are americans really so stupid that they would fall for mccain’s cheap shot of linking obama to hamas?

election season is always an interesting time since it shows on the one side how american’s think, but at the same time it also shows how politicians think american’s think. for the last 8 years the public has pretty much proven that it doesn’t deserve any other president than bush, after all they voted for him - twice. the first time was not really their fault i would say since he didn’t really win, plus the probably didn’t expect him to be such a moron, but the second time is unexcusable. 

but now it is 2008 and they again have the option to vote for a president. there is on the one side obama and on the other side mccain (i admit that for me this is a no-brainer, i certainly would support obama). obama is certainly a bit of an unknown, but what he has accomplished so far is certainly amazing. plus, despite all of his competitor being “experienced” washington insiders and longtime campaigners he has run an incredibly efficient campaign. 

now mccain is not only old, but he is more or less bush’s mini-me. he is now supporting the bush tax cuts (which is ridiculous in face of a $10 trillion national deficit and mounting costs of a stupid war) and he has always supported the iraq war. mccain always touts his own horn how much experience he has, but i am sorry, just because you are old that doesn’t mean you have experience. and judging by his decisions over the last 8 years i have to say that it seems to me that he is just another guy like bush who hates losing even if that means that even more soldiers have to die and even more tax payer money has to be spend. experience is not just about having been around for a long time, but learning from what has happened around them and from the mistakes — mccain clearly has not done that.  in addition, mccain has been around for a long time, that is for sure, but he has made his experience during the time of the cold war. what the US is now facing is not a way (even though bush is trying to sell it as one). if this is a war it is a war of ideas (obama’s against the rest in a way, or the increasing number of the disenfrenchised against those with a voice), and all that mccain knows is to use force, just like bush, and this won’t work in this war. obama, on the other hand understands this. 

but getting back to the electorate. i am not that optimistic that american voters have learned from their mistakes of the last 8 years. and this ridiculous mccain email sent out to supporters 

shows that the mccain campaign thinks the same. they think that a ridiculous connection of obama and hamas (which does not exist) will turn people against obama. for those that read this and are thinking about voting for mccain, please answer one question for me: how can you vote for someone who clearly thinks that you are a moron? mccain recently called obama an elitist, but this email shows that mccain is way worse than an elitist, mccain doesn’t have any respect for his voters as it looks like, he thinks they are not able to distinguish between crap and reality. 

iraq is doing just fine … you still need a bullet proof west though

mccain is visiting iraq, and he will probably proclaim again that things are going great and are no different than they are in any US city. well, i guess with the exception of the bullet proof west you have to wear (even at the heavily guarded airport in the middle of nowhere)  the story about his visit on the nyt web site includes an interesting quote from a iraqi on the street: 

Some Sunni Arabs were not so pleased by the visit. “If the Republicans win the election, then nothing will really change in Iraq, and we need a big change to kick the occupiers out of the country,” said Abu Mohammed, a 30-year-old barber shop owner in Samarra, north of Baghdad. “I would like to show him the schools and hospitals and how the children and women suffer.”  

 on a side note, the trip is being paid for by tax payer money … because it is a trip mccain undertakes as a member of the armed services committee … hm, yes, i see (so much for maverick, he is just another washington politician who takes any money he can get). 

Mr. McCain has said the trip is not primarily political. He told reporters last Friday: “I do want to emphasize again that the three of us are going as members of the Armed Services Committee.”But on Thursday, Mr. McCain will attend a $1,000-per-plate fund-raising lunch at a home in London. His campaign has said that Congress would be reimbursed for the political parts of the trip, including the fund-raiser in London.  

oh when can we have an intelligence test for elected politicians?

watching this interview with rep. steve king i only have two questions 1. what kind of idiots voted this guy into office?2. in a country that requires a license to drive a car, why can’t we have a intelligence license for those people that make quite important decisions about the future and well-being of this country?     so terrorist will be dancing in the streets. can i just say something, even if they would, there would be far less of them dancing in the streets that have been dancing in the streets over the last 8 years of the bush administration. in case this guy hasn’t figured this out yet (but then he actually admits that he has no idea what he is talking about and just wanted to start a thought process to better understand the middle east) each day the US is fighting muslims in iraq and has troops stationed in saudi arabia terrorists are dancing in the streets and muslims are waiting in line to sign up to be the next suicide bomber. then he goes on about saying that what he said (and i assume he means the part about terrorists dancing in the street if obama wins) is objectively true and has not been negated by anyone else. well it hasn’t because first of all i assume no one takes this guy serious (with the exception of fox news) and second something in the future can NOT be objectively true. it has not happened yet. there is no date set yet for dancing in the streets. if rep king is aware of any “dancing in the streets obama victory parties” i would like to see those invites. if this event would have happened in the past, yes, than it could have been objectively true (although very few people would probably call it objectively true, but just true).  

links for february 12, 2008

• in case you still don’t know which of the candidates you support, take a look at how they voted today on providing amnesty to telecom companies that ignored existing data privacy laws (Obama was against amnesty, mccain was in favor of offering amnesty to those company, clinton was not at the senate)
• new study on the future (or the lack of a future) for lake mead (the lake that provides water and energy to las vegas and la) 
• interesting story about what might happen once the cease fire moqtada al-sadr had agreed to last year runs out this month. this could mean a return to increased fighting in iraq
• the re-emerging plague – mostly in asia and africa