Quote of the day
posted at 10:48 pm on July 25, 2008 by Allahpundit
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“Before Obama flew to Baghdad, I asked his top foreign-policy adviser, Susan Rice, what kinds of questions he’d asked of his advisers over the months to test whether his Iraq withdrawal plan still matched the realities on the ground in Iraq. Rice gave me no examples. And now that the trip is over, we have no better sense of how Sen. Obama thinks about Iraq. It’s not that I expect grand revelations. But Obama still holds the same policy views he did more than a year and a half ago, even though a lot has changed since then in Iraq, and a lot of those events appear to contradict his earlier views. We know that Obama hasn’t moved, but we don’t know, really, why that’s so.”
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Whatever he says sighing. The whole Iraq thing is sooo boring.
Terrye on July 25, 2008 at 10:51 PM
Let the bodies hit the floor!
Obama or Die!
dmann on July 25, 2008 at 10:53 PM
Who is Obama, and what does he do?
Chakra Hammer on July 25, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Who is your daddy and what does he do?
Chakra Hammer on July 25, 2008 at 10:55 PM
However, admitting that your speech was “inartful” is not.
p.s. Mr. Dickerson, get with the healer of the world. You seem to be sickly.
Entelechy on July 25, 2008 at 10:56 PM
The greatest insult the left can give.
Rhinoboy on July 25, 2008 at 10:58 PM
Heh.
We know, of course, that George W. Bush, in fact, goes through life thinking in subtle, nuanced, and interesting ways. But you wouldn’t know it from the media’s portrayal of him. He’s probably got lots of complex input from his 7 years in office that he’s dissecting and analyzing. But you wouldn’t know it from the media’s portrayal of him.
VolMagic on July 25, 2008 at 10:58 PM
Of course we do. The NutRoots won’t let him budge.
Not sure what he will do if they go after his Afghanistan stance like they are threatening to.
bnelson44 on July 25, 2008 at 11:01 PM
Because modern politics is just emotivist theater. It effects all sides.
After finishing up my assignment on stem cells I have a QOTD: “Soylent Green is People!“
ninjapirate on July 25, 2008 at 11:02 PM
Hubris.
Spirit of 1776 on July 25, 2008 at 11:06 PM
Heh. I even twittered while I was hearing the speech that he sounded like Bush.
terryannonline on July 25, 2008 at 11:10 PM
Howard Wolfson can join Obama as the idiots of the weak.
Rovin on July 25, 2008 at 11:11 PM
And liberals call Bush intellectually uncurious?
(Excuse my inartfulness if uncurious is not a word.)
Greenhorn on July 25, 2008 at 11:14 PM
Hopenosis = Going into the Obama trance
byteshredder on July 25, 2008 at 11:15 PM
Another “brother” of Barack HUSSEIN Obama (PBUH)(SWT)(SAW) found, another brother who is a MUSLIM!
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….wonder what the Leftist Nutbags will say about this now?
Can you spell….”Taqiyah“???
Dale in Atlanta on July 25, 2008 at 11:16 PM
Dude, from your own link.
Spirit of 1776 on July 25, 2008 at 11:23 PM
If he starts wearing a cape, the Weat is doomed.
profitsbeard on July 25, 2008 at 11:23 PM
West… not Weat…
(Obumbles makes me laugh so hard I can hardly type straight.)
profitsbeard on July 25, 2008 at 11:25 PM
Barry is a dumbass.
Griz on July 25, 2008 at 11:30 PM
Obamazombies make me chuckle. They actually this man is about “hope and change”. It’s freakin’ hilarious.
SouthernGent on July 25, 2008 at 11:36 PM
The Obama Iraq Documentary: Whatever the Politics Demand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHEIi4XKRmM
bnelson44 on July 25, 2008 at 11:40 PM
Barack early on found the whinny, clingy voice he needed to clinch the nomination, now he’s searching for the resonant mantra that covers all the bases.
He just needs his efforts at contrivance exposed, because the guy has to be a phony, what else does he have other than the obsessive rapt of a street hustler needing a fix.
Speakup on July 25, 2008 at 11:40 PM
The cretin’s logic.
1) He was against the surge because it was not going to work.
2) Surge worked. Despite his attempts to sabotage it.
3) He admits the surge worked but not that he was wrong.
4) He is still against the surge because the surge worked.
How did this man get to this point let alone through law school?
elduende on July 25, 2008 at 11:43 PM
Questioning the Messiah? Racists all.
JimRich on July 25, 2008 at 11:44 PM
Obama is still getting training on what to say…..
I really wonder who is pulling his strings.
Kini on July 25, 2008 at 11:49 PM
I also doesn’t help to have the big media fawning all over you, first for a couple of months when you announce at the start of 2007 and then for the past eight months, since Hillary’s slip in Philadelphia made them realize that a Clinton II Administration wasn’t a fait accompli, to the point that no gaffe, no mis-statement, no botched line is ever mentioned less it destroy the wished-for image of perfection they want to present to the public. Combine that with a hard core base that treats you like a cross between a rock star and a deity — as long as you take the proper position on their key issues — and it’s no surprise Obama would be totally intransigent on changing his stance on troop withdrawal timetables.
jon1979 on July 25, 2008 at 11:52 PM
A laughed so hard I woke TheLittleDogs up.
TheBigOldDog on July 25, 2008 at 11:55 PM
Can you imagine what would have happened had he said the following:
I was wrong - clearly — and I’m glad I was. The situation looked a lot different at the time and I simply thought it was a problem we could not solve without paying too high a price. The Iraqis at the time were not stepping up to help improve the situation and it looked like they never would. So I was wrong and I’m glad I was. Now we have a chance to stabilize the country, put them on the path to freedom and return of fine heroes home to the families and I hope to do that in my first 16 months.
Thank God he can’t bring himself to admit a mistake or McCain would be in real trouble today.
TheBigOldDog on July 26, 2008 at 12:01 AM
Wine and cheese meet beer and pretzels.
The O campaign has shot Barry in both feet on this world tour. Barry is going to hobble into Denver wondering why the reporters aren’t still tossing rose petals along his path.
Limerick on July 26, 2008 at 12:04 AM
Kini on July 26, 2008 at 12:08 AM
Howard Wolfson is the most boring ‘contributor’ to FOX. He should not get paid because a wax figure would contribute the same, nothing.
Entelechy on July 26, 2008 at 12:09 AM
Fare and Vacuous?
Kini on July 26, 2008 at 12:11 AM
Is it just my computer or does Obama look like he has a sunburn?
http://www.daylife.com/photo/02Xr5xQbuB6Hb/Barack_Obama
Chakra Hammer on July 26, 2008 at 12:16 AM
Taking a dip in the Red Sea of shameless?
Kini on July 26, 2008 at 12:20 AM
Barack All hat no Church..
http://www.daylife.com/photo/03NO0UffSvbx4/Barack_Obama
Chakra Hammer on July 26, 2008 at 12:20 AM
does the picture have a lot of red in it? it looks that way to me..
Chakra Hammer on July 26, 2008 at 12:21 AM
“Bzzz i think we’ve spotted some more possible high valued campaign contributions.. vectoring to target.. moving into kill”
http://www.daylife.com/photo/0dGgbKX47B1UN/Barack_Obama
Chakra Hammer on July 26, 2008 at 12:24 AM
See same day… not as red.. “weird.. ”
http://www.daylife.com/photo/0fUL8G14GYcjs/Barack_Obama
Chakra Hammer on July 26, 2008 at 12:29 AM
Could be photo-doctored. I wouldn’t doubt it.
Nether the less, there is a degree of tint that supports our view of his inexperience and naivete. But I don’t know just what the left exactly sees? Walt Disney perhaps?
Kini on July 26, 2008 at 12:29 AM
There’s that word again…. Presumptive
Kini on July 26, 2008 at 12:33 AM
He’s still chasing his childhood dream of wanting to be King Obama, nothing else matters. Scroll down to his Punhou School in the late 1970’s.
abinitioadinfinitum on July 26, 2008 at 12:42 AM
Oh wow.. i tried lowering the red levels in the picture and i didn’t notice that there is a little kid behind him until i did it.. ( he is visible without changinf the levels however, the kid is kind of “blending into the background..) LMAO…
maybe with little playing next to the deadly bombs it takes away from the deadliness or importance of it..? ehh..
Chakra Hammer on July 26, 2008 at 12:46 AM
Sorry, but a “staunch Christian” cannot be radically pro-abortion & pro-homosexual rights.
He’s not a Muslim, either.
jgapinoy on July 26, 2008 at 12:50 AM
…he’s his own messiah.
jgapinoy on July 26, 2008 at 12:50 AM
Has anyone noticed Keith Olbermans appearance on Talk Soup?
Kini on July 26, 2008 at 12:51 AM
I disagree with Dickerson’s suggestion that the Iraq surge vote was Obama’s most important. I believe his most important vote was against confirmation of John Roberts, and here’s why:
- Obama, despite swooning liberal declarations that he is all this or that, remains an almost uniquely inexperienced and unqualified Senator. Senator.
- Any rational analysis of his skills and knowledge leave the analyst searching for skills and knowledge, on any subject. He is uniquely ignorant of so many subjects that it startles: economics, foreign policy of every kind, military (anything about the military - guns, warfare, history, strategy), national defense, immigration, American history.
- So when a significant issue arrives at a Senate vote, on which Obama might be assumed by the electorate to actually know something, it’s a big deal. Voila: Roberts. Obama’s only apparent knowledge is presumed to be constitutional law, which sits in the lap of SCOTUS. Obama votes against confirmation of a judge so obvious his intellectual master that it would have embarrassed anyone capable of embarrassment. First clue - Obama is Clinton in this way.
- As for the surge vote, it only confirmed what we already knew, that Obama is an anti-war leftist and idealogical buffoon whose couldn’t have voted to support the surge any more than he can now admit that he’s stupid and blew it. His ego is tiny and weak (black guy thing?), and so he needs to inflate it with absurd adulation scenes and a refusal to adjust for errors. Odd, this is what the left has been saying about Booossssshhhh for 7 years, except that it doesn’t seem to have been true.
Jaibones on July 26, 2008 at 1:15 AM
Agreed. No Christian with the slightest idea what’s in the Bible could in good conscience vote for Obama. He’s against everything that God is for in scripture.
Mojave Mark on July 26, 2008 at 1:31 AM
==>> Dr. Phil soundboard.
S on July 26, 2008 at 2:22 AM
He’s not a Muslim, either.
jgapinoy on July 26, 2008 at 12:50 AM
actually, you have NO proof of that, whatsoever…
He’s categorically lied about almost every major event, and almost every aspect of his entire “biography”; that’s already been proven.
Why are you so ignorant of the concept of “Taqiyah“?
I’ve been educating the US Government, the US Military, and the IC about it for 17 years!
I was THE very first IC analyst, to prove to the IC, that the concept was real, and existed, and was rooted in Islamic Doctrine for BOTH Sunni & Shias!
Just as a reminder, the 9/11 Hijackers, in this country, practiced “Taqiyah”; unlike previous Jihadis, they went out of their way to “fit in”; they shaved their beards, they drank, the went to Las Vegas and they bought Hookers, all in an effort to make sure they were not “made” as Jihadis.
Every recent Intel report available on the web, indicates Al Qaeda is actively recruiting “Western” converts to Islam who can practice “Taqiyah”, and fit in, all the better to attack Europe and the US.
It has a long history in Islam: Moriscos
The concept is not unknown outside of Islam as well: Marranos
The bottomline is this: I’ve been studying Islam and Muslims for 31 years; I’ve been studying “Taqiyah” for 17 years, longer than almost any other person in the field; and definitely longer than anyone associated with Federal Service.
When this man, Senator Obama, speaks, and the more you investigate his background, is SCREAMS “Taqiyah”.
Don’t be so hasty to dismiss it.
He is certainly no “Christian”, desipite his constant attempts to portray himself as one.
He lies too easily, his “faith” is too flexible; he has had too many radical Anti-White/Anti-American/Anti-Semitic influences in his life, from his grandfather, to his mother, to his father, to his memory of his father, to his step-father, to both of his step-families; to his radical mentor Frank Marshall Davis; to his radical Anti-American/Anti-Semitic Arab professors and friends, from the day he went to college: his Pakistani roomate; Edward Said, Rezko,and Aiham Alsammarae among many others.
His campaign has said he was NEVER a “Muslim”, and yet, he gave this interview to the NYT!
“He once got in trouble for making faces during Koran study classes in his elementary school,….”
“Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”
These words are out of his OWN mouth; and yet, after this interview with the NYT, he and his campaign acted as if it never happened, and proceeded to lie continuously about his Muslim birth, upbringing, heritage, etc..
I would propose, that those of you who dismiss this line of reasoning, are on way shakier ground than I am, in proposing it!
Dale in Atlanta on July 26, 2008 at 2:23 AM
Hahaha…
S on July 26, 2008 at 2:24 AM
Well said, there, Mark.
S on July 26, 2008 at 2:29 AM
I couldn’t decide if that was sarcasm or not. I still can’t.
Maybe we should take a vote. Was it unabashed hero worship, or was it sarcasm?
If it was straight, Dickerson might as well come on out and say he has a man-crush. The naked adulation, if it’s straight, is embarrassing.
I’m leaning toward sarcasm, just because I can’t imagine saying this about anyone and meaning it, and Slate occasionally strays from the party line, and they’re full of snark. But there’s no hint in the rest of the piece that it is.
Somebody help me out here.
misterpeasea on July 26, 2008 at 2:29 AM
S!!!!
Aren’t you the artiSt formerly known as -S-? Who is responsible for those posters from that space opera (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, say no more)? (Can’t remember which site you were -S- on. It’s been a couple of years.)
Good to have you here.
misterpeasea on July 26, 2008 at 2:37 AM
Hi, misterpeasea, yes, that’s me (I use “-S-” everywhere else I comment but when I registered here a while ago, the site rejected the two dashes in a User Name, so I only got “S” when I signed up).
That’s really nice of ya’ to greet me like that — I registered at Hot Air when that was first possible, then never commented until recently (everyone here outshines my comedy level, I was intimidated).
S on July 26, 2008 at 2:46 AM
:} It was a lame movie but Arnold sure is a funny dude..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J68fKEHGNg
this one has the MOST of best clips of the movie in one clip..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqj_8cSktGQ
Chakra Hammer on July 26, 2008 at 4:14 AM
Schwarzenegger soundboard is very funny.
S on July 26, 2008 at 5:55 AM
Asked to explain Obama’s stagnant mind for the press in their rut of ruin, McCain replied,
“It is what it is.”
Got that straight. At least McCain knows what “is” is. It takes a village to get stuck on stupid. It takes a GOP to think and forge ahead.
maverick muse on July 26, 2008 at 7:06 AM
Karen Tumulty, TIME, July 22 ‘08
John Dickerson, SLATE, July 25, ‘08
With peabrain mentality and a fraudulent intellect, if Obama were to expand his thinking about anything, his brain would explode. His thoughts are already mush. Any further processing and the lumps will disintegrate as he stretches to water himself down in order to feed the masses his Split Pea Soup recipe for POTUS 44.
No thanks.
maverick muse on July 26, 2008 at 7:27 AM
That’s what we want in a president, right? A guy who is open to new information — but who won’t act on it when he gets it.
AZCoyote on July 26, 2008 at 8:13 AM
Generally, I’ve thought this. But lately, not so much. I now think he’s quite smart and savvy–dare I say it, audacious.
What’s audacious is his run, what’s intelligent is his method. How else, besides using the cult of personality, can someone of no experience run? The use of race and rhetoric may be transparent to you, but it’s proven to work with so many.
When you see him unable to answer a question, or backpedal, or flip-flop, because he’s uninformed and inexperienced, you assume it reveals some disguised weakness. He made this run fully aware that he knew nothing, except a fair dose of human psychology. He’s laughing at everyone along the way. I would love to sit alone in a room with him and talk privately about the audaciousness of his low expectations of his fellow citizens.
What’s amazing is that this charade is on the verge of catapulting him to the Presidency. He’s got a 50/50 chance.
His politics aside, he is too inexperienced to be President, but I no longer believe he is too dumb to be President. He knows exactly what he’s doing, and made a so-far correct bet that America was just ready to fall for his act. That’s shrewd, and calculating. His growing arrogance comes from finding out that no matter what he says and does policy-wise, the masses will adore him.
Obama isn’t JFK, or Kerry, or Carter, or McGovern. He’s Evita Peron.
JiangxiDad on July 26, 2008 at 8:21 AM
you called Obama a girlie man..
after clicking over and reading the post, I can’t help but get the impression that the reporters following him are on the verge of a human sacrifice for the Oracle of Obama to speak of his plans..
DaveC on July 26, 2008 at 8:49 AM
BTW, JiangxiDad..
I agree with you.. I wasn’t trying to take anything away from your point by the girlie man thing..
DaveC on July 26, 2008 at 8:51 AM
Spot on. Imagine his amazed delight when he realized the worship would continue no matter what he says, particularly with the media. Empty phrases and cliches are parsed for coherence and pronounced statesmanlike. He probably has less regard for the intelligence of his supporters than any candidate ever.
a capella on July 26, 2008 at 9:46 AM
That’s cool, I can hardly wait for the next person to call my house to try and sell me something. I will have some fun. Ha
abinitioadinfinitum on July 26, 2008 at 10:06 AM
LOL, LOL
shiiii, who does he think he is? He’s lucky I didn’t kick his azz.
abinitioadinfinitum on July 26, 2008 at 10:12 AM
I can think of several in history…the fools are the sheep and the media, and they will deserve him.
German Atheist commented while he spoke in Berlin that the masses were stirred when he said that his father was a sheep hearder.
Of course, they were sheep, sitting in fron of a hearder.
The meak will never inherit the earth, but they will always be exploited. They deserve him, and others like him, because they willingly choose the easy path of rah, rah, rah, while sitting around and waiting for a ’saviour’.
Humanity is much dumber, in a much higher percent, than I could have ever assumed that it is.
Entelechy on July 26, 2008 at 10:14 AM
Before a military audience in Denver today, John McCain launched his strongest attack yet against Barack Obama. The attack was devastating because it is true. Here are some excerpts; McCain began by recalling the beginning of the surge:
Senator Obama and I also faced a decision, which amounted to a real-time test for a future commander-in-chief. America passed that test. I believe my judgment passed that test. And I believe Senator Obama’s failed.
We both knew the politically safe choice was to support some form of retreat. All the polls said the “surge” was unpopular. Many pundits, experts and policymakers opposed it and advocated withdrawing our troops and accepting the consequences. I chose to support the new counterinsurgency strategy backed by additional troops — which I had advocated since 2003, after my first trip to Iraq. Many observers said my position would end my hopes of becoming president. I said I would rather lose a campaign than see America lose a war. My choice was not smart politics. It didn’t test well in focus groups. It ignored all the polls. It also didn’t matter. The country I love had one final chance to succeed in Iraq. The new strategy was it. So I supported it. Today, the effects of the new strategy are obvious. The surge has succeeded, and we are, at long last, finally winning this war.
Senator Obama made a different choice. He not only opposed the new strategy, but actually tried to prevent us from implementing it. He didn’t just advocate defeat, he tried to legislate it. When his efforts failed, he continued to predict the failure of our troops. As our soldiers and Marines prepared to move into Baghdad neighborhoods and Anbari villages, Senator Obama predicted that their efforts would make the sectarian violence in Iraq worse, not better.
And as our troops took the fight to the enemy, Senator Obama tried to cut off funding for them. He was one of only 14 senators to vote against the emergency funding in May 2007 that supported our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. …
Three weeks after Senator Obama voted to deny funding for our troops in the field, General Ray Odierno launched the first major combat operations of the surge. Senator Obama declared defeat one month later: “My assessment is that the surge has not worked and we will not see a different report eight weeks from now.” His assessment was popular at the time. But it couldn’t have been more wrong.
By November 2007, the success of the surge was becoming apparent. Attacks on Coalition forces had dropped almost 60 percent from pre-surge levels. American casualties had fallen by more than half. Iraqi civilian deaths had fallen by more than two-thirds. But Senator Obama ignored the new and encouraging reality. “Not only have we not seen improvements,” he said, “but we’re actually worsening, potentially, a situation there.”
If Senator Obama had prevailed, American forces would have had to retreat under fire. The Iraqi Army would have collapsed. Civilian casualties would have increased dramatically. Al Qaeda would have killed the Sunni sheikhs who had begun to cooperate with us, and the “Sunni Awakening” would have been strangled at birth. Al Qaeda fighters would have safe havens, from where they could train Iraqis and foreigners, and turn Iraq into a base for launching attacks on Americans elsewhere. Civil war, genocide and wider conflict would have been likely.
Above all, America would have been humiliated and weakened. Our military, strained by years of sacrifice, would have suffered a demoralizing defeat. Our enemies around the globe would have been emboldened. …
Senator Obama told the American people what he thought you wanted to hear. I told you the truth.
Fortunately, Senator Obama failed, not our military. We rejected the audacity of hopelessness, and we were right. Violence in Iraq fell to such low levels for such a long time that Senator Obama, detecting the success he never believed possible, falsely claimed that he had always predicted it. … In Iraq, we are no longer on the doorstep of defeat, but on the road to victory.
Senator Obama said this week that even knowing what he knows today that he still would have opposed the surge. In retrospect, given the opportunity to choose between failure and success, he chooses failure. I cannot conceive of a Commander in Chief making that choice.
That recitation of Obama’s conduct is entirely factual. In this case, the facts are nuclear.(powerline)
The truth is a very powerful weapon…
Keemo on July 26, 2008 at 10:46 AM
There is nothing new under the sun.
I was in your
goldenrusty state recently, in Silicon Valley, and Berkeley. Curiously, for the first time, I felt no anger, only immense pity, for them(and a little for myself, but I pushed that away.)Maybe you ought to re-read this. Are you expecting something from people that is unreasonable? At best, most people learn from personal experience, and have no ability to “intellectualize” a situation. (E. Europeans, for ex. may now be more politically conservative than W. Europeans, but their personal experiences were their guide.) Americans are no exception. They will have to learn the hard lessons themselves. I wish it weren’t so as well.
JiangxiDad on July 26, 2008 at 10:59 AM
The very FIRST line in an article in today’s UK Telegraph, about the new Prophet, Barack HUSSEIN Obama (PBUH)(SWT)(SAW):
“In a magazine interview Obama and his wife Michelle revealed that one of their steadfast house rules is not giving Christmas or birthday presents to Malia, 10, and Sasha, seven.”
Interesting, isn’t it?
I wonder how many other normal households in the US have strict guidelines against both Christmas and Birthday presents?
Obviously Jewish households don’t celebrate Christmas, but they do celebrate Birthdays!
Hmmmmmmmm……..
Oh yeah, MUSLIMS don’t celebrate either Christmas NOR Birthdays!
Interesting, no?
Can you spell, “Taqiyah“???
Dale in Atlanta on July 26, 2008 at 4:12 PM
OH wow… never seen that before.. >:D
thanks +1
Chakra Hammer on July 26, 2008 at 6:49 PM
It’s because this is BO’s way of staying “true” to his far-left supporters.
And, why is this important to BO? Because much of his monetary support is coming from the far-left and that means BO is just like any other politician.
For $ale!
Wildcatter1980 on July 26, 2008 at 7:49 PM