http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx From NBC's Mark Murray and Chuck ToddAs we mentioned earlier today, McCain and Obama have already traded some barbs in the past several days. And that continued today. Obama issued this statement responding to McCain's Iraq speech today (and makingen-USCommunityServer 2.0 (Build: 60608.1)http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#131785Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:30:45 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:131785ex-marine,vietvetHundreds of American military putting their lives on the line so mccain can have a photo op and then lie. DISGUSTING http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#131837Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:36:42 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:131837Jamie, Elmwood ParkI didn't know that by passing a bill that gives the President the funds required, the democrat's were not supporting General Petraeus' new plan. Unfortunately, I think we could support this plan 'til the cows come home and it won't change a thing. Sunnis and Shias and Kurds have been fighting hundreds of years. Until they decide to live in peace, nothing we do will change this. No matter what this administration says, this is a CIVIL war and we should not be referees.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#131978Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:48:56 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:131978Darrel Sisson in Edinboro, PA Truth is, every one of the politicians who has traded his vote for "financial considerations" contained within the Iraq War appropriations bill should be removed from office. I understand that good government requires some level of compromise, but this just smacks of outright bribery. In fact, it pretty much defines what bribery is, doesn't it? The trading of valuables for influence? Just once in my life, I would like to see a bill go through our legislative system, that strives to correct one wrong or strengthen one right, without being back-loaded with unrelated amendments or "earmarks" that cost me and all of us other tax-payers our precious tax dollars. Why should a bill asking for money for our troops in a foreign war be saddled with requests for money for peanut storage? Or rice farming? How are the two related? Tell me, someone, please. If no one can, I must assume that each and every one of our elected representatives is nothing more than a money-grabbing, power-hungry, influence-peddling prostitute, selling the integrity of the office for a few dollars. Heaven help us all............. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#132044Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:57:01 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:132044j flMc Cain is a deranged old fool, who seems to look worse every time he speaks. I think he has a brain disease called early Bushheimers.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#132101Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:01:47 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:132101U2Obama, by the way, is right - Congress can't keep sending back the same bill to Bush if he vetoes the first one. For the Democrats the winning strategy would be to acknowledge the presidential power of the Veto, and send him a modified bill. This puts the Republicans having full ownership forever on the Iraq disaster. On McCain, if the surge proves to change nothing on the ground or worse still be a disaster(i.e. makes things worse) - I think currently there is even money on each, McCain is permanently done. He has really done himself almost fatal damage with his "feckless photo-op foreign policy" (I use McCains own words that were used to describe Clintons foreign Policy) nightmare in Baghdad.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#132378Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:27:30 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:132378Carrie, NW IowaDarrel - It's bartering more than bribery - the Dems have something the Republicans want (money) and the Republicans have something the Dems want (votes). I'm not crazy about pork, but that's the way things work in Washington. I'm also not crazy about the Iraq funds not being included in the budget. As someone else said in another post, it can hardly be considered an emergency anymore. All it doesn is warp the "official" numbers for the budget. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#132403Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:30:51 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:132403Steve Althouse Gasbag McCain wanting a bill without substituting partisan interests?? You're kidding, right? This old fool is indeed senile!http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#132532Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:43:40 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:132532JoeYou categorized these comments as "barbs", but they were very civil. In fact, Obama's comment was directed at the situation, not McCain's speech. And McCain was laudatory of Obama's idea.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#132643Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:56:10 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:132643George Gowanlock, MichiganI don't see how people like Obama think they can judge how a war is going. Having no military service and just a politician who wants to get votes from dead American soldiers. If anyone here was a soldier who was near Baghdad years ago and went back within the last year they would tell you things have changed greatly and stop looking at the body counts of dead Americans as a way of judging progress. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#132908Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:24:34 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:132908Lee in MV"I don't see how people like Obama think they can judge how a war is going. Having no military service and just a politician who wants to get votes from dead American soldiers." But you take Cheney's word for how the war is going, right, George?http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#133077Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:43:10 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:133077Glen in IndyGeroge Gowanlock- "....stop looking at the body counts of dead Americans as a way of judging progress." Dang, why didn't I think of that after Katrina? If I'd have just stopped looking at all the pictures in the papers, magazines and TV, I'd have realized the storm wasn't nearly so bad after all. Silly me.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#133124Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:47:57 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:133124R.Merrell, Vietnam VetGeorge, Michigan: Therefore, how can Dick 5-deferments-in- a-row -Cheney with obviously "no military service and just a politician who wants to get votes" be any kind of a judge on how a war is going? "Greeted as liberators", "last throes of the insurgency" etc.etc......Talk about a politician who has no clue - look no further than Mr. Undisclosed Location (other than popping up on Rush every few weeks to contradict the Pentagon or anyone else who disagrees with him).http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#133326Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:09:25 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:133326Desmond49 dead American soldiers in the first nine days of April.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#133371Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:14:06 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:133371U2War is going great - That's why we have to extend the tours of duty to 15 months. Didnt Bush say yesterday that if the Congress didnt send him a "clean" bill, the troops may have to stay there longer: now he comes back the next day and extends the tour of duty himself? What kind of double speak is this? http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#133393Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:16:11 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:133393Robert Catalano, Salem, ORDarrel, the truth of the matter is even if the Democrats stripped all of the pork off of the bill, the president would still veto it because it has a withdrawal date attached to it. The bluster about pork is just a smokescreen. It's just a smokescreen for the Administration to hide behind while more people die in Iraq. The same old BS they ask you to swallow while they do whatever they want.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#133554Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:33:54 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:133554Scott in South TexasTragically, the body count of dead Americans is a way of judging lack of progress, criminal waste of precious lives, imbalance of sacrifice, and the immediate urgency of getting the hell out of Iraq right now.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#133625Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:43:05 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:133625Susan, NebraskaAnd yet we are focusing on Don Imus and Larry Birkhead. Touche Desmond @ 4:09http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#133660Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:47:11 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:133660Jesse Toler, San Diego CAMaking out the fighting between the Shia and the Sunni to be a fight for 'political control' is nonsense. This is about who is a 'heretic' and who is the true decendent of Mohammad. To call it anything more than a religious war is ignorant.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#133702Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:52:13 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:133702Jesse Toler, San Diego CAThis country is in dire need of a Prophet like Elijha, Elisha or even a Son of God like my resurrected Jesus out there turning over tables with nothing less than the invincible Spirit of God WATCHING HIS BACK!http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#133812Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:04:50 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:133812Still Crazy After All These Years"man of god, man of god, aint no messin'with the man of god"-Man Of God-Eliza Gilkrysonhttp://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#134324Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:22:31 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:134324mikeeg,abdn,waas long as our troops are in iraq it is actually a 3 way religious war sunni, shiite and christian, thanks jesse for pointing that out.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#136673Thu, 12 Apr 2007 04:10:32 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:136673Ken, Seattle WAGeorge - Is the body count of dead American's not a legitimate guage of how things are going in Iraq? To say "things are going great! More soldiers are dieing now than before" is just stupid. Too bad for the Bush administration that things like that aren't just ignored. I get the impression that you are ignoring such obvious things because you see your political party falling apart and you are getting desperate. It's not working, and Obama is speaking for the people. If that gets him votes then good, it should.http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/04/11/131696.aspx#137037Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:06:31 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:137037Nathan Crowe, O Fallon, ILThere's a lot of finger pointing going on with the Iraq situation and people continue to try to put blame on the administration... I think majority opinion is that this is a war for oil and everyone wants to point a finger at Bush. Now, I'm definately not defending him, he's far from innocent and I'm sure his family stands to gain a lot financially... but it's supply and demand and I think it's hippocritical for Americans to think it's anyone but our own fault for being there. If we were REALLY against this war, we'd put our money where our mouth is and invest in alternate fuel option an SUV to drive to a protest. If you and I really wanted to make a change and bring them home, we would hit those companies in the pocketbook because there's no other way to 'force' anyone... government or a corporation to do anything unless they stand to gain financially from it.