McCain in the Gutter

Despite the controversy that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York City has triggered, Senator Barack Obama still vows to meet with rogue leaders if he is elected, reports CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic.

“Nothing has changed with respect to my belief that strong countries and strong presidents talk to their enemies and talk to their adversaries,” Obama told reporters at a press conference after receiving an endorsement from the New York City Correction Officers' Benevolent Association.

Obama said he would not have invited Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University, but he believes in academic freedom. “They have the right to invite people to speak. As I said, it's not a choice that I would have made but we don't need to be fearful of the rantings of somebody like Ahmadinejad.” Obama says the United Nations provides an adequate forum for Ahmadinejad to speak.

Obama was asked if his statements about Ahmadinejad were contradictory – why would he meet with the Iranian leader as U.S. president but not invite to speak if he were the Columbia University president? “There are two different functions, as president of the United States, my job is to look out for the national security interests of this country,” Obama said. “In the same way that Nixon met with Mao and that past presidents met with people that we don't like.”
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Source: CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/09/24/politics/horserace/entry3291763.shtml

Nice of Mccain to follow in the footsteps of the late, great Republican, Joseph McCarthy.
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Joe Klein where are the Dick Lugars of the GOP to tell this crazy old b@st@rd that he's playing with dynamite and STFU?

But the high point of Ahmadinejad's week must have been Friday night, after his return to Iran. That was when John McCain and Barack Obama met in Mississippi for their first debate, and Obama reiterated once again his determination to meet Ahmadinejad "without preconditions" if he is elected in November.

"We . . . have to, I believe, engage in tough direct diplomacy with Iran," Obama insisted. "And this is a major difference I have with Senator McCain. This notion - by not talking to people we are punishing them - has not worked."

Obama first adopted this stance in July 2007, when he was asked in a debate whether he would agree to meet the rulers of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea without preconditions and promptly answered: "I would." His website reinforces that message, promising "direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions." During Friday's debate, Obama claimed that even Henry Kissinger, a McCain adviser, "just said that we should meet with Iran - guess what - without precondition."

Obama was wrong about Kissinger, who rejected Obama's view in a statement after the debate. And he is wrong on the broader issue, for at least three reasons: First, as McCain argued, an American president's unconditional willingness to negotiate with the head of an outlaw regime gives that regime "more credence in the world arena." The more Ahmadinejad and the mullahs who back him flout fundamental standards of civilized behavior - by fomenting terrorism, by murdering US peacekeepers, by convening Holocaust-denial conferences, by threatening Israel's extermination - the more they crave international legitimacy. Face-to-face talks with the US president can only enhance Ahmadinejad's stature at home and bolster his authority abroad.

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Source: Boston Globe, entire article: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/10/01/a_us_welcome_mat_for_ahmadinejad/

Nice of Mccain to follow in the footsteps of the late, great Republican, Joseph McCarthy.
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Joe Klein where are the Dick Lugars of the GOP to tell him that he's playing with dynamite and to stop now!

I understand the L.A. Times is hiding a tape of Obama eating hummus.

And Dole calls her Sunday school teaching opponent "Godless" and in the Minnesota 3rd the NRCC is darkening the skin of the Democratic candidate.
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=528296&catid=14

It is who they are.

Reporter: Senator you've said before you'd meet with president Ahmadinejad...

Obama (nodding): Uh Huh

Reporter: ... would you still meet with him today?

Obama: Nothing's changed with respect to my belief that strong countries and strong presidents talk to their enemies and talk to their adversaries.
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Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ2yJqWguCU

re-posted
Nice of Mccain to follow in the footsteps of the late, great Republican, Joseph McCarthy.
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Joe Klein where are the Dick Lug@rs of the GOP to tell McCain that he's playing with dyna mite and to stop now.

The contrast with Obama's entirely positive message last night is striking.
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Even on John Stewart, he was at most, gently mocking.

re-posted
Nice of Mccain to follow in the footsteps of the late, great Republican, Joseph McCarthy.
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Joe Klein, where are the Dick Lug@rs of the GOP to tell McCain that he's playing with matches in a fire works factory and to stop now?

test

" .. Obama isn't one of us, that he's one of them. .."
What McCain means by "us" is "the group of clueless curmudgeons" of which he is THE ranking member.
Here is an interesting piece I saw regarding a curmudgeon's first presidential-level task - that was badly (and characteristically) botched:
"Is (Sarah Palin) really a diva and a whack job? Could be. There are quite a few in politics. (And a few in journalism, too, though in journalism they are called “columnists.”) - Roger Simon, Politico, Oct 30, 2008
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081030/pl_politico/15073

Nice of McCain to follow in the foot steps of the late, great Republican, Joseph McCarthy

It is who they are.
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It's all they've got.
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And it's not working.
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Joe Klein where are the D!ck Lug@rs of the GOP to tell McCain that he's playing with dyna mite and to stop now.

newliberty
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News flash, thats what the correct policy position is. So says five former Secretariest of State, So says General Petraeus, So says even the Bush administration now. John McCain is the only idjut that still won't commit to meeting Iran with our preconditions. I should also point out that Sarah Palin ddoesnt even know what a pre condition is. How sad

Joe -- love the word crapulous -- I am going to borrow it the first chance I get.

But I @ssume it was at this point that you realized that no matter how reasonable the McCain campaign may try to sound at first -- it is clear that they live in an alternate universe where this kind of thing isn't offensive to moderate Muslims, dishonorable for a potential president to be wallow in the gutter so often and with such gusto and terribly shortsighted -- so he will he reach out to across the aisle with his hands covered in crapulous goo.

Yuo know, that headline need a modifier. "Still" in the Gutter? "Deeper" in the Gutter? "Covered with Sh!t lying in the gutter wheezing"?
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Something to indicate that he didn't tumble in yesterday afternoon.

Hey can I say "crapulous?"

Doesn't Rick Davis always look like he's about to yell, "AFLAC!"

I think even some Wing Nuts are now smelling desperation. Its quite comical honestly and I think is likely to turn more true undecideds away from McCain more than towards him

pourme-

Or "You're deshpicable." D!ckerson called this long ago. Bugs always beats Daffy.

And why in hedubblehockysticks do these guys always try to wrap the Ameircan flag around them like "newliberty" anyway?
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I mean, is he/she implying that we just aren't patriots, or something?
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Seems to me that he/she things that lies and innuendos, no matter how tenuous, are facets of patriotism that need to be polished.
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To a high shine...

In fairness, the ad calls Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the 'President,' which he is, and doesn't call him 'leader.' But so what if he posits him as a leader? Haven't both sides used him to symbolize Iranian leadership throughout this whole campaign? Just saying.

jay - I'm only working from home one more day, and I must get all my inane observations in while I can!