McCain as Everyman is a media distortion

Discussion: 20 comments so far…

1. By neiman1

   8/5/08 at 5:09 a.m.

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   I doubt that McCain plays golf. It's hard to swing with one arm destroyed by torture. The man was offered early release his first year in Hanoi prison because he was the Admirals son and he refused. He told them he would go home when the rest were released and spent 5 years in that Hell hole being tortured and disabled. Then he flew home with his men. The author of this letter is correct, he is elite, he is not everyman, the is an American Hero and shows a courage I am not sure many could measure up to. The author of this letter should feel his shame, that's not politics, thats history.

2. By mwh710

   8/5/08 at 5:59 a.m.

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   Oh get over it already. OK, he was a hostage, and did America proud while he served. It does not make him capable of leading this nation. McSame is an Oil-war-monger just like Bushy-wushy & Cheny-weiney. No respect for the middle class, elitist greedy pompus asses all of them. You'd have to be an idiot to fall for McShames bulls**t.

3. By sooo_gothic

   8/5/08 at 8:26 a.m.

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   I also don't think that the author of this article was denigrating McCain for being a POW nor did it mention that he played golf.
   In fact the main point seemed to be that he did have it pretty easy in the Navy until he became a POW. He did his men proud, but the focus is that McCain had his officer's stripes handed to him. Obama has had to work to get everything. That's all, and no shame in pointing that out.

4. By neiman1

   8/5/08 at 9:19 a.m.

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   What does he mean when he attacks McCain as not everyman and then points out Obama doesn't belong to a country club or even play golf. That's like saying Obama was talking about race when he says McCain is going to say he doesn't look like all the other Presidents on the dollar bill. It's all stage craft. The Obama policy can be found in the daily polls.

5. By ksand99

   8/5/08 at 10:07 a.m.

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   An American Hero? I praise John McCain for his bravery under pressure and no man should be forced to endure such conditions.

   A hero would have come home and struggled to end such barbaric treatment of prisoners of war.

   He came home and voted against a ban on waterboarding, even saying that waterboarding was "very exquisite torture!"

   What kind of a man does that?

   He deserves our respect for his service to our country, and he deserves our derision for selling-out to the worst of the right!

   Voting with Bush 95% of the time? Adopting Bush's ecnomic policies, Bush's tax policies, Bush's torture policies?

   This man is no maverick, he's George Bush in 20 years!

6. By William

   8/5/08 at 10:29 a.m.

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   neiman1, McCain uses one arm.
   I get it. SO WHAT?

   Along with thousands of other unlucky servicemen who were captured and tortured.

   Bravery is saying
   "Torture is wrong and I will not torture my enemies, even though I was tortured."

   Cowardice is saying,
   "Even though torture destroyed my body for no good reason and even though torture forced me to tell lies, I gladly give my consent that others be tortured.

   McCain is no hero.

7. By jfnance32

   8/5/08 at 10:31 a.m.

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   Obama is not elitist.

   He only said about a good chunck of Americans voters, "They are gun carrying religion loving bitter folk."

   Naw.....he is not elitist....not even one inch.

8. By thebs

   8/5/08 at 11:13 a.m.

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   Nance, If you're going to take the time to use quotes, at least get his words right.

   Instead, you warp his actual words to fit your agenda.

   Some might call that "partisan."

9. By thebs

   8/5/08 at 11:19 a.m.

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   "But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

   That's his ACTUAL quote, for those who are too lazy to look it up.

10. By jfnance32

    8/5/08 at 12:19 p.m.

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    You are right this does not sound elitist one single bit.

    "So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations"

    Not elitist there....not somebody standing high above looking down at those bitter people and explaining that they are bitter for not voting for him. Obama is so smart that he can read their minds and dismiss their religion and policitical beliefs as minor mental problems.

    Nope...not elitist one inch.

11. By JohnF

    8/5/08 at 1:17 p.m.

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    jfnance,

    It's obvious you're missing Obama's point. He's saying (in the complete quote posted by thebs) that these are precisely the people who need our attention and our consideration and that he's not surprised they've put their faith in things other than government because it's government (whatever the party) that has consistently let them down. It's a call to the Democratic party to be LESS elitist and to concern itself with the problems of everyday people who have heretofore been abandoned.

    These people are not bitter for not voting for Obama as you suggest. They are bitter because politician after politician, Republicans and Democrats alike, have paid nothing but lip service to their real and persistent problems. Obama means to change that. Can you say the same about McCain?

    Of course, that realization requires a little more than a 15 second sound bite, so it doesn't get much play in the mainstream media.

12. By PatriciaLV

    8/5/08 at 1:39 p.m.

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    No, jf, it DOESN'T sound "elitist" to me. It also doesn't sound like he's dismissing their religion OR their political beliefs at all.

    I thought you might actually understand "nuance" or "context". My bad, I suppose.

13. By thebs

    8/5/08 at 1:47 p.m.

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    Unfortunately, the realization also requires we strip away the Nance-ifcation of Obama's actual words.

14. By jfnance32

    8/5/08 at 4:42 p.m.

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    "that these are precisely the people who need our attention "

    Yes those poor poor bitter gun carrying God loving people need our liberal attention to set them straight.

15. By JohnF

    8/5/08 at 4:51 p.m.

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    Nance,

    Don't be such a willful moron. Not to "set them straight." To address their "real and persistent problems."

16. By jfnance32

    8/5/08 at 5:45 p.m.

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    I think I can read....perhaps Obama the Almighty can teach me to read.

    He clearly said that the dumb bitter folk do not know how to deal with problems. Pope Obama said those bitter folks (just by pure chance bitter people are the same people who do not vote for Obama) deal with problems by clinging to guns and religion.

    Perhaps you can tell me why the bitter folk (they are so dumb they forget to vote for Obama) cling to guns and religion. I need to be know.

    The bitter people do not have the super brain skills that the super Obama followers have.

    It seems like Obama thinks that guns and religion are bad. Otherwise clinging to them would be a positive thing. Are clinging to guns and religion a bad thing? The bitter folk need some education from the superior Obama.

    Perhaps, Obama is speaking in a language that is beyond the dumb bitter people's understanding.

    Can he please educate the bitter? The bitter people need to be saved by Obama the Messiah. They need the Almighty Obama to teach them not to cling to guns and religion. The bitter dumb need to be freed from their bitterness.

    I am just waiting for Obama to enlighten the world with his wisdom that must have came down from God.

17. By sooo_gothic

    8/5/08 at 7:03 p.m.

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    wow points for redundancy....wow points for redundancy...wow. oh wait just clinging to guns and religion CAN be a bad thing. Let me think who else has been clinging to guns and religion during hard times...oh YEAH, al Quaida. Both items are not necessarily bad, but overreliance on them is. Anything can be taken too far. I back up what thebs and John said that these people are bitter at being promised the sun before election day, only to be left in the dark until another election comes around. this precisely plays into his message of change. He doesn't want to just promise things, he wants to follow through with them. I mean jeez is this the only thing in the hopper for you guys, or should we rehash some of the highlights of the current president...
    Is our children learning?
    [to the head of state of Brazil] oh, you have black people too?
    I mean I can keep going...
    oh what about how he's the Decider, and yet he couldn't decide for a full 7 minutes what to do when he heard that the US was under attack?

    So please if you want to crucify someone for one phrase, then be prepared to reap the wind, because McCain has said things too.

18. By jfnance32

    8/5/08 at 9:14 p.m.

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    "Let me think who else has been clinging to guns and religion during hard times...oh YEAH, al Quaida."

    Wow....Obama believes people who cling to guns and religion are like the terrorist al qaeda.

    I guess he is not trying to get those votes.

    Thinks for education me on that point.

19. By mschaffer

    8/5/08 at 9:37 p.m.

    Comment removed by staff.

20. By William

    8/6/08 at 1:35 p.m.

    Comment removed by staff.

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