US Presidential Election

[turbo]

PS: Oh, and meanwhile McCain has defined the surge to be something of a state of consciousness.

McCain's surge is slippery. It started whenever he says that it did and it's responsible for every incremental improvement in Iraq. The reduction in violence had nothing to do the successful expulsion of Christians from Iraq, nor the consolidation and ethnic cleansing of Sunni and Shiite areas, nor al Sadr's militia's unilateral stand-down. Nope, it was that magical McCain surge. I would hate to see someone with that poor grasp of foreign affairs in the WH. It's bad enough that he's in the Senate, and on the campaign trail spouting this tripe. News-readers posing as "journalists" seem to have given McCain a "get foot out of mouth for free" card, though and never give him any serious flack about his irrational statements.

 

I love how McCain keeps saying the media is out to get him, too.

 

[Gokul43201]

That's lame - McCain just shouldn't go there.

McCain, more than anyone else in politics in the US, has had the media on his side, and deservedly so. McCain gives the press virtually unfettered access to him - which I applaud - and in return, gets to command a soft corner among them. On the other hand, Obama is much more stingy with access to the press - which I think is just such a terrible idea, and it's not something I'm a fan of.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You didn't hear Rush ranting about Obama going "beyond the pale" putting down America on foreign soil, did you?

Here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25841310#25841310

Skip to 4:15.

Yes, one should never admit that America has made mistakes.

It seems that Obama can do more to engage our allies, and to begin to repair the damage done by Bush, by simply showing up, than McCain could accomplish through an entire career of cold-war diplomacy. And how dare Obama pull a crowd of that size when he's not even the President, yet! The nerve of that guy.

One German commentator noted that McCain seems like something from another century.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

...News-readers posing as "journalists" seem to have given McCain a "get foot out of mouth for free" card, though and never give him any serious flack about his irrational statements.

I was quite struck by McCain's $300 million prize idea for an electric-car battery. A battery like he describes is already the holy grail of battery technology, as it has been since the 70s. Any company that can produce such a battery would own the electric car market since, by definition, it would make electric cars practical. There is already plenty of incentive. The challenges in making such a battery are fundamental - physical and economic - not psychological.

In fact, this apparent perception that real problems are only "psychological" seems to be emerging as a pattern in McCain's thinking; not to mention the thinking of his former chief economist.

 

[mathwonk]

this sounds like what is called "magical thinking" in psychology, typical of people out of touch with reality.

 

[Astronuc]

One German commentator noted that McCain seems like something from another century.

He is! The last one.

But McCain is pulling up in the polls in states like CO and MI.

McCain missed a trip to go to an oil rig in the Gulf. Why he needs to fly out to see an oil rig, I have no idea. It's a photo op like Dukakis in an Abrams tank.


Interesting contrast!

Obama Addresses U.S. Image Abroad - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92905080

McCain Focuses On Issues At Home - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92905083

 

[Gokul43201]

I love how McCain keeps saying the media is out to get him, too.

Yet another BS claim from the McCain slime machine:

LOS ANGELES, July 27 (UPI) -- U.S. broadcast networks had more negative coverage of Barack Obama than John McCain during the first weeks of the general election campaign, a study indicated.

The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University in Virginia, which has studied network news since the 1980s, analyzed content on ABC, CBS and NBC news shows and found that when reporters and anchors expressed opinions they were significantly more negative toward Obama and more positive toward McCain, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

The researchers found that most statements by anchors and reporters were neutral, but when opinions were expressed 28 percent of statements about Obama were positive while 72 percent were negative. The study indicated opinions about McCain were 43 percent positive and 57 percent negative.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/07/27/Study_Media_rougher_on_Obama/UPI-43191217211564/

Liberal media indeed! The McCain free ride continues...

 

I'm waiting for him to say "The 'Media' isn't just network television, radio, and newspapers, it's an attitude, an ideal. When a random person on the street says 'I don't like John McCain', he is part of the vast media conspiracy."

Definitions are just no match for John McCain!
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/21/mccain-campaign-says-new-york-times-blocked-op-ed-response-to-obama/

What happened was they didn't publish his piece because he never defined "victory".