Humorless Politics Thread

[erechoveraker]

I dunno, but I am buying my first bottle of hard liquor in a good long time, and every time Palin starts off a reply with "but John McCain is the maverick", I am going to hit my girlfriend in the head with the bottle. Not exactly the drinking game my gf would want, but desperate times call for...

[Gilly]

The Dems might lose because as much as John McCain is Bush, he doesn't come across as an idiot. I was expecting Obama to clean up but that was a wash.

[wwwes]

Were there people that thought McCain was outright stupid? I know he was in the 99.44% percentile of his class, but he does know foreign policy. The surprise for me was how crisp and unrelenting Obama was. I never expected him to be as dull as the media thought he would be, but he outmaneuvered McCain in several ways.

[Raad_Man]

it was a nice try by obama.  but john mccain didn't suck, ,which means he was great.  it was touching when he talked about soldiers who love to serve and the bracelet that he got from that woman and how important it is not to lose wars.  you'd think that would be obvious to most people.  sometimes it takes an old war hero to remind you.  i don't even care about politics really but i loved saving private ryan.

[daveB from Oakland]

it was touching when he talked about soldiers who love to serve and the bracelet that he got from that woman and how important it is not to lose wars.  you'd think that would be obvious to most people...
 

Sometimes it's important to bring the bloodletting to an end. Ours AND theirs. Especially when the war wasn't justified to begin with. At a certain point you have to decide whether that's more important than any abstract concept of victory. What the fuck would constitute a "victory" in Iraq at this point? Seriously, what does that even mean? 

[wwwes]

A victory in Iraq would be a secure, stable government, and that isn't going to happen while we are there. This war wasn't supposed to be about spreading democracy, but of course it was. We're fighting a war on TERROR. What happens when Iran gets nuclear weapons? When Pakistan breaks into instability? When Afghanistan gets even worse? What's better, executing a planned, gradual withdrawal or a hasty one that comes in a time of crisis?

The world is in the terlet. We can't afford to spend all our money, manpower and credibility on Iraq.

[<<<<<]

I've developed a sort of grotesque obsession with Sarah Palin.

Oh, me too.  This whole fiasco is a trainwreck in slow motion and it is both incredibly difficult to look away and impossible to not appreciate if for no other reason than the sheer comedy of it all.  America is so focking weird sometimes.  haha

[masterofsparks]

it was a nice try by obama.  but john mccain didn't suck, ,which means he was great. 

Wrong. Foreign policy is (supposedly) McCain's strong point, which means the foreign policy debate was supposed to be his chance to put Obama against the ropes. He absolutely did not. I'd say neither one scored a decisive victory, but the advantage goes to Obama.

[Trembling Eagle]

Ahmed
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5 syllables

[erika]

Ummm.... did McCain actually say "second Holocaust" when referring to Iran vs Israel? Cuz I think Israel could blow them up in a heartbeat. They don't NEED our help.

And frankly, as a Jew, I'm tired of people voting for president of this country based on their support for another. I have family members who do that and it makes me absolutely nuts. Israel just isn't worth having another George Bush in office. They can take care of themselves just fine and I don't necessarily agree with the way they've handled things anyway.

[Julie]

I went to my friends house to watch the debate. I was pissed, so I don't remember anything specific except that McCain kept lying. I couldn't be quiet, so my husband made me go home because there was a no talking rule.

Anyway, am I the only person who thinks McCain is really working for Obama's campaign?

[Beth]

The surprise for me was how crisp and unrelenting Obama was. I never expected him to be as dull as the media thought he would be, but he outmaneuvered McCain in several ways.

Yes, me too.  And he spoke right to John McCain, he looked at him and addressed him directly every time. McCain talked about Obama like he wasn't in the room at all, which was, for lack of a better word, pussy.

And boy, is Jim Lehrer is getting on in years. He looked exhausted.

[Julie]

The surprise for me was how crisp and unrelenting Obama was. I never expected him to be as dull as the media thought he would be, but he outmaneuvered McCain in several ways.

Yes, me too.  And he spoke right to John McCain, he looked at him and addressed him directly every time. McCain talked about Obama like he wasn't in the room at all, which was, for lack of a better word, pussy.

And boy, is Jim Lehrer is getting on in years. He looked exhausted.

McCain seems to have already thrown in the towel. He didn't even seem to believe what was coming out of his mouth!

[Gilly]

I totally disagree, McCain came off as an expert on foreign affairs even though he's completely wrong... and they both told their half-truths but both parties portrayed their platform pretty accurately. I'm surprised that Obama is showing up in polls as the winner... that's encouraging because it shows that the independents might have been with him before the debate even started.

[wwwes]

I secretly suspect that McCain doesn't really want the job, he's just stuck in it. Probably last spring, when he had some time to reflect while Obama and Clinton were still fighting, he realized he'd be spending a big chunk of his remaining years in the most unforgiving, demanding job in the world. At a time when it will almost assuredly be really rough in this country. The convention and Sarah Palin seemed to energize him for a time by letting him run the way he wanted to run, but now she has lost even some of her apologists (read this National Review article if you haven't) and he's starting to get hammered in the polls and the press for saying one thing, doing another thing, then saying yet another thing. Which is what he has been doing his entire career, but it's never been scrutinized and he's never had to worry about holding onto conservatives.

Watching his run has been fascinating, because it has obliterated his entire image and public goodwill. Last fall, his campaign put together this fake future news article that talked about how McCain was able to beat Hillary because he stole the change issue away and ran a clean campaign. Which is either the saddest or funniest thing you've ever heard, depending on your opinion of hubris.