Obama Talks About the VT shooting

“We’re still selling handguns to crazy people,” Obama said during a campaign stop at a Nashua senior center on Friday. “We’re supposed to have a system that these people are screened out. What’s clear is the background check system in this case failed entirely.”

He’s not saying he want to restrict guns, he specifically points out that gun control laws failed in this instance. He’s talking about one instance of one guy being really crazy and shooting a lot of people.

I’ve heard this same thing from the right side of the aisle this week. It’s not about taking away guns, it’s about re-examining how batshit insane (that’s the technical term, I believe) people get guns and go on killing sprees.

Some people took issue with this remark (from the same article:

“(Cho) had a semiautomatic weapon with a clip that allowed him to take 19 shots in a row,” Obama said. “I don’t know any self-respecting hunter that needs 19 rounds of anything. The only reason you have 19 rounds is potentially to do physical harm to people. You don’t shoot 19 rounds at a deer. And if you do, you shouldn’t be hunting.”

Everything he said about the 19 rounds was personal opinion, not that he was going to try to pass a bill outlawing how many rounds a clip can legally hold. You can disagree with his personal opinion, but unless and until he outlines some sort of legislative measure on his personal opinion, there’s nothing to worry about.

Actually, he said “I think that nobody wants to play chicken with our troops on the ground.”

Fox News: We report half of the quote, you decide.

The question was raised way back when his run was all speculation: Will being saddled with the name Barack Hussein Obama hinder his chances? You’ll have no doubt noticed certain members of the right wing noise machine, such as Ann Coulter, refer to him exclusively as B. Hussein Obama in an attempt to conflate him with murderous tyrants. And then there was CNN with this mistake:

Goon Hemogoblin! said it best:

Here’s why the name issue is dead.

1) It’s a name. It’s literally name-calling; racist, baseless, idiotic name-calling. That makes it a really, really crappy smear.

2) Obama is a machine. A smear like that is nothing - he can work around it, and has been his entire career. I absolutely guarantee that he can make the people who put stock in it look like ignorant bigots they are.

3) His 2004 speech. He specifically turned his “goofy name” into the punchline of his speech. You can’t hit back at that.

Seriously - here’s what they have; his middle name is Hussein. Period. That’s a shitty thing to base a smear on, and is exactly the sort of thing that can explode back in your face.

But that won’t stop some people, of course. This same issue came up when he ran for the senate, and Obama’s response is on record:

“(The pundits) said you can’t win in a year like this with a name like Obama. There was quite a bit of confusion at first, but it did get me free airtime on Al Jazeera.”

Sure, there might be people out there that won’t vote for the skinny kid with the funny name, but they probably wouldn’t like his politics, either.

One of the most bandied about myths is that while he’s a great communicator and seems like a person of integrity, that Obama hasn’t done much while in office. However, Obama has an impressive record that he doesn’t get credit for, as this post over at a Obsidian Wings outlines. You really need to go and read the whole thing, but here’s a brief rundown:

• Nonproliferation
• Infectious Disease
• Regulating Genetic Testing
• Reducing medical malpractice suits the right way
• Energy Security
• Reforming and Saving the Auto Industry
• A Public Database of All Federal Spending and Contracts
• Katrina Aid and Relief
• Raising CAFE standards
• Lobbying Reform
• Ethics Oversight
• Veterans Healthcare
• Voter Intimidation

hilzoy made that post back on October 24, and it outlines some unattractive but incredibly important legislation Obama authored, sponsored, or co-sponsored in just two short years in the Senate. Obama sponsored 152 bills and resolutions brought before the 109th Congress in 2005 and 2006, and cosponsored another 427.

Here’s an excellent point fellow Goon danno brought up all the way back in October:

I have a new counter for the “Obama is too inexperienced” angle.

List of the 10 presidents generally regarded as greatest by historians, and the prior legislative/executive political experience of each:

1. George Washington - First Continental Congress
2. Abraham Lincoln - 4 terms, Ill. House; 1 term, U.S. House
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt - 1 term, N.Y. State Senate; 1 term, N.Y. Governor
4. Thomas Jefferson - Va. House; Continental Congress; Va. Governor; Secretary of State
5. Theodore Roosevelt - 2 terms, N.Y. State Assembly; 1/2 term, N.Y. Governor; 6 mo. V.P.
6. Woodrow Wilson - 1/2 term, N.J. Governor
7. Andrew Jackson - 1 term, U.S. House; 1 yr., U.S. Senate
8. James Polk - 7 terms, U.S. House incl. 2 terms Speaker; 1 term Tenn. Governor
9. Harry Truman - 3 terms Mo. county administrator; 2 terms, U.S. Senate; 82 days V.P.
10. Dwight Eisenhower - none

Barack Obama - 2 terms, Ill. Senate; 1 term, U.S. Senate

Not to imply that I think Obama would automatically rank among the greatest Presidents, but there’s no strong bias for lengthy prior high-level political experience among them.

Here we have the tragic tale of Nicklaus Lovelady, a baby faced reporter suffering from terminal lack of mackitude. He demanded a public apology from Senator Obama for “blocking my shot.”

Like a true gentleman, the Senator happily obliged. Do you think George Bush ever apologized for cock-blocking?