Barack Obama was Tom Brokaw’s only guest for the full hour of NBC’s Meet the Press this morning. The video (link) is worth watching, if only for the first 90 seconds (after the commercial)…
MR. TOM BROKAW: And we are here with Senator Obama late Saturday afternoon in London, the last stop of his nine-day overseas trip.
You head back to the United States in a few hours. For purposes of this program, we’ll say good morning. By my judgment, at least, the only television appearances that you’ve missed this week have been the Home Shopping Network and “Morning Devotional.” We’re going to take…
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): Right. But those are scheduled when I get back.
MR. BROKAW: All right. We’re going to take you through the itinerary…
SEN. OBAMA: Right.
MR. BROKAW: …so everyone will know what you’ve been doing. A week ago on Saturday you were in Kuwait visiting troops. On Sunday you moved to Afghanistan, where you visited troops and met with President Karzai. Monday, the epicenter of the trip, Baghdad, meeting with Prime Minister Maliki and American commanders. Tuesday you were in Amman, Jordan, with the king of that country, King Abdullah. And Wednesday meeting a variety of Israeli leaders and a prominent Palestinian. Thursday you were in Berlin meeting with the German Chancellor Merkel, and you gave a speech to a huge throng at Brandenburg Gate. Friday, in Paris, meeting with President Sarkozy of France. Saturday, in London, meeting with Tony Blair, the former prime minister, then with Gordon Brown, the current prime minister, and with David Cameron as well, who is the opposition leader in this country where there’s a fair amount of political turmoil here as well.
SEN. OBAMA: It makes me, makes me tired just listening to you read it.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — John McCain pledged a “respectful campaign” Tuesday against either Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton, but said he is less confident about the influence of outside political groups.
The so-called “527″ organizations — named for the section of the tax code under which they operate — can “poison the political atmosphere,” McCain said during a town hall meeting at his old high school in northern Virginia.
Here is the new television advertisement released by the McCain campaign today:
So much for Johnny McCain’s promise of a respectful (to say nothing of truthful) campaign, huh?
Here is the response from Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor:
“John McCain is an honorable man who is running an increasingly dishonorable campaign. Senator McCain knows full well that Senator Obama strongly supports and honors our troops, which is what makes this attack so disingenuous. Senator Obama was honored to meet with our men and women in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan this week and has visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed numerous times. This politicization of our soldiers is exactly what Senator Obama sought to avoid, and it’s not worthy of Senator McCain or the ‘civil’ campaign he claimed he would run.”
McCain
John McCain is using our wounded soldiers as a political tool. He is not an honorable man. He is not a man who can be trusted. His word is worth absolutely nothing. This is not the kind of man we need or want as our next president, particularly after eight years of George W. Bush and his henchmen. We can thank our lucky stars that Johnny McCain will never be President of the United States.
One cannot help but wonder what the ad from the McCain campaign would have said if Senator Obama had visited the wounded soldiers in Germany. Undoubtedly it would accused him of politicizing our wounded troops, just as Mr. McCain is now doing. Johnny McCain: typical hypocritical Republican.
P.S. The McShame ad purports to show Senator Obama visiting a gym in Germany rather than going to see the wounded troops in that country. Look closely. Do you notice any similarity between the footage in the ad and this video shot during his visit with the troops in Kuwait?
This past week has been an amazing one, hasn’t it? What with Senator Obama proving his capabilities on the international stage and Senator McCain flushing his campaign down the toilet and all. I truly believe that when the history of the 2008 presidential election is written, this week will go down as the one when Obama won and McCain lost. (And we haven’t even had the nominating conventions yet!)
The icing on the cake is a video that was uncovered by Raw Story. It is a segment of Dan Abrams’ show on MSNBC during which he reports an incident where FOX News uses McCain campaign footage from 2000 while reporting on a rally held just this week. If FOX had any credibility before, it is gone now. The question that arises in my mind is did they do this on their own or at the request of the McCain campaign? Are they really that desperate to make the old codger look a little younger? (To my eye, there isn’t a whole lot of difference between McCain 2000 and McCain 2008.)
There is additional footage in the video where a couple of wingers talk about how “crazy” it is to have 75,000 Americans watch Senator Obama accept the Democratic nomination (one of them actually compares it to a rally that ‘The Fuhrer’ would hold) and a bit where Karl Rove refuses to discuss one of McCain’s big gaffes from the week just past. Well, here, watch for yourself:
Amazing stuff, am I right? What. A. Week. It. Was.
Posted by Len on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 4:07 pm CT in Humor,Politics
It is time for another weekly installment of Friday Night Cartoons, our ever-popular feature in which we present the best editorial and political cartoons of the week just passed. Remember, your mileage may vary. Also remember… click to make them bigger or to start a slide show. Oh who’re we kidding? You’re not reading this. And since you are not, we will tell you that we sneaked in a couple from about a year ago. Can you pick them out? We seem to have a bumper crop this week (our largest, we believe, to date), so on with the show…
As always, our thanks go to the talented and observant cartoonists who, each week, help us smile through the pain.
BERLIN — Senator Barack Obama stood before a sea of people here Thursday evening and issued a call for cooperation, imploring America and Europe to bridge differences and rekindle old alliances in an effort to restore global stability and better confront existing and unforeseen threats.
“If we’re honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart and forgotten our shared destiny,” Mr. Obama said. “In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe’s role in our security and our future.”
Pausing for a moment, the Illinois Democrat added: “Both views miss the truth.”
Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who is on a weeklong international tour, delivered his address at the base of the Victory Column in the Tiergarten, a sprawling park in the center of the city.
He looked out toward the Brandenburg Gate, where President Ronald Reagan implored the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down that wall” and end the Cold War, and spoke to crowd that the German News Agency DPA estimated at 200,000 people.
“I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before,” Mr. Obama said, confronting the delicate issue of campaigning abroad. “Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen — a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.”
The full text of his remarks, as prepared for delivery, may be read here. I will add video when it becomes available.
Video:
P.S. The absolutely blind hatred emanating from the rabid right is amazing (if not more than a little sickening).
(CNN) — Sen. John McCain sharpened his attacks against Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday, saying he’d rather give a speech in Germany as president than as a presidential candidate.
Obama was in Berlin for the latest leg of an international trip intended to bolster his foreign policy credentials at home and set out his vision for a new era of transatlantic cooperation.
McCain was campaigning Thursday in Ohio, focusing on health care.
Speaking to reporters outside Schmidt’s Restaurant and Banquet Haus, a German eatery in Columbus, Ohio, McCain responded to Obama’s Berlin speech, which attracted large crowds at the Victory Column.
“Well, I’d love to give a speech in Germany … a political speech or a speech that maybe the German people would be interested in,” he said. “But I would much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for the office of the presidency.”
Sounds like the old geezer has a case of the sour grapes, doesn’t it? Buck up, Johnny, it’s not going to get any better.
UPDATE: You know, I knew Johnny McCain reminded me of someone, but I could never quite put my finger on who it was. It took the above cartoon to bring it on home…
It isn’t even August. The parties have not even held their national conventions. And still, the McCain campaign has hit rock bottom. Is it really too late for the Republicans to pick someone else?
I’m a visual kind of guy. Really. Take a few moments and look around here. Lots of images. To me, a picture really does say a thousand words, and more. (Which may explain my magazine collection dating back to my teen years… all kinds of magazines… and that’s a lot of years.)
The use of images to spread propaganda particularly intrigues me. Especially propaganda of the political kind. Which, I guess, is why I found these two images I happened upon while browsing the internets this afternoon quite fascinating. I cannot fathom in my mind why right wingers (and even some on the left) would not find both of them equally amusing. I know I do.
The first, by the way, is a cartoon (in case you cannot tell). It depicts how some on the right believe some on the left feel about Senator Obama. (I have met him in person. He did not seem to be quite that skinny… though he did definitely appear to be fit… and he has a very firm handshake.) The second is an actual poster distributed by the McCain campaign (and a true tribute to the art of airbrushing). Nothing really says “peace” more than a red sky full of fighter planes unless it is a red sky full of fighter planes being watched over by the huge visage of Johnny McCain. Again, I personally find them both equally amusing, if not downright silly. I do not understand how some people can chuckle while viewing the first and yet take the second quite seriously.
Clicking on either image will make it appear bigger.
P.S. For Melissa Couthier: Does Mr. McCain’s pose in the above pictured poster remind you of anything?
This is about artistic tone. The profile view. The serious expression. The shading. When I saw the Obama flier picture McCain poster, my mind immediately called up this Hitler image and I was struck by how similar they are in feel the color choice differences aside. Unnerving really.
Sheesh. Stupidity really does rule the right, doesn’t it?
Jed Lewison (The Jed Report) has put together another excellent video. If you are even thinking of voting for Johnny McCain, you need to watch this video. If you know anybody who is even thinking of voting for Johnny McCain, you need to share this video with them. John McCain’s Neverending War…
(I have closed the comments on this post. If you have a comment about this video, please leave it on Jed’s blog. It’s okay, however, if you tell him that I sent you.)
P.S. Videos such as the one posted above really do make stories such as this one appear all the more ludicrous. Besides, does anyone actually watch “World News with Charles Gibson?” (Do any of the major media outlets have anybody on staff who is not receiving a weekly check from the RNC?)
Do you remember that New Yorker cover from about a week ago that everyone had so much fun with? Vanity Fair does. They have come out with their own version (click on it to make it bigger)…
I am not sure whether this will be an actual cover for the magazine. The folks at Vanity Fair are rather vague on that point. I do wish they’d use it, though. It would be interesting to see if folks on the right have the sense of humor that a lot of them claim people on the left do not. Plus, there is the fact that this cover comes light years closer to reality than the New Yorker cover did.
P.S. No, it’s not a real cover. I knew that. Didn’t you?
P.P.S. Has anybody else noticed how obsessed Johnny McCain and his people seem to be with Barack Obama lately? Listen to them. It’s all “Senator Obama this” and “Senator Obama that.” Their obsession with Senator Obama has even reached the point where they have released this video. Really? You’d think that maybe they’d want to spend a little time talking about Johnny McCain. Talk about Obamamania!
I’m not kidding. The next time you see Johnny McCain on the television or in a town hall meeting or wherever, count how many times he says “Obama.” I guarantee you that it’ll be a lot.
