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New York Times' writer shows signs of mental retardation
In a piece today titled "McCain Displays Credentials as Obama Relaxes", a New York Times' writer is shocked that Barack Obama has addressed the Georgian-Russian conflict less often than John McCain.
For the last several days, Senator Barack Obama has seemed to fade from the scene while on his secluded vacation here, as his opponent, Senator John McCain, has seized nearly every opportunity to display his foreign policy credentials on the dominant issue of the week: the conflict between Russia and Georgia.
Um...maybe because Obama is on vacation, retard.
His name is Michael Falcone, and he begins his embarrassing piece thusly:
"For the last several days, Senator Barack Obama has seemed to fade from the scene while on his secluded vacation here, as his opponent, Senator John McCain, has seized nearly every opportunity to display his foreign policy credentials on the dominant issue of the week: the conflict between Russia and Georgia."
The point of a vacation, genius, is exactly that: To fade from the scene. Yet this individual saw this fact as worthy of an entire story in the most famous newspaper.
Besides, Obama is not the president of the United States. Interrupting leisure time in the event of an emergency would be George W. Bush's responsibility. Not that the conflict constitutes an emergency anyway.
In spite of all this, Obama has indeed gone out of his way to discuss the issue with US officials, as our clueless reporter observes in the 5th paragraph:
A spokesman said that Mr. Obama had interrupted his vacation several times to get updates on the situation in the Caucasus and that he had been in “constant contact” with his national security advisers. He has spoken to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, as well as former Senator Sam Nunn, Democrat of Georgia; Senator Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana; and former Defense Secretary William J. Perry.The whole piece is an attempt to prove that McCain is good, and Obama is weak, when it comes to foreign policy.
Just awful.
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Comments (22)
I think McCain looks like a tool. Why isn't the New York Times covering that story?
August 15, 2008 8:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why is there no discussion of McCain being presumptuous for "implementing" foreign policy, sending his butt buddies to a hot zone, and taking over for Bush in a big time way? Not that Bush is jumping on it, but he is still the President.
August 15, 2008 10:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Why is there no discussion of McCain being presumptuous....?"
My thoughts exactly. Doesn't this make the "presumptuous" narrative (and the Milbank shit fluff concoction) more blatantly obvious? It should be slap-us-in-the-face clear by now: It's because McCain isn't one of those suspicious negros, so his behavior isn't perceived as uppity...er, I mean...presumptuous.
August 16, 2008 4:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nice to see you posting again.
August 16, 2008 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Aw, shucks. Thanks Bev.
:-)
August 16, 2008 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Very simple rule: IOKIYAR*.
If that wasn't obvious by now, the McCain response to Georgia makes it crystal clear.
*It's Ok If You're A Republican.
August 16, 2008 3:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
We can thank the ol' msm...they decide what news is. When Obama goes overseas and seems presidential just by being himself, he's called presumptuous...When McCain gets in front of cameras setting our foreign policy and dispatches his pep squad to Georgia, no one bats an eye...What's up w/ that?
August 15, 2008 11:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
What influence would "either" senator have on Putin? They both are subservient to a president who is a capon. McCain is living in the past and Obama is slick. What a choice!
August 16, 2008 12:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Um...maybe because Obama is on vacation, retard."
OH, HELL NO! Amazing how NONE of the so-called progressives that read the posts on this site called you out on your use of derogatory labels. Go back and re-read your old post on Tiger Woods or better yet, this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/movies/11thun.html
August 16, 2008 8:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dear Andrew, Please find a new word to replace your use of "the R word". You sound like a fifth grader or some toothless, ignorant, hillbilly from a deep red state.
People with cognitive disabilities deserve the same respect that every other verbally disparaged segment of society gets. They actually deserve more because they are the most vulnerable and can't defend themselves with witty comebacks.
Kind Regards,
Scarlet "The Sheriff's a Ni@@er" Fever
August 16, 2008 8:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hello All:
I read Obama's muted response to the Georgia/Russia conflict as follows:
McCain and company are trying to goad me into playing on their "turf" (foreign affairs/wars). I enter this with a 10 point plan for resolving the conflict, I just fall for the trick. Instead I just say some general stuff about hard, tough diplomacy, and stake out the exact same position as McCain's about Georgia and NATO (whether I believe it or not).
In the meantime, on my "vacation:" I raise money, watch my numbers rise in Ohio and Michigan (targeted economic message/attack ads), run bright, future-sunny, kind of transnational Olympic ads... and keep people/media on the edge of their seats wondering about the VP pick. AND I figure by the time most people find Georgia on a map - it's time for the convention.
Meanwhile: McCain looks (at the end of the day)like a person too eager to commit the U.S. to yet another war - and unable to imagine a world after WWII.
I don't know: I just think that Obama's "silence" forces McCain to fill it up with noise that is not helpful for him (McCain).
August 16, 2008 8:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
mphillip has some good points.
Why then is the MSM, especially the NYT so eager to kiss GOP ass over this?
Any sensible person knows that, no, we are not all Georgians now. The Georgian president is a loose cannon who is causing the US major headaches.
I'm mystified that the Michael Falcone and the NYTimes get all weak in the knees whenever a GOP thug starts menacing the world with fist-pounding talk of war. Michael Falcone knows, I guarantee you, that this is wrong and stupid. So why does he do it? IS he afraid of the GOP attack machine? Is he desperate to "prove" he has no "liberal bias" by cozying up with the far-right?
If Michael Falcone weren't such a cowardly little weasel, he would show some backbone and bat down the entirely false arguments that the US has to dive headfirst into Balkans-esque ethnic disputes, instead of reporting the horserace of some imaginary "convention wisdom" that "people are saying" (read: whatever crap GOP operatives emailed me today)
Michael Falcone: lazy, cowardly, intellectual-challenged GOP-ass-kissing slug.
August 16, 2008 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, there were a lot of problems with that "article," top to bottom. Most egregious was Falcone using that PATHETIC Cokie Roberts qoute about Hawaii. As if idle, ignorant blather from Beltway insiders is news. Just unbelievable.
I went to Falcone's blog yesterday afternoon and posted a lengthy reply to the article, point by point. My comment sat, waiting to post, being "moderated," for about 10 minutes. And wouldn't you know it - they decided to not post any of it! I'm shocked.
August 16, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
NYT heavily censors those blogs. I'm not sure if Falcone himself is censoring it, I wouldn't put it past the sniveling little weasel.
WaPo does a better job of allowing free comment on articles.
August 16, 2008 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey Andrew, I mostly agree with you on the substance. But you could hardly be more mean and nasty to people with cognitive disabilities than to lump them in with morans like Michael Falcone. Please, show a little class.
August 16, 2008 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Has anyone else noted the subtle changes going on at the New York Times? I've taken the paper for 21 years, but just in the past few months I've noticed some major developments with its editorial decisions. First Andrew Rosenthal and Co. at the op-ed page decided that having Brooks and Freidman trumpeting the Bush-Cheney world view was not nearly enough, so they added William Kristol to the mix. Nice balance there. It's not as if Bill Kristol is partly responsible for cheerleading some of the biggest foreign policy blunders in our nation's history. Moreover, has anyone noticed that the NYT has issued a "Fatwa" against even the mention of Ron Suskind's name? You can't even mention him in the thread comments on NYT stories about Bigfoot! Even the Washington Post has given play to the Suskind story! The NYT even refused to mention him when the White House handed them the news peg with Perino and Fratto calling Suskind out, and with John Conyers calling for hearings about Suskind's allegations. Just what is going on at the New York Times? This may be the media story of the summer.
August 16, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not so subtle.
August 16, 2008 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
This entire Ossetia episode has been fueled by Bush/Cheney's self-serving support of the current Georgian gov't, which has payed megabucks to McCain's foreign policy advisor for access and propaganda. Why wouldn't Bush back off and let McCain step in? It's a master stroke. They all win. Georgia for garnering world sympathy and validation by appearing victim, Bush for playing stupid (which everyone assumes anyway), McCain for playing president, and Cheney and his neocon insects for running the whole deal from behind the woodwork where they usually hang out anyway.
August 16, 2008 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Army Brat:
These days, when I read their editorial page, I'm not sure if I'm reading the New York Times, or Fred Hiatt's Washington Post. And as far as Bill Kristol is concerned, his columns read like Charles Krauthammer knock-offs.
August 16, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
How 'bout the part where Falcone praises McCain's "fluency" on the subject of Georgia, and describes him as "citing the history of the region," which according to Falcone "lends an aura of commander in chief"? This despite wide reporting of the fact that McCain's recent "teachings" on the history of Georgia were all-but-plagiarized from...Wikipedia! The Old Gray Lady, she ain't what she used to be.
August 16, 2008 7:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did you guys see Jon Stewart's take on this from the Daily Show?
He has both Obama's statement from Hawaii plus McCain's non-presumptuous (/snark) comments.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=179234&title=russo-georgian-conflict
Gotta love the Daily Show. Jon has a way of really getting to the heart of the matter doesn't he?
August 16, 2008 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Um...maybe because Obama is on vacation, retard."
Sheesh, isn't there a better way to express your opinion than using language like that? :(
August 16, 2008 8:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
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