McCain Wants Cuomo at SEC

McCain should fire failin'
Palin first, then fire himself,
and close down his campaign
operations. These two are the
crummiest candidates ever put
up by the Republican party.

Not to beat a dead horse, but how do we negotiate from force, after Obama's plans to cut military spending are enacted?

Take, for example, we leave South Korea.
Would Obama's diplomacy stop the North from launching missiles as soon as we were gone, or is it the threat of annihilation that stops the attack?

Clifton,
Your assertion that Obama's diplomacy will win in Iran, ignores the continuous diplomatic effort, combined with stiff sanctions, that have been going on for years. 3 months ago, we held high level talks with them, offered them economic aid and a lifting of sanctions if they would give up nuclear ambitions.
It was rejected, of course.
Now, Iran is halfway to completing their first bomb..

How, tell me, do you negotiate with a society that beheads people, stones them to death, cuts off hands and feet, and hang gays regularly, in public?

Who has stated that the Holocaust was a hoax?

What can Obama say, or offer them, that the UN or US hasn't already?

Nuclear weapons maybe?

Mr. McCain's campaign is slowly dying.

WOW, LIBS REDUCED TO ARGUING ABOUT SIZE OF GOV. PALIN'S CROWDS? A LITTLE DESPERATION SETTING IN? They SHOULD be!

Go to the UN first? The UN couldn't even act on its own resolutions re. Iraq. The UN is as worthless as ti_ s on a frog. McCain understands this - Obama, who has spent his whole life in an "ACADEMIA BUBBLE," has no clue!!

Alpaig52, I am not certain why when Obama puts diplomacy first, that you and others talk like he's "bowing down" or "Appeasing" Russia or anyone else.

I have a family and young children. One of these days, a president will start a war that won't be the "remote control video game" style of war where we just watch soldiers killed on CNN. A war with Russia could become nuclear and subject my family and yours, and indeed our entire nation, to collosal destruction here at home.

I fully expect the president of my country to answer any question related to a potential war as follows: "The very first thing I will do is pursue diplomacy through the UN and other channels", and to not answer any question about war until all diplomatic channels are exhausted.

There is one exception, of course: If it's 3 AM and the missles are already in flight towards us, I suppose the president might to push the button without delay then head down to the protected vault underneat the white house. But a president whose policy is "war first" is more likely to receive that 3 AM wakeup call than a president who has a policy of "diplomacy first". My family does not have a protective vault under our house.

Palin's "I suppose so" answer about going to war did not sit well with me. It is a threat of war against Russia, albeit a veiled threat. I would have admired her reply a great deal more if she has said "Absolutely not - we will not go to war with Russia. We will work with Russia and George to find some solution that they can both live with, no matter how hard that may be. We will consult with all members of NATO in finding this solution."

Not just "I guess we'll have to go to war with Russia".

Barack Obama's approach is the one I like. He's got the patience, judegement, and willingness to seek advice in important decisions that McCain Lacks.

Rick Davis, "Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say".
NYTimes

Piper and Willow got to go to Disney World but I bet Sarah didn't go see anybody who was impacted by the storms that went through the area in the past months. By the way, where was Johnny Boy when Ike ran through Texas? I saw no photos of him packing relief supplies. HA, what a calculated stunt!

There was no crowd announced--it was the population of the retirement community you nitwit.

"SHE WAS WELCOMED LIKE A STAR, with tens of thousands cramming into a plaza and nearby streets in this ENORMOUS RETIREMENT COMMUNITY about an hour north of Orlando. Some waited more than five hours in 92-degree heat to see her speak for 23 minutes.

Palin arrived in Florida on Friday and had no public events Saturday, though she told the crowd her daughters PIPER AND WILLOW GOT TO GO TO DISNEY WORLD."

I bet if there was anybody under 55, they were bused in as part of their vacation package sold by the RNC.

Maybe Sen McCain realises that Cuomo has a good chance of being elected to something from NY at some point and wants to take him out of the running. (Mayor Cuomo, Senator Cuomo, Governor Cuomo all sound pretty good!) Or just an early hat tip to bi-partisanship.

Whatever they are fairly easy words to say for McCain.

" 60,000 in The Villages, FL yesterday. GO PALIN!!

McCain/Palin 08"

OH, SO NOW IT IS OK FOR A CANDIDATE TO BE CELEBRITY! IT WAS A PROBLEM FOR OBAMA. Hypocrites. BTW: It's nice to know a Walmart is there.

Gov. Palin gets 60,000 at a rally in Villages, FL yesterday and ABC nadda on blogs. I could have missed it. Looks like ABC is in denial, also. Bloggers have been doing their best to trash her, but all they are really doing is to awaken a "Sleeping Giant!"

Grey Matter We're in agreement about Palin- she has no depth of understanding around foreign policy.
Obama didn't deal with foreign policy as a community organizer or State Senator. He spent the majority of his time in the US Senate campaigning for President. He never held one hearing in his stewardship on the sub-committee on Foreign Relations he held because he was too busy campaigning. Where do people like Biden and McCain and Richardson get there foreign policy experience? By the committees they're on. That's where they acquired their depth of knowledge, perspective and experience by holding those hearing and traveling to places like Iraq. Obama decided he could just skip over getting the experience and run for President.
In his book "Audacity of Hope" he talks about foreign policy to some degree but so what? He's an intelligent man with opinions. I've seen alot of bloggers, and you may be one, who've given alot of thought to foreign policy and can articulate those thoughts well- that's not foreign policy experience though. Obama himself has said most of his work has been just having to talk. That's what Senators do and that's what community organizers do alot of. So that's established- Obama is intelligent and thoughtful and a good talker- but where's the experience? Now Governor's don't just talk, they actually have to govern but they don't need to be fluent on foreign policy most of the time. Now I live in MN and Pawlenty talks alot about foreign policy and why? because he has grander political aspirations and was trying to schmooze his way on to the McCain ticket. Obviously Palin didn't have the grand political aspirations on a national level that either Pawlenty or Obama did. That's part of her appeal for some though. She's the true Washington outsider. She makes Obama sound like an old politics Washington insider. No one doubts Obama's intelligence but I wouldn't underestimate Palin's intelligence or political instincts either. I don't expect much from her now though. Obviously you can run for Prez with minimal foreign policy experience because Obama is and most of our President's for sometime have been Governor's with minimal foreign policy experience. George Sr is the only one in recent time who came in with a considerable amount of foreign policy experience and it actually showed. Sorry, I think Biden should be on the top of the ticket and Obama as VP and if Palin is anywhere on a ticket it should be as VP. Palin is in the right spot if you're going to put your partie's up and comer on the ticket and Obama is in the wrong spot. I've put alot of thought into these issues and so have you- but that doesn't mean we're ready to be President. I'm not going to cut Obama though totally short, he is politically skilled in many, many ways and has personal attributes that would serve him well as President and he is intelligent and thoughtful, a good orator and while he is nowhere in the same league in accomplishments or experience as a McCain (by no fault of his own but rather you can't compare only 143 active days in the US Senate to almost 30 years and expect the same results) he is still not without his own accomplishments. I don't think Obama is experienced enough to be Prez but at the same time maybe bringing on someone less experienced like an Obama or Palin may not be a bad thing. I'll keep a certain amount of openness to it. I am very liberal on social issues and certainly do not agree with Palin but I respect anyone's right to have a different opinion then mine. I don't vote on social issues for the most part at this point in life and what's most important is how those personal beliefs impact her governing or implementing policy. There is nothing I have seen in her role as Governor that gives me any major reason to be concerned, at least not yet. I was appalled that Pastor Wright believed HIV was a genocidal plot of the governments and that Wright believed that blacks think with one side of their brain and whites with the other and that he felt schools were racist because they didn't take that fact, as known to him, into account. Obama went to that church for 20 years and I believe him and have no reason whatsoever to doubt that whatever he may have heard come out of his Pastor's mouth will have any impact on his governing or implementing policy. I give that to him , so why would I not Palin. I don't like GD America and alot of what I heard from that church but I respect Obama's right to attend there and expect that he speak to some of what his church has preached and where he stands on it and I am satisfied with everything he has said. I think the left needs to let go of their total hypocrisy and pretense around religious tolerance and give Palin the same shake.

That's why I like McCain. He has a proven record of reaching across the aisle and he would do so to fill his cabinet with the best people he could find - regardless of political affiliation.

True "Country First" thinking!

Obama? I heard him say he would put both Dems and Reps in his cabinet. Then chuckled and said, "Well, not too many Republicans". It's all one big joke (or is that okey doke?) to Obama.

I would disagree with that alpaig52, because from the way I saw Palin answering at the Gibson interview, her answers did not seem to show depth of understanding of foreign policy is quite weak. Obama's understanding of it, I do not believe came from giving his speeches on the campaign trail over the past 2 years. It seems to come from his great interest and studies in the subjects, and his position on the Senate, not his advisors. He could not even start running for president if he could not ev en convince his would-be advisors that he understood foreign policy. I don't think Palin can duplicate that easily.

Obama has also been an advocate for more action in Sudan, against the genocide going on there, before he even started running for president, and he seems to be aware of all this stuff. Obama himself, in my opinion, already knows something about foreign policy, and Biden is there to back him up at least, while for the Republicans, Palin won't we be able to compare to McCain-i.e serving as president- at least not for a while. I cannot deny Obama has less experience than McCain or Biden, but from what he says, he seems to have put a lot of thought into all these issues.

Palin, I agree does seem to be like a normal person, but to me she comes across as rather polarizing. For the people who like her, there will be many who also don't-with a passion. Her views such as on issues like overturning Roe vs Wade, and teaching creationism in class may not find their way into law, but some people feel that she is not representative of them. I am one of those who do not agree with her views, so I guess that's why.

Grey Matter If McCain wins I'll cross my fingers he doesn't drop dead before he actually gets into office or within the first 6 months either with Palin on the ticket. She clearly has taken little interest in foreign policy.
I would argue though that Obama has little if any foreign policy experience either but he has been on the campaign trail for over two years now and has lots of experience talking about foreign policy which doesn't compensate for actual experience. If you give Palin 300 foreign policy advisors like Obama has, put her on the campaign trail for almost two years answering the same questions over and over again and let David Axelrod handle her and set her up doing speeches with Generals standing behind her or getting her a gig in Berlin- I think she'd do as well as him. Bill Clinton doesn't doubt her political instincts nor does the Obama camp, so why would I? She hasn't done any critical thinking or formed her own opinions on foreign policy yet, she's working under the McCain positions, so it ought to be interesting as to how she will evolve. She's actually an unknown and may end up being as much of a pleasant surprise as a nightmare. If McCain wins though, four years as VP will give her far more experience then Obama is coming in with. Constitutional law? Again, we have an abundancy of lawyers in Washington and I for one, don't think we need anymore so Obama's law experience is irrelevent to me. If he didn't have it, he'd have it available to him easily. As for the principled part certainly the "present" votes are a small piece (and I'm fully aware of how they are used in Illinois and am still not impressed); the mixing up of voting buttons; his bill in Illinois in regards to his fourth largest contributor, Exelon's, radioactive leaks; his missing votes
like the Kyle Lieberman vote and most importantly his blessing and curse of seeing both sides of an issue and looking for common ground. Clearly that's an asset at times but there are times that one has to lead and take a position and stand one's ground and there is little in his record that indicates he's done such and his first instinct is to not do such. Georgia/Russia was a good example of such where he found fault with both sides initially when he first spoke out
(while he may have been correct he needs to lead at times and that was one).

Leonard I don't own guns either. I learned to use a gun and hunt when I was young and fortunately never shot a thing. While I don't have the heart to shoot an animal (unless I have no choice) , I have a healthy respect for those who do because I grew up around it. I'm now a professional who works in social services/public health and who works in urban areas and I see the use of guns (with some exception obviously) in those two circumstances as being very different and the problems being unique to those environments. There is clearly a balance between ensuring there are laws which respect the rights of those who own and use guns responsibly and those who do not. When you see irresponsible or criminal use of guns, whether it be in a rural or urban community, there are clearly underlying issues there in both cases that need to be addressed and are more the root cause then the actual ownership of the gun itself.
I'm not an NRA member but I think what happens though is that when liberals get on issues around guns there is a perception of a high tolerance and empathy for the issues within the urban communities and to how those play out and a perception of total disdain for those outside the urban areas. Someone like Palin appeals to blue collar and rural voters because she doesn't represent them rather she is them. People want to know that they are heard, understood and respected by those they vote for and the Democrats have failed this election miserably with those voters and really don't deserve their votes. I have never seen so many blogs during the primaries and now that have made reference to those blue collar and rural voters as uneducated, low class, neanderthals,
white t---h and so on. I may be a college educated professional now but my roots are with a father who never missed one day of work in the factory in which he worked and who enjoyed his hunting and fishing and listening to Hank Williams or polka tunes. If the Dems lose this election this year it will be because they've done a poor job of reaching out to that group and Obama had poor judgement in not putting Clinton on who towards the end was seen as a champion of that group and McCain and the impeccable judgement of bringing on someone who could.

alpaig52,

Haha, I wish I could see things as you do-seeing all the candidates positively but to be honest, I'm finding myself disliking Palin, although I think McCain isn't as bad, though he could do without being a bit snide over the patriotism thing lately.

Just wondering, what are you referring to in "but what McCain does have though is that he's principled; he's willing to show up and stand up and cast his vote and take the consequences for such and that's something Obama sorely lacks. " It isn't the voting present thing, is it?

If McCain were to win, I would be like, not my ideal choice, but not as worried, but what I'm really worried about is if something happens to McCain and Palin has to takeover. She seems sorely unprepared in the area of foreign policy, seeing also how she did not study constitutional law, and this kind of stuff isn't something you can cram into your head in a few months.

Grey Matter I think all four of these people on both tickets are decent individuals. I actually like all four for different reasons. People vote for different reasons and regardless of the ticket we opt to vote for we're all taking a leap of faith in that candidate. I have high regard for Obama's intelligence and for me his "nuance' when it comes to his answers works for me. I think more like Obama and that's what appeals to me about him. I can listen to him, not on his teleprompter big speeches but rather his one/one interviews , and say to myself that perhaps I should vote for him. I think McCain's intelligence though is vastly underrated and he will never be as eloquent as Obama nor will he speak to me generationally in the way Obama does- but what McCain does have though is that he's principled; he's willing to show up and stand up and cast his vote and take the consequences for such and that's something Obama sorely lacks. McCain to me is doer. I think Bill CLinton was right when he said the choice will be between someone who represents change or seems to be a transformative figure
vs. someone who has actually shown they can be an agent of change. I've known many intelligent people in my life , brilliant people, who've not been good managers nor been able to accomplish anything they seemed so capable of. For me, I'd like to see Obama go back to the Senate and actually get the experience (because he squandered his Foreign Relations committee experience totally) and the record and come back in 2012 and I'd vote for him in a second.