See Ya In The Funny Papers

Looks like Joe Biden is helping out with Obama's speeches.  Plagiarism we can believe in!

MORE:  Looks like we shouldn't blame Joe:

Asked about the borrowing, Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Obama used Toles's lines unwittingly, after being alerted to them by a friend who didn't mention the source.

"This came to Senator Obama from a friend who didn't indicate where he had gotten it from, but the questions it raises certainly continue to ring true," Psaki said in an email. "He did not know it was from a cartoon and now that he does he will certainly credit the cartoonist."

In fact, the campaign says, Obama used the line again while campaiging today in Michigan, this time crediting the "cartoon in The Washington Post."

Comments

[kim]

You can slap audio on a cartoon, but it's still a just cartoon. This is nuance? Obama's campaign is reducing itself to a joke.
========================================

[Jane]

Morning Kim, morning Pagar, Morning DoT, and everyone else!

Assuming we don't all fall into a big black hole, it's gonna be a good one!

[Pagar]

Good Morning to All!
Jane, you've got that right. It should be just be getting better and better.
What could be more helpful to us, than Joe Biden, the gift that keeps on giving.

[Marvin X]

New Lipstick Ad

[DS]

Obama and his wife's toy is the new Service Nation. Maybe he thinks he's Kennedy? This gets Federal funding. Notice the pay and the age discrimination.

http://www.publicallies.org/site/c.liKUL3PNLvF/b.3158701/

http://terry58.stblogs.com/2008/09/09/well-dressed-articulate/

Bridgeland is insisting on the 9/11 Volunteer America. Allot of people did volunteer, there weren't enough jobs.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/09/volunteer-america/

http://blogofbile.com/2008/07/31/service-nation-sponsors-and-supporters-and-additional-information/

[Semanticleo]

'Lipstick on a pig' is an expression I've used years before Toles dug it up. I lifted it from one of HST's documented pranks where he places a pig head in a guy's toilet and spends hours painting lips on the creature with lipstick. I think everyone owes HST an 'attribution', but an apology?

A silly prank which could have visited an infarction on the unwary, is overshadowed by the silliness of this post.

You folks must be bored or nervous......

The debates can't start soon enough......

[Extraneus]

So far so good, Jane.

Largest particle collider conducts successful test

[M. Simon]

Here is how you make permalinks:

<a href="url">text to display</a>

replace url with:
http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/
leave the quote marks

replace text to display
with: Power and Control

Power and Control

If you keep a cheat sheet (text file) up of your most commonly used forms it is really easy.

[M. Simon]

Leo,

Still not man enough to apologize? No more than I expect from a girly man like you.

OK say it was unintentional - that would make ∅bama a stupid politician.

OK say it was intentional - that would make ∅bama a stupid politician.

I guess he can win without the women vote.

BTW let us say he is a smart politician. What does it say then? He is in danger of losing his base.

Pathetic leo. I'm sure he deserves your support. Girly men for ∅bama. You need to get some signs made for the next rally.

[Semanticleo]

"I think they put some lipstick on a pig," he said, "but it's still a pig."

That's McCain last Fall referring to the HRC Health Plan of 1993.

Gee...was he calling Hillary a pig? He owes HST an 'attribution'.

[Semanticleo]

'I'm sure he deserves your support.'

Are you emotionally retarded? Is adolescence the pinnacle of your growth spurt? Aren't your 63 years of living sufficient for some rudimentary self-examination and perspective?

Or are you a pig with entirely too much lipstick?

Too sad.

[DebinNC]

Politico: "Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan on Tuesday – introducing Joe Biden at a campaign event – ripped into Palin’s record and punctuated it with this snarky jab. “There’s no way you can dress up that record, even with a lot of lipstick,” he said. Later in the day, Obama used a variation of the lipstick line,.."

This was the coordinated, anti-Palin message of the day, no accidental misspeak. Without the telepromptor, Obama, momentarily dropping his mask, inserted "a pig" for "that record".

[Semanticleo]

Paterico is linking to a Jan Crawford Greenburg post discussing the Paternalism of the Republican Party. Listen and learn something, Slimon.

"Palin appears to have been selected, in no small part, precisely because she’s a woman. Yet instead of acknowledging that as a real strength, the McCain campaign is acting like gender had little or nothing to do with it. Campaign officials instead have been angrily portraying questions about her qualifications as nothing more than old-fashioned sexism, and then trying to put a protective shield around her.

They’re treating Gov. Sarah Palin—a ground-breaking woman by anyone’s account—LIKE A GIRL" (emphasis mine)

[kim]

Jeez, Leo, I hope Obama doesn't apologize. I hope he uses that line several times a day. It's just so hilarious. What a witty guy.
====================================

[bad]

They’re treating Gov. Sarah Palin—a ground-breaking woman by anyone’s account—LIKE A GIRL" (emphasis mine)

She is a girl and an ass kicking one at that. I love Sarah, the asking girl.

[bad]

**ass kicking**

[kim]

Ya see, Leo, it is a culture war, and you've got a deceitful hoax working your side, and we've got an honest gurl working ours. What does that say about the culture?
=========================================

[clarice]

TM, Your name is in lights:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obama-and-the-annenberg-files-the-mystery-deepens/>Annenberg

[bad]

Seman

I'll take our girl over your boy any day.

[Jane]

Barack Obama appears to have been selected, in no small part, precisely because he’s a black man. Instead of acknowledging that as his only strength, the Obama campaign is acting like race had little or nothing to do with it. Campaign officials instead have been angrily portraying questions about his qualifications as nothing more than old-fashioned racism, and then trying to put a protective shield around him.

They’re treating community organizer Obama —a ground-breaking man by anyone’s account—LIKE A boy" (emphasis Cleo's)

[Semanticleo]

"What does that say about the culture?"

Kim;

Did you read Greenburg? Do you understand how regressive Paternalism is? Do you care?

[Semanticleo]

"I'll take our girl over your boy any day"

**clueless**

[bad]

Clarice

Love the article!!!

[Semanticleo]

Jane;

You obviously understand and appreciate your
Paternalistic Benefactors.

[Jane]

Of course Leo. It comes from growing up without a father. Thanks for pointing that out.

What is your excuse?

[Bel Aire]

Ah, the smell of desperation and flop sweat in the morning.

Where does Obama turn now?

[Ranger]

Looks like Team McCain has put Obama right where they want him yet again. By demanding an apology, they have Obama in a no win situation. If he does apologize, he looks weak, and if he doesn't he just looks like a jerk. Neither is very "presidential."

BTW, I seem to recall that the left went into total meltdown over someone comparing Obama to a "chimp" even though they have been doing the same to president Bush for 7 years now. The difference as I remember was that it was racist to do it with Obama because he is from Africa.

[kim]

Leo, I don't think you understand how regressive progressivism is. Look at what primitive animals its adherents descend to become.
==========================================

[Semanticleo]

"What is your excuse?"

I don't need an excuse for treating women with the respect they deserve, do I?

[kim]

The odor of pigsty has come from the Obama camp all along. I've seen you hold your nose in your advocacy, Leo. I know you are ashamed of yourself about these pitiful memes. Doesn't that tell you something?
================================

[Semanticleo]

Kim

Lame dodge. Try again.

[kim]

So what, exactly, do we have to respect about Obama?
==================================

[kim]

Lame? Do you want me to come closer so you can bite me?
===================================

[Semanticleo]

"Doesn't that tell you something?"

Yeah. It tells me self-doubt is starting to punch through your formidable crust.

[kim]

Where's Biden? Oh, yes, resting. Pinin' for his fellows.
==============================

[kim]

I've not the least bit of doubt that both McCain and Palin are iconic creatures, and Obama is a chimeric manifestation of the Wizard of Soroz.
====================================

[Neo]

Check out comment 12

[kim]

Heh, self doubt? Did you know that Palin doesn't believe man is responsible for the global cooling going on now?
===================================

[Semanticleo]

Kim;

Polish those enigmatic apples to your heart's content, they're still rotten to the core.

[Semanticleo]

"I've not the least bit of doubt that both McCain and Palin are iconic creatures, and Obama is a chimeric manifestation of the Wizard of Soroz."

Geez, are you trying to convince me, or yerself?

[Semanticleo]

"Did you know that Palin doesn't believe man is responsible for the global cooling going on now?"

Did she join your 'Flat Earth Society' dear Founder?

[Extraneus]

By demanding an apology, they have Obama in a no win situation.

Good point, Ranger. And if McCain wants to, he can add video of Obama giving Hillary the finger to his ad before making a media buy, too.

[bio mom]

Attacks such as these on Palin WILL NOT WORK!! The choices she has made in her life stand out and shine for all to see. This is her power. She doesn't just talk the talk she lives it. There is no defense against such honor. None. They simply make themselves look small. They made a meek attempt to malign McCain's honor too, but that was quickly backed off of. They are not THAT stupid. This will be a close election for sure. But it won't be because people love Obama. The more they see and hear from him, the less they like him IMHO. As for the debates, I am not worried. The meme that Obama will clean McCain's clock is a false one. And Palin will be great. I have watched her debates in Alaska. Believing the good press in the MSM is the Obama campaign's biggest mistake.

[Semanticleo]

"She doesn't just talk the talk she lives it"

More self-hypnosis.

[PeterUK]

Septic,
"'Lipstick on a pig' is an expression I've used years before Toles dug it up."

It isn't the provenance,it is the usage.Obama is running for president of the USA not the leadership of the Crips.Politicians are required to understand the significance of language.Obama isn't on the street now,he needs to engage his brain before operating his mouth.

[kim]

Leo, the skeptics are now called climate realists, and the ones denying global cooling are called deniers. Mama Nature fooled you, you see.

You still don't get it. Obama's words damage him and his campaign. Keep on defending his actions; it'll guarantee his loss. Frankly, we will see over the next couple of weeks whether the Democratic Party has a viable soul, or whether the inmates are in charge of the asylum. Where will you stand, my fine feathered, and thoughtful, friend?
====================================

[PeterUK]

""Palin appears to have been selected, in no small part, precisely because she’s a woman."

Obama was picked because he is,what exactly Septic?

[Semanticleo]

."Politicians are required to understand the significance of language."

Negative campaigns work. Just ask McCaine.

[Semanticleo]

Kim;

Negative campaigns work. Just ask Ahab...

[kim]

So that's why the Obama campaign has gone so negative? And you approve because it works? Heh, in this case, it isn't working. Do you still approve, knowing that?
==========================================

[kim]

Leo, the people are publicly booing the media, because they can't get at Obama to boo him.

The boos in the voting booth will boot the Obama bots.
================================

[Ranger]

Totally OT for the thread, but at the corner they linked to this little http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2008/09/see-ya-in-the-f.html#comments>bit. Kind of says a lot about how confident Obama was in his school reform 'success.' Funny that Obama doesn't want to give his neighbors the same kind of choice in schooling that he himself enjoys due to his economic success in life.

[clarice]

Thanks, Bad.

[Semanticleo]

That's what scares y'all the most.

Poo flinging with real poo; from Dems this time. A double-barreled, two fisted battle of double-entendres.

May the dirtiest, meanest candidate win.

As to souls, you can't lose what you never had, so the RNC cannot lose that battle.

[bio mom]

Cleo: You are the one hypnotized. I know what my morality and beliefs are and Sarah Palin has chosen to live her moral belefs. I don't need to know anything else about her after that. Your stinking campaign and its followers are more in a dung pit than you realize. Having so little honor yourselves, you fail to recognize it in another.

[Semanticleo]

"in this case, it isn't working."

The hell it ain't. Just look at yerself.

[kim]

What's behind the curtain that Obama has drawn over his past?

You've been hypnotized, Leo, into not wondering about your candidate. The vast muddle, muddled as it is, makes some sort of effort to figure out the candidates. Palin and McCain are open books, Obama is a closed and hidden one, and Biden is a children's book .
=====================================

[bad]

Steve Diamond has a new post up on Obama/Ayers/Annenberg. The NYT has also touched on it.

Link under name to Global Labor.

[Semanticleo]

KIM;

Do you understand how regressive Paternalism is? Do you care?

[boris]

Appartently on the planet cleo is from, Clown9, everybody is a clown just like cleo. That explains why in cleo's clowniverse everything is clownish.

Cleo's defense is since everybody else is just clowning, it's perfectly normal to self-clown. Even seems slightly miffed at times that we take ourselves seriously. As if to say "Haven't you fools looked in a mirror lately? Don't you see the clownish makeup on your faces? Can't you feel the raspy wig and the rubber ball nose?"

No cleo. You're the clown.

[PeterUK]

"Negative campaigns work."

Yes,Obama has brilliantly alienated women by comparing them to pigs.
Sorry your boy Obama should go back to the street gang until he grows up.No use trying to make anything of him,you cannot polish a turd.

[kim]

I don't have to look at myself, Leo. I can look at the polls and see the shift in the last two weeks among women voters. A legion of women voters is pulling aside the curtain.

Look at it this way. Obama saw Palin slip in some killer daggers with her wit; now he's tried the same thing, and not only is he not very funny, but the edge and point is turned on himself. He brought a knife to this fight, but doesn't know how to hold it to avoid it being forced back on himself.
==========================

[fdcol63]

Egad! Am I ever sick of hearing just how much Europe and the rest of the world want Obama to be elected president of the US.

They want to see a weakened US. They want to see Obama elected POTUS.

There's a correlation.

[Extraneus]

Thanks for the link, Neo.

[kim]

I'm not sure what you mean with your upper case Paternalism, but I'd a lot rather have Palin for a daddy than the state.
===================================

[Semanticleo]

"you cannot polish a turd."

*chuckle* words spoken by a guy who regularly polishes his effigy of Bush.

[Semanticleo]

"I'm not sure what you mean with your upper case Paternalism'

So you DIDN'T read the Greenburg piece.

Self-examination....pfeh.

[kim]

Heh, public opinion is polishing the legacy of Bush. His approval ratings are rising, and are much higher now that that of Senators.
======================================

[PeterUK]

"in this case, it isn't working."

The hell it ain't. Just look at yerself.

It's about votes Leotard,Obama isn't playing well to the uncommitted.This is only impressing the retard left,who were going to vote Nobama,if they can come down quick enough,anyway.

[bad]

Here is the link to Obama/Ayers/Annenberg in the New York Times.

LUN

[PeterUK]

"*chuckle* words spoken by a guy who regularly polishes his effigy of Bush."

That manic chuckle again,all alone at your keyboard.Why should I care about Bush,I'm not American,GWB has done the job he came to do and is handing over the keys to McCain.

[kim]

I learned a long time ago, Leo, not to bother with your recommendations on reading material. You are a useful idiot, a little more self aware than the standard issue. If you can't bring the essence of your thought here without spamming me with propaganda, I'm not going to go traipsing off in search of your kind of insight.
======================================

[centralcal]

A news conference coming, Obama to address lipstick and pig remarks?

[Neo]

Obama isn't so stupid as to not understand why the crowd rose and appaulded when he uttered the "lipstick on a pig" line. It really wasn't that great, especially if you assume it not to be an insult. If he had been smart, he would have put an end to it right there. At least with one of those "no no no no" lines that he does so well, but instead he just went on.

It was rude, lewd and totally unprofessional ... and it is indefenseable.

[Jane]

Obama is about to "address' his lipstick on pigs remarks in his "rally".

A-hole or Wus, that is the question?

I'm betting on both.

[DebinNC]

Up until the PA debate, Obama had not faced persistent questions about specific things he'd done or said. He imploded, gave Hillary the finger the next day, refused to debate her again, and ran out the clock until June ... knowing the super delegates couldn't deny him the nomination.

The day after clinching the nomination in June, Charlie Gibson asked Obama:

GIBSON: John McCain has issued an invitation to do a series of town meetings (inaudible). Going to do it?

OBAMA: Oh, we're definitely going to be doing some town hall debates. I look forward to, you know, having more than just the three traditional debates that we've seen in recent presidential contests, so I'm glad that he's interested in doing it. You know, we're going to have to figure out timing. I know that he wants to start, generously enough, a week from today. And since we just won the nomination, we may have to spend some -- a little bit of time over the next couple of weeks, you know, retooling for a general election.

GIBSON: (inaudible)

OBAMA: Well, we are definitely going to be debating with John McCain, and we will do more than the three that -- that have been promised. And so, some of those will have to be done before our respective conventions.

Bottom line, Obama fears questions and situations where he can't generalize his vague way through. He fears McPalin, just as he did Hillary. He fears the surface polish will be rubbed off enough to expose the unremarkable man beneath. The only thing Obama has mastered in his life is hiding his real self (if there is one) from others.

[PeterUK]

"Do you understand how regressive Paternalism is? Do you care?"

How is Mr Semanticleo,Leotard?

[Semanticleo]

"If you can't bring the essence of your thought here without spamming me with propaganda,'

Patterico too Lefty for ya, eh kim?

I did not know you were THAT insulated.

You should go see the Wizard for that.

[Sue]

I think the difference that is going to matter at the end of the day between McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden is the secrecy. Everyone in Alaska knows everything about Palin. If you want to know anything about her, just head north to Alaska. Obama is a mystery. We know next to nothing that he hasn't told us himself. His friends won't talk to the media. He has to dump them when they rise to the top of the heap. Palin's friends are being interviewed. She hasn't asked them not to speak to the media. She hasn't told her pastor to lay off interviews. This is why I think the American people will choose McCain/Palin. Anytime something seeps through Obama's filters, it stinks.

[MarkO]

Along with the One’s officials, Cleo’s comments defending BHO’s lipstick reference are, at best, disingenuous. First, the reference is not to HST; it is at least as old as the contrast between silk purses and sow’s ears mentioned in the Bible. Second, while it is a common phrase, generally not used in a sexist manner like we’ve come to expect from the One, in this case the reference to Palin’s convention talk is the only thing that makes it useful for the One and his sneering, preening, misogynist crowd. To make an attempt to wash this away by blaming anyone for actually understanding the intended reference is just more of the same condescending drivel from the macrotous One.

What cleo fails to consider, apparently, is that all of the One’s attacks are so puerile, so redolent of junior high school that they suggest the One lacks fundamental, day-to-day judgment. The lipstick comment is as gratuitous and adolescent as the One’s feeble attempt to flip off Hillary like he’s standing behind his 8th grade science teacher.

This is the man at the top of the ticket? This is the One we should want negotiating with the World? Could we look forward to pictures of the One with Putin where, after Putin humiliates him, the One stands slightly behind Putin and gives him “ears” with two fingers, or sticks his own thumbs in his ample ears and wiggles his fingers to show his sophistication?

This doesn’t even begin to address the “new” post-racial, post-partisan Obama who, like Elvis before him, has left the building.

[centralcal]

Nope, not press conference, but a regular campaign stop where he will address his remarks from yesterday.

You always know when The One has shot himself in the foot - he has to bandage his wound before the cameras, saying he didn't shoot the darned gun and we are all mistaken.

[bad]

From the New York Times on Obama's Private school choice for his family:

As usual, Bruce Fuller and Lance Izumi , my fellow Education Watch contributors, make some fascinating points, none more startling to me than Lance’s casual throw-away that Barack Obama sends his children to private school. As a rabid public school Democrat, I crumpled in despair at the news. Look, I am not in politics, I get no money from foundations, I do not get invited to lecture on third world eco-sustainability on luxury cruises. I have no highly placed blue-state friends and I will soon be a divorced woman because my die-hard Democratic husband will not brook any dissent, public or private, about our party.

The Author talks about lipstick at the end, and divorce from a Democratic husband who can't handle dissent in the article as well. Sarah is striking a chord everywhere.

[Semanticleo]

"How is Mr Semanticleo,Leotard?'

I am more concerned about your wife.

Have you stopped beating her yet?

Has she thanked you for her 'lessons' as her Paternalistic Benefactor?

[kim]

So you bring a vacuity of thought? I didn't bother to read it not because it is Patterico, but because you recommended it. Now, can you state your thesis in your own words?
=========================================

[bad]

LUN for NYT private school, education, divorce, lipstick article.

[Rick Ballard]

It might be better to leave the troll in "Ignore" mode until he can be examined by a qualified proctologist. The extent of the comment spamming indicates the depth of the hole that Obama continues to dig for himself (and hopefully his party).

With a bit of effort I think we can get a week out of Obama's Macaca Moment. The revelation of his misogyny should be worth at least that. I wonder how it affects Bulldoggy and the girls?

[Semanticleo]

"This doesn’t even begin to address the “new” post-racial, post-partisan Obama who, like Elvis before him, has left the building."

Pragmatism.

In order to defeat McCain, Obama has to campaign like McCain.

Dirty

Rotten

Scoundrel

[Appalled]

DebinNC:

Listen to Obama whenever he talks about the need for a family to raise a child, and the need for a father to not go skipping off. (He did this again in his ed policy speech yesterday.)

That's where his real self appears. That's when Obama sounds truly engaged.

McCain's real self seems to appear whenever there's a chance to use the military. Is that preferable, in the time we find ourself?

[bad]

I wonder how it affects Bulldoggy and the girls?

I confess to wondering how the thin skinned Michelle reacted to the comment.

I also flashed back to Obama slapping Michelle on the backside at his speech claiming the nomination.

[Cecil Turner]

. . . he needs to engage his brain before operating his mouth.

Man, no kidding. The fact that it was clearly preplanned makes it look mean and stupid. And it is stupid. He had his surrogates bash her non-stop for a week, and it backfired spectacularly. So now he figures if he just does it himself, it'll work better? Brilliant! As he looks around at the hole he's in, how much G2 does it take to stop digging?

Looking back, the tipping point was clearly the VP selections. "Uninspired" is the best thing that can be said for choosing Biden . . . and Palin is sucking the air out of both campaigns, but in particular the Dem one. Moreover, it was at least somewhat predictable. The GOP choice of a woman was a fairly obvious ploy, and an easy inoculation would've been to choose Hillary! if he wanted to play it safe. But Biden? Dunno what he was thinkin' . . . but repeated claims of his brilliance founder on the demonstrated lack of common sense.

[Jack Klompus]

That's pretty pathetic when you're plagiarizing a no-talent hack like Toles. Who's next? Ted Rall?

[kim]

Oh, boy, Obama attempting to explain his misogyny is going to be a trip. He'll try to claim innocence. Boy, the butter is melting fast.
=======================================

[Semanticleo]

"It might be better to leave the troll in "Ignore" mode"

Excellent point, my dear Marmalard.

Allow my clownish comments to remain unanswered. It worked so well for Kerry, and up until now, for Obama.

Why can't you folks just take the medicine you are so eager to administer to others?

oh yeah. forgot. Republicans.

[bad]

Even the pundits saying Obama wasn't calling Palin a pig do say it was a stupid thing to do.

[Appalled]

By the way, I would guess that Obama or his speechwriter had some intent to do an oblique, clever reference to Palin in his 'pig' comment. Obama being Obama, he had no concept of how that might be perceived. He should have guessed, by the way his audience responded (getting the joke way too quickly) that he made a mistake. (A little self-deprecatory humor at that moment would have been smart -- sort of a "dang it, that's not what I meant...")

[RichatUF]

Good grief, even the AP is editoralizing in its news coverage that Obama didn't mean what he said.

Pickler gets her talking points:

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to Palin's joke even if it's not what Obama meant.

I'm glad that Pickler is a mindreader. Didn't the entire Obama campaign team spend a good deal of time late Monday and early Tuesday making pig references about Gov. Palin?

[fdcol63]

Cecil,

Remember: the choice of Biden was to boost Obama's recognized weakness and gravitas on foreign policy.

I think it's a poor reflection of the state of the Democratic Party leadership that Biden was the best they could offer .... or who was at least willing to be on the ticket.

[PeterUK]

"How is Mr Semanticleo,Leotard?'

"I am more concerned about your wife."

So you don't have a husband,how is your partner.

"Have you stopped beating her yet?

Has she thanked you for her 'lessons' as her Paternalistic Benefactor?"

Are you saying I'm a muslim like your chosen one Obama?

[Semanticleo]

Kevin Drum;

"John McCain has obviously decided that he can't win a straight-up fight, so he's decided instead to wage a battle of character assassination, relentless lies, and culture war armageddon. So what happens on November 5th?

If McCain wins, he'll face a Democratic Congress that's beyond furious. Losing is one thing, but after eight years of George Bush and Karl Rove, losing a vicious campaign like this one will cause Dems to go berserk. They won't even return McCain's phone calls, let alone work with him on legislation. It'll be four years of all-out war. [...]

McCain, in his overwhelming desire for office, is unloosing forces that are likely to make the country only barely governable no matter who wins. This would be very bad juju at any time, but George Bush has so seriously weakened the country over the course of his administration that we don't have a lot of room for error left if we want to avoid losing the war on terror for good and turning America into a banana republic while we're at it. We need to start turning the ship around now.

McCain doesn't seem to care much about this anymore, but the rest of us ought to."

[MarkO]

An admission from cleo that the One has no basic principles and has to copy McCain: