.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Mike,

What a pity that your intellectual integrity is so precious among those on the Left.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Nah, B1, I think I’ll stick to the run on sentence. Millions and millions of people in this country think Obama is qualified to be president and I guess we’ll just have to wait until November 4 to see the final tally.

Answer is, if you don’t know by now you will never know. You will be stuck in neverland and wonder what the hell happened.

ellinas,

Are you on medication?  That would go a long way toward explaining the incoherence of your “answer"… which is really no answer at all.

If all you intend is to prattle, why not save yourself the embarrassment of pretending you’ve said something worthwhile.  Lipstick on a pig becomes neither the pig nor the fool who put it there.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Puzzle,

Yet again you prove my point… this time with your silence.  Your affirmation is much appreciated!

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Are you talking to yourself again, B1?

Nah, B1, I think I’ll stick to the run on sentence. Millions and millions of people in this country think Obama is qualified to be president and I guess we’ll just have to wait until November 4 to see the final tally.

Shrug, there are a lot of stupid people in this country. Obama’s primary support block that may catapault him to victory are college students...who are some of the stupidest, least informed people in the country.

I love when fools, like yourself, point out that there are many like you voting for Obama. Geese wander aimlessly in gaggles, and lemmings gladly jump off cliffs in mass quantities.

That you have plenty of company doesn’t make you intelligent or correct.

Obama/Biden is not change. It’s more of the same.

Well, at least McCain’s stance is clear.

The United States military could stay in Iraq for “maybe a hundred years” and that “would be fine with me,” John McCain told two hundred or so people at a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire, on Thursday evening.

100 years, or around 2, its up to US to decide.

Buy American, Buy Union Made… the job you save might be your own.

Wow B1. Useless attempts to demean your opponents might have been a good strategy a few years back. Your hucksterism is well known around here and has no effect on us.
Pretending not to know where BHO stands on the issues is beneath your self advertised expertise and intelligence.

Pretending not to know where BHO stands on the issues is beneath your self advertised expertise and intelligence.

Really? I’m pretty convinced he WON’T pull troops out. His advisors have already come out and said he was lying about withdrawing troops.

He has said he was against the war from the beginning and consistantly voted against it, but that’s simply not true. he voted twice to authorize funds of the war, and voted AGAINST timetables. His “bold stance against the Iraq war in 2002” was simply to say, “Even if we’re successful, we don’t know how long it’ll take, how much it’ll cost, how hard it’ll be, and how many people will die!” Stronger words have been spoken at girl scout meetings.

I’m not the only one who’s gotten that Obama’s not serious about removing troops:
http://politicalinquirer.com/2008/04/25/will-obama-really-pull-out-of-iraq/

Even John Edwards advisors (another anti-war Democrat btw) have flat out said it ain’t happening.

http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Barack_Obama_War_+_Peace.htm

Read the variety of quotes:
“I will have troops out by the end of 2009!” “I will have them out in 16 months!” “Well, I can’t really promise we won’t have a significan’t force there when I leave office in 2013...” The dude is simply all over the map!

Considering his thousands of changing positions on Wright, Iran, housing, etc...just saying “We know what his position is...” is crap.

Obama/Biden is not change. It’s more of the same.

Pretending not to know where BHO stands on the issues is beneath your self advertised expertise and intelligence.
ellinas on July 6, 2008 at 08:18 am

Kenny. I said B1 is pretending not to know, and I stand by my statement.

Response to Bat 1 :  I am from Illinois and can attest to how Obama “grew up”.
I am a Democrat but will vote McCain, for he is a “natural” hero who I know when the time comes, will stand up for America, period, not because he is “eloquent” or “inspires me” but because he has already given of himself. Barack is like the kid caught with hands on the cookie jar, first he denies it, then he blames in on his brother, then he says he didn’t mean to do it; very childish , devious behaviour.  I would add to Bat1’s quote about “poverty of the mind”, poverty of soul AND character. Sen O. can maneuver well enough but lacks the character to know what to once he gets to his destination.

Hold on… another statement from Obama in a minute… once he calibrates his demographic computer and gets the newest printout.

Boooo.

Pretending not to know where BHO stands on the issues is beneath your self advertised [sic] expertise and intelligence.

ellinas,

Let me repeat my question… slowly this time:

Are… You...On… Medication?

You would almost have to be in order not to recognize a rhetorical question about the Mr. Obama’s stand on various issues when presented with one.  (We have already established previously that English is not your second language, so you don’t have that excuse available to you.)

Asking that sort of rhetorical question is a literary device by which I emphasize the dishonesty of Mr. Obama and those who support him.  His so-called “move to the center” is but his latest demonstration of his lack of integrity and his wholesale opportunism.

Of course, none of this is unexpected.  Those on the Left are, with rare exception, well known for the diminutive influence of any basic principles and the corresponding obesity of their expediency.

Barack and Michelle Obama are exactly the sort of radical Left opportunists that so titillate the likes of MoveOn.org.  Their 20 year relationship with the unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers and his family, and his 20 membership in the church of Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright are not accidents of birth or genetic pre-dispositions, but carefully cultivated expressions of who the Obamas are and who they have chosen to associate themselves with.

Barack Obama’s true positions on issues are those which garnered him the the Democrats’ nomination in the first place… the delusional nihilism that so resonates with those of you on the Left.

Everything else that comes out of the man’s mouth is just so much opportunistic bullshit.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Bernard,

I used to live in Illinois many years ago, and have kept up with the Byzantine corruption that passes for politics in that state ever since.

Sadly, Mr. Obama’s current campaign is not only premature, and thus also self-destructive, but built almost exclusively on personality and platitudes… the veritable triumph of fluff over substance.

The quote, by the way, is from Montaigne.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Kenny. I said B1 is pretending not to know, and I stand by my statement.

Why’s that? His own policy advisors don’t seem to know. Campaign staff don’t seem to know. Barack Obama has come down on every possible position of this that he could. Even though I think I know where he stands, I must admit I cannot be sure.

And his latest statement doesn’t help. “I will completely reconsider my plan if the facts on the ground change. And we’re still pulling out in 16 months.” Huh?

I’m starting to think even OBAMA doesn’t know what he thinks.

So you’re being beyond thick in pretending that B1 is a mind reader.

Obama/Biden is not change. It’s more of the same.

Bat One,

Let me answer your question… slowly this time:

No. I.....Am.......Not.....On....Medication?

We have already established previously that English is not your second language, so you don’t have that excuse available to you.
Bat One on July 6, 2008 at 01:32 pm

We? Who is we? I “we” established it must have been without me.
However knowing you that statement is meant to say I am dishonest.
You are mistaken. Greek is my first language.
However thank you for your compliment.

However knowing you that statement is meant to say I am dishonest.

e,

As long as you have been commenting here, I can recall nothing you’ve written that would suggest I should be even a teensy bit intimidated.  If I wanted to call you dishonest, there’s no reason for me not to.

If it was not you with whom I had the conversation about English as a second language, then obviously you do indeed have that excuse available.  My apologies!

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

I can recall nothing you’ve written that would suggest I should be even a teensy bit intimidated.
Bat One on July 6, 2008 at 03:59 pm

Apology accepted.
I never wrote anything with the intent to intimidate anyone. As a matter of fact I enjoy debating you. And yes you never bite your tongue (even though you have a way of saying one thing and meaning something else.)Why would I spoil a good thing with rotten tactics?

...(even though you have a way of saying one thing and meaning something else.)Why would I spoil a good thing with rotten tactics?

ellinas,

You have a very good understanding of free market economics, as I recall, as well as how it is that capitalism works and socialism does not.  Should you ever get beyond the notion of social responsibility enforced at the point of a gun, you’ll make a capable spokesperson for true conservatism.

As for my diction, I have already acknowledged that I rarely label sarcasm as such, and rhetorical questions are often imbued with paradox.  It pleases me to do this… just as it pleases me that you recognize the technique.  Not everyone on your side of the aisle is as insightful.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Two compliments in a row for me, two broadsides at my side. Pretty good.
Thank you for acknowleging my insightfulness, and thank you for your compliment.
I view you as a worthy opponent.
Enough syrup. Back to buissiness.