Powell endorses Obama for president!

[Takeshi_02]

Why is any of this a surprise? It seems pretty obvious that General Powell is doing what all great tacticians do, maneuvering himself to take advantage of a changing landscape. While I think he made the wrong choice on whom to endorse, I can't fault his logic. Both politically and personally he stands to gain greatly from an Obama Presidency. General Powell WILL get a job in the new administration and he WILL again be loved by the media like he was before he joined the current Bush administration, although the latter has already occurred. To me this endorsement is a non-issue, is it a surprise that a bird will eventually take flight? No.

As for Senator Biden's comment's those are far more interesting and presented an odd moment for any politician.. telling the actual truth of a situation. As Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright noted, it's simply a statement of fact that the new President will be tested by the world. Just for the fun of it lets take a look at previous tests. Swirvin' Bird's correctly identified the Bay of Pigs incident as JFK's test, and he failed it by giving up instead of fighting through to victory. A similar thing can be said about President Clinton's Presidency. See if you remember these events from his years in power..

* February 26, 1993, attack on the World Trade Center: 6 deaths and 1,042 injured
* June 25, 1996, Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia: 20 deaths and 372 injured
* August 7, 1998, attacks on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania: 12 U.S. deaths out of a total of 223 deaths; 12 U.S. injured out of a total of over 4,000 injured
* October 12, 2000, attack on the USS Cole in Yemen: 17 deaths; 39 injured
* September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington (occurred during Bush presidency but planned during Clinton administration): 2,975 deaths and 24 missing.

Although I generally regard President Clinton to be a good President in other respects, I can't help say that he was a failure from a military and national security standing. I think Osama Bin Laden would agree with that statement, by virtue of the fact that he was not stopped he continued his attacks which culminated in the Sept 11th. attacks. The fact is that people forget President Clinton not only did not kill Osama Bin Laden when he had the chance, but he also turned down an offer in 1996 by the Sudanese Governement to remand him into US custody. President Bush, for all his faults, both real and imagined, passed the test represented by 9/11 and as a result there have been no more attacks on American soil since.

I admit that I got off topic here, but I think it's worth it if it helps to understand that these events that we witness and read about do not exist in a vacuum and a proper understanding of history is needed to put it all into context. There is more to political discourse than talking points that you hear from either the left or the right.. I'm sure i'm going to get flamed for this one.. but I'm bored at work, so i'm willing to take it and respond to it.

[RAKIdaRHINO]

Uhm.. so whats your point with those events?
What about london, madrid, islamabad and all the other terrorist events post-clinton?

like Clinton said himself, back then people *****ed at him for trying TOO much, and now they completely turned around and accuse him of not trying hard enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNoN403tXU4

Bill Clinton may have failed, but dont say he didnt try when your side were against the efforts he did make.

and since you said 9/11 was planned during Clinton, how do you know jack **** about whats currently being planned under Bush? If you want to give up your freedom be my guest, i dont have to live in America fortunately, but dont think that Bush has made you safer when its the other way around. Theres more hate than ever towards America, thats never a good start towards recuding terrorism. Increase security you say, well you can only do so much. Or do you want to live in a society where state knows everything about everyone, who they date, meet, greet, what food they like, what they think, what god they believe in, where they travel, how they travel, etc etc etc. If thats your view of freedom and security be my guest, but i still think youre nuts.

Id never sell my freedom for the illusion of safety, but hey, were all different.

[Takeshi_02]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear, I'm not one to blindly follow anyone based on a party name alone. If a person is right, whether there's a (D) or an (R) next to the name, then that person is RIGHT. I personally thought that President Clinton was a good President apart from his abject failure from a military standpoint. I supported him then, in his strikes and I still do today, though I can't speak for others. That doesn't clear the fact that he had an internationally wanted terrorist in his sights or in handcuffs and did nothing. That failing is inexcusable.

I don't need to take your word for it, President Bush HAS made me safer. As a person, I'd rather be hated for having done the right thing than for having done nothing; and that extends to my world view. In respect to that hatred, those countries that hate America have always hated America, and those that don't like us as much as previously are still more than happy to accept financial or military aid; and to provide leadership on things that they feel is important but do not deign to deal with. As for your description of the society you think I favor, i'd submit to you that you seem to be describing some of the more socialist states in Europe, or Russia. Should you ever decide to move to America, you'd see what it's like here for yourself.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
- President Ronald Regan

[Bluefaerydust]

i have no clue how you can construe biden's comments to be positive in any light - he admits that people will test obama - they sure as hell wont test mccain cuz they know he will come back on them and hard. And if they do i would rather have McCain at the helm that the charisma guy who is a good talker....

ohhh and you looked at the polls lately?

[Swirvin' Birds]

Yea. Obama leads all polls and by a average of +7.6.

[Bluefaerydust]

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/...race-tied.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...800285577.html

[Swirvin' Birds]

lol. Did you even read the articles you posted?

1st one says this:

But both Ayers and pollster J. Ann Selzer say that the AP poll may be reflective more of how GfK Roper defined the likely voters in their survey than of any significant change on the ground nationally. Compared with a smorgasbord of recent polls, "the AP poll is kind of sitting there alone," says Selzer.

That suggests that Roper used what pollsters refer to as a "restrictive" definition of likely voters. In analyzing polling data, pollsters rely on many models, including those that assess the likelihood that the person polled would show up to vote this year. A "restrictive" analysis, Selzer says, would give much more "likely voter" weight to a person who had voted in past elections, and particularly in recent ones.

2nd one also states this:

More than 1,100 people were polled. (Huge polling pool there)
While the presidential race appears to have tightened after the final debate, the latest polling would not have taken full account of Sunday's endorsement for Mr Obama from former US secretary of state Colin Powell, pollsters noted yesterday.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/

Even Fox News Polls have him up by +9

[RAKIdaRHINO]

Mmmmm.. smörgåsbord :)

[Swirvin' Birds]

i have no clue how you can construe biden's comments to be positive in any light - he admits that people will test obama - they sure as hell wont test mccain cuz they know he will come back on them and hard.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n4217516.shtml

Joe Liberman, John McCains buddy said the EXACT SAME THING back in July. Why were you not all over Liberman???!!

Dang, once again, stop listening to people like Limbaugh all the time.

[Get Real]

How fortunate for leaders, that the masses do not think." - Hitler

Come on if you think they are any different Obama and Mccain
you need to Get Real.

duopolies goverments are designed so the Ultra rich oligarthy has less to do in controlling both parties.
Your gettin same spagetti different label
They both smell the same, they both look the same, they both feel the same and its what my dog leaves out on your front lawn

They play the game draw you to two sides of the fence, yet they know where the fence is going and the middle line (the fence) is where either side of the controlled puppets will take you, just with a few different policies effecting the budget,
We know Clinton deregulated financial institutions Bush followed along and played his part and who ever gets in will play their part yet the fence will still end up whee it's meant to go, with stupid sheep on each side thinking there is a difference.
www.infowars.com

[allonons]

go bama go bama