Obama: GOP is the party of ideas for the last 10-15 years

[timetorevolt]

O'Bama = the next Irish American president-puppet after the disasters of JLK and Raygun. Damn, I hate the silver-tongue media-savvy Irish crap.

[DeAnte85]

Too bad he doesn't share the same political ideology of Reagan. Then I might vote for him.

Looks like it's Ron Paul or bust!

[Zappa2324]

watch obamas smackdown speech at my videos!

[wowserstar]

Mr. Vague likes to say the Clintons are dishonest. But at the first hint of trouble, he cries racism. I have yet to hear ANYTHING the Clintons have said done to be racist. What a slimy accusation. Speaks volumes about who Obama really is.

[MarineBugler]

Monica, Whitewater, impeachment, suspension of law license ... shall I go on?

[Jackstowne]

God, what a fool. The GOP grossly abused their power in impeaching Clinton. Whitewater resulted in NOTHING. Suspension of law license is what you're left with and that's pathetic.

The previous commenter just said Obama is also dishonest and you list (mostly) false shit. Obama hasn't even fucked over by the GOP over Rezko....yet.

[MarineBugler]

I was responding to the dishonesty claim of 'wowerstar'. I have nothing against "The Clintons". Matter of fact, I was a staunch supporter of their administration. Now with the advent of immediate information, we are seeing the true nature of their character - good, bad, or indifferent. They come off in a different light now. They are not very inspiring. IMHO. (notice that I did not use any profanity - btw) God bless you.

[Jackstowne]

Uh, yeah, and yet you fail to see Obama's true character. Amazing. D-Punjab, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Michael Eric Dyson, McClurkin (b/c fanning the flames of hate for votes is "change"), UNITE-HERE ads, Dick Harpootlian, Axelrod, etc.

Keep your blinders on. Obama tried to smear the Clintons as racists and it worked.  And the corporate press constantly repeating this lie doesn't make it true. Look what they did to Gore.

[maiya77]

Obama did not say the Clintons were

racist.

Clintons inserted the issue of race because

they knew it would be divisive. They knew that

if race were an issue, it would divide and polarize people.

Obama did not take the bait. Obama made no comment.

He simply said that he felt that by talking

about race, the Clintons were trying to take

him off message.

[Jackstowne]

Obama inserted race: Jesse Jackson, Jr. his natl. co-chair said Clinton didn't give a damn about Katrina survivors only herself the day after NH; Michael Eric Dyson, his supporter, said it's racist to criticize Obama and Clinton supporters in NH were racist; UNITE-HERE ad said Clinton doesn't respect Latinos; Mayor Shirley Franklin, brought up the false "fairy tale" racist association on MLK day; and Dick Harpootlian, a major SC supporter, called Bill Clinton Lee Atwater.

[wowserstar]

Interesting how this was edited. Obama went on to say he was the right person for the times when people were seeking clarity from the "excesses" of the sixties and seventies. And if you watched him say it it, he seemed to imply he believed there were excesses. What would those have been, I wonder, Women's rights? Civil rights? Anti war sentiments? I am so glad Clinton called him on it because Mr. Middle of the Road, one nation had to explain he wasn't a fan of Reagan's. Can't have it both ways.

[merrickwt]

This is NOT the complete quote.

[edizzidydawg]

Obama isn't endorsing Reagan policies; he hasn't show the courage to break from orthodox liberalism so far. He is simply pointing out a historical fact: Republicans held the White House for 12 years because they were the only ones with a clear and inspiring philosophy for the future. It wasn't until Clinton moved his party from the left towards the center that Democrats resonated with a majority of America. Obama is very intelligent to think critically and independently in this way.

[fjstratford]

spin it baby! you cant fool us regular folks. he was praising (or at least neutral) Reagan's ideas in the 80s and putting his thumbs down on the Democratic party who couldn't for the life of me come up with ideas like privatising social security, or deficit spending or supporting Saddam Hussein (vs Iran)

We're not idiots. Spin it all you want but we are not idiots

[edizzidydawg]

Oh no! God forbid we have a ,*GASP*, moderate thinker who rejects the failures of the New Deal and the "Great Society" of the 60s. Clinton was a successful democrat because he recognized the strengths of free market capitalism and modernized the democratic party. The only way Democrats will win elections is to continue with Clinton's fiscal conservatism...unfortunately the crap I heard from Obama last night showed that Bill Clinton would be considered a right-winger in his own party today.

[bucklaw]

Bill Clinton was centrist and that is what Bill Clinton needed to be in theory. Obama is trying to appeal to those as well, simple.

[1cman1]

Well, I think I'm going to keep believing you are indeed an idiot until you've proven otherwise.

[1cman1]

By the way, I'm not a Republican and I'm in no way a fan of Regan or his policies during the 1980's. However, whether you agree with Reagan's policies or not, there is no denying that during his two terms the country moved in a different direction. Democrats lost their hold on the south as a voting block, they allowed the Republicans to define the national discourse, and they failed to deliver an appealing message to moderate voters.

[1cman1]

For those reasons (and others) Republicans have won the presidency 5 of the last 7 election cycles since 1980; and it's why in 1994, the Democrats lost the House of Representatives for the first time in 42 years. Republicans, regardless of what you or I think of them, did a better job throughout the 1980's, a good portion of the 1990's, and the first half of the new century, appealing to moderates, and as a consequence, the majority of the country.

[1cman1]

That's all Senator Obama was conveying, and your simple-minded attempt to characterize it as anything else is, well, pretty easy to discredit.

[fjstratford]

I cant let you get away with personal attacks against me unanswered. Look at the context. He was cozying up to the conservative board of the Reno Gazette to get their endorsement. The easiest way to get a conservative's good side is to praise Reagan.

He got the endorsement of the conservative paper.

He won Reno and the republican rural areas.

The conservatives certainly think that he praised Reagan.

Only a spinmeister cant see that for a fact. Enough said.

[fjstratford]

But he said and I quote "in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not"

To hear you say it, it should have been, in a way that Bill Clinton DID

[edizzidydawg]

Who cares? Of course he's going to bash Clinton...and of course he's going to pander for some endorsements. He's a politician like the rest of them...he's not some pure messiah some like to make him out to be. My point is that it's sad when people are so knee-jerk in their ideology that they can't admit when someone has great leadership abilities (like Reagan did) even if you completely disagree WHERE he was leading the country.

[edizzidydawg]

He wasn't necessarily supporting Reagan's policies; he was just asserting (and correctly so) that the Republicans under Reagan were the only ones with a clear and inspiring philosophy for the future...this is just a historical fact...why else do you think Republicans dominated the white house for 12 years? The message of Democrats was out of the mainstream until Clinton came along and moved the party from left-wing to left-center with NAFTA, well-fare reform and pro-growth, free-market ideas.

[fjstratford]

yeah spin it like that. Lies lies lies

[Schlichtinator]

If I acknowledge the fact that racism was a widely accepted practice at one time in our country, am I a racist? I fail to see how Barack Obama acknowledging that Republicans were the 'party of ideas' after years of Great Society legislation makes him a conservative, a republican, or anything less than a man who isn't afraid to answer questions honestly.

[lakemont2]

Frankly I was quite impressed by some of Obama's speeches and ideas. But, how much we REALLY know about him besides all the speeches? What has he done so that we can trust him w/ this country.

Now here comes a 15 sec of his giveaway, and my moment of Aha.

- a Democratic leaning independent

[Immutef]

if a 15 second clip tells you that much.. then you are quite dim..

[fjstratford]

lakemont,

he has a SPEECHWRITER thats why he sounds so intelligent when he reads on the teleprompter.

But is he has to think on his feet, he sounds awefully blase

[y0buddy]

blah blah blah....sound bites mean nothing with out context. haven't you sheeple learned yet.

(and i dont even support Obama...RON PAUL 2008 bitches!)

[oorfenegro]

I'm sure there's more than 15 seconds to this interview and there must be a reason why the whole interview, or least 5 minutes of the interview was not posted, or the context of the question. To me it looks like another example of the Clinton campaign twisting Obama's words. Note he said the GOP were the party of ideas

[davodd]

flip... flop....

[browncs0]

This comment, sir, is racist.

[davodd]

How is labelling a Democrat supporting a Republican as a "flip flip" racist?

Or, are you just labelling everything you disagree with as racist for no apparent reason?

Sad. Your crying wolf is an insult to true acts of racism than haunt and harm our society.

[fjstratford]

more flip flop...

Obama on Republican ideas: "I didnt say they were good ones"?

What a cop-out! LIAR! Anyone with half a brain can listen to what you said and arrive at a conclusion that in the last 10-15 years Republicans have had good ideas and Democrats had none.

Its one thing to praise Reagan. Its another thing to follow it up and say that your own party was sooo stupid they couldnt come up with a single good idea!

[1cman1]

I guess that means you must have less than half a brain.

[fjstratford]

and you have none at all?

[1cman1]

I have enough to know that "and you have none at all" is a statement and receives a period, not a question mark. But hey, you're working with less than half a brain, so I'll let it slide :)