US 08 Presidential Campaign General Discussion Thread #7

[MrsSpringsteen]

There's a new celebrity tribute to Barack Obama, but his campaign isn't exactly loving it.

The rapper Ludacris has a video, titled "Obama is here," that predicts the Democrat will win the presidency and urges blacks to get out and vote. It features footage of Obama dancing on the "Ellen Degeneres Show" and shooting hoops with US soldiers.

All well and good.

The problem is that the video also disparages Hillary Clinton using the b-word and calling her "irrelevant" -- and mocks John McCain suggesting that he belongs in a wheelchair, not the White House.

"As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement today. "This song is not only outrageously offensive to Senator Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain, and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics."

YouTube - LUDACRIS - OBAMA IS HERE (MUSIC VIDEO)

 

[2861U2]

There's a new celebrity tribute to Barack Obama, but his campaign isn't exactly loving it.

The rapper Ludacris has a video, titled "Obama is here," that predicts the Democrat will win the presidency and urges blacks to get out and vote. It features footage of Obama dancing on the "Ellen Degeneres Show" and shooting hoops with US soldiers.

All well and good.

The problem is that the video also disparages Hillary Clinton using the b-word and calling her "irrelevant" -- and mocks John McCain suggesting that he belongs in a wheelchair, not the White House.

"As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement today. "This song is not only outrageously offensive to Senator Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain, and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics."

YouTube - LUDACRIS - OBAMA IS HERE (MUSIC VIDEO)

But I thought Ludacris was "a great talent"?

It's confusing to me how Obama can say how bad and offensive most rap lyrics are, yet seem to condone it by having someone like Ludacris on his iPod.

 

[2861U2]

Barack Obama playing the race card yet again...

My Way News - Obama says Republicans trying to scare voters

Democrat Barack Obama, the first black candidate with a shot at winning the White House, says John McCain and his Republican allies will try to scare them by saying Obama "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

Stumping in an economically challenged battleground state, Obama argued Wednesday that President Bush and McCain will resort to scare tactics to maintain their hold on the White House because they have little else to offer voters.

"Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer to the challenges we face. So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me," Obama said. "You know, he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name, you know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

Another nice little quip from the supposed post-racial candidate. Shameful. I bet garbage like this is going to cost him votes. And who is this "they" he keeps talking about? Who has said anything about his name or dollar bills? This guy is a moron.

 

[BVS]

But I thought Ludacris was "a great talent"?

It's confusing to me how Obama can say how bad and offensive most rap lyrics are, yet seem to condone it by having someone like Ludacris on his iPod.

Really? Is everything so black and white with you? You've never seen a great talent that may have said something you found offensive or something you didn't agree with?

So you agree with all of U2's politics?

 

[anitram]

YouTube - Celeb

McCain's old strategist blasted him today for this ad, calling it, among other things, childish.

John Weaver, for years one of John McCain's closest friends and confidants, has been in exile since his resignation from McCain's presidential campaign last year. With the exception of an occasional interview, he has, by his own account, bit his tongue as McCain's campaign has adopted a strategy that Weaver believes "diminishes John McCain."

With the release today of a McCain television ad blasting Obama for celebrity preening while gas prices rise, and a memo that accuses Obama of putting his own aggrandizement before the country, Weaver said he's had "enough."

The ad's premise, he said, is "childish."

"John's been a celebrity ever since he was shot down," Weaver said. "Whatever that means. And I recall Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush going overseas and all those waving American flags."

Weaver remains in contact with senior McCain strategists and, for a while early this year, regularly talked to McCain.

The strategy of driving up Obama's negatives "reduces McCain on the stage," Weaver said.


"For McCain to win in such troubled times, he needs to begin telling the American people how he intends to lead us. That McCain exists. He can inspire the country to greatness."

He added: "There is legitimate mockery of a political campaign now, and it isn't at Obama's. For McCain's sake, this tomfoolery needs to stop."

Rest is here.

 

[BVS]

Barack Obama playing the race card yet again...

My Way News - Obama says Republicans trying to scare voters

Democrat Barack Obama, the first black candidate with a shot at winning the White House, says John McCain and his Republican allies will try to scare them by saying Obama "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

Stumping in an economically challenged battleground state, Obama argued Wednesday that President Bush and McCain will resort to scare tactics to maintain their hold on the White House because they have little else to offer voters.

"Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer to the challenges we face. So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me," Obama said. "You know, he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name, you know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

Another nice little quip from the supposed post-racial candidate. Shameful. I bet garbage like this is going to cost him votes. And who is this "they" he keeps talking about? Who has said anything about his name or dollar bills? This guy is a moron.

Yes, I'm sure you know how it feels to have your faith, name, and patriotism dragged through the mud.

I agree he probably shouldn't have said the dollar bill thing, for I haven't heard anything about that, but everything else has been said by the right.

 

[2861U2]

Really? Is everything so black and white with you? You've never seen a great talent that may have said something you found offensive or something you didn't agree with?

So you agree with all of U2's politics?

I don't know why Obama would call him a great talent to begin with. All of Ludacris's lyrics I have ever heard have been hateful or violent or racist (not to mention profanity-filled) or any of the things that Obama's spokesman says that the senator opposes. If he doesn't want his children listening to such hateful lyrics, why does he have such an artist on his own iPod?

Do as I say, not as I do...

 

[Vincent Vega]

If he doesn't want his children listening to such hateful lyrics, why does he have such an artist on his own iPod?

Do as I say, not as I do...

I don't really get that. It's almost like saying "Why does this parent watch violent movies and doesn't want his children to watch them?"

 

[BVS]

I don't know why Obama would call him a great talent to begin with. All of Ludacris's lyrics I have ever heard have been hateful or violent or racist (not to mention profanity-filled) or any of the things that Obama's spokesman says that the senator opposes. If he doesn't want his children listening to such hateful lyrics, why does he have such an artist on his own iPod?

Do as I say, not as I do...

Talent is subjective, don't try and pretend it's anything else.

You don't possibly believe this stuff you write do you? So you only watch G rated movies?

And don't for a second tell me you believe or agree with the lyrics of every artists your politicians listen to.

Johnny Cash shot a man in Reno. Garth Brooks and George Strait are drunk in half their songs. And the racist song Rush had about Obama several months ago was just humor according to you.

Practice what you preach.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I don't think it's a big deal if he listens to Ludacris, you can disagree with what's in some rap and still listen to it. Just like you can disgree with artists' lifestyles or politics or any number of things about them and still listen to their music.

Huffington Post

Straight talk in action: a Republican strategist tells BusinessWeek that John McCain was planning an attack ad against Barack Obama whether or not the Democrat visited wounded troops in Germany:

What the McCain campaign doesn't want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was...wait for it...using wounded troops as campaign props. So, no matter which way Obama turned, McCain had an Obama bashing ad ready to launch. I guess that's political hardball. But another word for it is the one word that most politicians are loathe to use about their opponents--a lie.

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that McCain's ad accusing Obama of not caring about the troops was not supported by facts.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

John McCain was in Wedding Crashers? I don't remember

Stumper : Elitism: A Game Two Can Play

 

[Salome]

Stumping in an economically challenged battleground state, Obama argued Wednesday that President Bush and McCain will resort to scare tactics to maintain their hold on the White House because they have little else to offer voters.

"Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer to the challenges we face. So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me," Obama said. "You know, he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name, you know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."[/I]

Another nice little quip from the supposed post-racial candidate. Shameful. I bet garbage like this is going to cost him votes. And who is this "they" he keeps talking about? Who has said anything about his name or dollar bills? This guy is a moron.

I saw the footage of him saying it on the news today
and I can't see how anyone would be able to take what he said the wrong way

I would take more offense to Obama seemingly always reffering to McCain as team McCain/Bush
not even McCain deserves (yet) to be that closely associated with that idiot

 

[Bluer White]

He added: "There is legitimate mockery of a political campaign now, and it isn't at Obama's. For McCain's sake, this tomfoolery needs to stop." [/url]

This might be an old trick from McCain's campaign, who (I think) is trailing Obama quite badly in fundraising. Put Paris/Britney/Obama in an ad, buy a few spots on cable.....and suddenly it's getting all kinds of attention. Replayed all over TV, opinions from all the usual pundits. It's the "Free Media" that every campaign tries for, and Obama seems to command in spades.

On the other hand, I don't think this kind of stuff will help McCain much. Fluff pieces like this ad don't seem to be his style.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Huffington Post

During a town hall meeting in Wisconsin on Thursday, Sen. McCain defended his campaign ad painting Barack Obama as a self-obsessed celebrity along the lines of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

"We are proud of that commercial," said the presumptive Republican nominee. "There are differences and we are drawing those differences. But what we are talking about here is substance and not style. And what we are talking about is who has an agenda for the future. Campaigns are tough but I am proud of the campaign we have run I am proud of the issue we have tried to address to the American people. And I wish Sen. Obama would join me to discuss this."

The statement came after a young member of the audience -- a self-proclaimed admirer of the Senator -- told McCain that she was troubled by the recent tone of his campaign ads. McCain insisted that he was basing his candidacy "on what we should do for Americans here at home."

If McCain found himself looking for a better explanation for his recent spate of Obama attacks, it came from the next questioner.

"I'm 18 and I have to say, Obama terrifies me. You have to call him on every shot," she said. "Don't let him get away with it ... We can't afford it.

Following applause, the Arizona Republican replied: "I respect and admire Sen. Obama, we just have stark differences and those have to be drawn. He wants to raise your taxes and I want to keep them low ... whether we should have choice and competition for our children as I was discussing or are we going to let the teachers unions set the agenda."

YouTube - McCain Proud of His Paris Hilton Commercial

 

[camiloj]

Huffington Post


"I'm 18 and I have to say, Obama terrifies me. You have to call him on every shot," she said. "Don't let him get away with it ... We can't afford it.

Following applause, the Arizona Republican replied: "I respect and admire Sen. Obama, we just have stark differences and those have to be drawn. He wants to raise your taxes and I want to keep them low ... whether we should have choice and competition for our children as I was discussing or are we going to let the teachers unions set the agenda."

YouTube - McCain Proud of His Paris Hilton Commercial

You know what's complete malarchy about this is the only people whose taxes McCain wants to keep low are the ultra-rich. Obama wants to LOWER taxes on the Middle Class, and his proposals do a better job at it than McCain's.

Families making between $37,595 and $66,354 of annual income with Obama would get an average tax cut of $1,042 per family while McCain's tax cut for this group would be $319.

23 percent of McCain’s tax cut goes to the wealthiest Americans making more than $2.8 million a year!

McCain’s plan give this group an average tax cut of $270,000. By contrast, Obama would raise taxes for these wealthy families by an average $700,000 a year.


Source: Nashuatelegraph.com: Analysts say Obama offers three times the tax break for middle class

 

[2861U2]

I agree he probably shouldn't have said the dollar bill thing, for I haven't heard anything about that, but everything else has been said by the right.

By who?! Who, with any credibility or importance, has said ANYTHING about dollar bills or his "funny name"? The only people doing that are Obama and Reverend Wright and his supporters. For people in this forum who are constantly complaining about fear-mongering and scaring people, this is a prime example of it by the left.

 

[Diemen]

By who?! Who, with any credibility or importance, has said ANYTHING about dollar bills or his "funny name"? The only people doing that are Obama and Reverend Wright and his supporters. For people in this forum who are constantly complaining about fear-mongering and scaring people, this is a prime example of it by the left.

First, BVS said OTHER than the dollar bills thing, he's heard everything else said by the right. And if you're actually going to deny that it has, then I think it's a case of willful ignorance. Barack Hussein Obama is almost Steve Doocy's favorite phrase now. I've heard Hannity, Rush, O'Reilly, and Beck say it more than once. People introducing McCain at rallies have said it. I'll have to search for it, but I remember at least a couple of the aforementioned talking about how it's an "unfortunate name," usually right after mixing it up with Osama.

BTW, 2861, what do you think of McCain's ad that basically says that Obama cancelled his trip to the troops because he couldn't bring the press? You know, the one that has been proven to be utterly false?

 

[2861U2]

Talent is subjective, don't try and pretend it's anything else.

You don't possibly believe this stuff you write do you? So you only watch G rated movies?

And don't for a second tell me you believe or agree with the lyrics of every artists your politicians listen to.

Johnny Cash shot a man in Reno. Garth Brooks and George Strait are drunk in half their songs. And the racist song Rush had about Obama several months ago was just humor according to you.

Practice what you preach.

I've seen you use foul language plenty of times in here. Would you ever use language like that in front of your children? Would you be okay with your children talking like that?

No, I watch non-G rated movies. But I don't tell other people not to. I don't advocate the banning of all non-G films. Obama is a hypocrite. He supposedly is concerned with violent and reprehensible rap lyrics, yet he is a fan of possibly the worst rapper in the business in terms of those qualities. I don't get it. He needs to be a role model for his children instead of a panderer to a demographic.

If you want to have a debate between country music lyrics and rap lyrics, please, go right ahead. I see very, very few country songs even close to "McCain should be paralyzed," and even that is pretty tame compared to much of rap.

And as a matter of fact, with the exception of U2 and a small handful of others, I don't listen to such music. A large majority of what I listen to is positive Christian music.

 

[Diemen]

No, I watch non-G rated movies. But I don't tell other people not to. I don't advocate the banning of all non-G films. Obama is a hypocrite. He supposedly is concerned with violent and reprehensible rap lyrics, yet he is a fan of possibly the worst rapper in the business in terms of those qualities. I don't get it.

You apparently don't listen to much rap, because Ludacris is far from the worst, and actually has some decent stuff out there. He also has some offensive stuff, but he's far from the worst.

And as a matter of fact, with the exception of U2 and a small handful of others, I don't listen to such music.

And your lack of knowledge about it shows.

 

[BVS]

By who?! Who, with any credibility or importance, has said ANYTHING about dollar bills or his "funny name"? The only people doing that are Obama and Reverend Wright and his supporters. For people in this forum who are constantly complaining about fear-mongering and scaring people, this is a prime example of it by the left.

Once again, READ MY POSTS!

Well do you count all your heroes on the right talk radio circuit as credible? Because they have all said it, in fact Rush just said it today at least once when talking about the Sheik who shipped his lamborgini over to get an oil change... and you didn't think I really listened to it.

Even McCain furthered the "is he a Muslim" rumor, by acting as if he didn't know if Obama was a Muslim or not.

If you don't think it's out there then you are willfulling being ignorant.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

He's a fan of Bruce Springsteen too. I guess some people could find fault with that. Who says he's a "fan" of Ludacris? When did he say that? He says he's a "talented individual", well that's what his campaign said.

 

[Diemen]

Apparently if you have a song by an artist on your iPod, it unequivocally means you're a fan.

 

[2861U2]

He's a fan of Bruce Springsteen too. I guess some people could find fault with that. Who says he's a "fan" of Ludacris? When did he say that?

In an interview with a magazine (Rolling Stone I think) he said he is "a great talent" and that he is on his iPod.

 

[2861U2]

Apparently if you have a song by an artist on your iPod, it unequivocally means you're a fan.

How does it not?

 

[Diemen]

It might be a shock to you, but you can consider someone a great talent and still not like some of what they do.

 

[Diemen]

How does it not?

Simple. Someone made me a cd with a bunch of different artists on it. I rip it to iTunes, and then it goes on my iPod. I may not be a fan of all the songs on it, but - GASP! - there it is on my iPod.

Edit - an even more appropriate example: I have Queens of the Stone Age Songs for the Deaf on cd. I ripped it to iTunes, but really only have 3 songs on there that I like. The others I'm either indifferent about or don't like. Do I think they're talented? Yes - No One Knows is a great song. But I think the cd as a whole isn't really my style. And yet (dun dun dunnn), it's on my iPod.

 

[BVS]

I've seen you use foul language plenty of times in here. Would you ever use language like that in front of your children? Would you be okay with your children talking like that?

WHAT?! Who said he's listening to Ludacris in front of his kids? Where do these tangents come from?

No, I watch non-G rated movies. But I don't tell other people not to. I don't advocate the banning of all non-G films. Obama is a hypocrite. He supposedly is concerned with violent and reprehensible rap lyrics, yet he is a fan of possibly the worst rapper in the business in terms of those qualities. I don't get it. He needs to be a role model for his children instead of a panderer to a demographic.

Worse rapper? Please!!! Obama isn't calling for a banning of anything. Once again, do you believe in all of U2's politics?

If you want to have a debate between country music lyrics and rap lyrics, please, go right ahead. I see very, very few country songs even close to "McCain should be paralyzed," and even that is pretty tame compared to much of rap.

And as a matter of fact, with the exception of U2 and a small handful of others, I don't listen to such music. A large majority of what I listen to is positive Christian music.

Believe me, I'd flatten you in that debate. I listen to both rap and old school country(the pop stuff isn't worth it) and misogyny, drug use, and violence is found in both.

 

[2861U2]

It might be a shock to you, but you can consider someone a great talent and still not like some of what they do.

I'd like to know what "talent" Obama sees in Ludacris. His music is filled with violence, profanity, mistreatment of women, etc... What of his is to be applauded? What does Obama like about him?

 

[BVS]

I'd like to know what "talent" Obama sees in Ludacris. His music is filled with violence, profanity, mistreatment of women, etc... What of his is to be applauded? What does Obama like about him?

So music is only about lyrics?

 

[Diemen]

I'd like to know what "talent" Obama sees in Ludacris. His music is filled with violence, profanity, mistreatment of women, etc... What of his is to be applauded? What does Obama like about him?

Tell me, how many of Ludacris's songs have you actually listened to? Or are you stereotyping his entire output based only on snippets you've heard?