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July 22, 2008

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centralcal

I have never been a Katie fan - before or during her tenure at CBS. But, I have to say, I think she did a terrific job in her questioning of Obama and that she was "fair and balanced," in that she also interviewed John McCain in her segment.

This may be the first and last compliment I pay her. I look forward to seeing what Brian and Charlie do when their turn comes. Americans are not only watching Obama (and, maybe, McCain), they are watching the media too.

clarice

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-tells-katie-couric-surge-worked.html>Video of Couric's interviews of O and McCain
Does anyone care what Obama says anymore..It's as solid as Edward's denials of an affair with Reille.

DrJ

When Is A Withdrawal Not A Withdrawal?

When you are John Edwards?

centralcal

Amen, Clarice!

JM Hanes

TM: ...currently of CBS News... Now that's funny!

centralcal

It is funny JMH, but I think we need to give Katie some credit here. She has the most to prove as an "anchor." And, by golly, I think she done good.

PaulL

Who cares what we think? I want to know what Obama's supporters think about him wanting to maintain 50,000 troops in Iraq and send an additional several thousand to Afghanistan. I doubt that goes over well with them.

Danube of Thought

On another thread I posted a paraphrase of Obama's 2005 remarks about his "plan," which would have had all US troops out of Iraq by March, 2008. How I pray that McCain will make everything he can out of this.

Jane

I can't believe Obama keeps bringing up the money angle - "we could have spent that money fixing the economy, reducing dependence on oil". (I really don't want to hear that plan.)

I guess that may fly with moonbats, but gee, "let's cause some genocide to save a few bucks" is an odd campaign slogan from my perspective.

hit and run

Centralcal:
I have never been a Katie fan - before or during her tenure at CBS. But, I have to say, I think she did a terrific job in her questioning of Obama

Media Bistro:

Some thoughts from Couric at the event:

"However you feel about her politics, I feel that Sen. Clinton received some of the most unfair, hostile coverage I've ever seen."

Couric went on to say that latent sexism contributed, in part, to Hillary's defeat.

She referred to one "prominent member of the commentariat" who said he "found it hard to be objective when it came to Obama."

That and for all we know, when Obama arrived for the interview today, he probably said to her, "you're nice enough, sweetie"

Ranger

It will be fun to see how the Left takes the new talk of keeping troops in country for "humanitarian missions." I am betting they don't buy it... but I could be wrong. They do love "humanitarian missions."

centralcal

Ha! Hit.

Look, the media is a favorite punching bag of mine. I give her credit simply for adding McCain to the mix. She didn't have to do that. I think that took courage and, I hope, sets the stage for the anchors that are gonna follow her.

Jane

Oooh - that stings.

clarice

Imagine you are a diehard Hill fan--you watched this weasel get the nomination by taking one position on Iraq and immediately after run away from it.

hit and run

I agree Centracal (though without the advantage of with the blessing of not having watched the interview).

Ranger

And if Obama just renames them "peacekeepers" he keeps his promis to "end the war" while keeping 80,000 troops in country.

Peter

"That and for all we know, when Obama arrived for the interview today, he probably said to her, "you're nice enough, sweetie""

Obama is a well traveled cosmopolitan,more like,

"Wie gehts meine Schatze?"

JM Hanes

centralcal:

I just enjoy Tom's sense of humor -- the kind where you read right over something, then find yourself doing a mental wheelie and going whoa, now that's funny!:)

I haven't seen the interviews, but from the transcripts I'd agree that Katie did a very creditable job. She didn't let Obama off with pablum, even doubling down with "so I'm just trying to understand this" to press him further. And kudos, or at least acknowledgements, are due for giving McCain equal time. Maybe the embarassing press the press has been getting will ultimately pay off in more balanced coverage than we'd otherwise have seen -- although I'm not holding my breath.

I may have to go back and watch the video, just to check out Obama's body language. He seemed a trifle tart here and there!

JM Hanes

Ranger:

"...while keeping 80,000 troops in country..." for the next hundred 8-10 years.

sbw

Now, porch, now after reading about the double dealing in Iraq, in government and in the campaign that remains uncalled by the press and the population, now I get depressed.

MikeS

I understand that almost all of our offensive combat operations troops are out of Iraq now. The troops we have left are committed either to defensive, preemptive, and preventative combat operations or to support and training operations.

At least that's what my advisers tell me.

centralcal

JMH: Now, I do have to confess I did not watch the whole interview(s), just the excerpts that Gateway Pundit showed (equal time to both candidates).

However, I still come back to the fact that this was the Magical Mystery Tour (Obama) with fawning groupies/acolytes (the Media), so I guess I am easily made less critical - that Katie included Johnny Mac, forced a balance.

BobS

Please note the attack piece from HufPo right after McCain was interviewed by Curic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ilan-goldenberg/not-a-gaffe-a-fundaemtnal_b_114394.html

The left will say ANYTHING to get in power.

Porchlight

sbw,

Hope you'll find reason for cheer soon. Obama's Grand Tour is likely not going to end up being the money and time he spent on it. He seems to be annoying US reporters as much as anyone else, with aides speaking presumptously as if he's already won office. He stumbled badly in his press conference. We still haven't had the Berlin speech yet, but a subset of the MSM and foreign press is already beginning to take notice of the fact that this tour is unseemly on its face. And no visible bump in the polls thus far. I was honestly expecting much worse.

Soylent Red

After reading the transcript, I have the following belief: The MSM knows the jig is up.

After the NYT travesty I think the press will become more and more sensitive to appearing balanced. Couric, I think, sensed the mania going too far and realized that she needed to protect whatever credibility she has.

I won't say she was balanced, but she was a lot less swoony than I thought she would be.

A Panglossian

But Tom,

Everything does happen for the best in this best of all possible worlds.

Only cynics doit garder leur jardins.

BobS

Porchlight: I agree with you. Only MSM believes that Obama is on some sort of introductory world tour. You pointed to something that I've not thought of in that he's spending some major cash on this tour and the campaign seems to have fudged their June take. Are they (forgive me everyone) "jumping the shark?"

BobS

and maybe....just maybe the wiley old shark has been holding fire and husbanding his resources

Porchlight

BobS, I've heard it floated that since it's supposedly a fact-finding mission and Obama brought those other Senate stooges with him, the Middle East part of the trip will be charged to the taxpayer. (I sure hope someone asks him about this.) But I don't see how Europe could be thus expensed, so yeah, it ought to be a pretty penny on top of all of his other campaign expenses for July.

centralcal

Soylent: "Couric, I think, sensed the mania going too far and realized that she needed to protect whatever credibility she has."

That is the point. Couric is the bottom of the heap ratings-wise, the vultures have been circling her Anchorness for months, so she has more to prove. She, among the Big 3 anchors went first. I think she threw down the gauntlet (of sorts). Let's see how Charlie and Brian respond when their turns come.

BobS

Charlie and Brian must have watched the Moran and Curic interviews - or at least their producers did. Both Curic and Moran acquited themselves well and I'm doubtful that Williams and Gibson will be willing to be seen as sops for Obama.

centralcal

I am not so sure about Brian Williams, BobS. He is an NBC stooge after all. I hold out a little bit of hope for Charlie, but not a whole lot.

BobS

Good thing Chris Mathews wont be there. I hate to see such man crushes on TV

Ann

Obama travel press corps pushes for on-the-record briefings.
By Lynn Sweet on July 22, 2008 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
JERUSALEM-- Aboard the Obama campaign plane flying from Jordan to Israel Tuesday night, reporters collectively balked when Obama staffers wanted to brief a second time in one day without having their names used. The reporters refused and so there was no briefing.The upshot of sticking together: when Obama foreign policy advisor Susan Rice briefs on Wednesday morning, it will be on the record.

MarkJ

"Obama: ***We just had phrased it poorly in the speech. That has happened and will happen to every politician. You're not always gonna hit your mark in terms of how you phrase your policies."

Messiahs don't "phrase poorly."

Messiahs don't flop around from position to position like hooked carp.

Messiahs aren't "inartful."

Messiahs don't say "gonna." They use proper diction and enunciation.

Messiahs are always aware "that words mean things."

Uncle BigBad

I'm gonna stick by my prediction that Hillary will be the Democrat nominee. The super delegates are watching the same TV clips as we are.

Elliott

I have been so inspired by Soylent's Bald Man stories that I have begun work on a serial tale of espionage and intrigue. It will be a pale imitation, but I hope it is enjoyable. The first installment follows:

-----------

Beijing, China

The wait in the ante-room had been lengthy, but Geng Huichang, Minister of State Security was aware that could not be helped. The President was attending the weekly meeting of the Politburo standing committee and any interruption would arouse unwanted suspicion.

Geng had not intended to be here, but when he arrived at work, his deputy was already outside his office bearing a most unusual report. 20 minutes later, Geng was in his official car on his way to the Presidential residence. Now, the report that had generated this frenzy was tucked into the expensive Valextra briefcase that rested in his lap, a magnificent item acquired on a recent trip to Milan.

The purchase of the briefcase had not been the indulgence of a corrupt communist official, but rather an essential part of the ingenious cover Geng had used on an operation so sensitive and vital to Chinese interests that he had been ordered to make an unprecedented clandestine trip abroad to oversee it personally. Upon his return to China, Geng had requested and been granted permission to keep the briefcase for he went to great lengths lest his integrity would be put into question.

Thus, it was not surprising that as he waited for the President's arrival, he began to wonder whether he had done right bypassing the State Council and going directly to Hu Jintao. But, while he fretted over a possible reprimand—he did not even wish to consider the more severe punishments that were not infrequently administered—one of the Presidential secretaries emerged and ushered him into the President's office.

"What is it?" Hu demanded, as soon as the secretary had left the room. Hu was standing behind the valuable 18th century French desk that was the centerpiece of the room. The desk, however, was entirely decorative. In fact, the entire room was. Though the President received all his visitor's here, he worked in an adjoining room furnished modestly and with utility in mind.

Geng did not reply, but removed the report from his briefcase and handed it across the President's desk. Hu seemed put out. He was clearly expecting to be apprised of the contents, yet Geng remained silent, even as Hu, in a gesture that betrayed his impatience, took his reading glasses from the desk and began to study the report.

Within seconds, his expression changed, wonder and excitement were now to be discerned from his countenance.

He turned his gaze to Geng. "How many people know about this?" asked the President.

Geng had seen the excitement in the President's eyes, but nonetheless he was wary. Questions like this were dangerous. "You know better than to ask such questions, sir," Geng intoned. "It will suffice for me to say that all involved know what it is necessary that they know and no more."

The President seemed chastened, "You are right. And you were right to bring this directly to me. If your department can exploit this information to our advantage, do so."

"Thank you, sir," said Zeng, who now felt confident enough to voice his innermost thoughts. "We will bring honor to our glorious motherland and pestilence will descend on its enemies."

Hu was startled, for he had never seen Zeng so animated.

"Do you not think such rhetoric is too high flown?" asked the President.

"No," replied Zeng calmly. "If we are clever, my words will, in retrospect, be considered an understatement."

MayBee

You are incredible, Elliott.

RichatUF

Nice job Elliott. What's in that briefcase...

And going OT for a minute, surprised that this story isn't making the rounds. I suppose the media couldn't report this here, although the confidence vote was a Star Wars bar scene which could be blamed on Bush.

Soylent Red

Oooooooooh Elliot...

I suspect I know what's in that briefcase. And I think we are on similar tracks, just different protagonists.

Ann

That was really good, Elliott!

Is it Obama's fake birth certificate in the really cool briefcase?

I can think of a million things I would like to see in that briefcase.

mkultra

Obama is making a point that is over Katie and Tom's heads. (What a coincidence!) Was it worth the cost, given the reality and the potential in Iraq.

Answer? Mission Accomplished!

JM Hanes

Ha! This is one of those game shows, isn't it? Where you have to choose between the very expensive briefcase or its contents, sight unseen.

Since Ann has apparently has dibs on the ostensible treasure inside, I guess I'll go for the case.....
with my oversized monogram.....
blind stitched across the front....
in Obama green.

Soylent Red

RichUF:

That India nuke deal is good mojo for us. Helps to uncouple them from Iranian oil.

It's The Great Game version 2.0.

I wonder if the Obamessiah would have thought of it that way while his moonbat masters were bleating "No nukes!" Hmmmm...

BobS

SR: What does this...if anything...do to the situation in Pakistan?

Soylent Red

BobS:

India has been getting a good deal of their oil and natural gas from some great big fields in western Iran. There is a large oil and gas pipeline running from Iran to India, through Pakistan. As of late, Pakistan has been charging India a steeper fee, making energy more expensive. That's one of the reasons why India wants to develop it's nuclear power generation program.

Since they are a nuclear military power, the proliferation people are nervous. Increased power generation can also be a cover for increased weapons production (cf. Iran). that prospect obviously makes the Pakis nervous, and could precipitate a similar move.

Main thing is Central Asia is to isolate Iran and Russia by way of blocking their oil and gas interests. That's partially why we're buddying up with the various -stans. Lots of LNG up in those hills, and they have a fair amount of cultural animus to Iran and Russia.

From a long term strategic perspective, IMO, Central Asia is way more interesting than the Middle East. A whole lot more craft and guile going on in Central Asia.

BobS

so, SR: who is willing to pony-up to this shunting of Iraian and Russian demonstration of power?

Soylent Red

Bob:

US/UK of course.

This India deal helps bring them over to our side, and they're very interested in maintaining cheap energy costs to keep their growth going.

Japan is interested in how the things plays out, vis a vis China.

Most of the -stans would love to be an alternative to Iran as an energy resource, but they don't have the development money.

Gazprom is actively pursuing contracts, while we dangle security agreements in front of dictators.

Hopefully we can get some smart people over at USAID or State to get together a bunch of enormous trade missions to put together development contracts to compete, although Gazprom will be a tough competitor.

A real long-term solution would be to bring Iran in-line and get the other -stans together with the new Iran and set them to competing with the Russians for the European market. That would be a six-way screw-you poke in the eye for Russia.

But there's a whole lot of ifs that have to be filled to get that to come to fruition.

BobS

refresh my memory....who is Gazprom?

Thomas Esmond Knox

Obama. Will he invade Pakistan or not? If not, how will he capture/kill/destroy Al Qaeda in Afghanistan/Pakistan?

Soylent Red

Russian energy company/mafia. Semi state controlled. Putin and Medvyedev are insiders.

JM Hanes

I know you're dying to hear what Obama had to say on India in his if-it's-Tuesday-it-must-be-Jordan presser:

And so, one of the things that was driven home is the importance of our diplomatic efforts in Pakistan, which, by the way, may include having a conversation with India and seeing if we can lessen some of the tensions between those two countries.

A lot of what drives, it appears, motivations on the Pakistan side of the border, still has to do with their concerns and suspicions about India. And I think that's an example of aggressive, creative diplomacy.

OBAMA: We haven't had a conversation between the Indians and the Pakistanis that has been sustained and meaningful about how they can arrive at a more sensible arrangement between the two countries. That could relieve some of the pressure and help us go after some of the -- some of these forces along the border regions.

Very sophisticated, eh? As they say, read it all; it's full of....amazing stuff like recommending Israeli/Palestinian "confidence building measures" to "get discussions back on track." Can't imagine who whispered that in his ear.

While I'm at it, he was positively inspirational on China with Katie Couric:

You know, so far the Iranians have not accepted the kinds of talks that we need to deal with in terms of suspending their enrichment program. But the fact that we've tried to talk to them then strengthens our hand in the international community when we wanna get Russia or China to help apply the tough sanctions that are gonna be required to make Iranians know that we mean business.
Leanin' on weak reeds there, Barack, Russia and China mean business too. How quickly we forget how much help they supplied when it came to "applying" sanctions to Iraq. Without firm guidance from Obama, I suppose they just confused which side they were supposed to be assisting, aside from helping themselves, of course. The Chinese seem to be confused about Zimbabwe too, and Sudan and zzzzzz.

Soylent Red

Yup. I'm pretty sure all of those oilfield development contracts China and Russia have inside Iran will go right out the window when they find out they could trade them in for an opportunity to advance US interests.

This is a prime illustration of how naive the Obamessiah is.

Hint: Not everyone in the world is waiting in line to help us and give us things.

Having just written that, I wonder if the Obamessiah thinks that way because that's how he grew up: everyone scrambling to help out the clean and articulate black kid.

Jane

I wonder if the Obamessiah thinks that way because that's how he grew up: everyone scrambling to help out the clean and articulate black kid.

Ouch!

clarice

Good work Elliott.
I can't bear to listen to O's jejeune carp much longer and the notion of ten more years!!Oh, NO!!!!

K T Cat

Word of the day: "bafflegab."

LOL!

sbw

Porch, thanks for bucking me up. And TM, too, for the analysis he put in the new thread.

Tully

Ah, the "slow pivot refining" of Obama's "plan" in motion!

The policy hadn't changed - people just had to understand to ignore the words coming out of his mouth!

No wonder he feels that Maliki's misquoted and misrepresented words were actually an Obama endorsement....

tanstaafl

"You know, this conversation doesn’t help my kids."

Probably not :)

But thanks for having it anyway.

Barack has a tendency to mildly chastise his interlocutors..."hey, you've asked that 3 times already"... (and I'm too important for this stuff...)

There was some of that same kind of feeling with his back and forth Q & A in Amman, Jordan yesterday.

I think it's a way for him to try to control the exchange.

Porchlight

Elliott, you are a marvel! I had to sign off last night before reading but I've now caught up. Would love to see your narrative and Soylent's meet up in a Batman meets Spiderman kinda way.

sbw, my pleasure. I know there's more Obama fun to come before he has to head home to the boring old United States.

PapayaSF

It's so telling and rather funny that the toughest media grilling Obama has had so far in this campaign has come from . . . Katie Couric. Good for her, but a rather shameful comment on the high-status "serious" journalists of the MSM.

Thomas Jackson

The Dalibama makes me long for the consistenency and forth right policies of Clinton and Kerry.

There was a crooked man, who walked a crooked mile.....

Jeff F.

With nicknames like "Obamessiah" and "Dalibama" it has struck me that conservatives truly fear the black man. To bestow such lofty names to Barack is a sign of an underlying fear that a man who represents many of the qualities that conservatives have stepped on for decades might actually become the leader of their country.

Why such righteous add-ons? Is it a desire to break out of your oppressive shells and repent for all the injustice done by those on the right to this country and the world?

Surely it can't be sarcasm. I mean propaganda like that could never come from those with such great family values.

Jeff F.

P.S. Elliott,

You've got me hooked. Can't wait for more.

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