The Chicago Way

Barack Obama channels his inner Sean Connery as he describes his approach to the upcoming campaign:

Barack Obama is warning supporters that the general election fight between him and John McCain may get ugly, but the Illinois senator is vowing not to back down.

"If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun," Obama said at a fundraiser in Philadelphia Friday, according to pool reports.

Uh huh.  I hope he also brings a gun permit, a trigger lock, and a good lawyer.  And a health care plan.  In his next fantasy I suppose Obama will want to channel his inner Clint Eastwood, who once explained that "I've got a firm policy on gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to be the one controlling it."

Meanwhile, let me applaud any of the attendees who managed to keep a straight face while listening to Gunslinger Obama bragging on his quickness with a nine.  Here's a guy who never heard a gun control proposal he didn't like promising to brandish a handgun as if he were Annie Oakley hunting ducks.  As if.  But he certainly is a bold orator!

And since Obama said it we may not hear the typical Dem denunciations, but let me get a start on filling in the blanks:

1.  I deplore this exhortation to random gunplay - what sort of a message does this send to America's youth, too many of whom have grown up in a culture glorifying violence?  Is Obama a serious Presidential candidate or yet another rapper with yet another beef?

2.  I deplore the imagery of a black man waving a gun to settle a dispute - surely if Team Hillary's mention of Obama's teenage drug use was a despicable play on regrettable ethnic stereotypes, this is too.

That's a start - over to you.

BEING A ROLE MODEL - A SOMETIME THING WITH BARACK:

Obama explains why he wore a goofy-looking bicycle helmet last weekend:

Obama couldn't resist a little boasting. He explained that he faced a tossup: Risking ridicule or sending children the right message about bike gear. "I had an internal debate," Obama admitted when a supporter thanked him for wearing a helmet. "Because I knew that the AP was going to take a picture, and they were trying to portray it like Dukakis wearing that tank helmet.

"But I wanted to make sure that the children who saw that picture knew that even the Democratic nominee for president wears a helmet when he goes biking," he said to applause.

Sure.  And if the AP mocks you, cap 'em with a nine.

Comments

[Rick Ballard]

It's really a shame that Obama has never accomplished a single thing in his entire life to which any of his 'life beyond brain death' supporters can point with pride. No obstacles overcome, for his path was swept clean before he set foot upon it, no merit gained through hard work, for he has never worked hard in his life, no applause for public service, for he has done nothing for his constituents aside from helping the slumlord who takes their rent money in exchange for turning off the heat gain access to a rotten governor.

They have nothing left but to tear down for the 'man' they support does not appear to have even mastered the rudiments of manhood. Empty boasting followed by empty threats aren't the hallmark of a successful Presidential candidate.

[kim]

Actually, there is indeed a great lesson here, eightnine. Compare the picture of Obama, gingerly riding like he's afraid to fall off, with Bush triumphant in his daring bicycling.

Authenticity rules.
===========

[Rick Ballard]

The Cubs should invite Obama to throw out a first ball or two. That would be much funnier than the flat tired bike ride.

[bad]

Just saw McCain on SNL. He was funny and charming.

[Ann]

Kim,

It wasn't just the helmet, it was the flat tire he was riding on that was ridiculous. What is his energy policy? Flat Tires and Helmets?

[kim]

The nice thing about his boyishnessk(did I say that?), Rick is that it will cause people to look for his regents. Obviously, McCain is his own man, by reputation if not fact beholden to no one. In a way I kind of pity Obama; he'll end up looking like he's being jerked around on a string, not only by others, but by the absurd expectations of himself. He'll need new tires on the bus before it is over.
==================

[JM Hanes]

Ann:

Tapper's site (or maybe ABC) is hinky that way, for some reason. Drives me nuts, because I never remember that you can't do a normal Command-C copy till I've given it yet again another couple of tries. You have to select copy from the Edit menu, or from a right click contextual menu. If you're using a single button mouse, after you highlight the passage you want, hold down the Control key (ctrl) while you click on the selected text and a little menu will pop up next to your mouse which includes the copy option. I couldn't live without my two button mouse -- don't know why Apple even bothers producing their one button jobbies any more. In fact, I just added another one to the discard pile today after unpacking my AbFab new computer! Shakedown cruise tomorrow.

[dhunter]

Looks to me like Elmer Fudd Hussein Obamma there pulled out his little gun and shot hisself his own tire!
Yikes, thats scary stuff right there!

[ParseThis]

It's really a shame that Obama has never accomplished a single thing in his entire life to which any of his 'life beyond brain death' supporters can point with pride.

Why can't we just dislike McCain?

It's not like he's a leader who can rally support.

[JM Hanes]

Sue: "They can negotiate...." That was one very funny comment!

[kim]

And he's about to catch his right trouser leg in the chain. A metaphor for his campaign.

Don't look back, there's a bus about to catch you.
============================

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
The Cubs should invite Obama to throw out a first ball or two.
---

How about hoops with Obama/Karl Rove?

[bad]

Obamanation has been a media darling for months. Where are all of the pictures of him doing Dad stuff with his kids- squirt gun fights, sidewalk chalk drawings, rollerblading, tag, bounce house at a friend's birthday party, tea party, etc...

Privacy for the kids, of course, just pictures of him.

[kim]

Parse this, Parse This; McCain will rally support the old fashion way, with policy and pleas, not with baritonic balderdash off the teleprompter.
=======================

[Rick Ballard]

Kim,

Two incidents this year show the unbridgeable gulf between the little boy and the man. McCain was hit by the NYT with a scurrilous libel concerning a "close relationsip" with a woman lobbyist. McCain called a press conference, denounced the Times and took questions until the journalists quit asking.

In Texas, when McCain used Hagee to knock down support among the Baptists he caught flack over Hagee's previous standard Baptist boilerplate concerning the Catholic church. He denounced the boilerplate - and then he got Hagee by the throat and had a chat with him that resulted in Hagee making a public formal apology for his lifelong idiocy via a letter to Donovan.

Contrast that with Obama's "this isn't the [fill in blank] that I knew garbage about u-pickem. He has no spine and I have absolutely no reason to believe that he ever has had or ever will have one.

[kim]

Another stymie, eightnine. Any demonstration of athletic prowess from Obama will remind the electorate why McCain can't rebound, and sorry, it's not because he can't jump.
==========================

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
It's really a shame that Obama has never accomplished a single thing
---

He beat the Clintons, and that's more than any Bush can say.

[bad]

Rick

Bike tires usually go flat when they sit around unused. I suspect you know that. Surely you don't suggest the whole thing was a photo op? (gasp)

[Rick Ballard]

to knock down support for Huckabee among the Baptists

[kim]

You are so right Rick, and we are going to see it over and over again. But, please, don't let the caricatures begin until after the convention. The Hillary nightmares haven't gone away.
==========================

[kim]

Now I know you're a fool, eightnine. You think Hillary's beaten? From here I can hear the wheels going around in her head.
=====================================

[kim]

Besides, it's Dean's organization, and money from crooks that has got him this far.
============================

[JM Hanes]

Hadn't noticed the update. The guy has internal debates about bike gear? PhotoOp's are the old politics; Obama introduces the Mockery Op, or MockOp for short.

[kim]

I mean, after all, who do you think Johnson was working for? Obama let it slip there.
========================

[kim]

I know, JMH, torturing himself over the decision. After two days in office he's going to have to decide whether or not to wear diapers to bed.
=====================

[Lesley]

Kim LOL

[kim]

Ain't he precious?
============

[bad]

LOL Kim

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
he's going to have to decide whether or not to wear diapers to bed.
---

I hear McCain's on a fiber restricted diet due to the limited Depends budget.

[kim]

I know when to quit.
============

[Sue]

Lesley,

How many years were you married? We will celebrate our 32nd this year. I'll think of you when I watch the fireworks on the 4th. ::hugs::

[Sue]

Why can't we just dislike McCain?

I do. And so can you. But what I can't do is dislike McCain so much I am willing to have an Obama presidency. I'll do my part to help McCain get elected, because the alternative is not one I can live with.

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
the alternative is not one I can live with.
---

Great bumper sticker.

McCain 2008:
Marginally Better Than Suicide

[Pofarmer]

Ya know, one thing that's bugging the crap out of me is Obama constantly calling Republicans the enemy, talking in terms reserved for the battlefield. On the other hand, McCain is going out of his way to be nice. I wonder if people will notice the difference?

In his own way, I think McCain is trying to ratchet down the rhetoric, which is what Bush tried to do, which is, I beleive, why he hasn't gotten involved in all the little daily scandals. We'll see how McCains strategy plays out, but, I'm not all that hopeful.

[Pofarmer]

Marginally better than Obamacide.

[Sue]

Marginally Better Than Suicide

Works for me. Obama is bound and determined to get us all killed.

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
I wonder if people will notice the difference?
---

Yes, and that's why Obama's ahead in the polls.

[Sue]

Pofarmer,

::grin::

[Lesley]

Sue - we were married for 12 years, it would be 24 this July 4th. How sweet of you to ask. 32 years...yours was a Bi-Centennial Wedding!

On the evening of the 4th we'll take the boat into town and watch the city fireworks from the lake. Afterwards, we go back home and shoot off fireworks from our dock. We get the jumbo, whoop-de-doo fireworks from South Dakota (where they are legal) as opposed to Minnie Soda where the whoop-de-doos are not (I'm a criminal, I'll admit it. If I could get M-80's, I would).

Once in awhile we have "mishaps" ie, big aerial displays that tip over and fire into the crowd on the deck above the dock. These episodes create much chaos and excitement amongst us observers.We flee, screaming in panic, only to regather, check for casualties, make sure the woods aren't on fire, and continue the frivolity.

Maybe someday we'll watch them together. :)

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
Obama is bound and determined to get us all killed.
---

You'd think something like that would show up on his background check.

[Sue]

Maybe someday we'll watch them together. :)

I would love that. I graduated in May of 76 and married in July. Turned 18 in August. And would have killed either of my daughters if they had tried that stunt. ::grin::

[Sue]

You'd think something like that would show up on his background check.

One would think so. But one would assume they vetted him. Wouldn't one?

[Pofarmer]

You'd think something like that would show up on his background check.

William Ayers ring a bell?

[bad]

Lesley, Sue

July is our 25th. Glad to know we are in wonderful company.

[Sue]

Pofarmer,

We'll see how McCains strategy plays out, but, I'm not all that hopeful.

As Clarice said, McCain has been playing to the muddle his entire career. He is probably going to do a lot better than anyone else we could have put on the ticket. It just isn't the year for anything but a centrist republican to even stand a chance.

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
But one would assume they vetted him.
---

Rove's doing his best, but he's a bit distracted with all the subpoenas flying around right now.

[Sue]

bad,

We are indeed in good company.

[Sue]

Rove visits here. Did you know that? Wave hi to him. We love him here. The Magnificent Bastard!

[bad]

...subpoenas flying around right now.

Leopold?????

[bad]

Sue

I graduated high school in '77. Hit and Soylent claim to be a tad bit younger. I find them both to be very charming. Does that make me a couger?

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
Rove visits here.
---

Just out of curiosity, is he the one feeding you guys the whole Jim Jones/'democrats==suicide' thing?

[bad]

Just out of curiosity, is he the one feeding you guys the whole Jim Jones/'democrats==suicide' thing?

No. That would be Cheney.

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
No. That would be Cheney.
---

;-)

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

nytimes

---
WASHINGTON — American and international investigators say that they have found the electronic blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon on computers that belonged the nuclear smuggling network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist, but that they have not been able to determine whether it was sold to Iran or the smuggling ring’s other customers.

The plans appear to closely resemble a nuclear weapon built by Pakistan, and first tested exactly a decade ago. But when confronted with the design by officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency last year, Pakistani officials insisted that Dr. Khan, who has been lobbying in recent months to be released from the loose house arrest that he has been under since 2004, did not have access to Pakistan’s weapons designs.
---

[bad]

"I had an internal debate," Obama admitted when a supporter thanked him for wearing a helmet. "Because I knew that the AP was going to take a picture, and they were trying to portray it like Dukakis wearing that tank helmet.

This is Obama pointing out how smart he is, while simultaneously showcasing the brutality of his press coverage.

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

link

---
"I had an internal debate," Obama admitted, when a supporter thanked him for wearing a helmet. "Because I knew that the AP was going to take a picture, and they were trying to portray it like Dukakis wearing that tank helmet.

"But I wanted to make sure that the children who saw that picture knew that even the Democratic nominee for president wears a helmet when he goes biking,'' he said to applause. "Now, obviously the rest of my apparel was apparently not up to snuff, because I got a hard time from all sorts of blogs... who said I looked like Urkel."

At one point, according to the pool report, Obama looked around a room for Rick Fizdale, a contributor who five minutes earlier had quietly slipped outside and left. Fizdale, a former Leo Burnett executive, had left wearing a homemade nametag bearing the words "Rick Hussein Fizdale."

"They have these wonderful stickers that said, 'Rick Hussein Fizdale,'" Mr. Obama said. "The theory was, we're all Hussein."

"But that accurately captures, I think, the strategy,'' Obama said of his opponents. "They're going to try to make me into a scary guy. They're even trying to make Michelle into a scary person. Right? And so that drumbeat - we're not sure if he's patriotic or not, we're not sure if he is too black. I don't know, before I wasn't black enough. Now he might be too black. We don't know whether he's going to socialize - well, who knows what."
---

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
Is Obama a serious Presidential candidate or yet another rapper with yet another beef?

2. I deplore the imagery of a black man waving a gun to settle a dispute
---

---
"But that accurately captures, I think, the strategy,'' Obama said of his opponents. "They're going to try to make me into a scary guy.
---

[Alan Trout]

Obama is taking the presidential campaign in a predictably ugly direction when he starts using the language of the ghetto to make his point. I doubt that the McCain campaign would bring a "knife" to any fight. Sen. McCain has said that he will run an ethical campaign, and I believe him. Obama's latest hyperbole only serves to illustrate his true mindset. He came up through the dirty street politics of Chicago's South Side, and now it shows.

The South Side, in case any of you don't know, is the grimy underbelly of Chicago. It is full of drug dealers, whores and paroled felons. East 57th Street, near the University of Chicago looks like something out of a Fallujah, Iraq guidebook. And this is where Obama made his political bones. This is where he built his base.

It is therefore no surprise that he would express himself like a South Side "gangstah" when attempting to motivate his followers. You will hear more of this from Obama. And then he will turn around and, through surrogates of course, call every criticism of himself "racist". This is going to be a very interesting campaign season.

It is eerily reminiscent of Hitler's rise to power in 1930's Germany. A seeming buffoon who the liberal old guard thought they could control, Hitler rose to unprecedented power by labelling every attack, every criticism not "racist" but rather "communist". Then he advocated violence to silence his political oppostion. Any political opponent who brought a knife to a NAZI gunfight was dispatched very quickly indeed. The labels are different, but the tactics remain the same.

Obama most certainly must have read "Mein Kampf" before planning his campaign. He appears to be following the same blueprint. It is no surprise then that this is the kind of political campaign he is contemplating. Given his political origins on the South Side of Chicago where such practices are quite common, none of this is surprising.

[Elliott]

kim:

We've seen Obama be a bit snappish, too. 'C'mon guys, I've already answered seven questions*' and stalks off, leaving reporters pondering his fate. It'll get a lot worse.

Sue:

Woohoo! This could be our cybernaut!!!!

Obama and the cybernauts, yes, it's all making sense now. Avoid the press, rely on Medea.
_____________
*Going from memory, I think it was eight.

[Elliott]

Just out of curiosity, is he the one feeding you guys the whole Jim Jones/'democrats==suicide' thing?

My VRWC hotline has been on the blink so, unlike bad, I first heard about it yesterday:

Rendell told the crowd that some Obama supporters brought him a big carton of Kool-Aid and told him to “drink up” when Obama became the nominee.

“I gave Sen. Clinton $1,500 in the primary so I thought just for old-time sake I’d give Sen. Obama $1,499,” Rendell said, sparking scattered boos from the crowd. The governor calmed them by saying “that was before I drank the Kool-Aide.”

To dream the impotable dream...

[Elliott]

From The Page:

Former Deputy AG Eric Holder– a member of Obams’a veep-vetting team– tells the American Constitutional Society that Bush has set the U.S. on a “disastrous course.”

“Our needlessly abusive and unlawful practices in the ‘War on Terror’ have diminished our standing in the world community.”

Was DOJ consulted about extraordinary rendition during the Clinton administration? Just wondering.

[Elliott]

Aren't caps good? They show he has enough experience for the job, right?

[Elliott]

Matins*, all.
________
*In either a liturgical or non-liturgical sense, ut vobis placet**.

___________
**As it pleases (you). Please let me not be in error; I think I've given Jane and Ann enough ammunition already.

[sbw]

89: Yes, and that's why Obama's ahead in the polls.

No, YOU are why Obama could be ahead in the polls.

[clarice]

JOM can run pictures? Why has this been kept a secret? Think of the fun we can have.

[hit and run]

Wait. When Obama says this:

"But that accurately captures, I think, the strategy,'' Obama said of his opponents. "They're going to try to make me into a scary guy. They're even trying to make Michelle into a scary person. Right? And so that drumbeat - we're not sure if he's patriotic or not, we're not sure if he is too black. I don't know, before I wasn't black enough. Now he might be too black. We don't know whether he's going to socialize - well, who knows what."

Does that mean his whole fight against cynicism shtick was BS? Please tell me Mr. Hope wasn't just pulling my leg. Or wool over my eyes. I couldn't take it.

Because he used to talk like this:

Over the next year of a primary and the next two years leading to the election of the next president, the campaigns...(APPLAUSE)... the campaigns shouldn't be about making each other look bad, they should be about figuring out how we can all do some good for this precious country of ours. (APPLAUSE)

That's our mission.

And in this mission, our rivals won't be one another, and I would assert it won't even be the other party. It's going to be cynicism that we're fighting against.

Or maybe it means he was fighting cynicism but just lost.

Cynicism brought a knife to the fight, and Obama brought a spork.

[clarice]

Excellent, Hit,,but then you always were in the first ranks of those fighting cynicism.

[Jane]

Good Morning everyone! You guys sure were busy last night. It took me til now to catch up.

In a mere 8 hours or so, Tiger tees off. I suspect it will be all Tim, all the time til then.

Meanwhile, did you see this from Glenn?

UH OH: Delegate*s reversal stuns party: Wisconsin Democrat now publicly supports McCain.

[kim]

Noemie Emery is looking for your Congressional Candidate in Florida, clarice.
=======================

[JM Hanes]

89:

You seem to have missed the part where Tom invited us to parody Obama, thus "I deplore...."

[kim]

Notice his glaring guilty conscience: "We don't know whether he's going to socialize".
======================

[centralcal]

Yeah, I saw that yesterday Jane. Gateway Pundit has a link (to Scary Larry, I think), saying they kicked her out as a delegate!

BTW: Newsbusters website has disappeared from the net. Anyone know what gives with that?

[kim]

Also some indication of a blind spot about his image. He thinks 'They' are going to make the pair scary. He has no idea that he is already scary and it hasn't anything to do with the color of his skin, but rather with the content of his character.

Hers, too.

He will blame the ongoing revelation of their characters as a racist attack by his opponents. He is so Twentieth Century.
==============================

[clarice]

Yes she is, kim, and she knows all about him ..I'm surprised she didn't mention his name.

[JM Hanes]

TM:

Bob Owens provides an update worthy look at Obama's official support for our constitutional right to have fun with firearms! It wouldn't be the Obama we know, of course, without a flip side. Owens also points out that Obama's support for banning "the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons” would virtually eliminate most of the sporting guns we know and love. His photo comparison of a before-and-after assault ban weapon is classic.

In what might have been a sadly ironic moment of prescience, Michelle was apparently prepared to recognize an individual right to bear arms for the purpose of self-defense in eastern Iowa, but as Tigerhawk observes (via Instapundit):

In Iowa there is a 500 year flood, but the people are not paralyzed, whining, or looting. There will be no massive relief effort from around the world, and nobody will step up to help Iowans except for other Iowans. Yet years from now, there will be no Iowans still in FEMA camps.

In the spirit of Obama's new politics biotics, I'd like to point out that I learned to speak English in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, so there's no one who understands what Iowans are going through better than I do.

Jane:
Do they still do state by state roll calls at the Dem convention? Because it sure would be entertaining to hear Minnesota registering a vote for McCain, wouldn't it? As Kaus would say, faster please!

[GMax]

As I understand it, they have challenged the credentials of the Wisconsin delegate who now is a McCainiac but she is not barred yet. She must be given an opportunity to be heard at the credentials committee I think if she wants it. Funny they are having problems purging their ranks. They should go back and read up, Papa Joseph never had such problems in Russia!

[clarice]

"faster please" is Michael Ledeen. JMH, are you saying that you--who write so beautifully--are not a native English speaker? Amazing if true.

[Neo]

I'd rather take my chances and go hunting with Dick Cheney than hang with "Bat" Obama with a gun.

[Neo]

Maybe now it">http://">it is obvious why Iran stopped trying to develop a nuclear weapon design

The interpretation of the last NIE is now obsolete as well.

[clarice]

Isn't that story amazing? And we found out about it in 2003--what a coincidence..And we learned more when Libya folded after we invaded Iraq. Another coincidence.

When will the administration get the credit it deserves for saving our sorry asses?

[kim]

Sometime last year I said that the Republican candidate this year would sweep into office making the case for Bush's administration that Bush can't make himself. I'm still waiting.

If we had an honest press, it would be different. Will our media redefine itself in time to save the country?
====================

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

Kaus and his famous Feiler Faster Thesis.

No, English is definitely my first language. Iowa is my Indonesia. We lived there for a few years when I was a toddler, moved back to Massachusetts when I started school, and ended up in South Carolina by the time I was 11. According to a kind of Henry Higgins online quiz, I apparently sound like I hail from Philadelphia.

[hit and run]

Neo:
Maybe now it is obvious why Iran stopped trying to develop a nuclear weapon design

Yes ... and did you see this from Michael Rubin on the Corner:

The former spokesman of the President Mohammed Khatami’s government (1997-2005) acknowledges in a debate that a goal of the reformism was to lull the West into a false confidence so that Iran could pursue illicit nuclear activities:

[hit and run]

More NRO? How about this from Greg Pollowitz at the Media Blog:

Headline of the Day

ABC News:

Companies Get OK to Annoy Polar Bears

Bush Administration allows oil and gas companies to annoy already threatened polar bears

What exactly constitutes "annoy?" Do you think there's a secret Justice Dept. memo floating around authorizing "enhanced annoyance techniques?"

I won't try and improve on his joke.

[Rick Ballard]

Kim,

How would you assess Obama's performance in the first week of the general campaign? I would say that he beclowned himself once again with the Johnson fiasco and that the hope and change schtick has pegged out wrt garnering additional support. Apparently the campaign plans to unmuzzle a new Michelle but I have sincere doubts about the change in shade of lipstick working well once she opens her mouth. Russert's exit killed this weekend's news cycle and I would say that Obama has lost a very important media ally to boot.

If we limit outcomes to plus, minus and null, then I would say the first week was a net minus to Obama and a null to McCain.

Perhaps we should do a Sunday morning assessment for the next twenty weeks? I would be very interested to hear how others saw the week.

[hit and run]

You know, if this whole presidency thing doesn't work out for Obama, maybe he could head to Alaska.

If there's one thing those polar bears need, it's a community organizer.

[RichatUF]

Elliott-

Was DOJ consulted about extraordinary rendition during the Clinton administration?

Yea-actually now that I think about it, Holder might have even signed off on a few memos. See it was better that were sent terrorists over to Syria and Egypt to get tortured with the FBI or CIA listening in on a telephone, because it was the Clinton Administration doing it

[sbw]

Rick, there needs to be a multiplication factor -- Plus, minus, and null only register a single beclowning, and Obama is an artiste.

[hit and run]

Well, of course any scoring has to factor in what actually happened versus what people actually got to see and hear and then versus what the muddle was actually paying attention to.

A net negative week for Obama probably resulted in the loss of 13 votes. All of which were Republican fence sitters who finally were able to find a clothes pin on amazon strong enough for the task.

[clarice]

Makes sense,JMH. It seemed impossible that a non-native speaker could ever attain that level of clarity and complexity in such a complicated language.

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

---
then I would say the first week was a net minus to Obama and a null to McCain.
---

Obama's poll numbers are up while McCain's are down.

∎

[hit and run]

Today, Rasmussen has it...

Obama 46 (-2 since last week)
McCain 39 (-1)

w/ leaners...

Obama 49 (-1)
McCain 43 (NC)

[windansea]

Too bad the whole IQ and competence thing blows their cover.

they don't call Obama the Wizard of Uhhhs for nothing

yeah he looked goofy in the bike helmet, but the flat tire was priceless

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

RCP Average 06/02 - 06/14 -- 46.2 42.3 Obama +3.9
Gallup Tracking 06/10 - 06/13 2691 RV 45 42 Obama +3.0
Rasmussen Tracking 06/12 - 06/14 3000 LV 49 43 Obama +6.0
NBC/WSJ 06/06 - 06/09 1000 RV 47 41 Obama +6.0
Hotline/FD 06/05 - 06/08 806 RV 44 42 Obama +2.0
IBD/TIPP 06/02 - 06/08 916 RV 43 40 Obama +3.0
CNN 06/04 - 06/05 921 RV 49 46 Obama +3.0

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

poll link

[Rick Ballard]

Gallup has Obama right back down after his magnificent 2 point leap after clinching. Just as Ras does.

He needs better lies and better liars.

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

From the Rasmussen link you posted:

---
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows Barack Obama attracting 46% of the vote while John McCain earns 39%. When “leaners” are included, Obama holds a six-point advantage, 49% to 43%. This is the eighth straight day that Obama has enjoyed a lead of five-to-seven points (see recent daily results). Thirty-six percent (36%) of voters say they are certain to vote for Obama and will not change their mind. Thirty-one percent (31%) are that certain to vote for McCain. Tracking poll results are updated at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time each day. Each weekend, Rasmussen Reports takes a look at Key Polls from the preceding week.
---

[Sue]

And to back up H&R's post, take a look at the comments at this new http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/13/1138296.aspx>blog. And these people probably vote. Ayeee!!!!

[eightnine2718281828mu5]

You guys better put the suicide hotline on speed dial for November; desperation, palpable, etc.

[kim]

Rick, it may be that whatever remains of the 'housing crisis' may be laid at the Democrats' feet. No wonder he bounced Johnson off the Blunder Bus so fast.
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