Sorry...I'm a huge supporter of Obama, but he blew this, big time...waaaaay too specific and temptered in his answers, no resonance, no hard challenging of McCain, no specific references to the HUGE failures of the last 8 years...he may well have just lost his chance...

When I read the NYT article today about "Obama being too cool" in the face of a challenge, I thought, "BOLLOCKS!" Now, all I can say is "wow...that sucked"

Posted at September 26, 2008 10:55 PM in response to Who Are You Going to Believe, Me or Your Lying Eyes?

Obama is being immensely shrewd here...he's answering the question effectively and earnestly, while at the same time the suggestion that the comparison is indeed laughable. Palin is becoming a heavier and heavier albatross around McCain's neck, and engaging in this with a certain seriousness only extends her life as the biggest political liability ever freely chosen in modern history...

Posted at September 2, 2008 4:48 PM in response to Fun Facts About Wasilla

YES, I'd like some more of this, please...

Posted at August 22, 2008 2:47 PM in response to Another Obama Ad Slams McCain Over Houses Gaffe

Slightly off-topic, but I've long thought someone should look at the historical trends in gas prices relative to presidential elections. I distinctly recall from the last 3, at least, of a significant and rapid run up in prices approximately 6 to 9 months before each election and then a slower paced but unmistakable decline during the 2 to 3 months before election day.

I would suggest that this trend indicates a two-fold and purposeful strategy by Big Oil and their beneficiaries, the GOP. First, the huge profits get funnelled through any and all means necessary to the candidates of choice, and second, the seething anger about energy costs, a perennial sentiment that never seems to really work out to the advantage of the DEMs, is replaced by a sigh of relief, despite the fact that prices are still higher than at the beginning of the strategy's implementation.

This election season, Exhibit A for me is the fact that oil prices, which are always said to be most volatile during world crises, didn't jump during the Georgia invasion...in fact, they've consistently trended downward, in keeping with the above script...even though the future of Georgia's pipeline to the West is now out of the West's control. And yet, a pissant tropical storm like Fay is blamed for a sudden (but again, unsubstantiated) spike in oil prices.

Of course, this is a tough concept to prove, but just like the scam during the California energy crisis to undo Grey Davis, I think it's a very plausible.

Posted at August 20, 2008 10:51 AM in response to Anti-Regulation Cheney Aide is Front Runner for Energy Dept. Post

McCain uses maddeningly vague terms when answering questions about all his policy positions...and this "all of the above" BS is right up there with the worst. How can his audience, much less the media, accept that as an answer to a question about his energy policy? All the above what? It's not so simple as that...in what order would you institute "all of the above"?; with what emphasis?; specifically, how does "all of the above" work as policy? Are tax breaks for big oil part of "all of the above"? How does "all of the above" promote energy independence?

What claptrap...

Posted at August 6, 2008 7:06 PM in response to Which Candidate Is In More Of A Bind On Energy?

This is no surprise, but I am VERY curious about a somewhat related story...

Why was Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani who studied in the U.S. but who disappeared in Pakistan years ago to now show up after allegedly attacking FBI and U.S. military while in custody in Afghanistan, brought to a U.S. (NYC) courtroom to face charges? She is certainly the only terror suspect I'm aware of to face a U.S. judge, and she is not a U.S. citizen (to my knowledge), nor was she apprehended on U.S. soil.

Why here, why now? Is this politically motivated...either to get her far away from Pakistan (where her long-time disappearance has been thought to be a U.S./Pakistani imprisonment without charge), or to trot her out for a highly visible prosecution during the U.S. election cycle? It sure would help the Republican cause to remind folks that evil lurks on our own soil.

Can anyone clarify why she was brought to the U.S.?

Posted at August 6, 2008 11:17 AM in response to BREAKING: Hamdan Convicted