Dobbs cited Obama's "newly painted Boeing 757 aircraft" as an example of hubris, but McCain has a jet too
SUMMARY: Lou Dobbs pointed to Sen. Barack Obama's "newly painted Boeing 757 aircraft, sprayed with, of course, the Obama campaign slogan" as an example of Obama's alleged "hubris." But Dobbs neglected to note that in June, Sen. John McCain unveiled his own Boeing 737 jet, with the words "JohnMcCain.com" emblazoned on it.
On the July 30 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dobbs repeated a GOP talking point attacking Sen. Barack Obama for his alleged "hubris." In support of his characterization, Dobbs pointed to "Obama's newly painted Boeing 757 aircraft, sprayed with, of course, the Obama campaign slogan." But Dobbs neglected to note that in June, Sen. John McCain unveiled his own Boeing 737 jet, which, as The Washington Post blog The Trail noted, has "the words 'JohnMcCain.com' emblazoned on it."
Dobbs quoted a July 30 Washington Post column by Dana Milbank -- which was picked up by the Republican National Committee and the McCain campaign -- in which Milbank wrote that while Obama "has long been his party's presumptive nominee," "[n]ow he's becoming its presumptuous nominee." As Media Matters for America documented, Milbank misrepresented quotes in his column, neglected to do basic reporting, and advanced the baseless suggestion that actions Obama has reportedly taken are unprecedented for a presidential candidate.
In the same segment, Dobbs cited the latest USA Today/Gallup poll as giving "McCain a four-point lead among likely voters, 49 percent to 45 percent," but did not report that in the findings among registered voters -- which Gallup editor Frank Newport said " are much more important at the moment" -- Obama leads McCain.
From the July 30 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight:
DOBBS: Well, some in the predominantly liberal national media are beginning to question Senator Obama's presidential style that he has taken on the campaign trail. In fact, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank today said Obama's long been the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee. Now Milbank is saying that he is really his party's presumptuous nominee.
Milbank saying, quote, "Obama's biggest challenger may not be Republican John McCain ... but rather his own hubris." Milbank notes that Obama has become what he calls a president in waiting. One example, Obama's use of a presidential-style seal of a campaign event last month, one that neglected to include "E pluribus unum," by the way. Another example, Obama's newly painted Boeing 757 aircraft, sprayed with, of course, the Obama campaign slogan.
Much of the national media remains strongly biased in favor of Senator Obama. That was clear during Obama's overseas tour last week. The highly respected Project for Excellence in Journalism says coverage of Obama's trip accounted for 51 percent of all campaign stories last week -- 51 percent -- and they also reported that Obama was -- what it called a significant or dominant factor in 81 percent of all campaign reports last week.
By contrast, Senator McCain was a significant or dominant factor in only 53 percent of campaign coverage. Despite all of that, Senator Obama did not achieve a bounce in the polls from his overseas adventure, a bounce that his campaign had hoped for, of course. In point of fact, the latest USA Today/Gallup poll gives McCain a four-point lead among likely voters, 49 percent to 45 percent. Other polls also indicate Obama's grand tour failed to excite voters in this country. Voters telling pollsters that Obama's trip did not help increase his standing with them on foreign policy issues.
What's the difference between hubris and straight-talk patriotism?
Apparently, it's the model number of your jet.
Yeah, about 20 Boeing units...
Well I guess hubris is now the official word adopted by Obama detractors.
If Dobbs or anyone wants to knock Obama, then at least find something credible. Or at least something that can't be disproven in a heartbeat, or countered with something McCain has, or has done as well.
The media is still trying to dishonestly control our elections.
Listen Pearl I left you a post on the other threads ions ago. You never showed up or if you did you didn't reply.
This item is not the same thing. Sorry. Now go bother other folks, I'm heading home.
Before I go...
THIS IS NOT ABOUT OPINION.
The other remarks made by Buchanan were. Got it yet Pearl?
I'll ignore your abstract insults (what is it with you and Tommy constantly referring to me with these effeminate pet names?), in order to point out that I did read your response to me. Funny how you accuse me of being a waste of time, and then chide me for not taking the time to respond to you.
Anyway, you can cry "opinion" all you want, but Dobbs and Buchanan were doing the exact same thing here. They both used Milbank's column in order to editorialize about Obama's "hubris problem." The only difference is in your reaction to each. According to you, Dobbs is being dishonest, and Buchanan is expressing his opinion. Also interesting is the fact that you did some Tommyesque parroting here that further underlines my point. You accuse Dobbs of using an attack that isn't "credible," yet you gave Buchanan a pass for explicitly stating that those very attacks were credible.
Clams, I'll try to keep this simple for you.
Dobbs said: "...Milbank saying, quote, "Obama's biggest challenger may not be Republican John McCain ... but rather his own hubris." Milbank notes that Obama has become what he calls a president in waiting. One example, Obama's use of a presidential-style seal of a campaign event last month, one that neglected to include "E pluribus unum," by the way. Another example, Obama's newly painted Boeing 757 aircraft, sprayed with, of course, the Obama campaign slogan."
The example of the plane to prove "hubris" has no credibility because it can be shown in a heartbeat that McCain also has a similar ride. Ok got that? So Dobbs swung & missed with that one.
The presidential-style seal could show a touch of cockiness, arrogance, or hubris...opinions might vary. Got that? Dobbs as well as others in the press certainly thought the seal was over the top.
On the other thread I wrote that Buchanan probably shouldn't have cited Milbank, as the quote was chopped up. However others in the press have opined that they find Obama arrogant. This opinion comes from observing him. Perhaps it's his swagger, or remarks he's made, but the point is it's out there.
And folks are allowed to express an opinion on that. You can whine all you want, it is what it is.
"On the other thread I wrote that Buchanan probably shouldn't have cited Milbank, as the quote was chopped up."
I don't know what you mean by "the quote was chopped up." Buchanan's quote? Milbank's? Obama's? If you're talking about the "I'm a symbol" quote from Obama, that was but one of many dishonest, misleading or outright false items in Milbank's article. This isn't just about one "chopped up" quote.
"However others in the press have opined that they find Obama arrogant. This opinion comes from observing him. Perhaps it's his swagger, or remarks he's made, but the point is it's out there."
And can you point to any examples where somebody has fairly offered the opinion that Obama is arrogant and/or presumptuous? Because your argument hinges on the idea that this an honest opinion. It seems to me that there are a multitude of examples where this portrait of Obama has been drawn by using dishonest tactics. I'd love to see an example of someone who has arrived at that image through accurate and fair observations.
And post-script, you're once again echoing a tired Tommyism when you falsely accuse me of "whining." It's a weak personal attack, and it resembles nothing I've written here.
Obviously all presidential candidates are arrogant. This is so stupid.
Can we please pick the president based on likely job performance?
So this is all they got? Must suck having to stoop so low because your candidate can't even excite a goat let alone his base.
Goats ARE his base!!! :-)
OT, but anyone see this today?
Yeah, I guess most of the rightys just thought Obama was "cute" when he was seen as a longshot contender for the Dem Nomination. Like "Good for him, right in the race with everybody else!"
Then they must have thought he was still a fluke when he passed HRC, as they drooled at the prospect of running against him (Naturally projecting their own prejudices and fears on normal Americans)
Now, suddenly, they're not having such a good time, reduced to accusing Obama of arrogance, that he would prove them as stupid as everybody else knew they were.
Sean Hannity, BTW, is really going into overdrive on the arrogance angle, as well as continuing to beat his wild theory that the Obama campaign is "planned". Just today, he played audio of 3 separate speeches, 3 stops in one single day. They covered similar topics! What a calculating monster!
I know, that's the height of hubris - running a good political campaign!
Only a desperate has-been like McCain is worthy of our admiration, for still being in this race even after his campaign has been a disaster for day 1.
This is just more veiled racism. "Hubris" = "Uppity". Dont be fooled by this latest GOP-invented narrative that the media is dutifully reporting as if it were a conversation Americans are actually having with each other. This is merely a continuation of the same race-baiting tactics that began with Goldwater, and was later perfected (after Johnson's passing of the Civil Rights ammendment shifted the former Confederacy to the Republicans for a generation) with Nixon's southern strategy.
And of course Dobbs pretends not to get it because he's a blatant racist himself.
Not to mention how many times I've seen the word 'hubris' used in the incorrect context on right-wingy blogs:
"Obama is an incredibly hubris person"
or
"this is just another example of how hubris Obama is"
or just
"Obama is such a hubris", "what a hubris!"
That would be the Ford, Five Bean Chili.
(-[
My mom used to make hubris all the time. Sometime around mid-october, she'd start a big pot of boiling water, then go out in the garden and gather a bunch of chickpeas into a bushel basket. Once the water was at a good rolling boil, she'd just toss the chickpeas in and let them cook for about 15 minutes. She let them cool briefly, then she'd mash them up to a smooth consistency. A little sesame paste, some lemon juice, some garlic, a little salt and some olive oil, and it would be ready for us to scoop up with pita bread on those brisk country evenings, as we sat in front of the fire outside the tent telling stories of our ancestors and jihad...
Wow, small world. I remember Hugh from when he worked at my dads grocery store for a short while. Was fired one morning, though, when dad caught him in the produce section peeling all the zucchinis.
Done.
But a little more obscure.
Dont be fooled by this latest GOP-invented narrative that the media is dutifully reporting as if it were a conversation Americans are actually having with each other.
True, as is the whispering campaign that there's something "different" or "unknown" about Obama.
But the good news is, it's backfiring. First, McCain attacked the press last week, then he tried to get them to vouch for his Obama-Germany lie.
They knew it was untrue, and they are starting to rebel (re: Andrea Mitchell today, asking McCain campaign chief if reports were true that McCain had a commercial in the works condemning Obama for an injured-soldiers visit.)
You're absolutely right.
And I like your point about "conversations Americans are having". The media pretends to deal with stuff the public are interested in, when in fact they only deal with stuff THEY are interested in. NOBODY cares if Obama has his own plane. In fact, I'd expect most ASSUME he has one.
The media is depressing in their prejudice, ignorance, and fearmongering.
Yes, but only a black candidate would spray paint his plane. The really experienced, wise old man gets his plane powder coated, or ....
RINO lined!!
My thoughts exactly. I wonder if people dumb enought to be fooled by this crap know what hubris means, though?
Agreed, Bootsy. Glenn Greenwald wrote a piece titled Karl Rove's media birds chirp about Obama's "arrogance" today. Here is a bit:
This is exactly what happens every single election cycle. The Right spews some petty, personality-based attack, and the chirping media birds then mindlessly repeat it until it's lodged into our discourse as accepted fact.
Saying the least is not one of our specialties here. So you've come to the right place.
:0) Good to see you back Bootsy.
Yeah, the other issue with planes is that Obama took off an American flag that had been on his plane.
Except it was the logo of the airline that was on his plane when he was just using it. Now that he's the presumptive candidate, he's had it repainted with his own design.
McCain's flag doesn't have an American flag on it either.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/airplane.asp
These people are looking dumber and dumber as this campaign goes on.Dobbs is always railing against the system and how bad the middle class is doing.Hey Lou how about having a Bar-Bq for the little guy on that 200 acre horse farm you got?
DOBBS: Well, some in the predominantly liberal national media
An often-debunked lie.
are beginning to question Senator Obama's presidential style that he has taken on the campaign trail.
Some? He only quotes Milbank, who (a) is hardly a Liberal, and (b) has written a totally refuted column.
In fact, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank today said Obama's long been the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee. Now Milbank is saying that he is really his party's presumptuous nominee.
Fine, that's one man's opinion (and Dobbs, who apparently isn't doing his own thinking, borrows it). Can anyone find a single person who was an Obama supporter and no longer is because they think he's being "presumptuous"?
No, I didn't think so. Dobbs, you're dismissed.
As I have followed the various blogosphere threads and the acerbic comments all this "race and hubris" analysis has generated I am struck by a couple of thoughts.
ONE - Would we, as a nation, want a president who didn't have a pretty confident (one might call it cocky) attitude? Can anyone here tell me Mc Cain doesn't show a strong flair of cockiness and would they still think he's presidential material if he didn't? And speaky of cocky anyone notice any inkly of cockiness out of our president over the last 7 1/2 years (maybe so much of it that you were embarassed to be an American?)
TWO - At this point in time does race really matter that much to anyone? From my persepctive, which happens to be a mid 50's aged white male, I think the guy that graduated in the top 10% of his class and has shown not only a dynamic presence in every speach I've seen him deliver but a descerning and thoughtful approach to the chalenges facing his nation is head and shoulders above the "veteran" (code name for guy with experience as much as military service) but who has never shown himself to be high in the "Smarts" lists (graduated near the bottom of his class) at Annapolis.
It just seams to me that the neo-cons (I refuse to call the Republicans) have taking this nation for ride throughout this GWB administration. The talking points that the economy is fine is a bald faced lie (the defict and who is holding that credit card statement ought to terrify us all). Warrantless wire taps? IN this nation?? unebelievable. Refusal to tetify to congress I am so furious with the Democrates fear of impeachment (no I am sure it would fail, but would be a tool to force the coruption of this administration into the open before the next administration (who ever it may be) can slide in and just take GWB's established precedent and run with it. face it people, at some point in time the presient is going to eb someone you don't trust and if we don't slam teh door on teh abuses of teh Constitution establisehd by this president we are going down a slippery slope to a monarchy.
I guess Obamas is bigger then McCains:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/30/mccains-new-plane/
vs (before paint job)
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2268/2393715540_00fb84cd26_o.jpg&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/mrottler/2393715540/&h=1536&w=2048&sz=87&hl=en&start=12&tbnid=Z09UIKQBfnLoDM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dobama%2B757%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den