Meet The Press Carries McCain's POW Water
By Nicole Belle Saturday Aug 23, 2008 5:10pm
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Gosh, who needs campaign surrogates when the mainstream media will only too gladly suffice? Tom Brokaw continues in his role as Republican concern troll by citing an anonymous email from a military man (who is "not crazy" about McCain, natch; that only increases the credibility, right?) objecting to Biden's crack yesterday about seven kitchen tables because, after all, McCain was a POW. And Chuck Todd agrees, that while Democrats--citing Maureen Dowd, who has never met a Democrat she didn't metaphorically castrate or feminize-- don't like it, it still works with voters.
BROKAW: Chuck Todd, a career military person-who is not crazy about John McCain-immediately emailed me about that crack about seven kitchen tables, saying, "Wait a minute, that's pretty gratuitous. Here's a guy who spent five years in prison, not knowing where his next meal was going to come from."
TODD: It's interesting that..that Democrats are getting a little more upset by that line of defense now. Coming, there's a column this morning by Maureen Dowd in the New York Times sort of laying out this case that you know, is the McCain campaign using the...using that defense too often to pushback everything, but it does work, I think, with voters.
You know, I normally think Todd's fairly astute, but this is just ridiculous. I'm ready for Brokaw and Todd to appear in a YouTube video complete with smearing mascara, screaming "Leave McCain alone!" The reason that Democrats are getting upset is not that McCain is using it too often, it's that being a POW IS NOT A LINE OF DEFENSE. Jumpin' Jiminy, these guys are clueless.
McCain gets pulled over for speeding: "But Officer, I was a POW!"
McCain misspells 'onomatopoeia' at the National Spelling Bee: "But judge, I was a POW!"
McCain forgets to pay taxes on one of his multiple homes: "But Mr. IRS Auditor, I was a POW!"
That's how ludicrous McCain's "defense" is, and yet the media sees nothing wrong with it. In fact, they're shocked by those who point out that being a POW isn't a "get out of gaffe" free card. It's not working with the voters, you McCain Media types, it's working with you. You're just not on the ball enough to know you're getting played.
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John McCain spent five and a half years without room service. The horror. The horror.
McCain: POW, POW, POW, POW.
Giuliani: 911, 911, 911, 911.
They have to play it up. McCain is the only GOP politician who actually served.
I don't care if he spent 5 and a half years sitting on a toilet. The man has no principles (at least none that he hasn't changed to get the vote of the nutcase right), he has 26 years of experience but has nothing to show for it other that kissing Bush's butt 95 % of the time. Has he told Bush to stop killing our soldeirs? No. Has he said that Bush has done a wonderful job in Iraq? Yes. Has he tried to stop Sen Webb from giving to our soldeirs at least something for their contribution to our safety? Yes. Is he completely out of touch with all the American "Whiners" who sadly know how many houses they actually own? Yes. Would he continue to shun our Constitution and pay back the lobbyists for all they have done for him? Yes. This man has absolutely no right or qualification to be President, just as Bush did not.
The P.O.W. card is the ace in this election, a wild card if you will, But the race card is like a deuce or maybe a three. the P.O.W. card maybe played at anytime during the game, where the race card may only be played when the guy holding the P.O.W. card says so. there, now that we all know the rules, who wants to play.
“Wait a minute, that’s pretty gratuitous. Here’s a guy who spent five years in prison, not knowing where his next meal was going to come from.”
"gratuitous"...interesting word that.
Does anybody really buy this crap anymore? I mean, does the stupidity here really overpower what Biden said?
I had no idea Brokow was such a tool. Live and learn.
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sorry, i kinda sounded like a republican there for a moment.
We know McCain was a POW and a hero. Now can we please move on?
Further to McCain, I might add that this is part of his history, the past. It's like he was a baby once, is he still?
he called his wife a 'c*nt' my friends. she probably made him sleep in one of the other 7 beds along with the rest of the dwarfs.
I thought Rudy was bad with his 9/11 bullshit but this POW crap is getting pathetic. the man could take an axe to his entire family but we can't question his motives because he was a POW. Bullshit.
krisken @ 7:
I'm not sure I take your meaning. Does the stupidity here (meaning C&L?) overpower what Biden said (about the seven tables?)?
The fact that Brokaw chose to cite an anonymous email is in itself a fairly funny smelling and stridently dick-ish maneuver in and of itself.
I understand that the republicans want to use “Living in a Box” as John McCains theme song at the convention.
All the more reason for the Democrats to focus their main attack on the Republican (Bush) party and not on "the man" McCain. Like it or not McCain is going to shamelessly ride this POW-horse all the way to the finale.
krisken @ 7:
Our line will play better than theirs will. Let them talk about it -- it only draws attention to the issue and that's good for Obama.
For comments like this work for the repiglics - it completely and utterly REQUIRES the listener to be an imbecile. And that's their base - the 23 or so percent - Obama won't get them anyway. These guys are desperate - they know this one is going to hurt them.
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Saying he's qualified to be commander in chief because he was a POW is like saying you are qualified to be the top scientist at Princeton because you went through a divorce.
The two are not connected at all.
Exactly what did he learn about, foreign policy, energy issues, the environment, or the economy at the hanoi Hilton?
Nothing.
It's admirable that he survived it and maybe he gained some willpower and endurance psychology, which is great.
But he has proven time and again that he does not have the knowledge he needs to deal with the issues America is facing now.
And the Hanoi Hilton in the 1960s did not give him the relevant training to tackle the problems America faces in 2008.
Therefore, the experience of being a POW does not qualify him to be President.
I think a majority of voters can figure that out.
I wonder how many former POWs are homeless, living under bridges, in cardboard boxes, the lucky ones spending the night at a Salvation Army Shelter? How many in jail for PTSD related crimes?
Has McCain done anything, lifted a finger to help these men? He's voted against funding for Veterans, for that matter for soldiers STILL SERVING.
What has he done for all the other Vietnam POWs? Or does he think he's the only one?
AP's Fournier is at it again
A noun, a verb and 911....
pinkobait @ 6:
Seems a stupid choice. What am I missing?
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Broke-Aw: "SOME SAY..." taking the phrase out of Orilys, and all the FoxFolks mouthes.
Oh yeah, one more thing.
If being a POW qualifies you to be president, then I have a guy who stands under a bridge near my house holding a "Help a Nam Vet" sign I'd like to nominate for the job.
Because that guy knows more about the economy than John McCain does.
"Here’s a guy who spent five years in prison, not knowing where his next meal was going to come from.”
Say what?! While John Wayne McCain was in the POW camp he knew exactly where his next meal was coming from - the freaking guards! As a POW, he probably didn't know where his next table was coming from, but the meal was a given. This explains why he probably went on and bought so many houses containing so many pesky tables.
Brocaw=just another example of the chattering class. Doesn't want to lose his position at the table.
Hey Nicole, that whole POW defense is so over the top, but I fear some voters will fall for it, we just have make sure that such fallout is minimized
I personally know a number of former POWs. They rarely ever talk about their experiences, and none ever try to exploit it as McCain is shamelessly doing.
Kathy @ 20:
Obviously he cannot afford to acknowledge the existence of any other POWs since they would automatically become as qualified as McCain to become president.
pinkobait @ 15:
"Chuck Chowder, career military person... ...here's a guy who spent five years in prison not knowing where his next meal was going to come from"
I smell BS, first of all 'Chowder' for those who dont know, is a newish cartoon series, very surreal comedy about strange chefs and animistic food.
and POWs do know where their next boring meal comes from, in sickening detail, day in day out.
Brokaw and the MSM RNC spin machine are trying to equate being a Vietnamese POW (grim yes) with being a prisoner of the Japanese in WW2, a whole different ball game.
McCain while being a fossil born in 1936, and old enough just to vaguely remember Pearl Harbor (navy brat), is twenty years too young to be a heroic WW2 POW survivor.
I don't know where else to mention this, but is it too late to reconsider all of the nuclear technology our Preznit has decided to share and sell to Pakistan? I'm only concerned because their country appears to be falling apart. No bit deal, just a passing thought. Its not like they're evil like Iran or anything.
It wasn't just the POW meme. Every question and every comment by Brokaw was right out of the GOP playbook. He didn't even attempt to have the appearance of an unbiased, neutral journalist. Truly disappointing.
World War Two, proper war with rules, declared by governments and Geneva convention observed by some participants.
Vietnam conflict, NOT A WAR, superpowers playing a surrogate game in some hapless small country, 100,000s killed by heroic jet jockeys like McCain who dropped napalm, iron bombs and chemical poisonous sh1t like 'Agent Orange' from above on civilians.
Oh Billy @ 13:
Speaking of Rudy... this is 30seconds i wish every "PUMA" out there has a chance to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKO1PnkmmJA
There's another factor about this that rarely gets brought up.
Every time someone gets aided in gaining political office (or anything) through their military experience, it's a little bit of sexism in action because it's a benefit women don't get. Sure, there are are women in the service now, but in comparison to men how many women get the magical "fought for his country" or "he's a POW" shield?
I am confused. What was the navy doing putting a guy who graduated 5th from the bottom of his class in an expensive jet making bomb runs over Vietnam? McCain was involved in losing 4 aircraft . Two were his fault one was on a carrier that was not his fault and the fourth was over Hanoi. Was this common for all pilots that flew during the war? His pilot skills obviously were not too keen. His being shot down while on a mission seemed like a good bet. Why did this make him a hero over the ground troops that fought bloody battles regularly over 2 and 4 year stints.
Are all the Vietnam era POWs qualified to be commander in chief? even those who lost their minds or went to prison for felonies? I am a Vietnam veteran and there has been a lot of stuff happen in the forty years after I returned home that had nothing to do with Vietnam. To think that is a qualifier for the POUSA is stupidity. John McSame has proven, with his performance in the Senate, that he is a poor candidate. He voted with the Bush Crime Family 95% of the time. John McSame is not a good candidate because this country must get on a different track. The thugs in the crime family have us going over a cliff.
Northwest Washington @ 37:
His grandfather and father were both admirals in the navy at the time.
A noun, a verb & POW.
McLame
Tom Brokaw needs to provide this email for experts to view, I call BS.
or show us the fee he received from the RNC PAC to spin McCain.
Theres supposedly $50 or $250 million available to be divvied up amongst the MSM people in IRS invisible fees.
Explains the onboard message and keenness to attend McCain BBQs.
Ron @ 39:
grampa Admiral McCain died four days after the signing of the surrender of Japan, worked to death by his boss.
pa McCain became an admiral after junior got shot down I believe, which made McDumb suddenly a 'crown prince' POW.
And as other people have said, twenty six medals for twenty hours combat time and five point five years in a bamboo love shack, heroic indeed.
Beef Jerky @ 3:
LOL. While not true, it isn't that far off, either. The majority of non-career service members (and even many of those) from every war in our history do indeed seem to align with whichever political party leans less towards war and more towards diplomacy after their service is complete, be it the Republicans or the Democrats. At this point in our history, the Democrats are the more anti-war, pro-diplomacy party, and thus are the party with considerably more members who have served in public office. How the Republicans manage to keep the meme going that they are the voice of the military, when that is demonstrably untrue (they are truly the voice of the chickenhawks), is simply mind-boggling.
What Carlin's Ghost said: Every sentence out of McCain's mouth is a noun, a verb and "POW."
Crian @ 28:
they are falling for it.....the POW brand is the only reason this race is close....big business/corporations are behind this brand and they are selling it to the public. if people don't see and feel what's happened to this country/constitution in the last 8 yrs...there're not going to get it. people are foolish to let this go the culture game.look at just a couple realities:
devaluation of u.s. dollar 40% last 6 yrs.
record oil prices
recession.....not by their definition
record home foreclosure affecting everyone
prolonged iraqi occupation
negative wage growth
tax cheats/loopholes among super rich
commodities inflation
bankruptcy increase
Nicole Belle @ 14:
No, not here, but here as in the Saturday morning idiots. I have a hard time believing that the more ludicrous statements by the so called "trusted news guys" really has an impact on anyone with more than a child's intellect.
Sorry Nicole, I realized later that my comment might be taken in that context, but I figured everyone might come to the conclusion that I had intended to mean the nitwits on T.V.
Trittydi @ 18:
That's what I was thinking. It reeks of being so... well... desperate. If they are trying to convince the undecided voters of this silliness, I think they are going to be met with a whole lot of fail.
The man is old and has A.D.D. and Alzheimer's.
He needs a staff directly at his side, to keep his private and public facts straight.
He gets Sunnis & Shiets, and the borders of key hot spots all WRONG. But, ain't that a very "key" part of the job he so desperately wants?
He has many temper flair ups, more than a person trying to become "the worlds most powerfull person" should. To give him any access whatsoever, to "the football" scares the crap out of me.
He hasn't had the time to vote on many key issues as part of his DUTIES as a senator. Where's he going to find the time to do his duties as the president?
Being a POW is worth 3 points in my book. However, all the total points I can give him on all OTHER factors combined, comes up to a big fat ....MINUS 147!
GWB was a MINUS 150.
BTW, 150 means the lowest of the low. TOTAL L-O-O-S-E-R!!!
Yet, somehow, the poles are sooo, sooo close. Just like when GWB, the poster boy with a history of "failures" and a history of using mind altering chemicals, was annointed by sheer DECEPTION, DIRTY MONEY, and DIRTY SOFTWARE. Nearly all of his backers were indicted, convicted, supeanad, or are in jail right now. He has PROVEN himself AGAIN, to be a failure. Only we, as a nation, are doing ALL the suffering for it. Not him. Damn! He's so good at it!
Why ANYBODY even REMOTELY CONSIDERS, to have more of the EXACT SAME SHIT, really baffles my brain to the limit.
krisken @ 46:
theres a lot of functioning dumb people out there.
Maybe John McCain should pick Joe Lieberman as his running mate after all.
One well-kept secret is that, back in December of 2001, a congressional 'gang of 10' issued a letter stating a case for America to go after Iraq. The letter was co-signed by just 2, you'll pardon the expression, Democrats, Joe Lieberman and Harold Ford Jr. McCain was also a signer.
If you look at the language of the letter, they were clearly doing George Bush's bidding on this. McCain even went on Face the Nation on December 9th and truly discredited himself.
I quote from the reports on the letter, and include the portion of the program's transcript, for those who would like to check it out.
http://scootmandubious.blogspot.com/2008/08/mccain-lieberman-sought-to-i...
Tom Brokaw, America's Drinkin' Buddy. I don't think I've ever seen him on TV when he didn't look like he'd just gulped down a least five shots of whiskey.
"That crack" about seven kitchen tables is absolutely fair when you really, really do have at least seven kitchen tables to choose from -- not counting the ones in his private jets.
Oh, wait -- can't say all those tables actually belong to John McCain. They actually were bought with Cindy's money. Whoops, then it looks like Johnny boy depends on his wife's money, like Bush accused Kerry of doing...
Say, doesn't John McCain depend on his wife's money? Where would he be without it? Uh-oh....
Who chose Brokaw, Ifill and Schieffer for the debate hosts??
They sure as hell aren't Obama's friends.
Back to Meet the new ass kisser, Brokaw went on even further though with his b.s...
1. He cited a poll showing McCain trailing Obama by over 16 points on the economy and said nothing about that - but then cited another poll with Obama trailing McCain by a HUGE 11 points on the Commander in Chief issue - and it's Holy moly the sky is falling -what's Obama's problem!! McCain used to be up well over 20 point on that subject, but ol' Tom didn't go there. He did mention another poll where according to him, Obama 's lead was cut in half- Brokaw didn't cite which poll he referred to - back in 2004 maybe Tom?? But I remember no national head to head with Obama beating McCain by 25 points.
Too many elections to get his facts straight- at his age it must be easier just to let someone else write it all??
2 Asked Pelosi about the surge working so well - she denied it and explained why - he argued back saying her views 'were disputed.'. That's not a discussion - that's someone with talking orders to fill.
3. He mixed up facts and date to confuse Pelosi but she's such a bad speaker, she didn't notice:
In 2004, after the Iraqi's started to fight back, Meet the Press had Pelosi on one show and Biden and McCain on another. Both Pelosi and Biden in early 2004, as well as the majority of Dems, were calling for more troops because they were suddenly outnumbered- remember thousandsof ours were kept back in Kuwait.
Bush and the right said we didn''t need any. So did John McCain. Biden and Pelosi both said we did - Biden says in the interview ( paraphrasing) " John starting to get there too."
Brokaw airs the Pelosi clip- and tried to claim she was partially responsible for the recent surge of 2007 -three years later??
That is some serious, serious Right wing ass kissing.
My friends, one of these days Cindy's goin' to really piss me off and ...POW! right to the moon!!
(another McAskmystaff use of "POW")
Theres a lot of pundits and so called journalists being paid to spin this election for the Repugs.
Money that isnt in the FEC accounts, and prob being supplied by offshore masters.
The Republicans are just the local dumb branch of the international org crime families.
scootmandubious @ 50:
DLC the blue branch of the Repugs.
I am so sick of our kangaroo court media who controls the message and reinforces the right-wing memes--
It is so riediculous that the media keeps asking why Obama isn't ahead by more, when it is all Obama all the time--and 90% of that is negative reinforcement of right-wing talking points.
low information doesnt only describe some american voters but also many media personages.
peddling illogical arguments is something i expect of republicans but not of todd. brokaw maybe but i expected more of todd.
jimbo92107 @ 51:
I find it hard to believe McCain knows squat about his kitchen tables, the ueber rich as a rule dont tend to hang out in servant work spaces,
his dining rooms and tables maybe.
Somebody should ask McCain how many servants he and Cindy Lou employs and if he actually knows any of their names,
or are they just invisible people supplying his every need and changing his diaper four times daily etc.
What you're not getting is that it is not JUST McShame who's getting the 'free-pass' from the Vietnam war...It's the whole aristo-officer class which wanted and needed the war (promotion is v e r y s l o w in peacetime) which is getting the get-out-of-war-crimes card for the enthusiasm with which they slaughtered innocents all over indo-china...
Their vindication will be Bombin' Johnnie's assumption of the presidency...and i have no doubt in my mind that he will
enlisted men bore the brunt of the battle; officers--mainly charged with bombing defenseless civilians--got the medals, the glory, the promotions...McStain flew 23 mission, never once was in actual combat til the day he went down, and collected 23 medals, including a silver star...for what? his stellar performance on those NVN propaganda tapes?
I don't know how many planes McCain lost, but I'll contact my staff and get back to you. Corpus Christi, the northeastern US, and the Mediterranean were crashes, plus the Forrestal, and North Vietnam makes five. Or did the Forrestal disaster happen in the Mediterranean?
Northwest Washington @ 37:
Was there any proof that McStain was actually shot down? Or did he crash that plane, too?
Revisionist historians portray McStain as a Naval Fighter Pilot (a la "Top Gun") when in fact he was a bomber.
I'm not slamming his service, but what is real and what is the Hollywood rewrite of the truth?
PEACE
And I just heard Lou Dobbs assert with his faux incredulity that the "national media" is in the tank for Obama. My head hurts and I have only watched 30 seconds of news all day.
Brokaw is a miserable Republican. He joins the rank
& file of the many who fill our newspapers with right
wing garbage along with TV & radio. The public eats
this stuff up all to the benefit of Hogan's Hero. McCain:
jacko @ 48:
scared people, people who have good jobs (until outsourced) , live (at the moment) in nice housing, with failing 401Ks, these dumb sh1ts think that the Democrats are going to go all soviet on them. and of course this has nothing to do with the MSM and their Rovians Republican smear machine.
After all who has been the party in power for the last seven years, which party screwed up the economy, and everything they touch.
Which poltical party starts and loses all the wars, teh Repugs, which party cant manage money at all, teh Repugs, which party is comprised of felons and thieves, teh Repugs, which party is sleaze incarnate, teh Republicans.
THE REPUBLICANS with GWB at their head, aided and abetted by Congresscritter scum like McCain.
moniker @ 60:
No, it was off vietnam, iirc
Northwest Washington @ 37:
The incident on the carrier Forrestal was caused by hot shot McCain wet starting his engine causing a flame ball to shoot out of his engine engulfing the lane behind him for a second or two. That plane then had a wing mounted rocket fire off, hitting a wing mounted fuel pod on a plane in front of it. Then a 1000 lb bomb fell off a 500 lb carrier and exploded. Over 130 sailors died as a result of John McCain's irresponsible behavior. The flew John to another carrier for medical treatment because the folks on the Forrestal were not too happy with the Admiral protected pilot.
McSame being shot down probably saved both Vietnamese lives and American lives.
His piloting skills and those of other Navy pilots were bad at the beginning of the war and led to the start of the Top Gun school in 1968, loss/kill ratios improved in the later years after the better trained pilots were available.
woody, tokin librul @ 59:
McCain a true Republican 'fortunate son'
you will not see McCain on this video, he was safely eating dinner in his whites on a ship, miles offshore.
So, McCain survived! How great for him and his family (the second family.) My family, not so much. My husband, 24 years old, was shot down over Vietnam and died. The military promised much, delivered little, yet I and our 3 children survived. I figure we have a greater claim to fame than John McClain claims. At least he lived, he has had a life. How I would have given most anything for 5 more years with our husband/father.
Come on now, dear author of this post. Do you really think the media is being "played"? The media is doing exactly what it wants to do. They're in on it. Partners. Not getting played at all. They're playing us.
My GOP friends were telling me at the beginning of the campaign, "We won't be able to have a serious debate in this election because anytime you criticize Obama, you'll be considered a racist." Well, it seems like the POW card is more powerful than the race card, nevermind that Obama doesn't pull the race card at all! And with the "liberal media" acting the way it has thus far in the election season, this will be a pretty steep hill to climb.
"I'm John McCain and I approved this message because, if you don't vote for me, you might as well be pissing on the graves at Arlington National Cemetary."
McCain wasn't just a POW. He was a POW who was constantly given special (and gentle) treatment due to the status of his powerful daddy, he was a POW who immediately copped out, told his captors all the information he had, and allowed them to use him for propaganda that was a hundred times more effective and worse than anything Jane Fonda did.
Just like Bush, McCain is a spoiled punk from a wealthy family who was handed everything he has. Crashing three planes and 5th from the bottom in his class, instead of being thrown out of the Navy on his ass as he should have been, the cowardly little puke was shot down while bombing innocent civilians (because he neglected protocol regrding what to do about enemy missiles). The moron was injured not because he was tortured, but because he ejected from his aircraft improperly, blasting himself through the jet's canopy. He made up the story about the guard drawing across in the dirt.
When McCain got back home after helping the communists trash the United States, just like the spoiled frat boy George Bush, his powerful daddy opened doors for him and got the fool assigned to cushy and powerful positions with the Navy.
Because his once beautiful and always loyal and faithful wife was disfigured in a car crash, McCain dumped her and married a rich bitch who inherited hundreds of millions of dollars from a drug dealer (her daddy was a purveyor of America's most lethal drug--alcohol), and who is as stupid as McCain is. So now the spoiled rich kid who is 71 or 72 or maybe 80 years old but possesses the maturity of a 14-year-old and the brain of a gnat is a parasite in $500 shoes feeding on his wife's drug money and phoney fantasies about his years of experience as a propagandist for the communists--oops, I mean a POW.
John McCain, like George W. Bush, has never earned anything himself and, like Bush, everything he touches turns to sh-t. Like Bush, McCain does not deserve our respect. Like Bush, McCain is a parasite, a liar, a war criminal and a crook. He should have been sent to prison because of his role with the Keating Five. That's where criminals like him and Georghe W. Bush belong.
Where were all these airhead gasbags when Kerry, another war hero, was made fun of because he wife provided him with all the trappings of the elite?
I'll tell you where they were: joining in on the jokes and asking how Kerry could possibly be tough enough to lead.
It should be obvious to everyone but the hydrocephalic beltway bobbleheads that the press is heavily biased towards Repubs.
What everyone should learn from this is this ridicule works. What the Dem establishment probably will "learn" is to stop using these tactics against Repubs. Just like they no longer bring up any gaffe or airplane crash to do with his Vietnam service.
Age Gregory a hundred years, give him a few thousand bottles of whiskey over his lifetime, and coat his lungs with tar phlegm, and you have...
Tom Brokaw, Repub talking-point parroting ass-hat extraordinaire.
I kinda paid attention to MTP today; I was a little distracted while searching for a new job online. That being said, I don't exactly remember this exchange, so my grasp of the full context is admittedly limited. But in my opinion, what Todd said can be interpretted merely as saying "yeah, it kinda works, because there are voters dumb enough to believe it." Saying such a thing (or saying what he actually said) sounds like opinion - especially since he inserted"I think" in the middle of his sentence, but I see him as more of a reporter than a commentator; Todd usually has the numbers to back up his claims, thus, not making what he says "opinion" in the strictest sense. It's mostly an expert interpretation of factual numbers, which is (arguably) marginally different. I don't think he buys the McCain excuse, he's just saying that some voters do.
While we're on the subject of accurate interpretation... How are we letting McCain get away with putting Biden's "criticism" of Obama in an ad. Stephanopoulos quoted Biden as saying "I think he (Obama) can be ready, but right now I don't think he is." That's not nearly strong enough of a condemnation to put in an ad. Any lawyer would tear a witness apart for "thinking" something. By treating such a claim as a valid condemnation, we're losing the war before the first battle begins. Biden hardly said anything definite (such as "He is not now, nor will he ever be ready"). If you can control the language, you can easily hold all the power. Republicans have been masters of this, and we need to think in these terms.
Furthermore, Republicans are pushing hard the meme of "Democratic infighting" between Obama and Clinton supporters... Maybe it takes peoples' minds off of the amount of Republicans who are actually dissatisfied with their party, and how many are skipping their conventioin. To allow them and their media clowns to continue to play that clip and put forth the idea that Bill Clinton doesn't think Obama is ready without allowing for the full context and meaning of his statement is pitiful. Clinton said "You could argue that no one is ready to be President." A statement that is completely true, what should not be lost in that, though, is Clinton's next sentence, in which he puts himself in Obama's shoes and admits that he himself was not ready; then, for good measure, he goes on to pay Obama compliment after compliment. He didn't disrespect or demean Obama, he was just making the point that there is no job on the planet which can make you completely ready to be President. Which is true. He was also originally ready to answer that question with a definite affirmative until the reporter cut him off and pursued a more combative line of questioning, then the piece has been shown and presrented as "Clinton being combative." It's horseshit...
Clinton's unedited answer... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdvaxQIC1s4
Otay @ 72:
Kerry for all his faults, was a boat commander in the brown water navy, saw real combat, got his feet wet AND muddy, got several purple hearts for combat wounds, then when he left the Navy, was brave enough to speak out about the illegal conflicta nd the murder of civilians.
Yet the MSM (paid) smear machine thought Kerry was a joke...
Yet McCain is a hero for being a fcuktard and a loser, and a person who lives off his wife's unearned money, and sucks at the taxpayer teat for three decades, plus is a recipient of assorted Abramoff monies from various immoral sources.
The Dems need to find themselves a Vietnam POW, who is as disgusted with McCain's use of his POW status as most people, and who can then rebut everything McCain says.
I was a POW in Vietnam, and never once did it occur to me that it would be a qualification to become POTUS.
I was a POW, but I NEVER forget how many houses/kitchens I have.
I was a POW in the Hanoi Hilton but I never cheated or left my wife and kids, who fought for me and stood by my side when I got back.
Etc. etc.
Put out a call for help at a variety of Vets' sites:
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/
http://www.veteransunitedfortruth.org/index.html
Other sites will be easy to find....
The Republicans are a disciplined, organized party. For example, we now know that, according to the repukes, five years as a POW qualifies you for a free ride from criticism during a presidential campaign. But losing two legs and an arm in warfare won't qualify you from similar criticism during a senatorial campaign. (Cleland) (Ask Rove and Bush about that one). What office can be sought - free of criticism - can the young female soldier that lost both legs in Iraq and featured on the cover of Newsweek expect?
Brokaw is a long way from being the "Solomon of the news room' that he pictures himself as being.
There was a great posts on Huffington or Kos not long ago from a former POW who took McCain to task. Don't have a URL,sorry.
Attacking a rich and out-of-touch elite is unfair because he was a POW, but smearing him with whispered lies that he fathered a black child is just good ole politics.
Playing the POW card over and over and over. This would be like accusing somebody of racism every time they say something negative about Obama. What does being a POW have to do with how many houses the fucke