Quotes of the day
posted at 10:40 pm on June 17, 2008 by Allahpundit
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“These people are not by any means wicked or unjust or venal–some of the guests at the party had performed significant public service in one way or another. Many of them were Democrats who will vote for Obama. But I am sure that if you took a poll and asked them whether Obama could really change Washington-could really close loopholes on energy companies and raise taxes on the rich, reform the health-care system and significantly scale back the ill effects of global warming, substantially improve public schools or get us out of Iraq anytime soon–the answer would have been no, probably not. These ‘realists’ might even want such changes, or most of them. But they know how Washington works…
“I agree with them; I am part of that Washington world as a journalist and I have low expectations that any politician, no matter how gifted, can change it in a significant way. At the same time, standing in the press gallery on the floor of that arena in Detroit, I was moved by Obama’s ability to rouse and give hope to so many people who really seem to believe he can achieve the change he talks about. There is a disconnect here, and I don’t see what’s going to change it. Obama is a shrewd and realistic person, as far as I can tell. I wonder what he really thinks.”
*
“In sum, Barack Obama’s record, judgment and message are at best entirely undistinguished in the field of presidential politics. At worst, we have Axelrod’s campaign of personality attracting a cult of followers so creepy that even many Obama backers are put off by it, to a man who admits he is a ‘blank screen,’ with a message that is either illusory or tyrannical. It is in those people that I find little to admire.”
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Yeah, we’ve been noticing that.
Merovign on June 17, 2008 at 10:50 PM
I really do wonder what he thinks. Really. Somehow, I have to believe his president of the Harvard Law Review intellect can’t possibly buy most of the bullsh!t he says campaigning. Its obvious his message and agenda are the product of handlers that have been with him for years, but really, can he really believe in that nonsense?
ernesto on June 17, 2008 at 10:53 PM
I find it amusing that our next POTUS is going to be everything that the Left accuses the current POTUS of being: stupid / puppet / empty suit / etc.
Obama has zero weight behind him, just a mirage in a certain skin color that can read a teleprompter well. The man has zero grasp of markets, freedom, responsibility, leadership, or just about any other subject that a POTUS should be well versed in. Lucky for him he’s black, and his opponent is McCain.
I had always wished that the first black POTUS would be a conservative because I did not want him/her to set the president that a black POTUS = disaster, but Obama is right on track to do just that with his policies.
Voidseeker on June 17, 2008 at 10:54 PM
He thinks “No matter what I accomplish, or not, no matter how Machiavellian I’ve been, no matter what it took to get here, right or wrong, history will record that I was the first Black American president, or the first Black nominee for president of the U.S.A. Michelle will finally look up to me, or at least not down at me”.
Entelechy on June 17, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Wow! Linked thrice in a day! Thanks, AP!
Karl on June 17, 2008 at 11:01 PM
And he (Axelrod) did the same thing here in MA with Deval Patrick. The same thing with basically the same guy and the same messages (heck the same exact speeches) and it’s such a disaster nobody, not even Patrick himself, think he’ll get another term.
TheBigOldDog on June 17, 2008 at 11:02 PM
What he really thinks is He, himself confessed that he is not ready to be POTUS
abinitioadinfinitum on June 17, 2008 at 11:05 PM
Obama Hears a Who
Ugly on June 17, 2008 at 11:06 PM
Yeah, ya think?
Bob's Kid on June 17, 2008 at 11:08 PM
Uhhhhhh…uhm….uhhhhhh….errrrr….hope….uhhhh…change you can believe in….uhhhh….well…errrr…
SouthernGent on June 17, 2008 at 11:09 PM
He probably thinks you’re a 12 year-old girl.
Rhinoboy on June 17, 2008 at 11:10 PM
Even the liberal intelligentsia is getting nervous.
TheBigOldDog on June 17, 2008 at 11:10 PM
Great, and much deserved! I was thinking this when I began to read the 2nd quote of the day.
Entelechy on June 17, 2008 at 11:11 PM
If Obama get’s elected, there are going to be some changes, and the majority of the country isn’t going to like them. One of which, terrorist attacks against American’s and American interests will ramp up in a hurry, just to name one. Just my opinion, can’t back it up with any hard data.
Hog Wild on June 17, 2008 at 11:16 PM
Barack Hussein Obama has to be about the most arrogant, yet stupidest SOB to attempt a presidency. Other than with his mouth, he’s accomplished nothing, zero senatorial bills, hasn’t even run a mom and pop store. Yet by his own acclamation can solve ALL of America’s problems.
His latest rant to solve gas pains, is to sir charge the five large oils companies. He doesn’t understand economics 101 of supply and demand, that the oil companies have no control over. The democrats are well aware of the fact they have blocked all exploration and energy recovery, past, present, and future in the 50 states. They have NOT allowed any new refineries to be built, and have discouraged ANY new nuclear power plants, and of course, pray five times a day to their local environmentalist.
OK you stinking democrats, make Americans suffer now. But remember, in time, you will be voted out of office.
byteshredder on June 17, 2008 at 11:20 PM
Believe me, four years of President Dinkins and even the KOS Kids will be begging to vote for Rudy in 2012.
hamnj7 on June 17, 2008 at 11:23 PM
With Obama, the deeper you dig, the less there is. Everything about him is only skin deep. Everything.
RBMN on June 17, 2008 at 11:25 PM
Wow, someone in the MSM is finally beginning to THINK?
GarandFan on June 17, 2008 at 11:25 PM
That says it all.
NotCoach on June 17, 2008 at 11:30 PM
I was moved by Obama’s ability to rouse and give hope to so many people who really seem to believe he can achieve the change he talks about.
I was moved by the hard fact that there are quite a few losers in America who have such low self-esteem and basement level expectations for themselves that they will believe anything this arrogant tyro has to say.
Bishop on June 17, 2008 at 11:30 PM
I don’t think he has any idea what he belives himself. He wrote two books that are a mish mash of trying to discover who he really is. And while president of the Harvard Law Review he did not publish a single item. That should say something as well.
NotCoach on June 17, 2008 at 11:32 PM
The Change and Hope rhetoric is getting pretty old.. even older then McCain is Old, Old jokes..
Chakra Hammer on June 17, 2008 at 11:32 PM
Kini on June 17, 2008 at 11:35 PM
An apt description of Obama
Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.
Kini on June 17, 2008 at 11:37 PM
Well deserved, too. The definitive piece on Obambi to date. Bravo.
Jaibones on June 17, 2008 at 11:55 PM
Someone said it earlier about Deval Patrick. He’s exactly correct. Deval Patrick got elected on lofty phrases like “Together We Can” and “Let’s Get Started.” I believe Kerry Healey still had dents in the side of head from banging it against the wall — she brought hefty policy issues to the fore in every debate and Deval skated around and said virtually nothing. And he won handily — no surprise, this is Massachusetts and the liberals ate up his bullshit. As a governor, he’s a disaster. No two ways about it.
Obama is trying the same ruse on the American people. It’s blatantly obvious that he’s a policy-retard. I used to think he was somewhat affable. Now I’m offended anytime I hear him speak with his affected black-ness and his “watch me do my best MLK” imitation. It’s sickening, and it’s disheartening that some fair minded Americans may be fooled by this charlatan. He has no business being anywhere near the White House, and our country may pay dearly if he gets the keys.
D2Boston on June 18, 2008 at 12:01 AM
No sir,I’ll will not bend or break,
and no matter the hype,hope or change’
I ain’t,Ha Ha Ha, All Aboard gettin on
Obama,or Omama’s Crazy Train,to Utopia!!
jus sayin!
canopfor on June 18, 2008 at 12:10 AM
Evan Thomas must have really caught some flack, not just from conservatives, but from some Hillary people and possibly even from some Obama top staffers, to have written this column, after the love letter he co-authored a week ago basically telling the Obama campaign how to blueprint a winning election plan (conservatives and Clintonites would both have the same complaint about Newsweek showing no impartiality in this campaign, while Barack’s people might actually have the hubris to have chided Thomas for trying to tell them what to do in the original story, and this column is payback).
jon1979 on June 18, 2008 at 12:12 AM
Here’s how its going to end,at the DNConvention,
with the Obama supporters:
A blast from the past,Casino Royale(1967,David Niven!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gn7VmFTLOY
canopfor on June 18, 2008 at 12:20 AM
I am hoping this is all a dream (nightmare) that we collectively wake up from. Do we really think so little of our country that we are willing to hand it over to someone so completely unqualified? Words, just words. Obama said it himself, too bad the kool-aid drinkers dont actually listen. Eddie Izzard has this great stand-up routine that basically says being convincing is mostly how you look and how convincingly you communicate and not actually what you say. He demonstrates this by loudly and proudly singing a bunch of garbled words that are seemingly the national anthem – but sung with great verve and conviction. Its funnier to watch than to read my explanation – but hits home all the same.
HawaiiLwyr on June 18, 2008 at 12:31 AM
actually my explanations suck – you have to see the clip – can someone link it? I am a luddite when it comes to that stuff…
HawaiiLwyr on June 18, 2008 at 12:32 AM
This reminds me of a news reporter who described a stirring speech by another world leader many years ago. I just wish I could remember who it was, and could find an online copy of that account.
Nothing good is going to come out of this speech by Obama. He is unleashing a power beyond imagination.
You see, he is unleashing hope in people who have not had much hope in their lives before Obama swept them to their feet.
If Obama can not deliver those things people now hope for, what then? How far will Obama have to go to deliver on his promises to those people? What will they demand now that he has promised it?
Does Obama understand he has written a blank check, and they will try to cash it?
rockhauler on June 18, 2008 at 12:51 AM
Obama: he’ll do anything!
(Unless you want something else!)
profitsbeard on June 18, 2008 at 1:07 AM
You with your hesitating
And you always contemplating
What to do
When heaven has found you
Can’t you see
That it’s all wrapped up in the Messiah that’s me
So follow me
Come on, voters
Follow me
I’m Obama the Piper
Follow me
I’m Obama the Piper
And I’ll show you where Hope and Change is at
Come on, voters
Can’t you see
I’m Obama the Piper
Trust in me
I’m Obama the Piper
And I’ll show you where Hope and Change is at
Voters
Don’t be scared to into the White House to help me move
Hey, voters
What do you think I’m tryin’ to prove
It ain’t true
That My Michelle would like to punch and kick you
It’s just in your mind
And that’s all that’s trickin’ you
So step in line
Come on, voters
Follow me
Come on, voters
Trust in me
Come on, voters
Can’t you see
Come on, voters
Follow me
I’m Obama the Piper
MB4 on June 18, 2008 at 1:12 AM
Not everything that glitters is sellable, no matter how many suckers are out there.
Entelechy on June 18, 2008 at 1:31 AM
Obama reminds me of adolescents from the 1970’s who were confused about the world, and trying to “find themselves”–find a cause that would inspire them to greatness. He was abandoned by his father, spent part of his boyhood in Indonesia, then Hawaii, as the black boy raised by white women, while “dreaming” of his father. He was bright enough to get admitted to Harvard, then “found his black identiry” through Jeremiah Wright’s racist rants, and suddenly found religion there, although not necessarily Jesus Christ.
He has no real-world experience in much of anything–he’s a dreamer and preacher of platitudes who thinks that his lack of accomplishment somehow leaves him “pure” and uncorrupted by the mundane concerns of the “bitter” people, and his superior ethereal wisdom will somehow transcend all age-old conflicts by belief, hope, a personality cult, and magic words, and how DARE anyone disagree? If we unenlightened peons cannot comprehend his “hope”, we are “hopeless” racists!
But if 1970’s hippies in search of themselves were harmless, if useless, the Presidency is no place for soul-searching and dreaming–the leader of the free world needs to be decisive and wise to the ways of the REAL world. A President must PROTECT and DEFEND America, and a dreamer-in-chief would leave us totally defenseless against the very real evils in this world.
Wake up NOW, America, or else the next four years will be a NIGHTMARE!
Steve Z on June 18, 2008 at 1:44 AM
I know I’m not buyin’.
The price is too high.
hillbillyjim on June 18, 2008 at 1:44 AM
Which is why the focus on his associations, both past and present, has taken center stage.
Connie on June 18, 2008 at 1:56 AM
So imagine that you are in College, you’ve listened to NPR and PBS and checked on DailyKos once in a while. And you go to a party with some bigwigs, and to an Obama rally. And you write in your college newspaper a cri d’coeur, that, you know, maybe Washington will never really be able to live up to your dreams. That is what it’s like to be Evan Thomas:
Can this country really suffer such fools forever?
r keller on June 18, 2008 at 1:58 AM
We can’t afford on the job training during a war.
McCain United States Naval Academy, and attended the National War College
Obama was a community organizer probably trying to talk Arabic to the VL in Chicago.. asalama linkm And by the looks of it he didn’t do so good..
Chakra Hammer on June 18, 2008 at 2:28 AM
I watched David Letterman tonight. 2 Bush jokes, 1 McCain joke and 1 Clinton joke. Curiously, no Obama jokes were to be found. I wonder who David Letterman and staff will be voting for this year?
gmoonster on June 18, 2008 at 3:44 AM
oh. bama. *sigh
Drunk Report on June 18, 2008 at 4:14 AM
Gee, his Change We Can Believe In proved to be corruption. So naturally, appeal to the JOBS, JOBS, JOBS promise via change that works. Work? Obama offers to lead the chain gang for “free” labor providing Michelle’s children’s playscape. Whatever. Even if Obama were the Sorceror’s Apprentice, he is a most inadequate incompetent substitute.
maverick muse on June 18, 2008 at 6:45 AM
Obama reminds me of the Robert Redford movie, ‘The Candidate’, especially at the very end when Redford, victorious, looks at his campaign manager and asks, “What do we do now?” It was all about winning, nothing about what to do once the election was won.
jackmac on June 18, 2008 at 6:52 AM
I personally wish everyone would stop using phrases such as “empty suit” and “blank screen” to describe The Obamboozler. To me, it congers up an image of someone/something harmless, even if taking up otherwise useful space.
Obama is anything but.
And the media are only ushering him into the position of doing irreparable damage to this country. The true disconnect exists, as well articulated in Bernie Goldberg’s 2001 book, “Bias,” in the media failing to “connect” Obama’s past with his present, as well as Obama’s present policies/political positions with a socialist future.
Lockstein13 on June 18, 2008 at 7:31 AM
C.H.A.N.G.E. Can’t Have A Nitwit Getting Elected
meci on June 18, 2008 at 7:35 AM
Obama knows he isnt going to change Washington and he has no intention of it. But, he also knows if he gets enough sheep to believe his lies, then he’ll be elected. That’s the goal of the game, after all. Obama is a product of corrupt Chicago politics, so he should be perfectly at home in Washington. Not as corrupt as Chicago, maybe, but corrupt nevertheless. He’s a “chicken in every pot” politician, promise the people everything, and deliver nothing (I think Napoleon said that). But he and the socialist democrat majority in Congress will change this nation – into a Marxist utopia. We’re pretty much there now.
abcurtis on June 18, 2008 at 7:45 AM
Dang.
I thought this was Obama describing Gitmo detainees.
drjohn on June 18, 2008 at 7:46 AM
abcurtis on June 18, 2008 at 7:48 AM
Crap. Looks like the bounce has arrived – from Quinnipiac:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/latestpolls/index.html
Dudley Smith on June 18, 2008 at 7:50 AM
Its ok, relax, hussein will never get elected anyway. McNumbnuts will win for the dems.
dogsoldier on June 18, 2008 at 7:52 AM
If any of you are taking comfort in the idea that Obama can’t win, remember how close the 2004 election was with the two John ticket. An empty suit and an empty head nearly won the big prize then; Obama may win in 2008. Especially if paired with a solid partner.
Who else thinks that it was the Clintons, not the DNC, which orchestrated McCain’s win? Hillary could have moppped up the floor with him. I’m guessing she’s kind of bitter right now.
Doug on June 18, 2008 at 8:11 AM
Despite all this, so called patriotic conservatives still can’t figure out how to justify pulling the lever for McCain.
Kafir on June 18, 2008 at 8:36 AM
Hey, I think Evan Thomas has found a new (and accurate) campaign slogan for Barry:
Obama ‘08: Entirely Undistinguished!
AZCoyote on June 18, 2008 at 8:40 AM
Typical Democratic playbook that swept Carter and Clinton into the White House——-promise EVERYTHING and blame it on Republicans when reality sets in and you can’t deliver.
Rovin on June 18, 2008 at 8:50 AM
Evan Thomas’s name doesn’t appear on that quote, at least as far as Cntl F is concerned. How does anyone know he said it? Who is Evan Thomas?
Akzed on June 18, 2008 at 8:52 AM
Why am I here?
Akzed on June 18, 2008 at 8:53 AM
I was just thinking… Since Obama is for change, and the Earth’s climate is in constant change, so if Obama is elected we don’t have to save the planet anymore since it is normal to have such ‘change’. Whew – Finally someone who gets it.
Dasher on June 18, 2008 at 8:56 AM
I have had this discussion about him on multiple message boards and we all came to the same conclusion.
When you recall all the
group hug news conferencesdebates on the left and all he has done since then he sounds like he is running for the Senate instead of President.You don’t hear the major policy goals and stuff, it’s mostly tied down to particular legislation he wants to get done.
CommentGuy on June 18, 2008 at 9:36 AM
Notice how Obama’s arms move when George Soros makes a fist?
landlines on June 18, 2008 at 11:39 AM
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