Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin

[ghostrunner]

I don't find the ambition quote that unusual, and it's probably truer about Obama than many want to believe. There's a bit more context to the quote though:

Within months of delivering that commencement address, McCain was running for president for the first time, and violating his own credo. After losing the 2000 Republican presidential nomination , McCain and Salter wrote "Worth the Fighting For" (the title is taken from a line of Robert Jordan's in the Hemingway novel ), which gave McCain an opportunity to confess his shortcomings:

"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president. . . . In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time."

That ambition led McCain into a moral lapse that appalled him. It involved an ongoing dispute in South Carolina over the tradition of flying the Confederate battle flag atop the state capitol, in Columbia. In a television interview, McCain said the flag was "offensive," and he appeared sympathetic to its critics. His aides were alarmed, fearing the consequences in the upcoming South Carolina primary, and they wrote a damage-control statement that McCain read repeatedly before television cameras. "I understand both sides," McCain said. "Some view the flag as a symbol of slavery. Others view it as a symbol of heritage. Personally, I see the battle flag as a symbol of heritage."

But that, McCain wrote a year later, was "a lie." The flag symbolized both slavery and the South's secession from "the country I love," and "should be lowered forever from the staff atop South Carolina's capitol."

"I had promised to tell the truth no matter what," McCain wrote in the book. "When I broke it, I had not just been dishonest, I had been a coward, and I had severed my own interests from my country's. That was what made the lie unforgivable.

I think it's fair to ask if he'll succumb to that ambition again, and maybe he has already. But he's admitting a failure in this case. I'd be interested in seeing the surrounding paragraphs in the book.

[JL21]

Watching Sarah Palin last night was like watching a dog play the piano.

[BW23]

Watching Sarah Palin last night was like watching a dog play the piano.

It's funny. I didn't get to watch too much of it last night, but I felt the way you did....only my feelings were last Thursday when people were fawning over a speech that mostly made me sick to listen to.

Just depends on the side of the aisle you're on. And for the most part, these things are just rally cries for said aisle.

[omaha_red]

Watching Sarah Palin last night was like watching a dog play the piano.

[JL21]

Watching Sarah Palin last night was like watching a dog play the piano.

It's funny. I didn't get to watch too much of it last night, but I felt the way you did....only my feelings were last Thursday when people were fawning over a speech that mostly made me sick to listen to.

Just depends on the side of the aisle you're on. And for the most part, these things are just rally cries for said aisle.

Without getting into the quality of what she actually said- since, just to clarify, that's not really what I meant about the dog/piano thing- I just thought it was a very poorly-delivered speech, at least for the first half. She was wooden. Her face barely moved. At one point, I thought she looked like a ventriloquist's dummy. So what I'm driving at.... the wooden delivery + her lack of experience on the national stage = dog playing the piano.

She definitely hit her stride in the 2nd half of the speech. That part of it had me worried about how she'd do with Biden in the VP debate.

[wart57]

Watching Sarah Palin last night was like watching a dog play the piano.

Reading this thread reminds me of a private club that attacks anyone who does not believe what they believe and will find any little thing to launch another attack. I doubt any mind, which is already made up, will be changed by anything written here or spoken about in speeches at a convention. I just hope we have a fair election with record turn out, so that whoever wins and whoever loses knows what the people of America really want.

[UK]

I don't find the ambition quote that unusual, and it's probably truer about Obama than many want to believe. There's a bit more context to the quote though:

Within months of delivering that commencement address, McCain was running for president for the first time, and violating his own credo. After losing the 2000 Republican presidential nomination , McCain and Salter wrote "Worth the Fighting For" (the title is taken from a line of Robert Jordan's in the Hemingway novel ), which gave McCain an opportunity to confess his shortcomings:

"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president. . . . In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time."

That ambition led McCain into a moral lapse that appalled him. It involved an ongoing dispute in South Carolina over the tradition of flying the Confederate battle flag atop the state capitol, in Columbia. In a television interview, McCain said the flag was "offensive," and he appeared sympathetic to its critics. His aides were alarmed, fearing the consequences in the upcoming South Carolina primary, and they wrote a damage-control statement that McCain read repeatedly before television cameras. "I understand both sides," McCain said. "Some view the flag as a symbol of slavery. Others view it as a symbol of heritage. Personally, I see the battle flag as a symbol of heritage."

But that, McCain wrote a year later, was "a lie." The flag symbolized both slavery and the South's secession from "the country I love," and "should be lowered forever from the staff atop South Carolina's capitol."

"I had promised to tell the truth no matter what," McCain wrote in the book. "When I broke it, I had not just been dishonest, I had been a coward, and I had severed my own interests from my country's. That was what made the lie unforgivable.

I think it's fair to ask if he'll succumb to that ambition again, and maybe he has already. But he's admitting a failure in this case. I'd be interested in seeing the surrounding paragraphs in the book.

Is Obama's campaign or the avg. voter going to be concerned about context if it phrased as it is in that youtube clip?

Obama would want that taken at face value and the avg. voter is only good at taking things at face value.

[JL21]

Watching Sarah Palin last night was like watching a dog play the piano.

Reading this thread reminds me of a private club that attacks anyone who does not believe what they believe and will find any little thing to launch another attack. I doubt any mind, which is already made up, will be changed by anything written here or spoken about in speeches at a convention. I just hope we have a fair election with record turn out, so that whoever wins and whoever loses knows what the people of America really want.

Step 1. Read what I said to BW23

Step 2. Calm down.

[ghostrunner]

Watching Sarah Palin last night was like watching a dog play the piano.

Reading this thread reminds me of a private club that attacks anyone who does not believe what they believe and will find any little thing to launch another attack. I doubt any mind, which is already made up, will be changed by anything written here or spoken about in speeches at a convention. I just hope we have a fair election with record turn out, so that whoever wins and whoever loses knows what the people of America really want.

I don't think JL/RC was attacking anyone.

I also thought she seemed a little uncomfortable in the beginning. I said it earlier, but she seemed strangely ticked off at times. I've seen a lot worse though, and she really did pick up steam as she went.

[TimeForGuinness]

Wow...what an unfortunate pic on the front of cnn.com




...this won't end well