Ooooh, BURN!

Reid: "We have Sen. Bennett who is a high-ranking Republican Senator standing before all of you saying, 'We've got a deal in principle. All we have to do is put it down in writing and this is almost over with.' And then Guess Who came to town, and that completely fell apart.

...people who constructively engaged in the process were castigated in the Republican Caucus by people who aren't here a lot, at least a person who isn't here a lot of time..."

Now for MY top issue

Okay, it's too hard to narrow down, but I guess my biggest concern in the forthcoming election is the future of this country. Economically, socially, politically. Barack Obama is my President and speaks to my concern.

McCain--nothing against the guy--but... he doesn't even use a computer. How is he supposed to lead us into the future?

What's your top issue?

When I talk to people who say they are going to vote for McCain, I ask them their top three issues. The one recurring issue I hear from McCain voters is "national security". The perception seems to be: McCain = military experience = Commander-in-Chief.

The perception from this side of the fence is:
Barack Obama has held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations and Veterans' Affairs and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama has made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He majored in political science with an emphasis in international relations. (Not to mention, of course a law degree.) The guy is Smart (that's with a capital "S") and I don't think even McCain supporters would put McCain on par with Obama as far as intelligence. (Courage and moxie, sure)

Disclosure: McCain had stints on the Armed Services Committee, Commerce Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee.

What I thought was really interesting and revealing, though, are the answers of each of the candidates to the question "If you become President and knew Bin Laden was in Pakistan, would you send US troops in after him?"

Watch the video, but in short:

Obama: "if we have Bin Laden in our sights... we take him out"
McCain: "I'm not going to go there. Pakistan is a sovereign nation"

I am all for the Rule of Law, but international law also says the U.S. could pursue bin Laden in Pakistan as an act of self-defense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_SOvB5VNvY

Grandpa's story time

Tonight is an historic night. Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee...the first African American presidential nominee. (We here at PD & J know deep down that it was this blog's endorsement that put him over the top. NBC news projected that we are worth 0.0001 super delegates.) However, one man tried to get in on this historic night, crash the party if you will: John McCain.

We were just watching his speech in Louisiana. Despite what the talking heads on cable news say, it was an awful speech. Both Hillary and Barack are head and shoulders above him in terms of their ability to inspire. To me, it sounded like an old man reading a story to a child. That's partly because he WAS reading it. And it was almost as if there were cues to him for different forms of nonverbal communication, gestures. *Smile here* *Chuckle here* *Nod head knowingly here* *Shake head for affect here*

Luckily, MSNBC cut him off early to announce that Obama had essentially won the nomination by garnering enough of the vote in South Dakota.

Also, it reminded me of the Andy Dick bit where he played Bush's speech writer. Watch it!