Subscribe"The summons to leadership that we face at present is our fourth rendezvous with destiny. Answering this summons does not mean peace, prosperity, justice for all and no more wars in the world—any more than the American Revolution meant all people were free, the Civil War meant an end to racial inequality, or World War II and our great victory in the Cold War meant the triumph of democracy and free markets. What our leadership in the world does mean is that these things have a chance. We can have peace. We can continue moving toward greater prosperity for all. We can strive for justice in the world. We can seek to limit the destruction and the casualties of war. We can help enslaved people find their freedom."So Powell has always been an interventionist, has always believed in the military as a tool for humanitarianism. Ironically, in this same article he says that Gulf War 1 had a "limited objective" because for the US to take over Iraq would cost an "unpardonable expense in terms of money, lives lost and ruined regional relationships", saying of those who criticized Bush Sr. for not capturing Saddam, "Even if Hussein had waited for us to enter Baghdad, and even if we had been able to capture him, what purpose would it have served? And would serving that purpose have been worth the many more casualties that would have occurred? Would it have been worth the inevitable follow-up: major occupation forces in Iraq for years to come and a very expensive and complex American proconsulship in Baghdad? Fortunately for America, reasonable people at the time thought not. They still do."
I have been honored to have the benefit of his wisdom and counsel from time to time over the last few years, but today, I am beyond honored and deeply humbled to have the support of General Colin Powell.
General Powell has defended this nation bravely, and he has embodied our highest ideals through his long and distinguished public service. He and his wife Alma have inspired millions of young people to serve their communities and their country through their tireless commitment and trailblazing American story. And he knows, as we do, that this is a moment where we all need to come together as one nation – young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Republican and Democrat.
I can't wait to read RedState and their like on November 5th if Obama wins this. I predict that they're going to be like those malfunctioning Star Trek robots who just keep reciting, "Does not compute", while smoke pours out of their ears.Eh, I wish. They'll be spinning up their outrage and plans for civil unrest; after all, when thugs like ACORN steal an election, it's the responsibility of true Americans to take up arms and reclaim democracy.
I can't wait to read RedState and their like on November 5th if Obama wins this. I predict that they're going to be like those malfunctioning Star Trek robots who just keep reciting, "Does not compute", while smoke pours out of their ears.I sometimes read such sites after various major events or breaking stories, just to see their reaction. I remember reading one such site -- I think maybe freerepublic -- on the day after the 2006 midterm election.
I don't think Obama is a Christian. I don't think he's a Muslim either. I think he's an atheist who knows it's political suicide to say so.As a general statement, I think there are probably a good number of politicians who, as you describe, are atheists but claim otherwise for political reasons.
Dr. King’s dream is dead. It’s totally about the color of skin for these people. The content of ones character has ZERO bearing on their decision.
McCain has no plan for this. He has to respond fast to this, and there's nothing in his bag. No tricks up his sleeve. Nada.Yeah, maybe McCain, but surely Sarah Palin will realize that Colin Powell is a secret Muslim reverse vampire who pals around with terrorists.
KING: You think he should have run for president?They made a decision as a family a long time ago, and even if he changed his mind, he's too old now as has been pointed out. So, there you go.
A. POWELL: No.
KING: Were you the one who told him not to?
A. POWELL: No.
KING: Or asked him not to?
A. POWELL: No.
KING: That's the general story.
A. POWELL: I know it's the general story.
KING: Clear it up for history.
A. POWELL: Nobody can could understand how you would not want to take on that illustrious job, but it -- this is certainly a decision that would have affected our entire family. And as a family we discussed it and what it would mean in our lives and decided this was really not for us.
I'm happy to take the blame for it, but as I have told other people, if I were a person who had that much influence on my husband, you would not have wanted him to run for president.
C. POWELL: But it was my decision, really. Obviously, I listened to my family, but it is not something that I wanted to do or the family wanted to do. And after receiving a lot of advice about it we essentially closed our doors, sat in the kitchen and talked it through as to how we had served out country so far, how we could serve in the future. But we didn't have -- if I can put it this way -- we didn't have the DNA for political life. And no apologies, it was a decision that was right for us. And we have found other ways to serve, either through America's Promise or serving as secretary of state.
Obama, of course, one of his major platforms is to withdraw from Iraq. That’s the bad war; he needs the good war. So Afghanistan now is the good war. He needs to prove, as a Democrat, that he too can kill brown people. I think that’s what it comes down to, that we’re not weak; we can kill foreigners, too.
I think McCain et al have been trying to bait Obama into saying "So what would be wrong with being a Muslim?" for weeks now, and he's been very wise to not go down that road.I hadn't thought about this, and I just played the scenario in my head like a little film, and now I think you're absolutely right.
the lead seems fragile (remember it reversed during the RNC)
McCain has to win ALL of OH, FL, MO, NC, NV, CO, and VA (he will win ND, IN, and WV).
"I'm gonna vote for that sumb*tch," he expressed, colourfully. "Looks like McCain's gonna be another term for George Bush, and I'd rather vote for a damn Muslim nigger than that."Obama should run a few of these "endorsements" on Fox. The racists need to know that it's okay to vote Obama. They don't have to eat the shit sundae.
Johnson said Obama "seems highly intelligent" and "has an air of courtesy and sincerity", adding that "unlike the current occupant of the White House, he has no difficulty in orally extemporising a series of grammatical English sentences".
Contrasting Obama with Republican opponent John McCain, Johnson said: "He visibly incarnates change and hope, at a time when America desperately needs both."
When retired Gen. Colin Powell endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, you could almost hear a collective gasp in Hampton Roads, a sprawling southeast Virginia region that's home to much of the state's large and traditionally Republican military establishment.This story has particular resonance to me because North Carolina has 3 of the 4 largest military bases in the United States which many people here (in my state) have assumed all but guarantees NC stays red.
But there were only cheers among the members of Blue Star Families for Obama, a group launched by military wives who were tired of the stereotyped image of quiet obedience to the rules – the assumption Republicans have a hold on the country's armed forces – and determined to lobby for change.
I'm sorry you read my comment as an attack against you personally.I did not do that, so no need to apologize. I read it -- as many did -- as an attack on those who put Bush in office... which you unfortunately chose to lump as "all Americans", not bothering to note that at MeFi, the support of Bush/McCain is not, in fact, the political majority.
It was intended as more of a general statement.Right. This was the problem, as I saw it. If you want to use language implying that all Americans have let you down and should be damned, and can't take the time to demonstrate that you realize that there is very little overlap in the Venn diagrams representing "MeFi Political Leaning" and "American Voter Majority 2000 and 2004", you deserve what you got in return, which was vehement and angry clarifications from many fronts that not all Americans are provincial jingoistic rubes, and many of us agree with you, and many of us are ashamed at the situation.
I was planning on moving to the US... So, yeah, I can say I've gotten burned.Yeah, you can say that. Only, your audience here is not only not responsible for that, but many of us are actively empathetic and working hard for change.
As you yourself pointed out, the majority of America decides on the outcome of these elections so this was actually supposed to be preaching to the choir.I'm afraid I don't understand. Since the majority of America decided on the Bush presidencies... but since the Bush/McCain-support faction at MetaFilter is the minority... why were you damning us all here? I'm not being flip -- I truly don't get this comment and am hoping you can clarify. Does "preaching to the choir" mean different things to different people?
"We didn't send Gov. Palin there for no reason," said one, a reference to the vice presidential nominee's three rallies across the state today."We sent Palin there" is about as weak a refutation as you could manufacture. They'd also sent Palin to New Hampshire and Maine recently. If anything, she's the towel they throw into a state to indicate they've given up there. But this part was pretty funny, too:
Another aide pointed out that the campaign and RNC's independent expenditure committee were both still on the airwaves there.
"The combined reported spending of the RNC IE and the campaign is very similar, we trail by very small margins (around $500,000) ."
But McCain aides avoided making firm commitments about Colorado, careful to avoid portraying any state as a must-win.
The campaign believes that there are different formulas to get to 270, not all of which include Colorado. But without it, as King writes, McCain must not only hold onto a number of precarious red states such as Virginia, Nevada and Florida, but also bring a major blue state such as Pennsylvania and its 21 electoral votes over. McCain aides have also held out hope that they could lose Pennsylvania but still win with the combination of Minnesota and Wisconsin, 20 total electoral votes, but public polls in both states show McCain down by double-digits.In which state (among many) is McCain also down by double-digits? His campaign is right, though, there are indeed different formulas to get to 270. My personal favorite is, you know, campaigning in every state in the country. Call me old fashioned.
All it takes to win the presidency is the ability to turn out more than 9% of the population.
"People break their hips ALL of the time and unless their are other ailments, a broken hip is not a 'life threatening' issue. Granted, I don't wish the woman harm and I hope she is recovering nicely, but a broken hip is certainly not something that would require a three-day break from a campaign when there are only 14 days left. Unless there is a hidden agenda, or Obama has decided it's a shoe-in (which is a big mistake). I tend to agree with some of the others... the only reason Obama would need to spend three days in Hawaii is to iron out the glitches with his alleged birth certificate. Or perhaps he's meeting with Odinga in a hidden retreat to discuss his $600 million in campaign funds. Obama didn't visit his grandmother for YEARS, but now that he's pandering to the elderly in Florida he's suddendly the prodigal grandson? Give me a break. There's another reason for this trip and it has nothing to do with Grandma."There are plenty more "doozies" to read in that thread.
Since the majority of America decided on the Bush presidencies...The result of the 2000 election was contrary to the majority vote.
"Following up on that Politico story about the RNC apparently spending more than $150,000 on clothes for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin...
I wonder if the governor knows that she's going to have to pay taxes on those clothes, even if she ultimately gives them away?
Tax experts say that even if she only wears them for professional reasons -- locked away in a special 'candidate' cabinet, say -- Palin will be on the hook for those fancy new duds just as if someone had written her a check for $150,000.
Wonder if she knows that."
“Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.”
"A few questions here from NBC's Andrea Mitchell: Did the campaign announce that she was donating to clothes to charity because there's a potential tax problem here? And is Palin permitted to accept these kinds of gifts under Alaska ethics laws?"
But yesterday we had an incident happen where a person showed up at the -- at a polling place, at the randall's, and thank you, randall's for helping you go with voting, showed up at 9:30, very well dressed in a suit, white shirt, tie, carrying a clipboard, began working the people seeming to target what was described as the ladies. A couple or three little old ladies outside that were preparing to go in to vote. Targeting the ones that said that they were voting a particular way and then if they were supporting that particular candidate, he would tell them this misinformation, which would in fact cause them to deselect their candidate and then you would have to notice it when you vote. He did some work in the parking lot and then he came into the polling place and he was standing at the entrance of the polling place first pretending to be a voter chatting in the ones next to him. As people came in the entrance, he let them by them, now acting as if he's an election official and he was telling as they were coming in about this weird voting thing about do this and do that. The election judge caught him right away. He overheard an inappropriate conversation, pointed at the guy and said sir, that conversation is inappropriate. Whereupon the guy fled. He turned around and ran and he was season in by the voters that were there getting into an old boxy-style, dark red impala with mccain and other bumper stickers all over the car. We don't have a license plate. We have a description of the guy, we made an incident report. About out the main thing I did was try to tell people if you have a pole cat in a polling place, bust them right away.Travis County, by the way, is where Austin is, and is by far the bluest point in Texas.
NYT's feature article about disarray within the McCain campaign, The Making (and remaking) of McCain, is out online today.
One tape in particular struck Davis as arresting: an interview with Palin and Gov. Janet Napolitano, the Arizona Democrat, on "The Charlie Rose Show" that was shown in October 2007. Reviewing the tape, it didn't concern Davis that Palin seemed out of her depth on health-care issues or that, when asked to name her favorite candidate among the Republican field, she said, "I'm undecided."
...
Schmidt, to whom Davis quietly supplied the Palin footage, agreed. Neither man apparently saw her lack of familiarity with major national or international issues as a serious liability.
...
McCain's close friend, Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator, continued to argue passionately for Lieberman -- "a McCain-Plus ticket," he would say. McCain, referring to Romney, at one point said that "Mitt's been awfully helpful with fund-raising," according to a senior aide who was present during the discussion. "And he'd bring us Michigan." Pawlenty's name frequently came up in internal discussions, says that aide. But as for Palin, says another: "She just wasn't one of the names. I mean, we heard more about Bloomberg."
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:15 PM on October 19, 2008 [140 favorites has favorites]