Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin

[heyzeus]

The Republicans are trying to use "elitism" as a cultural wedge issue, the same way abortion and same sex marriage have been used before. The problem is twofold: One, McCain doesn't really feel that strongly about those two traditional wedge issues. Two, when we're faced with dire economic news, most people don't want to hear their candidate go on and on about the definition of marriage and a constitutional amendment that'll never happen anyway.

[fulldeck]

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/new ... etail.html
Woman Attacked At ATM, Assailant Carves Letter Into Her Face
Woman Robbed, Attacked With Knife At Bloomfield ATM

POSTED: 4:03 pm EDT October 23, 2008
UPDATED: 6:10 pm EDT October 23, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, police said.

Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard tells Channel 4 Action News that the victim was robbed at knifepoint on Wednesday night outside of a Citizens Bank near Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street just before 9 p.m.

Richard said the robber took $60 from the woman, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim's car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter "B" into her face, Richard said.

Richard said the woman refused medical treatment after the assault, which happened outside the view of the bank's surveillance cameras.

The robber is described as a dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and brown eyes. The man was wearing dark colored jeans, a black undershirt and black shoes.

The Obama-Biden campaign released a statement, commenting on the attack. The statement said "Our thoughts and prayers are with the young woman for her to make a speedy recovery, and we hope that the person who perpetrated this crime is swiftly apprehended and brought to justice."

[PujolJunkie]

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/new ... etail.html
Woman Attacked At ATM, Assailant Carves Letter Into Her Face
Woman Robbed, Attacked With Knife At Bloomfield ATM

POSTED: 4:03 pm EDT October 23, 2008
UPDATED: 6:10 pm EDT October 23, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, police said.

Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard tells Channel 4 Action News that the victim was robbed at knifepoint on Wednesday night outside of a Citizens Bank near Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street just before 9 p.m.

Richard said the robber took $60 from the woman, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim's car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter "B" into her face, Richard said.

Richard said the woman refused medical treatment after the assault, which happened outside the view of the bank's surveillance cameras.

The robber is described as a dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and brown eyes. The man was wearing dark colored jeans, a black undershirt and black shoes.

The Obama-Biden campaign released a statement, commenting on the attack. The statement said "Our thoughts and prayers are with the young woman for her to make a speedy recovery, and we hope that the person who perpetrated this crime is swiftly apprehended and brought to justice."

How long before the right wing blogosphere and wingnuts spin this and say Obama was the attacker?

[PujolJunkie]

I find it funny that we're blasting the republican party or McCain camp or Palin specifically for spending $150,000 when Obama is spending more than that for a 30-second spot for the same kinds of thing....improving image. Obama's running circles around McCain in raised (and spent) donations. Yet people are whining about $150,000 on wardrobe.

So spending 150,000 dollars on issues and trying to put himself out there and voice his policies and show the differences between he and McCain and actually talking about the election = spending 50,000 dollars at Saks Avenue? You missed the point anyway.

[TimeForGuinness]

Interesting story in TIME: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article ... 25,00.html

I had never heard of the Petraeus briefing discussion.

[Richie Allen]

Interesting story in TIME: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article ... 25,00.html

I had never heard of the Petraeus briefing discussion.

Once again, Obama points out what nearly everyone else has failed to:

"Your job is to succeed in Iraq on as favorable terms as we can get. But my job as a potential Commander in Chief is to view your counsel and interests through the prism of our overall national security."

Bush and McCain both have relegated the responsibility to the "generals on the ground". "It's up to them." I personally don't think that's the kind of leadership that is expected or necessary from a President. No, I'm not saying you stubbornly stick to your way only and ignore advice from those that know more about the situation than you possibly could sitting in the White House but you don't completely relegate the responsibility to the "generals on the ground".

[ghostrunner]

Interesting story in TIME: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article ... 25,00.html

I had never heard of the Petraeus briefing discussion.

He seemed to be thinking in my presence, rather than just reciting talking points, and it took him some time to think through my question about gut decisions. He said the first really big one was how to react when incendiary videos of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's black-nationalist sermons surfaced last spring. "The decision to make it big as opposed to make it small," Obama said of the landmark speech on race relations he delivered in Philadelphia. "My gut was telling me that this was a teachable moment and that if I tried to do the usual political damage control instead of talking to the American people like ... they were adults and could understand the complexities of race, I would be not only doing damage to the campaign but missing an important opportunity for leadership."

Bam. That's when I started thinking about changing my vote.

I don't think I could find it in this thread now, but this is almost exactly the way I read his thinking on this. The decision to address it rather than "handle" it impressed the hell out of me.

[Freed Roger]

Interesting story in TIME: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article ... 25,00.html

I had never heard of the Petraeus briefing discussion.

Once again, Obama points out what nearly everyone else has failed to:

"Your job is to succeed in Iraq on as favorable terms as we can get. But my job as a potential Commander in Chief is to view your counsel and interests through the prism of our overall national security."

Bush and McCain both have relegated the responsibility to the "generals on the ground". "It's up to them." I personally don't think that's the kind of leadership that is expected or necessary from a President. No, I'm not saying you stubbornly stick to your way only and ignore advice from those that know more about the situation than you possibly could sitting in the White House but you don't completely relegate the responsibility to the "generals on the ground".

Thanks for the great article. This is the sort of thing that sets Obama apart-his judgement. Its odd to see the younger candidate appear more wise, grounded and cool-headed. McCain's relationship with Petraeus, as the article states, amounts to an unseemly hero worship.

Here's a little bit I read the other day, got to thinking about it as the McPalin's were bashing elitism (or whatever the ef they are bashing today)

Ask yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth—in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn't seem too intelligent or well educated.

[PujolJunkie]

For months, Obama has insisted on the campaign trail and even in his acceptance speech that he'd cut taxes on 95 percent of all taxpayers.

McCain has tried to frame him as an overall tax raiser anyway and Republicans have tried to blame the Obama campaign for attacking Wurzelbacher after media reports showed he couldn't afford to buy the business he wanted and that he wasn't a licensed plumber.

''He's decided to completely make up, just fabricate this notion that I've been attacking Joe the Plumber,'' Obama said Tuesday in Miami. ``I got nothing but love for Joe the Plumber; that's why I want to give him a tax cut.''

Meantime, MSNBC dug video out of its archives that showed McCain in 2000 defending his call for higher taxes on the wealthy, bashed by a citizen in a town hall as ''socialism.'' Said McCain: ``We feel, obviously, that wealthy people can afford more.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politic ... 36663.html

[GatewaySnayke]

Apparently Barry Goldwater's grand children have turned on McCain.