Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The difference between Jim Lehrer and Big Bird



Big Bird had a better night.





57 comments:

  1. Hate to admit it but it sure seems Romney had a better grasp of the issues and dare say seemed more presidential

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  2. Too bad Michael Savage the Whiner is off air. For years his nickname for Lehrer was ”The Baggy Eyed Bolshevik” for his supposed left leanings. After the way Lehrer let Romney step all over him today, we may need to rename Lehrer ”The Baggy Eyed Milton Friedmanista”!

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  3. I am really surprised by the first debate tonight. It seemed the President was bored and just phoned in his answers. Body language was bad as well (looking down when Romney talked, frowned many times). I have to say that Romney did a solid job tonight. He was in command of the facts and he had a tangible positive energy. I thought this would be a draw or an outright Obama win, but I would have to say that Romney kicked his butt tonight. Wow.

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  4. No teleprompter and as usual heard a lot of umm..umm..from the President. Romney looked and sounded more presidential.

    As for PBS, about time someone looks into it. Back in the day it made sense for public broadcasting stations. Too much variety on tv now. Who comes home from work and says let me see what's on PBS tonight.

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    1. I imagine you'll be surprised to learn that Mitt Romney used a Teleprompter at every one of his campaign speeches during the GOP primary season. Funny, I don't recall seeing a steady stream of snarky comments about his use of the device. And, what's the real difference between reading prepared comments from a Teleprompter or from a printed text placed before the candidate on a lecturn?

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    2. Yes, Romney also uses teleprompter, but he was better prepared than Obama. I think that was the first time in 4 years Obama was told on his face he was full of crap. He couldn't answer any of the questions in the context of what he was asked.

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  5. Mr Lehrer allowed the candidates to go over time limits and continue debating, which I think is what the audience wanted. Let the two men go at it. More informative and entertaining than "you two minutes, you two minutes, next topic."

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  6. Yeah Rich, blame the ref.

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  7. romney just as intelligent or more so than Obama. romney quicker on his feet. next two debates Obama will go down hard.

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    Replies
    1. Never underestimate your opposition, many loses (debates, wars, elections) has been lost because of that.

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  8. Romney seemed more polished and prepared, and that's probably because he's in good debating form after so many times on stage during the Republican primaries. But I think a lot of people are still wondering just what he stands for. He criticized President Obama's record, and said he had some good alternatives, but outside of saying he would get rid of Obamacare, he didn't offer a single specific example of how he's going to change things and what he wants to do. How could anyone vote for a guy who doesn't give you an inkling of what plans he's got when he takes office? Well, America was dumb enough to vote in George W. Bush twice, so don't udnerestimate the stupidity of the public!

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  9. Hope? Hope not.
    The socialist POTUS revealed his true self...a dud incapable of the office his sucker constituents awarded him.

    BHO has a history of talking with no noteworthy accomplishments. Romney has a history of results and with the dems keeping his objectives in check, will lead us on a path of recovery.

    Romney = winning, BHO = 4 years of tummy rubbing and financed unemployment (for those stupid enough to get a masters degree in ancient rodent philosophy and refuse to drive a tow truck to put food on the table).

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  10. The results of last night's debate?
    Gov Romney cleaned Barrack's clock!
    Say Barrack, where is the main stream media when you need them?
    Looks like the angry mob at MSNBC even turned on you.

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    1. Please note the following:
      MSNBC was honest enough to recognize that Romney bested Obama.

      If it had been the other way around, Fox "News" would never in a million years admit that their guy lost.

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  11. After 4 years of soft ball questions thrown at Barrack Obama, he finally met someone who gave him a fast-ball high and tight.

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  12. Sorry Rich, but do not blame the moderator because your man lost.
    When you lose everthing looks bad.
    But look no further than the guy in the White House. The blame rest squarely on his shoulders.

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    1. I'm not seeing that Rich is blaming the moderator for Obama's poor performance.

      Obviously Leher was awful but no one is using that as an excuse.

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  13. What was going on with Romney's upper lip? It would appear, disappear, then the area between his nose and lip would get red, pink, white, back to pink.
    Turned it off and listened on the radio--what a snooze-fest.

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  14. Really, You're going to blame Jim Lehrer? That's like blaming a teller because the bank was robbed.

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  15. People here and pols who whine about the "liberal media" use that canard to justify their "bubble belief" that somehow if you are not for "god, guns, and guts" and speak out about not being for those things, you are un-American.

    Or, if you believe that government can do good and is not always evil...you're a "socialist".

    Look up the term before you use it...but then that would require most of you who throw out "marxist" and "socialist" to actually grasp the reality of the meanings of those words.

    Bush thought government was bad, and he governed badly..so it is a self fulfilling prophecy.

    As for the debate...Mitt had to come out hard and win..and he did. The President played "prevent"...and as we say in Football "prevent defense, prevents you from winning".

    Mitt was a bit loose on the facts and details, but BOH also was light on some...BUT BOH also didn't counter that the $716B that he is taking from Medicare, which Romney brought up, is NOT for service, BUT for fraud, over payments, and administration. BOH should have countered, but for someone reason did not.

    3 round fight...first round to Governor Romney...but remember in 1984 Reagan lost the first debate to Mondale...how'd that work out?

    (By the way, the myth that is Reagan....he raised taxes 18 times in 2 terms in office, and he wasn't a regular church goer...not a knock on him, but folks who invoke his name as the 2nd coming of Jesus truly do not know what Reagan did (his record) and stood for.

    Romney is not evil, and I do not think he is a bad guy, but contrary to what business people think...running a business is nothing like leading a country...many more folks to answer to, and unlike a CEO, the Prez doesn't always have the final say, with Congress, and SCOTUS.

    And before you all tell me about Romney as Gov. of Mass...yea, big City in Boston, but a small, fairly ethnic free state...not too many disparate ideas like in CA or Illinois, where you have the major cities AND very rural places as well.

    I saw tweet from Bill Maher about Romney saying his health plan for Mass is good, but good for Mass, not necessarily other states...Maher said quite rightly "Do people get sick differently in different states?"

    Good Day for Mitt, but he needed it much worse and "played" like it.

    Round 2 will be interesting.

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    1. Another of the Barrack bandwagon where Barrack can do no wrong. Drink the kool-aid my friend, drink it up.

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    2. @1:27
      Your gratuitous insult doesn't quite fit. @1:15's post does not pretend that Obama can do no wrong but rather comes across as thoughtful, objective analysis with critical observations about both sides.

      Why the rancor? I support Obama but don't feel that he can do no wrong. Some Romney supporters seem very angry and really more like Obama haters.

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    3. Poster at 1:15 learn to edit your message down to one paragraph. You lost me and many others after the first sentence.

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    4. @11:09 Perhaps you should learn to read more than one paragraph at a time. Unfortunate that you get lost so easily.

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    5. I never have a problem reading Field and Stream.

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  16. What is with with conservatives these days? They are seem to be in the thrall of this right wing extremist group of folks who somehow want to turn the clock back to the 1950s.

    It's amazing to me that so many middle class Americans, who are getting screwed by the rich and the entitled, are taking it up the wazoo and re electing these clowns to do it again! Oh, but I forgot, the Republicans represent 'American values' better than the 'socialist' Democrats! Yeah..right!

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    1. There's nothing extreme about wanting to replace an incompetent, failed, economic illiterate with a seasoned, accomplished, executive with a long history of success.

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  17. I got tired of the rhetoric in the debate and turned off the sound. I suddenly noticed that Romney looked like he was in pain during the times he had to be quiet. He relaxed when he was talking, but almost the moment he stopped that pained look came back.

    Also, it may be my own perceptions, but I still detect a feeling of condescension when he has to interact with us "common folk."

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  18. Barrack H Obama. A complete and utter failure.
    Need proof? Last night proved my point.

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  19. Don't forget, it was Baracks wedding anniversary, I'm sure big momma wore him out! He'll be back.

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    1. Typical racist garbage from right-wing hater!

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  20. Define screwed. Solyndra? That was the democrats baby. Auto industry bail out? Uhhh. Only the republicans take lobbiest money?

    The non liberals....GOP & liberatarians want a market to compete in while the democrats want to play robinhood and not compete at all~ no consequences for being lazy( unions and multigenerations of section 8 dwellers), buying houses they cant possibly afford, etc, etc.

    Romney is a tool and the deck is stacked until there is a viable 3rd party, but i'd vote for bigbird before obama.

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  21. It really boils down to the fact that Obama cannot defend his dismal record of the past four years. If he had an above average to good record on general presidential issues, he would be able to confidently make his case and support them.

    Let me present a hypothetical to the audience here; how many of us have given speeches/presentations to an audience, where you fully understood what you were talking about and were confident in the topic at hand? You usually commanded the audience and 'knocked it out of the park'

    Now, what about the times we presented not having full grasp of the knowledge and entered the discussion with an air of non-confidence - the day typically unfolded poorly.

    Obama has championed and pushed a very unpopular agenda and he is now in a position where he cannot support and defend it.

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  22. President Barak Obama has offered nothing but give me another 4 years to complete what I started. Well, Mr President, your policies has utterly failed by every quantitative measure. Will Romney's approach work? I don't know, but I do know another 4 years of the same will be a disaster for America. At some point, QE1, QE2 and QE-infinity will come home to roost and that means over 10% inflation. Do people really think the Fed can continue to "print money" (electronically) forever with no consequences. Every politician distorts to some degree, but the bottom line is that in 4 more years under the President we will be like Spain and Greece. If nothing is changed, Social Security, Medicare and Medical will collapse within 15-20 years and be non-existant. All this crap about taxing the rich amounts to a drop in the bucket versus our debt crisis. It is NOT the golden bullet, however satisfying it is (in a class warfare sense). The only way out for America is the broad-based grow the economy and build back the economic engine. That does lift everyone. I don't believe the President's plan will accomplish that. Why should anyone expect the next 4 years to be any different than the last 4 years.

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  23. Many Republicans seem to have selective memory. Obama inherited a terrible situation that the REPUBLICAN administration of George W. Bush and his Republican cronies created by deregulating industry,
    removing oversight, and allowing banks and Wall Street to game the system and screw the middle class.

    When Clinton left office, he left a huge budget surplus. Te Republicans always talk about the Dems spending money, but the fact is that more money was spent on government programs during Bush's administration, and that's what helped put us in this mess to begin with.

    There was particularly a huge amount wasted on military spending (particularly the Iraq misadventure, which bordered on criminality, given that false information was used by the administration to justify going in there in the first place.)

    If you remember your history, Security Chief Richard Clark, who worked for President Reagan, both Bushes and Clinton, repeatedly told Condi Rice, Dick Cheney, and Rumsfeld that there was NO evidence of WMDs in Iraq. But they refused to believe him, even though he had much more information and credibility than anyone else. Colin Powell was also very skeptical, but went along with this shameful charade and sullied his reputation as a result.

    The result, a country still in chaos, hundreds of thousands of Iraqs dead and still dying, tens of thousands of American soldiers killed or severly wounded and traumatized. And all for what? To remove a tinpot dictator? As much of a cretin as Saddam Hussein was, at least the country was engulfed in a near civil war with daily shootings and bombings and hundreds of innocent people dying each day.

    And we don't even need to start about Osama Bin Laden. Bush could have nailed this guy early, but refused to go after him, and then when he had the chance to corner him in Tora Bora, he insanely too his eye off the primary goal, and decided to go forth with the Iraq misadventure.

    I could go on and on...But anyone who has any sense or two eyes that work in their head know that it's the Republicans and their right wing
    fanatics who have put this country in peril with their reckless
    unilateral 'screw Europe and the rest of the world, we know better' attitude. . It's the Republicans, not the Democrats, who continue to block every effort made by Obama to straighten out the mess. They refuse to 'reach across the aisle' to work things out in a bipartisan fashion, and for some reason, they're paranoid and angry at Dems when in fact, they've been in charge of this country for most of the last 30 years.

    Now Romney is offering the same sad, ineffective nostrums that didn't work for eight years, and he's expecting that Americans are that dumb to believe it's going to work this time?

    What galls me most about the Republicans (and really, it's the tea-party, 'birther' nut cases in particular), is that they have been taking shots at Obama over his supposed 'African' roots and 'Muslim' upbringing. Where in the world are they getting their info from. Has Joe McCarthy or Barry Goldwater come back from the dead and whispering in their ears or are they listening too much to Sean Hannity and that other bloviating windbag, Russ Limbaugh?

    And don't tell me a lot of the hate over Obama has nothing to do with his being a Black Man. The fact is, Obama received more death threats in his first six months in office than Bush received in his entire eight years. Like it or not, that tells you there is a still a virulent streak of racism that's alive in this country, and sure ain't comin' from the Dems.

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    1. Why is one of Obama's volunteers posting on Rich's website when he could be making phonecalls trying to drum up donations for BHO's war chest?

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    2. Poster at 7:57pm. See the reply eariler.
      Long messages here lose our interest in a heart beat.
      Maybe your local coffee shop is more appropriate for this long winded response.

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    3. @11:13 Why is it that when you reveal your own inability to understand messages of any complexity you suggest that others at this website share the same limitation?

      You are speaking for yourself. Just because you can't understand comments of more than one or two sentences doesn't mean that others can't.

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    4. Popular Mechanics was never this difficult!

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  24. Whenever anyone disagrees with the President, it is automatically race based per the liberal media. WHITE MALE RACISTS! Let's not mention the race card Obama played on Hillary Clinton in 2008. Oh yeah, Bill remembers. He hates Obama, but needs to toe the line to help Hillary in 2016 (her last shot). Yes, I believe "W" errored in going into Iraq to "cleanup his daddies mess". George HW Bush (and Colin Powell) correctly knew that we needed to leave Saddam in place to keep the terrorists under foot. Major mistake in my opinion. However, the "Arab Spring", under Obama, has been a much greater disaster. All of the pro-western dictators in the middle east have been overthrown, and governments hostile to the US have been installed (most of them backed by US funds). Great! Power to the people! Sadly, we will likely be faced with another terrorist attack within the US due to our weak, apologist foreign policy. I chuckle when people say the Democrats have foreign policy as a strength this election cycle. Ummm, the Bush policies -- which Obama opposed as a senator -- gave the President the intelligence to kill UBL. Yeah, take a victory lap (on the backs on Seal Team 6) bostered by a Clinton video (who personally passed on an opportunity to kill UBL prior to 9/11) who praised you for your "tough" decision while looking in deep thought outside of a window. Touching. Who wouldn't have made that decision, handed all the facts?

    The President, and his State Department, was also too busy to bother to protect our ambassador in Libya who was killed by "random people" (according to Susan Rice) who happened to walk by our embassy with RPGs and Mortars in their back pocket. No conspiracy there. Hell, I typically have them in my back pocket most days. Not. Administration transparency at its best. Total foreign policy failure.

    The bottom line is this President has been a failure in both domestic and foreign policy arenas. So let's relect him!!

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    1. "Whenever anyone disagrees with the President, it is automatically race based per the liberal media. WHITE MALE RACISTS!"

      That's just plain wrong.
      The so-called "liberal media" has been entirely forthcoming in reporting how poorly Obama did in the debate without blaming anyone other than Obama himself and no invocation of racism.

      What's pathetic is how often right resorts to blaming the messenger for delivering news they don't like. Funny they don't blame the media when they report something they like.

      Right wing credo; if I like the news, it's true, if I don't like the news, it's false liberal media bias.

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  25. Romney is the former Governor of a very Blue State, and he is a Moderate people!!!...Romney isn't going to cut, or take Big Bird off the Air. Big Bird will most like pop-up on a TV station like "Nick at Nite."

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  26. 11:03pm. So you're now calling the 'Arab Spring' Obama's fault?
    As if he could have done anything about it? The young people and the internet was responsible for that, not president Obama. And by the way, you think it is a bad thing that they threw out people like Khadaffi and Mabarek who were suppressing their own people?


    And your selective memory about Osama Bin Laden astonishes me. Bush could have taken him out before his minions destroyed the Twin Towers, but he refused to listen to Richard Clark. Condi Rice, Wolfowitz, Cheney and 'Rummy' knew better.

    Then he could have taken him out in the Tora Bora mountain region of Afganistan, but instead he pursued his reckless adventure in Iraq.

    Let's not forget, we were attacked during Bush's administration, and the US fell into the worst economic mess since the depression, during Bush's administration.

    And yes, you may not want to hear it, but racism still does exist in this country. You may not see it in your neighborhood, but go into some of those red states in the south and midwest and listen to what some of the 'mainstream' people are calling their own president. You'd think we might have shed that sorry legacy but it's going to take another generation or two to remove the stain.

    Any by the way...I'm no volunteer for Obama's campaign. He's made some mistakes (not backing medical marijuana, opening up areas for oil drilling) that I'm not happy with. He's a moderate liberal. And every time he tries to get something done, the conservative republicans in the house and senate do everything they can to block him, rather than work with him. That's what there is gridlock and partisan rancor in our House and Senate.

    With conservatives it always seems to be 'my way or the highway!" Yeah, that really works in a free democracy!

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    1. Obama is a moderate liberal? OMG. I shutter to think what far-left liberal would be like. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.

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  27. I'll bet Mitt soiled his super-secret magic underpants when he saw the jobs figure today.

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    1. Sorry but those numbers are a fake.
      Barack Obama has failed this country.
      To quote a website . . . Move on!

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    2. The jobs number can't save this incompetent failure. Too little, way too late. The only people voting for Obama are the uninformed, ignorant, and plain stupid.

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    3. Christine, not to let actual facts get in the way of your point, but it dropped because people gave up looking, not because they found jobs. That's the difference between U3 (7.8%) and U6 (15.1%). The growth in jobs over the last three months has also slowed, month to month, so I don't think Romney soiled his super-secret magic underpants.

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    4. Yes, of course the numbers are fake

      “The numbers are put together by trained professionals and in a process that keeps politicians from interfering,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum and a chief economic adviser to former President George W. Bush. “Any sort of suggestion to the contrary is wrong.”

      Former Bush administration spokesman Tony Fratto took to Twitter to say: “Stop with the dumb conspiracy theories. Good grief.”


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  28. Let's face it, these facts do not lie.
    47 million American are out of work.
    Gasoline prices average $6.25 in Los Angeles.
    The GDP for the last quarter was 1.25%. This is unacceptable.
    Get with it. Time for "Change"

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    1. @11:20 - Actually the "facts" you list do lie.

      Your number of Americans out of work is ridiculous, please provide a source.
      Also your gas price number must be made up. There aren't any average gas prices above $4.70 in any US metro area, including LA.
      http://www.losangelesgasprices.com/Prices_Nationally.aspx?d=metro

      Do you think you can just make these things up?

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    2. I notice there are many Romney commenters who are joyously celebrating his debate performance.

      One can understand your rapturous reaction to Romney's success, finally a bit of good news after months of abject failure. You might want to hold off any further celebrating until after election day. So far you've won a battle but are still losing the war.

      I expect when the final results show that Obama won the election, you'll claim the results are wrong, another lie from the liberal main stream media.

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    3. except your facts are not facts.
      47 million are not out of work
      Gasoline prices are dependent on supply. I am delighted that President Obama is helping Brazil tap its newly discovered oil field(see Wall Street Journal..field is larger than Saudi Arabia) so that oil can be transported over a much shorter distance, with less impact on the environment, and much less vulnerabiity to the vicissitudes of the Middle East

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  29. dear 11:44.the "people just stopped looking" meme is not based on the reporting of the agency whose job it is to give you the facts. In fact the BSL(non-partisan) specifically states the 7.8 number is NOT due to people "just giving up".

    Do you have super-secret magic means of denying the BSL figure? Your argument would mean that if the number had soared to 9.0, you would say the BSL had it wrong,right?

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  30. Obama is in the back pocket of the oil compaines. That is a fact.

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    1. dear 8:34. Making a ridiculous statement and then adding the gratuitous words, "That is a fact", doesn't make it any less ridiculous.

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  31. Man, there are some really nasty posters out there who just plain hate Obama. I wonder if they'd have as much rancor toward him if he were white? Oh, excuse me, no one likes to be called a racist do they? By the way, Obama is nothing more than a moderate liberal.

    But to a conservative, tea-bagger, Richardd Nixon would probably be considered a liberal today, because he signed into law landmark environmental legislation.

    Whatever happened to intelligent, well crafted arguments from conservatives such as Williams F, Buckey Jr?
    Instead, we get the angry-man rhetoric of name calling and playing the blame game from lazy people who listen to the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity and take the blatherings of those bloviating windbags at face value. Don't you realize that people like that merely say incendiary things to build up an audience, gain ratings, and make money? They're not at all interested in informing or educating the public, but merely providing 'entertainment.'

    And to the doofus who complained about an earlier poster who wrote a long and thoughtful discourse that I didn't completely agree with, but found interesting earlier, I have this question:
    Why don't you learn to spend 3 minutes actually reading and learning to use your human powers of concentration instead of regressing to childish behavior by not being able to pay attention?
    Do you have an attention disorder?

    I guess you must be another one of these clones that spends countless hours texting, tweeting, and staring into tiny screens to answer others with incomplete sentences replete with misspelled or hyphenated words. Sad!

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