WTF, indeed. Who is working for this guy (Obama) anyway?

Farticulate.

Edwards is kind of cute. What;s wrong with Obamapointing that out. These guys are running for President; they better have thick skins.

MaxSpeak is a very good source for Democratic misbehavior this week.

Dude I think you should probably stop paying attention to the presidential race right now if THIS bothers you.

Yeah, maybe, but the Cult of Macho has long been my bete noir. Macho bloggers who threaten to cock slap or out “cowardly” pseudonymous people probably have something to do with that. So, I complain. And Obama should know better.

“I want to wait and hear what John Edwards has to say, he’s kind of good-looking,� Obama envisioned Iowa caucus-goers from the small town of Clinton telling themselves.

“Obama envisioned people telling themselves”? What does this mean? Is there some kind of context that makes this make sense?

I’m with Vino. Edwards is a pretty good looking guy… Obama is probably right: that will give Edwards an advantage. It never hurts to be pretty.

Wait…Obama makes a couple of statements on how cute Edwards is? And we’re supposed to take away from this that Edwards is gay?

Yeah, that totally makes sense. Cause heterosexuals are always commenting on how attractive members of their own sex are.

Always.

Dorothy, it’s subtle on Obama’s part, but yes. Edwards is being constantly smeared by the wingnuts as being girly, ghey, weak, swishy, etc. Obama knows this. Some people like Coulter come right out and call him a faggot. Others hit the same theme with a much lighter touch.

Whether it was intended to contain the Coulter Smear or not, the one thing it certainly does contain is an insult. It’s implying that Edwards is a mental lightweight who relies on his looks to get anywhere.

Not that Republicans are averse to using that trick (cough *Dan Quayle* cough). But when you’re the party of Darth Cheney, it helps to be able to hint that anyone who’s not butt-ugly is clearly stupid.

Obama, by descending to that sort of snide smear so early, should lose credibility with thinking people. Lucky for him, there’s bugger-all of them about the place.

I think he’s playing the media like punks. It’s not so much about Edwards.

It’s like when he asked with concern, “What, did Harry Belafonte say something?”

[When asked what he thought of the pretty-boy bands]
Good luck to ’em. Wish I was pretty.

I don’t think complimenting someone is a smear. I think you are reading something into something that is simply not there. Or just being paranoid.
Why can’t someone say something nice without people thinking there is an ulterior motive?
Get real and quit being so ultra sensitive and take the compliment as that. A simple compliment. Edwards is a nice looking man. Oh wow! that is just soooo evil and winger like!
grow up

I’m giving Obama credit for being smart. If he’d meant it as a compliment, considering the grief Edwards has been getting, he wouldn’t have used a word like ‘cute’.

Limbaugh said today that Obama’s comment proved that the Senator listens to Rush. Limbaugh and Pod know their own tropes when they hear them.

At best, it could be a gaffe by Obama, but I doubt it. He’s too calculating a politician for that.

Y’know, you’d think these cats could stop running for President (how far in advance?) long enough to bring some fucking lumber to the White House. In their spare time, when they’re just… ohhh, what’s the word… Senators!

All that money, prestige and megawatts of limelight… could they turn their attention to spanking the damned Republicans and the Bush administration? God damn the pusher man!

I don’t have a college degree but I could out-maneuver these clowns from Hell to breakfast. But I swear, so they’ll never listen to Ol’ Cussy Pants Ripley.

Btw, you Dem candidates – make me an offer. I promise I won’t swear, and you might even get some votes. Or you can see what James Carville has to offer…

Subtle like a foxxx.

And they both have purdy faces…

This is so ironic, when Obama can rely on his very real sex appeal to women, and perhaps gay men (can’t speak to that), to promote his candidacy.

Well, maybe not so ironic, but disgustingly ready to glom onto Repub talking points to promote HIMSELF as opposed to the progressive cause, which involves getting us out of Iraq and reversing the transformation of the presidency into a dictatorship. But, hey, those goals have to take a backseat to “Obama for President.”

I have to agree with Dorothy on the Obama thing. If anything, I think he’s gonna take some shit about his sexuality now. I foresee endless jokes about the pair of them now. “Running mates,” perhaps?

I don’t think complimenting someone is a smear. I think you are reading something into something that is simply not there. Or just being paranoid.
Why can’t someone say something nice without people thinking there is an ulterior motive?

Oh, I see- Obama was just being a nice guy. Of course. Where’d this troop of ingenuous dipshits come from? It’s not just a compliment, it’s part of a pattern of feminizing and belittling Democrats that had previously only been done by the right. Do you read? Where the fuck do you hang out that you haven’t heard of this?

Oops, I totally misread Dorothy’s point in her first comment. I apologise.

Maybe Barack is telling us, inferentially, of course, that he’s on the down-low 😉

Why can’t someone say something nice without people thinking there is an ulterior motive?

vwcat:

I see what you mean. It does seem kinda silly when you look at it like that. However, I tend to agree with HTML, politicians are very good at making subtle hints to a certain kind of person. (It’s called dog-whistle politics, making a statement that only a certain group of people will hear and understand.)

I don’t think that you can ever look at politicians, at least at skillful politicians, innocently.

While it’s true that the wingnuts will likely stay with the race and religion smears on Obama, their tarring him, as well, as a wusshomofagfaggirlyappeaser is never not an impossibility.

Maybe I’m the one who’s getting confused with all the negatives, but wouldn’t this mean that there is “never a possibility” that he’ll be tarred?

Somebody run against him in the primary, please.

Amen, fellow Arkansan. I wrote our dear Senator the other day, asking him to be honest enough to run as a Republican the next go-around, so that a representatative of the Democratic party could have a shot.

Pryor loves him some war, and loves him some Bush Adminstration – he was one of the few Democrats that voted to confirm Abu Al. I hope he notices how the Torturer General bypassed his Senatorial “advise and consent” privilege on getting Bud Cummins replacement in, but with as much Rover love as he seems to possess he probably thinks Tim Griffin is just peachy. After all, all Mr. Griffin did was obstruct Democratic voters – what’s so bad about that?

Any chance this was meant satirically? Moreover, can we stop victimizing ourselves by crying about some dumbass right wing meme?

I’ll be glad when the rest of my peers on the liberal side can set aside the Lieberman-Democrat Hillary Clinton as well as Obama for 2008. Edwards is standing up for what he believes, and not getting sidetracked into these little political games.

While Obama and Hillary play rightwing smear games, Edwards is focusing on getting us the hell out of Iraq and standing up against the corrupt Republican empire.

Yes, he’s running for President, but he hasn’t lost sight of what IS Important for America right now. Obama and Clinton have reduced their focus to simply winning an election.

well someone let Obama know that he needs to get in line. i’ve been dry humping John’s leg for months with campaign contributions & it’s gotten me no dick whatsoever

Compared to what is coming, it is kinda minor however.

It’s implying that Edwards is a mental lightweight who relies on his looks to get anywhere.

Thing is, people have implied similar about Obama, too, so bringing the focus back to looks isn’t going to help him. Not smart.

Any chance this was meant satirically?

No. Or rather, it may theoretically have been intended as such, but it lacks so many of the required elements to meet the definition of actual satire that such an intention is highly unlikely.

Edwards is standing up for what he believes, and not getting sidetracked into these little political games.

Except for the part where he refused to stick up for his staffers when the lunatic right wing fringe came looking for their heads.

No, no, no — y’all misunderstand. This is just evidence that Obama is a “stand up and fight” kind of guy. He’s not going to roll over and say, “Thank you sir, may I have another?” like our past few Democratic candidates. No, sir! He’s going to fight!

Granted, he’s fighting using weapons that were designed by his enemies to work equally well against himself, and his use of those weapons will make them even more effective when they are finally turned on him since they will have gained that much more credibility, but hey, he’s standing up and fighting!

Um, am I missing a crucial circuit in my brain or something? As I read this, it comes off more as a mild swipe at Iowa voters than at Edwards, and even more of a self-deprecation.

“I want to wait and hear what John Edwards has to say, he’s kind of good-looking,� Obama envisioned Iowa caucus-goers from the small town of Clinton telling themselves.

Isn’t he saying, in effect, “Those Iowa caucusers will be more inclined to listen to Edwards because he’s good-looking”? With maybe a little implication of “I have to try harder to get folks to listen to me because I’m not as good-looking as Edwards”? It may be less than wholly ingenuous, given that Obama has no trouble being heard, but a slam at Edwards on substance or sexuality? I don’t see it.

I turned off the all-Obama-all-the-time channels many weeks ago.

While I liked his highly-anticipated DemCon04 keynote (followed later by his surprise appearance at the BiMonSciFiCon, also held in Boston), he really hasn’t had much to say or do that I’ve been interested in or impressed by.

Plus, he got seriously bitch-slapped by MadJack McCain, then went on the stump for Joe Lieberman.

Now he’s dog-whistling (right on, atheist).

Fuck that shit. I predict a seriously deflated Barack baloon well before the first groups huddle on caucus night in Sioux City and elsewhere in Iowa. Not just because that’s what I want to see, but because that’s what I expect to see.

You heard it here first.

It’s said that a man being attractive means that he’s gay. That makes me a sad straight girl.

obama has dumbo ears