And Lower…

Excellent, Joe!
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Keep on hacking away at that filthy underbrush.
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BTW, could you pull a KT and be so good as to “liberate” a few comments yourself?

Joe — I concur. for the ordinary individual a penchant for demonizing everyone depending on their nationality is stupid in a president it would be catastrophic.

Joe — I concur. for the ordinary individual a penchant for prejudging someone based on their nationality is counterproductive in a president it could be cat@strophic.

Well, “Khalidi” is all Muslim-sounding, so why bother to ask? He’s a prof at Columbia, let’s just assume he’s occupationally suspect.
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More on this at Obsidian Wings.

It’s the McCain Bigot Brigade, all day every day, from now through Tuesday. Unfortunately, it ramps up the likelihood that increased bigotry will survive the election whatever the outcome.

FlownOver:
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You must be exaggerating! After all, McCain said that race won’t matter in this election.
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And of course, Palin isn’t his dominatrix, either…

Even better, how about not throwing blanket generalizations (“antisemite,” “radical,” “socialist”) over people and groups. Words and deeds are antisemitic, radical and socialist. People and groups sometimes stoop to such words and behavior. It takes a little work to pick apart the times they do from the times they don’t, and that work is sometimes called … journalism!

–should be required to provide chapter and verse, which he does not do on CNN. (I’d also like to know on what basis CNN’s Rick Sanchez can stipulate that Khalidi is antisemitic.)

as you imply, the fault lies at least as much with the media as with the McCain campaign. CNN’s desperate desire to distinguish themselves as FoxLite, NotMSNBC, makes them lazy and unprofessional. Small wonder they don’t employ an ombudsman. They ought to give the job to Cafferty, on the air.

If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, crying “anti-semitism” isn’t too far behind.

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JK: I’d say that if we have a bigot here, it’s Mr. Goldfarb..
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Oh, absolutely.
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(I’d also like to know on what basis CNN’s Rick Sanchez can stipulate that Khalidi is antisemitic.)
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I think that was more for the sake of argument, not an a$$sertion, Joe. By taking that away, it was easier for Sanchez to evi$erate Goldfarb, exposing him for a smug, lying a$$hole.

Disgusting – just end this election already

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as, not for
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I want my Preview back.

The Economist endorses Obama:

“IT IS impossible to forecast how important any presidency will be. Back in 2000 America stood tall as the undisputed superpower, at peace with a generally admiring world. The main argument was over what to do with the federal government’s huge budget surplus. Nobody foresaw the seismic events of the next eight years. When Americans go to the polls next week the mood will be very different. The United States is unhappy, divided and foundering both at home and abroad. Its self-belief and values are under attack.

For all the shortcomings of the campaign, both John McCain and Barack Obama offer hope of national redemption. Now America has to choose between them. The Economist does not have a vote, but if it did, it would cast it for Mr Obama. We do so wholeheartedly: the Democratic candidate has clearly shown that he offers the better chance of restoring America’s self-confidence. But we acknowledge it is a gamble. Given Mr Obama’s inexperience, the lack of clarity about some of his beliefs and the prospect of a stridently Democratic Congress, voting for him is a risk. Yet it is one America should take, given the steep road ahead.

Thinking about 2009 and 2017
The immediate focus, which has dominated the campaign, looks daunting enough: repairing America’s economy and its international reputation. The financial crisis is far from finished. The United States is at the start of a painful recession. Some form of further fiscal stimulus is needed, though estimates of the budget deficit next year already spiral above $1 trillion. Some 50m Americans have negligible health-care cover. Abroad, even though troops are dying in two countries, the cack-handed way in which George Bush has prosecuted his war on terror has left America less feared by its enemies and less admired by its friends than it once was.

Yet there are also longer-term challenges, worth stressing if only because they have been so ignored on the campaign. Jump forward to 2017, when the next president will hope to relinquish office. A combination of demography and the rising costs of America’s huge entitlement programmes—Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—will be starting to bankrupt the country. Abroad a greater task is already evident: welding the new emerging powers to the West. That is not just a matter of handling the rise of India and China, drawing them into global efforts, such as curbs on climate change; it means reselling economic and political freedom to a world that too quickly associates American capitalism with Lehman Brothers and American justice with Guantánamo Bay. This will take patience, fortitude, salesmanship and strategy.

At the beginning of this election year, there were strong arguments against putting another Republican in the White House. A spell in opposition seemed apt punishment for the incompetence, cronyism and extremism of the Bush presidency. Conservative America also needs to recover its vim. Somehow Ronald Reagan’s party of western individualism and limited government has ended up not just increasing the size of the state but turning it into a tool of southern-fried moralism.

The selection of Mr McCain as the Republicans’ candidate was a powerful reason to reconsider. Mr McCain has his faults: he is an instinctive politician, quick to judge and with a sharp temper. And his age has long been a concern (how many global companies in distress would bring in a new 72-year-old boss?). Yet he has bravely taken unpopular positions—for free trade, immigration reform, the surge in Iraq, tackling climate change and campaign-finance reform. A western Republican in the Reagan mould, he has a long record of working with both Democrats and America’s allies.

If only the real John McCain had been running
That, however, was Senator McCain; the Candidate McCain of the past six months has too often seemed the victim of political sorcery, his good features magically inverted, his bad ones exaggerated. The fiscal conservative who once tackled Mr Bush over his unaffordable tax cuts now proposes not just to keep the cuts, but to deepen them. The man who denounced the religious right as “agents of intolerance” now embraces theocratic culture warriors. The campaigner against ethanol subsidies (who had a better record on global warming than most Democrats) came out in favour of a petrol-tax holiday. It has not all disappeared: his support for free trade has never wavered. Yet rather than heading towards the centre after he won the nomination, Mr McCain moved to the right.

Meanwhile his temperament, always perhaps his weak spot, has been found wanting. Sometimes the seat-of-the-pants method still works: his gut reaction over Georgia—to warn Russia off immediately—was the right one. Yet on the great issue of the campaign, the financial crisis, he has seemed all at sea, emitting panic and indecision. Mr McCain has never been particularly interested in economics, but, unlike Mr Obama, he has made little effort to catch up or to bring in good advisers (Doug Holtz-Eakin being the impressive exception).

The choice of Sarah Palin epitomised the sloppiness. It is not just that she is an unconvincing stand-in, nor even that she seems to have been chosen partly for her views on divisive social issues, notably abortion. Mr McCain made his most important appointment having met her just twice.

Ironically, given that he first won over so many independents by speaking his mind, the case for Mr McCain comes down to a piece of artifice: vote for him on the assumption that he does not believe a word of what he has been saying. Once he reaches the White House, runs this argument, he will put Mrs Palin back in her box, throw away his unrealistic tax plan and begin negotiations with the Democratic Congress. That is plausible; but it is a long way from the convincing case that Mr McCain could have made. Had he become president in 2000 instead of Mr Bush, the world might have had fewer problems. But this time it is beset by problems, and Mr McCain has not proved that he knows how to deal with them.

Is Mr Obama any better? Most of the hoopla about him has been about what he is, rather than what he would do. His identity is not as irrelevant as it sounds. Merely by becoming president, he would dispel many of the myths built up about America: it would be far harder for the spreaders of hate in the Islamic world to denounce the Great Satan if it were led by a black man whose middle name is Hussein; and far harder for autocrats around the world to claim that American democracy is a sham. America’s allies would rally to him: the global electoral college on our website shows a landslide in his favour. At home he would salve, if not close, the ugly racial wound left by America’s history and lessen the tendency of American blacks to blame all their problems on racism.

So Mr Obama’s star quality will be useful to him as president. But that alone is not enough to earn him the job. Charisma will not fix Medicare nor deal with Iran. Can he govern well? Two doubts present themselves: his lack of executive experience; and the suspicion that he is too far to the left.

There is no getting around the fact that Mr Obama’s résumé is thin for the world’s biggest job. But the exceptionally assured way in which he has run his campaign is a considerable comfort. It is not just that he has more than held his own against Mr McCain in the debates. A man who started with no money and few supporters has out-thought, out-organised and outfought the two mightiest machines in American politics—the Clintons and the conservative right.

Political fire, far from rattling Mr Obama, seems to bring out the best in him: the furore about his (admittedly ghastly) preacher prompted one of the most thoughtful speeches of the campaign. On the financial crisis his performance has been as assured as Mr McCain’s has been febrile. He seems a quick learner and has built up an impressive team of advisers, drawing in seasoned hands like Paul Volcker, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers. Of course, Mr Obama will make mistakes; but this is a man who listens, learns and manages well.

It is hard too nowadays to depict him as soft when it comes to dealing with America’s enemies. Part of Mr Obama’s original appeal to the Democratic left was his keenness to get American troops out of Iraq; but since the primaries he has moved to the centre, pragmatically saying the troops will leave only when the conditions are right. His determination to focus American power on Afghanistan, Pakistan and proliferation was prescient. He is keener to talk to Iran than Mr McCain is— but that makes sense, providing certain conditions are met.

Our main doubts about Mr Obama have to do with the damage a muddle-headed Democratic Congress might try to do to the economy. Despite the protectionist rhetoric that still sometimes seeps into his speeches, Mr Obama would not sponsor a China-bashing bill. But what happens if one appears out of Congress? Worryingly, he has a poor record of defying his party’s baronies, especially the unions. His advisers insist that Mr Obama is too clever to usher in a new age of over-regulation, that he will stop such nonsense getting out of Congress, that he is a political chameleon who would move to the centre in Washington. But the risk remains that on economic matters the centre that Mr Obama moves to would be that of his party, not that of the country as a whole.

He has earned it
So Mr Obama in that respect is a gamble. But the same goes for Mr McCain on at least as many counts, not least the possibility of President Palin. And this cannot be another election where the choice is based merely on fear. In terms of painting a brighter future for America and the world, Mr Obama has produced the more compelling and detailed portrait. He has campaigned with more style, intelligence and discipline than his opponent. Whether he can fulfil his immense potential remains to be seen. But Mr Obama deserves the presidency.”

Seems like Sanchez humiliated Goldfarb pretty thoroughly. I thought only Tucker Bounds could get mauled that badly. Sanchez does accept the the premise that Khalidi is anti-semitic for the sake of argument, but then backs away from it at the end of the interview. Still, it would have been nice if he’d forced Goldfarb to establish his argument about Khalidi.

I saw some Sanchez. It’s stenography.
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But I almost swallowed my tongue when he called John Meachem of Newsweek an “intellectual,” having just trashed a semite scholar as an anti-semite, and then seriously discussing the effect among Florida’s Jews.
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What does it take to say “This is a desperate, baseless attempt to mislead voters”? Joe can say it. Why can’t Rick?

Well, “Khalidi” is all Muslim-sounding, so why bother to ask?

Elvis, did you see Bible Spice reading that name off her notes to the mouth-breathers yesterday? She still mispronounced it, and the Morlocks didn’t even wait till the last syllable to start booing. Not that she, or they, had any idea whose name she was (almost) invoking, but it sure do sound terr’ristic, don’t it?

I want my Preview back.
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Our old friends are the ones we miss most.

Rick Sanchez cracks me up. It’s like he just got Sitemeter installed and can’t believe every time he gets a hit. “Hey, look at this! It went up!”

I think Goldfarb’s status as a spokesman tells you everything you need to know about how desperate, dishonest and incompetent the McCain campaign is. What a pathetic, lying, snivelling sack of…

Rick Sanchez is an @ss

JoeK

Sorry. Let me add my approbation for your staying with this, and working the crapulous part of the thesaurus. Steve Benen has been complaining about running out of adjectives. He may want to consult the Elizabetheans.

I was actually watching Rick Sanchez rake Goldfarb over the coals and I think he did a he!!uva job. He only said that maybe Khalidi was an anti semite to pin Goldfarb down because Goldfarb had spoken in the plural. You could tell that after he kept hammerinng Goldfarb to name someone else that he wanted to crawl and hide under a rock. I d@mn near stood up and clapped to my TV. AND he brought Goldfarb back several times to the fact that John McCain helped fund the guy. And he mentioned that most people would see it as an attempt to smear Obama. I think Joe needs to back off of Sanchez on this one. But it shows that McCain will go as low as possible to try to win. I just wonder how he thinks he could possibly govern after doing all this. I mean think about it. There was only ONE Willie Horton ad during that campaign season.

Joe – McCain has also made up a lie about Barack saying if he loses he’d run again in 4 years. Obama has repeatedly said this is a one time run for him, and he did not say he’d run again in 4 years.

Kathy,
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I couldnt disagree more. By in large Rick Sanchez and Jack Cafferty are the only straight shooters at CNN now

Here’s where I’m curious what exactly makes this man an anti-semite. Is it because he is Palestinian, or is it because he advocates for Palestinian? What else would a Palestinian do exactly advocate for Israel?

My question is if we are ever going to come to an agreement between Israel and Palestine aren’t we going to have to get people on both sides to talk. If this is true what is wrong with someone and trying to understand their perspective so they can facilitate that discussion? We’ve been calling folks names for years and it hasn’t gotten us anywhere.

I do not understand why the MSM keep repeating McCain’s lies, knowing they are lies, without challenging them. They keep running segments of McCain saying Obama’s “going to raise your taxes” – (all you great unwashed in my crowds who are making more than 250,000.)
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Can’t the media just ignore the lies, if they’re not going to challenge them? Seem to think it’s their job to disseminate them.

Well said, Joe!

sgwhiteinfla, isn’t it ironic that Sanchez — one of the very worst purveyors of schlock, sleaze, and hype here when he was at WSVN — has turned into a fairly decent reporter, at least by MSM standards?

@sgwhite – I didn’t see it, but I bet you are right. Watching CNN is still tricky, because they fancy themselves as a one-network Fairness Doctrine. They still model the traditional “airing of both sides of the issue” style — and that can be problematic for a new generation of news consumers who want to race headlong to (their version) of “the truth.”

Well Joe, everyone- what would you expect from Goldfarb as a neoconservative, former staff member of the PNAC and one who believes that the president should enjoy “near dictatorial powers” (presumably if he or she is interested in enforcing a unipolar world through military aggression, intimidation and regime-change). More scary black muslim cr@p.

Sgwhite – I can’t watch Rick because he’s so melodramatic and full of himself. Everything’s a crisis, and he’s in charge of bringing it to you. He thinks he knows more than he does, and just exasperates me. But he may not be terribly biased, I’ll grant you that.
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Cafferty has grown on me. He’s willing to call them as he sees them, and he sees them pretty accurately.

toddincharge,
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Yeah it is ironic and it took a while for him to grow on me but he does a good job now IMHO. He will challenge people on either side and I like that

pourme,
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I agree but they are getting better with Campbell Brown and Sanchez and you just gotta love Jack Cafferty. That guy doesnt play!

sgwhite – actually, stipulating that someone is an anti-semite is just the sort of thing that drives me crazy. If you stipulate a lie there’s no good outcome to the interview.

Again, the focus should be on words and deeds. Is Jesse Jackson an anti-semite? He has said “hymietown” and more. That was an anti-semitic statement. Jesse Jackson is … Jesse Jackson.

Well I won’t be satisfied until somebody ask one of these so called christian conservatives what would Jesus say about the ends justified the means attitude they apply to sleazy campaigning.

Kathy, I agree with your assessment of Sanchez’s style. It’s like watching a muppet. On the other hand, he was one of the only reporters who dared cover Palin’s connection to the AIP.

Oh, man. I used the word a$$e$$ment and I’m getting moderated.

Kathy, I agree with your a$$e$$ment of Sanchez’s style. It’s like watching a muppet. On the other hand, he was one of the only reporters who dared cover Palin’s connection to the AIP.

“In my pocket I have a list… a list of fifty names…”

Kathy-

Regarding your insightful 4:17 post — how are they supposed to get any clips of McCain telling the truth?

Kathy,
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If he didnt stipulate that point then he would have had to argue something that he couldn’t win. By giving on that issue he was able to demonstrably show that Goldfarb was talking out of his azz. Early on in the interview Sanchez had already refuted Goldfarb’s assesment of who Khalidi was but it was important at THAT part of the interview to pin Goldfarb down and expose him for lying which he did unequivocally. I know we would rather he not say the guy was anti semetic but I think it was more important to expose the lie that he could expose instead of fighting a battle he couldnt win

stuck in mods but Kathy all I would say is that it was worth it for Sanchez to agree to the stipulation in order to crush Goldfarb. The fact that he exposed him like that discredited everything Goldfarb said.

OT but I just realized that McCain’s picture at the top of Swampland looks kind of panicky.
Anyone else seeing that?

Atrios has a the clip up. I’ll give Sanchez a B, and that’s grade inflation. He also should have slapped down this childish, Palinesque (forgive the rudundancy) nonsense about Obama “pallin’ around” with Bill Ayers.
And Goldfarb’s “you-know-who” game about Jeremiah Wright was both pathetic and nauseating. Ultimately, McCain is responsible for all this lowest common denominator sleaze: Goldfarb, Palin, Pfotenauer, Joe “the Plumber”, the mindless twenty minute hates conducted by Sarah Palin, the thuggish incoherent, half-understood grunting about ‘terrorists’ from his supporters. None of it would be possible without John McCain’s curious version of “Country First”. What a contemptible old fool he has become. He should be remembered with Rove, Nixon and Agnew in the annals of poisonous campaigning.

He looks like a pumpkin.

Cliff, both pictures are exceptionally unflattering. Not sure why they chose them…

[...] what’s your issue with him (besides the smear job the anti-Obama right wing rags have told you)? Swampland – TIME.com � Blog Archive And Lower… � I’ve never met Rashid Khalidi, but he is (a) Palestinian and therefore (b) a semite, so the charge [...]

Joe,

You make a good point about Goldfarb’s disgusting effort to tar Obama as someone who hangs around with antisemites. But please don’t use that old wheeze of “Arabs are semites too.” The term antisemitism was invented (by an antisemite) to refer specifically to prejudice against or hatred of Jews. Unfortunately many people have tried to confuse the matter since then by claiming that– because they are Arabs or they don’t hate Arabs– they can’t possibly be antisemitic. So please don’t play into their hands.

Now it’s perfectly reasonable to make a case that Khalidi is not antisemtic (i.e., biased against Jews). But the mere fact of his being a Palestinian Arab doesn’t get him off the hook.

Goldfarb’s “you-know-who” game about Jeremiah Wright was both pathetic and nauseating.
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Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I honestly couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. Also, that’s not a fair charge against Wright, is it?

You know. McCain and Palin have been going around saying all kind of stuff and don’t feel they are required to provide evidence of or even demonstate they have the slightest understanding of what they are talking about.

[...] Joe Klein is not impressed: [...]

gzitver – Exactly. The term Antisemtism was coined by Wilhelm Marr in the 19th century, and whether or not Khalidi is an Antisemite – his being an Arab has absolutely no bearing on the matter.

The Republican Party is quickly becoming known as the party of the illiterate. McCain keeps on throwing the media these undereducated, red meat hacks who couldn’t win an argument with their shadow.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste! Or as one of the McCain spokespeople might state at some time in the future.. I got dame bammage from all da tinkin’.

Also, that’s not a fair charge against Wright, is it?

As I remember it, Wright’s daughter gave Louis Farrakhan some kind of plaque on behalf of a group affilitated with Wright’s Church. If the “pallin’ around” stupidity goes unchallenged wrt Ayers, why would McCain and his merry little band of third-rate McCarthyites flinch at guilt by five degrees of a association?

Something smells fishy…..
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I heard Juan Williams the other night basically repeating the McCain talking points.

I wonder if by the 4th people will have stopped being surprised by each incremental lowering of himself by McCain into increasing depths of these sorts of fetid sludge. Block that metaphor! but it can’t be blocked!!!

McCain and Palin have been going around saying all kind of stuff and don’t feel they are required to provide evidence of or even demonstate they have the slightest understanding of what they are talking about.
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But what is worse is that this stuff is endlessly repeated in radio clips, simply indicating that is what was said.

@newfloridian – Yes. I have a dream where this ends when Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity play “monkey in the middle / keep away” with George Will’s bow tie, then beat him up real bad. Then it ends with Nancy Pfotenhauer dominating me like they all do, but I’m working on that.

By the way that clip isnt the whole exchange. If i find the whole exchange I think most folks will feel a little better about Rick Sanchez’s performance.

Now it’s perfectly reasonable to make a case that Khalidi is not antisemtic (i.e., biased against Jews). But the mere fact of his being a Palestinian Arab doesn’t get him off the hook.

For that matter being a Palestinian advocating for the Palestinian cause doesn’t make him an anti-semite either. Too often we tar anyone who is not firmly on the side of Israel regardless of its policies as antisemitic and common sense says that fr a palestinian taking their own side first is probably a sign of normalcy (you know that old self-interest thing) and not indicative of hatred of jews.

I heard Juan Williams the other night basically repeating the McCain talking points.
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I heard him doing the same thing yesterday morning. He has not been impartial for years. He is now described as an analyst on NPR. Faux pretends he is a journalist. With Mara Liasson, they are still pretending on NPR she is a journalist. Hasn’t been since the Clinton admin.
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I just got called by Rasmussen Reports for a long survey. It was an automated response type. I was asked if I listened to the Obama program last night and how much of it I listened to and then the surprise (to me) question — Since John McCain is taking public financing, should the networks give him a comparable amount of time free. My response NO.

gzitver Says:
Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 5:11 pm

ost 5:34 was for you

Last night on Larry King McCain said he does not believe Obama is a socialist. Why is going around say is then?
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KING: You don’t believe Barack Obama is a socialist, do you?
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MCCAIN: No. But, I do believe — I do believe that he’s been in the far left of American politics. He has stated time after time that he believes in “spreading the wealth around.” He’s talked about courts that would redistribute the wealth.

“You know. McCain and Palin have been going around saying all kind of stuff and don’t feel they are required to provide evidence of or even demonstate they have the slightest understanding of what they are talking about.”

Exactly. And they don’t care. Truth has become irrelevant. It doesn’t matter that Obama isn’t a socialist, a pal to terrorists, disloyal or any of the litany of hokum McCain/Palin come up with. As long as they can throw it out by the bucket. Truth Squads and Fact Checks are too ponderous to stop it. A lie is faster and all that.

There has to be a mass rising saying, stop this (expletive deleted) NOW! My hope is that’s what American voters will do Tuesday. They can speak pretty loud at times.

Here is the full clip from Sanchez and Goldfarb. Joe Klein should post the whole thing.
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What does Michael Goldfarb have to say about John McCain’s spiritual advisor John Hagee?

I’m gonna throw in my two cents defending Sanchez. I was definitely not a fan prior to his taking the slot before Wolfie, but I’ve been watching him(missed today) and he’s been hitting a lot of the stories we usually only find on the left blogosphere. He hit AIP and a lot of the ugliness going on in the McCain campaign as well as some of the voter suppression stuff. So far, especially relative to the rest of CNN, he’s been one of the good ones.

speaking of low – Matthews showed Kay Hagan’s ad in response to Dole. Outstanding ad. Very direct, without repeating what Dole said. Wish Obama could have addressed some of McCain’s stuff this directly.

I saw some of McCain on Larry King last night and, once again, I was amazed by how angry and tense he is. He’s also been extremely incoherent throughout the election. And he seems to be deteriorating quite rapidly: He does not the temperament to be near the nuclear codes. So… is there any chance that if McCain wins, at some point we may all actually want Palin to take over? I wouldn’t be surprised if in 2 years with McCain’s rapid deterioration and Palin’s slow improvement, they will be equally incoherent, and Palin will be less temperamental.
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I don’t think this is just a pointless hypothetical, because it says something about how bad McCain is. He’s not just an okay candidate running an awful campaign with a totally unqualified VP nominee. He may soon be as unqualified for the Presidency as Palin. Since it’s a struggle for many people to move past the favorable image they formed of McCain during 2000, maybe it’s useful to look at this election as being a choice between Palin and Obama. Because McCain may soon be worse than Palin.

Just saw the video clip w/ Sanchez taking on GOldfarb….Joe Klein owes Rick Sanchez and apology. Big time. Actually Jayackroyd owes Rick Sanchez an apology as well.

Kathy, I was also impressed by the Kay Hagan ad. I don’t know much about her, but she looks like she has a good future in politics. Very stateswomanlike.

Uh, you know Rashid Khalidi is not Palestinian, correct?

cinci,
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I agree. The clip that Joe Klein posted is not the full clip and it misses the way Rick Sanchez attacked Goldfarb the whole time. Kathy you should watch the full clip too

Uh, you know Rashid Khalidi is not Palestinian, correct?

Isn’t he Palestinian American?

Kathy,
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Dont forget that Obama put up the fight the smears website and his surrogates are out everyday pushing back on any smears. But at some point talking about a smear gives it legs. I admit that at times i want him to hit back harder but again i think by not doing so he is showing a clear contrast between him and McCain and thats why people see Obama as calm and McCain as erratic and dangerous

It is truly hysterical to see how the McCain campaign has recklessly elevated Joe The Plumber (JTP) as a meaningful symbol – putting the unreliable and unpredictable JTP in a position of power and the campaign at risk without controls. Wholly apart from politics, Axelrod and the gang are just so much smarter.

cincy est extermminata – after watching the interview, I agree!

Oops – drop one o’ them thar “m”s, and I be mighty sorry I mangled yer moniker, bucko !

sgwhiteinfla, I’m becoming a bigger fan of the guy everyday…he’s not perfect, but I think as of now he’s hands down the best thing at CNN. I know it’s not saying much, but it has to start somewhere. At MSNBC, it started w/ Olbermann, now w/ Maddow, they’re beating FOX news every night.

Things certainly have changed though haven’t they? Take a step back and you’ll realize that the 2 biggest TV news stars are left of center. Republicans are running sleazy negative ads…and losing traction in the polls because of them. Some Republicans are even APOLOGIZING for negative attacks. Really…a lot has already changed.

Barack Obama is owning the news cycle
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30 minue ad-Daily Show-Bill Clinton yesterday
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Brian Williams-Rachel Maddow today
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Wolf Blitzer tomorrow
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Thats what you call flawless execut!on!

sgwhiteinfla, I’m becoming a bigger fan of the guy everyday…he’s not perfect, but I think as of now he’s hands down the best thing at CNN. I know it’s not saying much, but it has to start somewhere. At MSNBC, it started w/ Olbermann, now w/ Maddow, they’re beating FOX news every night.

Things certainly have changed though haven’t they? Take a step back and you’ll realize that the 2 biggest TV news stars are left of center. Republicans are running sleazy negative ads…and losing traction in the polls because of them. Some Republicans are even APOLOGIZING for negative attacks. Really…a lot has already changed.

I know it’s unfashionable to bring this up but Neo (aka “the one”) rendered attacks futile. He could take the best the agents had to offer and actually prove stronger in the end.

But until our collective climax next Tuesday evening, we won’t be sure of O’s big test, that he can survive the GOP Matrix. But the stew JK has so faithfully documented and skewered of late will be the best thing rejected by Americans this year. Perhaps the GOP will prove a better party in the end when they realize that it is in fact issues that voters want to hear about. Pocketbook election or nay, it’s a wonderful validation that the system works and that Americans are sensible enough to see through the bulls-it.

cinci,
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I think what happened to FoxNews is what usually happens with those in power. They over played their hand. Instead of being content with having a decided right wing bent they decided to jump head first into Obama b@shing and smearing and it started to repulse their more moderate viewers. And because Bill O spends so much time calling out KO it was easy for those moderates to say “well let me give the other guy a try”. Now I don’t know if the trends will continue but I think MSNBC is about to start taking FoxNews’s lunch money

[...] camp try anti-semitic card by Sunny on 30th October, 2008 at 11:38 pm     Joe Klein at Time blog: Here we have the McCain campaign’s execrable Michael Goldfarb slinging around accusations of [...]

At least Rick was a professional the entire time. Fox News anchors should pay attention. You don’t have to yell and shout over someone to interview them. Even when they are being cagey like this guy was.

They really are sgwhiteinfla, I just spent a few minutes at TV Newser and not only does KO/RM beat O’Reilly/Hannity every night now, Tweety is beating both Wolf BLitzer AND Lou Dobbs(on the rebroadcast). Frankly, I think the suits at CNN are looking for their own left-of-center personality to cash in, and it appears Sanchez is that guy. It does seem as if we’ve had a real pendulum shift.

gysgt,
.
Not only was he professional, but he also kept challenging Goldfarb who is a total d*uchebag. And in the end he totally PWNED him and refuted Golfarb saying that Khalidi would say he is just pro palestine

cinci,
.
Dont forget Campbell Brown. She is about to be their bell cow. What do you think the over under is on weeks before they put her up head to head with Rachel Maddow?

SG,

And Rich showed if you aren’t getting any answers then just end the interview. Let the person you are interviewing show he’s an idiot.

Rumor: Lou Dobbs to Telemundo. Can anyone confirm?

gysgt,
.
Did you see the full 6 minute clip?

pourme,
.
You made me spit out my bottled water! lol

Starting to like Campbell Brown, but I’d never choose her over Rachel Maddow.

Lou Dobbs to Telemundo.

He would almost HAVE to get better ratings. Heck his interview with Esteban Colberto
was great.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/74281/

SG,
.
Campbell Brown is an up and comer. Let’s hope the genius at CNN don’t attempt to shut her down and instead show some stones and support her brand. She is has not perfected her brand yet, but if CNN stays out of the way she will be calling it like it is. CNN just needs to leave her alone. Don’t move her around or add bull crap she isn’t comfortable with.
.
I think Rachel has to guard against the becoming one of the crowd at MSNBC.
.
There are a lot of us that like the Rachel and Campbell and coming along. The networks need to understand that.

OMG. The Onion scooped Joe the Plumer in 1993.
.
Onion headline from 1993: Roy The Undereducated Forklift Driver addresses nation
.
Proof here.
.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/30/onion-headline-from.html

It would be a huge mistake for CNN to try and take on Maddow w/ Campbell Brown.

Cambell Brown = Kerry Collins
Rachel Maddow = Eli Manning

SG,

Yes. I watched the entire thing.

One thing I like to do is catch a real reporter who is required to give a “report” on the Dobbs show and watch their face as they try to calculate whether it’s worth it to get through this part of their career in order to advance to the next stage. I’m serious. Try it. I’ll tell you who really is on the fence: Dana Bash. She seems like she might at any minute just walk off.

pourme,
.
I keep waiting for Dana Bash to give Lou Dobbs a Cartman-
.
“Screw you guys, Im goin home”

gunny that’s a great Onion link. I have to say though, Rush looked a little high.

gysgt,
.
I only asked because Sanchez kept pressuring Goldfarb to answer even when he wouldnt. I was just making sure you werent just going by the clip Joe Klein put up

@sgwhite – Yes! I’m always thinking she’s reciting something her therapist told her to say.

“One thing I like to do is catch a real reporter who is required to give a “report” on the Dobbs show…”

And real reporter at CNN would be….???????? Drew Griffin? John King? Tom Foreman? Ed Henry? Ok, ok…I know you mean in relative terms, but seriously the ‘reporting’ at CNN is godawful.

Last time I tuned into Dobbs, he had 3 exceedingly old white guys railing against Bill Ayers and ACORN. This is going to be a rough time for ole Lou.

It’s not fair to dismiss Lou Dobbs as a partisan. The depth and breadth of his incompetence far exceeds mere partisanship.

So at some point all you journalists (JNS, JK, KT, MS, JC, etc) have to look McCain in the eye in some moderately relaxed setting. What do you say? What runs through your mind as you contemplate this man who has taken American politics down a very unusual course over the past couple of weeks?

Thank goodness it is unthinkable that I would ever be in any proximity to the man.

Breaking: Barack Obama started his career in the living room of a Zionist who pals around w/ terrorists!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/14/151831/19/149/630393

Rose, your 6:04 post was truly chilling. If somehow John Sydney McCain III pulls this out, I will be praying you are wrong and he survives in his current, albeit erratic, mental state.
.
As seemingly disastrous a McCain Administration could be, it is hard to believe and horrifying to think that Sarah Louise Palin could actually be BETTER.

Cincy

Campbell Brown = Philip Rivers
Rachel Maddow = Drew Brees

I was gonna go w/ Brees initially, but I’m a GMan kinda guy. Actually it should be:

Campbell Brown = Philip Rivers
Rachel Maddow = Eli Manning

…since they were both in the same draft. Eli brought home the bacon, while Rivers is just a nice QB. SD shoulda kept Brees.

Mr Klein: You could have expressed your (quite reasonable) opinion on this topic without fatuously claiming that the term antisemitism cannot be applied, on linguistic principle, to any single Palestinian (or other Arab) with a Semitic lineage. Is this serious or sarcastic? You know full well that the term antisemitism has always referred to hatred of Jews.

Just posted a nice first person account of a soiree at the Khalidis’ by Jewish history prof Mark LeVine at http://www.tikkun.org (look in Current Thinking at top right). Quotes:
“Yet it is precisely Obama’s willingness to listen to and even learn from those with whom he disagrees that McCain wants to use to scare undecided voters. In the unreleased video Obama explained that his discussions with Khalidi had offered “consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases… It’s for that reason that I’m hoping that… we continue that conversation—a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid’s dinner table,” but around “this entire world.”

“In post-September 11 Republican ideology, Americans admit no blind spots or biases. Self-criticism and introspection are for the weak, for “elites” and “radical professors” (as Sarah Palin dubbed Khalidi in a campaign speech yesterday, before mispronouncing his name as “Kaladi”) who don’t share “our values” and who are too self-absorbed to “put country first.” “

Prejudice is all around us. Obama is reportedly suffering from the Half-Bradley Effect. he is not sure how he will vote when in the privacy of the voting booth. …………..

http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/10/30/obama-suffers-the-half-bradley-effect/

They should export Jeremy Paxman over to the US for the duration of every election campaign. The presidential debates in particular would be a lot more interesting.

For those unfamiliar with Paxman, he’s the interrogator-in-chief on the BBC. This is him explaining his style and philosophy of interviewing:

And this is Paxman at his most dogged, interviewing the Conservative politician Michael Howard a few years back. I somehow don’t think that McCain would be able to keep his temper under control with Paxman in pursuit of answers:

[...] Time, Joe Klein, 10/30: And Lower… [...]

Bill Kristol was just on the Daily Show admitting that he thought that Obamma would be a “Typically Liberal” President or Centrist. Kristol does not believe Obama is a radical but is willing to spread the lie.

You have to see the entire segment to fully comprehend how much of a slimeball Kristol really is.

[...] come up and/or lest I get charged with being anti-Semitic or something, (though a hard charge to make against Khalidi given he is a Semite).  Khalidi is anti-Zionist that is true.  I think it’s fair to say he thinks the Israeli [...]

Dobbs is just pathetic right now, and his crop of Dobbs-only reporters seems to have grown vastly over recent months, as regular CNN staffers decide that it’s not worth sucking up to him.

(Did you notice he gave precisely no time to the white-supremacist skinhead idiots who planned mass murder? Don’t want to alienate your best viewing demographic, I suppose.)

About Rick Sanchez … Rick Sanchez is a moron. The only reason Jon Klein, of CNN, keeps him on the air is either journalistic malpractice or he’s never seen Sanchez on air.

Joe, You’re right about Khalidi, but wrong when you say an Arab cannot be an anti-Semite. The term has a dictionary definition of one who hates Jews, not one who hates “Semites,” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anti-Semite. There is no such thing as a semite. There have been many famous Arab anti-Semites, such as the founders of Hamas (who adapted a famous anti-Semitic forgery for the Hamas charter) and Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the “Grand Mufti” of Jerusalem, who broadcast from Berlin during World War II. Perhaps most memorable is the Palestinian David Remnick met whose first name is Eichmann. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/02/27/060227fa_fact1?currentPage=all

[...] ask “what is with the MSM,” but, we all know the answer: in da tank Herewe have the McCain campaign’s execrable Michael Goldfarb slinging around accusations of [...]

[...] on October 31, 2008 I’d ask “what is with the MSM,” but, we all know the answer: in da tank Herewe have the McCain campaign’s execrable Michael Goldfarb slinging around accusations of [...]

[...] ask “what is with the MSM,” but, we all know the answer: in da tank Herewe have the McCain campaign’s execrable Michael Goldfarb slinging around accusations of [...]

[...] Number One isn’t anti-semitic either, according to Joe Klein: I’ve never met Rashid Khalidi, but he is (a) Palestinian and therefore (b) a semite, so the [...]

Hey c’mon, you guys know that the American people want us to say things like that. They just love it. It’s a show, everybody knows that. Like TV shows, you know?

If decent American citizens are undecided yet – and I am sure there are a lot, just look at the polls – then they just ought to question: Who has the greater experience? Then they know the answer: It’s me!
That Obama has no experience in foreign policy. I do. I meet important internationals every day like president Putin of Germany. Or King Charles from Dublin. The American people know that. That’s why they will vote for me.

And btw., don’t buy that crap that American voters would pretend to say No to Obama because they would look like racists. When they vote against him on Tuesday it’s because they are convinced I am the right guy for the right job.

[...] We should be more careful about Obama’s associations. Did you know he’s a Muslim.  Or an anti-semitic hater? [...]

Joe,

Thanks for telling like it’s. McCain is addressing here the ‘low information’ voters with such smears, but the fact is – as you pointed out – Khalidi himself is a Semite. Here are further facts: He’s an American who’s born and bred in New York. A distinguished professor in Oriental studies (Chicago & Columbia). He took part in negotiations between Palastinians and Isrealis under Bush Sr, and finally he has been an advocate of the Palastinian cause, while being critical of both Israeli actions and Palastinian lack of non-violence struggle. McCain knows all that but his target voters don’t. The man is not fit for the Senate let alone presidency!

[...] also takes the time to dissect Joe Klein's ridiculous defense of Khalidi, which is that he can't be anti-Semitic because he's an Arab and therefore a [...]

The term “Anti-Semitism” was coined in 1873 by noted Jew-hater Wilhelm Marr. It was a polite sounding alternative to the more common “Jew hatred”. It doesn’t refer to Syrians, Egyptians, Circassians, Druze or anyone else. It means hatred of Jews as a group.

So yes, Khalidi can be an anti-Semite.

[...] Swampland – TIME.com » Blog Archive And Lower… « [...]

Klein has always been an ignorant fool. The term Rashid Khalidi uses, in speeches and in his books, to describe Jew-hatred? Anti-Semitism.

API and FOX News have copies now after many people were killed who helped transfer those secret tapes to decent Americans. These patriots risked their lives to bring the tapes to the American media. People were murdered, many injured only to prevent the tapes from being released to the public.

I saw those tapes. Michelle Obama is seen on those tapes. She is seen with top terrorists, kissing them and even doing more, if you know what I mean.

Believe it or not, she is also seen with Osama bin Laden!

I was able to obtain a fraction of that tape and I am publishing it here for you, my fellow American voters. Look it up here.

I demand that these tapes are released now by FOX News which always claimed to be my friends.

We learn today that the definition of anti-semitism is the hatret of the Jewish racial category. Palestinians are labeled arab or gentile depending on circumstances. In other news the author of this article happens to inhabit the sands of europa, or the swahilli infested swamps of northern umberland.

[...] have defended Khalidi as a “respected academic,” and amid all of the political noise and accusations [...]