Satan needs razors and toothpaste and shampoo just like everyone else.
Fewer for a miniminion.
It was a public school, the efforts on concentrating just on the the Muslim part are misleading.
And it seems to me, that once again, Shodan forgot to read the article:
If there was a lesson that he must have learned in Indonesia, it was the one about being tolerant of others.
Scary! 
Here’s what I find confusing–you’re supporting Pritchett’s contention that Obama is “culturally, not an American” without knowing, or without being willing to say what it means (if you do, please enlighten the rest of us).
As a serious question: how can you tell the points you raise support the argument that Obama is “culturally, not an American” without defining what that concept means? If you have defined the concept, please let us know what your definition is.
Let me try another approach that doesn’t require defining “culturally, not an American.” Can you point to something Obama has done, anything he has said, any way he acts that suggests this makes him culturally not an American?
Obama has been a presidential candidate since 2007, and president since Jan 20. He’s lived that time almost entirely in the public eye. If he was so influenced by his upbringing that he was “culturally, not an American” today, it ought to be easy to find examples–or at the least, some example that is more recent than, let’s say, 1972.
Others have addressed this point. I might also point out that you’re double counting here–as the years he spent abroad were the very same years he spent in this school, whatever it is.
It remains to me to add (1) you can be Muslim and American. (2) You haven’t offered any evidence that Obama was influenced culturally by going to this school in any meaningful or lasting way. If going to this school really was such an influence that he is “culturally, not an American” today, it ought to be easy to point to something he does now that shows how his time there has influenced him.
And both his father and step-father were more or less out of his life by 1972. Further, George Obama has only met Barack Obama twice–once when he was five, and once in 2006.
Finally the fact that Barack Obama might have been influenced by people does not prove that he was. Care to offer an example of how this supposed influence, presumably Kenyan or Indonesian, has rubbed off on Barack Obama?
You mean none of these facts that suggest President Obama is, culturally, an American have been disputed? Further, I, at the very least, am disputing Pritchett’s assertions.
There are really three arguments that can rebut my point: (1) that these things are not suggestive that someone is, culturally, an american, (2) that there are other things that outweigh them, or (3) that these things are not true. You dispose of (3). Care to clarify which of (1) or (2) you are contending?
Well, here’s a perfect example of where opinions differ. I, for example, think it’s fairly petty to argue (as Pritchett does) that a person’s character and culture today is defined by the four years in which he lived outside of the country, given that those four years are more than thirty years ago, and given that he returned to the United States at the age of 10.
Further, they’re not as off-point as you argue. One of the points you make is that Obama went to a Muslim school. To the extent the argument is that this influenced who he is “culturally,” my point rebuts it. One facet of Muslim culture is the absence of alcohol. Obama drinks. Therefore, Obama wasn’t influenced by Muslim culture in that way.
I think what Pritchett said is meaningless or untrue. It is meaningless if Pritchett has some weird definition of “culturally, not an American” such that President Obama can live an almost entirely American lifestyle and still not be, culturally, an American.
As an alternative, if Pritchett means that Barack Obama’s character or lifestyle is not defined by the common-sense understanding of “american culture,” his statement is untrue, given that nobody seems to be able to point to any aspect of his lifestyle that is influenced by (1) Kenya or (2) Indonesia (which are the two ‘non-american’ cultural influences that have been pointed out), whereas there are many examples of how his lifestyle is consistent with, and based in “american culture.”
Again, Obama has been in the news a lot recently. **Can you point to any part of his lifestyle that is culturally, not American? **
Pritchett is not making a statement about Obama in 1972. He is making a statement about Obama today. If his facts are, at the most recent, things that influenced Obama up to 1972, and he has no support for the contention that their influence has lasted to the present day, he is simply wrong.
Well, they’re just the same, apart from the fact that I have pointed to something that supports my argument, and Pritchett hasn’t.
Obama is a constitutional scholar. Generally, constitutional scholars don’t advocate grossly unconstitutional acts. Again, where is any evidence that even suggests Obama is considering anything like this?
Well, if you have to pick a favorite out of this crapopalooza. I like the wording of “launching” his career at Bill Ayers house. Funny how often that word pops up when you Googleize the Ayers meeting, you get a spray of righty blogs and punditti, all talking about “launching”. Limited vocabulary or instructions from the Central Committee?
But what you got is a political lunch for Alice Palmer where she brings along Barry Obama and (according to one witness) introducing him as someone she would like to see run for her seat after she moves on to another office.
Now, I suppose you could see this as the “launch” of Barry’s political career. I can sure see why you might need to, otherwise, its just another tedious political luncheon. But then you pretty much have to think of Barry as a political virgin, as though up until this point, no political career had even been contemplated, much less acted upon.
Now, politicians recruit younger political neophytes just like basketball coaches annoy tall young high school kids. They’re on the lookout for talent, and a talented young man might be noticed. Even more likely of notice is the talented young man who makes damn sure of being noticed.
How might such an ambitious young man proceed? Might anyone think of a more likely path than the one taken by the young Mr Obama? Well, gee, how about a first-rate education at Harvard Law, that review thingy, then practicing civil rights law and working as a community organizer? Teaches law at the University. Looks black, talks white, thinks large.
So its pretty silly to talk about accompanying his (erstwhile) political mentor to this living room meeting with as though it “launched” his political career. This is a Japanese condom the righties try to inflate to a zeppelin.
Racist! 
You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.
Then you’re a coward — what we in the South call a “fraidy cat”.
You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.
Then you’re an idiot. He has written two autobiographies. He has given numerous extensive interviews in both print and television media, as has his wife. If you don’t know more about Obama than you do about Bush, then you’re deliberately avoiding bothering to learn.
You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.
This is the dumbest one of all, because it was revealed in all that “exposure” you mentioned. You know, the scholarships? And the student loans that he only recently finished paying off? Fucking idiot.
You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.
Idiotic on two counts. One: he was very young when he lived abroad, and was *still young *when he returned to the US. His “formative years” were spent mostly in Hawaii and Los Angeles. (Hawaii is a US state, by the way.) And two: what the fuck is “culturally American”? Does it not include people of mixed race? Or people who work their way through school? Or people who serve their state in the Senate? Or what? God, you’re a numbnut.
You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.
Are you fucking joking? Do you even know what a community organizer does? He runs a company. It’s a non-profit, so I guess that’s why you don’t count it. He has met many a payroll, even as a state and US Senator. Why didn’t Bush scare you? After all, he ran companies straight into bankruptcy and failure?
You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don’t understand it at its core.
Jesus Christ. What scares me is your fucking stupidity. There’s a goddamn reason we separate the civilian Commander-in-Chief from the military, you moron. The Pentagon is a civilian facility, not a military one. Some of our greatest presidents had no military experience. When we decide we want a junta, we’ll get back to you, you fart sniffer.
You scare me because you lack humility and ‘class’, always blaming others.
God damn. Listen to you. What do you think you are, the bastion of humility? You have the audacity to lash out at your president, blaming him for the country’s ills, and then say that he lacks class and blames others. You stink more than Rush Limbaugh’s asshole, you limpid pool of human snot. Obama always takes responsibility for anything that goes wrong in his executive branch. And let me tell you, this whole whiny ass lamentation is classless, lacks any humility whatsoever, and shirks the blame you bear for lying about your president. That’s right, he’s YOUR president, you goddamn prick.
You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.
Oh, Jesus. Just too stupid for fucking words! It’s your butt-fucking buddy, Rush Limburger who wants to see America fail. I bet your breath smells like Rush’s ass.
You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the ‘blame America’ crowd and deliver this message abroad.
God dammit. You just finished crying about his alleged lack of humility. Shouldn’t America show some fucking humility if it’s such a fucking wonderful and necessary trait? Did you realize that he’s the fucking Head of State? God, can I please smack you with a wake-the-fuck-up stick?
You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.
Dominates what. Do you think I want your filthy, ratty, slimy, doddering old ass dominating ME? Hell no! Government is supposed to protect me from people like you, and that is exactly what President Obama is doing.
You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.
I’m running out of expletives, you dumb lying guttersnipe. The president wants to replace a failing health care system that most of us can’t afford with one that is competitive, both economically and technologically. You’re a goddamn idiot.
You scare me because you prefer ‘wind mills’ to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.
So does Boone Pickens, you knotheaded skunk. Fucking idiot. Even if you were to dig up the whole of Alaska, the oil you pull up goes on the open fucking market, where it is sold to the highest bidder, you dumb fuck. That means China. The US doesn’t get to keep the oil just because Exxon gets a lucky strike. And coal? Someone should shovel coal down your fucking throat until you choke on it. Which would be instantly. Coal fills the air with sulfur, carbon dioxide, and other poisons, you nimrod.
You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.
It provides YOU with the highest standard of living in the world because, like all robber barons, you use your wealth and power to subjugate brainless fools into doing your bidding. Meanwhile, the rest of us are losing our homes, our insurance, our credit, and our jobs. I’d like to shove a few golden eggs up your nostrils and then pop them with some two-by-fours. God, what a worthless Cretin you are.
You scare me because you have begun to use ‘extortion’ tactics against certain banks and corporations.
Which banks? Which corporations? I wish he’d extort yours. I wish he’d declare you to be an enemy combatant, and sell your company to Barney Franks for two dollars.
You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.
Ever heard of “Blue Dog Democrats”, noodle brain? You are so fucking stupid that if stupid was a fart, the whole planet’s population would suffocate ourselves to death for relief from your stink.
You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.
You fucking liar! You know very well that he reached out to you and your nut sucking buddies before he even met with his own party leaders. Your response? A big “Fuck you!” and a middle finger to boot. You trotted out your white men in their stiffly starched shirts and their cheap Men’s Warehouse suits to suck up to the president while attacking Congressional Democrats. That was your earliest tactic. Then later, after Fatass Limbaugh started his “Let’s make America fail” campaign, you became emboldened, and began attacking the president himself. There has never been a president who has surrounded himself with more intelligent, experienced, and hard working public servants than President Obama. He has gathered the best and the brightest to hash out everything from the economy, to national security, to health care. And you are a fucking skank.
You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.
Words fail me. I hate that you waste the earth’s precious air by sucking it into your lungs. I say rip them out and give them to someone who needs a transplant. You make Kim Jung-Il look like an American patriot.
You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.
“Media” is plural, you dumb fuck. And if what you say WERE true (that’s subjunctive mood — I know you’re too stupid to know that), then the media are what you should fear. Idiot.
You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O’Relllys [sic] and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.
Now O’Reilly’s gonna whip your ass. He takes great pains to be perceived as Fair and Balanced[sup]®[/sup].
You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
What the fuck does that even mean? To govern IS to control, you dumbass. Someone should shove a civics teacher up your ass.
Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.
Jesus H. Christ. Of all the stupid shit you’ve spat out so far, that’s the dumbest yet. After 8 years of near police-state control by George “Monkey-Dance” Bush, you are afraid you won’t feel safe writing a letter full of lies, bullshit, and general dumb-fuckery? I don’t think you need to worry. I suspect you’ll pump out one even dumber than this one 8 years from now. God, what a mental landfill your brain is. Holy cow, what an ignorant jackass you are. You stay away from the president. I don’t trust you. And don’t go near his wife and children either. I wouldn’t put it past you to… well, I better stop before I say something mean.
Yes, I fear that your demure Southern gentility is under some strain.
re: post #87
[applause]
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You know, no matter what kind of shit the fringe extremist right wing throws at Obama, here’s another fact they should add to their list:
Obama will remain as your president for at least the next 3.5 years. And there is nothing you guys can do about it
There is at least one thing they can do about it, and I worry frequently.
**Liberal **spelled “Barney Frank” wrong.
It scares me how his post is filled with illiterate, practically deranged mispellings, and I cannot rely on anything the man says because it’s just so frightening, the concept of a misspelled name in a long post. I must lie down until the tremors start to fade.
I understand your concern, but history suggests that pleas to the Lord to strike down a particular political figure have a very spotty record. After all, “Papa Doc” Duvalier, Dick Nixon, Stalin and Hitler all went along for some time without being smote. Smited. Smitten? Whatever.
The Lord, it is said, hears all prayers, but sometimes the answer is “Cite?”.
I was looking forward to Lib’s take on this.
For myself, I’ll just point out that if Obama scares him, but Nixon- who knowingly broke the law in an attempt to ensure his own reelection- and Bush II, who used the United States armed forces to settle his own personal grudge- don’t, his priorities are a little out of whack.
Also, fuck Lou for thinking he’s the arbiter of what is “culturally American”.
I also love how the idea of a president who spent 4 of of his fifty or so years overseas scares the bejesus out of him, but as a VP at Proctor and Gamble, has no problem with outsoucing to “three shared service centers (SSCs) – located in Costa Rica, the Philippines and the United Kingdom”.
Excellent pitting, Liberal!
Why do I suspect that he won’t be mentioning this in future letters to the New York Times if Palin is up for the Presidency?
I would also like to point out that as far as I can tell, Lou doesn’t have any military experience either, and therefore presumably doesn’t know whether or not military experience is required to be an effective Commander in Chief.
Also, since he’s never been President, he doesn’t understand the Presidency at its core, and is unqualified to comment.
But… but… I meant ALL the Barney Franks in the whole world. Yeah. That’s the ticket.
He also didn’t mention that you probably live within three blocks of a convicted child molester. Does that say anything about you?
Didn’t think so.
No, not really. It has been asserted that the opinions of the e-mail are completely unfounded. This is not the case - Pritchett gives great weight to facts that the SDMB dismisses out of hand.
Much the same way that you could tell that the fact that Obama drinks American beer is evidence that he is culturally American. That’s a fact that you consider definitive, just as Pritchett thinks that the fact that Obama went to a Muslim school and lived in a Muslim country to be definitive.
No, you’re not. You are asserting that the facts carry no weight, not that they aren’t true.
This is the kind of assertion that cries out for the usual “Cite?”
This is pretty much the kind of thing that Pritchett is doing. Obama is a Constitutional scholar, so he won’t suggest anything un-Constitutional. However, he was in favor of the Washington DC gun ban that was later found to be un-Constitutional. Ergo, it is not unprecedented that Obama would suggest something later found to be un-Constitutional.
How much weight to assign to this fact is a matter of opinion, just like Obama’s attendance at a Muslim school is a fact subject to different opinions on weight. If you want to say, “Oh well, that doesn’t count”, fine, but then it is equally legitimate for Pritchett to say the fact that Obama moved back to America doesn’t count either.
Regards,
Shodan