# OK, Liberal, fess up...the over-the-top Obama love is a put on, isn't it? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 12, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933 "2009-01-12T16:53:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/61 "2009-01-14T16:31:51Z")
You’ve had that pointed out to you over and over, schmuck. Try a Search if you’ve forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/62 "2009-01-14T16:34:09Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > An average person can’t get a security clearance with his level of past drug use. I submit that this is a flaw with the security clearance requirements. I don’t give a damn about _past_ drug use. I didn’t care with Clinton, I didn’t care with Bush, I don’t care with Obama, I don’t care with anyone who applies for security clearance. Get back to me when you have evidence of _current_ drug use. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/63 "2009-01-14T16:40:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Remember that part in _Batman Begins_ where Detective Gordon gets sort-of-threatened for never taking bribes? > > Well, assuming Obama really is as honest and clean as we all hope, it’s going to make most of the Beltway pretty uncomfortable… > > I asked the same thing a few months before the election- why the hell would a classical liberal like Obama?- and Lib’s answer was pretty convincing, although I wasn’t entirely certain about his reasoning. Obama’s dealings with Rezko show that he’s not entirely uncorrupt. Though for a politician it may as well be squeaky clean. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/64 "2009-01-14T16:52:27Z")
Obamas in a dark place. The mess Bush left him with may not be salvageable. He will have a hard time reigning in the financial power brokers who are busy looting away. Unemployment is on the way up and I doubt he can really change it. The best intentions will have little impact . The last decade the power brokers have changed the laws to allow them free reign. Changing them back takes time. They have to write new laws ,then get them through congress and the senate. That takes time.It will have to be done in the face of powerful people and corporations that are amassing power and wealth. They wont just do the right thing. They will fight every change. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/65 "2009-01-14T17:33:40Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > You’ve had that pointed out to you over and over, schmuck. Try a Search if you’ve forgotten. Nope, never even once. If you could provide a cite where Bush admitted having used illegal drugs, or a news article mentioning his conviction for using illegal drugs, it would be the first time. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/66 "2009-01-14T17:46:45Z")
On February 21, 2005 ABC’s _Good Morning America_ aired a tape recording made by Doug Wead during Bush’s term as the governor of Texas. Wead was a family friend, and had been an aide to Bush 41. On the tape, Bush said: I don’t want any kid doing **what I tried to do** 30 years ago. And I mean that. It doesn’t matter if it’s LSD, cocaine, pot, any of those things, because if I answer one, then there will be another one. And I just am not going to answer those questions. And it may cost me the election.Emphasis added. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/67 "2009-01-14T17:57:23Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Could you please cite where Bush admitted having used illegal drugs, or a news article mentioning his conviction for using illegal drugs? Thanks in advance. Shodan: This is a tactic that irritates me. Here’s what I mean: it’s true that there’s neither a judicial finding of guilt for Bush using drugs nor an unambiguous admission from him regarding the use of drugs. And if the question were, “Should Bush have been jailed for his use of drugs?” then insisting on such a rigorous level of proof is fair. But in this discussion, it’s fair to ask simply _What do we reasonably know?_ If you’re going to assert that, despite the non-answer answers he gave, and our knowledge of his lifestyle at one point, that he never did anything worse than booze, then in my view that puts you in “I never inhaled” or “I never lied under oath” Clinton territory as far as intellectual honesty goes. Like him or hate him, Obama deserves credit for the “Yes, I inhaled - that was the point of it” answers he gave. And in the spirit of intellectual honesty, it’s appropriate to conclude that it’s highly likely Bush did as well. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/68 "2009-01-14T18:04:56Z")
What’s ambiguous about “what I tried to do”? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/69 "2009-01-14T18:11:45Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > What’s ambiguous about “what I tried to do”? He might have meant he _tried_ to light up but couldn’t figure out how to work the lighter. He really _wanted_ to snort cocaine, but bought laundry detergent instead. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/70 "2009-01-14T18:14:05Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > What’s ambiguous about “what I tried to do”? Some one can legitimately state “I tried to do cocaine, but I was never able to score any”, which means they’ve never done any. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/71 "2009-01-14T18:17:04Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > there’s neither a judicial finding of guilt for Bush using drugs [There might well have been, actually.](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/cocaine/) But \*\*Shodan \*\*has been informed of that more than once, too. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/72 "2009-01-14T18:26:38Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [There might well have been, actually.](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/cocaine/) > > But \*\*Shodan \*\*has been informed of that more than once, too. According to your link, “only a handful of people knew”. I’d call bullshit on that. I dont’ care what jurisdiction you’re talking, but especially in a large one (like the one involved), the list of folks who’d know is quite extensive: from the cop who made the arrest, to the booking officer, the supervisors on site, into the proseuctors office, and the judges office. In each case, in addition to the person directly involved, there’s the long list of support personnel, including secretaries, clerks, and even simply folks in the hall. As Larry Craig found out, much to his displeasure, lots of folks know. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/73 "2009-01-14T18:29:15Z")
> [@wring](#): > > Some one can legitimately state “I tried to do cocaine, but I was never able to score any”, which means they’ve never done any. That’s not trying to do cocaine; that’s trying to _get_ cocaine. If it went down like that, he should have said, “what I wanted to do”, not “what I tried to do.” Only a blithering idiot with no command of English would word it the way he did and mean what you said. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/74 "2009-01-14T18:31:20Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Only a blithering idiot with no command of English would word it the way he did and mean what you said. and your point is?? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/75 "2009-01-14T18:34:16Z")
Yes, friends, she’s back … ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/76 "2009-01-14T19:36:11Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > This is a tactic that irritates me. Then you perhaps get some sense of how it irritates the rest of us when YOU do it. Which, as you know, is pretty damn often. > [@](#): > > And in the spirit of intellectual honesty But it’s good to see you coming down on that side. There is hope yet. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/77 "2009-01-14T20:08:59Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > If you’re going to assert that, despite the non-answer answers he gave, and our knowledge of his lifestyle at one point, that he never did anything worse than booze, then in my view that puts you in “I never inhaled” or “I never lied under oath” Clinton territory as far as intellectual honesty goes. I have made no such assertion. Nor has Bush - you (above) and others have made it clear that Bush did not make that assertion. Bush said, explicitly, that he would not admit that he had used illegal drugs. **Drain Bead** asserted that Bush had used illegal drugs as if it had been definitely established, either by direct admission (as in Clinton’s case) or because it had been definitely established in some other way. > [@](#): > > Like him or hate him, Obama deserves credit for the “Yes, I inhaled - that was the point of it” answers he gave. And in the spirit of intellectual honesty, it’s appropriate to conclude that it’s highly likely Bush did as well. That doesn’t follow - Obama admitted it, therefore Bush did it? Then we get into the actually disprovable horseshit that **ElvisL1ves** tries to peddle. This has already been debunked. (There were no Republican judges in Harris County in 1972, and **every single named source** in the article cited specifically denies Hatfield’s allegations). > [@Liberal](#): > > What’s ambiguous about “what I tried to do”? What he tried to do is what is ambiguous. Perhaps he meant “I was trying to ruin my life with booze” - something he has already admitted doing. But since he goes on to say > [@](#): > > I just am not going to answer those questions. it is clear that he is not, in fact, answering the question “did you ever use illegal drugs?” Especially since “I tried” implies “I was unsuccessful”. It has been flatly asserted that Bush used illegal drugs. No qualifiers like “possibly” or “some people think” - a clear, definite assertion. OK, let’s see where it has been definitely established. Has he admitted it? He has not. Has it been demonstrated in some other way? It has not. You want to assert it based on some reporter’s unnamed sources, which are contradicted by the known facts and everybody else who was asked? You can assert that Obama is a Muslim terrorist based on evidence like that. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/78 "2009-01-14T20:23:58Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You want to assert it based on some reporter’s unnamed sources, which are contradicted by the known facts and everybody else who was asked? You can assert that Obama is a Muslim terrorist based on evidence like that. > > Regards, > Shodan Obama said somewhere that he had tried to be a Muslim terrorist 30 years ago? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/79 "2009-01-14T20:32:46Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I have made no such assertion. Nor has Bush - you (above) and others have made it clear that Bush did not make that assertion. Bush said, explicitly, that he would not admit that he had used illegal drugs. **Drain Bead** asserted that Bush had used illegal drugs as if it had been definitely established, either by direct admission (as in Clinton’s case) or because it had been definitely established in some other way. > That doesn’t follow - Obama admitted it, therefore Bush did it? > > Then we get into the actually disprovable horseshit that **ElvisL1ves** tries to peddle. This has already been debunked. (There were no Republican judges in Harris County in 1972, and **every single named source** in the article cited specifically denies Hatfield’s allegations). What he tried to do is what is ambiguous. Perhaps he meant “I was trying to ruin my life with booze” - something he has already admitted doing. But since he goes on to say it is clear that he is not, in fact, answering the question “did you ever use illegal drugs?” Especially since “I tried” implies “I was unsuccessful”. > > It has been flatly asserted that Bush used illegal drugs. No qualifiers like “possibly” or “some people think” - a clear, definite assertion. OK, let’s see where it has been definitely established. Has he admitted it? He has not. Has it been demonstrated in some other way? It has not. > > You want to assert it based on some reporter’s unnamed sources, which are contradicted by the known facts and everybody else who was asked? You can assert that Obama is a Muslim terrorist based on evidence like that. > > Regards, > Shodan Only you could. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933/80 "2009-01-14T20:35:46Z")
After all these years I thought it was a given that Bush once did cocaine. Now I’m pissed off at those who peddled this assertion like it was a self acknowledged fact. What’s even worse is that I may well have to blame myself also for misreading the quote.:smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-liberal-fess-up-the-over-the-top-obama-love-is-a-put-on-isnt-it/480933.md?page=5)