Dirty politics from Camp Obama

The Orange Party

Thank goodness there's someone else out there who has seen through the Obama sham.
I've been highlighting it all for months and the US blogsphere is awash with all sorts of very significant revelations, none of which have been picked up the the MSM.
So far it's just a few voices in the UK - maybe we could start a movement?

Brian O'Connor

Interesting . . . I'd read the MSM's (and I guess Obama's) characterization of "the" meeting after Mr. Taheri broke the story, and it didn't dawn on me that there might have been two.

I'm looking forward to this playing out further.

ndm

Melanie Phillips writes:

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July. Actually, it is Tapper and Camp Obama from whom explanation should be demanded. Sharp-eyed readers will already have spotted the flaw in their response. Taheri’s story referred to a 'private' meeting. Tapper’s story - and Camp Obama’s response quoting all those people who were reportedly also present - refers to an entirely different meeting.

Sharp-eyed readers will already have spotted the flaw in her response. Taheri uses the word "private" precisely once in the two articles referred to by Melanie Phillips. The opening paragraph of Taheri’s first article states:

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

Sharp-eyed readers will already have spotted that this paragraph does not mention a "private" meeting - it merely contrasts "campaigning in public" with "trying in private." I would certainly include a meeting between a US Congressional Delegation as "trying in private" as opposed to "campaigning in public." Indeed, really sharp-eyed readers might want to ponder over Taheri’s use of the plural when he writes "Iraqi leaders."

The gist of the matter is that readers, no matter how sharp-eyed they were, could never have intuited Melanie Phillips' apology out of her earlier comment - based as it is on a private communication with Amir Taheri and reading commenter Mike in San Antonia's thoughts on Taheri's story.

Curiously, Amir Taheri never documented in either of his articles the private meetings Melanie Phillips now declares central to the story. A real journalist would have made them central to his article - but then, given his history of fabrication, Taheri is not a real journalist. He is certainly not a person any respectable journalist should be basing their fantastic conspiracies on.

The Spectator should take a long and hard look at whether or not it wishes to remain associated with the wild-eyed conspiracy theories Melanie Phillips propagates on her blog.

ndm

I have no doubt Melanie Phillips would be utterly mute about a US Presidential candidate having private conversations with the Israeli Prime Minister about future US policies regarding Israel.

Personally, I find nothing wrong with a US Presidential candidate discussing their plans with any foreign leader - although I remain troubled by the appalling effect John McCain's communication with the Georgian Prime Minister had on the recent conflict there.

ndm

Melanie Phillips makes it patently clear she knows Taheri to be a journalistic charlatan when she introduces his latest "unpublished" story with the words "[i]n his latest put-down " rather than "[i]n his latest report." Indeed, in his as yet unpublished article Taheri even confesses his crime:

[Obama] admits it himself as do all media accounts of the episode, although Senator Hagel, more royalist that the king, does not. My article was not a news story. It was an op-ed.

Senator Hagel (R-NE) versus Amir Taheri and Melanie Phillips. I am with the senator.

Bob Latchford

Sadly for you Ms Phillips, i fear you realise this is now a battle you are losing. Obama is opening up a sizeable lead, Palin, after the inevitable early bump in popularity is embarassing herself daily on television through her ignorance, and is neck deep in corruption and scandal, and the doddering old fool McCain, up to his own neck in corruption and scandal, is trying to postpone the debate with Obama in one of the most cynical, wretched displays of opportunism seen in Washington for years. Like it or not folks, it wont be long until Barak Hussein Obama will be the President of America and the leader of the free world!

Conservative Cabbie

Bob Latchford says: Palin "is neck deep in corruption and scandal".

Please, do you actually read the news or just Daily Kos. None of the so called scandals that the Kos and Andrew Sullivan have tried to peddle have been shown to be true.

Now if you're interested in scandals, Obama really is your man with a new one brewing. He voted for 100,000 dollars for a botanical garden. The garden was never built and most of the money went to the wife of one of his campaign buddies. A bit like him getting money for his wife's employer and she suddenly gets a massive pay rise. Imagine the surprise.

Mind you, when you belong to a corrupt political system like the Chicago Democrats, it's hardly a surprise.

John Birch

If there is legitimacy to this latest conspiracy that Melanie is peddling, let's see if McCain raises it in the debate tomorrow night (assuming that he turns up for the debate). Of course, most Americans are far more concerned about the economic crisis at the moment, something that Melanie Phillips ignores in her personality driven writing, but which has helped Obama take his recent lead.

Bob Latchford

Yes, her abuse of power when having her brother in law fired because he did something to p*** off her sister, and the following efforts to block court subpoenas and her and her husbands policy of non cooperation with the court is not in the least questionable is it?

Its a shame this blog doesnt have a sarcasm smiley

Verity

Meanwhile, Obama stumbles into one pothole after another and grows coarser looking by the day ... When he first came on the scene, he had a handsome, elegant face. But his face grows coarser and more thuggish by the day now that the novelty is wearing off and his anger that it's not in the bag displays itself.

He is having an inevitable mini-bump after Katy Couric's nightmareish conduct during her interview with Governor Palin, but McCain stole a march on him by calling off the first Presidential debate. Obama had his best suit all picked out ... McCain's an experienced and canny politician. Obama is a wide boy with no political experience whatsoever. He got wrong-footed and it angered him.

He has never had a talk with a world leader, because world leaders don't waste their time talking to senators and MPs. (He had a photo op with Gordon Brown, which shows the level of desperation he has sunk to ... unless he is too stupid to have understood Brown will be leaving in disgrace shortly?)

Obama's never served on a foreign relations committee in the Senate. Indeed, he's never really served in the Senate since he's been running for president since the minute he hit Capitol Hill. He voted "present" over 300 times when senators proposed "change they believe in". I guess only Obama's change is legitimate.

I don't believe the Americans are ready for a Marxist in the White House. What a prat.

Ronnie

I just don't find this very convincing or even interesting.

Melanie should just write, 'I really don't like Obama at all, I think he is dangerous and I hope he loses the US presidential election, now lets all have a barney.'

Then we could all have our barney and Melanie could keep some self-respect.

George

God bless Sarah! She has had herself protected against witchcraft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj-on3kfWuE&eurl

Snooty Obama probably doesn't even believe in witches.

George

Gosh, Verity. Do you even know what a Marxist is? Hint: it's not one of the Marx Brothers.

Hysteria

George - read "The Obama Nation" then come back and tell us what you think of Mr Obama............

ndm

Verity writes:

Obama's never served on a foreign relations committee in the Senate.

In fact, Barack Obama currently sits on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Verity continues:

[Obama] voted "present" over 300 times when senators proposed "change they believe in".

Since April 1 this year John McCain has voted precisely once in the Senate - I read one wag joking that the only Senator who had voted less was the one who had a stroke. During the same period Barack Obama has voted seventeen times more often than John "country first" McCain. Neither of them have much to write home about regarding attendance but they are running for President. However, when comparing records McCain's is clearly far worse than Obama's notwithstanding his grandsttaning this week.

I rally wonder if Verity believes any of the guff she posts on this site. So much of it is so manifestly untrue that Falsity would be a more accurate pseudonymn.

Verity

Gosh, George! What a challenge you offer to we illiterates, eh?

How about,the Marx Brothers were brilliant, light, spontaneous and anarchic and Karl Marx was a controlling, egoistical fruit cake.

(Perhaps you should lay off the heavy-handed essays at wit. You read a bit like Karl Marx. No offence.)

Dave

Verity: Oh goodness me. McCain is really good at debates, he should have aced this one. Yet he bottled it.
And worse... he realy upset Letterman
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3cbm.htm
http://gawker.com/5054512/letterman-pummels-mccain

Sarah

The absolute in-the-tank-for- Obama stance that the mainstream media in America has presented has made me want to gag. No research on his Chicago
community organizer days, (what the heck became of all that money from the Annenberg Foundation?) In short, no inquiry, no questions regarding the narative of THE ONE, only adulation. Read Tony Blankley's column in the Washington Post. It explains this better than I ever could. I salute the fact that you are clear-headed enough to see through the hype and can see this empty-suit for what he really is. He is truly "The Man Who Never Was." Just a media creation.

Vicki

To Latchford: Palin's BIL was NOT fired. He is still a trooper in Alaska now. What he did was use a taser on his 10 year old step son, made death threats, etcetera.

Nick in Virginia, USA

0bama has done a pretty good job of fooling people into thinking he is such an honorable person. But he has lied to us about 3 of the most influential people in his life - Rev Wright, William Ayers, and Tony Rezko. These people are the foundation of his political house. If the foundation is bad, the house can not survive long. Let's just hope the American voters realize what a con artist 0bama is, and send him back to the Senate in November.

Since he never does any work in the Senate, he can't have a negative influence on the country from there.

Valerius

Very troubling, but sadly this will go over the heads of most Americans and all liberals.

Obama has a bad habit os aying on ething to one group and another to a different group. Here, he has convinced his followers he will withdraw from Iraq, but his terms are only if he can look like the hero.

Why Dems throw all kinds of alse sludge at Palin (the VP candidate), Obama makes his own out of his words and deeds. If he is elected his supporters will wake up about 2 years into his presidency and forget they ever voted for him.

Bob - Illinois

Ever hear of The Logan Act? Look it up. If it was enforced Obama lama ding dong would go to Leavenworth.

my,my

bob latchford, do you read news? or are you just one of those mechanical obamatons?

Conservative Cabbie

Bob Latchford - sarcasm duly noted. This isn't going to be sarcasm, just the facts.

The man she fired, a wife beater who continuosly went behind Palin's back while in office. His position is a political appointee, so she was entitled to fire him. The trooper he was protecting tasered a 10 year old for gods sake. Are liberals like you in favour of defending child abusers now!

The enquiry is a farce. Not because Palin isn't cooperating, but because the two people running it are Obama supporters who are trying to use the enquiry to help Obama's campaign. The lead senator in charge of the case even said he plans to provide an 'October surprise' for Obama's cause. No wonder they're not fully cooperating, I wouldn't either.

No comment on Obama's scandals then?

John Birch

Conservative Cabbie: If you want scandals, how about John "poor judgement" McCain's involvement in the Keating Five? And aren't you troubled by Palin's claim that she opposed the "bridge to nowhere" when she originally supported it and then kept the money for it anyway? There's plenty of mud to go around so how about focusing on the actual issues? For example, which candidate will do a better job of ensuring that more Americans have health insurance?

Davod

"In fact, Barack Obama currently sits on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations."

Sits is to loose a word. Place holder is more appropriate. How many times has he even attended a meeting.

Obama is also the chair of a sub-committee dealing with Europe and NATO. Despite NATO being heavily involved in Afghanistan, he has never held a meeting.

Obama, in response to a question as to why he has never held a meeting of his own sub-committee, replied - that was about the time (when he was made chairman) I announced my run for president.

Silvie

It is impossible to reconcile support for Obama with knowledge of the facts about him unless the supporter is as rabidly anti-American as Obama. The vicious leading the blind (who are murmuring 'the One, he is the One, he will Change all, he gives me Hope, he is the One we have all been waiting for' -- let's keep in mind the last One the Berliners cheered so madly.

Let's roll

What are you talking about, ndm? Obama’s attempts to tinker are now apparent from several news sources. What is astonishing is that he is not being picked up on this. The Taheri story elaborates and adds to the credence of the other reports.

Realising that your first bit of mud won’t stick, you decide you’ll change the goalposts a second time:
“I have no doubt Melanie Phillips would be utterly mute about a US Presidential candidate having private conversations with the Israeli Prime Minister about future US policies regarding Israel.”

The issue isn’t that the conversations were private, the issue is that Obama is undermining America and its allies in Iraq. People are desperately trying to secure peace in stability in the region and this man is wandering hither and fro saying: don’t bother leave it all for another day just so he can make political gain out of instability in Iraq.

You sit there lecturing people on what to think when you haven’t even got a basic grasp of what journalism is. Here you are quoting Taheri: ‘“My article was not a news story” so did not adhere to traditional journalistic standards.’ – eh? What sort of non-sequitur is that? There are thousands of column inches every day that aren’t news stories, but that doesn’t mean they contradict ‘traditional journalistic standards’ – duh.

An opinion piece is just that – opinion. They exist in every newspaper of whatever political hue. So what would you know about ‘traditional journalistic standards’? You haven’t got a clue what you’re on about.

Ditto this rubbish: ‘It was an op-ed” so did not adhere to traditional journalistic standards.’ Has every newspaper editor in the world just banned op-eds? Oh no, all the commentators are still there. What planet are you on?

Comment and opinion pieces rely on one journalistic standard: telling the truth. There is nothing wrong with putting facts in the public domain via an op-ed piece if you have sourced them yourself.

It happens every single day. Pole Dance Polly will write things like: One source at Downing Street told me...

Since when was this outlawed?

Taheri’s revelation corroborates other reports about Obama’s attempts to screw up progress in Iraq. You appear to have completely skipped over these parts of Ms Phillips post (I wonder why?):

“On 16 June, the New York Times reported, after Obama’s conversation with Zebari in the US:

While the Bush administration would like to see an agreement reached before the summer political conventions, Mr. Obama said today he opposed such a timetable. ‘My concern is that the Bush administration, in a weakened state politically, ends up trying to rush an agreement that in some way might be binding on the next administration, whether it’s my administration or Senator McCain’s administration,’ Mr. Obama said.

On July 3, the New York Times reported these remarks by Zebari at a press conference in Baghdad:

Mr. Zebari said that on his recent trip to the United States, in addition to President Bush, he met with the presumptive presidential nominees, Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, and Senator Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat. He said that Mr. Obama asked him: ‘Why is the Iraqi government in a rush, in a hurry? This administration has only a few months in office.’ Mr. Zebari said he told Obama that even a Democratic administration would be better off having something concrete in front of them to take a hard look at.”

So the pieces of the jigsaw fit. No wonder Taheri is receiving death threats from the Messiah’s followers.

brian

Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler

The O-man, Barack Hussein Obama, is an eloquently
tailored empty suit. No resume, no accomplishments,
no experience, no original ideas, no understanding of
how the economy works, no understanding of how the
world works, nothing but abstract empty rhetoric
devoid of real substance.

He has no real identity. He is half-white, which he
rejects. The rest of him is mostly Arab, which he
hides but is disclosed by his non-African Arabic
surname and his Arabic first and middle names as a way
to triply proclaim his Arabic parentage to people in
Kenya . Only a small part of him is African Black from
his Luo grandmother, which he pretends he is
exclusively.

What he isn't, not a genetic drop of, is
'African-American,' the descendant of enslaved
Africans brought to America chained in slave ships.
He hasn't a single ancestor who was a slave. Instead,
his Arab ancestors were slave owners. Slave-trading
was the main Arab business in East Africa for
centuries until the British ended it.

Let that sink in: Obama is not the descendant of
slaves, he is the descendant of slave owners. Thus he
makes the perfect Liberal Messiah.

It's something Hillary doesn't understand - how some
complete neophyte came out of the blue and stole the
Dem nomination from her. Obamamania is beyond
politics and reason. It is a true religious cult,
whose adherents reject Christianity yet still believe
in Original Sin, transferring it from the evil of
being human to the evil of being white.

Thus Obama has become the white liberals' Christ,
offering absolution from the Sin of Being White. There
is no reason or logic behind it, no faults or flaws of
his can diminish it, no arguments Hillary could make
of any kind can be effective against it. The
absurdity of Hypocrisy Clothed In Human Flesh being
their Savior is all the more cause for liberals to
worship him: Credo quia absurdum, I believe it because
it is absurd.

Thank heavens that the voting majority of Americans
remain Christian and are in no desperate need of a
phony savior.

His candidacy is ridiculous and should not be taken
seriously by any thinking American.
Pass this on to every thinking American you know!

T Bone

John Birch: You are an idiot, McCain was totally cleared by a democratic congress of any wrong doing in the Keating 5, The other four were democrats, Palin used federal highway for ummm highways when she cancelled the bridge, the internet is full of information, stop watching tv and learn.

Colorado

The Germans didn't realize who they were idolizing either did they, until it was to late. Obama fits that mold perfectly.

CO

Adam B.

The fact that people like Latchford and ndm, who have shown themselves to hate America on other threads, support Obama, says a lot. They're not concerned with what's best for the US, in fact the very opposite is the case. Why would any American voter with the US' best interests at heart support Obama? He's the preferred candidate of all those who hate America, like the disgusting George Galloway.

John Birch

T-Bone:

Nice playground effort at name calling—are the polls getting to you? I didn’t say that McCain was not cleared. He was, however, implicated in the scandal and was found to have exercised “poor judgment” which fits with his personality (see the Palin pick, “we are all Georgians” which Colin Powell criticized last week, and calling for Chris Cox to be fired from the SEC which even conservatives criticized him for). As for Palin, I notice you didn’t dispute the fact that she repeatedly lied about being opposed to the “bridge from nowhere” when she initially supported it. And how does keeping that money fit with her image as someone who has opposed pork? I guess that’s why the McCain campaign is afraid to let her face a press conference where she might be questioned about her flip flops and half truth.

Bob Latchford

George, who said

God bless Sarah! She has had herself protected against witchcraft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj-on3kfWuE&eurl

Is absolutely right, but looking at this seriously, the guy who protected her from witchcraft is on stage talking about how Jews have conquered the economy. Where is the Melanie Phillips led attacks on this? Let is not forget that Palin and her husband also worked on Joe Liebermans campaign in the mid 90's, a man who thinks that Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves. Where is the Melanie Phillips led attack on this?

Now I know you guys are so keen for Obama to lose, but to support a woman whose association to virulent anti-semites is there for all to see is rank hypcorisy.

Verity

Brian (and Dr Jack Wheeler): Thanks for that! I am keeping it for easy reference.

It was always obvious to me that Obama wasn't really black, and that his absurb claim to be an "African-American" oh, pulleeeeeeze, was phony and rather disquieting. It was such an obvious lie.

Am I the only one who sees Obama morphing before my very eyes into an ugly, strange looking individual. While he was riding high and had confidence, I did have a handsome appearance, but his looks have been degenerating for a couple of months now. He becomes coarser looking by the day. Anyone clocking Obama for the first time today would not claim that he was a handsome man. There's some weird Dorian Gray effect going on. His features have thickened. His lines have deepened.

I've mentioned it a couple of times, and no one's commented, but surely I am not the only one who have been noticing this eerie transformation?

N

Bob - Illinois wrote:
"Ever hear of The Logan Act? Look it up. If it was enforced Obama lama ding dong would go to Leavenworth."

I never knew of such a thing before, i wonder why no one has mentioned this before or tried to prosecute someone? What about Nancy Pelosi? A few years ago she went for funsies to Iraq and bummed around with the higher ups. If someone tries to prosecute Obama under the Logan act i suggest we go after Pelosi too, i can't stand her.

Bob Latchford

You're right Verity, it wont be long until he's sprouting horns and turning red

Ronnie

Verity, it may very well be the case that you are indeed the only one noticing this Dorian Gray thing with Obama.

You are certainly the only one pratting on about it. What exactly is your poiint? 'Don't vote for Obama, he's becoming ugly.' You can surely do better than this.

I've asked you this before, can I be the only one who has noticed? What do you drink over there on a Friday, before you put finger to key? And don't try to fob us off with 'tea' as you did the last time.

Frank Pulley

Verity, Brian (and Dr Wheeler)

A pefect decription of the outer casing of this Trojan Horse: a suitable shell (and shill I might add) for the Gramscian guerrillas to hide in as they slip though the gates of The White House,1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500

You're wasting your time with all that Homeland Security Uncle Sam, at least half your elegible voters seem hell bent on surrender by means of the ballot box.

Marx's mind militia have already pulled it off here with another shill, viz. one Anthony Blair. Just look what he carried in, then, having cantered around under his own steam like a nursery rocking horse, pretending he was for real, someone removed the batteries and the real game began. You have a chance to observe the results, he's over there at the moment. In fact both the Trojan Horse (still shilling away at one of your Ivy League brainwashers)and his soviet cargo, pretending he can help solve the Wall Street crisis (presumably by helping to get Obama elected with his cargo). Ye Gods!

Good Mornin' America. Wakey, wakey!

Da-da-da-dah
Da-da-da-dah
Da-da-da-dah, da-daaaaah-da.
Get outta bed, you 'orrible aholes. Hands off cocks and hands on socks! There's a war goin' on out there!

Willaim Naegele

Good piece, Melanie. Don't let the Obama butt-boy comments on this thread get you down...

Ronnie

Excellent posts Frank, Verity, Brian, supported by William. Clear, concise, closely argued I don't think.

No-one has any idea what you are talking about. You wonder why the MSM don't get any of your childish, coded ramblings and its because your silly nonesense is unpublishable.

If you have clear, substantive ideas and points that can be made in a way that the broad mass of human beings can understand then lets have them. Lets see if you can actually connect with the people that you say you are trying to save.

There's a challenge.

Verity

Obama's turning into the portrait of Dorian Gray (not Dorian Gray himself) before our very eyes. He's disintegrating. I'm sure other people have noticed this. It's like a balloon with air escaping. His facial structure, which was so elegant to start with, is collapsing.

Also, he has stopped blacking up. During his campaign in Denver, he started wearing darker mahogany make-up. A few people on American blogs noticed. Perhaps that's why he looks so wan now.

I thought the comments elsewhere on Coffee House by Dr. Wheeler - that Obama actually has one Caucasian ancestor, his mother, but is primarily Arab (his names are all Arab) with just one black ancestor - a grandmother - were interesting given that he has straight hair ...

Ronnie

Yes Verity, absolutely fascinating.

ndm

Adam B writes:

The fact that people like Latchford and ndm, who have shown themselves to hate America on other threads, support Obama, says a lot. They're not concerned with what's best for the US, in fact the very opposite is the case. Why would any American voter with the US' best interests at heart support Obama?

I am much amused at the berating, as an "anti-American," Adam B gives me. The cry of anti-Americanism has been reduced in Europe to mean anyone who disagrees with the toxic wastrels of the far right. The reason I, and so many other Americans, will vote for Barack Obama next month is that he is by far the better of the two candidates. The reasons for that have been well rehearsed in the mainstream media and are now understood by the serious right-wing blogosphere. John McCain's shennanigans this week have demonstrated his unfitness for high public office.

Conservative Cabbie

John Birch

If anyone has a "Bridge To Nowhere" question to answer its Obama. He voted to ensure the money was spent on the Bridge rather than being spent on the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. How's that for a man of the people?

Conservative Cabbie

ndm

You say Barack Obama is "by far" the better person to run America. Please tell us how. And rather than slagging off Palin and McCain, please tell us by elucidating Obama's strengths.

Ojisan

Hussein thought his nomination for presidency was in the bag already, thus tried his strong arm tactics to influence foreign policy. Arrogance is a virtue.

paul hill

Although $780 Billion is a high price it may well be worth it just to show us what a dithering nitwit McCain is.The footage of him sitting in the White House vacantly looking around trying to comprehend what on earth is going on is just painful.The poor old guy needs to get back to the care home and his slippers

It looks pretty certain that the hatchet faced gentry at the top of the Republican party like him for the same reason Mels does;that he'll do what he's told whilst Calamity Palin can plink beer cans with her air rifle in the Rose Garden

Rob-NY

The very fact that Mr. Taheri has been subjected to thuggish intimidation is outrageous enough for the media to take notice, provided they are not in the tank for Obama, which of course they are.

Adam B.

Well ndm, you're in great company, every knee-jerk anti-American British person I know wants Obama to win. Even the tyrant of Iran wants him to win. I wonder why.

Adam B.

More nonsense from Latchford, who now pretends he's concerned about the Jews (what a hypocrite). It is an absolute lie to suggest that Sarah Palin is anti-Semitic. Not one iota of evidence for this. Obama consorts with Wright, a man who repeatedly praises the arch anti-Semite Farrakhan, and then pretends he didn't have a clue what Wright was about. What a farce! As for the real anti-semites at the UN, in Tehran, Ramallah, or Gaza, Latchford usually has nothing but praise. I don't think most Jewish people are going to take Latchford's mock "concern" seriously.

Verity

As Frank Pulley notes, a similar low life got into office in Britain by being similarly presumptuous about the office of head of government before he got in.

Tony Blair, a brother under the skin. One of two evil twins. I think around the time Blair cantered onto the national stage in Britain, shining glory and sheer wonderfulness through his smile, Obama was just limbering up for his own long march. The comparison is real.

Further on Obama, if any other candidate for presidency had ever, ever put a fake presidential seal, that he had had specially designed to look like a real presidential seal - on the front of a lectern from which he was speaking, the average American and the media would have savaged that individual and left him in shreds. He would never have walked upright again.

And yet Obama perpetrated this act of towering - not to say almost criminal - presumption, and the left was overcome with a huge yawn. Even after Obama was ordered to remove the "seal" from his lectern, the left was otherwise engaged.

It was utterly bizarre. And so it has been since. He cancelled a trip to visit wounded American servicemen in the US Military hospital in Germany because they wouldn't let him take a media entourage through the wards as he shed graciousness and blessings. Again, this is outrageously cynical behaviour on Obama's part, but the left were staying home and doing their nails that night.

I mean, what does it take?

Adam B.

Read Sarah Palin's speech at the bottom of this link. This should comprehensively destroy Latchford's disgusting (and hypocritical) accusation that she is anti-Semitic.
http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/000976.html

Dawn

NObama is a dangerous man that knows nothing. We pray he and his socialists coherts don't get near the White House. He is a lying empty suit, the only reason he has gotten this far is money from Soros etc and the MSM. The democrat party protect his marxists leanings. He will ruin America.

Big Vinny

The four articles which Melanie and Amir Taheri have produced on this issue are very unsatisfactory.

In Melanie’s first article, in a passage which in its essential is almost identical to one in Taheri’s first article, Melanie says “Last Monday, Amir Taheri reported in the New York Post that, while campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Obama tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence”. The implication is clearly that Obama was saying one thing in public, while treacherously saying something else concerning the draw-down of troops in private.

On hearing of Taheri’s first article, the Obama camp issued a rebuttal, and Taheri addresses this in his second article, but subsequently more information appeared and the general consensus at present is that Taheri has been conclusively refuted.

Yet in her second article Melanie says that the “non-private” meeting which everyone was talking about, and which Taheri himself speaks about in his second article, was not the one to which Taheri was referring in his first article. She says “Sharp-eyed readers will already have spotted the flaw in their response. Taheri’s story referred to a ‘private’ meeting. Tapper’s story – and Camp Obama’s response quoting all those people who were reportedly also present – refers to an entirely different meeting”.

And it is at this point that the plot really thickens, for in the Huffington Post, Marc Lynch, a specialist in Arab affairs, states that the quote from Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari, which Taheri, in his first article, claims is about the alleged private meeting in Baghdad in July, is in fact a quote concerning a telephone conversation Zebari had with Obama in the US on June 16 2008, a conversation which Obama talked about in detail in a press conference he convened shortly after the call had ended. Lynch bases his claim on the interview from which Taheri takes his quote and in which Zebari is quoted as saying: “That is the question which Barack Obama asked when I was in Washington a while ago, when I met with McCain and Obama”.

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-lynch/taheris-bizarre-conceit_b_126939.html)

(http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/2008/09/taheris-absurd.html)

So it will be interesting indeed to read Taheri’s ‘put-down’. But consider this rather unusual statement in Melanie’s second article: “4. Although we are all fond of television-style courtroom dramas, the issue here is not who said what to whom and where and when”. This sounds suspiciously like Taheri preparing us for a change of story.

The initial claim was that Obama was saying one thing in public, while saying something else in private in Baghdad in July. But it now seems that Zebari’s quotes have nothing to do with some supposed private meeting in Baghdad, while in regard to the ‘non-private’ meeting, all concerned have stated that Obama behaved entirely properly. In addition, Obama reported everything he said to Zebari on June 16 to the press, and both Taheri and Melanie must have been aware of this, since Taheri quotes extensively from the NBC account of it in his second article.

So Taheri may well abandon the ‘private meeting’ strategy, and fall back on the claim that the telephone conversation itself constituted improper conduct. And look how well this fits in with what Melanie now says in her second article: “What is really extraordinary about this whole affair is that, in any event, Obama had said the same thing to Zebari the previous month on the Foreign Minister’s trip to the US. This had even been reported in the US media”.

The emphasis is now on what Osama said on June 16 to Zebari, and, on the same day, to the assembled press. But Melanie, as I said, must have been aware of the ‘really extraordinary’ fact that Obama had suggested a delay in an agreement, because Taheri quotes liberally from NBC’s record of it. One can only assume that, in Melanie’s account, Obama’s public utterances regarding his conversation with Zebari were overlooked because mentioning them would undermine the claim that Obama was saying one thing in public and another in private.

There are still some other points to be considered. Melanie says “Obama tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence”. This is what Marc Lynch says on the matter “The U.S. is not negotiating an "agreement on a draw-down" with Iraq, it is negotiating two related long-term security agreements. The U.S. does not need to wait until it has negotiated and ratified a long-term security agreement to begin withdrawing troops. If President Bush wants to withdraw troops, he orders them to leave. The same is true for any future President”.

Melanie also says “Yet even while it was reporting what Obama had said, the US media had not seen fit to question the fact that Obama was trying to undermine US negotiations with Iraq”. To this, another quote by Lynch is relevant: “Taheri is exceedingly disingenuous about what was being negotiated in June 2008 (when the conversation took place). Back then, the Bush administration was still trying to negotiate the McCain position of legalizing the U.S. force presence for the long term and vehemently rejected any talk of time tables, time lines, or time horizons. It was only in July that Maliki pulled the rug out from under McCain and Bush by insisting on a timetable for U.S. withdrawal in line with Obama's stated position. To describe the agreement being discussed in June as a "draw-down" agreement is misleading to the point of dishonesty. That might also explain why Taheri dissembles about when exactly the purported conversation took place”.

Moreover, in regard the conversation with Zebari, Obama did nothing improper, for in such meetings it is perfectly normal for each side to give their opinion on various matters. He said at the press conference “And my concern is that if the Bush administration negotiates, as it currently has, and given that we're entering into the heat of political season, that we're probably better off not trying to complete a hard-and-fast agreement before the next administration takes office, but I think obviously these conversations have to continue”. And if Obama had malign intentions, he would hardly have convened a press conference and reported exactly what he said to Zebari, particularly since he knows everything he says will scrutinised minutely.

Taheri’s ‘put-down’ will certainly make interesting reading, if it ever appears.

John Trujillo

This is a response to some idiot who suggested that Americans are more interested in affordable housing, health insurance and the economy more than the qualifications of Obama.

The world needs to know that the U.S. Health Care system is being used to make money the same way the mortgage business was or still is depending upon the details of the "bail out".

They pretend to care for poor people, primarily minorities so they can claim racism if anyone objects to their scams, in order to obtain funding for medical services paid for by the taxpayers through medicaid and medicare. They flood emergency departments with nonemergent illnesses or injuries because they get kick backs from the standard fees for admission. The clean needle act is perfect example guised as way to keep addicts from dying of AIDs before they can be rehabilitated. The sad news is they don't want these people rehabilitated because they are a herd of cash cows for bureaucrats and politicians.

Have an overdose and get brought in for a mere $500.00 of taxpayer dollars (ten times the actual cost but rationalized because only 1 out of 10 will actually pay). Standard ED fee $3,500.00 (1998 prices in NY County Hospitals). Heroin addicts receive an IV called a banana bag because the electrolytes (mainly potassium) turns the Saline yellow. They receive a shot of Narcan which is an antagonistic blocker of opiods. If they wake up they get their hospital meal of a sandwich, juice and jello (maybe $5.00). However if the patient requires a second ampule of narcan the protocol is to reserve a bed in the MICU for another $5,000.00. "Reserve" key word here because the bed is often reserved for 5 or 6 addicts who lounge around on gurneys in the ED hallways. Even after subtracting the real costs of the medical supplies and the by the hour salary for the ED staff, this patient provided a very sizable profit for the Hospital Administrators.

Doctors are kept in line by working in one of the few assignments that prevents them from being sued idependently and a rotation that frees them of any responsibilty when their shift is done.

The push for Nationalized Health Care is merely a way to expand this scam. It will separate the billpayers (taxpayers) from the bill so they won't recognize how much is being skimmed. The patients actually receive very little of what you would call quality care in exchange for the taxpayers dollars. Doctors are forced to practice defensive medicine in case of litigation so they order unnecessary tests and delay decisions that result in unnecessary suffering and sometimes death for the patient.

We don't have an insurance crisis in health care. We have a supply side economic problem due to over regulation by "Mafiso" style licensing and accrediting agencies, monopolies on who educates and trains providers and a tort system that deters practice in the most crucial of specialties. When will we start rewarding productivity and responsibility instead of what we do now with handouts and kickbacks?

John Trujillo

Where does John Birch get his information from. McCain was investigated for 1.5 years after the Keating Five scandal. He was exonerated by a political foe who stated that "John McCain is an honorable man". The douchebag that Palin fired "worked at the descretion of the governor" That means there is no scandal because she could have fired him because it was Tuesday. The trooper should not be able to hide behind a badge, as he still does, for threatening murder for the mere offense of hiring a divorce attorney for a daughter, poaching and of course tazing his 10 year old stepson. You know as well as all of the rest of here posting comments, that if an honest cop had tazered a belligerent crackhead during the commision of a crime that everyone of you communist bitches would be calling for his suspension and firing. You are however very quiet about the reporter in Denver that was assualted and placed under false arrest for attempting to take photos of Obama's real supporters. Hmmmm?

dave thomson

Dear Ms. Melanie Phillips, I am an avid reader of your collumn in the Daily Mail. Can I ask please, why are you not a politician? I truly think you would be wonderful. You write the most in-depth, extremely clear, precise collumn with the most honest candour and foresight of anyone else I have ever read. I know the politicians are self-serving, duplicitous, slimy cabal of liars, but I'm sure you would refresh it with your intellect and prescience, you would be wonderful, please, please, PLEASE consider it.

Wishing you good health and happiness in your life.

Yours sincerely,

Dave Thomson

Hayward Maberley

Verity, Mr Pulley et al,
Interesting that you should now rail against The Poodle. He who together with The Faux Texan consulted the Lord before they both decided to visit shock and awe on the Land of Iraq,prior to the ensuing Fiasco.
I am also amazed at the frequent and I presume, perjorative reference, to MSM. Down Under, here in Australia that means mostly News Limited, Fairfax and commercial radio and tv. There are also the ABC and SBS, which started out as being multicultural, that dreaded word, and ad free within a programme. But is less so and now has ads slotted into programmes.
Now News Limited is the evergrowing octupus of Rupert the Turncoat, aka The Dirty Digger, of whom you would be aware in the UK. He who for considerably more than the Biblical 30 pieces threw off his ciizenship of The Commonwealth of Australia and now proudly wears that of the USA. He too was very keen on the Iraq Fiasco
Btw ther is a lot more to The Americas than the USA. They stretch from Nord,Greenland to Punta Arenas in Chile.
I think what many here refer to is the distaste felt around the world for the actions and behaviour of the current Republican US Administration led by that fine pair of chickenhawk bookends, The Faux Texan and Five Deferment Dick

sterling coldren

as you print this in your mag.why not get fox news to look at this put it up on theirnews web?

Verity

Little Howard Mayberly or whatever, again - and again, and again, and again - George Bush is not a false (or as you write in your clever way, you sophisticated dawg!) "faux Texan" - oops! Got it wrong! "Faux" is also capitalised!

You silly, silly little vapid twerp.

Hayward Maberley

Verity,
OK no more digs at President Bush. Is Five Deferment Dick OK?
Earlier on I enquired, after one of your replies, concerning the name of Dubya's ranch, which you had said was in Amarillo. Do you have the name to hand? Thank you

Kathy

If Americans continue to blindly believe what the outrageously left biased media shovels out to them, Americans will get exactly what they deserve.