When S. Reyes was appointed head of Intelligence Division by Pelosi he could not tell which countries supported Sunnis and which Shiites. He missed every question by reporters.
Now McCain, who wants to be president, appears to know little about the two feuding parties - after 5 years of confrontation in Iraq!
Is it any wonder that the war and because of it the country are in a mess?
The Sunnis and Shiites are simply two different religious groups in the Muslim system.
During peace time they are relatively quite; it's a different story during war - as we found out.
The unbelievable ignorance of leading people in our government is extremely troubling.

One thing is for sure, you don't have to be very knowledgable to run for President anymore (Look at G.W.Bush).

I'm not sure which was more hilarious ...
The poodle Joe licking his ear or the embarrassed way Lindsey Graham kept staring at the ground.
The old fellow is turning into Elmer Fudd before our very eyes.
"Be vewy qwiet. I'm huntin' tewwowists!"

McCain is a Joke,lol.

He gets all do respect for serving our Country, but as a Cheif Executive, he is not qualified , oops! I said that about Bush too, now I'm scared,lol.

SPM, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. I would ask you sort of what I asked CG when she said Obama was qualified for the Presidency...What makes McCain unqualified for the Presidency as you claim him to be?

It is one thing for you to claim you do not desire to see him in the office. That is a matter of opinion and desire and as such needs no justification. However, you state he is unqualified. That presupposes some sort of defined qualifications he does not meet. I am curious as to what you believe those to be. You are of course not under any compulsion to answer but I think it weakens you position if you fail to do so...

I can't speak for SPM..

I personally find McCain unsuitbale, based on 3 issues:

1. His almost non-existent policy on getting our economy back...something that will NEVER be accomplished until the special interests are banned from DC...

2. His stance on the war which is not only a continuation of the failed Bush policies, but a proclivity toward escalating the war-monegring and the subsequent hatred toward us.

3. His long record of flip-flopping from a "maverick" position to one of "lap dog" to the status quo....and a record of statements and actions that do little to foster his standing as something other than just another politician out for his own gains and not the electorate.

There will be a resurgeance of McCain's statements (on 60 Minutes) about labeling himself, in a momemnt of candor, as a "war criminal" in Vietnam for bombing innocent civilians; there will also be a resurgeance of the Keating scandal; and there will be a resurgeance of his anti-lobbyist statements versus the reality of his dependence on them.

McCain's recent blunder, saying Iran is training al queda snd sending them into Iraq, well one can sort of think he was doing a "W" slip of the tongue....Anyone can make A mistake, when you repeat it 3 or more times, it may be an indication that you do not know a hill of beans of what you speak of...... McCain made the same claims on the Hugh Hewitt show....

Certainly, CG...of course it must be noted that you said unsuitable as opposed to unqualified. Unsuitable fall into the category of opinion and judgement rather than into the category of qualification. Perhaps SPM meant s/he found McCain unsuitable rather than unqualified and I, as I sometimes am, was simply being anal rententive in challenging the original comment. I guess we are left to await SPM's response.

Lawmage, although I would nat go as far as to flatly opine that McCain is "unsuitable" for the Presidency, I *worry* about his suitability... because of his age. I am not an agist, but I already see MCain struggling to keep simple facts straight, and being prompted by people such as Joe Lieberman to correct himself when he flubs statements about Al Qaida in Iran. I think it's a valid concern, and it brings to mind Reagan's last days in the White House when he was already suffering from the first stages of Alzheimer's disease while in office. I respect McCain's prior service to his country, but his moment may have passed.

You just have to have lots of money and know whose collective ass to kiss.

On a different note, whenever I read the topic title here, it reminds me of the long defunct syndicated comic strip, Alley Oop. I know Ray will remember that one. *ducking*

Yeah, I remember "Alley Oop." Do you remember "Nancy & Sluggo" and "Pricilla's Pop?"

But back to the original topic, I'm rather amused at all the political hysteria about "special interest groups" and (gasp) "Lobbyists." And BOTH Democrats and Republicans vow to do something about those nasty, damned ol' lobbyists and special interest groups. And you know they do that, don't you? Because it sounds good; because such talk mollifies the voters who can be incredibly ignorant about a great many political concepts.

For instance, "special interest groups?" Political "lobbyists?" Their attempts to influence lawmakers are protected by the 1st Amendment. You're not going to get rid of them without infringing upon their Constitutional right of petition. You can legislate against lawmakers taking bribes and selling their votes for material gain. But you cannot legislate against the right of individuals or groups of individuals from trying to persuade lawmakers to see political issues as the petitioners see it.

Lobbyists must invest in a lot of chapstick, don't you think?



Ohhhhhh yeahhhhh, right!! Lobbyists and special interest groups OWN the backsides of politicians. They'd be cutting their nose off to spite their face, wouldn't they?

And I yes, I remember "Nancy & Sluggo", but not "Priscilla's Pop". Ohhhhhh heyyy, remember "The Katzenjammer Kids"... and what about "Red Ryder"?

LM, How are you? I see you are your picky self. Anyway I stand by what I said, he is unsuitable for the Presidency, all he's doing is picking up the policy of President Bush, it's apparent he does'nt have his own. How can you run for President, if you don't have your own policy? He might as well call himself mini-me Bush,lol.

SPM, you had the opportunity to provide a quantifiable answer but declined. Since I am feeling charitable, I am not going to point out that your original claim was that he was unqualified and your new claim is he is unsuitable. Instead of accusing you of being deceptive I will instead conclude you simply do not understand the difference between unqualified and unsuitable. Better ignorant than dishonest I suppose...

Of the present potential candidates there is no doubt that McCain is by far the most "qualified", maybe even overqualified. (Doesn't take much, does it?)

What gives you 'permission' to Are you going to quote your 1st amendment right to 'freedom of speech?' Does the first Amendment apply only to you, Lawmage? Are you now appointing yourself as not only the Mage of Law; but, also, as the Mage of Words. You have done it so often in the past.

Gives me permission to what, Liz? To feel charitable? I suppose its my good and gentle nature that allows me to feel charitable...Did you have a specific question, Liz, or just an itch to indulge in an ad hominem attack?

McCain does not favor a time line for withdrawal of forces in Iraq or Afghanistan. I like that. If we tell the enemy when we are leaving, we are telling them when to come back. The time to withdraw is when the enemy is defeated and the nations can stand their own against any resurgence. The time cannot be determined by the big hand and the little hand on a clock.

LM , John McCain is unqualified and unsuitable, he's a mini-bush as I said before. He does'nt even have his own policy, I could think of a list of things to call Mr.McCain and they all would be correct.

you want to get into a debate of words, as I mentioned before, you have very good book sense, and very intellectuaul, but leave a lot to be desired in the area of common sense.

Really? Doesn't even have his own policy? But don't you remember when John McCain was being praised by Democrats and the New York Times and the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times and CNN and ABC and NBC and CBS and MSNBC and all the other media outlets of the Democratic National Committee for being a "Maverick" for standing up AGAINST George Bush and having his OWN plans and his OWN agenda and his OWN mind and how he wasn't a lackey or a tool of the Bush White House?

Now you accuse John McCain of being in George Bush's back pocket. Can't you people stick to one story for longer than it takes to change your socks?

It's his story that makes that possible. If he flip-flops from not supporting torture to supporting toture that's his story. If he does it because his plan is not PC and he wants to 'get on board' then it's his loss of plan.

If you want more of the same vote for McCain.


btw, LM, only God or a "judge" can be a qualified judge...everyone else has opinions...

Here, SPM, lets make this as easy as possible...what specific qualifications for the Office of President does McCain lack?

Constitutionally speaking, everyone over the age of 35 who is a natural U.S. Citizen is qualified to become President.

This would make Jerry Lewis, Fitty Cent and Bea Arthur constitutionally qualified candidates for President of the United States.

Sorry, I must correct myself. Fitty Cent is only 33. Well, in two more years this message will be 100% correct.

Its okay, Dax...you are not the one persisting in making a claim already demonstrated to be false. Of course, you have demonstrated intelligence and so I would not expect that sort of foolishness from you. Some other posters...

Aint' wrote


The Iraqis aren't able to govern yet because the two main religious factions of Islam have been fighting for 1500 years in the Middle East, and you think McCain's suggestion, staying for 100 years is going to solve that? YOU honestly think we can "force" peace between the two factions AS we arm both with "guns"?

Who would have thunk?

McCain figures in a hundred years we'll all be dead, so it won't matter.

Have a nice day!

I'm not going to wait around just to see if he's right. I guess I'll just have to hope someone else gets the chance to prove he's wrong.

LM, He (McCain, aka "Little Bush") lacks the qualification of thinking for himself, he's bought into the Bush mentality of further draining this Country of it's resources in a fruitless war in Iraq, to me this lacks vision, and this lacks consideration to the citizens of this Country most of whom (Check the polls my friend) are agains the war in Iraq.

Other than Iraq, has McCain discussed any other issues facing this Country? If he has I have'nt heard it, and I have'nt heard him mention anything about how he would fix the ailing economy, let me guess, he agrees with Bush, he does'nt want to fix the economy too much things might get real bad,lol. Well too late we're already there.

SPM wrotte

Birds of a Feather? Weird!

If Leiberman cuddles up to McCain to become his running mate I think it won't work.
McCain needs a much younger person for the VP position.

A lack of knowledge or intelligence, does not disqualify a US citizen to be a US President, as the current holder of that office proves.

I don't think McCain is unintelligent, and for the most part I think he is quite knowledgeable, but on this important subject, he does seem to have less than perfect knowledge. If a President has a lack of knowledge on some subject, that is no great fault as he has armies of advisers and experts at his disposal.

The only real failing in this, would be if the President lacked the intelligence or will to weigh all advice and do some research himself as to the credibility of the advice, but as I said, I do not think McCain is unintelligent.

If Liebernan had not whispered that correction into McCain's ear with all camera's on the two probably noone would have picked up on the ignorant statement.
(Although he did state the nonsense a total of three times he said it was ridiculous to say that he was not able to tell the difference between Sunnis and Shiites.
After all he has been 8 times to the region).
I do think McCain's qualifications are not as outstanding as his party wants to paint them.
He is a fairly decent guy, has gone through hell in war, but in general he is a politician with maverick inclinations that are quite often more irritating than effective.

OoooPs! (again)!!

During the hearings, McCain referred to al-queda as shites.
This time without Leiberman whispering in his ear, he managed
to correct himself.

MCCAIN: Do you still view al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?

PETRAEUS: It is still a maj