"A glowing plastic post-modern Jesus for the dashboard of their Prius."

Whew.  Vanderleun eviscerates Obama, on the question of courage. 

Comments

[Tom Strong]

That article was the political equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and going "La la la la la!"

(Manfully, of course)

[jason]

That was a whole lot of pathetic political blathering and bamboozling. There wasn't a single interesting or compelling argument or point in the whole of the diatribe. I'm sorry I read it. That did nothing more than make me wonder what other personal and irrelevant attacks will come before Tuesday in an attempt to sway votes.

As a true political independent, one who has never voted along party lines, this makes me wonder if it's time to lean way left just to spite the spiteful.

[RW Rogers]

Several gay friends and wealthy gay donors to Senator Barack Obama have asked him over the years why, as a matter of logic and fairness, he opposes same-sex marriage even though he has condemned old miscegenation laws that would have barred his black father from marrying his white mother.

The difference, Mr. Obama has told them, is religion.

As a Christian — he is a member of the United Church of Christ — Mr. Obama believes that marriage is a sacred union, a blessing from God, and one that is intended for a man and a woman exclusively.

New York Times, October 31, 2008

[amba]

Michael nothwithstanding, I've felt that same impulse, Jason. The trouble is, I also question Obama's courage. I don't like all his "present" votes. Do you? As a political independent, I don't like his Democratic party-lineness. Do you? I just don't put it in crude gender terms.

I think Obama is young, for a politician, and that accounts for a lot of his caution. It's one of the reasons why I hoped he would wait and work at a less exalted and terrifying job for a while.

[amba]

Also, Michael, the STYLE of McCain and Palin, McCain's bobblehead blonde wife, and their crowds grates on my ear, sets my teeth on edge. I'm trying not to vote on aesthetics any more than emotion. Give me a little credit for doing something really difficult: going against my conditioning.

[amba]

Michael, you know, as others have pointed out from time to time, you are so unresponsive to what's actually there in front of you that (to be politically incorrect) you're like a blind man drawing up a ten-worst-dressed list.

I love you anyway, and if Obama wins, I hope he's a good president. I do not wish him, or you, ill.

[jason]

Thanks, Randy. That much I've read. It boils down to this: Would I rather have a liberal anti-gay marriage president or a conservative anti-gay marriage president?

The answer is this: Who has done more harm to gays throughout history?

I play my cards close to the chest--being still undecided on my vote come Tuesday--but on that issue I am an open book: Down with the Republicans!

I just wish I felt as clearly when it came to the rest of the issues that matter to me. Unfortunately, gay marriage is but a small part of what I think is important--even if it's critical to the who of what I am.

[RW Rogers]

Jason, that quotation was not a response to your comment.

[Mom]

Going against your conditioning? Honey you aint never been "conditioned," you're too stubborn! Brainwashed, maybe; arm-twisted, perhaps; probably not blackmailed, either. Maybe emotionally blackmailed? Let's not get into that. But not conditioned. I'm your mama, you was, as they say, "unconditional"!

Vote your brain, baby, vote your brain.
I will love and admire you always, as I do now.

Mom

[jason]

In a free-for-all of ideas, Randy, I didn't consider your comment to be directly related to mine. I responded to it in the spirit of one idea tossed out against another.

[reader_iam]

I'm confused by this comments thread.

[Sally]

This is the most stupid thing I have read in a long time.

[amba]

Sorry, reader and everyone, in haste while getting ready to go out to karate school, I switched threads. My responses to Michael were to a comment he made on the "Utopian impulse" thread, I think.

[Peter Hoh]

McCain just made me like him again, with his opening skit for Saturday Night Live. That's the guy I would vote for.

[amba]

Oh rats, I missed it! What do I do now?

[amba]

Maybe it'll be on his website.

[Peter Hoh]

He's even better on Weekend Update.

[Melinda]

Ha! I was gonna comment on McCain on SNL and Peter beat me to it.

You can probably see the clips on NBC's Web site or on Hulu.com by tomorrow.

McCain has a great sense of humor about himself. Regardless of what Tuesday's results are, he'll be a fixture on the talk shows for a while.

[Peter Hoh]

Cindy showing off McCain's fine gold was a pun worthy of Ruth Anne.

[Michael Reynolds]

Annie:

I think I see what's in front of me. Remember, it was months and months ago -- back when the right was still on Smear 1.0 -- that I said Obama is pragmatic and a bit ruthless. Not Obambi, not a naif, not any of the stupid crap people like Simon were calling him.

I never drank the Kool-Aid. I was never an idealist about Obama. And now, finally, I think it's beginning to dawn on the right-wingers in their tinfoil hats that Obama's not a radical or a socialist or any of that other drivel, he's smart, pragmatic and yes, ruthless.

Me, I like ruthless. I like pragmatic. And because he's both of those he will govern from the center. Is it Obama throwing red meat to his base, or is it McCain? Who's the centrist?

This is where you've gotten it wrong, Annie. Obama himself never drank the Kool-Aid. He's never been the caricature the right wing has tried to pin on him. He's not even a little bit like the right's smears paint him. Which is why they are losing and we are winning.

Don't vote for Obama because of some cultural assumptions you bring to the table. This isn't about the first black president or breaking down barriers. Vote for Obama because he is very smart, very shrewd, gifted and while no doubt full of good intentions, he's not full of himself.

I said a long time back that Obama wasn't Carter or Clinton or any of that: he's Bobby Kennedy.

[amba]

Yeah, well, seeing that Bobby Kennedy was my first adult political heartbreak, maybe I'm afraid if I invest my hopes in Obama he'll get shot.

Michael, the trouble is, we all see what we want to see in Obama: the idealist, the ruthless pragmatist, the boogeyman, the reincarnation of Bobby Kennedy. And we all think we're seeing the REAL Barack Obama. It's a little unnerving that we have to make him President of the United States to find out who he really is.

But, like I said, I'm not terrified of him being president. I hope you're right. I hope he can be tough in something bigger than the execution of his own career.

[amba]

So now I've seen the SNL clips and I think McCain was even funnier in the Weekend Update. (The "Sad Grandpa" tactic cracked me up.) I wonder if he won over some undecided voters.

What's more, nice discovery to find out that Cindy also has a sense of humor about herself.

[Michael Reynolds]

Yeah, whoever wins lets all hope he's not a complete idiot. Things are thoroughly fucked up, lets hope it doesn't get any more thoroughly fucked up.

[karen]

"Vote for Obama because he is very smart, very shrewd, gifted and while no doubt full of good intentions, he's not full of himself."

Sure you didn't drink the kool-aid, Michael. Sure.

I'm not afraid of B.Obama or a presidency from the Left. Nope. It's never been about fear for me-- it's been about trust and i know this man is NOT trustworthy. I beleive he's a liar- a very good liar& he knows not to carry his own H2O- a freaking cool-blooded genius.

Yuck.

[Michael Reynolds]

Karen:

In about 48 hours that'll be "President-elect Obama."

[Spud]

I'm not afraid of B.Obama or a presidency from the Left. Nope. It's never been about fear for me--

C'mon Karen, be honest, it's fear every waking moment for you over the thought of Obama winning. Hey, are you the one that keeps stealing the "Catholic's for Obama" sign from the Westfield common? At least you could have waited until I'd gotten a picture of that. :-)

[karen]

You know what they're saying on the RWblogs, eh?

Don't count your chickens before they come home to roost!!

[karen]

I heard you wanted a pic of that- forget who told me.

Nah- i don't steal. LOL- it must be a Catholic that is stealing it- that's ironically sad.

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