August 28, 2008

John McCain approves another devastating attack.

I'm reeling from this one.

108 comments:

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Damn! Feint. Prays.

Peter Hoh said...

It's a classy move.

David said...

John McCain thinks the anniversary of "I Have A Dream" is a historic day? How surprising given that he opposed making MLK Day a national holiday for so long.

doubtinggaurav said...

Well personally speaking I was thinking of rickroll, or as is the custom in our des Yahoo

kjbe said...

david - yeah, go figure.

How nice...and passive aggressive.

Original Mike said...

And he now says he was wrong, David.

somefeller said...

Yeah, of course, McCain comes up with another ad to remind the voters that Obama is black. That racist!

I'm kidding. It's a good ad and a classy move on his part. I hope Obama remembers to make a similar ad for McCain on Senior Citizens Day. I'm kidding, there, too. What a kidder I am!

Unknown said...

That doesn't matter, OM. According to the left, if you've ever done anything they consider even remotely racist, you are permanently damaged goods until such time as you adopt the entire leftist agenda.

kjbe said...

classy ain't the word for it.

john said...

I could see a little smirk in there. Just beneath the surface was the statement that this evening's event will in no way compare to the one 45 years ago. Pretty slick.

Unknown said...

McCain knows he's in deep shit and that's the only reason he would suddenly become the gracious congratulatory dick this ad reveals him to be.

Does anybody really think he means any of this?

Really?

rhhardin said...

As Bush said of Gore, he's my opponent, not my enemy.

Unknown said...

Actually, yes, I do, LOS. But that's because it's not uncommon for a fierce competitor to genuinely wish his opponent well before he rips them to shreds.

john said...

Lucky!

Duh. Watch it again. Then ask someone to explain it to you.

Original Mike said...

I think the word you're looking for gopher is magnanimous.

Unknown said...

Also, LOS, another reason I believe it is that it's one of McCain's more irritating traits (to us right-wingers) that he is often more cordial to Democrats than to fellow Republicans.

Original Mike said...

Oh Christ, who left the door open?

David53 said...

Oh. My. God.

Lucy is back!

rhhardin said...

October 2000, Bush on Gore at the Al Smith dinner:

"Like me, he married up. This is clearly a man who respects and loves his wife and his family. You also learn to see his strengths, and my opponent has many. He is a person of amazing energy and skill and determination. I can't wish him success, but I do wish him well."

There's a tradition of this on the right.

Richard said...

David said...
John McCain thinks the anniversary of "I Have A Dream" is a historic day? How surprising given that he opposed making MLK Day a national holiday for so long.


What a non-sequitur! The "I have a dream" speech was given on August 28. MLK day is the third Monday in January, meant to fall close to MLK's birthday, January 15.

One can consistently acknowledge that August 28 was a historic day, and also oppose setting aside the third Monday in January -- or any other day, for that matter -- as a national holiday to commemorate MLK.

February 6, the birthday of Ronald Reagan, was a historic day. Would you have it made a national holiday on that account?

Palladian said...

"Oh. My. God.

Lucy is back!"

I thought I smelled something.

vbspurs said...

"In war, resolution; in defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity"

- Winston Churchill

And no, spare me, Democrats. I'm not comparing him to Winston Churchill. But he's a heck of a lot more Churchillian, than Obama is to Martin Luther King Jr.

Cheers,
Victoria

I'm Full of Soup said...

David 53;

I forgot I named Lucky Lucy. He does not like it when we call him Lucy. Do you Lucy?

Welcome back Lucy.

Roger J. said...

good move, McCain--and on cue the mold slime him/herself lucky old son emerges to piss on the message--classy lucky--really classy.

vbspurs said...

Who the hell is Lucy? The ditzy red-head or the football-removing brunette?

(Oh, BTW, I didn't see anyone mention this, but did you hear Biden say "hell" last night during his speech? He didn't apologise, unlike Obama did)

john said...

Victoria,

Was it covered earlier about Obama showing up at the Dem convention last night, unexpectedly? I had a feeling that he was there just to break up a fight in case Bill Clinton went off script.

Mortimer Brezny said...

My friends, this is the ad of a man who was in a Vietnamese prison for 5 years.

Sprezzatura said...

"There's a tradition of this on the right."

Double talk?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Another from Churchill, this time speaking of his declaration of war on Japan:

"Some people did not like this ceremonial style. But after all when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite."

Anonymous said...

This almost seems to be a direct response to the speech by Obama in Minnesota that Althouse blogged about on the third of June.

I honor that service, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine.

Link to transcript at breibart


{The official transcript of the speech uses the word deny but I was typing it up as I heard it at the time on the thread, and Obama used the word acknowledge in it's place.}

Well now after this commercial Obama has lost that one talking point...

{A direct shot across the bow}

vbspurs said...

Heh.

You know, John, I thought that was an awesome entrance. An electrifying moment for the crowd, although I felt badly (no, really) for Michelle Obama, up there in the nosebleeds when even Jill Biden was the trois in the menage.

Another evocative moment was when Biden pere et fils embraced.

That was genuine, bro.

As darling as the Obama girls were, that "Hello, daddy!" moment was more scripted than a Ron Jeremy sploodge session.

Unknown said...

I thought I'd drop in to see if anything had changed, but no...damn near everybody here is still much more interested in silly personal attacks or berating anyone who disagrees or has an alternative opinion.

Same ol' right wing assholes, just trudging along, hoping against hope that ol' John can somehow pull it out before he loses what's left of his mind.

Of course we ALL know that ain't gonna happen.

What a hoot you people are.

Unknown said...

"My friends, this is the ad of a man who was in a Vietnamese prison for 5 years."

REALLY???

I hadn't heard...

ricpic said...

Would he be so magnanimous toward a white opponent?

Balfegor said...

On a completely unrelated note -- the lighting here makes me think, a little, of Apocalypse Now; all those scenes where Brando is in shadow, to conceal his monstrous bulk. Except instead of illuminating McCain's good side (the right side of his face), they've spotlit the gigantic bulge on the left side of his face. If they're going to do the dim lighting (which I like), they might as well light up the side of his face that looks normal.

Crimso said...

"but no...damn near everybody here is still much more interested in silly personal attacks or berating anyone who disagrees or has an alternative opinion."

You included.

Sprezzatura said...

vbspurs,

That was a total surprise. Michelle told the girls that there would be a surprise as they were going to the stage.

What do your wrong assumptions say about your judgment? Is it possible that you have other beliefs that are totally wrong?

rhhardin said...

reeling from this one

It's a guy thing. There are rules to a fight; women mostly are bitchy at the time and nurse grudges forever.

For a guy, a fight is only a fight, and when it's done, it's done.

Sometimes you can suspend it for an aside.

There was the Christmas truce in WWI, for example.

And didn't Rommel and Patton talk of war without hatred.

McCain is in that tradition.

This is as opposed to eg. Bush Derangement Syndrome, which I have never understood, even as a rhetorical position.

Ann Althouse said...

"damn near everybody here is still much more interested in silly personal attacks or berating anyone who disagrees or has an alternative opinion."

You figured that out just from they way they jumped on you?

rhhardin said...

(Bush derangement syndrome)

Maybe it's the feminization of fighting.

Zachary Sire said...

I can see different people taking this ad different ways. On the surface, and the way I mostly see it, it's a jealous crank in a pathetic attempt at sarcasm.

He's also mocking Obama the same way he did with the Britney/Paris ad.

He's also disrespecting the whole MLK anniversary. Contrary to what he might think, some people take this day seriously.

And even if you don't think there is symbolism in Obama giving his speech on the anniversary of MLK's, you still might take a moment and objectively reflect that, hey, we've come a long way in this country. But not our John.

This is his nastiest, most childish ad yet. He just can't get any love, our poor John, and this is his way of reacting? If Obama is smart, he will release an ad on the night of John's speech congratulating him on all of his accomplishments, despite being locked away for 5 1/2 years without a house and without a table.

Methadras said...

This is McCain's way of saying, "You know, I'm going to fuck you, but you won't see it coming nor realize that I've done it. But after I'm done, you will be left with a feeling of total satisfaction and will wonder when it is going to happen again"

I approve this message. Well played Senator.

vbspurs said...

It's a guy thing. There are rules to a fight; women mostly are bitchy at the time and nurse grudges forever.

Rh, that's wrong.

There's nothing more fragile than a woman's heart, except a man's ego.

History is full of men nursing grudges, and people losing lives because of them.

I am rarely the one to play the feminist card, but I had a full house.

Unknown said...

William S. Burroughs said "Never interfere in a boy and girl fight."

When two boys spar it's like boxing. You know, no goin' for the groin, that kind of thing. Get a girl (or two) involved and all bets are off.

Click the link for a little more advice from Mr. Burroughs, with musical background supplied by the band Material.

rhhardin said...

vb, I refer you to Thurber's ``The Case Against Women.''

ricpic said...

Gee, ya think McCain's gesture will reduce the number of black on white muggings and rapes tonight?

UWS guy said...

Why wouldn't McCain just call Obama personally over the phone and say this? Why would you spend 100k dollars to talk to someone?...Oh I see, he wasn't really talking to Obama was he?

Great add though.

vbspurs said...

Rh, I refer you to the Hundred Years' War. ;)

Seriously, the pinpricks of women's needles can hurt as much as a man's sword stabs.

But you won't die from the former. :)

rhhardin said...

Because McCain wants to mark an occasion.

Simon said...

Astonishing how Zach - continuing the theme from his post on Michelle Obama's speech earlier in the week - manages to see the same ad as everyone else and have such astonishingly variant reaction to it. Not that he's the only one that'll do so, but that people see the same material and think that what is being said is so totally opposite. The natural reaction is to see it as being - at least on the surface - magnanimous and good-hearted. But Zach won't even concede that: he "can see different people taking this ad different ways," but "[o]n the surface, and the way [he] mostly see[s] it, it's a jealous crank in a pathetic attempt at sarcasm." Astonishing. In Zach's eyes, this is a nasty, sarcastic attack masquerading as a nasty, sarcastic attack. Are you Keith Olberman?

vbspurs said...

BTW, I love James Thurber. That's like 100 extra snogging points with me, Rh.

rhhardin said...

you can't die

You can if the feminized warriors are armed.

rhhardin said...

Thurber

Check out Vicki Hearne
Adam's Task
Bandit
Animal Happiness

for essays on or using Thurber.

She's Thurber's most interesting interpreter.

UWS guy said...

@Rispic: "Gee, ya think McCain's gesture will reduce the number of black on white muggings and rapes tonight?"

aww, just when you start to get likable...

All those signs in Washington D.C. that say, Whitey don't let the sun set on you here. amirite?

@ZPS: lol, I could just see an Obama add, "Did you know John McCain spent 5 1/2 years in Jail?...do you really want a felon in the oval office?"

XWL said...

First, how many days does MLK, Jr. get?

His holiday, his real birthday, the day his life was cut short by a redneck asshole, and now the day he gave a decent speech in front of a large crowd, all seem to be days we are supposed to 'honor' his legacy now.

It's not racist to have opposed the holiday (though some of the opposition to it was), no other person is so honored with a national holiday (ever since they rolled up Washington and Lincoln's birthdays into a single holiday).

It would have been more fitting to have a "Civil Rights" day, rather than a day honoring one person.

Besides, there are other ways of honoring a person and a cause than an annual bill for a paid holiday for federal and state employees.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was one small, terribly flawed, but often eloquent man, who was the right person at the right time in the late 50s and early 60s. He shot to prominence so quickly, because other leaders in his community knew it was a thankless and dangerous job. It's not so much he step forward as everyone else stepped back. Doesn't lessen his accomplishments, and the letter he wrote from the Birmingham jail remains, in my opinion, the finest bit of short essay writing in the past 100 years.

But, deserving to be the only person so honored with a national holiday?

No.

ricpic said...

No signs necessary and yes, bringing truth to the roundtable of proper bien pensant obfuscations doesn't make one likable. On the other hand, I don't have to shower three times to rid myself of the stench of mendacity.

UWS guy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ron said...

Oh, Vic, don't I get any snogging points my strawberries-and-clotted-cream favorite Old Englander?

:)

Ron

UWS guy said...

Useful idiots.

Useful idiots to racists and bigots. That's what the opponents were. It's what makes the Kennedy's stance during that time so heroic. They supported Civil Rights before it was cool.

The useful idiots included William F. Buckeley.

"a flawed man?" No more flawed than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson! America at that time was on the cusp of either the Violence of Malcom X or the temperance of MLK--from a wound that was there at the founding.

Things were coming to a boil. The blacks in America were in real danger.

America is a better country now because of MLK.

Racists don't think they're racists. Everyone has "good" reasons.

chickelit said...

UWS said @ZPS: lol, I could just see an Obama add, "Did you know John McCain spent 5 1/2 years in Jail?...do you really want a felon in the oval office?

I'm OJ Ayers and I approve that ad for Barack

P_J said...

You know, a "Civil Rights Day" -- say Aug. 27 or 28 -- wouldn't be such a bad idea, because we could honor MLK's speech and the President who helped move that dream towards reality.

blake said...

Racists don't think they're racists.

Nonsense. Any number of groups are overtly based on (and proud of) the premise that one race is superior to another.

The Drill SGT said...

vbspurs said...
Rh, I refer you to the Hundred Years' War. ;)

Seriously, the pinpricks of women's needles can hurt as much as a man's sword stabs.


Victoria, you Anglophile, how about Kipling, that master of war on fighting in Afghanistan and women, these are timeless words:

...If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white,
Remember it's ruin to run from a fight:
So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
And wait for supports like a soldier.
Wait, wait, wait like a soldier . . .
When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,

Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier OF the Queen!

Peter V. Bella said...

UWS guy said...
Why wouldn't McCain just call Obama personally over the phone and say this?

How do you know he didn't?

As to the ad, I thought it was great and effective. McCain does come from the old school in the Senate; when the Senate was still a collegial group instead of a bunch of children on the play ground.

Nichevo said...

Blogger UWS guy said...

Why wouldn't McCain just call Obama personally over the phone and say this? Why would you spend 100k dollars to talk to someone?...Oh I see, he wasn't really talking to Obama was he?

Great add though.



O RLY??!?!1!!!11!eleven!

Should the Clintons' endorsements have been private?

I think a public form of congratulations is in order. I liked that it was a "good" day.

Let's say that it was deep japery. How would BO or his people respond? Hire the handicapped - they're fun to watch.

I must agree, though - the McCain campaign must have hired Sterling-Cooper and got Don Draper's undivided attention. Some good ads.

Revenant said...

McCain does come from the old school in the Senate; when the Senate was still a collegial group instead of a bunch of children on the play ground.

I have to disagree with you there. McCain joined the Senate in January of 1987. Six months later the Bork incident buried any pretense of the Senate as "a collegial group".

McCain is old, but he isn't an old-time Senator.

Anonymous said...

vbspurs said..."It's a guy thing. There are rules to a fight; women mostly are bitchy at the time and nurse grudges forever."

Rh, that's wrong.

There's nothing more fragile than a woman's heart, except a man's ego.

History is full of men nursing grudges, and people losing lives because of them.


That's very true. All this psuedo-evolutioary psychology bull about men get over it women grudge it forever is like the feminist bull that rape is not about sex.

It's a clear falsehood that is repeated as a counterintuitive truth.

Almost all heterosexual rape is about desire for sexual gratification. And men will hold a grudge just as long or longer than women.

In fact I know a story about this famous powerful guy who thought another famous powerful guy tried to kill his famous powerful father and then nearly 10 years later got lots of other guys to go and attack and kill him. It was a huge grudge about 5 years ago. True story.

Zachary Paul Sire said...This is his nastiest, most childish ad yet. He just can't get any love, our poor John, and this is his way of reacting? If Obama is smart, he will release an ad on the night of John's speech congratulating him on all of his accomplishments, despite being locked away for 5 1/2 years without a house and without a table.

Kid, listen. Go talk to your dad. Work on those issues. I know you two don't get along because of your sexual orientation but it's better you work out the issues with your own father instead of embarrassingly projecting it onto the various daddy substitutes in the Republican party.

J. Cricket said...

How perfectly appropriate: McCain is in the dark.

Who did the lighting for this ad?!

And has Cindy come back from "assessing" the situation in the republic of Georgia. It would be funny if it was not so pathetic.

amba said...

rh: damn, you're interesting.

vicki hearne, now.

ricpic said...

Right, no difference between men and women, men plot vicious revenge just as long and lovingly as women do...

And the lefty bilge rolls on.

Bruce Hayden said...

It was effective I think to many who are not die hard Obama fans or in his campaign. It was effective because McCain took the high road here, and if his campaign is ever challenged on this ad, they can talk endlessly about how much of a landmark today is.

Now it isn't their fault that Obama picked the anniversary of MLK's Dream Speech for his acceptance speech, but maybe partly their fault if the Obama people interpret the ad as a possible very subtle attack on them.

I mentioned in a post on a previous thread of the McCain campaign getting within the Obama decision cycle, where the Obama campaign doesn't know how to react, and thus either overreacts or underreacts.

I think that this ad fits right in there - how can anyone complain about their opponent congratulating them using their own campaign money to do so? (of course, McCain may need to burn some up before his own convention) Was it an attack? Or was it just John McCain being nice and decent? Are they just being too paranoid? Or not paranoid enough?

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

I don't see any ulterior motive in this. I think it shows his ability to finally pay attention to the tone of the dynamic that Obama's set. McCain's approved many obviously Rove-led attack ads, whereas the Democrats have been obsequiously deferential to the honor that McCain's service from 4 decades ago is felt to command - prefacing every comment about McCain with it. He's finally repaying the favor.

If this is an uncharacteristic respite, however, then the race will suffer. On the other hand, if this is his own way of helping to set in place the precedents required for a substantive race, then I'd consider that a move that will benefit the country as a whole.

Revenant said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Revenant said...

History is full of men nursing grudges, and people losing lives because of them.

One of my sisters is still, decades after the fact, annoyed that she had to wait until her 13th birthday for pierced ears while my other sister got hers pierced at age 12 years, 361 days.

And what man here hasn't had his wife or girlfriend drag misdeeds of his from weeks, months, or years ago into an unrelated argument?

Men do nurse grudges. Women operate modern Grudge Hospitals, complete with both maternity wards for fresh grudges and hospices for ailing grudges of the past.

somefeller said...

Now that I think about it a bit, the cynic in me asks, is McCain trying to tell voters "Yes, Obama has already made history, and it's great. The mere fact he's the Democratic nominee means history has been made and America is a better place. No need to make any more history, though, so it's okay to elect me. Doing so won't mean you are disrespecting the history being made here. After all, I'm not, and am acknowledging how great it is."

Hmm. Maybe not so classy, but evil and clever instead!

Balfegor said...

Re: Montana Urban Legend:

the Democrats have been obsequiously deferential to the honor that McCain's service from 4 decades ago is felt to command

Really? See here for a series of examples in which Democrats are, ah, less than deferential to McCain's service. National Review has collected a bunch of these -- some of these don't really count -- but it's certainly not the case that the Democrats have been above attacking McCain for his service. They've stopped in the past month or so, I think, but that's probably because the tactic failed so badly. If anything, it probably pushed McCain's numbers up by reminding the public about his service.

rhhardin said...

rh: damn, you're interesting.

vicki hearne, now.


I've been citing Vicki Hearne for 15 years, ever since there was a place to cite her.

She writes on the edge of general (lit, social) criticism and male philosophy; a lefty, like other lefties there, who winds up writing on the right in spite of herself.

Anonymous said...

It was a great ad. There is nothing malicious about it. Anyone who sees malice there would see malice in anything an opponent did, and they are people who can't be reasoned with.

I'm surprised at you, Zach. Why stoop to the level of an angry true believer. You could learn a lot from Peter Hoh. Call it classy. Laud the politeness. Move on.

TmjUtah said...

Oh good grief.

It's a classy move. It costs nothing to be polite, etc.

I haven't had time to read the whole thread, but...

... nah, not going to do it.

A very classy move. And it's got a substantial number of folks, even some here on this thread, coiled up in corners like a woman dancing on a barstool because she THINKS she heard a mouse.

Barack Obama is an accidental candidate. His true political philosophy is unknown, his political pedigree is straight up Chicago hack. His tactics in defeating his earlier opponents were bare knuckle; the latest rumblings as his minions attempt to intimidate the media away from the Annenburg records are more than troubling; it's brownshirting. And Karl Rove has nothing to do with it. He can read a good speech well, but he's got less business in the Oval office than either of my teenage daughters.

But tonight, I'm going to sit in the living room with Mom Utah and the Goddesses, and we are going to watch the first black man to win his party's nomination for the office of president make his acceptance speech.

I'm proud of my country every day. Tonight is just another bright point in this constellation of diamonds that is the story of America.

Even though the man is unfit for the office, that takes nothing away from the candidate or his campaign, and certainly nothing from the country. The rules say you need to be thirty five and a citizen born here. Let's just hope that when he gets blown out the Left can maybe come to the grips with the fact that it's not trickery, dishonesty, or sabotage that keeps the Dems a regional club. Embrace individual freedom by celebrating individual responsibility and potential. Stop trying to herd people by color, creed, and income.

And try to give America some credit every now and again. Lining up with the bad guys every time you get the chance, well, that gets you nowhere fast (outside of Berkeley and Boston).

Have a fine one.

Revenant said...

whereas the Democrats have been obsequiously deferential to the honor that McCain's service from 4 decades ago is felt to command - prefacing every comment about McCain with it

Even if that were true -- and as Balfegor noted above, it isn't -- honorable service in the military during wartime is something inherently worthy of praise. If you look like you're attacking that service, you turn off moderate and conservative voters and some left-wing voters as well. You need the ritual we-respect-so-and-so's-past-service before you can really rip into him.

And before you bring up Kerry, I must point out that Kerry was vulnerable because his big claim to fame was his own attacks on veterans while fronting for the VVAW. It wouldn't have worked on a Democratic Vietnam veteran who served honorably and respected his fellow veterans (e.g. Al Gore).

Anonymous said...

Somefeller -- If that's the subtext, it's still classy. Class has nothing at all do with altruism.

McCain is savvy. Most of the country, really, is like me: they are (1) on the right and they are looking for reasons to vote for McCain or (2) they are independents and centrists who think Obama is unqualified and are looking for reasons to vote for McCain.

Hence, upwards of two-thirds of the electorate right now is looking for reasons to vote for McCain. Everything he is doing dovetails into giving those reasons.

I foresee a McCain victory with the vote nowhere near as close as 2000 or 2004.

Revenant said...

While I think Zachary is entirely wrong in his interpretation of the ad, I did think McCain sounded insincere. But I don't think that was intended. I suspect McCain is just genuinely unimpressed with Obama and didn't do a very good job of faking admiration for the man's achievements.

vbspurs said...

faking admiration for the man's achievements.

Hmm, am I misreading the intent of the ad?

It's to congratulate Senator Obama for his HISTORIC nomination, not for his past career achievements necessarily.

Anonymous said...

Rev -- It's the stupid smirk. He does that a lot. I think he's trying to smile.

UWS guy said...

Men do nurse grudges. Women operate modern Grudge Hospitals, complete with both maternity wards for fresh grudges and hospices for ailing grudges of the past.

hahaha

somefeller said...

Let's just hope that when he gets blown out the Left can maybe come to the grips with the fact that it's not trickery, dishonesty, or sabotage that keeps the Dems a regional club.

Given that the Democrats will almost undoubtedly increase their margins of control of the House and Senate, even in a worst case scenario, there's not much evidence of the Democrats being a regional club. In fact, but for John McCain's candidacy, it's the Republicans who are looking like more of a regional party, that region being the South and the inland West.

Freeman Hunt said...

"I just want to congratulate you on your accomplishments. Let's see... what were they again... Hmmm.... Oh right, there's one. Congratulations for being the Democratic nominee."

Heh heh heh.

And he's being nice while saying it. I love it.

TmjUtah said...

Somefeller -

See me in 2010. We'll see what "regional" means then.

I do not dispute that Demcrats are ascendant across key terrain.

The fact that our public schools haven't been teaching much in the way of history for the last two decades is beginning to pay off for the Left. And the constant, fatal curse threatening a republic that slips away from constitutional limits on government power - that a weak government will ultimately attempt to buy their offices with the voters' money - is looming larger than ever.

But history keeps on spooling off the spindle, the wheel keeps on turning, and adversity seems to bring out in the best in us, still. We are, sadly, at our worst when we've got too much time on our hands. Our friends the Russ, Chinese, and the Splodeydopes are all egging themselves on to make the Tojo mistake. So be it.

I am confident we will see a better future than I imagine now.
We just have to make it through the next few years.

Host with the Most said...

`

HERE"S THE DIFFERENCE:

Between most normal people and the luckyoldson's, et al:

If Obama does a similar ad, or even had done it first, the conservative and right of center commenters here would also call Obama a class act.

Those that can't give it to McCain without questioning ulterior motives - well, they're distinctly mentally unbalanced.

And engaging the mentally unbalanced is like putting lipstick on a pig - it is fruitless effort for you, and just frustrates the pig.

So Lucky, when you make your first remark after returning from a long while gone, and it includes a slam at others, well, if the shoe fits . . .

Cedarford said...

David said...
John McCain thinks the anniversary of "I Have A Dream" is a historic day? How surprising given that he opposed making MLK Day a national holiday for so long.


People can say MLK's speech, though mostly plagarized from another Reverend, is one of the 100most significant speeches delivered because of the historical moment - a rally well-orchestrated by NYC Leftists and a notable lost gay black civil rights figure named Bayard Ruskin.

But the speech does not mean that those that oppose MLK, a tremendously flawed man whose files are still under court seal, is the only person in America deserving a National Holiday. Especially after Congress determined it was wrong to honor individual Great Presidents, because keeping at at just Lincoln and Washington dissed other great figures, and we just couldn't afford to add 20-30 new national Holidays for other Great Presidents and non-Presidents who have massive historical importance.

King got his own day because the PC Forces rolled the country and emotionally blackmailed us. Make an exception for the black man we wish to Deify. Ignore his plagarism, whoring around, prostitute beatings, drug use, and association with communists and his coordination with violent black radicals. Ignore all the other major civil rights leaders of women, Native Americans, religious minorities, and other blacks.

The message was clear. Give us Saint Martin.
Give us his Own Day. Say nothing bad about the bad facts of MLK in school because the children! the children! need a Perfect Black Man to worship as the Greatest American of all.

Fail to do that, and you are racist. And we will demonstrate, launch boycotts, and lawsuits if your state, schools, or media firm ever disses Holy Saint Martin.

And the blackmail worked.

Revenant said...

If Obama does a similar ad, or even had done it first, the conservative and right of center commenters here would also call Obama a class act.

In all honesty, I'd probably just say something cynical and/or sarcastic.

blake said...

It's kinda what we do here.

rhhardin said...

MLK had the great line, however, and in the right context,

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!


What are white men, Jews, Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics free from? They're in the line too.

They are free from their prejudice.

It was not meant differently for the blacks; a significance that has been lost, and MLK's legacy is not honored by those who have taken it up.

Blacks will be free at last when they, the last, drop their prejudice too. That's what's gone wrong.

Someday perhaps the holiday will be something other than black resentment day, but it is not yet.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Love the caveat, balfegor:

"some of these don't really count"

So I went to the objective and non-partisan NRO site to see their interpretation (that you so graciously clarified) of exactly which one of these seven Democrats "count".

My interpretation is that none of them count. But hey, who am I to question which random Democrats matter in the grand scheme of things when it comes to NRO's compilation of quotes by them attacking the mighty John McCain?

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

I love all these admonitions about keeping blacks "in their place." Love it. Yep. That's the problem with the country vis a vis race relations.

http://tnr.com/story_print.html?id=9c1e0570-cafd-4829-8d85-3cb0b477a4df

Let's hear it for unexplored prejudices! They're so much easier to justify.

Revenant said...

And the blackmail worked.

Or, you know, there's the reality that the overwhelming majority of Americans think Martin Luther King was an admirable and important guy, whatever his personal flaws.

You are correct that various extortionate tactics were used to force the few dissenting states into line, though.

Elliott A said...

Obama deserves honest congratulations! He engaged the mentally deranged (most of the activists in his party) and convinced them to support him instead of the candidate who would almost certainly win the election. Quite an accomplishment.

somefeller said...

See me in 2010. We'll see what "regional" means then.

Fine, see you then. I'm feeling pretty good about the Democrats' chances that year also, particularly in places like Texas. But why do you need to change the subject to the future when the original line was about which party has the indicia of being a regional one now?

Revenant said...

My interpretation is that none of them count.

Wesley Clark summarizing McCain's service as "riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down" doesn't count as being "less than obsequiously deferential"?

Rockefeller's claim that McCain doesn't know or care about the people he dropped bombs on is obsequiously deferential to McCain's service?

Harkin's claim that McCain's all-military family and military background make him less qualified than a civilian is obsequiously deferential to McCain's service?

Gillespie's summary of McCain's entire non-POW military career as consisting of maverick behavior and self-promotion is "obsequiously deferential" to that career?

What fascinating things to believe. I can see why you think Democrats have been "obsequiously deferential" to him. Apparently anything short of personally accusing him of war crimes counts as "deference". :)

Revenant said...

I'm feeling pretty good about the Democrats' chances that year also, particularly in places like Texas.

Democrats might keep picking up seats, if McCain wins.

But it is worth remembering that the popularity of Congress has actually gone *down* since Democrats took over, reaching the lowest point in recorded history. What are the Democrats going to do if they don't have an unpopular Republican President to kick around anymore? They'll still be stuck with tricky problems in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea. They'll still be stuck with massive Social Security and Medicare shortfalls, a public clamoring for a health care fix, and huge deficits -- with no way to fix them, short of a massive middle-class tax hike or massive spending cuts in other entitlement programs.

Right now they can say "oh its that big meanie Bush, we can't get anything past him" and gamble (correctly, as it turns out) that few people notice they aren't even trying to get bills passed. But with a President Obama in the White House they're going to be forced to actually deliver, and they aren't going to be able to for the simple reason that what they're promising -- an end to deficits, massive new benefits, all paid for by "the rich" -- is physically impossible to produce.

That'll be fun to watch.

TmjUtah said...

somefeller -

"But why do you need to change the subject to the future when the original line was about which party has the indicia of being a regional one now?"

That's a fair question.

The popularity of the Democrat party is concentrated in urban areas, and that's the way populations have been moving since the early 1900's, make no mistake about it. Urban populations are easily bought, it seems.

But if you ring up any random political map you see that geographically the electoral math is still basically a toss up. (Wiki not provided as an authority, merely the first link that popped up on my search.)

We are reaching tipping points on economic, social, and foreign policy fronts within the next few years. There's not really any money left to continue buying votes and raping the rich will only exacerbate the depression we are about to experience.

Obama, Reid, Pelosi. I really don't see that as any formula for success.

BTW, I'm not a Republican. I left the party in 2006. I look at that map as Liberal/Conservative rather than by partisan labels. I'll shut up now.

Crimso said...

"It's what makes the Kennedy's stance during that time so heroic. They supported Civil Rights before it was cool."

Was this the same Bobby Kennedy who wiretapped MLK?

Thorley Winston said...

That'll be fun to watch.

Maybe if it was happening to some other country. But I rather like this one and would prefer it not suffer the fate you described.

Sixty Bricks said...

His campaign spends money on this drivel. He approves of this 30 seconds of junk.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

None of the people quoted count. Their quotes may count. They themselves don't count as being significant Democrats in 2008.

Anything else you wanted to argue about?

Joe said...

"It's what makes the Kennedy's stance during that time so heroic. They supported Civil Rights before it was cool."

Actually, that's what makes Dwight D. Eisenhower cool. (And the democrats uncool since they led the fight against it.)

Sisyphus said...

While I agree that this ad shows McCain's class and affirms that he is at heart a gentleman, I do think there's something else there. But it's not the weird imaginings some of the BDS sufferers have suggested. Rather, he knew that he was about to select Palin, and that the day after Obama's nomination speech, he would dominate the conversation. He knew that he already had the logistics ready for the great into the enemy's position, dividing his forces and providing his main chance at winning the contest.