faith and politics

[creekster]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

I remain unconvinced, but you anticipated that. There's no mention of the story in his early recordings of his time in prison, even in twenty page accounts. I'd have thought he'd find room for such a moving anecdote.

The truth is that we'll never know. As there were no witnesses if it did happen, and obviously there were no witnesses if it didn't.

What's WROING with you? He is a WAR HERO! How can you even say this sort of thing?

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by UtahDan

I hadn't heard that. That is a big deal in my mind if that is a fabrication. Was this reported somewhere?

yes. It's being reported everywhere, but as stated above there's no way to know either way. All we know is that he never mentioned the story until the 90s, and that a former Russian political prisoner and one of favorite authors uses that same story, first published in the seventies.

It's either coincidence, plagiarism or misremembering. Impossible to know which. Even McCain might not know.

search google knews for McCain cross. I would post links for you but my Cox connection is impossible today.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

The truth is that we'll never know. As there were no witnesses if it did happen, and obviously there were no witnesses if it didn't.

If we'll never know, then there is no reason to believe or not believe it.

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by creekster

What's WROING with you? He is a WAR HERO! How can you even say this sort of thing?

The devil made me do it.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

The devil made me do it.

I agree. Obama made you do it.

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

I agree. Obama made you do it.

Thanks, Il Pad. I knew I could count on you for the punchline.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

Thanks, Il Pad. I knew I could count on you for the punchline.

Anytime.

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

If we'll never know, then there is no reason to believe or not believe it.

The only reason it matters is if you're like me, and you follow every message/ad/email that each campaign is sending out, what McCain is emphasizing right now is that he's "a man of his word" and "a man of integrity" and Obama is a waffling schmuck that can't keep a promise. Well, if McCain is making up stories and "cheating" (and I don't know if he is) on debates, and we already know about his marital history, there could really be a backlash due to the contradiction. Perhaps no one would care if he hadn't spent the last two weeks talking nonstop about how gosh-darn honest he is.

[il Padrino Ute]

Fair enough.

Of course, all you really had to say is that you're an Obama supporter and that would have taken less time to post.

How do you feel about Obama's dishonest comment that the toughest decision he ever made was his opposition to the war in Iraq - when he was not a US Senator at the time so he never would have voted on it and the fact that it wasn't that tough because the district he represented in the Illinois state senate is the bluest district?

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

Fair enough.

Of course, all you really had to say is that you're an Obama supporter and that would have taken less time to post.

??

How do you feel about Obama's dishonest comment that the toughest decision he ever made was his opposition to the war in Iraq - when he was not a US Senator at the time so he never would have voted on it and the fact that it wasn't that tough because the district he represented in the Illinois state senate is the bluest district?

okay. I'll ignore the loaded question and answer this one:

What did you think about Obama's answer to the question about the toughest decision he ever made?

I think he's convinced himself that was the toughest decision he's ever made. He's been talking about it nonstop for two years now. I don't think he realizes that the rhetoric that he developed that was so effective for the Iraq dynamic in mid-2006 is no longer relevant, and it's frankly stale.

Further, I think he's probably made harder decisions, though I don't know what those would be. I don't know if you read the thread from earlier, but I made it pretty clear I thought he did poorly on Saturday. I know the material and the venue were uncomfortable for him, but even when he spoke at the last faith forum, he did much much better. His answers then seemed honest, whereas Saturday everything seemed awkward and contrived. It's like when you're giving the answers the Sunday School teacher wants to hear. He kept quoting Bible verses but it seemed forced. At one point he took his answer from the lines of a protestant hymn.

I don't know if you read through the thread from earlier, but as I said, I pretty much think he blew the entire thing. I respect him for being honest about confiding in his wife, but his wife is a known political liability. But for the most part his answers were really weak. But if you watched, the two men handled the questions very differently. Obama tried to tackle them as is, with fake Sunday School answers that he didn't mean, whereas McCain simply used the questions to segue into stories that would connect with the audience. I think Obama used his approach because he couldn't afford to be accused of dodging these questions, but McCain's approach was more effective and smarter.

You have to admit, the questions were very difficult, and most of us would not want to be up there, answering such personal probing questions on a national stage.