Chicago Tribune, Washington Post endorses Barack Obama

[brogers]

The bottom line is: Does it matter which paper endorses which candidate?

How about: Do you want the same government that virtually destroyed the mortgage industry running the healthcare industry? Do you want more spending and more taxes in bad economic times? Can you tax your way to success?

Obama is not Bill Clinton.

 

[min0 lee]

The bottom line is: Does it matter which paper endorses which candidate?

How about: Do you want the same government that virtually destroyed the mortgage industry running the healthcare industry? Do you want more spending and more taxes in bad economic times? Can you tax your way to success?

Obama is not Bill Clinton.

I thought it made for an interesting conversation piece, while I respect yours and others opinion here at IM you have to give these journalist some credit.
You do have your papers that have an agendas..........

I also started a similar thread with McCain.......for some reason no one really cared to post in it.

 

[busyLivin]

Amazing, how everyone including those here at IM fell in love with Palin....she's now looked as a mistake.

Couldn't be further from the truth my friend.. That's just the way the media & the left have painted her.

I'd personally still prefer her on the top of the ticket, and I'm not alone. She's not experienced, but more than Obama is.. the fact that the left made this about her experience boggles me... it's comical.

Palin was on SNL last night very briefly.. and they got the highest rating they have had in 14 years. Palin was a mistake?

This was Obama's election to win or lose.. Palin will not cause him to lose.. She's brought enormous attention to the campaign & she's an intriguing figure.. and I bet if Obama wins, Palin will be the Republican candidate in 2012. The left would have been ruthless regardless.. she didn't cost him the election at all.


And the tribune endorsement was a joke. They said the Palin nomination made their decision easy.. as if experience was on Obama's side to begin with: that's laughable.

 

[busyLivin]

Hulu - Saturday Night Live: Update: Palin Rap

 

[brogers]

The Sarah Palin crap is getting old. I wonder what the media would be doing if she made dumbass statements like these:

YouTube Video

btw, Katie Couric was silent on that idiocy.

YouTube Video

 

[brogers]

To be clear on the first video: FDR was not president when the stock market crashed and television was not available to the public.

Biden is a moron or a liar (both?)

 

[Big Smoothy]

The bottom line is: Does it matter which paper endorses which candidate?

No.

Not to me at least.

I find it kind of arrogant, but it's good to know where a publication stands.

I don't care who endorses who, really.

It's about what the voters endorse by voting. And hopefully all votes will be counted and there won't be election fraud again.

 

[Splash Log]

Wow IM must be evolving, I thought this thread was a shoe in to degenerate into another, Blacks are only voting for Obama because he is black.

 

[min0 lee]

Couldn't be further from the truth my friend.. That's just the way the media & the left have painted her.

I'd personally still prefer her on the top of the ticket, and I'm not alone. She's not experienced, but more than Obama is.. the fact that the left made this about her experience boggles me... it's comical.

Palin was on SNL last night very briefly.. and they got the highest rating they have had in 14 years. Palin was a mistake?

This was Obama's election to win or lose.. Palin will not cause him to lose.. She's brought enormous attention to the campaign & she's an intriguing figure.. and I bet if Obama wins, Palin will be the Republican candidate in 2012. The left would have been ruthless regardless.. she didn't cost him the election at all.


And the tribune endorsement was a joke. They said the Palin nomination made their decision easy.. as if experience was on Obama's side to begin with: that's laughable.

It's not just the left who feel this way, a few political Cons. feel the same.....look at Powell for instance.

The ratings on SNL does not indicate anything at all, perhaps most of us were expecting to see a train wreck in slow-motion.

Biden does makes his gaffes but try watching Palin unedited, she's pretty but she babbles.

 

[min0 lee]

Ouch

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for president

BY RICHARD SISK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Updated Monday, October 20th 2008, 12:26 AM

WASHINGTON - Colin Powell, the former Bush administration secretary of state and first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, endorsed Barack Obama Sunday as the "transformational" candidate best suited to reverse the failed policies of President Bush.

"He is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason, I'll be voting for Sen. Barack Obama," Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

John McCain was his friend, and "it isn't easy for me" to go against him, the retired Army four-star general and Vietnam vet from the Bronx said.

But Powell said he had been turned off by McCain's negative ads and attempts to tie Obama to former Weather Underground radical William Ayers.



"I understand what politics is about - I know how you can go after one another, and that's good," Powell said. "But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for."

"Sen. McCain says he [Ayers] is a washed-up old terrorist," Powell said. "Then why does he keep talking about him?"

Powell said race was not a factor in his choice of Obama.

"If I had only had that in mind, I could have done this six, eight, 10 months ago," Powell said, but, "I can't deny that it will be a historic event when an African-American becomes President."



Powell also questioned McCain's judgment in picking Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) as his running mate.

"I don't believe she's ready to be President of the United States, which is the job of the vice president," Powell said. "And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Sen. McCain made."

But after long consideration, and a max contribution of $2,300 to McCain last year, Powell said he went with Obama as the best hope for restoring America's world image - which he said had been damaged by the "unilateral" policies of Bush.

"I think what the President has to do is to start using the power of the Oval Office and the power of his personality to convince the American people and to convince the world that America is solid, America is going to move forward - restoring a sense of purpose," Powell said.



"We need a President that will not just continue - even with a new face and some changes and some maverick aspects - will not just continue basically the policies that we have been following in recent years," he added.

Powell's support came hours after the Daily News endorsed the Illinois Democrat.

Obama lauded Powell for lending his seal of approval, which appears to undercut one of McCain's core arguments that his rival lacked the experience to be commander in chief.

"I am beyond honored and deeply humbled," said Obama, who noted Powell knows "that this is a moment where we all need to come together as one nation."

McCain professed to be unconcerned, saying he had the support of four other former secretaries of state, including Henry Kissinger. "This doesn't surprise me," McCain said on on "Fox News Sunday."

Powell said the nation's economic crisis provided a "final exam" for the two candidates, and McCain had flunked.

"In the case of Mr. McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as to how to deal with the economic problems that we were having," Powell said.

rsisk@nydailynews.com

 

[min0 lee]

Analysis

Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama is a vote against GOP

BY THOMAS M. DEFRANK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

Monday, October 20th 2008, 1:06 AM

WASHINGTON - Colin Powell's endorsement was the Super Bowl of political symbolism, and not simply because he and Barack Obama share the same skin color.

Despite all his warm words for John McCain, for the most part an ideological soul mate whose military valor he particularly esteems, Powell delivered a powerful critique of what he believes is a small, mean, divisive campaign McCain and his partisans have waged.

"It was one of those 'Voice of God' moments," a Republican political operative said, speculating that Powell might embolden other GOP moderates to come forward and back Obama.



His endorsement is devastating not just because he validated Obama with independent and undecided voters.

He also made clear his belief - despite McCain's "I'm not President Bush" disclaimer at last week's debate - that a McCain presidency would be an unwelcome policy rerun of the discredited Bush-Cheney years.

As a figure of towering moral authority widely admired by many Americans, Powell also struck a powerful blow for the forces of moderation and civility by repudiating the tactics of the McCain campaign.



With an understated touch, Powell deftly skewered the politics of mean - not so much on McCain personally as on the GOP as a whole.

"He encapsulated the angst and unease of many party faithful over the choice they've been presented," said a GOP centrist worried about the ticket's hard-right tilt.

His withering smackdown of Sarah Palin voiced what many Republican Party elders believe but won't say publicly for fear of retribution: The Alaska governor is a political phenom with a bright future, but an unqualified candidate chosen to pander to the Republican base.

"Colin would never say this," a Powell confidant told the Daily News, "but I know he believes John wants the presidency too much and has sold his soul to the polarizers."

tdefrank@nydailynews.com

 

[min0 lee]

Palin was on SNL last night very briefly..

It was actually pretty funny.

 

[busyLivin]

It's not just the left who feel this way, a few political Cons. feel the same.....look at Powell for instance..

Powell was rumored to be supporting Obama well before Palin came into the picture. Again, she's just being used to take the fall... and he's an ass for using it.

Anyone who can say she's too inexperienced while Obama isn't is a fool.

 

[min0 lee]

Powell was rumored to be supporting Obama well before Palin came into view. Again, she's just being used to take the fall.

Don't get me wrong, I do like her but I agree with what people say she needs a little more experience....she has a bright future ahead of her. She just needs to make her own path.

Plus she's very easy on the eyes.

 

[busyLivin]

Don't get me wrong, I do like her but I agree with what people say she needs a little more experience....she has a bright future ahead of her. She just needs to make her own path.

Plus she's very easy on the eyes.

She does need more experience, but I still say she has more than Obama. He went on a little European field trip a couple months ago & suddenly he's qualified?

Besides, she's on the bottom of the ticket while he's at the top. This whole argument is ridiculous.


Either way, I think she's been setup great for not only the nomination in 2012, but the Presidency if (when) Obama wins.

 

[min0 lee]

Here's the transcript

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama Sunday during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama," Powell said.

Powell spoke to reporters afterward outside NBC.

The following is a transcript of that conversation.

Reporter: Do you think that Sen. Obama will be a better transitional president than potentially Sen. McCain?

Colin Powell: I think that Sen. Obama brings a fresh set of of eyes, a fresh set of ideas to the table. I think that Sen. McCain, as gifted as he is, is essentially going to execute the Republican agenda, the orthodoxy of the Republican agenda with a new face and with a maverick approach to it. And he'd be quite good at it. But I think we need more than that. I think we need a generational change. And I think Sen. Obama has captured the feelings of the young people of America and is reaching out in a more diverse, inclusive way across our society.

Reporter: Could you talk to us about when your decision was made final? When did you finally set your heart on Sen. Obama?

Powell: I have been watching, as I said [on "Meet the Press"], for a long time, and then, within the past couple of months, I really said, you know, you just can't keep watching. You've got to kind of settle down.

And frankly, it was in the period leading up to the conventions, and then the decisions that came out of the conventions, and then just sort of watching the responses of the two individuals on the economic crisis. It gave me an opportunity to evaluate their judgment, to evaluate their way of approaching a problem, to evaluate the steadiness of their actions. And it was at that point that I realized that, to my mind, anyway, that Sen. Obama has demonstrated the kind of calm, patient, intellectual, steady approach to problem-solving that I think we need in this country.

Reporter: Mr. Secretary, there were a number of chinks in your own armor, actually, because of the lead-up to the Iraq war and the events. How much did that play into your decision about this? And will it be taken perhaps by some, because of your previous high-profile position, won't it be taken by some as a repudiation of the Iraq war?

Powell: I don't know why. The Iraq war is the Iraq war. We now see that things are a lot better in Iraq. Maybe if we had put a surge in at the beginning, it would have been a lot better years ago, but it's a lot better now, and we can see ahead to where U.S. forces will start to come out. And so, my concern was not my past or what happened in Iraq, but where we're going in the future. My sole concern was where are we going after January 20 of 2009, not what happened in 2003.

I'm well aware of the role I played. My role has been very, very straightforward. I wanted to avoid a war. The president agreed with me. We tried to do that. We couldn't get it through the U.N. and when the president made the decision, I supported that decision. And I've never blinked from that. I've never said I didn't support a decision to go to war.

And the war looked great until the 9th of April, when the statue fell, everybody thought it was terrific. And it was terrific. The troops had done a great job. But then we failed to understand that the war really was not over, that a new phase of the war was beginning. And we weren't ready for it and we didn't respond to it well enough, and things went very, very -- very, very south, very bad.

And now it's starting to turn around through the work of Gen. Petraeus and the troops, through the work of the Iraqi government, through our diplomatic efforts, and I hope now that this war will be brought to an end, at least as far as American involvement is concerned, and the Iraqis are going to have to be responsible for their own security and for their own political future. ...

Reporter: Sir, what part did McCain's negativity play in your decision, the negative tone of the campaign?

Powell: It troubled me. We have two wars. We have economic problems. We have health problems. We have education problems. We have infrastructure problems. We have problems around the world with our allies. So those are the problems the American people wanted to hear about, not about Mr. Ayers, not about who's a Muslim or who's not a Muslim. Those kinds of images going out on Al-Jazeera are killing us around the world.

And we have got to say to the world, it doesn't make any difference who you are or what you are, if you're an American, you're an American. And this business, for example, of the congressman from Minnesota who's going around saying, "Let's examine all congressmen to see who is pro-America or not pro-America" -- we have got to stop this kind of nonsense, pull ourselves together and remember that our great strength is in our unity and in our diversity. And so, that really was driving me.

And to focus on people like Mr. Ayers and these trivial issues, for the purpose of suggesting that somehow Mr. Obama would have some kind of terrorist inclinations, I thought that was over the top. It was beyond just good political fighting back and forth. I think it went beyond. And to sort of throw in this little Muslim connection, you know, "He's a Muslim and, my goodness, he's a terrorist" -- it was taking root. And we can't judge our people and we can't hold our elections on that kind of basis.

So, yes, that kind of negativity troubled me, And the constant shifting of the argument. I was troubled a couple of weeks ago when in the middle of the crisis, the [McCain] campaign said, "We're going to go negative," and they announced it, "We're going to go negative and attack [Obama's] character through Bill Ayers." Now I guess the message this week is, "We're going to call him a socialist, Mr. Obama is now a socialist, because he dares to suggest that maybe we ought to look at the tax structure that we have."

Taxes are always a redistribution of money. Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who paid them, in roads and airports and hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good. And there is nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more, who should be paying less. And for us to say that that makes you a socialist, I think is an unfortunate characterization that isn't accurate.

I don't want my taxes raised. I don't want anybody else's taxes raised. But I also want to see our infrastructure fixed. I don't want to have a $12 trillion national debt, and I don't want to see an annual deficit that's over $500 billion heading toward a trillion. So, how do we deal with all of this?

Reporter: Are you still a Republican?

Powell: Yes.

Reporter: Have you conveyed your decision to Sen. Obama?

Powell: Calls are being made. Thank you.

 

[brogers]

"Our great strength is our diversity"?

What a joke.

 

[min0 lee]

"Our great strength is our diversity"?

What a joke.

It should be.

 

[tucker01]

It should be.

a joke ?

 

[min0 lee]

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for president

 

[min0 lee]

She does need more experience, but I still say she has more than Obama. He went on a little European field trip a couple months ago & suddenly he's qualified?

Besides, she's on the bottom of the ticket while he's at the top. This whole argument is ridiculous.

maybe not.

There are questions about his health.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/us/politics/20health.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

If elected, Senator John McCain of Arizona, 72, the Republican nominee, would be the oldest man to be sworn in to a first term as president and the first cancer survivor to win the office. The scars on his puffy left cheek are cosmetic reminders of the extensive surgery he underwent in 2000 to remove a malignant melanoma.

 

[min0 lee]

Google CEO Backs Obama
Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will hit the campaign trail this week on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, signaling Mr. Schmidt's push for a greater voice in politics while giving the Obama campaign a boost from a highly desirable constituency.
Although the Internet-search company has numerous issues pending on Capitol Hill, Mr. Schmidt said in an interview that "I'm doing this personally," adding that "Google is officially neutral" in the campaign.

Mr. Schmidt said his planned endorsement of the Illinois senator is a "natural evolution" from his role as an informal adviser to the Obama campaign.

 

[busyLivin]

I don't think for a second that Powell's endorsement was anything other than racial.

 

[min0 lee]

I don't think for a second that Powell's endorsement was anything other than racial.

Bros before Heroes?

 

[bio-chem]

I don't think for a second that Powell's endorsement was anything other than racial.

i disagree. I think powell agrees with republican ideals, but has been disillusioned with republican foreign policy. i don't think it was so much a racial decision with powell. i think he is just ticked at how things went so he is choosing change for the sake of change. regardless of how it plays out.

 

[busyLivin]

Bros before Heroes?

I haven't heard that yet.. pretty funny...

 

[min0 lee]

I don't think for a second that Powell's endorsement was anything other than racial.

Limbaugh Implies Powell Only Endorsed Obama Because He's Black

Political Punch

 

[min0 lee]

i disagree. I think powell agrees with republican ideals, but has been disillusioned with republican foreign policy. i don't think it was so much a racial decision with powell. i think he is just ticked at how things went so he is choosing change for the sake of change. regardless of how it plays out.

Say what?

 

[busyLivin]

Pretty funny how everyone, Powell included, are hammering McCain for his attack ads..saying he's running such an ugly campaign, yet give "The One" a pass. Most people probably don't know about the absolutely despicable spanish ad Obama ran in New Mexico.

Find it if you can..tries to stir up a racial backlash with blatant horrible lies. Ignoring the possible consequences of igniting further racism, he thought it would benefit him. How McCain's attack on Obama for Ayers, Wright, Rezko are worse than this is beyond me... and Powell is full of shit (or just a moron) for ignoring it.

I would love for McCain to win to send a big collective FUCK YOU to the media, hollywood, and the rest of the looney left.

 

[min0 lee]

I don't think for a second that Powell's endorsement was anything other than racial.

Bush looks blacker than him.....damn Oreos.