Four More Years Of The Same, But Better

John McCain receives an unexpected endorsement as a candidate of hope and change from Mr. HopeChange himself:

"You have a real choice in this election. Either Democrat would be better than John McCain," Obama said to cheers from a rowdy crowd in central Pennsylvania. Then he said: "And all three of us would be better than George Bush."

I love these "Ooops, I accidentally said what I actually believe" gaffes.

And I deplore this racially charged rhetoric from Obama:

"But what you have to ask yourself is who has the chance to actually really change things in a fundamental way so that 10 years from now or 20 years from now you can look back and you can say boy we really moved in a new direction and we put the country on a better path," Obama added as he wrapped up an event at Reading High School.

Even if Obama does eventually lead us to the light, I hope no one is so insensitive as to say to him "Boy, we really moved in a new direction."  Especially since he will be 66 years old, which is almost as old and experienced as McCain is right now.

Comments

[badger]

I think you're leaving out the part of the speech where Obama added that McCain would be a better comedian than Carrot Top and a better role model than Paris Hilton.

[badger]

Just to be serious for a second: does this really seem like a huge strategic error? Probably 95% of Americans expect that McCain couldn't be any worse than Bush. On top of that, the support of centrists is critical to his success in PA and he could do worse than offering (faint) praise for his GOP rival. Sure, it allows Hillary to hijack the news cycle for a bit, but it's hardly going to kill him (saying nice things about Republicans once in a while has been his M.O. for a while), and the media would more than likely just focus on negative attacks and previous gaffes in the absence of this new thing.

[boris]

It cuts against the idea that McCain is McSame. Ooops.

badgers? we don't need no badgers

[badger]

boris,

It cuts against the argument a bit, but it boosts up Obama's credibility at the same time. My Shakespeare's a little rusty, but didn't Brutus praise Caesar before making his case for stabbing him to death to the mob?

[boris]

Not as much as it boosts McCains.

[pagar]

""You have a real choice in this election."

As long as the Democrats field the type of candidates they have been, America always has a real choice. One can vote for Republicans who will defend America, or vote for the Democrat who will defend anyone who claims to be against America.

I would think it would be very embarrassing for Kerry to be endorsing someone who is saying that America had no choice in 2004 but now has a choice in voting for the President of the US.

[Appalled]

boris:

Badgers are even more dangerous than flying squirrels.

Better watch yourself...

[badger]

boris,

Are you basing that statement on anything? A two-foot putt is a gimmie. Saying that Obama's really hurting himself by conceding that McCain can't be worse than the worst President in modern history isn't.

Now let's look at pagar, for instance. This whole idea that Democrats won't even bother to "defend America" is certainly not giving up any ground. But it's lunatic fringe stuff, and someone like pagar isn't going to convince anyone whose vote is seriously up for grabs in the general election to vote Republican. So does that make it a strong, gaffe-free, message?

[badger]

Appalled,

Fer sure. What respectable football team would call themselves "The Flying Squirrels"?

[windansea]

A two-foot putt is a gimmie.

gee, I don't remember any gimmies when I played the Tour.

[Sue]

Hey! The Magnificent Bastard himself reads this blog and it didn't make the top 100?

Top blogs

Screw 'em!

[boris]

conceding that McCain can't be worse than the worst ...

Depends on the target audience. McCain is perceived to be better at the main problem moderates and independents have with Bush and Obama just affirmed it. That's also Obama's target audience in the general.

IMO history will be far kinder to Bush than you are now but moderates and indies tend to believe that a better president could bridge the partisan divide. That is something McCain has done and it gets more apparent that Obama can't. He is too far left to get anyone on the right (other than a few swooners).

[Sue]

Good grief. I can't read. Tom made it. # 81. I still say screw 'em. 81? Puuuleeeze...

[Barney Frank]

badger,

Your syntax is a bit confusing but if you are saying the Dems haven't suffered from a serious national defense credibilty problem for forty or so years you aren't looking at the same world as everyone else.

Probably 95% of Americans expect that McCain couldn't be any worse than Bush.

A large chunk of the Republican party is afraid of precisely that contingency, and it amounts to considerably more than 5% of Americans I'd estimate.

It cuts against the argument a bit, but it boosts up Obama's credibility at the same time.

I don't buy that either. Obama's growing problem is matching his rhetoric to his past. His credibility is taking a beating for precisely this kind of calculated facile statement.

[boris]

What respectable football team would call themselves "The Flying Squirrels"?

Not a bad name for a soccer team though.

[Rick Ballard]

Badger has a point. If we look back at BHO's initial positions, taken as head of the Cut n' Run Copperhead faction of the Dems and compare them to his current craven crawlback we can determine that he has, in fact, the spine of the snake for which his faction is named. As with every other position which he has "held" (vide gun grabbing), he shows a remarkable ability to speak from both sides of his rather large mouth, wholly dependent upon his assessment of the group to whom he is speaking.

His comments concerning McCain must be examined in that light - he didn't mean anything by it any more than he means anything about any other subject. One may try and interpret something by examining the general direction in which he appears to be slithering but a Copperhead can reverse direction at a moment's notice.

Thanks for highlighting that, Badger. Watch out for the Moose - he doesn't like Badgers.

[PeterUK]

""But what you have to ask yourself is who has the chance to actually really change things in a fundamental way so that 10 years from now or 20 years from now you can look back and you can say boy we really moved in a new direction and we put the country on a better path"

Ah! The Cultural Revolution,the Great Leap Sideways of Obama-wan Kenobi.
Perhaps the survivors can have a reunion.

[cathyf]

...Obama's ... conceding that McCain can't be worse than the worst President in modern history...

Wait a minute -- Obama said that McCain would be a better president than Jimmy Carter? When did that come up?

[Bill in AZ]

Sue, I looked at that ranking, and I think I figured out why Karl's favorite blog isn't in the top 10: Instapundit isn't in the list, and TM gets a lot of traffic from Instapundit. Since Instapundit isn't even in the top 100 (yeah, right) I can only guess that in their infinite wisdom they don't consider Instapundit a "blog". The term Insta-lanche was created for the attention a blog gets when Glenn links. I think the stats on that site are a bit skewed for this.

[badger]

Boris,

I really doubt that Obama was counting on being able to convince moderates that McCain would be worse than Bush. Deserved or undeserved, McCain has been on the political scene long enough to be viewed as a relatively competent politician and Obama knows that the political resources required to actually convince people that McCain would be as wrong on both policy and basic management skills as Bush would be steep.

Why not just focus those resources on policy arguments (where polls show Democrats holding the upper hand) and break even with McCain on competence? And in the mean time, when you're going head-to-head with someone with a reputation as a straight talker, why not boost up your own credibility by pointing out some things that the vast majority of people believe to be true, even if it's not strictly party line?

Rick,
I'd love to debate this point with you, but I'm worried that it would turn into a debate about why donkeys, as a species, should be more in favor of cutting the capital gains tax than elephants or bald eagles. Is McCain the Moose?

[boris]

No, Bullwinkle is the moose you moron.

[boris]

Sorry couldn't help it.

Here's what Obama did wrt moderates and indies. He admitted that even a far left dimorat like himself sees the good side of McCain.

[Rick Ballard]

Little steps, Boris - he lives in a hole and doesn't get out much.

[centralcal]

Dean Barnett over at Weekly Standard's blog noticed TM's post here ("one of my favorite bloggers") and has linked.

[pagar]

While American soldiers were fighting and dying in Vietnam, John Kerry was in the states and Paris urging the enemy to keep up what they were doing to us American military who were in SE Asia. The Democrats nominated that person to be president in 2004. Even before Iraq became a shooting war, Sen Rockefeller was over in Syria telling them everything he had gotten from his position on the Senate Intel committee. Since then there have been a large number of Democrat political leaders saying that they are not going to allow America to win. Now they are apparently going to nominate a person who says
he will talk to the Iranian leaders. What does an American President have to offer Iran? Iran wants two things: to destroy Israel and to destroy US. What are they going to talk about?

Here's the North Vietnamese position on Americans who aided them in their efforts to defeat US

"
Q: Was the American antiwar movement important to Hanoi's victory?
A: It was essential to our strategy. Support of the war from our rear was completely secure while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American antiwar movement. Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda, and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and that she would struggle along with us."

Essential to me means they could not have defeated America with out the help of people like John Kerry.

On the Tet Offensive "
" A: Our losses were staggering and a complete surprise;. Giap later told me that Tet had been a military defeat, though we had gained the planned political advantages when Johnson agreed to negotiate and did not run for re-election. The second and third waves in May and September were, in retrospect, mistakes. Our forces in the South were nearly wiped out by all the fighting in 1968. It took us until 1971 to re-establish our presence, but we had to use North Vietnamese troops as local guerrillas. If the American forces had not begun to withdraw under Nixon in 1969, they could have punished us severely. We suffered badly in 1969 and 1970 as it was."

Here's the listing of deaths for our side by month.
Link

There is no doubt in my mind that hundreds of those whose died for America after the the DEFEAT the Communists suffered at their Tet Offensive would be alive if not for the efforts of the Anti America Americans.

There is no doubt in my mind that thousands of American soldiers would not be back in Iraq and Afghanistan for their 3rd, 4th or more tour if the Democrat political leaders had simply assured Al-Qaeda that America was going to fight as a United country to defeat them.

Two weeks ago, we saw a Democrat Congress lead the way to assist Chavez in his efforts to take over South and Central America by defeating Columbia, one of our allies in South America. If anyone thinks that America will be in better shape if the entire Central/South American area goes Communist, they are wrong.

"But it's lunatic fringe stuff," I don't see it that way. IMO, it's survival of a nation.

[pagar]

How is this statement different from the Obama Quote?

"
New Times, New Opportunities
by Sam Webb, National Chair, 04/11/2008 10:09
"The clearest expression of this developing movement pivots around the candidacy of Barack Obama, whose inspirational message and politics have captured the imagination of millions. So much so that many commentators and politicians use the words 'transformational' or 'transforming' to describe his candidacy — that is, a candidacy capable of assembling a broad people’s majority to reconfigure the terms and terrain of politics in this country in a fundamental way." Link

""But what you have to ask yourself is who has the chance to actually really change things in a fundamental way so that 10 years from now or 20 years from now you can look back and you can say boy we really moved in a new direction and we put the country on a better path,"

[PeterUK]

""But what you have to ask yourself is who has the chance to actually really change things in a fundamental way so that 10 years from now or 20 years from now you can look back and you can say boy we really moved in a new direction and we put the country on a better path,"

Looks like the offer of a bag of magic beans again.For a man of few public achievements Obama is promising a lot.If you want one of these we can let you have Anthony Charles Lynton Blair for $99,99.

[megapotamus]

Barry say, This is a land of prosperity and liberty. We hope to change all that....

[Elliott]

Do you still play much down in Mexico, windansea?

[PeterUK]

""And all three of us would be better than George Bush."

Quite possibly,but wouldn't they have to expand the Oval Office?

[Elliott]

Ha, Mr. UK.

In the context of this, has anyone mentioned: "Twosies beats onesies, but nothing beats threes?"

[ben]

Actually, in my humble opinion, none of them would be better than George Bush.

[glasater]

Elliot--

Golf courses in Mexico are very nice but the grass to hit off of is just a little different.

I imagine the grounds keepers have to use a tougher grass because of the climate.

To me--the ball "sat up" very well.

[MikeS]

Quite possibly,but wouldn't they have to expand the Oval Office?
Not necessary, they are actually small people. It may be hard to believe but they are much smaller than they appear on TV.

[M. Simon]

I like "The Flying Squirrels with Nuts".

It has many levels of meaning.

[M. Simon]

Rick,

I believe the faction was named for the copper 1¢ piece.

They called themselves Peace Democrats; their opponents called them Copperheads because some wore copper pennies as identifying badges.

Copperheads.

If the snake fits wear it.

[kim]

Marcus Antimony.
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