Do you know the difference? RPG or a Bong?

[DKW 86 7,429]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmart..._then_some.html

May 25, 2007

McCain responds and then some

McCain responds to Obama in tough enough, if predictable, language:

"While Senator Obama's two years in the U.S. Senate certainly entitle him to vote against funding our troops, my service and experience combined with conversations with military leaders on the ground in Iraq lead me to believe that we must give this new strategy a chance to succeed because the consequences of failure would be catastrophic to our nation's security."

But, McCain being McCain, he can't help himself and goes the next step in the statement's kicker:

"By the way, Senator Obama, it's a 'flak' jacket, not a 'flack' jacket."

Which is to say, "there is only one of us in this argument who has ever worn the uniform." (my words)

And if you still don't get it, a McCain aide blows away the anthill with, well, a rocket.

"Obama wouldn't know the difference between an RPG and a bong."

What started it all.

Obama responds to McCain/Mitt jabs, dings McCain

Obama is quickly hitting back at McCain and Romney for the jabs they took on his (and HRC's) vote on the Iraq supplemental.

Check out how he singles out his colleague (who he has previously sparred with over campaign finance reform).

From a paper statement, Obama says:

"This country is united in our support for our troops, but we also owe them a plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else's civil war. Governor Romney and Senator McCain clearly believe the course we are on in Iraq is working, but I do not.

"And if there ever was a reflection of that it's the fact that Senator McCain required a flack jacket, ten armored Humvees, two Apache attack helicopters, and 100 soldiers with rifles by his side to stroll through a market in Baghdad just a few weeks ago.

"Governor Romney and Senator McCain are still supporting a war that has cost us thousands of lives, made us less safe in the world, and resulted in a resurgence of al-Qaeda. It is time to end this war so that we can redeploy our forces to focus on the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and all those who plan to do us harm."

[TexasTiger 12,956]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmart..._then_some.html

May 25, 2007

McCain responds and then some

McCain responds to Obama in tough enough, if predictable, language:

"While Senator Obama's two years in the U.S. Senate certainly entitle him to vote against funding our troops, my service and experience combined with conversations with military leaders on the ground in Iraq lead me to believe that we must give this new strategy a chance to succeed because the consequences of failure would be catastrophic to our nation's security."

But, McCain being McCain, he can't help himself and goes the next step in the statement's kicker:

"By the way, Senator Obama, it's a 'flak' jacket, not a 'flack' jacket."

Which is to say, "there is only one of us in this argument who has ever worn the uniform." (my words)

And if you still don't get it, a McCain aide blows away the anthill with, well, a rocket.

"Obama wouldn't know the difference between an RPG and a bong."

What started it all.

Obama responds to McCain/Mitt jabs, dings McCain

Obama is quickly hitting back at McCain and Romney for the jabs they took on his (and HRC's) vote on the Iraq supplemental.

Check out how he singles out his colleague (who he has previously sparred with over campaign finance reform).

From a paper statement, Obama says:

"This country is united in our support for our troops, but we also owe them a plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else's civil war. Governor Romney and Senator McCain clearly believe the course we are on in Iraq is working, but I do not.

"And if there ever was a reflection of that it's the fact that Senator McCain required a flack jacket, ten armored Humvees, two Apache attack helicopters, and 100 soldiers with rifles by his side to stroll through a market in Baghdad just a few weeks ago.

"Governor Romney and Senator McCain are still supporting a war that has cost us thousands of lives, made us less safe in the world, and resulted in a resurgence of al-Qaeda. It is time to end this war so that we can redeploy our forces to focus on the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and all those who plan to do us harm."

According the New Oxford American Dictionary, both spellings are okay. The Army Times used "flack" here:

For generations, soldiers have come back from war with mementos of time spent in battle: The canteen that got them through long days in the Vietnamese jungle; the Lugar they wrested from the German who jumped into their foxhole; the torn flack jacket that showed they were among the lucky who survived the D-Day invasion of the Normandy beaches.

They are physical memories that mean something only to the individual soldier, something to point out to his grandchildren as a symbol of what he was in youth and what he went through for his country.

http://www.armytimes.com/legacy/new/0-ARMYPAPER-816759.php

That said, his staff handles his press releases. Mr. Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, on the other hand, makes his gaffes all by himself:

But McCain has apparently traded straight talk for the Alice in Wonderland fiction that has been the primary sustenance of the die-hard Republican base ever since the Bush administration hit the political skids post-Katrina. For McCain, I think a certain stroll through a Baghdad marketplace will be remembered as the beginning of the end for a man who was willing to sacrifice the truth, and the lives of Iraqis, for his own political gain.

McCain, of course, was trying to defend his earlier remark that Baghdad had become a relatively safe city in the wake of President Bush’s troop escalation, a decision that McCain supports. To prove his point, he turned a visit to Iraq into one of the worst photo opportunities in recent political history as he walked through a supposedly safe Baghdad market, clad in full battle armor, surrounded by American troops and with U.S. gunships hovering overhead for protection.

McCain’s stunt had immediate consequences for the poor Iraqi shopkeepers who served as backdrops for McCain’s footage. The next day, Iraqi insurgents, in a clear response to McCain’s presence, blew up the very market, killing 21 of the shopkeepers who had gawked at the senator just the day before. It was just days later, of course, that the insurgents penetrated the Green Zone in order to bomb the Iraqi Parliament, killing or wounding several Iraqis.

http://www.timberjay.com/current.php?article=3248

McCain's instatiable ambition has made him one of the most tragic figures in politics. A one-time straight talking maverick is now just a political hack like almost everyone else.

[AURaptor 1,125]

TT wrote:

" McCain's instatiable ambition has made him one of the most tragic figures in politics. A one-time straight talking maverick is now just a political hack like almost everyone else."

McCain never was a 'straight talker'. That's just some moniker that the Press gave him when they were hoping he'd beat Bush back in the '00 elections. He hasn't changed, only the feelings toward him by the Press.

[TexasTiger 12,956]

TT wrote:

" McCain's instatiable ambition has made him one of the most tragic figures in politics. A one-time straight talking maverick is now just a political hack like almost everyone else."

McCain never was a 'straight talker'. That's just some moniker that the Press gave him when they were hoping he'd beat Bush back in the '00 elections. He hasn't changed, only the feelings toward him by the Press.

McCain meant this:

Senator John McCain, in a provocative and politically risky speech, sharply criticized leaders of the religious right on Monday as "agents of intolerance" allied to his rival, Governor George W. Bush, and denounced what he said were the tactics of "division and slander."

Specifically, Mr. McCain singled out the evangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "corrupting influences on religion and politics" and said parts of the religious right were divisive and even un-American.

By launching the unsparing attack from Virginia — a stronghold of the religious right — the Arizona senator effectively ceded any chance of finding serious support from within a major Republican constituency.

Now he kisses up to the religious right.

[drewau02 0]

I have no idea why this debate has descended into a game of semantics. Flap jacket, flack jacket, who really cares? Mr. Audacity of Hope was out of line to refer to John McCain in his speech. I know that he was trying to make a point of McCain using the jackets and the escort as further proof that Iraq is worse of now and more dangerous than it's ever been. However, Mr. Audacity of Hope should recognize that John McCain has 20+ years more military experience than Obama, has 5+ years of war experience over Obama, and has been to Iraq more times than Obama. He should have made another reference to Iraq being unsafe. He should have kept his mouth shut about McCain. He could have made his point without it. Some quotes from the so called journalist you cited I would like to point out.

For McCain, I think a certain stroll through a Baghdad marketplace will be remembered as the beginning of the end for a man who was willing to sacrifice the truth, and the lives of Iraqis, for his own political gain.

Your authors transparent bias is laughable. His argument would be a little more credible if he didn't make a reference to "Bush and his cronies" or that conservatives need their own little spin machine because they can't handle the truth reported to you by the mainstream media. So this so called journalist really believes that McCain will be perceived as sacrificing innocent Iraqi's for hiw own political gain. Why would this be the perception when McCain has been a staunch proponent of the war since day one? Why would this be the perception when McCain was one of the first prominent Republicans to condemn the prosecution of the war and Donald Rumsfeld? And hell, it's not like supporting the war in Iraq today is a political winner for anybody. More importantly, this so called journalist fails to take into account that the beginning of the end for John McCain was his sponsorship of McCain/Feingold and his supporty of amnesty for illegal aliens. That will be the end of him in the Republican Party anyway.

McCain’s stunt had immediate consequences for the poor Iraqi shopkeepers who served as backdrops for McCain’s footage. The next day, Iraqi insurgents, in a clear response to McCain’s presence, blew up the very market, killing 21 of the shopkeepers who had gawked at the senator just the day before. It was just days later, of course, that the insurgents penetrated the Green Zone in order to bomb the Iraqi Parliament, killing or wounding several Iraqis

If this so called journalist was really worried about the "poor Iraqi shopkeepers," and innocent Iraqis, does he not comprehend the bloodbath that will engulf all of Iraq if the US and coalition forces make a precipitous withdrawal. We should give the surge a chance to work and if it fails, then we should adopt the Joe Biden plan and partition Iraq, in my opinion.

McCain's instatiable ambition has made him one of the most tragic figures in politics. A one-time straight talking maverick is now just a political hack like almost everyone else.

You've got a decent point there. McCain's runing for the Republican nomination and has to pander to the Christian right, a movement that he has never embraced. That's one of the many reasons why he will never win the nomination and be president. However, to say he's a tragic figure in politics is a bit much. He's had a distinguished career in the House and Senate, he's done things his own way for the most part, which is unusual for most politicians. Regardless on McCain, the so called journalist you just cited is a bigger political hack than McCain, me, you, or anyone else on this board. His bias is a tad bit obvious.

[TexasTiger 12,956]

McCain's instatiable ambition has made him one of the most tragic figures in politics. A one-time straight talking maverick is now just a political hack like almost everyone else.

You've got a decent point there. McCain's runing for the Republican nomination and has to pander to the Christian right, a movement that he has never embraced. That's one of the many reasons why he will never win the nomination and be president. However, to say he's a tragic figure in politics is a bit much. He's had a distinguished career in the House and Senate, he's done things his own way for the most part, which is unusual for most politicians. Regardless on McCain, the so called journalist you just cited is a bigger political hack than McCain, me, you, or anyone else on this board. His bias is a tad bit obvious.

I enthusiastically supported McCain in 2000 and voted for him. I say he's tragic because I don't expect much of most politicians. The more you expect, the more they can disappoint. He has moved very far from what I thought he was and what I think he wants to be.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

McCain killed any chance he had of getting the republican nomination by kissing up with Chappaquiddick Ted on the amnesty bill.

BTW, it is called a flak jacket. Flack is what you catch from grizzled old sergeants for not wearing your flak jacket in a combat area.

[DKW 86 7,429]

Flack? That was not an article, it was more than likely a letter. I counted 11 punctuation and spelling errors in that without even trying.

Tex, you lose on the Army Times thing. Even for a WWII piece it was called a flak jacket.

Obama is plainly getting schooled by his opponents to the be what he really is: The Black George Bush. He is affable, and likeable, telegenic, and CLEARLY in over his head.