This Is Not 2004
There’s some gloom and doom floating around, especially from those who were already in something of a gloom-and-doom place. Adam at Mighty Forces writes in Taking the high road:
Every time Barack Obama says some variation of “I trust the judgment of the American people,” I hear one word:
LOSER.
I feel bad for Adam. I think he’s suffering from Battered Voter Syndrome, identifying with his aggressor. I think it’s probably similar to what has brought John McCain to his current place (not speaking so much of his time in a Vietnamese prison cell, but of his defeat in the 2000 presidential election at the hands of the same cynical, dishonest operatives that he’s allied himself with now).
I don’t want to come off like a Pollyanna. But I think there’s plenty of reason for hope. I offer the following evidence:
1. The polls, and the fundamental rejection of the current administration. Not the day-to-day noise and the predictable (and predictably short-lived) post-convention bounce McCain is enjoying, but the deeper realities of what the numbers actually show, overall. This is not 2004. McCain is not Bush (his proposed policies notwithstanding). Obama is not Kerry.
I’m not convinced it’s really useful to pay too much attention to polls anyway, but if you’re going to, at least do it right; you can’t freak out over every jitter. See the following from Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com for an example of what I mean by “doing it right”: First look at the new electoral map.
At a macro level, these numbers seem like basically good news for Obama, since the overall numbers in swing states haven’t moved much at all – just shifted around some from region to region. McCain is polling about 3 points better right now than he was at the pre-convention equilibrium. It’s possible that those 3 points are manifesting themselves mostly in states that were already very red. Maybe Obama will lose Idaho and Nebraska and Alabama by 30 points rather than 20, but that doesn’t help McCain very much electorally (an exception might be in a state like Indiana).
In other words, I suspect that the probability of Obama winning the electoral college while losing the popular vote probably increased as a result of the post-convention dynamics. If you literally just looked at the polling out today, McCain would win the popular vote by 2-3 points, but Obama would probably be at least even money in the electoral college, by just barely holding onto Michigan and Pennsylvania and then either winning the Colorado/Iowa/New Mexico parlay, or perhaps Florida.
2. The comments of Talking Points Memo reader JA, as quoted by Josh Marshall in Change:
The McCain campaign wanted to frame this election on experience, but had to abandon that when the polls didn’t move. The surge issue has likewise attracted no great interest. Although McCain continues to discuss it, as a theme, he has ditched it in favor of this murky “change/reform” theme. (By selecting Sarah Palin, the campaign has officially ceded the point.) This all works to Obama’s advantage because if the discussion becomes one of change, it must necessarily shift to policy–the last place McCain wants to go. But he’s backed himself into a corner.
Obama has run his general campaign with exactly the kind of pacing he ran the primary. It’s not always clear why he’s doing certain things because they don’t correspond to the daily news cycle. That’s because he has planned the entire campaign in advance. You can see how he’s hit his marks as he’s gone along: after he won the primary, he immediately tacked right and demonstrated his “working across the aisles” theme. The trip abroad was designed to elevate him to a presidential figure and deflate the claims of his inexperience. The convention was a way to simultaneously build momentum among the base and lay a foundation for elevating the discussion above Rovian BS and placing it directly on issues via the change argument.
3. Jonathan Zasloff at The Reality-Based Community, in Don’t panic:
New national polls suggest that McCain has gotten a solid bounce out of the GOP convention. But let’s keep a few things in mind:
1) These polls suggest a race that is dead-even.
2) This is close to the high water-mark for the Republicans: all three polls were taken entirely after the convention.
3) There is no record of a convention bounce NOT fading.
In other words, Obama is still in very good shape. This hardly means anything is in the bag, but with the fundamentals so strongly leaning Democratic, I’d rather be in our position than theirs. They’ve had a week’s worth of uninterrupted campaign ads, and they still can’t establish a lead.
One is tempted to recall Muhammed Ali’s question to George Foreman at the end of the 7th round of the Rumble in the Jungle: “Is that all you got?” Ali knocked him out in the next round.
Give money. Go to Nevada. Go to New Mexico. Go to Virginia. Go to Ohio. Call. Knock on doors. We’re going to win this.
I’m not all sunshine-and-rainbows myself; I thought this contest would be over by now, and it’s clearly not. The McCain people have done a scarily good job of getting back into it.
But what we’ve basically got here is a reset. This is a time-out with two minutes remaining and the score tied. We can mope about the lead we used to have. We can beat ourselves up wondering why we’re not crushing the other guy, the way the pre-game scouting reports led us to think we would.
Or we can lace up our sneakers and get back on the court and win this thing.
Adam, I hope some of this helps you feel at least somewhat better. It may not be enough to lift your demons; demons are tricky that way. So I think I’ll leave you with some Coldplay. In a contest between demons and Coldplay, I’ll put my money on Coldplay every time:
Sing out, yeah
Oh, oh, yeah
Come on, yeah
And everything’s not lost
September 9th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Thanks, John. I don’t feel that bad, actually. (I’m in “push it down down down” mode.) What upsets me is exactly embodied your post title – this *isn’t* 2004. We have a better candidate by orders of magnitude, and they have an arguably worse one, after four more years of war and economic evisceration. That’s why I despair about “the judgment of the American people.”
As Harry Truman (a man who I am sure would eat the current crop of Republicans for lunch) said, “I wonder how many times you have to be hit on the head before you find out who’s hitting you?”
So yes, this “we’re above it all” and “we don’t need to sink to their level to win” crap is getting wearing, after the series of beatings we’ve suffered. When are we going to fight back? I’m tired of always bringing a knife to a gunfight. (Obama’s “enough!” line was good, but it was swallowed up.) All the American people respect is *strength.* Nothing else. As Jon Stewart pointed out, what was up with all the praise for John McCain at the Dem convention?
We know the Republicans are always going to be evil. We just have to decide to fight.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Adam,
It’s funny, I hear the same thing from my side :-)
September 9th, 2008 at 10:38 am
So, does this count as “fighting back”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBtbG5xjFBY
September 9th, 2008 at 10:49 am
And that is why people in the middle favor Obama.
Sure whatsername gave a great red meat speech that had crazy base land hootin and hollerin, but when all is said and done, she was a roll of the dice from Johnny Mac that will come up short. Her scandals (really? having the gov pay you to stay at home? billing sitting on your @$$ at home is now a family values thing?), troopergate and her flip flop on the bridge to nowhere, hyperconservative viewpoints and pentacostal church (a wash, as the radical right will eat that up). McCain got his bump. It’ll settle back down to being very very close (which is the way the right wing media want it). Once women and independents actually dig past the smear filled speeches (full of lies btw) they will not be impressed with her or McCain’s judgement for picking her.
I worry more about the smears that are going to come in the last week. The Iraq War graft money funneled to ‘patriots’ who will do anything to win. The 527s full of slime and lies. Obama better be crushing the Rs by Halloween.
I say stop fighting with the gloves on. Give us the truth loaded into a full auto shotgun to their lady derringer lies. If you want more wars and fewer jobs, McCain is your man. If you want four more years of Bush, then McCain is your man. If you want real change, real growth, real jobs and prosperity, your choice is clear: Obama.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:54 am
jbc, yeah, more of that, but next time lets load it w buckshot, the birdshot doesn’t go as far. More pictures of johnny mac™ snuggling with dumbya.
mmm mm good
September 9th, 2008 at 11:27 am
shcb:
What do you hear? That the Republicans are treating Democrats with kid gloves? That sort of thing? Yeah. I guess that’s why the Democratic convention was lousy with lines like “John McCain is an honorable and brave man,” and the Republican convention was an orgy of condescension and scorn.
But hey, ratchet it up, please. (Maybe Sarah Palin can, say, shoot Nancy Pelosi in the face.) I’d love to hear more like Rep. Westmoreland calling Barack and Michelle Obama “uppity.” More of that, please.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Adam,
There is a certain faction that never thinks we are hard enough on Democrats. Right now the buzz seems to be Obama’s connection to ACORN (sp?) while he was a community organizer. The pit bulls are wondering why we aren’t hammering him.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I’m actually hoping the election is close, and McCain eeks out the popular vote, while Obama wins the electoral college. Then shcb and the Republicans can cry about ACORN, voter fraud, and demand ballot recounts, proving once again how hypocritical they can be. McCain then becomes the Al Gore of their party. That would be awesome.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I will never forget the 2004 Republican convention where delegates were wearing purple band-aids as a way of somehow mocking a soldier’s scarifice. That was the most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed in polictics in my life and permanently changed my view of a lot of people.
So I say yes, drop the gloves and take it to these creeps. Society and political discourse will be worse for it, but hey, they tried being nice. Perhaps he can change the system from within, we’ll see.
And Sven’s scenario would be awesome.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACORN
So starving students and not-too-bright voter registration drive wage slaves are being paid by the registration? errrr, of course some unscrupulous people are going to abuse the system. If you look thru that entire article, they sound like a decent grassroots sort of org. When you get to the bottom, you see that some of those ‘abuses’ were detected by ACORN itself, who promptly fired and prosecuted the miscreants. Forgive me for saying this once again, but rwnjs can’t get anything ‘right’.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I caught the tail end of Doris Kearns Goodwin – author of the excellent book Team of Rivals – on Colbert last night. Borrow this book from your local library!
She talked about how it was even uglier in previous elections – even in the modern era. For example, Nixon’s slogan was “Nixons the One!” So his opponents dressed up a large number of ladies as pregnant nuns carrying signs saying “Nixons the One!” Tricky Dick indeed.
One more Team of Rival plug: Obama says he is going to bring three important docs to the White House. The Bible, The Constitution and Team of Rivals. I doubt any of these have even been read by the current occupants.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I don’t really know much about the issue, I was just answering Adam’s question as to what is next. Maybe there is nothing to it which is why McCain hasn’t used the ACORN angle or maybe it is the October surprise. I did hear ACORN is under indictment in several states and have settled in several others, so it sounds like it was widespread. I would think it will just be guilt by association and you’re not going much out of that so if the McCain people use it I would think it will just be to offset something the Dems toss out there.
Let the games commence!
September 9th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
By the way, I really don’t want to get off JBC’s subject matter on this thread yet, he makes some excellent points, if it’s ok with you guys I’d like to get back on track.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I don’t think anyone gets this, so I will explain it to you all.
The Democrats are really stupid and arrogant. Now I’m voting for Obama still, but why do I say that? They have no idea how to handle the Midwest and are arrogant enough to think they do.
The Democrats cannot win on the front of the ‘culture wars.’ Just can’t, sorry. With 70% of the country being religious, they’re just not with the people who are the majority in these states on the social issues. I’ll speak about Ohio more because it’s my state. Ohio is a major hunting state, it voted to ban gay marriage, that’s the state. People are not going to change. All the plants can close, the jobs can leave and Ohio can be the state thats third worst hit economically, but it DOES NOT MATTER.
Why not? The Republican’s are playing on social issues because of the McSame phenomenon. McCain is going for the low hanging fruit now and it’s because it something Republican’s can always hit and Democrats will always miss in the ‘key’ Midwestern states. Think about this for a minute, one the social issues in these states, you’re basically asking the voter to side with someone who believes in things these key voters see as morally wrong. Its really easy to reverse any momentum with those tactics. That’s why Palin is a great choice, she’s the token evangelical who will really appeal to my neighbors.
The Harry Truman quote flying around is really appropriate except for one thing, the hot button social issues of today weren’t an issue then. Truman wasn’t going to take everyone’s gun away. These easy emotional issues for whatever reason always cloud issues like job loss. Stupid and illogical, maybe, the way it just is, certainly.
Clinton was successful where Gore and Kerry weren’t because he was a good ol’ boy that understood the working man, at least that’s how he was sold. If no one in the Democratic Party can grasp that, and you really need the rural blue collar vote to win, then they deserve to lose. We have one pro-gun Dem Representative in my old district, that guy keeps winning because it’s much harder to challenge him on the social issues. I heard Palin repeating Obama’s guns and religion quip the other day. Its that kind of remark that can be all the nails in your coffin out here.
So what to do? Despite being an advocate of politeness and civility, it doesn’t reach the low-info voter. The Dems are fighting with Olympic Boxing Rules, the Republican’s are fighting with bar fight rules. Rounding third here they’ve hit problems. Palin was a good choice for Veep because she’s right in line with all the social issues of the Midwestern blue collar voter and the Dems went and attacked her for all the wrong stuff.
The only thing now is to point out the lies. Can anyone get some footage of her ‘Building Bridges?’ gubernatorial campaign? Splice it up with current stuff. McCain voting 90% with Bush, thats the kinda thing they’ll have to hammer on in the debates and in advertising if they want to win here.
September 10th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Agreed… apparently there are pictures of Palin promoting a pro-bridge T-shirt, if that helps any.
I’ve become ultra-cynical in the last couple days, recalling that the Dem’s don’t have a chance as long as the Republicans control the E-voting machines and polling stations in key areas. And it doesn’t matter much anyway, as the Republicans and Democrats are more like flip sides of a counterfeit coin – what’s needed is real reform that can only come from a party outside the establishment, i.e. a new coin. I’m not an American, so it is easy for me to say these things, neither the democrats or the republicans are my party I identify more with a few of the federal Canadian parties.
Back to Topic, about reporting irrelevance and the Dem’s using gentle padded gloves and Queensborough boxing rules to battle an insane raging elehpant:
(excerpt…)
(Twilight zone… that’s kind of like many of my “discussions” with shcb on this site!)www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/10/politics/animal/main4433795.shtml
I hope my cynacism will be proven wrong in November and beyond, but I doubt it.
September 10th, 2008 at 11:08 am
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/10/politics/animal/main4433795.shtml
September 10th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Eh, I’m just more cynical at the failures of the campaign on this one issue, I’m not throwing in the towel or calling the election quite yet.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Hey, this guy is great! Clear, on target, highly confident and absolutely ZERO arrogance. Near perfect.
Also, I love his laughing at the 30 second – 1 minute mark. Besides Enkidu, there is not enough ridicule of the Republicans’ “phony outrage, LIES, and swift boat politics.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to1beCIyUdM
September 10th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
You guys should email John McCain and tell him that you’ll vote for him if he can raise his hands over his head.
:P
September 11th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Jayson,
Did it ever occur to you that maybe just maybe the people that espouse conservatism in the Midwest might just be thoughtful people that have come to those beliefs after years of personal growth, life experiences and careful consideration. Maybe just maybe they have studied the Constitution of the United States, the constitution of their state, the Federalist Papers, the Anti Federalist Papers, they have read Adam Smith, Ayn Rand and Joseph Schumpeter. You understand that a major part of money donated to the Republican party is from small businesses, these businesses are usually run by college educated, highly motivated, extremely intelligent individuals, let be underscore in big bold print individuals, with individualistic ideals, which is one of the reasons they prefer the above referenced literary works to Karl Marx. Are some of them religious? Yes. Are some Democrats religious? Yes. The religious aspect of someone like Palin is just one small part of the package of why we are supporting her. I’m not religious, but I believe in religious freedom, I believe people have the right to pray whenever and wherever they want. When I played high school football we always started the game with a prayer, I liked that. We still do in Brighton, 5 miles away in Thornton, they don’t, that’s sad. Liberals gave us that, they took that little bit of America away from us, like they take a little bit of America away at every turn.
You can continue the underestimate your opponents and the American people clinging to guns and religion, that is your right and prerogative. You can continue to run against George Bush, you’re going to win that race ‘cause he ain’t runnin’. If that is the race Democrats are going to run they are putting themselves at a disadvantage, all McCain has to do is offer a few details of how he is going to move forward instead of living in the past and a huge lead a few months ago evaporates for Obama. Knarly and the other libs here are already setting up the excuse machine. The Repubs have already stole this election like they did in 2000. Live in the past and you finish last.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:21 am
shcb,
You and I aren’t talking about the same thing here at all. I’m not at all speaking about people who’ve arrived at an intellectual decision to adopt conservatism.
To answer your question directly, I didn’t consider that at all because I was talking about a totally different type of person. In all honestly your reading list sounds like that of a textbook Libertarian, not the modern American conservative.
The voter I was talking about is the religious, blue collar worker. This person is obviously not a fan of true lassiez-fair economics, they’re they person who is really upset that the plant closed at moved to China. They’re proud Union members, who favor a more populist economic policy. They’re either practicing or raised in the Christian tradition. As such they’re not likely to hold with Rand’s Objectivist philosophy. This person is going to reject religion as the enemy of reason. I was speaking of the low information voter, the person who ins’t a college educated professional businessman, again to reinforce the point, the blue collar worker.
We’re speaking about two entirely different demographics. I can accept that your small business owner is voting Republican for favorable economic policy, but the voter I was speaking of does not. Again though, there is a difference between being an ideological conservative, card carrying Republican party member or someone who ends up voting Republican most of the time.
Bringing it back to the candidates, Obama was doing better with the demographic I’m speaking about early in the election, remember when McCain said all the jobs weren’t coming back to Detroit? I do not want to digress and discuss the validity of either candidates proposed economic policies here, my point is that Obama was doing better with the worker (not the businesses owner, again totally different groups)
This is where Palin comes in. After the RNC everyone was talking about how she ‘energized the base.’ This isn’t because of anything she said, this is because she is a Christian religious conservative, thats what she brings to the table. Thats the base they were talking about, and those folks weren’t with McCain at all after his 2004 comments. She has the correct views for the base people for whom the social values issues are the most pressing. She has absolutely nothing else to offer in any regard, what Carl Rove said about Tim Cain is actually true for her.
Going back to the original point of my post. Palin is good because she hits on the emotional issues for the voter demographic I was speaking off. It’s really easy to get the low information voter polarized on an emotional issue. As a specific example, Palin’s views on sex education and abortion are derived from Christian thought, she’s actually at odds with the concepts of individual liberty, personal responsibility or even Objectivist rationalism.
What she’s done is actually take the attention away from the rational issues and focus it on the emotional ones. The Democrats are running against George Bush, or at least 90% of him, she’s part of the smokescreen to conceal it, plain and simple.
Addressing the last of your points. In terms of the social issues I’m with the Libertarians 100%, you cannot honestly point the finger at one party for taking away rights and the other protecting them. They both have a set of rights they think people should and shouldn’t have. If you’re for personal responsibility for your actions and the personal freedom to make them, you can’t with any honesty say either of the major two parties is worth a fig.
Taking it back to the top again, I wasn’t underestimating anyone, I was castigating the Democratic party and Obama for failing to realize how to play in the Rustbelt, which I keep hearing is super important. This is all stuff I said to JBC in 2004 after Kerry lost. I think they’re arrogant in their lack of understanding and ability to learn, especially since a guy who draws skulls for a living has it figured out and a guy who went to Harvard can’t.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Jayson,
That is about the best post ever written on this site.
Your strong opening turned into pure gold with “your reading list sounds like that of a textbook Libertarian, not the modern American conservative.” Then your text turned pure platinum to the conclusion.
That it was juxtaposed with the preceding shcb junk slice and dice attempt at misdirection makes your post shine all the more.
I’m to humbled by your post to write anything else for a while, I’ll just sit quietly in awe for a while now.
Cheers.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:38 am
*too
September 11th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Point taken, do you really think the folks you are talking about is that large of a group? And do you think they will actually vote Republican if they were inclined to vote Democrat before?
I can see that type of voter saying “you go girl!” right up to about two days before the election and then voting the way they have all their lives.
As close as the elections have been in the last few I guess I can see someone like that voting McCain/Palin (Palin/McCain?) and then a straight Democratic ticket for local and state seats.
You’re closer to them than I am, your thoughts?
Ps. I’ve never lived in the “rust belt” or anywhere like that but I have worked with some people from there and they do have a different thought process than most places.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:04 am
And this whole phony ‘libs read Karl Marz!’ crap is yet another rwnj hate radio meme that has zero basis in reality. Zero.
I’ve read everything Ayn Rand ever wrote – including the John Galt monologue – like most intelligent folks it is a phase you go thru in high school and college. Then the real world intervenes.
If Obama, Biden, and Clinton keep hammering on the economy, the bush legacy of destruction and corruption, McCain’s jawdropping flipflops, the list goes on and on and on, they’ll win. Palin solidifies crazy-base-land (like they weren’t going to vote for the R ticket anyway?) The media loves her because she makes the race more exciting with all her one liners (funny how they aren’t going after her lies lies lies)
More and more I think this is going to come down to the debates between Obama and McCain. I expect Obama will win these handily, since McCain can’t rely on scripted speeches, closed door rallies and the same old brand of Rove-style slime. It’ll be close, but my money is on Obama.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Enk, I thought most of Palin’s one-liners were actually written by Bush’s former speech writer.
We got a Canadian snap election call last Sunday, the election will be held on Oct. 14. Our current prime minister (of the conservative party and a Bush admirer) has succumbed to popular opinion and reversed his seemingly never ending support for our continued fighting in Afghanistan by making an election pledge to withdraw our troops ion 2011. Do you think I should believe that election promise? LOL.
September 11th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Knarly,
Again I am going off what Bing West said, we won’t be to the level of success we are at in Iraq in Afghanistan for at least 2 or 3 years so I wouldn’t think we would be finished there until 2014 or so. I don’t think the Canadians have much of a history of quitting before the job is finished so your assessment is probably correct. Face it, we will have some presence in that area until we are all dead (of old age). Caught that one just in time.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Success? Iraq is a shambles.
The mind boggles. You might learn something if you took some time to watch some videos or independent photos of Iraq and read some independent accounts rather than re-gurgitating McCain’s fairy tales or unquestioningly accepting what the Pentagon (and their lobbyists) want you to believe.
The mind boggles that you think Iraq is a success story.
September 11th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Well, regarding the rustbelt voter issue it goes back to what I was saying. You’re really not talking about a voter base that is or was committed in one direction or another. Thats important distinction, they’re waiting to see what they get in terms of candidates and issue. Again the key is you’ve got people who are mainstream Republican on social issues but who also have populist leanings. Ohio and Michigan (PA to a lesser extent) were states who’s economies were largely based on manufacturing, there are a lot of people who had, or have had those types of jobs. For whether there are enough of those voters I’d say enough so that people are paying attention to them, at least thats the vibe I get.
That being said though, I can easily see people of Ohio voting split on the national/state votes. It’s happened before. In fact even now our current governor is a Democrat, but we put a lot of Republicans in the state legislature.
As to who carries these states it depends on the level and quality of campaigning and the debates. Palin has them on the social issues, Obama has them more on the economic issues. Just depends what shakes out between now and then.
September 12th, 2008 at 5:49 am
Jayson,
That’s interesting. People will almost always vote to protect their rice bowl. I know hunting and fishing in that area is almost a religion so I can see them feeling a kindred spirit with Palin on that as well, keep us informed if you since something that isn’t being reported nationally.
Knarly,
I’m getting my info from people like Bing West who go there every few months, sit with tribal leaders, talk to the soldiers etc. I’m afraid your wishful thinking of an American defeat is just not panning out. Keep the faith though, maybe they will get a nuke or something and your wish will still come true.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I get my Iraq information from Michael Ware. He has lived in Iraq since 2003 and is by far the most knowledgable western journalist about the country and what is really going on.
Check him out.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Lets see… do we go with the Marine named Bing or the guy who actually spends most of his time in Baghdad. Do we go with the guy who writes glowing tales ‘merkin martial mayhem or the guy who is actually shopping for food at Iraqi markets.
The surge is our pouring tons of money onto the Sunni tribes not to fight us. And putting more boots on the ground and circling the wagons before the election (you don’t get blown up if you don’t go out of the base much or go on patrol in the middle of nowhere). This is all timed for the political effect. It doesn’t change the basic fact that we shouldn’t have gone in in the first place and now we have to get out. The WMDs were a blatant lie, just like the rest of the R bullshit.
Enough.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:34 am
NL.
I will read some of his articles if I need something more than google to find his stuff let me know.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:24 am
I can see why you like Michael Ware.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:45 am
What can I say. I’m a sucker for the truth.
I take it you don’t agree with his assessments? Why would you believe some old white man in suit over someone who has been on the ground in the country longer than any soldier, general or commander has?
September 16th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Because he prefers a biased, partisan forgone conclusion than the inconvenient truth. It is partisanship over citizenship with the rwnjs these days…