By Larry Johnson
closeAuthor: Larry Johnson
Name: Larry Johnson
Email: larry_johnson@earthlink.net
Site: http://NoQuarterUSA.net
About: Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm with expertise combating terrorism and investigating money laundering. Mr. Johnson works with US military commands in scripting terrorism exercises, briefs on terrorist trends, and conducts undercover investigations on counterfeiting, smuggling and money laundering.
Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism, is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management.
Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC's Nightline, NBC's Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world, including the Center for Research and Strategic Studies at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France. He represented the U.S. Government at the July 1996 OSCE Terrorism Conference in Vienna, Austria.
From 1989 until October 1993, Larry Johnson served as a Deputy Director in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. He managed crisis response operations for terrorist incidents throughout the world and he helped organize and direct the US Government’s debriefing of US citizens held in Kuwait and Iraq, which provided vital intelligence on Iraqi operations following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Mr. Johnson also participated in the investigation of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103. Under Mr. Johnson’s leadership the U.S. airlines and pilots agreed to match the US Government’s two million-dollar reward.
From 1985 through September 1989 Mr. Johnson worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. During his distinguished career, he received training in paramilitary operations, worked in the Directorate of Operations, served in the CIA’s Operation’s Center, and established himself as a prolific analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence. In his final year with the CIA he received two Exceptional Performance Awards.
Mr. Johnson is a member of the American Society for Industrial Security. He taught at The American University’s School of International Service (1979-1983) while working on a Ph.D. in political science. He has a M.S. degree in Community Development from the University of Missouri (1978), where he also received his B.S. degree in Sociology, graduating Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1976.See Authors Posts (889) on March 22, 2008 at 11:01 PM in Barack Obama, Current Affairs, Hillary Clinton, Joseph Wilson
Barack and company are increasingly desperate. For a group of folks who insist the campaign is over, Hillary is toast, etc., etc., they are certainly straining at gnats. The latest is their hyperventilation over the so-called “lie” of Hillary about her trip to Bosnia. Here’s the clip:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOsGo_HWP-c[/youtube]
What Hillary said about the plane is exactly right. Cork screw take off and landings were instituted after a buddy of mine–a now retired U.S. Army Colonel–was shot while sitting on a plane flying out of Sarajevo back in 1993. Someone on the ground sprayed the plane with an AK-47 and Mac (my friend’s name) came close to bleeding out. He spent almost a year in rehab. Doctors saved his leg but he was essentially crippled because of that gunshot.
So Hillary is not exaggerating about the danger back then and the plane ride in. It was not as dangerous as Iraq perhaps, but it was still risky.
I do not have access to her full itinerary back then. It is possible she is recalling a different landing that was not filmed. And it also is possible she is confusing one incident with another. But if the big difference is whether she shook hands after getting off the plane or dashed to the car ducking gunfire, well, at least she was visiting Europe in an official capacity. She was doing more 16 years ago then Obama has accomplished since joining the Senate. Hell, the dude’s passport is still stamp free of European ports of entry.
[See No Quarter's trove of stories on Obama's failure to convene a single significant hearing of his European Affairs subcommittee (which covers NATO), or to visit any European countries. See in particular Joseph Wilson's "Obama’s Hollow “Judgment” and Empty Record" and "Obama’s Shallow Credentials on National Security Are Dangerous for the Country."]
So the Obama crowd wants to insist that questions about her memory of an event that happened fourteen years ago is an indictment of her truthfulness or competence? Well, if that is the dis qualifier for becoming President then Barack is really in trouble. He cannot remember anything that he did for the last 17 years if it involves his “uncle,” Jeremiah Wright. He still cannot remember Wright ever saying something racist or ill-considered. At least Hillary’s account of the plane ride is right.
…? What was it Obama supporters said about the kitchen sink? This is getting downright pathetic. I almost feel guilty for laughing…um, naaaa.
I think the Obamabots have moved from the kitchen sink. Now they’re into the underground plumbing.
Replicators?
Roaches..??
Larry, let’s be honest, Obama does have a European stamp in his passport for the one night lay-over in England, fair is fair bud!
I’d sure like to know why the DNC never penalized Obama for breaking rules and guidelines by filtering ads into Florida when they pledged not to do so!
They bought a package from cable companies who give the entire spread of the advertisings reach, and they knew full well that Florida was a market they’d be advertising in! This is a violation, and Florida better report it and be treated fairly for it, because Dean says “the rules are the rules”!
Now Obama can claim all they want to that it was the package, the networks do tailor packages to suit an advertisers needs and requirements, so that excuse doesn’t fly! So is it fair for Dean to allow Obama to break the rules knowingly?
You’re right Mel. My bad.
That is ok Larry, you are allowed a brain fart once in a while, hell Obama has them regularly!
He could have read a British newspaper in his British hotel. That would almost qualify as experience abroad too, no?
Well, I watch all the episodes of Monty Python, Faulty Towers, and Prime Suspect. I’d like to be the Obama administration’s Ambassador to the Court of St. James.
let’s not forget that Obama broke pledge in MI as well… he sent out a direct mail piece encouraging people to go to the polls and cast a vote against Hillary and to vote uncommitted. I will try to get the source on that, I read it long ago.
I wondered about that. I live in NC (anyone know what the plans for the campaign here are)and I never saw the ad.
Because they asked permission and triple-checked with everybody (the DNC, cable companies, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, and Clinton and Edwards campaigns) to confirm that there was no way to avoid Florida with their national advertising, and triple-checked that such advertising didn’t break any rules. It was legit.
You can’t tell me that a few commercials are as influential as actual campaign stops?
obama spy..
please enough with the excuses..
Obama broke his own pledge..and he was the only candidate who had 1 million $$ worth of commericals coming into Florida before our election..not one other candidate did that!! not one!
I don’t care who he checked with..he took a pledge… he broke his pledge!
End of story..he was the only candidate that had commericals running in Florida..and he was beat badly!
Thanks for the dollar amount.
Getting criticized by the Clinton campaign is probably the first time that Obama had ever been fired upon, if that even counts.
Accurate.
So far Obama has run campaigns unopposed by using the tactic of wiping out all opposition by dirty tricks such as challenging petition signatures or urging the press to release charges of spouse abuse.
The only REAL campaign he has ever run (before this one) was against Bobby Rush and he LOST that election in a largely black district.
And he is trying to win this campaign by taking some one off the ballot, again, with dirty tricks and with nasry campaign tactics.
Typical Democratic Chicago Machine type politics.
The man thinks he is priviledged and should have everything handed to him becasue he is owed it. He is a typical spoiled child and many of his supporters are just playground bullies.
In the Illinois Senate race, his opponents in the primaries pounced on his abortion “ducks,” even sending out rubber duckies with his name on it. His initial Republican opponent sent a team of camerapeople to film him 24/7, desperate to catch something damaging on tape. Alan Keyes (former ambassador) attacked him on experience, present votes, and even claimed that “Jesus Christ would not vote for Barack Obama.” Just a few quick examples.
All attacks were met with grace. Obama’s handled worse than, say, Rick Lazio and um… that other guy.
Obama spy -
I finally found something that I can agree with Alan Keyes about!
The Obamas’ “grace” is supporting “Goddamn America” and every non-reform creep for the Daley machine.
Hillary, had to go up against continuous attacks by the MSM and Republican Party and win over not only NYCers, but then go into Republican strongholds in upstate NY - places where they HATED her - and what happened? She turned those Reps into some of her most fervent supporters.
Someone who can do THAT is just of the kind of someone you want negotiating in the Middle East.
Obama? Yeah, it was real tough for him to have the backing of the Chicago machine and the mob to go up against first the guy who forced his wife to go to sex clubs (Ryan), and then the guy whom Joe Conason described as “not only tokenism, but last-minute-bottom-of-the-barrel tokenism (Alan Keyes)”, a guy whom no one ever listened to except to find something to laugh at, and so nutty that even Republicans couldn’t vote for him. All he hadto do to win by a landslide was to sit back and let his opponent talk. Yeah, a real tough campaign.
SR
It’s disgusting to read a long piece on Obama that talks about a meteoric rise (I thought meteors fell, which we’re about to see) with a 70% victory — never mentioning the opponent was Alen Keyes after the viable opponents had imploded. Or a story on the Michigan primary which says “Obama’s name did not even appear on the ballot” instead of “Obama took his name off the ballot.”
I completely agree…I am from upstate NY and she has earned her votes here from the Republicans because she doesn’t just leave us out and focus on the majority of the population in NY City. In fact it is her doing that saved a small town near the Canadian border from losing one of the biggest employers in this area, nearly 800 jobs! Now that is making sure you include everyone, you know us “typical white people”. Let’s hear how much Obama has helped the small towns in Illinois during his campaigning! Never mind he is too busy vacationing, wouldn’t want to trouble him…
this blog has simply become unreadable. please send out a public notice when you’re done with primary stuff. i mean i enjoyed hearing about the soprano’s “big pussy” and all.
I used to really enjoy this blog. Now it is the bash Obama and suck up to Hillary for every post. Let’s get back to pointing out the Constitutional crisis that is the Bush administration and their heir apparent McCain. You are officially off my favorites list.
Thank you and good night!
Constitutional crisis
All in good time Steve. First, in my humble opinion, this country needs to elect a person who knows where King George hid the bloody thing! That would be Senator Hillary Clinton.
Totally agree. This is a mindless Hillary fan blog now. How about opening up to the possibility that there was no gunfire, and that Hillary’s account was bogus. Isn’t that a possibility? She was caught lying, and i don’t understand why the Hillary-bots aren’t interested.
I am not an Obama partisan, but I am not interested in this drivel, or the Obama bashing that has dominated this site recently. Larry, you are losing your audience. Your niche is national security and intelligence. Tell SusanUnPC et. al to tone it down!
How about the possibility (especially due to the accounts from people there, that there were reports of sniper fire being told to her as they landed. Nothing has refuted this possibility at all.)
Lissa Muscatine: “We were issued flak jackets for the final leg because of possible sniper fire near Tuzla.”
Togo West: “‘It was a hot zone, it was a combat zone”
Clinton: “LANDED under sniper fire”
isn’t the same as “stood on the tarmak with snipers firing at us”
If she was told there were snipers in the area, then her account wouldn’t be fictional at all.
Is it also a possibility that people like yourself will never accept an account that doesn’t end with Hillary Clinton being a liar? I used to be that way myself, so I know that mindset more than examining facts and accounts.
The Huffington Post is in an orgasm over it all. They falsely claimed their boast on a report from a WaPo writer they say “was there”, but even by his own account he wasn’t there, but had been there another time near her trip. He relies upon the account of yet another writer. And he improperly concludes that since he hadn’t heard of sniper fire, then there must not have been any.
I would like to hear from the people on the plane who told her, or didn’t tell her, there was sniper fire expected.
She wrote clearly in her book that she met with the little girl:
“Due to reports of snipers in the hills around the airstrip, we were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac with local children, though we did have time to meet them and their teachers and to learn how hard they had worked during the war to continue classes in any safe spot they could find. One eight-year-old girl gave me a copy of a poem she had written entitled “Peace.””
Stay tuned as this is dealt with.
I have already considered the possibility that there was no sniper fire, but that doesn’t discount that she may have been told upon arrival that they were expecting sniper fire to be careful. Or that she saw the precautions being taken including flack jackets and moving to the front of the cockpit as a safety measure and was told there were reports of sniper fire.
And if you think this discussion doesn’t deal with Larry’s background in intelligence analysis, then you don’t know the meaning of the fucking word.
So you don’t think for a second, that if the first lady, her 16 year old daughter, a country singer and a comedian had come under fire on the tarmac from snipers in a war zone, so much so they had to “run with their heads down to get into the vehicles to get to their base” that it wouldn’t have made the news? It wouldn’t have been reported on as a pretty major story at the time? Possibly even the lead on every single paper and television in the country?
Especially as it was taking place at an an air base firmly under the control of the 1st Armored Division, 3 months after the end of a war in which peace accords had been signed and 2 months after the President himself had visited.
The very same President who, according to his wife, apparently thinks it’s a pretty good idea to send his wife and teenage daughter into situations deemed too dangerous for him.
You don’t think that the “anti-clinton” media would have made a headline or two out of that doozy?
Stay tuned indeed.
Douglas -
I again suggest that you as an Obamaton READ! Read Larry’s post above - if you’re able. See the part about sniper fire and his friend?
No the press is frequently not in such a dangerous situation standing around taking photos.
Hell, the press took years to get the hate sermon videos offered for sale from Obama’s Rev. Wrong’s website, so I wouldn’t rely on them.
“Douglas - I again suggest that you as an Obamaton READ!”
Mike - Again!? I don’t recall you suggesting it the first time. But to allay your fears I have been!
“Read Larry’s post above - if you’re able.”
Wait…i thought as my station of Obamaton requires, i’m was meant to be an educated latte-swilling, psuedo intellectual, liberal elite! Am i supposed to be able to read or not?
“See the part about sniper fire and his friend?”
Yes!
…
…
…
OH…that was you making a point! Okay i’m with you now!
Right…
So while it was a great story, I’m not entirely sure what Larry’s mate has to do with anything. Nobody as far as i’ve read, especially not me anyway, is disputing Hillary’s account of the plane flight in.
It may very well have done some crazy loop the loops at 20 g-forces per cubic metre. I have no doubt they put her in the cockpit and made people sit on flac jackets. Thats not the issue.
The issue is, you know, because i read, what happened AFTER the loop the loops.
The issue is shes busting out some rich porky pies about what happened once she was on the ground. Because according to Hillary’s account they were ordered to start running like they stole something, heads down, towards the awaiting cars apparently because there were bullets whizzing past their heads.
Yet on the video Larry posted above…at the air base on the day this all apparently took place…there she is: leaving the plane with her daughter, a country singer and a comedian and greeting a party of dignitaries. Which included a smiling little girl with a bunch of flowers and a poem about how awesome and peaceful everything is since Bill Clinton brought it, in case you haven’t read…3 months earlier.
Am i missing anything?
Would this be the “media beat up, non-issue” you’re all breathlessly trying to double spin and convince yourselves of, if the sneakers were on the other foot and it was Obama doing the running? I doubt it.
A little bit more honesty and less ridiculous unceasing hypocrisy is all i’m asking. It sets rational humans apart from the Rethuglicans i’ve found.
I look forward to continued weak responses labelling me an illiterate bamboozled obamabot0tron and something to do with “well at least she was IN Europe…and not eating chocolate cookies with Rezko, racists, Auchi, and terrorists. EXPENSIVE chocolate cookies stolen from small children!”
Douglas-
You’re so full of shit. You’ve never defended Hillary Clinton and you’re always going on about the victimhood of Obama.
So please, I implore you to regal us with your gems of Obama’s foreign policy experience, which should start with his sub-committee Chair.
Please do carry on!
Don’t mention the subcommittee chair, for some reason it makes people very nervous.
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why, it was a plum assignment, wasn’t it?
Obama should be proud his pals thought so much of his skill, they gave him a boost up.
Dear Mike,
Full of shit now! YES!! I’m glad you almost reached my expectations for a response. Nice one.
Me defending Hillary or not has nothing to do with this. Neither does Obama’s level of foreign policy experience, or my prefered candidate (Not that i have a say in that at all, i watch from the other side of the world).
This is about your candidate Hillary and the double standard this site employs on occasions too many to mention. I’ll say again if it had been Obama telling this story and it turned out to be false you’d be blowing gaskets about his bamboozling! And rightly so. Yet Hillary gets caught and it’s all a conspiracy the breathless blind (not to mention illiterate intellectual) obamatronics are making up to frame her!! What a load.
She got caught in a lie about what happened to her in Bosnia. Deal with it. Move on.
You mean the occasion about which she said that because of REPORTS of snipers IN THE HILLS they were advised to CUT SHORT a reception ceremony?
Maybe you think ‘reports’ here meant “Bang! Bang!”
Of course the same sort of thing may have happened at other times and places; after 80 landings you might conflate a few.
Thie particular episode reminds me of the MSM going after Al Gore in 2000 for talking about flying to a natural disaster with the FEMA director, when, in fact, he flew with the deputy FEMA director.
Is Hillary Clinton “embellishing” the potential danger of her trip to Bosnia? Probably. Was this trip to Boania “dangerous”? Probably. Recall that Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, along with some journalists aboard his plane, bit the dust in a flight to another part of the Balkans, Croatia, in 1996. Is it as big a whopper as telling the country, as Barack Obama initially did, that you NEVER heard all that racist rhetoric from your minister of over 20 years–that you were not there when these hateful things were said? NO WAY!
Do ALL politicians “shade” the truth? The answer to that is rhetorical: Do bears sh*t in the woods?
There are certainly things that I do not like about Senator Clinton, and I have not forgotten William Safire referring to Mrs. Clinton as a “congenital liar” or Bob Kerrey referring to Bill Clinton as “an unusually good liar” (Bob Kerrey, incidentally, has already endorsed Hillary Clinton for president). But are you prepared to demonstrate to me that Obama is any more truthful? I honestly do not see how, given Obama’s whoppers, thus far, in the campaign!
This whole thing reminds me of the way the MSM pounced on EVERY SINGLE THING that came out of Al Gore’s mouth and hung a sign on the poor man as a serial exaggerator, at best, and a damn liar, at worst. Whether it was a remark made by Al Gore about Love Story being based on him and Tipper [the male in the story WAS based on Al Gore, according to the author] or Gore’s claim to have introduced legislation that led to the creation of the internet [Gore DID introduce legislation that extended the internet beyond the confines of academia and government to the rest of the world], both of which were largely TRUE, unless you are into splitting hairs. In contrast, the MSM gave the current Liar-In-Chief a complete “pass” throughout 2000, not unlike the “golden boy” treatment that Obama has received since DAY 1!
I was an Edwards supporter who was prepared to support Obama as a second choice, but the more I read and found out about the man (Obama), the more I was turned off. The straws that broke the camel’s back for me were when the Obama campaign labeled Hillary Clinton a racist for bringing up the role of LBJ in passing civil rights (a role, I might add, that cost the Democratic Party the entire South for over a generation!) and when the Obama campaign labeled Geraldine Ferraro a racist for remarks that were, at worst, ill-advised, and at best, taken completely out of context. Obama himself only compounded the matter when he had the audacity to compare a small snippet of a broader speech made by Geraldine Ferraro to the repeated racist, un-American rantings of his own minister of over 20 years! Anyone who knows a thing about the lady knows that Gerry Ferraro is no racist–I cannot say the same of Jeremiah Wright!
Yep, I’ve been thinking about the smear of Gore on his FEMA remark. I don’t think he was embellishing. He had made 17 trips with the FEMA director to different disasters, and this time they happened to go in different planes.
It looks like Obama’s camp is bringing back that ‘Gore lies’ playbook too. I do hope Gore the Arch-Superdelegate is watching. — After running out the clock to prevent a vote count in Florida. — Signs of desperation, I calls it.
and
“Tell SusanUnPC et. al to tone it down!”
pretty presumptive of you to decide who runs the blog here, sir.
Your high and mighty tone is humorous. Each post I read like this really reveals more about you than the people here. Perhaps you should ‘tone it down’.
Tell SusanUnPC et. al to tone it down!
Not me, Not in your wildest dreams…good luck with that.
I wish I had “1/10″th the guts SusanUnpc has.
Well, finding out on what landing/s Hillary might well have been advised to cover her head and run for a car, seems well on topic for a military intelligence site.
If the Constitutional crisis is important to you, then getting a Dem elected should be also. If defeating McCain is important then electing a Dem is important too. Obama is toxic and unelectable. Hillary is electable. So Larry and Susan trying to get Hillary elected is the right thing to do. Get off his case.
I ask that everyone head to Huffpo to read their piece on this. It’s friggin’ unintentionally hilarious, especially after the UPDATE is mentioned.
You mean this update?
See what happens when people are so interested in their view being validated instead of validating a truthful account?
It has been reported she visited 3 bases, not one. Perhaps we could check to see which bases, and which base this video comes from. The schedule indicates Tuzla was where a greeting with an “8yr old child” would take place.
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/FirstLady_Schedule_1996_Mar_25.pdf?mod=WSJBlog
Interesting what happens when the Gotcha game gets going.
NYTimes reported:
By MIKE O’CONNOR
Published: March 26, 1996
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE3D61139F935A15750C0A960958260
“During her daylong visit to American forces at three bases in northeast Bosnia,”
“At another camp, named Alicia, from where 600 soldiers in the First Squadron, Fourth Cavalry patrol the zone of separation between the Bosnian Government and Bosnian Serb armies, many soldiers crowded in to see Mrs. Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea”
“At another camp here, known as Bedrock, Mrs. Clinton visited what officers described as a state-of-the-art military field hospital.”
“Today’s visit came as some troops, living uncomfortably and often dangerously” (bold is my emphasis, based on the comments that the war was over)
The schedule shows Mrs. Clinton was accompanied by Togo West.
The way I see it, at least Hillary has foreign policy experiences to be confused about.
LOL - and GREAT point.
I used to get my info, links, chat on the DNC open thread.
LMAO! I mean I was there for YEARS!!!
(slapping myself in the forehead)
I left a while back when the Odrama-drool got to be too much to bare. I just went back there for the first time in ages and I swear to ALL THAT IS TRUE they are like ostriches scratching their head not understand how come the evil nasty fox news can STILL be talking about Jeremiah. Calling it a slash and burn campaign that is apparently not going to work. Someone else was promoting that ONE lone gallup poll putting Obama back up where he was before the Wright Scandal. And promoting it and Promoting it…………. like noxious brainwashing!
It was horribly disgusting to watch (er read) perfectly good humans with their necks stretched so tight and their heads deep in the sand.
They’re not gonna know what hit them when Obiwan loses in NOV by double digits.
They will BLAME the media, BLAME the right, BLAME fox news, blame Hillary voters, but NEVER consider that they shot their self in the foot. Not for a second.
dee,dee,dee (as mencia would say)
never thought I’d say that about what I thought was my OWN party!! ARgh!
rant over thankyou for the space!
gnite!
GO HILLARY! DON’T GIVE UP ON US And WE WON’T GIVE UP ON YOU!!
Obiwan rocks, Obama is no Obiwan.
Senator Clinton wrote about this trip in her book, Living History. It was very detailed, as I would say at least 1/3 of the book was about foreign travel as First Lady. I don’t understand the splitting hairs with this trip. There are other people that verify Hillary’s version. It’s the same motive for how they start casting doubt on ALL her accomplishments as First Lady. The “well, she REALLY didn’t pass the Family Medical Leave Act, crap.” Well, she never said she did. But she was clearly involved in policy issues as First Lady. Everyone knows she was involved in family and children’s issues. I guess this is what is called, “the aggressive assault on Hillary tactic.”
Right after giving the Big Speech about unity and respect. Whatever.
That’s out of the ‘Gore lies’ playbook too.
The target says ‘I did A,B, and C.’
The attacker says ‘He never did D! He’s lying!”
i mean, it would be one thing if you and the gang were trying to make adult arguments and criticisms. but it’s all hysterical third-grade reading level crybaby criticisms. i certainly will see this blog in a different light post-primary. i thought it was more sophisticated that it apparently is.
Yeah, obama sucks and hillary is just awesome and great, and obama is like the big pussy in the sopranos and hell yeah. That pretty much sums up the last month of this blog’s posts.
ewww, I always love to be patronized and talked to with condescention. It makes my nips hard. Ya see, I read the posts and one thing is clear, we’ve seen your kind here many times, aka the drive by pundit who has no real take, just gripes about “adult”, “crybaby”, “sophisticated”. You’re a fucking hoot!
So, Socrates give us a rhetoric lesson on how to express our collective outrage on Obama’s fabrications about ‘not talking to Canada bout nafta’, about his ‘we used to discuss black consciousness issues when I was in school’, ‘i barely know tony rezko’, ‘if I had ever heard such comments I do believe I’d have left the church’, ‘i’m going to end the politics of destruction’, ‘i have the will of the people’, (my fingers will fall off before I finish the list of his myths), “i’ve been consistently against the war, especially when I said there wasn’t much difference between my position on the war and that of George Bush’s”, “i’ll complete my term as Senator” (he might get to fulfill that yet).
So, oh great philospher will you please educate us poor childish folks on the great skills you so wish to see?
joe -
As far as I can tell, I’m the goofiest person writing on this blog and that puts it past the Doctorate level.
If they have to put up with me they shouldn’t be subjected to your unfounded condemnation, but it is Spring Break and the kiddies are on their computers.
Try the Weekly Reader website or Obamamania. I’m sure that they will better meet your needs.
I’d offer more constructive advice, but I’m guessing that you’re supposed to be reading Charlotte’s Web for that book report.
Maybe the problem is you, and the problem is with your head.
I was at Costco yesterday, and there was a man, late thirties, a dockers and polo shirt type, corporate haircut, selling Juiceman juicers, to the assembled crowd.
And I thought, OMG, if Obama hadn’t of run for President, his staff would be selling Juiceman’s at Costco, on a Saturday afternoon.
All ego, no talent, none, at all.
Remember that band “Big Head Todd and the Monsters?”
Well, they’re all big head Todd’s, precious, all hat, no cattle, all Ivy League, no doubt all from Conn.
Heh.
So, Obama?
Just another big head todd…
Actually, isn’t Gen Mcpeak the big pussy?
All of these attacks on Hillary’s foreign policy experience are going to help her because they’ll reinforce the fact that Hillary actually HAS some foreign policy experience to attack. Sure, one might reason, maybe she’s exaggerating about what she did in Bosnia, but at least she went to Bosnia and did something. Maybe her role in Ireland wasn’t quite as prominent as she claims, but at least she at a role over there.
The obama campaign has nothing positive to promote about obama’s experience, so with typical GOP style tactics, they try and make the ‘other guy’ (gal in this case), look bad… I always hoped the Dems could rise above this. Guess I was dreaming!
The women of Northern Ireland say Hillary had much to do with them becoming more involved in things there. They talk often about the speech she gave them.
I wonder how much money Sinbad has given the Obama campaign?
Its irrelevant really. He has said he is done commenting on this. I credit him for having the MOST intelligence in the Obama ranks. He isn’t going to play the game. We all know before the C17 made its landing everyone pulled Sinbad into the cockpit to tell him the plans.
Pardon my ignorance–who is Sinbad? The only Sinbad that I know about is a black comedian and actor. If this is a sarcastic reference to someone else, I’m missing something.
yes he’s the comedian. He was on the trip as part of USO work. And of course it would SOP to let him know about all the dangers.
Which is probably why Togo West said:
“A couple things. I want to say this carefully because I don’t want to suggest any difference in care about the security and safety of members. The military cared about the safety of everyone. But you can understand that they would have said to the first lady, ‘we’re not going to take any chances with you.
Run, duck, this is a hotspot this is serious’.
Carefull…. you might be called a rascist!!!
Hey, Joe. Your comment was sophisticated? To find honest debate, maybe you should try engaging in it instead of whining that it doesn’t exist. You might find some that way.
“But if the big difference is whether she shook hands after getting off the plane or dashed to the car ducking gunfire, well, at least she was visiting Europe in an official capacity.”
So if Barack Obama had travelled to Bosnia back in 1996 and he’d said “I remember landing under sniper fire and we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.” keeping in mind this is one of the key moments from his extensive “experience” he touts as shaping him immediately from day one as the man to run the country.
And then unfortunately 12 years later, in the middle of a pitched presidential run, it turns out that the video footage, statements of people who were there and all the evidence pointed to the contrary.
In fact it told quite a different story of a little girl handing over a poem and a bouquet of flowers as he strolls casually across the tarmac with his 16 year old daughter, a country singer and a middling to sometime funny comedian. All of this i might add three months AFTER the war was over and peace accords had been signed.
You’re telling me Larry, that you’d be writing this in defense of Obama? You’d take him at his word. No doubt in your mind that he was’nt telling porkies.
You’re telling me you’d be on the 3am phone to Susan, fleaflicker and dcmediagirl letting them know not to bother blogging this one, there is no there, there?
I find that a little hard to believe. But kudos.
Douglas,
Who could tell you anything? We are unfortunate to not have the intellectual skills that you possess. We will just sit by quietly envious that we are in the presence of greatness. Sort of like Obama.
Larry,
With all due respect to yourself and Hillary’s supporters on this thread - but seriously what’s with this “supposed lie meme?:
“Hillary, at GW a week ago: “I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”"
The First Lady’s schedule, released on Wednesday and available here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOsGo_HWP-c), confirms that she arrived in Tuzla at 8.45 a.m. and was greeted by various dignitaries, including Emina Bicakcic, (whose name has mysteriously been redacted from the document.)
You can see CBS News footage of the arrival ceremony here. The footage shows Clinton walking calmly out of the back of the C-17 military transport plane that brought her from Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.
Among the U.S. officials on hand to greet Clinton at the airport was Maj. Gen. William Nash, the commander of U.S. troops in Bosnia. Nash told me that he was unaware of any security threat to Clinton during her eight-hour stay in Tuzla. He said, however, that Clinton had a “busy schedule” and may have got the impression that she was being hurried on her way.
Larry,
Wow. Thanks. I call it as i see it and i’m labelled as some sort of genius poser with an intellectual superiority complex looking down my nose at everyone. Thats REALLY your response?
You know…i started coming to this blog after hearing you numerous times on Stephanie Miller. Why? Because i really appreciated, agreed with and enjoyed your frankness, humour, smarts, common sense and opinion on all things foreign policy, intelligence and politics. Jesus, you even made me start to feel sorry for and appreciate the existence of the freakin’CIA after it’s singlehandedly being torn apart by this ridiculous administration.
At no time on this blog since i’ve started to feel comfortable commenting have i ever insulted anyone, called anyone names, insinuated they’re illiterate, dumb, (or the crazy one i just DON’T get)…too smart for their own good. Since when has having a brain been a bad thing? And how can you be both illiterate AND an intellectual elite? Scroll up, Mike implies i can’t read…yet you say i’m too smart. WHICH IS IT!?
I actually DO take the time to comment, i actually DO take the time to research, read and get my facts and thoughts straight before commenting because thats part of the process for me. As Bill Hicks said “We are all one consciousness, experiencing itself subjectively…evolution did not end with us growing thumbs.”
Yet 95% of the time I’ve joined the conversation here, tried to start a debate or offered a contrary opinion i’ll either hear crickets or i’m insulted. I’ve been called a shithead, a mindless drone, illiterate, narcissistic, a troll, i’ve had my personal life called into question, i’ve been called insecure, lacking critical thinking skills and which ever fucking combination of obamatron, droid, robot, mindless cult bullshit you want to put together.
I can put up with it. I’m a tough guy, as frustrating as it is, feeling like you’re talking to a brick wall, i actually laugh most of the time. It’s funny. A site that complains and claims to be an oasis away from the supposed consistent bullying, empty rhetoric and hateful lashing out of Obama “fans”…sure does seem to do lot of it themselves. But thats cool…i expect it from a comments section. you get as many moonbats as you do smart, polite, thoughtful people.
But when the actual guy who puts his name to the site, the guy i actually come here to read dumps the same bullshit on me. Well…thats not only incredibly disappointing…it’s kinda lame.
And while i’m not going to throw a ridiculous Daily Kos hissy fit and storm off with my bat and ball on some sort of “writers strike”, you’ve just put me on the same page as where you’re all coming from. You’re no different to the Obamatrons you decry as leading the country to it’s demise. You’re either with us or you’re against us. Obama bad, Hillary AWESOME.
Thanks for giving me the pinch of salt i’ll now be taking everytime i read you.
d.
well note that I’ve given you more than enough of my valued time Douglas, so stick to the topic please. LJ is probably tired of some of the lack of substance of many posters here, but I’ll let him speak for himself.
Douglas -
Again - you’re soooo full of shit. I pleaded with your whiney ass several of your whines ago to enlighten the readers here with the majesty of BO’s foreign policy experience.
If you ever came up with facts to tell us why Rezko or Rev. Wright or Rev. Moss or Auchi or Alsamare or Emil Jones are good things.
Not a word. Nope, the extent of your discourse is ALWAYS “I feel bleat bleat bleat”. Or “You’re being mean”.
Well that isn’t political discourse - it’s therapy. Take your damn ball and get a counselor.
THE INCREDIBLE VICTIMS:
BO & DOUGLAS & KEVIN BOO HOO!
I know I would give him the benefit of the doubt like I did regarding his exaggerations about his childhood in his book Dreams of My Father. He goes on and on as the plantiff cry of “we would discussion black consciousness”…when his peers of the time have been interviewed and say, thats not how they recall it.
Should I call him a liar for those accounts?
See, we have a gotcha game going here where reporters who weren’t even there, compounded by pundits and critics who were even less there are in a glorious rush to say “liar” based on 30 seconds of CBS footage for what even the recently released schedules indicate was to be 20 minutes of an event.
Some are so eager to say, “smoking gun”…a funny association here regarding sniper talk, that they take “landed under fire” to mean, ’stood in the tarmak with bullets flying all around and were almost killed while the enemy and I engaged in hand to hand combat”
I even read one guy at the leftie Op-Ed lie and saying, “clinton is saying they were trying to murder her”.
She said nothing of the sort, and if she was told while they were landing that there were reports of sniper fire…(YOU CAN’T HEAR THAT IN A C17), then she could have believed they were under fire.
Want to give her a polygraph? I’d be glad to see those results. You and I know that if a person believes a memory fully then they’ll pass it. Your video evidence of 30sec doesn’t dispute “landed under sniper fire”. It does seem to dispute whether she ducked and ran to a car, but even that doesn’t explain compounded memories which, don’t know about you, but I have.
So lets play the gotcha game instead of fact checking. By starting with the conclusion she is lying you will seek any evidence that presents a ‘lie’ instead of mistakenly remembering details 12 years later.
Huffington Post was in a nice gitty whirl yesterday and said,
Except that isn’t true. The reporter that wrote the WaPo story WAS in Bosnia in the general time frame, but he responds with comments second hand from another writer
Wait…HuffingBag Post says he was THERE..HE WAS THERE
Then why did he write:
if he was THERE?
This is rather embarrasing for the Daily Kos crowd, the Huffington Crowd, and others who just are so elated with themselves at 30sec video clip about a 20 minute event…and have failed to ignore even the CBS comment at the beginning
“First Lady Hillary Clinton is in Bosnia this morning, touring US bases and visiting American troops on the FRONT LINES OF THE PEACE KEEPING MISSION“
The more I read about this, the more I wonder if much of his resentment stems from his Mom “dumping” him with his grandparents.
Of course he’d be angry, hurt, enraged and resentful, what child wouldn’t be?
Explains a lot, but that must have been one hell of a childhood in regard to his parents, ie dad the bigamist abandoned him for Kenya and another family, and then Mom did the same, later, to go to Indonesia.
For many parents, children are the first priority, many sacrifice for their families.
I don’t mean spoiled, but under otherwise stable circumstances, parents won’t leave their children with another, to raise.
They do what they need to make it work, Obama seemed an afterthought, sloppy seconds, someone in the way, to be brutal.
Wow.
So tell him to go to a shrink to deal with his insecurities and identity issues and not take it out on the American people.
I don’t know..but I can tell you Simon, I have lived a very similar life to Obama, except my father didn’t leave my mother to go to Harvard. But they were divorced when I was about 1yr old. I lived with her for 6 years, him the next 6, then my maternal grandmother (saint).
I lost my father too, when I was just 13.
The similarities in our lives are striking to me, and I cannot spend too much time projecting my issues on him, but I see tons of identity searching issues between us. I see his accounts in relation to the accounts of others and see him making up shit to make his life better than it actually was.
One of his biggest issues, “dreams of my father” really connects with mine in that we both have a need, a strong need, to forgive our fathers for not being there (but for slightly different reasons. My father was indeed there, other than dying young. He did not abandon us. He was not still married to someone back in Africa, but he did have a previous child.
My memories of my father have driven much of my life. My conflicts and successes are driven by that lack. Obama has been more than vocal about this. He has turned to men as his mentors, over and over mentioning them.
What we don’t have in common