Here's the full video... of which 52 seconds became viral yesterday in conservative circles.
« Another Superdelegate Switches To Obama... | Main | Wertheimer: McCain Can't Opt Out Until FEC Is Functioning » The Full Obama Video: Caucus For Priorities28 Feb 2008 08:06 am Comments (23)
WTF? I love wasteful Pentagon spending! It keeps my Congressman employed! What is Obama thinking? 
He is drawing a needed distinction between defense spending that keeps us safe and defense spending that actually makes us less safe and is merely about funding a military defense complex at the expense of necessary domestic programs. I'm sure that is a debate he would like to have with McCain on many levels. Is the country ready to talk about it without fearmongering? We'll see.
What he's doing in an even less general way is going issue by issue down the caucus4priorities.org scorecard. They had him listed as "NA" for most questions.
I don't understand why this is considered "viral," as though it was some terrible dark secret about Obama. Each point he makes seems all the more reason to vote for him.
Look ma, the right wing is grasping at straws!
The right wing in this country is probably not the dumbest right wing in the world, but they don't really cover themselves in glory either.
I'm not sure what "viral" is supposed to imply but I guarantee that this only makes him more appealing to a significant majority of Americans. If this furthers the distinctions between most people and hard right deadenders, then that's clearly to Obama's benefit. By all means, keep spreading this everywhere.
This is actually an arguement I'm willing to have. If people are made aware of just how much it costs to make a b-2 stealth bomber (2.2 Blllion), and what we could do with that money in terms of schools, health care, etc, I think the public migt turn out to be more dovish than is generally believed.
This video probably isn't going to end up being that big a deal. But it's not going to be a big plus for him either. These are not issues that average people think about all the time.
Remember: Sen. Obama wants to INCREASE the total number of specially trained troops (helpful for humanitarian missions, counter-terrorist operations, and other challenges of the modern world) and decrease spending on military systems (the B2 Bomber, F-22, and Osprey, I.C.B.M.s, Star Wars, etc.) that would only be useful for fighting, say, the U.S.S.R. or China. Who wants to fight the U.S.S.R. or China? Anyone? Pre-9/11 mindset indeed.
Dick Lugar could give the exact same speech. Only in "conservative circles" could slowing the growth of military spending be considered "disarming". The United States spends more on military spending than the EU, Russia, China, & North Korea combined. We spend more in Iraq in one month than Iran spends in an entire year on their defense budget. Conservative circle jerks should get some perspective. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures Note - Less than 70,000 page views in a country of 300 million people isn't 'going viral'.
Caucus for Priorities website. And, if you haven't seen it, don't miss Ben Cohen (of Ben and Jerry's) make their case with the Oreo Cartoon.
This video probably isn't going to end up being that big a deal. But it's not going to be a big plus for him either. These are not issues that average people think about all the time. Get up on the right side of the bed this morning? This is a dramatically different Tim than last night :)
"Viral" is not a term meant to imply bad connotations to its subject. The same term is applied to the will.i.am "Yes We Can" video and most find the video very positive. It refers to something that is passed along the web very quickly. It happens when someone writes a quick email saying "did you see this?" and sends it off to 10 of their friends, who do the same.
UNPROVEN missile defence? That's laughable. Did you see the Pentagon shoot down a spy sattelite a few days ago?
That's laughable. Did you see the Pentagon shoot down a spy sattelite a few days ago? Bloviate much? There's almost *no* similarity between an anti-satellite shootdown and ABM systems. I worked on the SPIRIT III/MSX project, and I can tell you with a certainty that ABM systems just won't work. The only thing they're good for is creating jobs in specific districts, improving basic research, lining the pockets of defense contractors, and pissing off the rest of the world.
The part that has the right up in arms is the part about the global band on fissible materials which they claim will cause all nuclear power plants to have to close down.
The part that has the right up in arms is the part about the global ban on fissible materials which they claim will cause all nuclear power plants to have to close down.
Jesse - how does shooting down that satellite prove that our "missile defense system" works? They had weeks to plan a missile launch to intercept a single damaged satellite in low earth orbit on a known course. That bears no resemblance whatsoever to being able to counter a surprise ICBM attack with multiple bogeys on unknown trajectories without preparation. Not to mention the fact that long-range missiles aren't really the threat to us now - we should be focused on things like port security and intelligence, because the next attack, just like the last one, will come from within our borders. Teresa - the fuel needed to produce a warhead and the fuel needed to run a reactor are not the same. This is the whole basis of the proposed compromise with Iran - that the international community will sell them the refined fuel they need for a nuclear energy program, as part of a deal to prevent them from developing their own refinement capacity. Quite simply, the fuel we give them to run power plants can't be used in a bomb. I believe that Obama is a proponent of nuclear power as a means of reducing fossil fuel dependence, although this obviously is a topic a Democratic candidate would choose to avoid.
No one wants to fight Russia or China, that is why we have a strong Military, a country is only as strong as it's Militarty that defends it. Cut the Military and the US becomes a playground for every radical terrioist group that wants to drop in...cut our Nuclear Weapons and watch what drops in next...Is it right to compare the US and it's Military spending with a country the size of Texas? Give me a break..If we spend more on Defense, it is because we are a Free Country not a Communist Country, hum..wonder how many illegal aliens they have sneaking in? and where in the Constitution does it say that we are supposed to educate your children and provide health care? if anyone can find it, please post it. Why is it that some of you think it is the Federal Governments responsibitlty to provide health care and educate your kids? isn't that the parents responsibility? Our Constitution states that our Government is supposed to provide a Military to protect us, some of you need to read it again, or actually read it for the first time...
This Obama guy is a national security threat. From IBD: Caucus for Priorities aims to redirect 15% of the Pentagon's discretionary budget away from "obsolete Cold War weapons towards education, health care, job training, alternative energy development, world hunger and deficit-reduction." On the chopping block: the F-22 Raptor, the V-22 Osprey, the Virginia-class sub, the DDG-1,000 destroyer and the Army's Future Combat System. Cutting allegedly "unproven" missile defense systems is music to Kim Jong Il's and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ears, let alone all the PLA generals wishing our destruction. Yet Obama wants to kill a program that's yielding success after success, with both sea- and land-based systems. The military just this week intercepted a ballistic missile near Hawaii in a sea-based missile defense test. Proposing "deep cuts in our nuclear arsenal" amounts to unilateral disarmament, and it's suicidal given China's and now Russia's aggressive military buildup. Meanwhile, Iran and North Korea threaten nuclear madness, and Osama bin Laden dreams of unleashing a nuclear 9/11 on America
Angela, the folks who follow Obama care not about the Constitution. They just want the government to give them free stuff. And, you are right, it is a sad state of affairs that so many people have no idea about the Constitution.
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WTF? I love wasteful Pentagon spending! It keeps my Congressman employed! What is Obama thinking?
Posted by NickM | February 28, 2008 8:35 AM