This is a thread about Obama, so I was sticking with the subject. Start one about McCain, and I'll have plenty to complain about (amnesty for illegals, campaign finance reform, no drilling in ANWAR). Obama supporters tend to not put on their big boy panties when it comes to their candidate. Not you in particular, just in general. The fact of the matter is that he has a very light resume. John McCain has a long resume which we can pick apart. Since Obama has very little experience, we have to judge him by his associations and judgement.
You're in luck, there is a thread about McCain here, started last week sometimes, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and just assume you didnt see it.:hihi: So you can stick to the subject on that thread and contribute to it. Oh by the way, didnt you hear that McCain has flip flopped his stance on all those things you just named. McCain resume' is long because he was a pilot? Oh you mean his congressional resume' well he didnt become a conservative until last year. In 2004, he considered running with John Kerry. (I'll dig up the source for this later)
McCains Campaign Advisor: Charlie Black: Black's Firm Worked for Ahmed Chalabi and the INC Black and BKSH Represented Iraqi National Congress. "BKSH & Associates, headed by longtime Republican insider Charles Black, represents Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, his former exile group, in Washington." [Newsday, 10/5/03] Black Touted Connections to Chalabi. "BKSH & Associates, the lobby firm run by GOP strategist Charlie Black, touts its connections to Ahmed Chalabi (until recently a Pentagon sweetheart), who formerly headed the exiled Iraqi National Congress and is currently on Iraq's governing council."[St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 10/1/03] BKSH's Lobbying Gave Chalabi Inside Access to Bush Administration. Roll Call reported that Chalabi gets help from "BKSH & Associates, the Washington firm founded by Charles Black, a longtime ally of President Bush. Those contacts have paid off: At this year's state of the union address, Chalabi sat in the VIP Box with first lady Laura Bush. [Roll Call, 2/24/04] BKSH Developed INC's Communications Strategy. BKSH "won a State Department contract to help develop a communications strategy for the Iraqi National Congress (INC) in the years before the war." BKSH had a lobbyist in Baghdad in 2003 "to help the INC build a communications operation in Iraq." [The Hill, 2/7/06] Chalabi's Role Leading up to the War Chalabi Helped Engineer WMD Claims and Pushed Bush Administration to Attack Iraq. Meeting at the Pentagon nine days after the 9/11 attacks, Chalabi urged the Defense Policy Board, which advised Secretary Rumsfeld, "to skip any intervention in Afghanistan, where the Taliban had harbored Al Qaeda, and to proceed immediately with targeting Iraq. A participant at the meeting, who asked not to be named, recalled that Chalabi made a compelling case that the Americans would have an easy victory there: ‘He said there'd be no resistance, no guerilla warfare from the Baathists, and a quick matter of establishing a government.' Soon afterward, however, Chalabi began to clash with the Administration. Chalabi told me that he would have preferred to sell the war to the American people on philosophical grounds, as a fight against genocidal tyranny and in favor of bringing democracy to the Arab world, but that this approach was rejected by the Bush Administration. ‘Look, our focus was on Saddam's crimes, moral crimes, genocide,' Chalabi said. ‘We were not focused on W.M.D. The U.S. asked us. We didn't bring these people up; they asked us! They requested this help from us.'" [New Yorker, 6/7/04] Former BKSH Employee Helped Sell WMD Claims. Francis Brooke, who "worked with Mr. Chalabi since 1990 - first as a consultant paid by the CIA and most recently as a consultant for BKSH and Associates, a company run by Charlie Black, a Republican Party veterain," helped focus on WMDs in the case for war. "Francis Brooke said that nobody had ordered the I.N.C. to focus solely on W.M.D.s. ‘I'm a smart man,' he said. ‘I saw what they wanted, and I adapted my strategy.'" Brooke and "the I.N.C. was enlisted to promote the danger posed by Saddam's regime. Brooke said, ‘I sent out an all-points bulletin to our network, saying, ‘Look, guys, get me a terrorist, or someone who workers with terrorists. And, if you can get stuff on W.M.D., sent it!''" [New Yorker, 6/7/04; Sunday Telegraph, 6/6/04] Chalabi Accused of Giving False Info to U.S. Leading up to War. "Well, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi is stirring controversy again. Once the favorite of the Bush administration, Chalabi is in the U.S. on a trip some see as an attempt to rebuild his reputation. Critics, including some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, vilify Chalabi for allegedly feeding false pre-war intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons." [CNN, 11/14/05] Chalabi Helped Spur U.S. Invasion with False Information. Knight Ridder described Chalabi as "the former exile who helped spur the U.S.-led invasion by feeding false intelligence to Washington about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction, and who returned to Iraq after Saddam's fall to craft himself into a political leader." [Knight Ridder, 1/14/06] Chalabi's Shady Character Chalabi Investigated for Passing American Secrets to Iran. The FBI invsestigated Chalabi, raiding his home and his office, "for allegedly passing classified information to Iran." According to CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "The FBI assistant director, John Miller, just put out a statement the other day saying they've interviewed a lot of people on the accusation that Ahmed Chalabi may have provided Iran with classified information about U.S. codes, code breaking equipment." [CNN, 11/14/05] Chalabi Wanted for Fraud in Jordan. According to CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "He makes it clear he doesn't like the government of King Abdullah because he's wanted in Jordan for fraud. Supposedly, accused of stealing some $50 million over the year." [CNN, 11/14/05]
I read one of Obama's own books, where he talks about his affinity for Reverend Wright and his new found belief in the "black value system". http://www.tucc.org/black_value_system.html You can't tell me that, if you substituted the word "white" in for "black", that this would not be called racist. My thinking Obama is hiding a resentment for this country is my opinion, that is based on the facts that he surrounds himself by people who do not think very highly of this country. Just last week, he told a child that America is "No Longer What It Once Was". You can argue all day that this is true or argue the context. I suspect that you and I may disagree that this is not something that you should be telling American children.
I don't know why you are trying to convince me to not like McCain. I agree with everything you say here, and did from the onset. Honestly, no, I didn't see that thread. I was literally out of pocket for a few days and tend to only jump into the ones at the top. I'll take a look.
I am not trying to convince you at all, I am just wondering where is the equal damnation of McCain, since you dont like him either thats all. The unAmerican argument is kinda far fetched, when McCain has people actively working for him that have done business with some of the most UnAmerican government and dictators in this world. That is the point I am trying to make, not directly berate you at all. You are very objective in your views, which I like. No, I figured you didnt see that thread, its probably on the second page of FSA by now. So we agree there.
OHHHH since you had to go there: >From Audacity of Hope: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'
And here is the real quote straight from the book that I read. Come on Shane, you can do better than this. This has been dispeled many of times already. FACT FULL QUOTE From Audacity of Hope: "Whenever I appear before immigrant audiences, I can count on some good-natured ribbing from my staff after my speech; according to them, my remarks always follow a three-part structure: "I am your friend," "[Fill in the home country] has been a cradle of civilization," and "You embody the American dream." They're right, my message is simple, for what I've come to understand is that my mere presence before these newly minted Americans serves notice that they matter, that they are voters critical to my success and full-fledged citizens deserving of respect. "Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." [Page 260-261]
What page is that on? I am currently reading that book and haven't happened across that quote yet. If you let me know the page maybe I can give the context. Or if you've read it, maybe you can give us the context of that sentence. After I finish the Audacity of Hope I'll be reading McCain's second memoir that seems to deal more with where he is coming from as a politician. [edit] Thanks Mastermind.... jeez. This is where you are coming from, Shane? Hopefully this was your attempt at a joke or a result of ignorance, not a mindful act of deception.
Ayres is ON RECORD as saying he regrets not doing more during his days with his terrorist organization. When you comit terrorist acts against our country that in my book is UN AMERICAN. When you stand on a pulpit and say NOT GOD BLESS AMERICA, GD AMERICA, that in my book is UN AMERICAN. When you allign yourself with these people in any way other than to deliver a staunch shot right to the nose then you in my book are UNAMERICAN. I have stated myself numerous times that I don't like McCain either. In fact I said out of 300+ million people in this country this can't be the best we have to pick from. I'm not voting FOR McCain, I'm voting AGAINST obama.
