@ DougW. That's about as nice as I get.

Obama has been my choice since he slammed back @ the Aussie PM John Howard on the day after he announced his run.

FP re the region of troubles is MY thing and the status quo is unacceptable. Under the under the circumstances it's also understandable.

Unless we are faced with more hot wars and/or a ground IDF invasion of Gaza, the status quo will do fine until the Obama presidency is truly underway.

Obama's roster of advisers/minders is fair game. If applicable, so are their counterproductive policies. The vetting of these people has been underway (under the radar) for who-knows-how-long by those with special interests in maintaining influence. Some are more worthy of attention than others.

Dennis Ross beleives that freeing Jonathan Pollard is a worthy goal.

Posted at July 24, 2008 12:46 AM in response to Obama's Overseas Success: What's His Secret?

Obama is not showing me any independent thinking on the ME at this point nor does that surprise me.

If Obama isn't too dependent on his advisors/staff/Dennis Ross/? then what explains the AIPAC Jerusalem booboo? Either he didn't know the issue well enough to refrain from saying something so loaded or he did know and courted the controversy anyway.

His statements about Hamas were very troubling and could get him into a sticky wicket down the road.

"Israel should not talk to Hamas as long as it poses a threat to its citizens."

{Bullshit. They already are "talking to Hamas".}

He added, "If someone was to fire at my house, where my two daughters sleep, I would do everything within my power to stop him and I expect Israel to do the same." Sen. Obama also declared that peace "will not be achieved by endangering Israel's security… I was among the first to declare that Israel has every right to defend itself. No country in the world would agree to a situation in which missiles continuously land in its territory."
ttp://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126939

{So, if the IDF goes into Gaza and slaughters the inhabitants, that'll be okey dokey?}

Does anyone want to bet that Obama knows that the vast majority of rockets fired from Gaza are NOT attributed to Hamas?

Sorry, Obama is not up to speed on the region and his Israel-centric POV needs to expand in order to take facts-on-the-ground into account.

......after he wins, of course.

MJ is being disengenuous. Obama's rhetoric is indeed a product of staff/advisor briefings. Being familiar with the code, at this point, I could have probably written this stuff myself as a parody of what is "acceptable" language when it comes to Israel.

Posted at July 23, 2008 9:21 PM in response to Obama's Overseas Success: What's His Secret?

Gary and you and me and thee who are the "users" can't delete threads.

Must have been one of those TPMCafe daemons that bedevil this site.............

Huffpo is censoring/moderating user comments altho it's unclear to those affected why their posts don't make the cut.

How did the sensitive Ms Sklar get tipped to a TPMCafe thread featuring her email coversation in the first place?

Rachel?

Posted at July 22, 2008 1:32 AM in response to Rachel Sklar's Answer to My TPM Post

@barefooted in reply to:

"I haven't seen that happen here before"

It has happened before but usually it's the officially designated invited guests who are enabled to delete their own threads. MJ Rosenberg has disappeared at least a half dozen of his without explanation.

Or more, as in the following example:

"briefly: steve clemons posted a piece titled 'Obama's Economic Soul?.'

in sequence: a) i commented, b) clemons revised my comment, c) i replied by questioning the previously unknown (to me) ability of tpmc authors to "edit/censor/redact" user comments, d) clemons sent 2 emails to my registered tpmc email account confirming his revision, admitting discomfort with -- presumably -- a passage in my original response which he subsequently deleted, expressing his intent to restore the response in its original form, e) the entire topic/post was removed, f) the topic/post was restored with all user commentary intact."
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/06/tpm-pravda.php

Posted at July 22, 2008 12:15 AM in response to Rachel Sklar's Answer to My TPM Post

If your threads are blackholed by TPM, you may want to consider taking it to Tina Dupuy who wrote the bit asking if Rachel Sklar is the "new Geraldo Rivera" .

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/tangled_web/rachel_sklar_is_sensationalistic_89767.asp#

Rachel has a reputation to shield and she used to be employed @ mediabistro's fishbowlNY after she quit her corporate attorney career.

Posted at July 21, 2008 11:47 PM in response to With Friends Like This, Who Needs Enemas?

Sklar was a corporate attorney before she decided to be a "journalist".

Posted at July 21, 2008 11:26 PM in response to Rachel Sklar's Answer to My TPM Post

Gary Cohen's post just got disappeared into "file not found" land.

?

Posted at July 21, 2008 11:10 PM in response to With Friends Like This, Who Needs Enemas?

David Shuster on MSMNC just did a bit on the press complaining about their still cramped quarters on the Obama's repainted press plane and added a bit about poor Ryan Lizza's "banning". (Who has yet to comment on this fauxtrage & mewling on his behalf.)

Rachel Sklar's jihadette is even getting press in The Gaurdian and guess who else agrees with her that this is "retribution"?

Larry Johnson.

MediabistroLA takes it to Miss Rachel asking if she's the new Geraldo:

"Rachel Sklar is Sensational...istic
We were trolling Huffpo and came across Rachel Sklar's latest:

'Obama's Revenge: New Yorker Reporter Banned From Press Plane For Overseas Trip'

So Ryan Lizza who wrote (no drawing) a 15,000 word flattering piece on Barack Obama is now banned? Really? Is that how it works?

Sklar takes it up a notch:

'Or maybe, like Ari Fleischer once warned, they would just like people to watch what they say.'

Yeah, we're sure it's just like that. It's just like being in shock, two weeks after 9/11 and the White House Press Secretary says something creepy to Bill Maher for saying something flippant. Same exact deal. The simile couldn't be more similar.

Is Rachel Sklar the new Geraldo Rivera?"

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/tangled_web/rachel_sklar_is_sensationalistic_89767.asp

Posted at July 21, 2008 5:06 PM in response to New Yorker banned from Obama press plane??? Huffpost gets it wrong.

The notion that the US couldn't prevent an Israeli attack on Iran is

B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T.

The Israelis can't attack Iran without our assistance. Period.

Posted at July 20, 2008 4:32 PM in response to Top Israeli Predicts Conventional -- and then Nuclear Attack on Iran

Modo has a secret crush on Obama and is sooooooooo sooperdooper jealous at the way he interacts with Michelle.

Compared to the string of elitist sissyboys she's tried on for size, Obama is the dangerous "other" whose attraction she counters by trying to convince herself that he's not really all that.....

Posted at July 17, 2008 9:56 PM in response to In which Maureen Dowd continues to obsess about Obama's food choices