Display:
Well Osama bin Laden is not working so well as the bogeyman anymore, so Brokaw pulled out what he knows: the Cold War.

Brokaw is inept. I think his ineptness was best demonstrated by his teleprompter whine at the end of the debate.

That concludes tonight's debate from here in Nashville. We want to thank our hosts here at Belmont University in Nashville and the Commission on Presidential Debates. And you're in my way of my script there, if you will move.

One of the biggest problems facing the United States these days is no one wants to invade us anymore. Without a bogeyman, how can we justify spending so much on our nation's war machine?

by Magnifico on Wed Oct 8th, 2008 at 01:10:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Brokaw made a complete ass of himself last night.  I'm sorry, but I am pretty sure people tuned in to hear the candidates speak, not him.  It was supposed to be a town hall event, but he was asking the questions.  Giving people 1 or 2 minutes to describe their entire tax plan is absurd, and then to publicly reprimand them like children when they would go a few seconds over just looked tacky.  It turned into the Tom Brokaw Show.  The townspeople actually asked very good questions, I thought.  Then Tom ends with this Evil Empire bs.  It was just the icing on the cake when he told the candidates to get out of the way so he can see his teleprompter.  The debate was a snore, but Brokaw clearly considered himself the main attraction.  Also, he seems rather unclear on the fact that Medvedev is the Russian President.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Wed Oct 8th, 2008 at 01:19:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think Americans have been told that Medvedev is a puppet of Putin and most will not and do not question this assessment.

McCain's rant last night that Putin is ex-KGB is part of this. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice seemed determined to piss off Russia since before Bush took office in 2001. The missile "defense" shield was the #1 priority of the Bush administration before being "gifted" with a terrorist attack in September 2001.

You know better than I, I suspect, how much of a non-started a U.S.-run missile "defense" shield on the backdoor of Russia annoyed the Russians. I believe there has been a calculated, concerted effort on behalf of the powers in Washington to jump start a second Cold War.

The sad part is, for me, that Obama seems to buy into this plan, in part.

by Magnifico on Wed Oct 8th, 2008 at 01:34:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The sad part is, for me, that Obama seems to buy into this plan, in part.

I suppose one is only as good as one's advisors, and Obama's advisors include Cold Warrior hawk Zbigniew Brzezinski and Michael McFaul, who sits on the board of Freedom House (which the Kremlin is convinced is a nest of Russophobic spies) and who has some weird personal vendetta against Vladimir Putin, which you can read about here.  

As much as I hate to say it, there are logical reasons Russia used to prefer Republican U.S. Administrations.  (At this point, I think the Kremlin has just given up hope of any sanity coming out of Washington, regardless the party in charge, though I hear Obama is popular among the Russian kids.)

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

by poemless on Wed Oct 8th, 2008 at 02:04:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Completely agreed, although I'm not too concerned about it.  The next few years in America are going to center on the economy.  This is the largest banking crisis since the Depression, and that will dominate every aspect of our lives for the foreseeable future (thank God).

I don't even understand why the question was asked.  I'll bet you 99% of the US population wouldn't be able to find Georgia on a map.  (Hell, I'll bet you a buck that 70% can't find the state of Georgia on a map in this country.)

It's bullshit, but fortunately I think it's now off the table given that the last debate is on the economy.  I doubt very much we're going to hear much about Russia for the next four years.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Oct 8th, 2008 at 02:21:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Anything that Obama has said to this point is null and void as soon as he wins the election.  Start taking notes once the electoral votes are in.  Then it's real.  For now, he will say what he has to, to get elected.

A lot of clues from whom he chooses for his cabinet, still, after he's elected.

In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.

by THE Twank (yatta blah blah @ blah.com) on Wed Oct 8th, 2008 at 02:25:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well Osama bin Laden is not working so well as the bogeyman anymore

perhaps they should mail him some new batteries for his tape recorder, If they do he might just be able to get his traditional pre-election message in on time

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Oct 8th, 2008 at 06:27:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:
Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password
Occasional Series