It's Official: Barack Obama Makes My Butt Itch

Seriously. And not because he's hot!

Just for that, John Edwards is going to get a late Christmas present from me.

Comments

[J—]

If you have time feel free to read this inspiring article about Senator Obama. Have a good day.

[Roxanne]

ROFL, smartass.

[upyernoz]

in all fairness to obama, i don't think his trial lawyer comment can reasonably be interpreted as embracing a right wing talking point. all he said was that being a civil rights attorney and community organizer shows more commitment to public service than being a trial lawyer. it was a clear dig at edwards, but so what? i expect people to dig at each other during the primary.

obama didn't adopt any right-wing talking points with regard to trial lawyers. he didn't call for tort reform, caps on punitive damages, changes to the legal stanard used in products liability cases, etc.

plus, i also happen to think that obama is right. while i believe that trial lawyers help people, most trial lawyers do it because they want to make money. again, there's nothing wrong with making money. but being working in communities when you have a law degree does show a bigger commitment t public service in my mind.

what i'm getting concerned about is that a lot of bloggers are legitimatedly concerned because he adopted right-wing rhetoric about social security. and now they are inclined to see pretty much anything he says as another example of his adopting right-wing rhetoric about anything else, even when he clearly isn't. it reminds me of how the media treated gore. once he got the serial exaggerator label, pretty much everything he said was spun into an exaggeration, even when what he said was correct.

that being said, i don't have a problem with your deciding to support edwards. nor have i thrown my support behind obama. i just hope that bloggers don't fall into the same trap as the media regularly does with gore and others.

[upyernoz]

in all fairness to obama, i don't think his trial lawyer comment can reasonably be interpreted as embracing a right wing talking point. all he said was that being a civil rights attorney and community organizer shows more commitment to public service than being a trial lawyer. it was a clear dig at edwards, but so what? i expect people to dig at each other during the primary.

obama didn't adopt any right-wing talking points with regard to trial lawyers. he didn't call for tort reform, caps on punitive damages, changes to the legal stanard used in products liability cases, etc.

plus, i also happen to think that obama is right. while i believe that trial lawyers help people, most trial lawyers do it because they want to make money. again, there's nothing wrong with making money. but being working in communities when you have a law degree does show a bigger commitment t public service in my mind.

what i'm getting concerned about is that a lot of bloggers are legitimatedly concerned because he adopted right-wing rhetoric about social security. and now they are inclined to see pretty much anything he says as another example of his adopting right-wing rhetoric about anything else, even when he clearly isn't. it reminds me of how the media treated gore. once he got the serial exaggerator label, pretty much everything he said was spun into an exaggeration, even when what he said was correct.

that being said, i don't have a problem with your deciding to support edwards. nor have i thrown my support behind obama. i just hope that bloggers don't fall into the same trap as the media regularly does with gore and others.

[Roxanne]

Well, for me it's certainly not the only thing, but the last straw.

[upyernoz]

oops, sorry about the double post.

[Roxanne]

Like it's never happened before in the history of all the internets. No big.

[eRobin]

Upyernoz: I had that same charitable thought at first but came around to the conclusion that this was a clear shot using a winger talking point. According to the WaPo story (and backed up here at the HuffPo), he frequently talks about turning down the "big jobs" with the "big money law firms." Throwing in "trial lawyer," a term that's radioactive now thanks to the right, isn't open to misinterpretation. Those polls that tell him that Edwards is a threat probably sit on his desk right next to ones that tell him what Edwards' weaknesses are and I'm betting that his background as a "trial lawyer" is the biggest one. If it weren't, we would have heard instead about his big house, expensive haircut or that sissy way he's got about him.

[upyernoz]

as i said above, he clearly threw in the term "trial lawyer" as a dig at edwards. i don't contest that at all.

what i am saying is that what obama said was nothing like a right-wing talking point. just using the term "trial lawyer" is not a rightwing term, as a lawyer i use it myself all the time. it's not a derogatory term, it's a descriptive one.

in short, i think obama was attacking edwards by contrasting his own public service with edwards' more profitable career path. but that is not the same thing as "adopting a rightwing talking point." that's just spin, and a deceptive spin at that, IMHO.

[upyernoz]

as i said above, he clearly threw in the term "trial lawyer" as a dig at edwards. i don't contest that at all.

what i am saying is that what obama said was nothing like a right-wing talking point. just using the term "trial lawyer" is not a rightwing term, as a lawyer i use it myself all the time. it's not a derogatory term, it's a descriptive one.

in short, i think obama was attacking edwards by contrasting his own public service with edwards' more profitable career path. but that is not the same thing as "adopting a rightwing talking point." that's just spin, and a deceptive spin at that, IMHO.

[Roxanne]

Words have the meanings audiences assign to them that go beyond those assigned by the OED. "Right-wing television preacher" might be a pejorative term in some circles and not in others. To many audiences "trial lawyer" is synonymous with "ambulance chaser." And Obama's speechifyers know that.

[upyernoz]

okay, so they're calling him the equivalent of an "ambulance chaser". but that's not the same as advocating tort reform, or using words like "frivolous lawsuits" etc.

i fully acknowledge it's an attack on edwards (it's the crunch time before the iowa caucus, we should expect no less). i just don't see it as more than that.

and i think there is a real contrast here to when obama did adopt rightwing language when talking about social security. calling it a "crisis" is straight out of bush's playbook. that wasn't just a poke at his rivals, it was adopting a rightwing position--that social security needs to be overhauled.

anyway, i've made my point. i'll leave this one alone. happy new year, rox, erobin and everyone else!

now let's see if i can manage to post this only once.

[upyernoz]

okay, so they're calling him the equivalent of an "ambulance chaser". but that's not the same as advocating tort reform, or using words like "frivolous lawsuits" etc.

i fully acknowledge it's an attack on edwards (it's the crunch time before the iowa caucus, we should expect no less). i just don't see it as more than that.

and i think there is a real contrast here to when obama did adopt rightwing language when talking about social security. calling it a "crisis" is straight out of bush's playbook. that wasn't just a poke at his rivals, it was adopting a rightwing position--that social security needs to be overhauled.

anyway, i've made my point. i'll leave this one alone. happy new year, rox, erobin and everyone else!

now let's see if i can manage to post this only once.

[eRobin]

I don't think the double posting is your fault. Paperwight told me once that typepad has that problem.

[KathyF]

Oh my god, he called someone a trial lawyer!!! And liberal bloggers get their panties in a wad over that?! What's going to happen when Republicans use far worse language in a general election? Shall we all collectively swoon? Get a grip! Edwards IS a trial lawyer! I personally don't want to have to defend that in a general election, having already had a taste of it last go round, when doctors who'd been supporting Dean called up and said they couldn't support Kerry/Edwards.

Plus I agree with upyernoz, which is why I'm glad he's posting it twice. More effective that way.

[Hubris]

Watching Obama's Iowa victory speech--he makes everyone else on both sides seem like whiny little bitches. He's gonna win this thing.

[Roxanne]

He sounded great, didn't he? And I thought Huckabee and Clinton made pretty good speeches tonight as well.

[Hubris]

Agreed, friend. I don't believe in the "who would you want to have a beer with" thing, but I do believe that the ability to inspire* is essential to lead (or, if one wants to be more cynical, to win elections). It's funny, isn't it? A minimum agreement on policy is necessary but not sufficient. True leadership toward a better place, I don't care you are, we're begging for it.

For the antithesis: See Romney.

[Hubris]

Hahaha. Addendum: Just saw Romney speech excerpt, "somehow" he beat household names such as Guliani and McCain in Iowa. Therefore proud of himself. Yep, $omehow.

[Roxanne]

And yet, it's *just* Iowa ...which was most important for the folks who are dropping out as I type this. NH and SC will be important insofar as it helps candidates keep the money coming in.

Feb. 5 is D-Day. And probably Huckabee's hardest day.

[Hubris]

I would like to see either Obama versus McCain (assume Obama win, but I wouldn't be devastated by either result) or Obama versus Huckabee (the fundamentalist pandering coming home to the Republican roost in a landslide). I don't mind Hillary at all--I think she's been an effective senator and would be a fine executive--but I think the American psyche is ready for a change and a break in the dynastic cycle, and Obama is the ticket for that with policy objectives that I find palatable.

[Roxanne]

McCain?

[Hubris]

P.S. I know the first part of that last comment seems crazy given their differing viewpoints on the war, but I don't think there would be much of a difference vis-a-vis implementation in the end, given where things stand now.

Have a good night.

[Hubris]

Heh, crossed posts. Pragmatism would end up dulling the edges of each once in office, since they both have sense, I think. I am part of Duncan Black's hated mythical, muddle-headed middle.

Have a good one.

[Roxanne]

...but I don't think there would be much of a difference vis-a-vis implementation in the end,

Hard to know what to predict out of McCain. I still can't figure out his position on torture.