Political Punch

Nobody's ever prepared to answer that phone at 3 a.m. We had 9/11 and how did we counter - by bombing and invading another country where we've lost more US soldiers than 9/11 combined. let's face it, the people making foreign policy mistakes are the advisors to the president.

It's tough to run a campaign. I urge the voters to get out there and decide the issues themselves, not read media headlines. Think. It is time for change.

and why are you using the term Islamic Extremist? Is that the only kind of enemy you face, trust me, we don't.

Don't you know you can't really fight an -ism. Geez. just like you can't fight a war on terror, how stupid is that concept. But that's been the Republican mantra for so damn long.

I have no need to defend my Muslim beliefs or my faith, go the library and check out the Quran yourself. If you don't know any thing about this faith and its people, then your knowledge, academic and otherwise, is deficient.
Educate yourself. You owe it to yourself.

We may do things differently, but we all want a better country, a safer world, from the hands of crazies. Let's not forget that there are people, sane ones too, within the US who believe Bush and Cheney should be tried for war crimes.

Anyone that would vote for this grandfather is crazy. I don't have a problem with the elderly but at 72, this guy ought to be doing something else. I don't know why the press is reporting on his temper, everyone knows old folks are cranky. As a Rep. I will sit this election out. Not even Hillary Clinton will make me want to vote for McCain...

The fact that several of Obama's advisors have become rattled and undisciplined is more to the point here.

I appreciate that Rice's words were taken out of context, but this was an easy soft ball lobbed right to McCain to pick up on. Rookie error.

Are you cetain McCain knew which Rice was being referred to?

Ridiculous stuff from Mccain, taking what Rice said completely out of context. She was saying none of the candidates have that experience, since none of them have been president before. That includes Mccain.

TRANSCRIPT, 3/5/08:

CARLSON: Barack Obama continues to defend his policy of engaging our enemies. But after last night's win for Hillary Clinton, has Mrs. Clinton finally found his Achilles heel? Could it be the freshman senator is more vulnerable than we thought on the question of foreign policy?

Joining us now is senior foreign policy advisor to the Obama campaign, Susan Rice.

Susan, thanks a lot for coming -- for coming on.

SUSAN RICE, OBAMA SR. FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR: Good to be with you again.

CARLSON: So Hillary Clinton runs this ad, the famous red phone ad, that says when the phone rings at 3:00 in the morning, you know, who do you trust to make those snap decisions that could hold all of our lives in the balance? And the Obama campaign, I thought very wisely, came back and said, name one that you -- you know name a situation where you've judged a foreign policy crisis, and she couldn`t.

I'm going to ask the same question to you. Where has -- Barack Obama been in a position where he has to make those kinds of decisions?

RICE: He hasn't and he hasn't claimed that he's been in a position to have to answer the phone at 3:00 in the morning in a crisis situation. That's the difference between the two of them. Hillary Clinton hasn't had to answer the phone at 3:00 in the morning. And yet she attacked Barack Obama for not being ready. They`re both not ready to have that 3:00 a.m. phone call.

The questions is and what Barack Obama raised is, when that phone call is received for each of them for the first time, who's going to make the right judgment? Who is going to make the right decision?

On the critical foreign policy issues of the day, whether it was a decision to go to war in Iraq or the decision to give President Bush the benefit of the doubt and beat the drums of war with Iran, Hillary Clinton has made the same wrong judgment as John McCain and George W. Bush. Barack Obama has made a very different judgment.

So neither one of them, and nor John McCain for that matter, have had that 3:00 phone call that others have had. And I think we have to be honest about that.

CARLSON: Well, good for you for saying that. I mean I've asked that question of Hillary Clinton supporters and they -- rather than just saying she hasn't, they`'e come up with less believable right.

RICE: They've come up -- but Tucker, let's go into.

CARLSON: I don't want to pile on.

RICE: ...what they said.

CARLSON: I know what they said. I mean.

RICE: They said, you know, oh she -- first of all, as you pointed out, they said, you know, nothing for several, almost 20 seconds.

CARLSON: Well, she went to the 1995 Beijing.

RICE: And then she went to the Beijing women's conference which, of course, is a crisis. And then she claimed that she played an instrumental role in negotiating the Northern Ireland peace agreement. George Mitchell who was the negotiator said she not directly involved. She claimed she went to Kosovo and opened the border with Macedonia, and yet the border opened the day before she arrived on that trip through no direct involvement of her own.

CARLSON: They knew she was coming and they opened it up.

RICE: Well, you know.

CARLSON: That -- such is the power of Hillary Clinton.

RICE: Well, there you go.

Bill says: "Hillary was the face of America all over the world."

The facts are: Her visits were part of a program to get her out of town so that Bill would not appear weak by feeding stories that Hillary was running the White House. Her visits abroad were entirely touristic and symbolic and there was no substantive diplomacy on any of them.

Bill says: "Hillary didn't succeed at getting health care for all Americans in 1994 but she kept working at it and helped to create the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that provides five million children with health insurance."

The facts are: Hillary had nothing to do with creating CHIP. It was included in the budget deal between Clinton and Republican Majority Leader Senator Trent Lott. I know; I helped to negotiate the deal. The money came half from the budget deal and half from the Attorney Generals' tobacco settlement. Hillary had nothing to do with either source of funds.

Bill says: "She served on the board of the Arkansas Children's Hospital."

The facts are: Yes she did. But her main board activity, not mentioned by Bill, was to sit on the Wal-mart board of directors, for a substantial fee. She was silent about their labor and health care practices.

Bill says: "President Carter appointed Hillary to the Legal Services Board of Directors and she became its chairman."

The facts are: The appointment was in exchange for Bill's support for Carter in his 1980 primary against Ted Kennedy. Hillary then became chairman in a coup in which she won a majority away from Carter's choice to be chairman.

Bill says: "She served on the board of the Arkansas Children's Hospital."

The facts are: Yes she did. But her main board activity, not mentioned by Bill, was to sit on the Wal-mart board of directors, for a substantial fee. She was silent about their labor and health care practices.

Hillary Clinton's REAL Record -- Pass This On Everywhere
Bill says: "Hillary spent a year after graduation working on a children's rights project for poor kids."

The facts are : Hillary interned with Bob Truehaft, the head of the California Communist Party. She met Bob when he represented the Panthers and traveled all the way to San Francisco to take an internship with him.

Bill says: "Hillary could have written her own job ticket, but she turned down all the lucrative job offers."

The facts are: She flunked the DC bar exam, yes, flunked, it is a matter of record, and only passed the Arkansas bar. She had no job offers in Arkansas, none, and only got hired by the University of Arkansas Law School at Fayetteville because Bill was already teaching there. She did not join the prestigious Rose Law Firm until Bill became Arkansas Attorney General and was made a partner only after he was elected Arkansas Governor.

that's not what she said. she said none of them are prepared to answer the red phone, "including john mccain." don't stop listening just because of the first thing you heard.

For the record, Hillary was playing very secretive in her deal with the health care package back in the good old days, that's one of the reasons it failed because people did not feel comfortable being put in the dark. Hillary has been consistently secretive. Transparency is what we need now after being put in the dark for so long.

Plus guess what I could have made 80 trips to many different countries, even better if as the First Lady. Things like promoting human rights in China is one of the most phony political shows you can find, that's why she got the trip, because it means nothing and will produce little, at the end, the big guy(probably her husband and the staff) were the ones who filled up Walmart with stuff from China.

Now let's talk about what the Clinton's could have done much better about human rights but didn't. Remember Janet "Waco" Reno? Remember in Somalia? They sent our troops to Somalia WITHOUT proper and sufficient armor just to put up a political show. When our troops started getting killed, Clinton pulled them out. Why did he send them in the first place? Like Bush, the Clinton's disrespect soldiers and don't care much about most of us. Like Bush, they enjoy political shows, just like going to China to talk about human rights, peace in Bosnia. What else...oh microfinance in Latin America, peace in Bosnia...oh I've already listed that.

Of course none of them have actually made an executive decision.

But when you look at the facts of their records, Hillary has had national political experience for over 20 years, including international experience.

Hillary was privy to all the difficult international and national executive decisions her husband had to make, and they do consult with each other on important issues. (Which considering that no administration is ever perfect, but his was one of the most successful we've ever had, and that they learned from their mistakes - it's a very good thing.)

Barack has had 3 years national experience.

From CBS's "For the Record"

Part 3:

Defeated, but not deterred, Clinton set her sights on more manageable goals, like creating the State Children's Health Care Program and increasing vaccination rates.

Still, behind the scenes she had the last word on so many issues, staffers had a nickname for her: "The Supreme Court."

It was her idea to tap Janet Reno for attorney general … and Madeleine Albright for secretary of state.

Her position on NAFTA has become a point of contention in job-strapped Ohio.

Publicly, she supported it in those early days. But within White House walls …

"She had grave reservations about NAFTA - was probably against it," said Reporter and biographer Carl Bernstein.

Clinton has cited her extensive travel - 80 trips as First Lady - as part of her foreign policy experience. She promoted microfinance in Latin America, peace in Bosnia and, famously, human rights in China.

From CBS's "For the Record"

Part 2:

Arkansas' first lady decided to take a shot at reforming the state's abysmal education system.

"I really believe that our young students need as much personal attention as they can get," Clinton said at the time.

It was a tough sell, involving the largest tax increase in the state's history and testing for teachers.

"Hillary went out into the state. She held public hearings I think in all 75 counties and she very effectively disarmed her critics," said Political Science Professor Hal Bass of Ouachita Baptist University.

Her grassroots victory would go down as one of Bill Clinton's most significant gubernatorial accomplishments.

-- End part 2

Robert Cochrane: I think most people do realize that none of the candidates have executive experience. At least I hope they do. The point of the ad was to emphasize that Hillary Clinton would be the best candidate on day 1 to handle a crisis situation. She feels her experience and qualifications exceed those of Barack Obama. I think that she also wanted to show that she would be the best candidate to go up against John McCain in the general election.

Dead true. Neither of the neo Marxist, expand government, Nanny state has any business being president of this country.

laura-k: Did you find the ad scary? I didn't. Our country has been involved in a war in both Iraq and Afghanistan for several years now. I don't think all of sudden people became fearful when they saw this ad. I'm sure most people had already made up their minds about which candidate they were choosing before this ad was even aired. Also, this is clearly not the reason she won in TX, OH, or RI. Believe it or not, the American people think that the economy is the most important issue for them.

Hi everybody....i see that you are all hot on the topic of experience in here.....let me try and clarify this for you.....
fact. 1....Clinton has been a public servant for 6 years
fact. 2....Obama has been a public servant for 20 years

a child at kindergarten could work out who had the more experience as a public servant....afterall that is what we are talking about isn't it....The President is a public servant......

Hillary Clinton was the wife of a Governor who then became president....

I was the wife of a doctor who then specialized in brain surgery....
would any of you want me to perform a brain operation on you???....
i am really really good at it cos i watched my husband for 20 years or so....
good strong dose of anesthetic and you won't feel a thing...promise !

Awesome spin here - faster than a dradle on Maneshewitz. Take a look at the freaking video. Rice makes perfect sense. The point (for those who can't discern): NONE of the candidates have had executive experience. I'm sorry context is such a difficult concept for the Obama-haters.

As for Obama overspending? He's the best funded by far (by the most number of people, by far) and doing just fine (55 million in February alone).

Feeling safer with Hillary in office? Personally I'm tired of being dictated to. I'm ready to be involved. I'm looking to a leader respectful enough to ask for my participation rather than say, I know what I'm doing -- just keep on spending...

McCain has the same problem as Clinton. They both voted yes to authorize Bush's Iraq disaster.

And ...

They both failed to read the 2002 Iraq National Intelligence Estimate.

McCain lives in a glass house. I fully expect it's going to be smashed.

--George

This is all fearmongering. If you think about it, the only time the US need to worry about the Islamic Extremists is when you have a war-monger Republican as president. Hilary Clinton is no more ready that Senator Obama for a 3a.m. phone call. For that matter, no president is ready for that 3 a.m. call. The red phone call is outdated now. The enemy uses other methods. Was the US ready for the 9/11 strike? Hilary will not be accepted by the Islamic leaders of the world as the president and they are the ones that America fears the most. Would you really want your granny or a granpa leading your country?

Now is the time to ask the Sen. Clinton what her 35 yrs of experience really is. Now is the time to ask questions about what the American public need to know and are going to ask very soon. If we don’t ask these questions, the republicans will. Every American knows all of the stuff that’s part of Clinton’s experience like: Whitewater, Travel gate, Monica Lewinsky and impeachment, renting out the Lincoln bedroom, the loss of the Rose Law Firm billing records for nearly 2 years until they were miraculously found in the White House living quarters, removing files from Vince Foster’s office following his suicide and before investigators could get there. Has anyone asked why she hasn’t released her library records or tax returns? What if she's hiding something negative that might cost our party the White House? Most people believe she's hiding some bad stuff. While you guys are deciding to ask her these questions the republicans will consolidate and take the white house again. I guess being a Dem isn't much fun.

Jennifer:
You Clinton supporters repeat her campaign slogans over and over!
Her "qualifications and experience"!
What Qualifications and Experience does Hillary Clinton have that qualify her to be president of the U.S.?
Being First Lady of Arkansas or the U.S.
doesn't count otherwise the whitehouse chef would also be qualified!
6+ uneventful years in the U'S. Senate with no major piece of legislation bearing her name does Not qualify Hillary Clinton to be president!

The point of the ad is to use the same tactic as Bush did - to create "fear" like all the color codes you saw in the airport. Fear is not what we need. We have had enough! We need CHANGE!

I think the point of the ad is to say that Hillary Clinton is ready to lead on day 1 under any circumstances. She has both the qualifications and experience. And I think she has been saying this repeatedly during her campaign throughout this whole election! This ad is just one more example of this.

I think that Obama and his campaign staff are starting to look worried. "You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people, all of the time". Obama camp: Time is up.

We, the People, need to take control over the election from the media, who has always been the one to decide who is the winner...(ref. Gore vs Bush, Kerry vs Bush). These days even Saturday Night Life can make a difference to an election outcome.

People, wake up and use your own judgment. Go to the Library of Congress and look up how much Senator Obama has done and got done in his political career. He is the one who can actually cross the party line, get his bills passed because he is willing to work with others, listen to others, including you and me. Our country needs unity now!

The media is showing a parsed, out-of-context clip and many of you are falling for it. Do you homework. Search the web for the full clip. Susan Rice's candor is exactly what our politics needs.

The full context of Ms. Rice's comments has been omitted from this story by various media sources.

I think Obama's advisor's should just shut their mouths. Ms. Rice is an adviser not a spokesperson for the Obama campaign. I see what Ms. Rice was trying to do, that is, make the 3:00AM phone call issue irrelevant since neither candidate had been in that situation. And it did come out that way in the entire transcript. But the media are interested in sound bites and that is what is sticking. Mr. Rice should have know that! Axelrod, Plouffe PUT A MUZZLE ON YOUR CAMPAIGN ADVISERS NOW!!!!!

I don't feel like this is the USA anymore. This election is going nuts, everyone that responds to thse media sponsored blogs is going nuts, the candidates, all three of them are going nuts, the supporters of these candidates are going more nuts. All I can say to all of this is NUTS!

I was for OBAMA yesterday!

I am for OBAMA today!

I am going to be for OBAMA tomorrow!

I believe there's a misconception about what she was saying hear. What she's saying here is none of the canidates have had to literally face these 3am phone calls because they never been president. Sort of like parenthood, no one is ever really ready to be a parent. You just have to take your what you've learned in life(values, judgement,etc) and do the best you can. And some parents are just better than others. So it is true that not one of these candiates are ready. Just like you're not ready to lose your job. You're not ready to lose your house. You're not ready to die today, are you? Just because your not 'ready' does not mean you're not able to face these sudden situations with a clear focus , clear plan, and good judgement to overcome.

Hey now that I think about it....didn't Bill and Hill have a slogan to help promote NAFTA. I think it went like this:

NAFTA we HAFTA. We HAFTA pass NAFTA.

What we are going to see is a vicious circle - the next generation created out of NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, are going to vote for a ticket of Barbara Bush+Jenna Bush. We get who we are as a majority.

Before it is too late, let's vote for someone who has a big picture, who said he wants our country to be the world leader in terms of technology, education, and economy but not through wars. -Senator Obama.

Thanks for the Obama campaign for letting us know your guy is not up to the task. Your claim that neither McCain or Clinton is ready is only "as far as you know"

Fact: One of Obama's top foreign policy advisors admits his candidate is not ready for the "3 a.m. crisis call" in the oval office. Of course, he can't speak for Clinton or McCain but throws them in to lessen the damage to his man. Obama's people only speak for Obama and that is a stunning admission. McCain would eat Obama alive.

Here’s a transcript from her appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show on MSNBC in terms of what was asked and said about the 3 a.m. phone call.

Mr. Carlson: So Hillary Clinton runs this ad, the famous red phone ad, that says when the phone rings at 3 o’clock in the morning, you know, who do you trust to make those snap decisions that could hold all of our lives in the balance? And the Obama campaign, I thought very wisely, came back and said, name one that you — you know name a situation where you’ve judged a foreign policy crisis, and she couldn’t.

I’m going to ask the same question to you. Where has — Barack Obama been in a position where he has to make those kinds of decisions?

Ms. Rice: He hasn’t and he hasn’t claimed that he’s been in a position to have to answer the phone at 3 o’clock in the morning in a crisis situation. That’s the difference between the two of them. Hillary Clinton hasn’t had to answer the phone at 3 o’clock in the morning. And yet she attacked Barack Obama for not being ready. They’re both not ready to have that 3:00 a.m. phone call.

The question is and what Barack Obama raised is, when that phone call is received for each of them for the first time, who’s going to make the right judgment? Who is going to make the right decision?

On the critical foreign policy issues of the day, whether it was a decision to go to war in Iraq or the decision to give President Bush the benefit of the doubt and beat the drums of war with Iran, Hillary Clinton has made the same wrong judgment as John McCain and George W. Bush. Barack Obama has made a very different judgment.

So neither one of them, and nor John McCain for that matter, have had that 3 o’clock phone call that others have had. And I think we have to be honest about that.]

Oh please, experience is only as good as the judgment of the candidate. Clinton has the bad judgment to be married to Bill. McCain has the bad judgment to continue to support failed (and bankrupt) policies in Iraq. Bush, well, we saw what he was doing when the towers were struck-- reading children's books upside down with a paralyzed look on his face. I for one am willing to "risk" it with someone younger who has good judgment. Whoever we elect has an ENORMOUS mess to clean up. Thank you Bush & Clinton & Co.

Hillary's tactics are underhanded.
Hillary helped create n.a.f.t.a. during her and Bills eight years in office.
Hillary failed to deliver healthcare with the power of the presidency.
Hillary's record on ethics is marred by a great multitude of lies ranging from petty to large in magnitude. I don't want to see her in a few years saying "read my lips Iran has weapons of mass destruction"
If its her and Macain Im staying home on voting day like I did in 2004.

The reason we had GWB for 8 yrs is mainly because there are really too many people who love liars and love to hear lies and love to support those lies. Our economy has been screwed up so bad because of a BIG lie. We can't afford another one. We are broke! We need the truth!

NAFTA GATE!

And more evidence of Hilary Clinton's disingenuousness, duplicity, deviousness and lack of any amount of integrity.

Canadians to do 'criminal investigation'.

How the Clintons and the Canadians LIE on Senator Obama and conspired to undermine Barack's KNOW position of integrity and being above board.

Hillary Clinton's fearmongering and slanderous attacks on Sen. Obama just days after telling the world how "honored" she was to share the dais with him, show what a lying hypocrite she is. Want to talk about corruption? Remember the final day of the Clinton Administration: 140 pardons in 12 hours. They even pardoned Marc Rich, an embrezzler, who stole hundreds of millions of dollars, an international fugitive from justice, who still owes the US Treasury $600,000,000. in unpaid taxes. Why pardon this contemptable criminal? Maybe it was the 6 figure payments Rich made to Hillary's brother.

Watching our democrat friends is more fun than watching Earl, and almost better than watching South Park.

I saw the complete interview and the excerpt shown is deceptively shortened. Ms. Rice goes on to say, that John McCain isn’t ready either, and then explains why all three are unprepared. None of the three (or any other possible candidate for that matter) have had the absolute responsibility only a president has—the responsibility to make an awesome decision that can determine the very survival of the nation. Being a senator doesn’t give you the experience; you are only one out of a hundred senators no matter how many committees you sat on. Being the wife of a president doesn’t give it; it was your husband who had to make the decision. Being in the military, no matter how much of a war hero you were, doesn’t give it; you were only following someone else’s orders. And being a governor doesn’t give the experience because you were not responsible for international relationships.
After being president for two years, a reporter asked John F. Kennedy what experience best prepares one to be president. He answered, “There is no experience you can get that can possibly prepare you adequately for the Presidency.”
So if experience doesn’t count that much, how do we pick a president? We focus on character. Are the candidates honest, intelligent, and forthright? Can they communicate to us clearly? Can they inspire us? Can they learn from their mistakes? Do they value the welfare of the people above their own? We then roll the dice and hope we have picked the right person. Ms. Rice’s comment was not a blunder or a gaffe; it was one of the most honest and accurate comments of the campaign.

Is Obama running a Campaign or Sailing the Titanic or Swiftboating himself?

One advisor go and talks with Canadian consolute something that he was not supposed to say and another goes on television and says that Obama is not ready. They jump up and down when they do some archaeological find about Hillary in Mississippi

It seems that Obama team is in panic and want to help Obama but end up hurting him beacuse of the inexperience.

JFK was deeply admired by Americans, but his decision to go ahead with an invasion of Cuba by CIA trained and financed mercenaries was a big black mark on his short presidency. He made up for that error with his cool under pressure performance during the missile crisis.

Let the American PEOPLE see your TAX RETURNS Clinton ! What are you afraid of ?

Experience does not necessarily make someone good at their job, just makes them experienced. Look at Bush, almost 8 years of experience and he still stinks at the job!

Hillary and John, you don't have experience as president, no one in this race has that experience.

The "problem" with Obama's campaign is that he and his staff are telling the matters of fact. The matter of fact here is that nobody is really ready for everything we are going to face. And the "problem" is that he and his people are not comfortable saying and doing things that they may not be able or want to do, but that people want to hear.

And don't worry about how much money Obama has left, as we the little guys or the poor college kids are going to keep pouring in $25 or $50 everyday! We are the ones who are ready for the reality that are coming to us. Yes, it's scary, so let's quit dreaming about all the goodies in the 90's...

Er --- I saw the interview and Susan Rice ALSO said that **John McCain** has never been in that position either, that all three of them have to be judged on how they have dealt with other situations. So he's as guilty of sophistry as Clinton. ---- It was a very informed, honest discussion and I was most impressed by Ms Rice. Is anyone else as sick as I am of the Clinton campaign sitting around like a vulture waiting to swoop down on any half-sentence or combination of words that can be used against Sen. Obama? -------- She'd do better with her time coming up with support for her claims of experience or finding examples of how she has come up with "solutions" for real problems in the past (note: her first attempt at health care doesn't count as a solution....).

But the same hiring manager would have to hire McCain over Clinton...not even close. Remember, she failed miserably at one of the things that she says she is most passionate about , health care. Her husband was president and both houses were controlled by the Democrats and she couldn't get anything passed. She was so bad, the Dems lost Congress for years...

I think it is great that at least someone on his campaign will tell the truth about him. Obama is not ready to be President. That means he is also not ready to be VP.

If you look at both resumes it is clear that the hiring manager of a large company would hire Hillary and throw Obama's resume in the round file. He is a speaker and that's all. Obama has been caught lying now on several issues including NAFTA and if we listen to Michelle Obama once is enough.

As an Obama supporter, I find Obama's advisor's message to be refreshing. When Obama is president, there will be no 3AM phone call because the world will have unified under the message of hope, and the political climate will have CHANGED for the better because of open dialogue. War and fighting will have become a thing of the past.

quoted from another poster, "Obama’s steadfast refusal to support the Bush-Cheney-McCain rush-to-war shows that Obama is the person best qualified to be commander-in-chief"

Yeah, his "steadfast refusal" which has lead him to vote FOR funding the war in Iraq multiple times.

Man, oh man is he "steadfast" against this war. Just like he is against free trade.

Oh wait, in his book he stated that he is completely for free trade and an open worldwide economy.

Oh wait again, he actually vote FOR a free trade agreement with Peru.

But obviously he is "steadfast" against freetrade agreements like NAFTA also. I mean, that's what he was saying in Ohio and Texas right?

Seriously, do people even read up on people before voting or do they just listen to whatever they say a week before the primary?

Not saying that Obama is the only one. Just making one point out of many.

I will feel safe once Hillary Clinton is commander-in-chief. I think Obama will make a satisfactory vice-president. Too bad we can't have a Clinton/McCain ticket. McCain would make an excellent vice-president providing his negotiating skills as a leader of the senate.

What a bunch of children.

Hey "Louis", a bit in denial today aren't you? Why don't you re-read the story... this one traces directly back to your man's campaign as the source. His competitor did not source this. Talk about sloppy.

Ron, the point is, Obama was caught in a lie. He denied that his camp had a meeting with somebody from the Canadian government about NAFTA, and then the Associated Press discovered the memo which actually proved that there was indeed a meeting. That was a total blunder as it proves people's doubts about him, about his sincerity and his ability to stick to his words.

Thank you HRC for making 'experience' the watch word for the campaign, or did you forget that the Republicans were going to be running too? Are you going to concede that McCain, because of his experience, is best qualified, or will you start to claim that experience doesn't really matter. Kind of like where you get $5 million dollars at the drop of the hat.

Obama's not ready to answer the call and his campaign staff isn't ready to deal with criticism. Great move, Rice. Just hand it over to the Republicans. Could you have put a bow on it too?

This starting to look like a commercial for a bad movie... I'm waiting for the moment that McCain steps into the fray and says... "can't we all just get along?"

LEDESR: #! - Obama did not have to vote on the resolution. He was not a senator and only gave a speech to an anti-war group (how brave was that?). #2 He has since said that he isn't sure how he would have voted had he been a senator at the time. #3 He has voted the same as Clinton on Iraq funding bills since he's been in the senate. #4 He actually voted FOR Condoleeza Rice (a key Iraq War figure) for Secty of State -- Hillary did not.

By the way, how's Obama's money holding up there?

He sure does spend a lotof it andhasn't released his numbers for Feb.

He is also not doing a lot of campaigning for Wyoming and Mississippi.

Has he overspent himself???

Yeah way to go Obama campaign. And she distincly said Obama was not ready to answer that phone. That's his campaign talking.

I'm sure Hillary Clinton's campaign thinks she is ready to answer that phone.

Regarding which of the Democratic candidates is best qualified to be commander-in-chief: in the invasion of Iraq that Hillary Clinton supported—not once—but repeatedly over many years--US Troops were sent to war with no exit strategy, no plan for securing the peace—no adequate preparation at all and for reasons that have constantly morphed. Given her support of the most disastrous error in US military strategy perhaps ever, how can anyone believe she is better suited to be commander-in-chief? Sun Tzu in The Art of War states that the highest accomplishment in the art of war is to achieve one’s goals without having to go to war. Obama pointed the way to this highest level of leadership while Hillary showed with Bush the lowest, putting soldiers’ lives at risk with inadequate equipment in an unnecessary war that continues to drain the country. Her “experience” proves conclusively that she should not be trusted with the role of commander in chief and, on the contrary, Obama’s steadfast refusal to support the Bush-Cheney-McCain rush-to-war shows that Obama is the person best qualified to be commander-in-chief

The world is a very different place than it was in 1961-3. And, yes, the way we have treated Cuba is wrong, and we continue to bend politically to a bunch of right wing extremist Cuban expatriates in South Florida. This needs to change.

Senator Obama today attacked John McCain over his stance on dealing with Cuba and stated that the way we have dealt with Cuba for 50 years was wrong. I wonder if anyone will ask Teddy Kennedy if the actions put into effect in regard to Cuba by his brother JFK are so wrong as the Obama team claims them to be.

Here it comes-Obama will now claim the words were misinterpreted.