31. "This is the entire script of a new Obama campaign ad"

It's an AD.

Good gravy...

bob at 6:45PM on Aug 14th 2008

32. It's an AD.

Good gravy...

bob at 6:45PM on Aug 14th 2008

xxx

an ad depicting policy he's running on. It's what republicans run away from. Why don't they outline policies instead of either 'my opponent blah blah' or ' dittoes on what bush said.'

Clif Kuplen at 7:01PM on Aug 14th 2008

33. Mr. Clif Kuplen spread the word we live in a Communist country!!!! Bush is a terriost America is horrible right? Spread the word!!!!!!

xxxx

I think your tribe tries to tell us without republican corporatism all is marxist. Did you flipflop?

Clif Kuplen at 7:02PM on Aug 14th 2008

34. Evil corporations have kept us free for over 200 years. Evil corporations (big oil) allowed you to drive to the liquor store and purchase your lunch. Corporations are why we have a middle class. Corporations power the internet on which you spew your ignorance. Do you know what happens to useful idiots once they are no longer useful to the party?

dalton at 7:08PM on Aug 14th 2008

35. I some times find that this helps quite a bit:

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
in·va·sion Audio Help /ɪnˈveɪʒən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[in-vey-zhuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. an act or instance of invading or entering as an enemy, esp. by an army.
2. the entrance or advent of anything troublesome or harmful, as disease.
3. entrance as if to take possession or overrun: the annual invasion of the resort by tourists.
4. infringement by intrusion.

It's pretty clear the first definition is applicable to afganistan and both the first and third are applicable to Iraq.

Now this is largely to Leslie. It seems contradictory to me that the UN's members intelligence were all decieved yet the UN staunchly voted against allowing an invasion. The IAEA's inspection revealed there were no nuclear materials. This, coupled with the Downing Street report of selling the war, and with Cheney setting up a special filter for all intelligence regarding Iraq, make such assertations quite suspect.

Now, you seem quite content to blame liberals and clinton for mistakes while forgiving such a gross mishandling of critical information. You're right that the president did need information, as did congress. However, the information they recieved was tainted by a political agenda to implicate Saddam as an immediate threat to the united states when infact he wasn't.

Now. As for your assertation that Iraq was justified because Saddam was a bad man, I'm afraid that does not make for a legitimate war. The world is full of countries ruled by men far worse than saddam, some of whom we put in power or continue to support. In reality, a war is only legal if the UN passess a war resolution, as it did when we invaded Afganistan, or if a country is immediately invaded. Anything else makes a war a war of agression and an illegal war. Russia is free to invade georgia because we set the precident.

I also feel, Leslie, that it's quite cheap that you use your husband's death in 9/11 to justify your assertations given their faulty premises. If your husband were alive would you be so vehement in your urge to blame others and to call for the removal of the civil liberties that have defined your country? You say you don't know first hand anyone that has been imprisoned unfairly. I know of at least one german citizen we imprisoned even when we knew better. Any government that keeps such practices is little better than the 'terrorists' that use violence to further their agenda.

We are America. We are supposed to be better than this.

Somber at 7:11PM on Aug 14th 2008

36. Dalton, you need to brush up on your U.S. history. We have a middle class in spite of corporations, not because of them.

From 1870's to 1910's corporations were called trusts, and exceled at transfering the wealth of the poor to the pockets of the rich. Trusts, as they were called back then, exploited workers in whatever method they could, including employing child labor. If you were maimed, you would starve. If you were killed, your family was on its own.

The middle class emerged as a result of government regulation that required employers to pay a superior wage, instead of wage locking below poverty level. They forced employers to implement safety protocals and made them liable in the event of a worker's injury. Conservatives moaned then that there would be endless fraud and prices would sky rocket. They didn't. And as labor became more valuble, corporations were forced to compete by raising wages and offering superior benefits and retirement packages. With businesses competeing, skilled labor became such that it made greater and greater economic reward to go to college. Government facilitated this, both through the GI bill and through finaccial aid.

Sadly many of our current problems with oursourcing is because with a world pool corporations can abandon the middle class in America for cheeper labor in countries where the 'free market' gives fewer protections to workers.

Free market is only free for the fewest people to make the most money.

Somber at 7:26PM on Aug 14th 2008

37. "an ad depicting policy he's running on."

Yeah I got that. It's a familiar format that's been around for years. My freshness date won't expire quite as soon as yours will, but I've been through a few of these things in my time.

Given the probability that any of those "policies" actually end up being implemented, I'd be willing to bet I'll be a lot less disappointed than you and the rest of the true believers if he manages to get elected.

bob at 7:28PM on Aug 14th 2008

38. I think your tribe tries to tell us without republican corporatism all is marxist. Did you flipflop?
Clif Kuplen at 7:02PM on Aug 14th 2008
xxxxxxx
No sir I wear crocs not flip flops, my tribe is your tribe we are brothers trying to elect our God to save us from the evil tyranny that has taken over America. We are a third world country, people are beat left to die in corn fields in middle America, people are starving all around, our communist Government is in bed with these horrendous oil corporations that rule our third world country formerly known as America. We have lost all of our freedoms, we are dragged out of our homes and beaten by Republicans on a daily basis..Clif Kuplen Obamagod is our only hope his supreme diety was sent here to save us all..Spread the word hurry hurry before it is too late for us all!!!!!

Satarist at 7:29PM on Aug 14th 2008

39. republicans are sooooo tired.
they dont even know that karl marx is dead.
its like listening to someone who just woke up from the 50s.

Louis IX KingofFrance at 7:43PM on Aug 14th 2008

40. Recent history lesson: 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium moved from Iraq to Canada within the past month. 375,000 tons of c-4 explosives found in Iraq in 2004 and moved to a safe facility. Weapons of mass destruction, perhaps? Over 2000 warheads with chemical weapons discovered. All this after looking at only a small percentage of Iraq's arsenal. Nuclear bomb blueprints found in Sadaams garden. Dual use facilities; do you really believe Sadaam was making baby milk? Really read the reports (Hans Blix included)...don't just listen to Air America for your mis-information. Oh yes, and corporate abuse? Of course there was/is corporate abuse. Your myopia unfortunately does not allow you to weigh corporate abuse (trusts, etc.) vs. government abuse. Do the names Stalin, Pol Pot, Ceaucescu, Chairman Mao, Mugabe, Napolean, Kruschev, Putin ring a bell? Hundreds of millions of innocent people butchered. Maybe you're just an ignorant neo-com. Look at all sides, not just what you want to believe. I'm sure you were one of the Clintonites screaming for "regime change" in Iraq until you were told to bend over and do a complete 180 for the sake of political expediency. Treason comes to mind. The dems of the 90's had a mantra for taking no action against Sadaam, it was, "...why didn't Bush 1 finish the job in Desert Storm? He should have taken out Sadaam when he had the chance". I know your type, you are unprincipled to the core. You have no backbone. Your highest ideal is our lowest common denominator. Somber is the only appropriate part of your message. Try SOBER, you may see the light.

dalton at 8:00PM on Aug 14th 2008

41. >>>The Cheney junta has left "diplomacy" to the French. Condi Rice is in France, looking foolish and hoping the French will throw her a bone.

No military response. Diplomatic irrelevancy. The junta isn't looking good in this. Good thing we've got France.

In fairness... N.A.T.O. is looking puffy too.

Captain Negative at 6:34PM on Aug 14th 2008>>>

Captain,

get me straight on this please.

Are you & another blogger on here advocating we take military action as an immediate answer to the circumstances in Georgia? This situation is halfway around the world & less than a week old. Sounds a bit trigger happy or should I accuse you of being a war monger?

The French have far more to lose than we do, this is occurring in their back yard, why not let them lead diplomatic talks? When the French go it alone, I'll be impressed. At least we can trust Sarkozy more than Dom Perion Chirac.

Why is Rice looking foolish?

We're sending aid & going through the very early stages to reach a peaceful solution.

Be constructive & tell us what role we can actually play in a time of crisis without being later criticized by the left.

These same unfounded criticisms of yours have weakened our position internationally with the constant second guessing within our own ranks.

I'm not even going to accuse the entire left from your misguided views. I doubt they all see it your way either....

Bobby at 8:51PM on Aug 14th 2008

42. strong words for a child sex abuser, okane.
Clif Kuplen at 5:32PM on Aug 14th 2008
xxxxxx
You want to tell everyone your past with your daughter Julie too Clif?

anonymous at 9:41PM on Aug 14th 2008

43. To Somber: "We are supposed to be better than this" is the mantra used by ivory tower philosphers to tie our hands with rules of our own making when we are forced to fight an enemy that respects none. Have you read any news reports of how this enemy operates? Suicide bombing of civilians, including children on many occasions. Now they are using women to do this dirty work too. Captive soldiers are later found tortured and murdered ( real torture, not just making someone naked or offending them by using a woman interrogator.)Journalists beheaded ...(Daniel Pearl). Civilian contractors kidnapped and sometimes killed. Funny but I don't recall any of this being allowed by the Geneva Convention. Or is only the US supposed to abide by those rules? Meanwhile we listen to Al Jazeera air tapes issuing Al Queda threats, including nuclear ones, against our citizens. Forgive me if I don't worry about how many angels dance on the head of a pin.
The UN passed resolutions for Iraq to permit unfettered inspections, and the deadline was violated again and again, with predictable lack of response at the UN. We didn't attack Saddam because he was as you put it" a bad man". He was making veiled threats that he did in fact have WMD and implied attacking us, banking on the fact that as in attacks past, we would do nothing.Since we were the target on 9/11, his threats were viewed more seriously,and we took action to protect ourselves. He bet and lost.
Suggesting Russia was "free" to invade Georgia because we "set the precedent" is bogus. Did Georgia invade or attack Russia? No.The Russians did invade them. We however, WERE attacked on 9/11. No comparison. Did we also "invade" Japan even though they attacked us first at Pearl Harbor? I don't think so.
As far as "using" my husbands death as you put it,( a rather offensive statement) let me say this. My husband was a civilian murdered on 9/11. That is a fact and my mentioning it is not "using" him, it's a reality I live with every day. You didn't know him and you don't know me. My husband put his family and their care and safety above anything else. Certainly he would not cry crocodile tears over the rights of those who are mass murderers of civilians, nor the captured armed combatants who occupy Gitmo and have gained on average 15 pounds during their "torturous" captivity.
Civil liberties will always define the US. It does not mean we cannot make some sensible minor adjustments in their application in order to protect ourselves.Times change. We need to change with them.

Leslie at 9:53PM on Aug 14th 2008

44. 34. Evil corporations have kept us free for over 200 years. Evil corporations (big oil) allowed you to drive to the liquor store and purchase your lunch.

xxx

try doing a little research. Did you ever hear of the Sherman Anti Trust act? The Clayton Act? Theodore Roosevelt? Robber Barons?

In Martin Van Buren's time he voiced his concerns about corporate merger with government disenfranchising the individual citizen. It's been the reality since reagan, and a vote for mcsame gives you more of the same.

Clif Kuplen at 10:30PM on Aug 14th 2008

45. You want to tell everyone your past with your daughter Julie too Clif?

anonymous at 9:41PM on Aug 14th 2008

xxxx

maybe you'd better tell me your past with her before I contact her and the FBI. If you're being cute, it could cost you a couple decades of your life. Don't make me find you, Okane, because I can if I need to.

Clif Kuplen at 10:32PM on Aug 14th 2008