When we last left John McCain, he was talking about how Iran and al qaeda had set up housekeeping together despite the enmity between Sunnis (al qaeda) and Shiites (Iran). Joe Lieberman gently corrected McCain in front of an international press contingent, but it seems that his campaign hasn’t gotten the message. According to an article linked at Talking Points Memo, McCain’s campaign has decided he was right, before he decided he was wrong that is.
I don’t know how Obama (or god forbid, Hillary) raises the issue, but it seems pretty clear that if McCain is elected, he’s likely to strike Iran militarily. He seems pretty inclined in that direction to begin with and I cannot imagine that any Iranian regime would be willing to sit across a negotiating table from him. It would be difficult in the best of circumstances to get some meaningful agreement with Iran on its nuclear program, but a difficult task turns impossible if McCain is elected. After all, McCain turned war with Iran into a ditty. “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.”
McCain has a patina of gravitas and competence, but scratch that surface and you find a reckless, uninformed, grumpy old man.
John McCain highlighted his foreign policy expertise today when he repeatedly accused Iran of training al qaeda. Now, one of the things about Islam that has been given much attention over the past 5 years is the Sunni / Shiite divide. Al qaeda is a Sunni group and most Muslim countries are majority Sunni. Iraq and Iran are the two majority Shiite nations. The Republicans have been quick to buzz in with “al qaeda” as the answer to any question, but if McCain had the foreign policy expertise he claims, he would not have made this mistake. Fortunately for McCain, his home health aide best friend forever and fellow warmonger, Joe Lieberman, was on hand to correct him.
We cannot afford to pass up the opportunity to elect this man.
There’s simply no comparison between Obama and Clinton, or McCain for that matter, as to who is the leader, who has the vision, and who has the ability to do great things.
George Bush hasn’t said this, but he should. Bush continues to insist the Iraq war was the right decision, recently saying “The decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision early in my presidency, it is the right decision at this point in my presidency and it will forever be the right decision.” Meanwhile in the real world, the outlook is just a smidge less positive:
Thanks in part to the Iraq war, the next U.S. president — Republican or Democrat, black or white, man or woman — will take office with America’s power, prestige and popularity in decline, according to bipartisan reports, polls and foreign observers.
“The winner of the 2008 elections will command U.S. forces still at war in Iraq, Afghanistan and against elusive terrorists with a deadly reach. The U.S. economy will remain burdened. … America’s moral leadership and decision-making competence will continue to be questioned,” begins a study of foreign-policy choices for the next president, which a Georgetown University task force released last month.
“Restored respect will come only with fresh demonstrations of competence,” the study said.
Given Bush’s disconnect from reality, it’s pretty frightening that he has another 10 months in office.
How’s this for an idea: anyone who voted for George W. Bush in 2004 is stripped of their right to vote in the ‘08 presidential election. I’m willing to cut some slack for someone who voted for him in 2000, but saw the light by ‘04, but if you voted for W in ‘04, you should be forced to sit out ‘08. It’s for the good of the country. We just can’t afford having another election influenced by those senseless enough to reelect George W. Bush.
“You’ve helped make our country really in many ways the economic envy of the world,” he told the Economic Club of New York.
You could almost see the thought-bubble forming over the audience: Not this week, kiddo.
The president squinched his face and bit his lip and seemed too antsy to stand still. As he searched for the name of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (“the king, uh, the king of Saudi”) and made guy-fun of one of the questioners (“Who picked Gigot?”), you had to wonder what the international financial community makes of a country whose president could show up to talk economics in the middle of a liquidity crisis and kind of flop around the stage as if he was emcee at the Iowa Republican Pig Roast.
The president’s job description when speaking before a group could be summed in four words: “read from the teleprompter.” Instead of appearing modestly prepared, he gives off the attitude of a student who is just coasting through his final days of high school. Last week he evidently had nothing better to do than to stand around outside of the White House waiting for John McCain. He had so much time, he decided to dance for the press:
Collins goes on to point out that we deserve what we’re getting:
The country that elected George Bush — sort of — because he seemed like he’d be more fun to have a beer with than Al Gore or John Kerry is really getting its comeuppance. Our credit markets are foundering, and all we’ve got is a guy who looks like he’s ready to kick back and start the weekend.
It will take decades to undo the damage caused by W and the next election is too important to be influenced by those who helped inflict GWB on the United States. They should stand aside and let the competent voters decide the next election.
I realize that using the Uncle Remus Tar Baby story as a title might be un-p.c., but I think it applies to Obama’s situation with regard to Jeremiah Wright and the Muslim rumors. He should welcome–encourage–questions on these topics and use them as a springboard to discuss his faith, which by all evidence is genuine, and moreover is likely to be seen as appealing by many voters who themselves are part of the evangelical, born again tradition. Or Obama could join my church,the Seventh Day New York Timesist Church, and spend Sunday mornings eating breakfast and reading the Times. I don’t proselytize much because I don’t like sharing the paper.
I don’t like German chocolate cake. I really don’t care for coconut. It is also true that I eat the German chocolate cake from the local coffee house 3 or 4 times a week.
I bought this Airstream trailer over the holidays. It’s at my mom’s house–I haven’t even seen it in person yet. A picture is as close as I’ve gotten. Not only do I need to pick it up, somehow I need to learn how to drive with it.
