Bent Corner

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Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain spoke yesterday on a litany of topics including Iraq and Afghanistan. He tried to point out where he and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama differed on on Iraq, mainly on the so-called “surge”. From Real Clear Politics:

Where Senator Obama and I disagreed, fundamentally, was what course we should take. I called for a comprehensive new strategy — a surge of troops and counterinsurgency to win the war. Senator Obama disagreed. He opposed the surge, predicted it would increase sectarian violence, and called for our troops to retreat as quickly as possible.

The problem with McCain’s comment is that although what he said was “technically” correct, the Obama campaign had already retroactively removed all proof that he opposed the surge from his website.

That means it never happened. 

It’s clear that McCain is grossly out of touch when it comes to politics of the 21st century. McCain should know that before critisizing Obama on an issue, he should first refer to the official Obama website or his MySpace page to see if the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee still holds that perticular stance on the issue.  He very well may have flip-flopped refined his position, like he did on FISA and or Federal campaign finance. 

John McCain is now left with egg on his face.  I don’t really know what that saying means.  I only know that it’s not very good.

Tags: Barack Obama, FISA, Flip-Flop, Iraq, John McCain, Surge

In recent Newsweek poll, Barack Obama leads Republican nominee John McCain by just 3 percentage points, 44 percent to 41 percent. Last month’s Newsweek poll, Obama led McCain by 15 points, 51 percent to 36 percent.

What a month it has been.

What’s changed? Well, Obama flip-flopped on the following issues:

• Reneged on the promise to participate in Federal campaign financing.
• Voted with the Republicans to give retro immunity to the telecoms for their part in illegal warrantless eavesdropping.  This was after promising to help filibuster the bill.
• Altered his stance on late-term abortions by claiming that a woman’s mental health should not be a factor when it comes to an exception for the health of the mother.  He stated that only a serious physical issue — and not a mental issue — should be considered.
• Flip-flopped on his pledge to remove all combat brigades from Iraq within 16 months of taking office by saying the he retains the right to “refine” his plan after taking office.

Can Obama’s slide be attributed to his flip-flops? It’s hard to say. I changed my mind about Obama when it became known that he had chosen a racist, hateful crackpot to be his spiritual adviser.

Tags: Barack Obama, Flip-Flop, John McCain, Newsweek

Barack Obama has made the issue of pulling out of Iraq his signature issue.  It turns out that his get-out-of-Iraq-in-16-months policy is not as rock solid as he has made it seem.  Obama said today while speaking to a veterans group that when he goes to Iraq and speaks to commanders on the ground, he just might learn things that might cause him to “refine” his plan.  From the AP (via Yahoo!):

He said what he learns from military commanders on his upcoming trip to Iraq will refine his policy but “not the 16-month timetable” for withdrawing U.S. troops from combat in Iraq. He said what he learns could affect how many residual troops might be needed to train the Iraqi army and police.

So what exactly will there be to refine?  Either he completely pulls every combat brigade currently in Iraq out within 16 months of taking office or he doesn’t.

As much as I hate absolutes, it’s kind of an either-or type of thing.  He has backed himself in a corner with the 16-month time table.  There’s not an awful lot of wiggle room when it comes to pulling out of Iraq.  Either he does it in 16 months or he doesn’t.

He caved on his pledge to participate in federal campaign financing.  He caved on not giving the telcos retroactive immunity.  If he caves on pulling the troops out of Iraq within 16 months, he had better do it after the Democratic National Convention next month.  If he does it before, a few of the so-called “committed” superdelegates just may throw their votes to Hillary Clinton, making her not the presumptive nominee, but the actual nominee.

I’m starting to think that when Obama talks about Change™, he is refering to his ability to say one thing and then do something completely different.  I think he got away with it with campaign finance and FISA.  I don’t think he will be as lucky when it comes to getting out of Iraq.

Tags: Barack Obama, Change, Democratic National Convention, FISA, Iraq, John McCain

Gen. Wesley Clark, working now for the Obama campaign was on CBS’ Face the Nation were he proceeded to demean and disparage Senator John McCain’s military service.  From Politico:

“He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron,” Clark said.

“I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”

Let’s call it Swift Boating 2.0.  When John Kerry was running for President, the Republicans belittled his service in Vietnam.  I remember even seeing photos of women wearing purple band-aids on their faces at the GOP National Convention.  The message was that Kerry wasn’t a war hero.  He did really deserve any of his military citations including the Silver Star and those Purple Hearts.

It was disgusting then and it disgusting now.  The difference of course is that it’s the Democrats that are now belittling the military service of a Republican. The Swift Boating of 2004 did not actually come from anyone working in the Bush campaign.

Is this what Obama means when he says that he is all about Change™?

Tags: Barack Obama, Democrats, Face the Nation, John Kerry, John McCain, Republicans, Silver Star, Swift Boating, Vietnam, Wesley Clark

Not only will Barack Obama be the first presidential candidate since Watergate to bypass public financing, he is reneging on an earlier promise to participate in public financing during the general election.

The McCain campaign has already jumped on this by posting a time-line chronicling Obama’s support for public financing and his subsequent reversal.

Obama seems to have a real problem with telling the truth. He repeatedly says one thing and then does another when it behooves him. He signed an oath to not campaign in the state of Florida, but then purchased national TV spots that ran in Florida. He also said that he could no more disown Rev. Wright than he could disown the black community. A month latter he did just that.

When Obama is elected this November and then promptly reverses himself on his pledge to remove the troops from Iraq, no one should act suprised. Saying one thing and then doing another is what Obama does.

You can bank on it.

Tags: Barack Obama, Breaking a Pledge, Doing One Thing and Then Doing Another, Iraq, John McCain, Lying, Money, Public Campaign Financing, Watergate

Pretend you are a candidate for the Democratic nomination and you just lost the Kentucky primary by 35 points. What do you do? If you are Barack Obama, you fly to Iowa and announce that you have just achieved a pretend milestone. You announce that you have won an absolute majority of pledged delegates.

Think of it as Barack Obama’s very own MISSION ACCOMPLISHED moment. The only thing lacking was a flight suit and an aircraft carrier.

From Larry Johnson’s superb blog NO QUARTER:

How does winning a majority of pledged delegates qualify as a “major milestone”? It doesn’t, because winning the majority of pledged delegates does not make Obama the nominee. Period.

Under the Democratic Party’s un-democratic rules, super-delegates can vote for whomever they want (and they can switch), regardless of the pledged-delegate totals or popular-vote count.

Facts aside, some media have given air time to Obama’s surrogates to create potentially misleading headlines and sound bites about the pretend “milestone.”

I often wonder if Obama supporters even know that superdelegates don’t actually cast their superdelegate vote until the Democratic National Convention in August. From reading many of their posts on Daily Kos or Democratic Underground, I’m guessing not. Otherwise I’m not sure they would be so visceral and arrogant about their favorite candidate.

The superdelegates will have a choice to make in August. Will they simply go with the candidate that has a slight lead in the pledged delegates or will they go with the candidate that has a slight lead in the popular vote?

Obama might regain his lead in the popular vote in the remaining contests, but he seems to have all but decided to start campaigning for the general election against John McCain. He seems confident that he will be given the nomination no matter what happens in the remaining contests.

Tags: Barack Obama, Daily Kos, Democratic Party, Democratic Underground, John McCain, Kentucky, Larry Johnson

Visit 57 states? Now let’s see another candidate do that. If John McCain had said something silly like that, people would start making cracks about his age.

Tags: 57 States, Barack Obama, John McCain

With the results of Tuesday’s Indiana and North Carolina primaries tallied up, I think we finally have a clear winner for the Democratic nominee for President. It looks like Republican John McCain will be squaring off against Barack Obama.

If you are a Republican, I can’t help but think this is good news to you. It almost certainly assures another Republican President till at least 2012.

I simply don’t think Obama has a chance of beating McCain. I might be wrong. I’ve been wrong before and I most certainly will be wrong again. With that said, I just think comes with a lot of things the Republicans will jump on and capitalize to make him look as though he has no business in the White House.

Most of the time Republicans have to make stuff up about their opponents. They wont have to do that with Obama.

Tags: 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama, Democrats, Indiana Primaries, John McCain, North Carolina primaries, Politics, Republicans

Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Hillary Clinton want to suspend the 18 cents a gallon Federal tax on gasoline - only for the Summer.  Barack Obama wants to leave things the way they are.  He thinks lowering the price might actually increase demand which would cause prices to go up.  Something like that.

They should suspend the Federal gas tax.  Not only for the Summer, but forever.

Why are they taxing gasoline?  We buy gasoline not because it is some sort of luxury item that we reward ourselves with, but it is something we need to get us from one place to another.  For better or worse, it is the fuel that we need to be productive citizens.  The government shouldn’t be taxing the gas we buy, they should be taxing the income we earn.  That’s something they already do.

I buy gas to put in my car so I can drive to work each day.  If I didn’t have to buy gas, I would happily spend my money on something else.

Instead of arguing over whether or not the Federal gas tax should be suspended for the Summer, they ought to be discussing why gas was ever taxed in the first place.

Tags: Barack Obama, Gas, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Oil, Taxes

Things aren’t looking so hot for Barack Obama. A new poll just released by the AP shows that Hillary Clinton would do much better then Obama against McCain:

Hillary Rodham Clinton now leads John McCain by 9 points in a head-to-head presidential matchup, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that bolsters her argument that she is more electable than Democratic rival Barack Obama.

Obama and Republican McCain are running about even.

I think Obama’s poll numbers will only get worse. It doesn’t appear that Obama’s bigoted spiritual adviser is going to shut up any time soon. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright spoke at the National Press Club this morning and he had a lot to say. From Eric Pianin at the Washington Post:

Wright praised Louis Farrakhan, defended the view that Zionism is racism, accused the United States of terrorism, repeated his view that the government created the AIDS virus to cause the genocide of racial minorities, stood by other past remarks (”God damn America”) and held himself out as a spokesman for the black church in America.

Why won’t Wright just shut up? Why can’t the man just stay quiet till after November? Will his ego not allow it?

Tags: Barack Obama, Eric Pianin, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Louis Farrakhan