If such an ad as the TPM reader imagines were to appear, then Obama or a 527 would be perfectly entitled to put out an ad highlighting McOld's support from John "the Catholic Church is the Great Whore" Hagee and Rod "We Are In a Struggle to Wipe Out Islam" Parsley. Come to think of it, why hasn't anybody put that ad out already, and why is McOld being given a pass on his "spiritual advisers"?
Yeah, yeah, I know....
I am about to go off and watch the speech. But, I am getting more pissed by the minute. The man in front of us is a man in full. He has been forced to jump through so many hoops and prove his worth over and over again. And he has done it all with the dignity Dr. King displayed at every turn.
He's got my vote. I'd be proud to see him sworn in.
Y'know, maybe WE ought to get HIS back on a couple of these issues. Why not float a few YouTubes out there getting on McCain's case for, oh, gosh, I don't know, something he might have said sometime, somewhere... Got a lot of savvy, creative folks on this blog, and elsewhere: why NOT take the campaign back to the Rethugs?
Lord Kos was displaying some post-speech quotations and left a blank block-quote box for Steve. Classy, I thought. Made me gasp, actually.
Steve's voice is much missed right now. He would have had a not a few folks slapped upside the head by now.
A magnificent speech. ::wipes tears::
I saw Steve's empty box on Kos. I have a good idea about what he would say, though I don't pretend to know it.
The thing about Barack Obama is that he isn't running scared of anything. His cool confidence comes across when he speaks. He knows what it means to be the first black nominee from a major party. He knows he's in the crosshairs. And he ain't ducking.
On many issues me and Obama are pretty far apart. But I know that he will always listen to every side of the debate and actually think about it and come to a decision based on facts...
No more Bushworld...no more lobbyist-crafted policy...no more lies to enrich your friends.
And he runs his campaign like the anti-Rove.
he runs it like the anticlinton as well
yea... the empty box
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonl.../735/829/
479213
just killed me. sniff indeed
I think Steve might have been ambivalent about Obama until today. Granted, he would have put the sword to the Clinton campaign, but perhaps might have felt doubt about just who the other guy was. I guess the other guy just stood up and said his piece.
The only decent thing to do is redsign his seat as Senator and ride into the sunset.
A caller to Air America this morning said, " I think we just heard his response to that 3AM phone call."
The greatest goddam political speech (by a notable politician) of my lifetime. Based on not knowing of any Roosevelt blockbusters from his last 3 years, and sure enough nobody else (no politician) is in the running.
Who since Roosevelt (maybe since Lincoln) has spoken so clearly and eloquently and rationally, and dared to hope that Americans would follow what he said?
Porlock Junior -
Martin Luther King Jr. did. Pick a speech. Pick damn near any speech.
Also, Kennedy did.
Kennedy Inaugural - full and hi-quality video
Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens:
We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom -- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning -- signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe -- the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge -- and more.
To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do -- for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.
To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom -- and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required -- not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge: to convert our good words into good deeds, in a new alliance for progress, to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.
To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support -- to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective, to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak, and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.
Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course -- both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.
So let us begin anew -- remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
Kennedy (con't.)
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms, and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.
Let both sides unite to heed, in all corners of the earth, the command of Isaiah -- to "undo the heavy burdens, and [to] let the oppressed go free."¹
And, if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor -- not a new balance of power, but a new world of law -- where the strong are just, and the weak secure, and the peace preserved.
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.
Now the trumpet summons us again -- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need -- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation,"² a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.
Tall skinny guy from Illinois delivers a speech - in Pennsylvania -that will be quoted for generations. Now there's a concept.
I would certainly vote for Obama [or HRC, for that matter] to ward off four more years of wars, fascist judicial appointments, Constitution-shredding, and elite looting and fiscal mismanagement.
However, neither of them is truly liberal enough for my tastes, and I am still not convinced that significant policy differences exist between them that would make me prefer one to the other.
I continue to be baffled at the eerie adulation of Obama. I feel like the only deaf mouse in Hamelin.
For Miss Haruhi's sake, folks, he's Barack Obama, not Barack Ceiling Cat! 
Ivory Bill Woodpecker --
Didn't you read the GNB piece:
----------------------------------
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Declaration - Request - Promise::Lead - Lobby - Legislate
---------------------------------
It really explains the phenomenon well.
Most people respond to emotional and positional things. If you respond more to ideas or something else, you may actually be missing what all the emotion or position people are responding to.
By the way, the position thing: some people put themselves higher in the social hierarchy by expressing contempt for others: having contempt for someone means you are of higher social status than them. It's a cheap and dirty way to do it. The right wing does it a lot to the left. The left has trouble with the hierarchy thing because we tend to think of people as equal....
LOL.
After yesterday, he's the Ceiling Cat.
I think I read the piece, but it made little impression on me. Few things do.
I don't trust leaders. I can't forget that "leader" is just English for "fuehrer".
I prefer the sort of politician who straightforwardly offers me a deal: "Vote for me and I'll do this for you." [Of course, like other human beings, damn few of them keep such promises unless you have some sort of metaphoric club to hold over their heads.]
I can't rid myself of my emotions, but I try to avoid trusting them. They make treacherous guides.
Marting Luther King, yes: That's why I was very specific about political speech by a prominent politician. Did I need to say "person in electoral politics" and put it in boldface?
JFK: Famous and great speech. Judgments on relative greatness may differ. Certainly I knew the speech when it was given. Am I more impressionable now than I was when I was 19? Maybe. Maybe the long dearth of any undumb political discourse. since then has distorted my judgment. Maybe.
You know, I wondered about that 'empty box', too...
I hate to be this cynical, but a lot depends on how the media frame it. Matthews was clearly impressed, but Scarborough is still hammering the "He should have left the church." My answer to that is to ask whether Catholic pols should have left their church after the rampant covering up of child sex abuse in the priesthood was revealed.
As for CNN, I don't know, because I no longer watch CNN. But I suspect they are still in ZOMG HE SAID GODDAMN AMERICA mode.
What impressed me about Obama's speech is that he DIDN'T throw Wright under the bus. If he had, the same media who are having the vapors (*cough* Tucky the [formerly] Bow Tied Yokel *cough*) about his refusal to do so, would be having the vapors because he did.
Obama understood he was in a position where nothing he would do would placate the media, so he decided on the risky strategy of giving the American people credit for having something beyond a reptilian ganglion in their heads.
The jury is still out as to whether they do, but if they do not, I sense that Obama will go back to being Senator from Illinois and be just fine.
The question is whether WE will be.
But sweet Jesus, I want this man to be sworn in on January 20....
Yeah -- He gambled everything, and he may win. Or not. As he said, this is an issue America must face in order to heal. He would be the right person to lead us through the process.
I was very impressed with the speech and the courage of it. The right is trying hard to spin it into mediocrity -- and they will succeed with the people who wouldn't have voted for Obama anyway. the question is who else will they succeed with?
I got an email asking me to send copies of the speech to all my friends. I sent it to 50 people. You have to be really twisted to miss how good it was. It speaks for itself.
i was mightily impressed. without dodging or minimizing the serious questions that were raised he managed to both acknowledge the reality and then, brilliantly and elegantly lift it up to another level.
i hope the discussion can continue outside of the reflex reactions and the gutter.
one very dark night
a medition on some events which began in viet nam, but are still alive in my life. in a good way. all commments and impressions are welcomed.
Obama is demonstrating how to run a campaign which takes the high road, yet fights back. He is not letting others define him.
As a Democrat, this Clinton supporter is liking what he's seeing lately from Obama. It'll make it that much easier for me to back him if he does get the nomination.
Oh, and what CapD and dannyboy said.
'I don't trust leaders. I can't forget that "leader" is just English for "fuehrer".' -- IBW
...which made me think of this...
'Don't follow leaders/Watch your parking meters' -- Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan)
Minstrel H. Boy: your story at your blog is worth reading and pondering. Thanks for letting me know about it.
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