US Election Coverage 2008

[BAK]

When you put lipstick to a liar, she is still a liar

How do you fight these people?

McCain-Palin don't just lie, they lie about the lies and then play victim. How do you fight that?

So I was abed this morning listening to NPR and on comes Mara Liasson with a report about the women's vote. Typical silly evenhandedness, and then she plays a snippet from a McCain-Palin radio commercial that sums up the whole problem, really.

The commercial is about the "sexist" attacks on Palin. The script is read of course in a woman's voice, and she conveys just the right tone of anger and contempt for the sneering hypocritical liberal elite misogynists. They tried A, and B, and C, the woman says. And then, when that didn't work, "they called her a liar." She brands this "despicable."

Okay. I spent yesterday afternoon fretting that Obama's message was too muddled, not pointed enough. Almost everyone I know thinks this. Maybe we're right. Or maybe we're just compulsive fretters, because that's what liberals tend to be based on experience.

So maybe the Obama team is flailing. But now I hear this ad and I think, how do you fight an opponent that not only lies, but then tells lies about the lies?


Palin is a liar. Of this there's no question. She supported the bridge to nowhere. She asked for earmarks as governor – and not just one or two, but $453 million worth. She still goes around the country saying the exact opposite of both of these things. To adoring supporters, natch, who care nothing about what the truth of the matter is, only that she's sticking it to the liberal-elite man.

Eugene Robinson summed this up nicely yesterday in his Wash Post column. Palin, he explained, did sort of 'fess up about the bridge in her Charlie Gibson interview. But a few days later, she was back out on the trail saying the same thing.

Robinson:

What kind of person tells a self-aggrandizing lie, gets called on it, admits publicly that the truth is not at all what she originally claimed -- and then goes out and starts telling the original lie again without changing a word?

Yesterday, John McCain talked about the need for reform on Wall Street, vowing that his administration will crack down on the shysters and the greedhogs. Sure. Virtually every chance he's had, he's supporting lifting regulations. Today the Wash Post has the goods and places them on the front page. McCain wants to "tap into" populist anger, writes the paper:

But his past support of congressional deregulation efforts and his arguments against "government interference" in the free market by federal, state and local officials have given Sen. Barack Obama an opening to press the advantage Democrats traditionally have in times of economic trouble.

And, today, I can guarantee you, McCain spokespeople and spinners will tell reporters and cable TV hosts that this obviously true documented record is nonsense and McCain has always been an opponent of such excess.

Again, in both cases, these aren't just lies. They're lies about lies. That's a really different thing. In life, a typical person lies. If they get caught – hopefully, they tender an apology; at the very least they stop telling the lie. But here we have a case where the liars not only don't do either of those things. They just keep on lying.

But wait, there's more! Because it isn't only that they lie and then lie about the lies. They follow that by playing the victim, claiming that the allegation from the other people that they're lying is nonsense, or a sign that they're part of the Washington establishment, or "despicable."

Imagine this happening in your own life. You knew your spouse was cheating, and she or he kept on denying it and called you despicable. Imagine that in a court of law, a plaintiff or defendant's attorney could lie, get caught, lie again and then get at least some members of the jury to believe that the allegations that he lied were just an elitist plot. That in business, one party could break a contract, lie about it, lie about having lied about it, charge that the other party's willingness to stand by the original terms of the contract showed only that the other party was weak and inflexible -- and still come out of the deal smelling sweet.

Other campaigns have lied, and yes, Democratic ones as well as Republican. But none I've ever covered has lied like this one and told lies about the lies and then gone and played the victim to its base voters and then, as a parting shot, shut off all serious press inquiries so that it didn't really have to answer any difficult questions about its lies. John McCain, of "straight talk" fame, hasn't spoken with the reporters on his plane in more than a month.

So what are the Obama people supposed to do in the face of this? I honestly don't know. You can try to persuade a few figures of authority with some bipartisan credential to step forward and call lies lies, but most such people will be chary of doing that. Or maybe you can get down in the gutter. It's certainly what they deserve.

But you can't have an argument with people who play according to these rules. They enforce no code of decency upon themselves, and no one exists to enforce it. The "objective" media? Stop joking. They're powerless to stop it; all they really do, as NPR did this morning, is give more air time to the victim-playing about the lies about the lies. We're down the rabbit hole. If these people win, we'll be in a worse place than that.

 

[Rev. Kishoka]

Hii Wall Street saga itamuumiza McBush Von McSame vibaya mno pamoja na kisura wake. Mnaona Polls zinaanza kurudi kule tulikotoka kabla ya conventions? BHO hakupata surge au mabadiliko kwenye polls baada ya Mile high speech, lakini McNgabu alipata sudden burts of energy alipomchagua Kisura!

Uchumi na kuteleza kwa Wall Street wiki hii, kutamsumbua sana Babu yake Nyani ambaye ni mtupu kabisa kwenye Uchumi!

September 18, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
The McCain of the Week

By GAIL COLLINS
VIENNA, Ohio
“The people of Ohio are the most productive in the world!” yelled John McCain at a rally outside of Youngstown on Tuesday. Present company perhaps excluded, since the crowd was made up entirely of people who were at liberty in the middle of a workday.
Folks were wildly enthusiastic as the event began. That was partly because Sarah Palin was also on the bill. (With Todd!) And when McCain took the center stage, they were itching to cheer the war hero and boo all references to pork-barrel spenders.
Nobody had warned them that he had just morphed into a new persona — a raging populist demanding more regulation of the nation’s financial system. And since McCain’s willingness to make speeches that have nothing to do with his actual beliefs is not matched by an ability to give them, he wound up sounding like Bob Dole impersonating Huey Long.
Really, if McCain is going to keep changing into new people, the campaign should send out notices. (Come to a rally for the next president of the United States. Today he’s a vegetarian!)
“We’re going to put an end to the abuses on Wall Street — enough is enough!” this new incarnation yelled, complaining angrily about greed and overpaid C.E.O.’s. Slowly, people begin to peel out of the crowd and drift away. Even in these troubled times, there are apparently a number of Republicans who think highly of corporate executives and captains of high finance.
The whole transformation was fascinating in a cheap-thrills kind of way. It’s not every day, outside of “Incredible Hulk” movies, that you see somebody make this kind of turnaround in the scope of a few hours.
On Monday in Jacksonville, Fla., McCain made his now-famous reassurance that the fundamentals of the economy were still good. It’s a longstanding line of his, but this was perhaps not the best week to dredge it up. So the handlers went to work, and by the time McCain arrived in Orlando a few hours later he was reprogrammed. And angry!
“We’re going to put an end to the abuses on Wall Street! Enough is enough! We’re going to put an end to the greed!” he told a town hall meeting crowded with Hispanic Republicans. It was a rather jumbled message, but the new story line was firm. The fundamentals were not things like employment rates or trade statistics. The fundamentals were the workers.
We are the fundamentals!
And, naturally, the humble, hard-working fundamentals are good. Who could doubt it? Was Barack Obama trying to say that he didn’t think the American working man and woman was good? Was this the sort of thing they talked about at those fancy-schmancy Hollywood fund-raisers? Which, of course, John McCain hates. Give him some hard cider and a log cabin, and he’s happy as a clam.
But wait! The fundamentals are in danger! At risk because of “greed.” Which John McCain was shocked to discover has been running rampant in the canyons of Wall Street.
Now in an election like this, you expect a certain amount of tactical reimagining. McCain used to like reporters, and now he treats them as if they were carrying the Ebola virus. Fair enough, although given the fact that he’s terrible at speeches, and the famous town halls have now become Republican-only lovefests, the campaign really should invent some new method of communication. (And remember, the man doesn’t text.)
It is also disconcerting, of course, to hear the Republicans rail against Washington as if the Socialist Workers Party had been running things there for the last eight years. But really, what would you do if you were McCain? There aren’t a lot of options, and he never did like George W. anyway.
This new tactic is different. McCain has always, genuinely, believed in dismantling government regulations, and there he was, vowing to create new “comprehensive regulations that will apply the rules and enforce them to the fullest.” It makes you think that he’s trying to impersonate something he’s not. Or wasn’t. Or might not be. The image is getting fuzzy.
This week, while McCain’s chief economic adviser was telling reporters that it was wrong to “run for president by denigrating everything in sight and trying to scare people,” McCain’s ad people were unveiling a new spot announcing “Our economy in crisis!” and calling for “tougher rules on Wall Street” along, of course, with more offshore drilling. Mournful unemployment-line music swells.
I have absolutely no idea of how John McCain would handle a financial crisis if he were president. But on behalf of all the nation’s fundamentals I would like to say that he now has me ready to stage a run on the first bank in sight.

 

[Yo Yo]

Michelle Obama top People's best-dressed list

Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who was given high marks for a look that was "classic and confident."

"She has a look. She works it with confidence, and she knows what looks good on her," said People's Style Editor Clarissa Cruz........

 

[Susuviri]

Oooh nice, kumbe na wewe unaona ninachokiona!! kwakweli huo mfano wa "on the road to Damascus" unachekesha sana na ndio ukweli wenyewe!!

Kusema ile kweli mie sasa nimeacha kuangalia major news channel except for KO's Countdown...sasa napata report zangu toka kwa Daily Show( Jon Stewart), Colbert Report, News Hour, Bill Maher, SNL na late night shows za kina Reno na Letterman....nataka kucheka zaidi, just enjoying the season!!!

YNIM: mku wewe ni optimist mwenzangu, you always see the glass half full! Jon Stewart is the best, akianzisha talk show yake ambayo ni serious lakini akibaki na style yake ya kutowakopesha wanasiasa atapata umaarufu na hatutaona haya kusema kwamba we get all our details from late night comedy shows!! Hahaaaa
Naomba tuanze kukusanya Bidenism yaani misemo ya Biden maana mpaka nimeanza kusahau mengine kuna ile aliyosema kuhusu movie na sequel! Nimesahau lakini nilipomsikia nilicheka sana!! Babu mkali sana katika hilo nadhani ni mamake Irish Catholic anayempa misemo hii. Yaani kama kunasehemu anateleza basi ni asilimia 2 lakini 98% anadeliver punches!!
Nasikia alikuwa na Hillary jana, sikuona kipindi itabidi niipate on YouTube.

 

[Susuviri]

Hii Wall Street saga itamuumiza McBush Von McSame vibaya mno pamoja na kisura wake. Mnaona Polls zinaanza kurudi kule tulikotoka kabla ya conventions? BHO hakupata surge au mabadiliko kwenye polls baada ya Mile high speech, lakini McNgabu alipata sudden burts of energy alipomchagua Kisura!

Uchumi na kuteleza kwa Wall Street wiki hii, kutamsumbua sana Babu yake Nyani ambaye ni mtupu kabisa kwenye Uchumi!

Huyu Babu yake Nyani aka mzee wa Gasolina naona anazidi kuwa gaffe machine. Nimefurahi kwamba waandishi wameacha kumpendelea na kumwona as a maverick. Sasa umepata nyepesi kuhu ujinga aliyofanya kuhusu Spain and Zapatero? This old man is getting senile. Akishinda elections Americans deserve what they get!

The McCain campaign insisted Thursday morning that the Senator meant what he said when, during an interview on Spanish radio, he refused to commit to a meeting with Spain's prime minister, Jose Luis Zapatero.

"The questioner asked several times about Senator McCain's willingness to meet Zapatero (and id'd him in the question so there is no doubt Senator McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred). Senator McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview," the Senator's foreign policy adviser Randy Sheunemann told the Washington Post.

Sheunemann's answer is likely to be cause deep ripples within the diplomatic community, as it represents a more aggressive and antagonistic approach than that deployed by the Bush administration. It also promises to be hotly contested, as a review of the McCain interview suggests that the Senator was confused as to who Zapatero actually was.

Appearing on the Miami-based Union Radio, a Spanish language radio station that conducted its interview in English, McCain touted his record "of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us, and standing up to those who are not." This came even after the questioner began that portion of the interview by saying: "let's talk about Spain." Certainly, it is possible that McCain misheard the question, though the topic was subsequently brought up three more times. But Scheunemann is now insisting that the Senator meant what he said. As such, it is important to understand how such a take on U.S.-Spain relations compares with current U.S. policy. The Bush administration has made overt gestures in recent years to overcome what once was a frosty relationship -- derived, primarily, from Spain's decision to remove forces from Iraq -- with the Zapatero government.

In July 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared that "the United States and Spain are allies. We're in NATO together; we are serving together in Afghanistan. A lot of our conversation today was about that, working together on any number of issues. We've had our differences... [but] I feel that the relationship is warm. We had a good discussion today... We're allies."

Crazzzzy!!!!

 

[Hofstede]

Market meltdown imetufanya tupoteze mpigani wa babu. Sijamuona long time. Kama ni mbio za mita 1500, sasa tupo last lap, na Obama anaongoza kwa 4 points Gallup, hapa labla. Kama mmoja aliivyosema the only way kwa Babu kushinda ni kutokea shambulio la kigaidi ndani ya marekani kitu ambacho Kichaka hawezi kukubali kimuaribie record yake toka sept 11.

Nyani my friend nyani tunakumiss sana. thread imepwaya sana.

 

[YNIM]

YNIM: mku wewe ni optimist mwenzangu, you always see the glass half full! Jon Stewart is the best, akianzisha talk show yake ambayo ni serious lakini akibaki na style yake ya kutowakopesha wanasiasa atapata umaarufu na hatutaona haya kusema kwamba we get all our details from late night comedy shows!! Hahaaaa
Naomba tuanze kukusanya Bidenism yaani misemo ya Biden maana mpaka nimeanza kusahau mengine kuna ile aliyosema kuhusu movie na sequel! Nimesahau lakini nilipomsikia nilicheka sana!! Babu mkali sana katika hilo nadhani ni mamake Irish Catholic anayempa misemo hii. Yaani kama kunasehemu anateleza basi ni asilimia 2 lakini 98% anadeliver punches!!
Nasikia alikuwa na Hillary jana, sikuona kipindi itabidi niipate on YouTube.

...yap! mie ningependa Obama "achape" zaidi huyu babu na kukampeni stage moja na "the Clintons" hasa FL, PA, OH na MI!! hii kitu ku-win ni very possible!!

Seriously, mie siangalii tena CNN, yaani kama lile li-madevu Wolf Blitzer ndio limeniboa kabisaaaa. Nipo radhi niangalie ripoti za CN8 (the comcast network) za watu kama Pete Williams na shows za Lynn Doyle au Art Fernell kuliko kulishwa sumu na mipumbaf ya CNN au Fox News!! Kuna kitu moja CN8 inaitwa "candidates unfiltered," hapo ndipo madongo yote matamutamu ya campaign '08 utayapata.... mfano wa dongo moja tamu la jana ambalo leo bado linatesa ni hili hapa, "Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he's president, he will take on, and I quote, 'the old boy's network in Washington.' The old boy's network. In the McCain campaign, that's called a staff meeting." -Barack Obama

 

[Susuviri]

Market meltdown imetufanya tupoteze mpigani wa babu. Sijamuona long time. Kama ni mbio za mita 1500, sasa tupo last lap, na Obama anaongoza kwa 4 points Gallup, hapa labla. Kama mmoja aliivyosema the only way kwa Babu kushinda ni kutokea shambulio la kigaidi ndani ya marekani kitu ambacho Kichaka hawezi kukubali kimuaribie record yake toka sept 11.

Nyani my friend nyani tunakumiss sana. thread imepwaya sana.

Nyani alisusa alisema nilileta ushabiki wa kiiijinga! Lakini si unajua ushabiki ni pande mbili. lakini hawezi kumwangusha Babu yake, lazima atakuwa amebanwa na kazi maana ni mtetezi mzuri sana!
Nyaniiii, my friend! where are you???

 

[Susuviri]

"Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he's president, he will take on, and I quote, 'the old boy's network in Washington.' The old boy's network. In the McCain campaign, that's called a staff [/COLOR]meeting." -Barack Obama

NImeiona hiyo soundbite na nimecheka sana! Wham bang!!! Zing! Naona strategy ya Obama na Biden is to show what a big joke McCain Palin and their campaign is!! And so far they are doing a great job! DId you see when Obama said that McCain campaign is like a SNL skit! Ouch!!

 

[BAK]

Top Republican says Palin unready
BBC News Online

Senator Chuck Hagel could be influential with independent voters

Senior Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has voiced doubts about Sarah Palin's qualifications for the vice-presidency.

John McCain's running mate "doesn't have any foreign policy credentials", Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald.

Mr Hagel was a prominent supporter of Mr McCain during his 2000 bid for the US presidency, but has declined to endorse either candidate this year.

He was opposed to the Iraq War, and recently joined Mr McCain's rival Barack Obama on a Middle East trip.

'Stop the nonsense'

"I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States," Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald newspaper.

And he was dismissive of the fact that Mrs Palin, the governor of Alaska, has made few trips abroad.

"You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything."

This kind of thing will have an effect on independents

BBC North America editor Justin Webb

Justin Webb's America
Mr Hagel also criticised the McCain campaign for its suggestion that the proximity of Alaska to Russia gave Mrs Palin foreign policy experience.

"I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia'," he said.

"That kind of thing is insulting to the American people."

BBC North America editor Justin Webb says Mr Hagel's opinion of Mrs Palin will have an effect on independent voters.

A senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Hagel was a close ally of Mr McCain, but the two men parted company over the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Mr Hagel skipped this year's Republican National Convention in favour of a visit to Latin America.

Mr Hagel's decision to accompany Mr Obama this summer on a trip to Iraq and Israel, as part of a US Congressional delegation, led to speculation that he would throw his support behind the Democratic nominee.

However, a spokesman for the Nebraska senator insisted in August that "Senator Hagel has no intention of getting involved in any of the campaigns and is not planning to endorse either candidate".

 

[Lusajo]

Bubu ndio maana yake, na naona favorability ya mama Palin inazidi kushuka. mambo badoo. Na Obama anafunika mbaya siku hizi.

 

[BAK]

Bubu ndio maana yake, na naona favorability ya mama Palin inazidi kushuka. mambo badoo. Na Obama anafunika mbaya siku hizi.

Nimepata tena nguvu kwamba tunaweza kuona history. Habari za kuanguka kwa Lehman Brothers na uwongo wa Sarah Liar Palin vimewaamsha mengi. Pia Obama kaanza tena kufanya vizuri kwenye kampeni zake. I hope hizi wiki sita zilizobaki ataweza kuendelea na hii momentum ili aweke gap kubwa kati yake na Mcsame. YES WE CAN!

 

[Nyambala]

McCain's Childish Act Is Enough To Outsmart Media

Richard GizbertPosted September 17, 2008 | 07:43 PM (EST)

Better late than never.

The American media have been slow to expose John McCain's devious campaign tactics, and some of his outright lies, but at least they've finally started to do that.

For some reason, though, they allow McCain to get away with his attempts to justify the nasty "tenor" of his campaign.

When pressed about some of the utter falsehoods he has thrown at Barack Obama, such as the lipstick and child sex-ed accusations, John McCain has tended to go on the offense.

He did that when the women on ABC's The View became the first to do what the rest of the corporate media had lacked the cojones to do, confront the candidate over his lies.

McCain responded with the following:

"This is a tough campaign. I have asked Senator Obama to join me in town hall meetings all across America. I have requested it time after time. And if we had done what I asked Senator Obama to do...I don't think you'd see the tenor of this campaign."
McCain said the same thing on MSNBC, during his whirlwind and slightly panicky tour of the morning shows on Tuesday.

"If you would urge him to come and do town hall meetings with me as I've asked him to do, time after time, the whole tenor of the campaign would change."
Consider, for a moment, what the candidate is saying.

He refuses to admit that he is lying about Obama, but then subtly suggests that he would stop lying, if only his troublesome opponent would agree to McCain's Town Hall Tour of America.

Like it's all Obama's fault.
It's a quite outrageous thing for a candidate to say. But on both The View and MSNBC, the interviewers just kind of...let that go. The way the corporate media do far too often, when a follow-up question is just sitting there, begging to be asked. Instead, they were bamboozled.

Now, this particular McCain tactic would be ugly, but not so surprising perhaps, if Obama was running and hiding from him, and refusing to debate.

But Barack Obama has agreed to debate John McCain three times. That's the same number of debates John Kerry had with George W. Bush, and Bush had with Al Gore. It's one more debate that Bill Clinton had with Bob Dole.

You can look it up. Or just go to Wikipedia, which is what I did.

Since the first Kennedy-Nixon debates in 1960, there have been an average of two debates per presidential election. Barack Obama has agreed to three. He's following convention.

On the other hand, John McCain's call for/insistence on a series of town hall meetings is not just unconventional. It's unprecedented.

And because Obama hasn't agreed to McCain's unprecedented proposal, McCain is telling us Obama deserves what he's getting.

John McCain's argument isn't just nonsensical. It's childish. It's petulant. It feels like bullying. And it tells you something about the way he thinks.
The good news is, the corporate media are finally starting to see through the McCain straight talk mythology. They're finally starting to ask him some tough questions.

Now, if we could just get them to ask the right follow-up question, when the situation demands it...

 

[Yo Yo]

Miss Sarah Mc palin's emails hacked.....

Miss Palin nae wamemuingilia mpaka kunako.....
View attachment sa.bmp
Miss Palin kwanini katumia private email kama yahoo?

View attachment saraaaa.bmp


View attachment sarh.bmp

 

[Masanja]

Huu uchaguzi bwana bado naamini kabisa ni wa Democrats. I strongly feel so. ingawa campaign zinazidi kuwa ngumu..lakini naamini BO amefikia a point of no return hata waliokuwa wana mashaka naye wameamua kumsupport. But Dems should just know it will go down to the wire, hawa mafia hawana utani. The good news kwa republicans ni kwamba hawatashindwa vibaya sana kama ilivyokuwa projected. That is my feelings.

Unajua wengi tulikuwa tumeanza kuwa na wasi wasi kwa sababu chaguzi ambazo ziko too close kama hizi ni rahisi kuzi-sway kwa kuwa-defranchize minorities na wote mnajua..ukifanya hivi wanaoumia ni minorities ambao ni constituent ya Dems. So atleast jamaa akiingia last week na commanding lead kwenye polls..uwezekano wa kuiba unapungua..in anyway..Mi naamini bado Dems wana nafasi ya kurudisha heshima!

But seriously, sielewi mtu ambaye anasupport republicans after eight years ya Bush anataka nini haswa...I cant just get it!

 

[Nyambala]

Mambo yanazidi kuwa magumu kwa babu McNgabu!!!!!!

Republican congressman endorses Obama
Posted: 05:08 PM ET


Gilchrest attended a McCain speech in February.
(CNN) — Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, the Maryland Republican who lost a heated primary challenge earlier this year, said Friday he's endorsing Democrat Barack Obama's White House bid.

Gilchrest, who has served in the House for close to two decades, told a Maryland radio station Obama and his running mate Sen. Joe Biden have the experience needed for the job.

"My perspective is that the ticket is Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden that they have the breadth of experience, I think they are prudent, they are knowledgeable," he told WYPR. "We just can't use four more years of the same kind of policy that's somewhat hazardous, which leads to recklessness."

The move doesn’t come as a big surprise: Gilchrest is a strong opponent of the Iraq war and has voted for a timeline for withdrawal. He's also endorsed the Democrat running to succeed him.

CNN's calls to Gilchrest's office went unanswered.

 

[Susuviri]

Nimepata tena nguvu kwamba tunaweza kuona history. Habari za kuanguka kwa Lehman Brothers na uwongo wa Sarah Liar Palin vimewaamsha mengi. Pia Obama kaanza tena kufanya vizuri kwenye kampeni zake. I hope hizi wiki sita zilizobaki ataweza kuendelea na hii momentum ili aweke gap kubwa kati yake na Mcsame. YES WE CAN!

Karibu Bubu!! Mkuu, nilikwambia kwamba 'everyhting's gonna be alright' njia yenyewe ni nyembamba lakini tutapenya hivyohivyo!! And we are not out of the woods yet. Mi nasubiria debates sasa. I think Biden will do great lakini Jaluo ndo inabidi a turn arond expectations. Hata akifanya vizuri haitoshi inabidi awe exrtaordinarily good.

 

[The Truth]

Top Republican says Palin unready
BBC News Online

Senator Chuck Hagel could be influential with independent voters

Senior Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has voiced doubts about Sarah Palin's qualifications for the vice-presidency.

John McCain's running mate "doesn't have any foreign policy credentials", Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald.

Mr Hagel was a prominent supporter of Mr McCain during his 2000 bid for the US presidency, but has declined to endorse either candidate this year.

He was opposed to the Iraq War, and recently joined Mr McCain's rival Barack Obama on a Middle East trip.

'Stop the nonsense'

"I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States," Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald newspaper.

And he was dismissive of the fact that Mrs Palin, the governor of Alaska, has made few trips abroad.

"You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything."

This kind of thing will have an effect on independents

BBC North America editor Justin Webb

Justin Webb's America
Mr Hagel also criticised the McCain campaign for its suggestion that the proximity of Alaska to Russia gave Mrs Palin foreign policy experience.

"I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia'," he said.

"That kind of thing is insulting to the American people."

BBC North America editor Justin Webb says Mr Hagel's opinion of Mrs Palin will have an effect on independent voters.

A senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Hagel was a close ally of Mr McCain, but the two men parted company over the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Mr Hagel skipped this year's Republican National Convention in favour of a visit to Latin America.

Mr Hagel's decision to accompany Mr Obama this summer on a trip to Iraq and Israel, as part of a US Congressional delegation, led to speculation that he would throw his support behind the Democratic nominee.

However, a spokesman for the Nebraska senator insisted in August that "Senator Hagel has no intention of getting involved in any of the campaigns and is not planning to endorse either candidate".

Obantu doesn't have any foreign policy credentials either. Hagel is either an idiot or he is secretly subotaging Obantu's campaign. Why? Because anytime you point out Palin's lack of experience or foreign policy credentials you are essentially make people question the alternative i.e. Obantu and he doesn't have either of those. In fact none of the last two American presidents had any foreign policy credentials before they were elected i.e. Bush and Clin-toon.

 

[Nyambala]

obantu doesn't have any foreign policy credentials either. Hagel is either an idiot or he is secretly subotaging obantu's campaign. Why? Because anytime you point out palin's lack of experience or foreign policy credentials you are essentially make people question the alternative i.e. Obantu and he doesn't have either of those. In fact none of the last two american presidents had any foreign policy credentials before they were elected i.e. Bush and clin-toon.

you must be insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[The Truth]

you must be insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do you think that? You can't just call me insane in a one-liner without giving a little or some information. I don't think that's fair.