Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Georgia On My Mind



Do not be surprised if the conflict in Georgia is dragged out on into November, for while this “October Surprise” may have occurred in August, it is entirely plausible that feet will be dragged and more sabers will be rattled for the next two months. Remarkably, despite being generally incoherent, intentionally belligerent and all the while running one of the most poorly organized and ill coordinated campaigns in recent memory, John McCain remains within striking distance of Barack Obama. The McCain campaign seems to have gambled on and won their wager that the American people for the most part would not pay much attention to his fledgling campaign until the fall, when perhaps it might actually buckle down and stay on message. This can already be seen in McCain honing his relentless attacks on Obama’s patriotism (that is, lack thereof), and how Obama wants the US to “lose” in Iraq, essentially entailing treason.

It was unfortunate that Obama was essentially forced into participation at Rick Warren’s mega-church, mega-presidential forum or whatever over the weekend – religion has not exactly been his friend this campaign cycle, what with it being insinuated that he’s a Muslim and his ties to Rev. Wright and Father Pfleger, etc. etc. I didn’t watch the event but I did happen to catch Warren tossing McCain softball, Larry King-style questions: “What is your definition of marriage?” (Union between only man and woman… applause) “What is your position on abortion?” (It should be outlawed… applause) The best was when McCain managed to tie together his devout belief in Christ to his POW experience in ‘Nam; anything to summon the good old POW days.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Dr. Strangelove-McCain


Everybody knows by now that whenever some international conflict occurs, either at home or abroad, a Republican gets his wings. Unfortunately, the war between Georgia and Russia is no different, and John McCain can already be heard from the mountaintops excoriating the former Red Menace and rattling sabers a la Dick Cheney. This plays so well to McCain’s advantage for many other reasons, for one this is at least a familiar adversary to him; it’s not as hard as trying to remember Sunni from Shiite from Kurd from whomever brown people the US happens to be decimating at any given moment. His tough talking about the Ruskies hearkens back to the glorious time when the US was actually a respected superpower, not just some mere hollowed out shell of one. No one seems to be able to put together that McCain has the exact same policies, if not even more bellicose and fascist rhetoric than Bush-Cheney, many only see this seemingly affable old maverick, war hero, POW of a senator who couldn’t possibly be any worse than Bush-Cheney… Right?... Right?! It is assumed that because he was in the military, he must have an extraordinary grasp on National Security, Foreign Affairs and the sort. This has time and time again proven to be demonstrably false. I fear Mark Penn was right in those leaked memos and e-mails from his time with the Clinton campaign; it may not be until 2050 that a candidate like Obama is truly viable and given the same “fair shake” as a candidate like McCain.