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RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Drakey — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:33:17 GMT

[quote]Mc Bulldog (10/13/2008)

-

NoBama Girl

[/quote]

Well if SHE is supporting McCain he definitely has my vote.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:10:05 GMT

-
NoBama Girl

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:27:16 GMT

-
Joe Biden swears Obama is not ready to be president

SHOCKING! What Joe Biden Says About Obama and John McCain!

Biden again!

WOW!

Really?

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:41:01 GMT

You'd have to ask the guy who made the video. I didn't take it as racism.

I don't agree with a lot in this video/movie but it does make people think about stuff. My 23 yr old son talked us in to watching it last night. -

Zeitgeist: Addendum

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

DU1978nowSF — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:53:16 GMT

Was there a REASON the guy on the escalator was black?

Any racism in your post?

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Dawg_tired — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:54:09 GMT

Gordon Gottschalk (10/2/2008)

[quote]Dawg_tired (10/2/2008)

[quote]Drakey (10/1/2008)

Lawyer jokes are really clever. A sure sign of a keen wit.

Sarcasm noted. Maybe we should make it politically incorrect to joke about lawyers. Their situation does resemble that of the mentally handicapped and nobody makes jokes about them...at least to their face...but then if you did make a joke to their face they wouldn't get the humor of it. Another coincidence with lawyers? I think not.[/quote]

I love liaryer jokes. I had my five-year old say this one at halloween: "What's the difference between a catfish and a lawyer? One is a scum-sucking creature of the dark and the other is a fish."

He got a lot of puzzled looks and a few really big laughs.

[/quote]

The scary part of this post is that it proves that lawyers breed and multiply.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Gordon Gottschalk — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:02:57 GMT

Dawg_tired (10/2/2008)

[quote]Drakey (10/1/2008)

Lawyer jokes are really clever. A sure sign of a keen wit.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Dawg_tired — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:13:46 GMT

Drakey (10/1/2008)

Lawyer jokes are really clever. A sure sign of a keen wit.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Drakey — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:59:34 GMT

Lawyer jokes are really clever. A sure sign of a keen wit.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:29:12 GMT

Here is the site - pondscumandlawyers

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Dawg_tired — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:13:15 GMT

Gordon Gottschalk (10/1/2008)

[quote]Dawg_tired (10/1/2008)

[quote]Big Bull (10/1/2008)

[quote]Dawg_tired (10/1/2008)

[quote]Drakey (9/29/2008)

I don't even know who I am voting for yet, but with regard to Obama, attacks on his intelligence or ability to comprehend probably aren't going to be very effective. Graduating near the top of his class at a law school that nobody on this board could get into would lead me to believe he has the requisite intelligence to understand what he is voting for.

Graduating at the top of his class in law school...hmmm...is that like being a higher level of pond scum?[/quote]

Interesting, What do you think GG?[/quote]

I never said lawyers were pond scum, I was just using an old saying that even lawyers have used. AND, I made no mention of lipstick on a pig.[/quote]

I'm always proud to be called pond scum by DT.[/quote]

I once gave a lawyer a boat ride. He was going to swim and I was afraid of a massive fish kill. Just joking.

So the Marine is waiting in line at a movie. The guy in front of him looked tense. Being a massage therapist, the Marine starts to massage the guys shoulders. The guy jerks away, turns around and says what in the F$$* are you doin? The Marine explains that he's a massage therapist who is very caring and emphathetic. The marine noticed that the guy was tense and he just wanted to help. The guy in line says you can't do that in a movie line. Heck, I'm a lawyer but do I go screwing the guy in front of me?

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Gordon Gottschalk — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:19:42 GMT

Dawg_tired (10/1/2008)

[quote]Big Bull (10/1/2008)

[quote]Dawg_tired (10/1/2008)

[quote]Drakey (9/29/2008)

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:57:11 GMT

-great video

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Dawg_tired — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:48:18 GMT

Big Bull (10/1/2008)

[quote]Dawg_tired (10/1/2008)

[quote]Drakey (9/29/2008)

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Big Bull — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:21:44 GMT

Dawg_tired (10/1/2008)

[quote]Drakey (9/29/2008)

Graduating at the top of his class in law school...hmmm...is that like being a higher level of pond scum?[/quote]

Interesting, What do you think GG?

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Dawg_tired — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:43:41 GMT

Drakey (9/29/2008)

Graduating at the top of his class in law school...hmmm...is that like being a higher level of pond scum?

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:02:30 GMT

CHICAGO POLITICS

BODY COUNT IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS

292 MURDERED IN CHICAGO

221 KILLED IN IRAQ

OUR LEADERSHIP IN ILLINOIS ;

SEN. BARACK OBAMA

SEN. DICK DURBIN

REP. JESSE JACKSON, JR.

GOV. ROD BLOGOJEVICH

HOUSE LEADER MIKE MADIGAN

ATTY. GEN LISA MADIGAN

MAYOR RICHARD DALY

ALL DEMOCRATS

THANK YOU FOR THE COMBAT ZONE IN CHICAGO

OF COURSE THEY ARE BLAMING EACH OTHER.

CAN'T BLAME THE REPUBLICANS, BECAUSE THERE AREN'T ANY.!!!!!

STATE PENSION FUND $44 BILLION IN DEBT, WORST IN THE NATION.

COOK COUNTY (CHICAGO) SALES TAX 10.25%, HIGHEST IN THE NATION.

CHICAGO SCHOOL SYSTEM ONE OF THE WORST IN THE NATION.

THIS IS THE POLITICAL MACINE THAT OBAMA SAYS HE COMES FROM IN ILLINOIS .

AND NOW

OBAMA SAYS HE'S GONNA "FIX" WASHINGTON POLITICS.!!!!!

SPREAD THE WORD ***** SAVE AMERICA

VOTE REPUBLICAN

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:20:37 GMT

FANNIE MAE & CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS

This is an extremely powerful expose´of Obama and his campaign which should get wide spread

distribution!!! This should make the blood of every fair-minded and obedient tax paying citizen in this country BOIL!!!

Enlightening info:

Watch this video about Republicans’ culpability for the financial mess that the Democratic Congress is trying to walking away from.

beyond spooky linkage

I can't remember, how much money did this CEO get? I don't have a problem with any citizen, no matter what race they are, obtaining a mortgage but this is a joke.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:09:36 GMT

Take the time and watch this, spooky

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:07:24 GMT

Subject: A Texan Applying For A Job

A Texan Applying For A Job

An ex fighter pilot, having applied to join the Muleshoe, Texas police force,
is being interviewed. The Chief says, 'Your qualifications are first-class but
there is one test that you must pass before I can hire you.'

Sliding a small bag across the desk, he continues, 'Take this gun with three
bullets and go out and shoot six illegal immigrants, six Obama delegates,
and a rabbit.'

The ex Fighter pilot asks, 'Why the rabbit?'

'Fantastic attitude!' says the Chief, 'When can you start?'

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Big Bull — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:03:10 GMT

[quote]Mc Bulldog (9/29/2008)

Well .. I'm not falling for your extraction techinque. And your a lair! So your saying you think he really knew he was supporting Tort Reform? ... I doubt it, no matter where he went to law school.

I haven't checked Snopes on this but I'm sure Smugarschdog will. - Read all the way to the bottom.

Here is a quick look into 3 former Fannie Mae executives who have

brought down Wall Street.

Franklin Raines was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie

Mae.

Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae when

auditing discovered severe irregulaties in Fannie Mae's accounting

activities. At the time of his departure The Wall Street Journal

noted, " Raines, who long defended the company's accounting despite

mounting evidence that it wasn't proper, issued a statement late

Tuesday conceding that "mistakes were made"

and saying he would assume responsibility as he had earlier promised.

News reports indicate the company was under growing pressure from

regulators to shake up its management in the wake of findings that the

company's books ran afoul of generally accepted accounting principles

for four years." Fannie Mae had to reduce its surplus by $9 billion.

Raines left with a "golden parachute valued at $240 Million in

benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of

the accounting scandal became clear.

http://housingdoom.com/2006/12/18/fannie-charges/ . The Government

noted, "The 101 charges reveal how the individuals improperly

manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly

neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over

twenty accounting principles and misleading the regulator and the

public. The Notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading

and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports

that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner."

These charges were made in 2006. The Court ordered Raines to return

$50 Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the miss-stated

Fannie Mae profits.

Tim Howard - Was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard

"was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that

would ensure a "stable pattern of earnings" at Fannie. In everyday

English - he was cooking the books. The Government Investigation

determined that, "Chief Financial Officer, Tim Howard, failed to

provide adequate oversight to key control and reporting functions

within Fannie Mae,"

On June 16, 2006, Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., asked the Justice

Department to investigate his allegations that two former Fannie Mae

executives lied to Congress in October 2004 when they denied

manipulating the mortgage-finance giant's income statement to achieve

management pay bonuses. Investigations by federal regulators and the

company's board of directors since concluded that management did

manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard

resigned under pressure in late 2004.

Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!

Jim John son - A former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was

later forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. A look at the Office of

Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006

report on

mismanagement and corruption inside Fannie Mae, and you'll see some

interesting things about John son. Investigators found that Fannie Mae

had hidden a substantial amount of John son's 1998 compensation from

the public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million

when it fact it was $21 million."

John son is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans

from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae.

Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

FRANKLIN RAINES? Raines works for the Obama Campaign as Chief Economic

Advisor

TIM HOWARD? Howard is also a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama

JIM JOHNSON? Johnson hired as a Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was

selected to run Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee

IF OBAMA PLANS ON CLEANING UP THE MESS - HIS ADVISORS HAVE THE

EXPERTISE -

THEY MADE THE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE. Would you trust the men who

tore Wall Street down to build the New Wall Street ?

[/quote]

By 2005 when the senate tried to reform Fannie and Freddie with S190, Obama, Clinton, Dodd, all had taken over 100k in pac money from Fannie and Freddie and they and the House clowns Frank, Pelosi, Waters, were defending to the death the subprime loans, 100+% financing, and desktop brokerages that were quote " making home ownership possible for tens of thousand who couldn't get them before. Gee in hindsight now everyone who paid gets to pay again and again while these Awholes demogog about who's fault it is. Its time for the revolution and they republicans included should be lined up and shot.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:08:06 GMT

Well .. I'm not falling for your extraction techinque. And your a lair! So your saying you think he really knew he was supporting Tort Reform? ... I doubt it, no matter where he went to law school.

I haven't checked Snopes on this but I'm sure Smugarschdog will. - Read all the way to the bottom.

Here is a quick look into 3 former Fannie Mae executives who have
brought down Wall Street.

Franklin Raines was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie
Mae.
Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae when
auditing discovered severe irregulaties in Fannie Mae's accounting
activities. At the time of his departure The Wall Street Journal
noted, " Raines, who long defended the company's accounting despite
mounting evidence that it wasn't proper, issued a statement late
Tuesday conceding that "mistakes were made"
and saying he would assume responsibility as he had earlier promised.
News reports indicate the company was under growing pressure from
regulators to shake up its management in the wake of findings that the
company's books ran afoul of generally accepted accounting principles
for four years." Fannie Mae had to reduce its surplus by $9 billion.

Raines left with a "golden parachute valued at $240 Million in
benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of
the accounting scandal became clear.

http://housingdoom.com/2006/12/18/fannie-charges/ . The Government
noted, "The 101 charges reveal how the individuals improperly
manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly
neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over
twenty accounting principles and misleading the regulator and the
public. The Notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading
and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports
that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner."

These charges were made in 2006. The Court ordered Raines to return
$50 Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the miss-stated
Fannie Mae profits.

Tim Howard - Was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard
"was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that
would ensure a "stable pattern of earnings" at Fannie. In everyday
English - he was cooking the books. The Government Investigation
determined that, "Chief Financial Officer, Tim Howard, failed to
provide adequate oversight to key control and reporting functions
within Fannie Mae,"

On June 16, 2006, Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., asked the Justice
Department to investigate his allegations that two former Fannie Mae
executives lied to Congress in October 2004 when they denied
manipulating the mortgage-finance giant's income statement to achieve
management pay bonuses. Investigations by federal regulators and the
company's board of directors since concluded that management did
manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard
resigned under pressure in late 2004.

Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!

Jim John son - A former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was
later forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. A look at the Office of
Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006
report on
mismanagement and corruption inside Fannie Mae, and you'll see some
interesting things about John son. Investigators found that Fannie Mae
had hidden a substantial amount of John son's 1998 compensation from
the public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million
when it fact it was $21 million."
John son is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans
from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae.

Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

FRANKLIN RAINES? Raines works for the Obama Campaign as Chief Economic
Advisor

TIM HOWARD? Howard is also a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama

JIM JOHNSON? Johnson hired as a Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was
selected to run Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee

IF OBAMA PLANS ON CLEANING UP THE MESS - HIS ADVISORS HAVE THE
EXPERTISE -
THEY MADE THE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE. Would you trust the men who
tore Wall Street down to build the New Wall Street ?

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Drakey — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:36:42 GMT

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:33:44 GMT

It would be no different than selling hope, change, or voting for anything that one wouldn't know jack sqwat about.

Carter? ... ya mean Billy's big brother?

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Drakey — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:46:08 GMT

Mc Bulldog (9/29/2008)

[quote]Drakey (9/28/2008)

[quote]Mc Bulldog (9/26/2008)

Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

And how is that significant?[/quote]

B-I-N-G-O !!! We have a winner![/quote]

Huh?

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:30:31 GMT

Drakey (9/28/2008)

[quote]Mc Bulldog (9/26/2008)

Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

And how is that significant?[/quote]

B-I-N-G-O !!! We have a winner!

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Big Bull — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:46:07 GMT

Drakey (9/28/2008)

[quote]Mc Bulldog (9/26/2008)

Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

And how is that significant?[/quote]

It doesn't matter who gets elected president. We have two raving socialists running the congress and their majorities are likely to increase. The republicans are impotent and have spent as much as any Dem ever wanted. Neither candidate could explain a CDS to you even though they both created the environment for them. Obama voted against the Fannie Freddie regulations proposed in 2005 after taking over $110k in contributions from their pacs. Mccain doesn't get it either, and can't bring his own party to the table.

No matter who wins, Taxes are going up, credit will remain tight, interest rates will rise, the global economy will continue to slow and the war against ghosts will continue in Pakganistan. Oh and lets not forget we still have an energy crisis which won't be addressed by this congress, unless your willing to stick a windmill on your yukon.

Where is Tip O'Neal when you need him.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Drakey — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:36:48 GMT

Mc Bulldog (9/26/2008)

Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

And how is that significant?

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Gordon Gottschalk — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:01:18 GMT

Drakey (9/25/2008)

Voted for Ford in '76 and Carter in '80. I still think those were the most approriate choices at the time. Since I appear to be the only person on here who does not vote a straight Republican ticket, I'm sure nobody will agree.

On this board, I don't feel real safe in mentioning who I've voted for the past 15 years or so. I will say though that I voted for Jerry Brown more times than Reagan (3 vs. 2).

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:18:42 GMT

Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Drakey — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:01:36 GMT

DUBulldog (9/25/2008)

[quote]Drakey (9/25/2008)

I've never been registered with either party...I like to think I'm pretty moderate in my politics....I've voted for both parties over the years.[/quote]

What? You mean you THINK about what issues are important at the time of the election, the circumstances existing at the time of the election, the ability of each candidate to successfully address those issues, and then decide who to vote for? What a moron!

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:38:54 GMT

TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!! TORT REFORM !!!

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

DUBulldog — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:15:58 GMT

Drakey (9/25/2008)

I've never been registered with either party...I like to think I'm pretty moderate in my politics....I've voted for both parties over the years.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Drakey — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:55:45 GMT

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Gordon Gottschalk — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:27:58 GMT

DUBulldog (9/25/2008)

[quote]Gordon Gottschalk (9/25/2008)

If anyone is looking for a historical parallel, I think this election looks a lot like 1980. Carter was in deep poopy with the economy and the Iran hostages. But the September polls showed a tight race because everyone was afraid Reagan was going to nuke the Soviets first chance he could get. It wasn't until the end of October debate that Reagan turned the election into a landslide. The consensus was that people got comfortable enough with him during the debates and they weren't afraid to vote against Carter. This election strikes me as a similar situation. If Obama comes across as reasonable in the debates I think McCain will be punished for Bush's unpopularity. If Obama scares people, McCain will win.

Voting against Carter in '76 and '80 was the easiest presidential voting decision I've ever had.[/quote]

'84 and '88. Difficult to see how anyone could have voted for Fritz and the dude in the tank.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

DUBulldog — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:56:02 GMT

Gordon Gottschalk (9/25/2008)

Voting against Carter in '76 and '80 was the easiest presidential voting decision I've ever had.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Gordon Gottschalk — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:43:02 GMT

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

DUBulldog — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:29:07 GMT

It is a real article, but Hugh Downs is not the author.

snopes

The author is somebody named J.R. Dunn

Not a comment on the article itself, just pointing out who really wrote it.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Drakey — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:23:51 GMT

What a bunch of substanceless nonsense.

RE: Democrats on an escalator ...

Mc Bulldog — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:47:54 GMT

This carries a strong message from a highly respected commentator.

HUGH DOWNS ON OBAMA

This is a very insightful article written by Hugh Downs, an 'old fashioned' news commentator, and it gives some different looks than I've read….

OBAMA WILL LOSE...E-mail / 26 August 2008 / Hugh Downs Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 7:11:14 PM by ShadowAce

It's time to throw my hat in the ring as regards predicting the election results. So here it is: Barack Obama will be defeated. Seriously and convincingly defeated. Not due to racism, not due to the forces of reaction, not even due to Karl Rove sending out mind rays over the national cable system. He will lose for one reason above all, one that has been overlooked in any analysis that I've yet seen. Barack Obama will lose because he is a flake. I'm using the term in its generally accepted sense. A flake is not only a screwup, but someone who truly excels in making bizarre errors and creating incredibly convoluted disasters. A flake is a 'fool with energy', as the Russian proverb puts it. ('A fool is a terrible thing to have around, but a fool with energy is a nightmare'.)

Barack Obama is a flake, and the American people have begun to see it. The chief characteristic of a flake is that he makes choices that are impossible to either understand or explain. These are not the errors of the poor dope who can't grasp the essentials of a situation, or the neurotic who ruins things out of compulsion, or the man suffering chronic bad luck.

The flake has a genius for discovering solutions at perfect right angles to the ordinary world. It's as if he's the product of a totally different evolutionary chain, in a universe where the laws are slightly but distinctly at variance to ours. When given a choice between left and right, the flake goes up -- if not through the 8th dimension. And although there's plenty of rationalization, there's never a logical reason for any of it. After awhile, people stop asking.

Obama's rise has been widely portrayed as a kind of millennial Horatio Alger story -- young lad from a new state on the outskirts of the American polity, a member of once-despised minority, works his way by slow degrees to within arm's length of the presidency itself. That's all well and good -- we need national myths of exactly that type.

But what has been overlooked is the string of faux pas marking each step of Obama's journey, a series of strange, inexplicable actions, actions bizarre enough to require some effort at explanation, through such efforts have rarely been offered. It's as if the new Horatio made it to the top by stepping into every last manhole and open trapdoor in his path. And we, the onlookers, the voters who are being asked to put this man in the White House, are supposed to take this as the normal career path for a successful chief executive.

What are these incidents? I'm sure many of you are way ahead of me, but let's go to the videotape.

Here's a young man who graduated from Columbia with high marks, with a choice of positions anywhere in the country. He comes from a state generally held to be a close match to Paradise . One, furthermore, that can be characterized as the most successful multiracial society in the world, with harmonious relations not only between whites and blacks, but also Japanese-Americans and native Hawaiians as well. To top it off, a state controlled in large part by a smoothly-functioning Democratic machine. So where does he choose to go?

To Chicago.=One of the windiest, coldest, most brutal cities in the country. One that is also infinitely corrupt in a sense that Hawaii is not. One that remains one of the most racist large cities in the U.S. ( Cicero , Al Capone's old stomping grounds, a suburb that is effectively part of the city, is completely segregated to this day.) It would be nice to learn which of these aspects most attracted young Obama to the city. But if you'd asked at the beginning of the campaign, you'd still be waiting.

And what does he do when he reaches the city? Why, he joins a cult. Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church has been turned inside out since the videotaped sermons appeared early this year, without anyone ever quite explaining exactly what Obama was thinking of when he joined up in the first place. Street cred, so it's claimed. But there are a plethora of black churches that would have provided him that without the taint of demented racism that Wright's church offered.

Obama apparently had to swear an oath of belief in 'black liberation theology' when he joined the church. (It is the little touches of that sort that make it a 'cult', and not simply a 'church'.) Did the thought of his career ever cross his mind? Didn't he realize that church would inevitably cause him trouble somewhere down the line? That he'd be required to repudiate it and its ideas eventually? We can ask -- but we won't get an answer.

Back at school, Obama got himself named editor of the Harvard Law Review. This is a signal achievement, no question about it. The kind of thing that would be mentioned about a person for the rest of his life, as has been the case with Obama. But then... he writes nothing for the journal.

Now, let's get this straight: here we have one of the leading university law journals in the country, one widely cited and read. Entire careers in legal analysis and scholarship have been founded on appearances in the Review, including some that have led to the highest courts in the country. Yet here's an individual who, as editor, could easily place his own work in the journal -- standard practice, nothing at all wrong with it. But he fails to do so. And the explanation? There's none that I've heard. We can go even farther than that, to say that there is no explanation that makes the least rational sense.

We follow Obama down to Springfield , where as a state legislator, he voted 'present' over 120 times. What this means, as far as I've been able to discover, is that he voted 'present' nearly as much as he voted 'yes' or 'no'.

Now, statehouses work very simply: a member approaches his colleagues and asks them them to vote for his bill. Some comply, some do not. Some ask, 'Is it a good bill?'and some don't. Either way, they customarily, except in unusu al circumstances, vote 'yes' or 'no'. All except for Barack Obama. And how did get away with it? How did mollify his colleagues? How did he square himself with the party bosses? Echo answereth not.

(A good slogan could be made of this: 'You can't vote present in the Oval Office.' I hereby commend it to the McCain campaign.)

We turn eagerly to learn what his term in the U.S. Senate will reveal, only to be disappointed. But it's not surprising, really. After all, he was only there for 143 days.

And there lies one of the keys to Oba ma's rise. David Brooks pointed out in a recent New York Times column that Obama spent too little time in any of his positions to make an impact one way or another. This is what saved him from the normal fate of the flake: he was never around long enough for his errors and strange behavior to catch up with him.

But a presidential campaign is a different matter. A man running for president is under the microscope, and can't duck anything, as many a candidate has had reason to learn. If Obama is a flake in the classic mode, now is when it would come out. And has it?

The case could be made. Here we have a campaign with everything going for it -- the opposition party in a shambles, a seriously undervalued president, the media in the candidate's pocket, the candidate himself being worshiped as nothing less than the new messiah. And yet the results have compr ised little more than one fumble after another.

First came the Wright affair. Obama apparently thought he was above it all -- a not-uncommon phenomenon with flakes -- and allowed the revelations to take on a life of their own before bothering to respond. Even then, his thoughtful and convincing explanation (that he hadn't been listening for twenty years) did little to settle the crisis, which instead guttered out on its own after nearly crippling his campaign. Even months afterward it threatens to pop back up at any time. The latest word is that Wright -- now a deadly enemy of his onetime protégé -- has written a book. I can't wait.

Obama learned his lesson, and confronted the next threat immediately, tackling The New Yorker cover with the avidity of a man having discovered zombies in the basement. A development that could have been defused with a chuckle and a quip (the customary method is for the politician to ask the cartoonist for the original) was allowed to explode into a major issue. The campaign's relentless attacks on one of the oldest liberal magazines extant merely perplexed the country at large. After all, any Republican has had to endure far worse.

Almost simultaneously, the birth certificate saga was unfolding. On no reasonable grounds, the campaign blew off requests for a copy of the document, at last releasing it through one of the least reputable sites on the Internet, and so badly copied that literally anything could be read into it -- and was. I'm not one of those who believes that Obama was actually born in Indonesia/Kenya/Moscow/the moon, but I still have plenty in the way of questions, almost all of them arising from how the matter was handled. Well played.

The latest pothole (or one of them, anyway) involves Jerome Corsi's 'The Obama Nation'. Corsi has been given the full New Yorker treatment, with the campaign hoping to avoid John Kerry's 'error' in not challenging Corsi's 2004 book, Unfit for Command. What Obama missed was the fact that Kerry's major problem was not with Corsi but with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who were disgusted with Kerry's hypocrisy in running as an experienced military veteran, and set out to take him down. Corsi's effort dovetailed with the veteran's campaign and to a large extent was swept up with it. No such campaign is in operation against Obama. The smart method of answering Corsi would have been to allow the media to handle it, instead of drawing attention to the book and raising it to level of an issue. This appears to be a real talent for the Obama campaign.

We could go on. The victory tour of Europe, and the speech in which Obama declared himself 'citizen of the world', a trope guaranteed to focus the attention of Middle America . His inept handling of Hillary, in which he wound up appearing frightened of the opponent he'd just beaten. Allowing Hillary (and her husband there, what's-his-name) a starring role in the Democratic convention is not a solution any sane individual would be comfortable with -- much less a roll-call vote. This threatens the near-c ertainty of turning the entire affair into BillandHillarycon, with the nominee winding up as a footnote. But it's all of a piece with the campaign Obama has waged up until now.

We've never had a flake as president. We've had drunks, neurotics, cripples, louts, and fools, but never a career screwup. (I except Jimmy Carter, whose errors arose from sincere, misguided goodwill.) And I don't think we're going to get one now. Another three months of flailing, incompetence, and a collapsing image will do little to assure voters concerned with terrorism, the oil crunch, a gyrating economy, and a bellicose Russia . (Anyone doubting that Obama will go exactly this route can consider the Saddleback church fiasco, which unfolded as this piece was being wrapped up. Evidently, the campaign goaded NBC news personality Andrea Mitchell into all but accusing John McCain of 'cheating' by failing to take his place within the 'cone of silence' during Obama's part of the program. The grotesque element here is that Obama's people and much of the liberal commentariat -- including Mitchell -- apparently believe that the 'cone of silence', a gag prop for the old Get Smart! comedy series, actually exists and was in use at Sad dleback.)

Many of us have dealt with flakes at one time or another, often in settings involving jobs and careers, and not uncommonly in positions of some authority. We all know of the nephew, the fiancé, the boyfriend, whose whims must be catered to, whose reputation must be protected, who must be constantly worked around if anything at all is to be accomplished, always at the cost of time, money, efficiency, and personal stress.

In the fullness of time, we will inevitably see such a figure in the White House. But not this year, and not this candidate. Such acts of national flakery occur only when there's no real alternative. In this election, an alternative exists. Whatever his shortcomings, nobody ever called John McCain a flake.