Barack the Bomb Thrower
[Guest post by DRJ]
I like candidates with a sense of humor but I have my doubts about this:
“When discussing McCain’s energy plan, Obama poked fun at his line on drilling. “What were the Republicans hollerin’, ‘drill baby drill’? What kind of slogan is that?! They were getting all excited about drilling!”
He even found a way to make an answer to a question on civil liberties comical. While speaking about the importance of habeas corpus, Obama said, “We don’t always catch the right person. We may think this is Mohammed the terrorist, it might be Mohammed the cab driver. You may think it’s Barack the bomb thrower, but it might be Barack the guy running for president.”
I assume this relates to the line in Palin’s speech that while “Al-Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America; [Obama’s] worried that someone won’t read them their rights.”
I understand his point but I don’t think this is the best way for Obama to make it.
— DRJ
I assume it relates more to his efforts to paint the GOP as racist nutjobs who assume people with “funny names” are Islamic terrorists.
Karl (1b4668) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:14 pmOr an attempt to indirectly include his friend Bill Ayers in the campaign
ROA (924e20) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:19 pmKarl,
I think that’s how he’s trying to frame it, but I also think what motivated him to go down this road was the quoted portion of Palin’s speech.
DRJ (7568a2) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:19 pmThe video of that line should be a McCain ad.
“What were the Republicans hollerin’, ‘drill baby drill’? What kind of slogan is that?! They were getting all excited about drilling!”
Al (b624ac) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:25 pmI think it just raises more questions that Barack should be answering but won’t.
daleyrocks (d9ec17) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:29 pmKarl’s right. This is just the latest variation on “someone who doesn’t look like the faces on our currency”; a play of the race card, made under the guise of responding to Palin’s “read them their rights” comment. He’s accusing the ‘Republican-controlled military’ of engaging in racial profiling on the battlefield.
Icy Truth (a7ead4) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:34 pmDig baby dig! Help me out here. Is he running against McBrilliant or Palin? I know. He’s running against himself or the caricature he’s made of himself.
Chris (6b9f67) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:39 pmIcy Truth: I don’t speak for Sen. Obama, but I suspect you are wrong. One of the reasons the left has been so upset with the MCA, and the administration’s argument before the MCA that it was authorized to detain people in Guantanamo until the war on terror was over, is that the left is concerned about the possibility that innocent people might get swept up and not be able to defend themselves.
My read on Sen. Obama’s statement is not that he’s trying to highlight the fact that he’s different; it’s that he’s using himself as the example of a prominent innocent person who might get swept up inadvertantly.
aphrael (9e8ccd) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:41 pmBarack doesn’t throw bombs, but he does share 160 million bucks with those who do. He has disrespected the victims of the Weathermen by joking about how he’s innocent of bombing as the whole country knows he has lied about his friendship with unrepentant terrorists.
Juan (4cdfb7) — 9/8/2008 @ 11:14 pmAphrael said it better than I did, but also note the context. The quote specifically states that Obama was “speaking about the importance of habeas corpus” rights.
DRJ (7568a2) — 9/8/2008 @ 11:20 pmYeah, that is a very intelligent comment from a supposed constitutional attorney. The BOR never has and never was meant to pertain to enemies on the battlefield. Imagine this scenario, soldier on battlefield, “Wait, don’t shoot at me til I shout your rights to you.” Makes a lot of sense to me. After all, libtards hate our military and routinely refer to them as jackbooted thugs.
peedoffamerican (389cf6) — 9/8/2008 @ 11:45 pmaphrael & DRJ –
Well, I think I did note the context, but maybe I overstated the case. I just found it curious how he made the standard — one might say ‘stereotypical’ — reference to “Mohammed the cab driver”, and then inserted himself into the equation. Why? because of his ‘funny name’? And is he speaking of people captured on foreign soil, or people detained domestically? Do suspected terrorists captured on US soil get sent to Guantanamo?
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but given the Dems strategy in regards to race this year — hair-trigger plus itchy finger — it seems a heck of a coincidence that Obama used himself as an example of someone who, because of ostensibly sharing a name/image with an Islamic extremist, might be mistakenly detained as a terrorist.
Icy Truth (a7ead4) — 9/9/2008 @ 12:20 amIcy, given Obama’s speech impediment, there’s a real possibility that he realized that the Mohamed joke was racist and decided to throw his own name in there to repair the gaffe.
Juan (4cdfb7) — 9/9/2008 @ 2:20 amIt’s a hyperbolic example of an error in detention – wrongfully detaining a presidential candidate of the opposition party.
cboldt (3d73dd) — 9/9/2008 @ 5:00 am.
As a joke it falls flat as a pancake. And wrongful detention isn’t a “funny” subject, it’s a serious subject. If Senator Obama intends to “change minds” on the subject, he’d be better off talking seriously about it, instead of making jokes or sloganeering.
Well, he’s not Barack the bomb-thrower…he’s Barack, the associate of known bomb-thrower Bill Ayers.
otcconan (8b7d8d) — 9/9/2008 @ 8:04 am“Did I say Mohammed? I meant Hussein, I mean, uh, me! Yeah! I’m here all week!”
(crickets chirping)
Dmac (e639cc) — 9/9/2008 @ 8:06 amA regular girl from Alaska works hard, makes good, and finds herself on the national stage. Where she takes a few potshots at our wanna-be President, and he goes all wobbly and starts talkin’ trash and makin’ a fool of himself.
We expect quite a bit more from someone who aspires to be leader of the Free World. Anyone who thinks the Dems untested nominee has the right stuff to lead us to the promised land, has their account in the wrong bank.
Ropelight (49e412) — 9/9/2008 @ 8:32 am