Jewish people aren't stupid.  They can see right through that absurd, disgusting stunt that Russert tried to pull.  "So I hear the leader of the KKK thinks you're a pretty good guy..." That's all Farrakhan said, Obama gives people hope, brings em together.  He didn't say "because of his stance agaisnt Jews, I support Barack Obama!"

And for all of Hillary's disgusting pettiness, I never expected her to follow up the way she did, trying to suggest that "rejecting" is somehow different than Obama's continued denouncement of the reprehensible comments Farrakhan makes.  She could have shown herself to be upright, honest, and presidential, by following up and defending Obama.

How about you talk about THAT flaw, MSNBC?

I think what McCain fails to understand is that Obama would pull the troops out carefully and have an open dialog with the Iraqi Government. I think there are enough Iraqi troops who are able to step up and secure their borders themselves. By withdrawing small amounts of troops that both Obama and Hillary has proposed, this transition will be much faster. People make the best of a situation when they are actually in the situation not when they are expecting them to be in it. We can not stay in Iraq for an extended period of time. That is not the solution to this problem. We need to ensure that our men and woman in uniform are out of harms way as soon as possible and let the Iraqi government solve the problems that they have together.

And I have some news for John McCain: Al Qaeda is in Pakistan, too. But that's apparently beyond the gates of hell, or something.

OBAMA WINS!!! ... all the way, no doubt about it! The debate helped to show the world how hard it is to run against Obama. Clinton & McCain want to throw their shock-rocks then hide their dirty little hands. She argues with herself over small points that aren’t worth arguing about. At her over 60 age, what is she doing up watching SNL? It's because her slow mind, like all her other negative-ain't it awful folk, don't have time to help to save a nation, they only have time to fight for position & title that they can't even live up to.  Please get out of Obama’s way so that he and his staff can help save the nation. Obama brings hope and speaks of a better way. Clinton is always whining and wanting to be treated like a lady and if she would get in her place in life, she would be. She is totally stressed out about the whole campaign and definitely not ready to serve from the first day in anyone’s office. She can’t keep up with the footmen so how can he run with the horsemen? If at his age, Obama has totally out talked and presented himself so professionally, and with much wisdom, on every level, seems like Clinton & McCain would get it, and gracefully move out the way. Both of them are frustrated.

I'll tell you what!  McCain is so full of stuff that if you gave him an enema you could bury him in a matchbox.

mccain is slow of mind. he hasn't seen the debate or read the trancript. for him to make a comment from hearsay instead of reviewing the debate to understand the context of the question and the actual answer id indicative of bush's same style of political philosophy. it shows mccain is already displaying a flaw in judgement. sad but true.

So, McCain is going to play the fear card? Big surprise there.

How come nobody in the media is mentioning Obama's answer on not having any meetings on NATO and Afganistan because he was running for president.  People are dying and the Taliban is coming back into power.  How blind are you people?

Perhaps McCain should not speak on an issue that he's heard second hand but look at the transcript for himself before giving an opinion.  

Is this how he intends to handle a crisis by reacting based on rumor or inaccurate information to him before seeking the truth?  

This situation should be sent out for people to exam as to how their leader would react or make decisions based on how they receive information.

Why have there not been any comments or analyses on the very political remarks by the participants of the Black Convention held in New Orleans this past Saturday?  Particularly those made by Dick Gregory.  It was very obvious that is was an all slam of the Clintons.  Perhaps that, coupled with the Obama flyer mailings, was why Hilary's tone changed several times over the weekend.  It is very plain to see that the media is afraid of the PC O-Bomb-a-Nation notion that has taken hold of them since the Imus firing.  Why is everyone afraid to speak the truth or go after the truth when it comes to Obama?  The media, pundents, and political analysts have a responsibility to vet him as they have all other candidates for president throughout history.  The future of America depends on their courage.

Well, as MSNBC points out by juxstaposing McCain's "summary" of what Barack said with what Barack ACTUALLY said... is that he never said he would "send military troops back."

First, McCain is implying Barack said he'd withdraw the troops but then send them all back if Al Qaeda established a base.  He did not say that. What he actually said was that he would "act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad."  That does not mean he'd send the troops back to Iraq, especially not in the same fashion in which they are currently theere.

Second, perhaps McCain should actually watch and listen to what Barack said before he comments on the remarks and wrongly summarizes them. Do we want another president who bases his stance on what he's "heard" from his advisers rather than on the actual truth?

What worries me is;  Obama ignored the question about his Pastor Rev. Wright (sp.?)  honoring and praising Farrakhan.  If Obama is not against white people how in God's name can he belong to a church like this. It is very troubling.

There is just something wrong with this picture folks.

More needs to be known about Obama, but he won't answer those questions.

Ron wrote, "She could have shown herself to be upright, honest, and presidential, by following up and defending Obama."
  In fact, I thought she was going to do that when she asked to comment after he had answered the question.  I thought that was a little low the way she went at it.  I didn't expect that from a democratic candidate.

This coming from the man who wants to stay in Iraq for 100 years.  If he wants to campaign on Iraq, he can be my guest.  Of course, the Senator seems to still be fighting the war in Vietnam.  I wonder if he is ready to fight a war on two fronts.  He is yesterday's news.

While the IRS goes after Obamas church. Obama stepped in trying to explain that as a member of the church,he was merely speaking as a parishioner. This was before the IRS rejoined that you do not have tables manned by campaign staff giving out political literature,buttons,stickers,posters and other propaganda at a church while you are speaking as a mere church ''member''. Penalties will range from fines to revocation of the churches tax-exempt status.

www.irs.gov

But wasn't McCain kind of right?

Danger!  Panic!  Enemies ... everywhere!!!

We can always count on John McCain to tell us scary stories about the boogeyman.  If Al Qaeda is such a problem in Iraq, doesn't that fact shine a bright light on the FAILURE of both the Iraq war AND the surge?

What I think McCain and many others tend to forget, is that Al Qaeda was never in Iraq until we invaded.  We're the ones that drew them into Iraq.  So, instead of fighting them in the mountains of Afghanistan, where we had the advantage of planes and artillary, we are now fighting them in crowded streets and building to building.  We essentially gave Al Qaeda the strategic advantage and made our soldiers and innocent Iraqis more susceptible to IEDs and suicide attacks.  

Totally agree with "the truth". My same thoughts when I read this, you haven't seen the debate, went by hearsay and making an erroneous statement. Hmm why does it sound so familiar. I guess we should ask him after watching it "knowing what you know now, after watching the debate, would you still make the same statement?" but knowing how stubborn and similar to Bush McCain is he won't change his tone on that one.

Mccain is a self righteous phony. More fear mongering from an old fool who simply doesn't have a clue.

I watched the debate and all I can say is I believe D'Marie Rivea's comments were on the head.The only thing she didn't bring up was the body language that Mrs. Clinton had. facial expressions were very sarcastic and angrey. If she sat at a table in other countries with that expression no one would hear her, only take the stance of her body language. Obams expressions were good he hids or doesn't show the anger he might feel and would do well talking to other countries. She shows her feeling in body language. bad.

Obama doesn't want to answer questions regarding Rev. Wright, he doesn't want to answer questions regarding his affiliation with Tony Rezco, and initially, he didn't want to "reject" Farrakhan. And why does he takes cues from Hillary? What happened to his rhetoric? Why does he look wilted in the debates, as opposed to his persona when he speaks in his rallies? Did you know that in 2004 when asked what would have been his position about invading Iraq if he were in the Senate then - Obama's answer: I DON'T KNOW. (Watching Morning Joe's show this morning 2/27).
What's wrong with this Obama picture?

Does McCain not know that Al Qaeda is probably stronger in Pakistan and Afghanistan? By his own logic should we invade and occupy Pakistan with 140,000 troops as well? You got to love the "Black and White" logic of Republicans. "Your with us or against us!" "Planning a withdrawal is surrender!" By this logic we should invade and occupy every country in the world where Al Qaeda is expected to be. Look out Europe here we come! Northern Africa you're on our invade list as well! South East Asia McCain is looking at you! I hope all you Republicans are quickly enlisting your friends and family for all these invasions. As unnecessary as I think they are it seems to be the Republican way.

Al-Queda is in Iraq? Really? Because we've proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that there's no connection between 9/11 and Iraq.  I'm sure Al-Quadan operatives EXIST in Iraq, just like they exist all over the Middle East.  But um, I don't think we have any logical reason to fear they have a base there or they'd take over the country.  McCain is fearmongering, and it's more than a little pathetic.

That would be a remarkable statement if he had actually said it.

Unfortunately for McCain, he didn't.

McCain would rather stay in Iraq forever and watch our country crumble from the inside out than spend that money right here where we need it most.

McCain would make a good Secretary of State. But he would make a horrible President.

I think Russert's phrasing of the question was a little far stretch from what I remember.  He could have simply asked if Al Qaeda became a power in Iraq after the troops pulled out, could or would you send troops back in.  Instead he posed the question to Hillary first and went along the lines of what if "A" happens, then what if "B" happens, then "C" could happen...now what would you do?  Gee I like hypotheticals, but wow.  Iraq does conjure up a lot of "what ifs".  We can start with the fact that Bush wanted to go to war because he thought Suddam had chemical weapons, not to wipe out Al Qaeda because of terrorist fears and Iraq was supposed their launching base.  Would America and the International community have actually got behind Bush to invade Iraq if he said, "I think there are some terrorist hiding there, so let’s send in a massive invasion."  ...I don't think so, but that is me.

Typically, I try to keep my posts on message and avoid personal criticisms of the candidates.  But every time I hear Senator McCain drawl, "My friennnnds", I cringe.  It rings like something a snake-oil huckster would say in a 40's Western.  

All the comments about Obama's church are really childish. I agree, the pastor has said some hateful things which Obama has denounced every time he is asked. Should Catholic politicians renounce the Catholic Church because they preach passionately against homosexuality? Should Conservative politicians renounce their churches because of their stance on homosexuality, etc.? Take a good look at your own religion / church & tell me you agree with them on 100% of the issues. If you don't, you need to renounce it right now. Churches (like all of our real world relationships) are imperfect. We can disagree with components of our Church without denouncing all the good that they stand for. Otherwise, we should just vote for atheists.

Mccain needs to let this election not be about iraq or it will be Bush vs Obama and NOT Mccain vs Obama.

www.mccainsupporters08.com

What McCain is saying is that whenever an Administration makes a monumental foreign policy screw up then there can be no choice for us but to follow through with it and commit our grand childrens blood and money for generations to come. Al Qaeda is in Iraq because our invasion allowed it. Saddam was Bin Ladin's natural enemy.
We are complaining about snakes after killing our own mongoose.
As for me, NO! I will not explain to my grand children that they must take up this occupation and sacrifice because my generation elected a fool for President. I demand that we reverse this now and deal with the consequences ourselves instead of handing our children a 1000 KIA a year payment for the hubris of one foolish man and his party.

Sen. McCain, what proportion of the people we are fighting in Iraq are Al Qaeda?  Is it 2%, 3%, 4%?  Why do you continually misrepresent what this conflict is?  Maybe you could start mentioning that Al Qaeda wasn't even in Iraq until we invaded.  With all your military and national security experience, you lack the most basic understanding of the situation.

All Barack has to do is ask John McCain to ask the American people, which Al-quida do you want to go after. The real ones in Afghanistan-Pakistan or the George Bush made Al-quida in Iraq.As other's posted already, so-called Al-quida is all over the World, but the Ones America care about either Killing or bringing to Justice, are the Mastermind's behind 911.The Boogeyman may be alive for the Warmonger's, but Common sense American's know where Al-Quida survives. Mccain,like Hillary, is fighting a Losing battle against Barack.

It is quite embarrassing that after McCain's Vietnam experience he doesn't know the difference between the uses of the word "base."  The insurgent's are fighting a guerilla war just as in Vietnam.  It is hit and run.  There is no physical "base" with command headquarters, troop training, and caching of weapons and supplies such as Bin Laden had in Afghanistan. If there was we would have bombed the hell out of it. That is the kind of base Obama was referring to as being justification to re-intervene. It is the kind of justification we did not have for going into Iraq in the first place.  The insurgents may "based" in Iraq and may have a "base" of support with the people but they do not have a military base.

Why is Al-Qaeda in Iraq Senator McCain? Was the reason we invaded Iraq and removed Saddam from power? I thought the invasion happened because Saddam was on the verge of launching WMD at us.

The Al-Qaeda that attacked our country on 9/11 was not in Iraq Senator McCain. Are you going to try to continue to fool the American people like Bush and Cheney have been doing for the last 7 years?

When the U.S. pulls out, the Shi'ites establish control over the country. And Shi'ites don't get along with al Qaeda very well.

The lunacy of this invasion is that it will, no matter how long we delay the result, work to the benefit of the one country we are most concerned about in the Middle East. Great strategic thinking, guys.

Anyway, I'm guessing al Qaeda will be heading for the border the same time the Americans are, because they know Sadr's guys won't be very neighborly.

Al Qaeda will never be able to take over all of Iraq. That is pure fantasy. 60% of the country is Shia, which has been a main target of al qaeda and 20% of the country is kurds. Both these groups are extremely anti al qaeda. The remaining 20% that are sunni never followed the strand of Islam that al qaeda espouses and only joined them initially in hopes to reclaim power. Now that the sunnis realize they will never have power like they did under saddam and seeing how insane al qaeda is they have formed their own groups which have seriously gone after al qaeda and reduced its strength. it is very unlikely that they are going to go back to supporting al qaeda now so it is highly improbable that al qaeda would ever take over iraq. The likelihood is much greater for the taliban to regain its footing in afghanistan than it is for al qaeda to get a strong foothold in iraq. It is abundantly clear based on demographic realities.

My friends, let's not dicker about my help in driving the bus into the ditch. My friends, patriotism means kicking Al-Queyda butt for another 100 years. My friends, I don't know much about the economy or how spending 12 billion a month affects domestic spending needs. What I do know, my friends, is that I want to be president and the straight talk express will take me there, even if I have to take some detours.

THE MODERATORS TALKED ABOUT MINISTER FARAKHAN BE A HATE MONGER - WHAT WORSE HATE MONGERS WERE THERE THAN THE WHITE RACE TO BLACKS DURING SLAVERY AND BEYOND - THE LYNCHINGS ETC - DO YOU DENOUNCE THAT?

“John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but so far all he’s done is follow George Bush into a messianic war in Iraq that has cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars and that I intend to bring to an end…. That’s the news, John McCain.”

John McCain and Barack Obama's plans with Iraq are nearly identical, the only question is this:

Who would do it better?

My friends, 'Al Qaeda' - or better the insurgency - is in Iraq because of the invasion! They are in Pakistan and Afghanistan ...So what are we exactly doing in Iraq except of calling the civil war there 'Al Qaeda'? No progress - instead we are draining this country out of blood and ressources.

We cannot be in Iraq forever. Period. It's simply not an option if we don't want to declare bankruptcy as a nation.

The Republicans will majorly kick butt in the General Election, if Obama is the candidate.  The media will probably also finally give Obama a taste of their medicine.

MSNBC needs to apologize to Barack Obama because in Louis Fahhrrakan speech he didn't say that he endorsed Barack Obama. So if he did so what, for people to get all up and arms about this shows you how we live in a hypocritical nation when you have O’Reilly & Limbaugh who make derogatory comments towards every race. Too add on that Hillary Clinton who has never walked in Obama comments have not merit. I ask when is the last time she was affiliated with an anti-semantic that she had no dealings but because her race was tied to them. It's a bunch of crap I tell you. People criticize McClain of his comments but what about MSNBC questions concerning the issue misinformed. Fahrrakan didn’t say he endorsed Obama because of the implications and too add on to how many of us know exactly what who our preachers or pastors have supported, its crap.  Also last but not least Barack Obama has Caucasian mother and in my opinion that makes him more than a Black man. However we have too many people with prejudice in their hearts & minds to see through that and it has never been raised by the media.

I just wanna express my most sincere condolences and sympathies upon the family and friends of William F. Buckley, Jr. (RIP). You will be missed my friend. Buckley along with Goldwater, Reagan, Hayek and Friedman helped to welcome in the modern conservative movement. In the short term, the conservative movement which Buckley helped to usher in, has become hijacked by the "big government" Republicans.

The Iraqi government has already made reference to us putting our combat troops back on the large bases and let the Iraqi Security Forces do the fighting. The claim is that the ISF have "all teeth but no tail", meaning that they can fight but not support themselves logistically.

I think Obama wins the overall argument on Iraq (OVERALL) as long as President Bush doesn't speed up the redeployment of troops faster than what Senator Obama proposed last year (all combat troops out within 16 months). Things are improving, but Obama has a lot of room to argue we can get out faster and refocus our resources elsewhere.

I am very confident that Senator Obama will be able to make his common sense argument on national security, Iraq, foreign policy, and war in general. He has made the king and queen of the centrist theory look like amateurs.

McCain is illistarting something that concerns me about Senator Obama:  He seems to want it both ways.  to be a Tough peace monger.  This is Jimmy Carter all over again

Democrats would be foolish to underestimate McCain.  It's one thing to win a Democratic primary and it's another to win the nation.  Ohio, Penn. and FL will be the swing states that a candidate must win.  Last polls I saw McCain was ahead of Obama (and Clinton) in all three.  

The REAL El Qaeda is firmly established in Pakistan.  

The REAL El Qaeda is manned by students of Saudi Wahabi extremism taught in Saudi financed schools  with oil proceeds.  The Saudi's are the allies of American and international oil magnates, not the allies of the American people, and it's clear which side Bush/McCain is on.

El Qaeda in Iraq is Iraqi and doesn't have nearly enough strength or support among the Iraqi populace, Sunni or Shia, to take over that country.  The bigger threat is Iran, which thanks to our invasion and occupation if Iraq, already has tremendous influence in Iraq without firing a shot.  

Also, no Democrat is talking about just pulling all of our troops out overnight or even of not leaving a force behind.  They are talking about the gradual withdrawal of COMBAT troops, with the Iraqi army, with help from American advisers and support, taking over COMBAT operations.  

Whether the Iraqis can do that or not is going to quickly become a moot point since we can't sustain present American combat troop levels forever or even for a few more years.

If old man McCain or anybody else can figure out how we can keep present COMBAT force strength levels in Iraq indefinitely at the cost of a couple billion a week while keeping taxes slashed for the rich and with no draft, please let us know how that's going to work. Where are the treasure and a sufficient number of warm bodies going to keep coming from?  

At some point, this is all going to come tumbling down no matter what anybody thinks should or shouldn't happen in Iraq.

At the rate we are going, Bush may well go down in history as the President who destroyed this nation's prosperity, sole super power status and unleashed the war that reduced the entire Middle East to rubble and McCain, just like Bush, offers nothing but faith based, wishful thinking policy instead of policy based on facts on the ground and the realistic limits of our resources.

Yes the surge improved security.  No it can't, by itself, get anyone any closer to a viable solution.  Even Bush said it was just to buy time for a political solution.  It's just a time buying holding action and all holding actions must come to an end sooner or later.

McCain, like Bush, just insists we will succeed in Iraq because we have to.  He has no more of a clue than Bush does, how we succeed or even what he is talking about when he says "success". Everybody holding hands and singing songs of peace and democracy all over the region has been dead in the water as anything other than a laughable idea of an outcome for years now.

Neither one seems to recognize that "The Little Engine that Could" is a children's story, not a rational basis for the tough decisions in Iraq that will be made for us, if we don't make them ourselves, by inconvenient reality.  There is no good way this will end, just less bad ways at best.  Anyone who promises anything more is a fool or a liar. In McCain's case, an old fool or liar.

Of course destroying the middle class WOULD provide lots the warm bodies for the military.  Perhaps that's the goal of the policies of the corporate right that keep growing the gap between a tiny untouchable wealth and power elite and the rest of us.

McCain may not understand economics but the people running the corporate show, the real Republican powers that be, certainly do. If Americans have to join the military to eat, they'll have all the warm bodies they need for their vision of permanent war. Money is being made hand over fist, after all, just not in a way that benefits 99+% of us.

McCain can be their boy just as easily as Bush. He doesn't even have to know he's there boy. He can just think he's a big tough patriot.  

Mamma's, don't let your babies grow up to be cannon fodder.  Elect a Democratic President while there is still SOME possibility of stopping this train wreck.

If I start an organization and call it "Al-Qaeda in Iowa," that does not mean bin Laden is hiding in Des Moines. "Al-Qaeda in Iraq" are a gang of opportunists who took the name of another group to make themselves look stronger. They are not the same group, and they've been largely neutralized. McCain knows that, but chooses to lie about it.

Keith wrote, "I wonder if he is ready to fight a war on two fronts."

We're already fighting a war on two fronts, Iraq & Afghanistan. The flip-flopping warmonger who know nothing about economics wants to start a third front in Iran.

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