« previous | TPM CAFÉ READER POSTS HOME | next »
Obama Unpicks the Picker-in-Chief, and... Gotcha!
As far as I can tell, the main events in Barack Obama's day today were upicking the picker he picked to pick a candidate for Vice-President, and playing Gotcha! with John McCain.
Jim Johnson resigned as picker-in-chief, and since Obama is having so much trouble even picking a picker to pick a Vice-President, wouldn't it be lucky if 19,000,000 Democratic voters had already picked one for him?
In other news, the NYTimes reports that when McCain was asked whether he now had a better idea when U.S. troops could return home from Iraq, he replied, "No, but that's not too important."
His comments did not vary much from what he has said before - that troop presence in a pacified country was not problematic - though he no longer suggests that Americans might be in Iraq for 100 years.But the campaign team of Senator Barack Obama - in part of an instant-response approach notable for its speed, volume and intensity - quickly set up a conference call with reporters in which Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and two foreign policy specialists, both veterans of the administration of President Bill Clinton, attempted to skewer McCain for his comment.
But long long ago, in a galaxy far far away, in Raleigh, North Carolina...
A debate Wednesday night that focused on Sen. Barack Obama's potential vulnerabilities was an example of outmoded political "gotcha" games, Obama told a Raleigh audience today.
Somehow all this reminds me of another campaign, even longer and longer ago in a galaxy even farther and farther away, in 2004, when an awkward ex-soldier faced a ruthless campaign machine...
But Obama is up in the polls, and as Vince Lombardi used to say... "Winning isn't the main thing, it's the only thing."
Comments (13)
How did 17.5 million become 19 million? (And no, Hillary lost, so she and her supporters -- the number TWOs in a two-person race -- do not get to tell the number ONE guy -- the WINNER -- who he should have on his ticket. Sorry....)
And regarding the "gotcha" on McCain, it's when is he going to explain why we need to be in Iraq for 100 years. Now, it's unimportant that the troops stay there... as long as we "win."
June 11, 2008 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain actually said that the most important issue is reducing American casualties to zero, as in Korea and Germany, where we have maintained substantial garrisons for more than 50 years.
Obama's machine distorted McCain's position just like Bush and Rove distorted everything Kerry and Gore ever said.
June 11, 2008 8:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dude... get over it already. Sheesh.
June 11, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Congratulations, "coralsea," for an appropriate use of italics in a grammatically well-formed sentence.
This is indisputable proof that all Obama's friends aren't really functionally illiterate, and I only had to read through 500 pro-Obama "comments" to find it.
June 11, 2008 8:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Freeze is a troll. Please don't Feed.
June 11, 2008 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Freeze is what I like to call an Arse Troll.
June 11, 2008 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
"liam" somehow works the word "arse" into almost every post he writes. Check it out in his comments!
Maybe "liam" should take a little break from websites devoted to political discussion until he has something to say besides "arse."
Arse, arse, arse...
It sounds like an obsession to me!
June 11, 2008 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Mageduley" is a charter member of "Simple-minded Humps for Obama".
Everybody who doesn't love their hypocritical Messiah is either a "troll" or a racist, and that sums up every comment they ever made in two words.
Won't it be fun if Obama actually gets elected and puts the power of the Presidency behind all his hateful little fanatics?
June 11, 2008 7:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Freeze is a Racist Scumbag, Aryan Nation Troll(ANT)
June 11, 2008 7:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the quote, "liam." A pseudonymous little nobody like you can usually afford to slander real people on the internet, because you aren't worth taking to court.
But if you make it easy enough, garnishing your pathetic salary for a few years would eventually pay for court costs, and TPM isn't really in a position to resist a subpoena for your ISP.
June 11, 2008 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Doesn't anybody think it sad that he fel tthis necessary?
By all accounts, Johnson sounds like rather a fine man.
What worries me most about it is, if this is going to be the sort of standard that comes out of Obama's change Washington theme, and if this is going to be how he feels he has to respond to every single appointment, he ain't gonna be able to STAFF an entire administration!
LOL!
(I laugh, but actually it isn't funny. It's a problem. He needs to refine just exactly what all this means. Not only that he needs to come to terms with what this is going to mean for his available pool. If this Johnson issue could well signal to many fine people that they aren't going to expose themselves to this sort of public vetting when what it gets down to is gratuitous villification)
June 11, 2008 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
All I read was that Johnson got favorable loan terms from -- gasp! -- Countrywide. Who holds a gazillion mortgages, including mine.
I thought people with excellent credit got favorable loan terms, don't they?
Was there more to the story? If there is, I stand corrected. But someone getting a mortgage from Countrywide -- well that would eliminate almost everyone in America who has a mortgage.
Johnson referred to distortions and misrepresentations. Does anyone know the entire story?
June 12, 2008 12:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
There's a good summary here.
June 12, 2008 4:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Post a Comment