75 Comments

1. Derek:

The democrats have nominated another winner.

Derek

Jul 30, 2008 - 7:24 pm 2. Clioman:

Now if we can just get him to wear a helmet, and ride in a tank…

Jul 30, 2008 - 7:29 pm 3. rc:

“Maybe if they ease off Obama may actually benefit.”

They won’t though. They are the most partisan of the partisan in the US now…and I think some portion of the electorate may be getting the feeling their being sold a lemon instead of the cream puff low milage care they were promised…please, keep it up MSM.

Jul 30, 2008 - 7:30 pm 4. cjm:

if the msm is willing to kill their own careers and companies, what do they care about doing the same to obama? given their death cult attitudes, they will probaly love him even more as an election martyr (i.e. a loser)

Jul 30, 2008 - 7:34 pm 5. fred:

McCain does not have to do anything yet, but he will have to bust a move at some point. I recommend he hammer Obonga and the Jackasses with the drilling for oil issue. The Jackass leadership is maintaining discipline with their Kyoto stance and are betting that they’ll win in November and ram the penalties down our throats. Make ‘em pay for that mistake.

McCain needs to emphasize the three areas of failure that will happen under the Jackasses’ watch.

1. Energy policy (what “energy” policy?)

2. Significantly raising the cost of capital and stifling innovation and job creation.

3. Foreign policy.

That way if Obonga and his party carry the elections in November, four years hence we can say, “We told you so.”

Jul 30, 2008 - 7:36 pm 6. Wolf Pangloss:

So who thinks that Obama was really curling 32kg dumbbells without breaking a sweat?

Fred, have you seen McCain’s Celeb ad? It pokes good fun at Obama’s European Vacation and hits the Oil point pretty hard.

Jul 30, 2008 - 8:02 pm 7. Zim:

I agree, the drilling issue is a winner for McCain if he will take it. Even without that though, add the Bradley effect and the fact that the young are less than reliable to show up on election day and it could get very ugly for Obama.

BTW, anyone else see that pol showing McCain within 10 of Oh in Cali?

Jul 30, 2008 - 8:05 pm 8. Lifeofthemind:

There are so many ads that come to mind. Obama curling weights against McCain in uniform and the simple scroll “There are show horses and there are work horses”

The big problem is that given how the media are in the tank McCain will have a hard time getting his message out. The NYT was ballsy enough to refuse his Op-ed. Expect all national media outlets to find excuses to refuse to run his ads Soros may just buy up the time blocks and space to keep McCain out.

Jul 30, 2008 - 8:11 pm 9. Charles:

The flip side of Obama’s “we are the world we are the children” speach in Berlin is the speach he just gave last Sunday July 27 to the Unity 2008 convention in Chicago in which he endorsed reparations and the Akaka bill. Reparations would put whites on the hook for billions while the Akaka bill would begin the slow crack up of the United States.

Any guys on the board here from the Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii need to know that their school is over the line. And not just over the line.

The Akaka bill is pure poison.

Reparations of course are right up there with the Roman Catholic sale of indulgences during the middle ages.

Jul 30, 2008 - 8:19 pm 10. j-damn:

*Reparations would put whites on the hook for billions while the Akaka bill would begin the slow crack up of the United States.*

Who will pay the descendants or Northern Civil War dead and injured for their trouble?

There’s no way in the world anyone is getting any money from me for reparations.

Jul 30, 2008 - 8:32 pm 11. fred:

Reparations is a legal shakedown concept that issued forth from the minds of litigators and from the vision of Rev. Jesse Jackson.

God damn Rev. Jackson and every lawyer who contributes to this theft.

I’m hoping that when I’m on the Big Island of Hawai’i in September that I don’t run into any of this excrement.

My take on reparations: it’s just another tactic by the Left to try to hinder the U.S. economy. It’s subversion and perversion.

Jul 30, 2008 - 8:37 pm 12. JA:

Yeah, it’s almost impossible for a normal human being to curl 70 pounds once, let alone 10 times with each hand after doing 30 reps of 35 lbs.

Here’s a video of a dude that actually did do 10 reps of 75lbs. After watching that, do you really believe Obama — this Obama — did all that?

Isn’t this a situation where reporters should do a little research and actually earn their paycheck?

Jul 30, 2008 - 8:47 pm 13. Cannoneer No. 4:

Clioman, somebody has a pic of Obama in battle rattle in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Even the Messiah has to wear helmet and body armor on take offs and landings.

Jul 30, 2008 - 9:01 pm 14. Mark:

Wrichard wrote:

“And it might be that journalists sounding like used car salesmen can actually send negative signals to their readers. Maybe if they ease off Obama may actually benefit.

Americans love charisma and celebrities. But if the celebrity starts asking you to pay for the show, you might just decide to flip off the celeb.

Is there anything more revolting to a good American than a bait and switch? Maybe getting sued by the salesman at the same time for reparations for the swindlers? Is there any segment of the American electorate that isn’t feeling something of the bait and switch act of Sen. Obama at this point?

Jul 30, 2008 - 9:02 pm 15. Alexis:

The day may come when rap artists give David Axelrod heartburn. Perhaps today…

Jul 30, 2008 - 9:06 pm 16. Nomenklatura:

I found this yielded some insight into why Obama thinks he can just cruise to victory in November:

“After his loss in the 2000 Congressional primary race to former Black Panther Bobby L. Rush, “colleagues noticed that he seemed exhausted and was smoking more than usual,” and they offered him a tenured faculty position (with a job for his wife). Think about that! He never produced a word of legal scholarship, after all those years teaching, and now they would simply give him tenure — at the University of Chicago Law School, a top 5 school, where the faculty is known for voluminous scholarly publishing. The case for tenure in law school depends predominantly on scholarship. You don’t get tenure for being a very popular teacher. The failure to publish anything should be fatal to the tenure case of a lawprof who was hired with a belief in his promise as a scholar, but here tenure is bundled into the original offer to someone who had demonstrated that he lacked that promise… It would be cruel to say that Obama was filling a quota at the University of Chicago, cruel, but not entirely inaccurate.”

The honors and positions awarded him in the past were basically handed to him for being cool and (part) black. Looking at today’s campaign he apparently believes this year will be no different.

Jul 30, 2008 - 9:09 pm 17. Peterike:

Seems to me that the debt was paid when some 350,000 Northern white boys died to subdue the South.

But if we want to just let that go, I’ll give ya reparations, but let’s make it go both ways. Figure out the “cost” of slavery. And then let’s figure out the “cost” whites have paid for black crime for all the years since slavery ended. Given population growth since 1865 I’m betting it dwarfs any slavery reparations.

And all this points out how entirely stupid the whole thing is. Ok, what about Arab slave trading? What about Muslims capturing and enslaving Europeans? Heck, what about the Romans? The Greeks? How about everybody in the country just gives another person a dollar, and we call it even?

As for O’s “bounce” or lack of bounce, I think the media may be hoisting themselves on their own petard. In their blind adulation they don’t notice that they are showing a bit too much of the real O, and the more people look, the less they like. Though I’m still afraid McCain will blunder his way into losing.

And then there’s the debates. All it’s going to take is for the two to stand side-by-side and for O to tower over McCain. That alone will drive a huge number of votes. Hopefully, McCain will make him look the dunce in their debates (assuming O ever agrees to have one), though McCain will have an uphill fight since the media questioners will be brutally anti-McCain and drooling all over BHO.

Jul 30, 2008 - 9:13 pm 18. wretchard:

I think that self-reference is the key problem. If the press judges itself, then who will pass a critical judgment on the press? If the press is in the tank for Obama the information he will get from reading the press will be unreliable. It’s possible to get caught in a loop in which your reviewers are reading each other’s reviews. Then after opening night the theater is empty and the playwright is surprised. “My reviews were so good, how come the show is bombing?”

The other source of information for Obama are polls. The Candidate is reading numbers which led him to remark to the Times Online that the voters were nervous about him. So BHO is aware that not everything is sunshine and roses. But if the Times Online story is accurate, there is something Obama’s handlers are missing:

Mr Obama’s aides say that it is relatively early in the general election cycle, but there is a growing anxiousness about why he is not doing better against Mr McCain, who has so far run an unimpressive, disjointed and at times shambolic campaign.

The possible answers to this are self-generated noise, strategic overstretch, losing control of the message and letting the press run away with your campaign. The media is out to sell newspapers. And teen confidential stories which emphasize the manly Obama not sweating in a gym can both sell papers and sell Obama down the river. The press covered Britney Spears but they also nearly destroyed her. The virtual Obama which the press is creating, the legend they are constructing for him is what he is going carry on his back going to election day.

Depending on how it all hangs together, BHO may either win or lose. But the press introduces an element of uncertainty in your packaging even when they are in the tank for you. This whole game is not above the laws of signal to noise. And the press can noise as well as signal.

While I have no intention of comparing BHO to the Iraqi insurgents, I have pointed out in the past that al-Qaeda may have been drawn into the Iraqi disaster because they read their own press. If you read Robert Fisk about yourself, you are probably headed for a fall. If the al-Qaeda believed their publicity, they were invincible, unbeatable, like ghosts. Their foes, the US military, were stupid. If you didn’t believe that, just watch a movie. It was true. Look, people were already talking about the American defeat in Iraq. So they went and them bam. Those glowing newspaper articles were the last words that many a Jihadi, now moldering in a lonely grave, must have read. The problem with false predictions is that we find ourselves believe them. One of better lines in a Hollywood movie was supposed to have been taken from antiquity. But it’s message was ever-new.

For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph – a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot, or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.

Jul 30, 2008 - 9:18 pm 19. fred:

“And then there’s the debates. All it’s going to take is for the two to stand side-by-side and for O to tower over McCain. That alone will drive a huge number of votes.”

Yes, I wonder about that too. It’s the stupid, young, single females that swoon over that long-legged mack daddy. Dick Morris’ research indicates that young, single, female voters positively swoon over Obonga. Married women, especially married women over the age of 40 reject Obonga solidly. I guess the older ladies have heard all the pickup lines and the shuck and jive.

Jul 30, 2008 - 9:21 pm 20. TmjUtah:

“A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.”

I remember it as “You are only a man”.

Of course, fashions do change. And there were many parades.

Obama is running on the BMOC strategy.

Which, when placed against the history of the country, is a pretty sad statement all by itself.

When placed against the backdrop of the war of western civ, the coming collapse of the federal kleptocracy, and the maturation of the non-educated (vice the poorly educated) American majority, it’s terrifying. But looking at pop culture, the Obama candidacy’s current buzz is no surprise at all.

It’s a million years to November. Dana Milbank already sees the need to distance himself. There will be other reliable liberals elbowing their way to the exits before Denver, I’m thinking.

Jul 30, 2008 - 10:07 pm 21. james wilson:

Yes, McCain is far to short to be President. And, he does not miss an opportunity to insult his base. What’s left, except the MSM turning on their boy?
McCain’s concession speech already drifts through my conciousness…I look forward…my good friend Barack…working across the isle…bi-partisan way…for the good of all Americans…
It would be a good thing then for McCain to go across the asle and stay there with a few of his friends.

Jul 30, 2008 - 10:11 pm 22. Willard:

If the MSM’s prophesy were self-fulfilling this thing would have been over when Obamer did the ‘04 DNC keynote. How Clinton allowed that to happen is still beyond me. Probably overlooked the 70+# dumbbell curls on his CV. Fashionably supporting a candidate among friends doesn’t get the levers pulled. Just ask Gore and Kerry.

Jul 30, 2008 - 10:42 pm 23. wretchard:

Whatever happens in November, I think the Obama candidacy will fascinate historians for years to come. Why? Because the enormous footprint of the press and cultural atmosphere of the campaign suggest the media itself is a co-candidate in the race. I know this will sound a little bit like a stretch and I’m speaking metaphorically but the core idea is this: the old intellectual elites are seeing their power fade under the impact of globalization and the Internet. Being the next CBS anchor, the next Gore Vidal or Norman Mailer or the next Noam Chomsky ain’t what it used to be.

Obama is physically young, but certain parts of his ideology are very old. Randy Barnett’s review of BHO’s law school syllabi suggest that he is not quite the candidate from 1968. He’s far too intelligent not to have some new ideas, some originality of his own. But for a whole fading class of intelligensia, Barack Obama represents the last chance to get the President they never had.

That’s why these Jurassic ideologies can’t help jumping into the hustings, if only vicariously, to hog the limelight with their fantasies. The phrase “He is the One We’ve Been Waiting For” is almost true, but the pronouns are wrong. It should be “He is the One They’ve Been Waiting For.” From time to time a spasm of doubt roils the waters. Did he change his position on Iraq? Did actually say he was pro-Second Amendment? What if BHO betrays us? They’ve waited all this time. They’re too old and weakening too fast to wait for another.

I should hasten to add this doesn’t necessarily mean that conservativism as we know it is the wave of the future. I don’t know what the wave of the future is. But whatever it is won’t resemble the Summer of Love or the Days of Rage.

McCain for all his faults — and being ideologically shapeless is one of them for a politician — is ironically intellectually more modern than Barack Obama. He seems able to break his own stereotype and adopt “new” ideas. Unfortunately, many of the new ideas he seems to like, such as Global Warming, aren’t to my taste. But be that as it may, he is more venturesome, relative to his orthodoxy, than BHO is to his own.

If BHO loses this election the defeat will be more than personal. It will mark the last hurrah of the MSM. Never again can they claim they could “make” a candidate. It will also signal a watershed for the old Civil Rights movement. I think they will be embittered. And if one thinks the hue and cry over Al Gore being “cheated” in 2000 was great, just wait to see what happens if BHO is defeated, even if by a large margin.

If he wins — well that’s another story.

Jul 30, 2008 - 11:25 pm 24. Eggplant:

Wretchard said:

“If BHO loses this election the defeat will be more than personal. It will mark the last hurrah of the MSM. Never again can they claim they could “make” a candidate.”

The MSM has bet everything on B. Hussein. If the Messiah loses, then the MSM loses big time.

Wretchard also said:

“And if one thinks the hue and cry over Al Gore being “cheated” in 2000 was great, just wait to see what happens if BHO is defeated, even if by a large margin.”

That’s the scenario slightly less frightening than Hussein winning. If the Chosen One loses then the worst of the moonbats will give up on democracy. Will they form a new “Weather Underground” or perhaps align themselves with al Qaeda? I find it hard to believe that they will simply shrug and say, “The people have chosen”.

Jul 30, 2008 - 11:55 pm 25. 49erDweet:

Wretchard said,“And if one thinks the hue and cry over Al Gore being “cheated” in 2000 was great, just wait to see what happens if BHO is defeated, even if by a large margin.”
Wow, does that mean some of them would actually move away instead of merely threatening to do so, like then?

Jul 31, 2008 - 12:03 am 26. wretchard:

If the Chosen One loses then the worst of the moonbats will give up on democracy. Will they form a new “Weather Underground” or perhaps align themselves with al Qaeda? I find it hard to believe that they will simply shrug and say, “The people have chosen”.

No. They’re too old to form a new Weather Underground. The more literate will write books and remember things as better than they were. Moonlight and magnolias from the mid-twentieth century, or if you prefer, the height of the Cold War. If there is a new Weather Underground its ideology will be rooted in the 21st century. The new Weathermen are much more likely to be Muslim converts, environmentalists or some such rather than Red Diaper babies. That’s so 50s.

But if you were a Freedom Rider, had an elder brother who was one, or dreamed of becoming one, then Barack Obama is the sacramental touchstone of your youth. The One who has made it all come true. That’s why it is so hard for them to see him as a person; a politician from Chicago or a real human being. Nowhere is the curse of racism greater, I think, than on the Left, though they may call it by the opposite name.

Jul 31, 2008 - 12:11 am 27. CPT. Charles:

As to believing your own press clippings…

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/29/obamas_symbolic_importance.html

Thinking you can walk on water is a good way to discover drowning.

Jul 31, 2008 - 1:45 am 28. Doug:

The Genius:
Obama’s answer to Drilling; Inflate Your Tires and “You can Save Just as Much “.
ht – al-Bob

Jul 31, 2008 - 1:55 am 29. wretchard:

Do we see a theme emerging here?

The LA Times asks “Where did Barack Obama’s mojo go?” How could a guy with “A fresh face. A smooth, cadenced speaking style suited for TV … tons of money. An attractive family. Energized followers. A media that’s curious about the new guy and tired of the dogged old POW one” not be miles ahead?

Dana Milbank at the Washington Post says “Barack Obama has long been his party’s presumptive nominee. Now he’s becoming its presumptuous nominee.”

The wires are reporting that “Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is facing criticism following leaked remarks he made at a closed-door meeting with House Democrats Tuesday evening. The comments, reported by the Washington Post and subsequently confirmed by several media outlets, quoted the Illinois Senator as saying that his journey to the White House is “the moment, as Nancy [Pelosi] noted, that the world has been waiting for.”

It’s like watching a case of irresolute buyer’s remorse. I think the media is in a co-dependent relationship with BHO. They need him to sell papers, boost their circulation. But they also want to control him and let him know who’s boss. They want him to remember where he came from; who “sent him”. The media doesn’t t want to wind up like Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko or Jesse Jackson, tossed aside like a pair of old socks once he’s gotten a pair of new ones. Adam Nagourney of the New York Times found that Obama doesn’t feel he owes the Old Gray Lady any deference. He was slammed for an unflattering article. “Nagourney ‘really flipped out’ when he saw the Obama release. “They attacked me like I’m a political opponent,” the aggrieved reporter told The New Republic, which used the anecdote to kick off a rather breathless analysis of what the magazine claimed was Obama’s increasingly rocky relationship with the press.”

But as one NYT pundit observed, if the liberals and the left sour on Obama, where are they going to go? Are they going to vote for McCain? Are they going to admit GWB was right all along about Iraq? Obama has got them over a barrel and he knows it. He’s the only game in their town. BHO is nothing if astute. He limited his tour of Europe to Old Europe because that’s where he would score. No Poland or Kosovo for him. His arrival in Old Europe was a subtle apology for GWB’s insulting temerity to go it alone. For defying them on Iraq. For daring to cross the wishes of the chanceries of what was once the center of the world. The arrival of the Next President of the United States meant the prodigal son was come back to seek forgiveness. But even there Obama put in the hook. Here also was an international superstar come to tell Sarkozy and Gordon Brown ‘I am bigger than you will ever be’.

BHO to his amazement has discovered that he actually can walk on water. He can get tenure at a law school without publishing; go to the US Senate without ever actually doing anything noteworthy in Chicago; and go from an first term Senate seat to the Presidency of the United States. He can tell heads of state that they will still be dealing with them in ten years. Adam Nagourney? Who the heck is he? Is he someone Obama should know? If that isn’t walking on water, then nothing is.

And now the media is angry they are being dissed by Barack Obama. But he has them pegged for exactly what they are, just like he had old Jesse down cold. Whatever one thinks of Barack Obama, it’s hard to avoid the schadenfreude.

Jul 31, 2008 - 3:44 am 30. hdgreene:

As Richard said, “I think that self-reference is the key problem. If the press judges itself, then who will pass a critical judgment on the press? If the press is in the tank for Obama the information he will get from reading the press will be unreliable.”

The way I explain the same phenom: The Left Media ain’t in the tank for Sen. Obama. The Left Media is the tank, and the entire Obama Campaign is in the tank bobbing around amongst the swirling froth, bubbles and BS pumped by the Left into their media tank. And it is this content that keeps the Campaign buoyed up. So the reason the Campaign don’t sweat is they are all wet, soaked in the media marinade.

Of course the Tank is cracked and the contents are leaking. In fact, the Left media have bet their Tank that they can get Sen. Obama elected. Hopefully, it is a bet they will learn to regret. Because much of their power it based on fear. When they decide to get you, you are going to get got. But when you are the King maker whose Kings don’t make it, people will stop fearing you. And there goes your power.

Jul 31, 2008 - 5:14 am 31. RattlerGator:

I agree with the following but take issue with just one word in the first sentence:

BHO to his amazement has discovered that he actually can walk on water. He can get tenure at a law school without publishing; go to the US Senate without ever actually doing anything noteworthy in Chicago; and go from an first term Senate seat to the Presidency of the United States. He can tell heads of state that they will still be dealing with them in ten years. Adam Nagourney? Who the heck is he? Is he someone Obama should know? If that isn’t walking on water, then nothing is.

Replace “amazement” with “satisfaction” and you would be right on the money, Wretchard. Barack believes, and how can you blame him? He has “earned” his positions, and in actual fact, he has.

The problem, however, is that he has earned much of it from a paternalistic structure (the liberal superstructure) that really doesn’t believe in the mental abilities of “colored” people. They just like pretending that they do.

I firmly believe the Clinton’s are going to take this guy down, one way or the other, and probably quite subtly. They are not going to allow this ultimately juvenile crowd of folk to run the Democratic Party. That means a cataclysmic moment is coming for them.

The rise of Barack Obama is that bright-line moment. It has demonstrably proven to many Democrats what they have created. And that means the end of Affirmative Action as we know it and perhaps the end of the modern Democrat Party as we know it.

That’s going to be Barack’s legacy.

Jul 31, 2008 - 5:15 am 32. ridgerunner:

Peterike,
Regarding excessive black crime as an offset to slavery, present day per capita black-on-white crime is 39 times higher than per capita white-on-black crime. This fact would pretty well negate any argument for reparations. It would also be part of the explanation, along with political repression, for lynching of blacks between 1865 and 1960, when each local community was more free to defend itself.

If Obama is elected and pushes for reparations, he will destroy the Jackass party and maybe the nation.

Jul 31, 2008 - 5:29 am 33. Mike Sylwester:

The huge issue that still has not risen to prominence in this campaign is our country’s system of medical care. The government is to blame for several disfunctions, and it’s a valid and overdue campaign issue.

The government makes it advantageous for medical insurance to be provided through employers. The government requires hospitals to provide free care to people who cannot or will not pay and then does not reimburse the hospitals. Government courts impose enormous payments in many lawsuits. The government imposes regulations and qualification requirements. And so on.

Many people who normally would prefer free-market policies are willing to consider radical reforms. Too many people have lost health insurance. Too many people have been financially ruined. All it takes to convert someone to a willingness to socialize our medical system is one mind-boggling bill after a hospital emergency-ward visit.

Those of us who continue to support free-market policies are less and less able to hold back the tide of demand that the government supply the service for free or for affordable charges.

So far, the campaigns have focused on foreign policy and energy policy. When the focus shifts to medical care, then support for Obama probably will grow, unfortunately.

Jul 31, 2008 - 5:35 am 34. Wadeusaf:

All of the above, provided Hillary doesn’t get the nomination of her party.

The Boomers are still the majority of Dems ya know.

Jul 31, 2008 - 5:47 am 35. CPT. Charles:

Not to put too fine a point on it, but walking on water is a breeze if you’ve got helping hands just under the surface to hold you up: the academic left , the Chicago Machine, the hard Left within the Dem Party, Soros, the Drive-by media, etc…

However, that trick only goes so far; in certain corners of this planet there are only hands waiting to pull you down…unless you cut a deal with those hands, and devil take the consequences [of that deal] to you and me.

No wretchard, there’s still the matter of the Clinton’s lurking in the background, the dem’s quietly growing uneasy with their new Overlord, the New Media, the slight matter of his nomination in Denver, and then there’s November…

The deal’s not sealed…yet.

Jul 31, 2008 - 5:51 am 36. Quig:

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid!

“People of the world — this is our moment.”

“We are the change we’ve been waiting for.”

“I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.”

“I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment… when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”

Jul 31, 2008 - 6:00 am 37. Teresita:

Fred: Married women, especially married women over the age of 40 reject Obonga solidly. I guess the older ladies have heard all the pickup lines and the shuck and jive.

Then all McCain has to do is pick 44 year old Alaska governor Susan Louise Heath Palin as Veep and he’s got the election sewn up. She a happily married mother of five who has an approval rating around 90 percent. She’s a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association who hunts, fishes and runs marathons. A regular churchgoer, she’s staunchly pro-life.

Jul 31, 2008 - 6:29 am 38. Pseudo-Polymath » Blog Archive » Thursday Highlights:

[...] Adulation by the press and the polls in the context of that candidate. [...]

Jul 31, 2008 - 6:36 am 39. starling:

Obama curl 32kg ten times? Not with biceps like the ones in this shirtless picture of him in the WashPo from last year.

Vlad Putin, on the other hand, I might believe!

Jul 31, 2008 - 6:42 am 40. starling:

Maybe the Intrade predictions market for Obama shares are starting to catch up with or are starting to reflect a key point regarding those polls- that it involved LIKELY voters. Living in Boston for several years I have had the opportunity to listen to the talk show of a guy who was for many years a professional political consultant. One of the things he harps on is the matter of polling samples. Of particularly importance is whether it was a poll of “Americans”, i.e. basically whoever picked up the phone when the pollster called, of registered voters, of likely voters, and of highly likely voters. Apparently, to get the likely and highly likely voters, several questions are asked of the person being polled to determine their consistency in voting and how likely they are to vote again. These are the voters that count but polling them is much harder, i.e. it takes more time and money to get their responses because their are relatively fewer of them. Also, according to the local talk show host, they tend to be older, whiter, and more conservative than Americans in general. That McCain is leading among people most likely to vote is an encouraging sign for his campaign.

Jul 31, 2008 - 6:51 am 41. programmer:

Barack Obama is going to be the next president of the United States. The American people are basically good, decent human beings. We (Americans) have been working hard for years to teach our children that Truth, Justice, and the American Way with Liberty and Freedom for All are not just words written on paper or phrases thrown about by politicians, but are real Classes in the NameSpace of the United States of American. And our children have internalized these ideas, they have instantiated these classes as Objects (the Barack Obama object). (For the non-programmers out there, our kids got the message.)

Barack Obama represents the culimination of those teachings. Good, bad, or indifferent, he and his campaign are the result of the years of teaching our children that, in America, anyone can be president, as long as they meet certain minimum age requirements.

He, indeed, is what we (Americans) have been waiting for. Proof that we are good, freedom loving, justice seeking citizens of the finest example of civilization in the history of man.

He is not a man any more, he is an instantiation of the Class America_Hope_Dream which inherits the abstract classes Freedom, Justice, Liberty_for_All.

Most of the commenters on this blog are experienced, mature (or in my case just plain old). They have courted and endured the winds of adversity, have created and lost businesses, raised families, seen and in some cases participated in the rise and fall of governments, political ideas and campaigns. In some cases they had to make life and death decisions, and by the virtue of still being here to commit their thoughts to cyberspace, they survived, more or less intact. They still believe and strongly support the American virtues, but at the same time they “keep their powder dry”.

We had to pick up the pieces of shattered hopes and dreams and rebuild more realistic lifes for ourselves. We recognize that Truth, Justice and the American way have to be tempered with judgement, experience, firm belief in our convictions and the ability to adapt to a changing environment and above all, humor.

Our children will also learn. It will probably be painful. It was for us.

Jul 31, 2008 - 7:03 am 42. cjm:

obama isn’t going to win the election in 2008 and he isn’t going to win it in 2012, nor in 2016. i know the white gloves set has their panties in a twist but then they are always wringing their hands about something. the core of America is not going to hand this work shy dandy the presidency, they are going to hand him his ass. either you have faith in America and your fellow Americans or you don’t.

the add i want to see is the video from the ‘64 campaign, with new audio “barrak will let the jihadists kill an american city, and then appologize to them for it”.

Jul 31, 2008 - 7:26 am 43. Jay:

I do not consider O to be that intelligent or physically attractive as a male (I am a hetero old male). But I have a number of female friends of differing ages including my wife who is 72 but is an attractive tall woman. O is a funny looking tall skinny creature who does not attract any of my female friends including a woman who will vote for him since she is anti McCain because he has advocated special deals for women (she is a childless middle aged woman who has been twice divorced. My daughter will vote for him since her husband has turned her to become an anti-semite and my son-in-law is pro Muslim and considers O be to a pro Muslim.
As far as his so called “intelligence” why did he support reparations at that Chicago lovefest? He now has the black vote at a level of at least 90%. Reparations will cause a type of civil war when the Hispanics are included.

Jul 31, 2008 - 7:35 am 44. No Genuis:

The ending of Patton, always left me thinking…

Wretchard, when this cycle is over, perhaps you should share your video collection.

Jul 31, 2008 - 8:04 am 45. George:

The way Obama conducts himself and his campaign I wonder if the super delegates won’t have second thoughts and nominate Hillary instead. Obama strikes me as being even more of an egomaniac that Bubba.

Jul 31, 2008 - 8:05 am 46. Marsh Arab:

The MSM, I think, is just wondering where it has gone wrong. After all of the support they’ve given BHO through favorable reporting, they wonder how he could not be higher in the polls. In this way, they conduct polls as a measure of their own salesmanship. Right now they’re in a period of assessment in which they’ll try other tactics to lift BHO’s numbers. I expect that they’ll soon learn that favorable coverage of BHO won’t be enough, and they’ll then shift to unfavorable coverage of McCain. I’m sure they’ve got a dossier of on McCain which they’ll begin to pull out and unload on him.

Jul 31, 2008 - 8:05 am 47. Jrod:

Here’s an excellent podcast on the fallibility of polls, particularly political polls.

Jul 31, 2008 - 8:48 am 48. Mark:

Starling wrote:

“Obama curl 32kg ten times? Not with biceps like the ones in this shirtless picture of him in the WashPo from last year.”

Maybe.

No person with even a normal amount of narcissism goes into a gym, needing to get some relief from a stressful schedule, heads to the free weights, and does a few curls. You head to the rowing machine, the treadmill, the ellipticals, etc. I suspect Sen. Obama could do the 32kg curl, but he would have practiced for a long time to be ready for the photo op. No Jimmy Carter jogging identity for him, and especially not a treadmill!

Good comment by Programmer, above.

Jul 31, 2008 - 8:49 am 49. Tarnsman:

“Who will pay the descendants or Northern Civil War dead and injured for their trouble?”

Exactly. I figure I’m entitled to a pay-out. My great-great granddaddy fought in the Union Army and spent almost two years in the Andersonville POW camp. It is family-lore how he and others there picked through their feces to get the undigested corn out. So when is my payday for that trauma, Obambi?

Jul 31, 2008 - 8:52 am 50. cjm:

maybe, if the msm decides obama is in fact going to lose (in their estimation) they will turn on him so as to appear to retain their “powers of prediction”.

Jul 31, 2008 - 9:47 am 51. fred:

Teresita,

I know who she is and I like her a lot as a VP candidate. Not sure most of the younger women would, but she’ll pick up enough of them to draw down Obambi’s support.

I think Americans who think will vote for the most qualified candidate, and race and sex matter not a whit to probably 90% of the population. The other 10% is hopeless anyway. They don’t “get it” and probably never will.

Jul 31, 2008 - 9:49 am 52. Uncle Jefe:

What worries me is the drive that so many feel to lift the burden of white guilt off of their shoulders. As programmer alludes to above, several generations have been programmed (sorry, programmer) to believe that whites (white hetero males especially) owe pretty much everyone. Even those that don’t necessarily see obama as a leader or Presidential material seem willing to pull the lever just to get this over with. Yes, this is the time many have been waiting for. To say “hey, enough with the guilt trip; we’ve given you a black President!” (Not that it will assuage the guilt-trippers, of course.)
I can only hope that cjm is correct.
The ramifications to our country, and yes, to the world, will be profoundly negative if this guy gets elected, especially with dem congressional control.

Jul 31, 2008 - 9:51 am 53. Eggplant:

George said:

“The way Obama conducts himself and his campaign I wonder if the super delegates won’t have second thoughts and nominate Hillary instead. Obama strikes me as being even more of an egomaniac that Bubba.”

This is all smoke and mirrors until after the Democrat Party has formally nominated B. Hussein. Right now, I suspect McCain’s greatest fear is that Hussein will do something stupid and his popularity crash before the convention. Let’s face it, if Hillary had won the Democrat primaries, the election would now be over. McCain has a chance at winning the general election because he’s running against Hussein. Hillary tried to tell her fellow Democrats as much but was hooted down by the moonbats.

The general election does not get interesting until AFTER the Democrat Convention.

Jul 31, 2008 - 9:51 am 54. Mad Fiddler:

Even loyal Democratic voters must be asking themselves, “Why is Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens appearing in court charged with misappropriation of $250,000.00, but Congressman William Jefferson is walking around free after commandeering Louisiana National Guard vehicles to visit his home, which was found to contain hundreds of thousands of illicit dollars?”

It cannot escape everyone’s attention that the Democratic Party is doing its standard stonewalling protection of a loyal soldier found with his hand in the cookie jar, while sticking it to a Republican for similar behavior.

Democratic Party…. What a bunch of lying bastards!

Jul 31, 2008 - 10:11 am 55. Triton'sPolarTiger:

Eggplant said:

“This is all smoke and mirrors until after the Democrat Party has formally nominated B. Hussein. Right now, I suspect McCain’s greatest fear is that Hussein will do something stupid and his popularity crash before the convention. Let’s face it, if Hillary had won the Democrat primaries, the election would now be over. McCain has a chance at winning the general election because he’s running against Hussein. Hillary tried to tell her fellow Democrats as much but was hooted down by the moonbats.”

I’m not so sure that Hillary could have been elected given her stubbornly high negatives… however, there is no doubt that she wants to be POTUS right down to the nanoparticles that compose her DNA. She cannot, therefore, permit Obama to run and win in 2008.

She’s 60 y.o. (right?). If Obama wins in 2008, he’s pretty much the automatic nominee for the Democrats in 2012 unless he has some sort of LBJ moment. If he were to actually win a 2nd term, then his VP will be the standard bearer in 2016 (a la Gore following Bubba), which means that Hillary could be shut-out of the POTUS derby until 2020 at the earliest. Seeing as a certain percentage of the electorate might have trouble electing a 72 y.o. John McCain, what are the chances that an equal percentage would have trouble voting for a 72 y.o. Hillary Clinton twelve years from now?

Even a best case scenario cannot be attractive for her – Obama wins in 2008, has a dismal first term, runs for reelection in 2012 and loses… and Hillary has to wait until 2016 to run again. Eight years…

I don’t believe she can tolerate either option. She must quietly sink Obama BEFORE the convention so as to run against McCain THIS year, or barring that, make certain that McCain beats Obama, figuring that he’ll cross the aisle so many times in his first term that his support among conservatives will evaporate, thereby allowing her to run against and defeat him in 2012.

We live in strange times.

Triton

Jul 31, 2008 - 10:15 am 56. Roderick Reilly:

“”"So who thinks that Obama was really curling 32kg dumbbells without breaking a sweat?”"”

Not likely, especially not the 10 reps claimed by the observer.

Jul 31, 2008 - 10:38 am 57. David M:

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 07/31/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.

Jul 31, 2008 - 10:59 am 58. Eggplant:

Triton’sPolarTiger said:

“She must quietly sink Obama BEFORE the convention so as to run against McCain THIS year, or barring that, make certain that McCain beats Obama, figuring that he’ll cross the aisle so many times in his first term that his support among conservatives will evaporate, thereby allowing her to run against and defeat him in 2012.”

I strongly support McCain. However his support amongst conservatives is almost nonexistant. McCain will be elected by folks who are right-of-center (indepedents) and not by conservatives.

McCain will not run in 2012. He’ll be lucky to be alive in 2012. Hillary will have to run against McCain’s vice president. That’s why McCain VP choice is extremely important.

“We live in strange times.”

Way too strange and “interesting”. At least we don’t have thousands of Soviet thermonuclear weapons hanging over our heads. Of course in a couple years, an Islamic monster nuke could pop off at any random moment but that’s another story….

Jul 31, 2008 - 11:04 am 59. Salt Lick:

Barack Obama is going to be the next president of the United States. …he and his campaign are the result of the years of teaching our children that, in America, anyone can be president…

With respect, programmer, sometimes the internalized message doesn’t play out the way we’re told — my parents taught me I could be anything I wanted, also, so I became an asshole.

Some other things the MSM has told me were going to happen in the last 10 years –

1. Y2K would cause catastrophe
2. Bird Virus would kill billions
3. SAR would kill billions
4. If we invaded Iraq, the Arab Street would rise up and we’d have WWIII.
5. We’d have 10,000 casualties before we reached Baghdad and once we entered the city it would be like Mogadishu Blackhawk-Down squared.
6. The year after Katrina (which destroyed my Dad’s home) would spawn 9 category 5 hurricanes — in reality, zip.
7. Iraq in 2007 was a lost cause. The Surge wouldn’t work.
8. Hillary Clinton was the shoo-in Dem nominee.
9. And so on, and so on.

As wretchard points out, it’s astonishing Obama isn’t far ahead at this point. And it’s only going to get worse as the public starts paying attention. His arrogance comes across so thick these days you can slice it with a knife, undercutting his supposed “likeability.” His policies on offshore drilling and Iraq look fake. The Reverend Wright-Ayers-Dorn-Alinsky stuff is going to raise its ugly head again, but in more focused form, along with who knows what in this guy’s sordid left-wing past.

We’ve taught our children to believe in good values, yes, and one of those is honesty. One of the most derogatory words I hear from young people these days is “pseudo” (which they pronounce “swaydo” to be cool), meaning phony. Obama is turning out to be the ultimate pseudo politician. By November 2008, he’s going to look very, very small.

Jul 31, 2008 - 11:18 am 60. Ric Locke:

What I see here, not as an exclusive but as something that adds to the other influences, is the gradual realization of what’s happened to the Press.

People discount purely partisan “information” — political statements by parties and candidates and the like — even when they agree with it; nobody expects the DNC to do anything other than slant their output, including the DNC. (Republicans do the same thing of course.) This is normal. This is the way we all read political materials.

Up to now most people have read the Press as if it were actually imparting information. Even if slanted, the presumption was that all the data was there. That’s no longer the case, and hasn’t been since at least the 2000 elections, but it still wasn’t blatantly evident to the average person. Now, though, the Press is so thoroughly and obviously partisan in favor of Obama that the least aware observer knows it, and has begun to discount their output the same way they would a Democratic Party campaign broadsheet. Note that even Obama partisans are doing that; it’s not just rightists.

Obama’s advantage all along was that the Press was pushing for him. If the Press isn’t trustworthy, people start looking for other ways to find out what’s going on, and that includes the other party’s propaganda, the Web and blogs, and word of mouth. When they start going around the Press to get their data, they start getting unfavorable data, and Obama’s stock drops. The process will continue.

Regards,
Ric

Jul 31, 2008 - 11:31 am 61. NahnCee:

I just don’t see Obama having an iota’s more support from MSM than they gave Kerry in the last election, and how did that work out for Kerry.

I think he’s in deep trouble but because the media haven’t mentioned it he thinks it’s a secret.

One person who *could* give him a tremendous bounce would be Carolyn Kennedy if he could talk her into running for VP. She’s been getting rave reviews in how she’s handling herself in her duties on his VP review committee. A female and the image of Camelot that he wants to revive. And you know she’d never go over to the Clinton’s side.

Personally, I’d love to see Lieberman be McCain’s VP. LOVE it. That would absolutely cinch my vote for him.

Jul 31, 2008 - 12:11 pm 62. fred:

I’m kinda stupid about things related to political machinery, so someone here has to explain to me a few things. I’ve been hearing that Obonga CAN in fact lose at the Jackasses’ convention. How is this possible? Does this mean that all those primary delegates matter not a whit? Does this mean that those who voted in the Jackass primaries and caucuses who voted for Obonga can have their choice nullified?

If so, how is there a democratic nomination process if the people’s vote counts for nothing?

I predict riots in Denver if that is the case. It will make 1968 look like a picnic in the park.

Jul 31, 2008 - 12:16 pm 63. Eggplant:

NahnCee said:

“I just don’t see Obama having an iota’s more support from MSM than they gave Kerry in the last election, and how did that work out for Kerry.”

Kerry is a jackass. It does not follow that Hussein will lose because Kerry lost. Also the MSM merely favored Kerry but they’re pissing themselves over Hussein.

Jul 31, 2008 - 12:21 pm 64. cjm:

what if hillary is mccain’s vp pick.

Jul 31, 2008 - 12:27 pm 65. Triton'sPolarTiger:

Eggplant:

“McCain will not run in 2012. He’ll be lucky to be alive in 2012. Hillary will have to run against McCain’s vice president. That’s why McCain VP choice is extremely important.”

You’re quite possibly right about McCain in 2012 – he’s looking a bit crunchy at 72. I agree re his VP. I’ve heard a bit floated about AK’s gov – interesting idea – she sounds good, but would she be ready @ 48ish to sit in the big chair? The woman-vs-woman dynamic would be interesting to watch in 2012.

I’m so dang unexcited by most of what passes for a conservative these days that I’m at a loss to come up with anyone that could get me excited about the man… although I will be voting for him.

Too bad we can’t give ole Maggie Thatcher a youth transplant and find a notation on her birth certificate attesting to being born on a US base in the UK. Yeah, I know – pointless to even type that last sentence. But hey, I need to dream occasionally…

Jul 31, 2008 - 12:57 pm 66. Triton'sPolarTiger:

fred, I think it goes back to those superdelegates – if they switch horses, then Hillary passes Obama and has enough to claim the nomination… or did I get that wrong…?

Jul 31, 2008 - 1:00 pm 67. Robohobo:

“For the man who has brought rock star charisma to electoral politics, yesterday saw the campaign rally as pop festival, a summer gathering of peace, love and loathing of George Bush. Taking what he calls his ‘improbable journey’ to the heart of Europe, Barack Obama succeeded in closing down one of Berlin’s main thoroughfares last night, luring the city’s young in their tens of thousands to stand in the evening sunshine and hear him spin his dreams of hope – not for America this time, but for the whole world.”

What they don’t say, it WAS a rock concert! The bands that played for free before his speech were two popular German rock bands. See this link http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/robert-knight/2008/05/20/free-concert-popular-band-preceded-obama-s-big-rally

Jul 31, 2008 - 1:16 pm 68. Robohobo:

“++ Pop Concert for Obama Fans ++

6:33 p.m.: The tens of thousands of Obama fans are being entertained as they await the senator. The reggae musician Patrice kicked things off, followed by the rock band Reamonn.”

Sorry, wrong link: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,567821,00.html

The other warm up act was the Decemberists who start their shows with the Internationale – the unofficial anthem of the USSR. Nice.

Jul 31, 2008 - 1:28 pm 69. onesimus:

If Obama has one thing it is “self-esteem”, no character, no real world accomplishments, but his self-esteem is in fine shape.

How long has our educational establishment been babying their charges self-esteem? Is it any wonder that so many younger Americans swoon for messiah Obama?

Jul 31, 2008 - 1:31 pm 70. Doug:

Sad, but true, onesimus.
—
Triton,
Bobby Jindal is a really great conservative, if the decrepit party will give him his due.

Mrs Palin, governor of AK, looks impressive, so far.

Jul 31, 2008 - 3:57 pm 71. Mario:

I never understood the theory that a US presidential candidate who is fawned over by European media and European policiticians, and who attracts a crowd of 200,000 in Berlin to chant his name would somehow be viewed more favorably by US voters. Isn’t that the diametrical opposite of the stereotype of the ugly American?… The lonely cowboy who doesn;t give a rip who hates or likes him, but does what he needs to do and even dies on foreign beaches if he thinks it’s necessary. I would have thought that someone like Obama who thinks he understands the bitter clinginess of small-town America would have understood that.

Aug 1, 2008 - 8:59 am 72. NahnCee:

America’s liberal elite desperately crave the approval of Europe’s elite. It’s a status thing.

And Europe’s elite desperately crave being at the top of the pile they were at pre-WW2 when they were dethroned by America.

They keep thinking if they lay enough guilt trips on Gulliver it will tie him down. No one in the elite camp(s) has noticed that historically guilt trips just make Gulliver cranky enough to throw off all of them and turn over everyone’s canoe, leaving them thrashing in their own self-created tsunami.

It’s sort of fun, actually, watching the Yurpizoids assume too much, and the American progressives yapping around them in hysterical little self-affirming circles.

Aug 1, 2008 - 10:17 pm 73. Storm-Rider:

“America’s liberal elite desperately crave the approval of Europe’s elite.”

That’s right, and there is also no real difference between the European left elite and the European right elite. All the European elites believe in Socialism in one form or another, and by any other name; and that means the injustice or tyranny of the minority – the minority which rules without the consent of the governed. These anti-American European elites are the heroes of the American left.

It is so ironic to me that the “American right” is the only political force which still stands for just government power which derives from the consent of the governed – rule by the will of the majority while protecting the inalienable rights of the minority.

Aug 2, 2008 - 5:02 pm 74. mark_b:

Salt Lick:

“We’ve taught our children to believe in good values, yes, and one of those is honesty. One of the most derogatory words I hear from young people these days is “pseudo” (which they pronounce “swaydo” to be cool), meaning phony. Obama is turning out to be the ultimate pseudo politician. By November 2008, he’s going to look very, very small.”

Would “PseudObama” or “SwaydObama”,the latter pronounced ‘bamma’, be descriptive of the candidate? Meaning “not the real Obama”?

Aug 4, 2008 - 8:49 am 75. James Freemon:

This is managed theater. It is in the interest of the MSM to portray this as a tight race. You can sell a close horse race to the dumbed-down American viewers over again every night. It’s about the ratings, stupid! Don’t be surprised if real election results in November have no resemblence to the psuedo-polls, unless they’re managed too.

Aug 6, 2008 - 12:38 pm

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