And I assume you think O-ra-ma-ba-ma is qualified?

Wow, that's a scary thought.

Ah, but it does... having active ties to known terrorists and giving or receiving funds to or from known terrorists are imprisonable offences under the Patriot act.  Just ssk Australian, David Hicks, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and was held indefinitely in Guantanamo without trial. Without negotiations and assurances from the Australian Governrment, Hicks would still be there.

No, he did his time for his crimes.

Was an extremist.... now a university professor/lecturer

Again, Ask David Hicks... better still, the hundreds of other Guantanamo inmates arrested and still held without trial.

Ah yes, the hype... from the Australian and British Governments, the Red Cross and the UN! Hardly credible sources, so I and everyone else who thinks Guantanamo is in violation of the Geneva Convention must be wrong.

Let's not compare apples to oranges here!  The forces in Germany, Japan and S Korea were there in response to ongoing conflicts, and remained afterwards to make war reparations and establish security in those regions... now to maintain strategic bases offshore. 

In Iraq, however, it was an uninvited invasionary force, sent there on a pack of lies. (WMD's????).... and now ( for fear of wholesale slaughter in Iraq and subsequent international condemnation) the US does not know how to extricate itself from something it had no business being involved in... Bush had an axe to grind and lied to the American people (the World) about Iraqi WMD's.

I was going to post this myself... beat me to it cos obviously I was in bed 'downunder' when it was released.

The fact that there were 10 Repubs (6 more than the Dems) on that invesigative panel gives it greater credibility/legitimacy...

.. thus removing possible accusations it was all an Obama/Biden/Democrat plot to discredit Palin.. though no doubt the Repub faithful... er, fanatics will still try regardless.

I'd never heard of Sarah Palin prior to McCain's announcement that she would be his running mate - why would I have (down in Oz) when she was a 'nothing' and therefore irrelevant - but this Troopergate report seems to bear out my instant initial reaction (to seeing video footage of her) that she is clueless, and therefore slimy to cover her arse/further her own self-serving causes.

I did not like the woman then.. much less so now.

It was a UNANIMOUS finding from a BI-PARTISAN commission.  Good luck trying to spin that as "Obama's people are trying to get us!"

There's more.  Enjoy.

Now that McCain has realized that the angry mob mentality of his rally crowds is hurting him, when he tries to tame the crowds, he actually got booed for stating that Obama is a "decent person" and booed again for saying they need to be respectful.

it is heartwarming to see such citizen journos like yourselves Bebi + Chonino getting this ugliness out in the open for awareness + discussion - the power of the internet is truly being felt in this election, even tho I was councilled that this post was misplaced in the 'Internet' section & would be more appropo in 'Politics'...whatevs - the video of that old bag at the rally today advising Senator McCain Senator Obama made her nervis cuz he is an 'Arab' & therefore, she cannot trust him...omg...lol;that video is going viral, you know it and it does make citizens of the world squirm seeing that kind of bigotry/racism put to electoral use....when 'that' is your 'base', no wonder the US is in the mess it is in today if that is who Dubya had to answer to...

Yep, we in Australia are fairly well informed, particularly with regard to this US Presidential election.  Like Jafo said earlier, if the American people see fit to inflict themselves with John McCain and he turns out to be an arsehole (to which there seems very little doubt he is/will be), we get the same piles... as does the rest of the world. So yeah, it is relevant to me/us.

I must state, however, that I am not a fan of Fox or any other highly commercialised news service... think it might have something to do with over-sensationalising. over-dramatising and agenda driven biased reporting.  No, if I want more factual, unsensationalised news reporting which tends to be unbiased/'more fair/balanced, I turn to the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commision) news service.  While the ABC news presenters tend to be more dour, even boring to some, I find the presentation of news to be more factual, credible and certainly more palatable.  One thing that really pisses me off with commercialised TV news presentation is when one presenter will start a story and another chimes in part way through to add 'that' element of drama and sensationalism - our commercial TV news services do it all the time/far too frequently - thus my preference for ABC news/current affair programs.

Ah yes, the good old ABC... owned by the people and run by the people for the people, not by corporate entities with vested interests.  Oh, and the talkback program that discussed the McCain tour bus - C word incident was on ABC radio, which tends to attract a more intelligent and reasoning audience than (most) commecial stations... and thus, callers tend to be less inclined to entertain sensationalisms and/or bullshit, less likely spew forth bullshit just to be heard on national radio.

Oh how very sad it is, that vested interests have turned our medis outlets into virtual circuses, with every type of clown imaginable seeking his/her few moments of fame and glory.  Take for instance the clip Night train posted earlier @ #83 (sorry FF won't let me copy/paste it)... while it may have been amusing it did very little to lend itself to the facts behind Sarah Palin's dubious record.  Um, perhaps this sensationalist journalism is the reason many foreigners are more/better informed on the US Presidential race/election than much of North America's voting public... they're hearing fragments of truth all raveled up with some miguided idea that news items should be edge of the seat, soap opera-like entertainment.

McCain should have begun his campain with his latter thinking... a lot of nastiness all round would have been avoided.

Sadly, though, he did not and the damage is done

MCCAIN: "Uh, I, I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it."

McCain's own words [The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, 2/21/2000].

And now, his own campaign is producing 100% of negative attacks ads...irony? (about 34% of Obama's are negative)

McCain's constant media bombardment of lies.

Sending Palin to do all the "pitbull" attacks of fomenting the ignorant into lynch mob frenzy.

These actions under the personal direction of McCain vastly outweight his slight "mea culpa" today.  If he wants to impress me, he needs to go back to the campaign he said he would run, by actions as well as words.

It's no coincidence that his numbers are falling the nastier his attack dogs get.

Some interesting reads from the intellectual giants of Fox News' audience e-mailed to the network's lone liberal who kindly shares these gems ;

From: Linda
Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2008 11:49 PM
To: Alan
Subject: Hannity

Dont you wish you were Hannity, so people would like you?

From: Caleb
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 9:51 PM
To: Alan
Subject: question
Dear Dillhole,
I’m just wondering how many times you had ass whipped as a kid. How many wedgies did you get on a daily basis, you ignorant coward. Grow some balls, you neutered cat. I sit at home and imagine that your whole bit MUST be an act. What intellectual midget can’t see the truth about Obama, and worse yet makes excuses for a man who likes spending time with shimmering jewels of anarchistic terrorists like Ayers. You have got to be getting paid to act a fool. Please tell me it’s just an act, because if it isn’t, wouldn’t you just be better off in a communist or socialistic country

and for more laughs

Bill Kristol is the Man Behind Genius "Sarah Palin as VP" Concept. . .

George Packer knows Bill Kristol only too well. In a recent article, Packer sets out the Republican analyst and NYT writer's agenda in this election in three easy steps :

There's no doubt that the Alaskan pitbull has brought an interesting element to the election (as well as giving SNL their allotted year's worth of funnies. But how much can Kristol, who after all, is a commentator and political analyst, not a politician, sway the course of the election so much as to "handpick" the VP candidate for the GOP?

Bill Kristol is the best opponent of Bill Kristol: he makes sure that his ties and accomplishments are always underplayed. Remember that Kristol is the same guy who praised President Bush's inaugural speech without revealing that he helped right it. Cramazing.

So essentially, Kristol is Keyser Söze: and the best trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he was just a politics commentator, not politics-maker.

Yup, that pretty much sums up my earlier comment about the kind of audience that's often attracted to the sensationalist TV news and current affairs programs run by networks such as Fox'.  While many are obviously not of this ilk, this element of ill-informed uneducated dimwits certainly do nothing to help all Americans avoid being 'tarred with the same brush'... because it is not the educated and rational who get published/on air, but rather this 'rotten egg' part of US society that the commercial networks see fit to promote and sensationalise to boost ratings

Worse still, it would be this radical 'no clue' element that'd be crying the loudest if they elected McCain/Palin to office and it all went wrong... and of course, Fox and the like will be there to record/air their irrational knee-jerk reactions/comments for posterity/all the World to see... wouldn't matter that their sick idea of 'entertainment value' would tarnish the image of millions  of rational and decent minded Americans on the 'World stage', purely and simply because it's sensational and jacks up the ratings/advertising revenues.

Jafo was right, piles are contagious when arseholes are in control.  Thing is, politicians are not the only ones Americans need to sort out.  There's plenty of corporate high flyers and media moguls who need a good swift kick in the bollocks to bring 'em back to earth as well... though I believe Fox is owned by Australian arsehole, Rupert Murdoch.  Never mind, he resides in the US now, and you have our full consent to kick him in the cobblers.

it amazes me how some of my best friends on this site and i are at polar opposites of the political spectrum. it's a good thing we live in america where we can have such views and not risk jail time.

This is the highlight of the whole thread! Well said.