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Mudslinging on all sides

Posted: Thursday, September 06, 2007 5:18 PM by Cathy Finkler

"Hardball" host Chris Matthews gives his take on the day's top political headlines.

Obama takes on Hillary, Vitter takes on Craig 
Barack Obama has just started to call Hillary's bluff.  She brags about her experience.  He says it's not about "living" in the White House. It's about serving in "elected" positions. Obama also says, “I've been in elected office longer than John Edwards or Hillary Clinton.... I've passed more bills, I'm sure, than either of them."

Hillary refuted his claim saying, "Barack's problem, obviously, is that his claim to all this 'experience' undermines his louder claim to being the 'new kid on the block' - the young fellow un-scathed by all the slime in the political world."

Obama and Clinton aren’t the only politicians taking harsh digs at one another.  David Vitter, who got caught with a prostitute, spoke out against Sen. Larry Craig’s resignation woes.  Vitter denies there's a double standard that lets him stay in the senate while Craig gets the bum's rush for seeking sex with a male undercover detective.  He says anybody who says there's a double standard is just being "partisan," whatever that means.

Also on the Larry Craig front, some of his backers are now calling for a boycott of the Minneapolis airport. They want to "punish" the airport for "ambushing" their fellow.   To paraphrase Larry, "that naughty, nasty airport."

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Is it just me or does the Larry Craig saga remind anyone else of that Seinfeld episode with Elaine and the toilet paper?  So what is the proper etiquette for dealing with a toilet paper shortage in a public restroom?
1.  Maintain a "closed stance".  2.  In a loud but firm voice say:  "Excuse me, but I'm a heterosexual man in need of toilet paper.  Will someone please contact the janitor?  And don't expect me to give or receive any visual cues as it pertains to this request."  3.  If no one responds, you've already finished reading the newspaper by now anyway...
Hillary's experience consists of being old. She's had a lot of opportunities but accomplished little.
Great show tonight...O'Donnell's twins are precious!
To be up front and honest, I am leaning toward supporting Barack Obama for President in 2008. Why you may ask? Out of all the other candidates (Democrat and Republican), I feel he would be the best person for the job during this time in our history.

While all the candidates claim that they are the ones that can bring the country back together, Senator Obama comes off as being the one that would actually enjoy doing just that.

Why do I say that? During Sunday's Democratic Debate, Senator Obama was bombarded with criticism over the lack of experience he's had.
Senator Obama didn't avoid the questions; he didn't change the subject as so many politicians do, he responded instead, with a little humor, "To prepare for this debate, I rode in the bumper cars at the state fair." This one statement reminded me so much of a typical Ronald Reagan response, the kind that would always bring a smile to our enemies face.

Contesting the idea that he's not ready to be president, he used facts, he said: "Nobody had more experience than Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and many of the people on this stage that authorized this war" in Iraq. He added a bit later, "The thing I wish had happened (with respect to Iraq) was that all the people on this stage had asked questions before they authorized us getting in.”
The words that were sort of the tipping point for me were, "It is my belief that we need a fundamental change if we're going to dig ourselves out of the hole that George Bush has placed us in. And that's going to require the kind of aggressive diplomacy — preparation, yes, but aggressive diplomacy, the personal diplomacy of the next president — to transform how the world sees us. That is ultimately going to make us safer,” Obama said.
At no other time during this or any other debate have I heard, even one of the other candidates, Democrat or Republican, be concerned about how the World sees us.  This man cares about America and her reputation.  
America’s future depends on how others view her; with respect of course, but also, a bit of envy.
At this moment in time, out of all the candidates running for President (I'm a huge fan/supporter of General Wesley Clark), Senator Obama’s got my vote.
http://www.freewebs.com/coonsey/




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