The Journal Times Online - Racine, Wisconsin

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 6:58AM CST We have a national debt of $9 trillion (more like $55 trillion?). Polar bears are treading water. Our military is so hamstrung by two minor wars that even recently bankrupt Russia now considers us no threat. Many of us would have to resort to posters and donation cans to pay for a serious health issue. Our roads and bridges are crumbling, and despite 40 years of warning, we are still addicted to oil as the means to drive on them. Meanwhile, you look forward to a presidential election as if it were Jerry Springer. Andrew Bacevich is right. We are screwed, and there's no one to blame but ourselves.

Posted by: TeeJay on August 23, 2008 7:43AM CST Why did he wait so long to announce this?Can't he make a decision?If he was waiting for the convention,why does it seem like he couldn't make up his mind and just flipped a coin(or drew straws)?

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 8:10AM CST He obviously mind up his mind some time ago and used the announcement as a way of collecting an enormous database of email addresses, cell numbers, and ZIP codes that will be used to raise funds and mobilize volunteers for the remainder of the campaign, and delayed the announcement to attract as many interested voters as possible. It's very smart. The organization and strategy of Obama's campaign has been top-notch so far. You get the impression that he's good at running things. Meanwhile, McCain has reportedly chosen Mitt Romney, whose net worth is what -- $200 million? So that's another way to operate.

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 8:12AM CST * or "made"

Posted by: Give Me a Break on August 23, 2008 8:18AM CST polar bears have always treaded water, the Enviros have likely made our energy policy worse by pushing for higher CAFE standards (and opposing everything else like nuclear), the size of our military has been declining since 1993 while the threat from China and Russia has been growing, and the American people scream like a banshee whenever there is a thought that something (money) they got coming to them might not be coming. Meanwhile the presidential campaign talks about houses that someone owns. Or how much money someone is worth.

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 8:31AM CST JAK: Look, Obama's jabs on McCain's houses are only a response to the McCain campaign's attempts to portray him as an arugula-eating, Hawaii-vacationing elitist who lives in a mansion. It's a fair question: Who's really the elitist? Obama, who returns to Hawaii where he was born and visits his grandmother there, or McCain, who honeymooned in Hawaii with his second wife after first romancing her there while still married to his first wife? Who really lives in a mansion? Obama whose house is worth about a million dollars, or the McCain home featured in Architectural Digest? And you know that McCain is fed arugula all the time himself. He's just not curious enough to ask what it is.

Posted by: Iconoclast on August 23, 2008 9:19AM CST Mark McCain owns a nice house because his wife is well off. Obama owns a nice house because his political crony, indicted influence-peddler Rezko helped him buy it.

Posted by: Give Me a Break on August 23, 2008 9:35AM CST McCain has not run on the gee-shucks i'm just a common guy theme. Everyone knows he's rich. Obama has run as the beltway outsider who is just like you and me - plays basketball, eats at Wendy's, whatever. He tries to downplay the wealth he does have. I don't care how much money either one has or how they spend it. But taking a vacation to Hawaii is something most in this country won't be doing. And why even bring up the whole 1st/2nd wife thing? Unless you are going to say the same things about Edwards and other Dems that divorce. How does his divorce, regardless of the situation, affect his ability to be president? Or the number of houses he or his wife own? Obama's housing issues matter, because it shows a pattern of surrounding himself with the most radical and corrupt people Chicago has to offer. How anyone that truely understands politics in Chicago could support Obama is a mystery. In Chicago, no one makes it out clean. That's the Chicago way.

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 9:41AM CST Iconoclast: Yeah, apparently the McCain men let the wives handle all of their finances, according to McCain's brother. Their father didn't even know what oil leases he owned in Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Cindy McCain keeps forgetting she has a half-sister. I think we can all relate.

Posted by: I_Live_Here_2 on August 23, 2008 10:06AM CST How sad it is. This morning I woke up and read the article that said Obama picked Biden and without being totally awake, my first thought was ---I bet I will check out the blogs at some point today and Iconclast will have not only pages of crap to complain about Obama, now he will start with Biden. Icono--good to know some things in life are predictable.....I find mysef constantly getting caught up in back and forth discussion with you and Jak, until Jak responded in the religion commentary on America has having "no improverished people" and I thought.....why do I argue with people that obviously live in a different "America" than I and most people do.

Posted by: Winger on August 23, 2008 10:31AM CST Just heard the quote of the day: "Biden is such a gasbag he makes the Hindenburg look like a sack of rocks."

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 11:44AM CST TBV: Apparently I am, because if you are trying to make a point, it is lost on me. Are you drawing some connection between the rocket plant and my mental blandness?

Posted by: AngelMT on August 23, 2008 12:14PM CST I would like to know how he came to this decision. Biden has said that Obama does not have enough experience and that the Presidency is not someplace where on the job training is a good thing.

Posted by: ALWAYS FREE on August 23, 2008 1:18PM CST Mark You are right, "No one to blame but our selves". As far as who's an elitist, I'd have to say 95% of the Senate. None of those people will be having a beer with either one of us at the local saloon any time soon. and both sides of the aisle are too engaged in partisan bickering, finger pointing, and fighting over who's getting the earmark money to buy votes in their respective districts. As far as which Party is to blame for the state of the Union let's take a trip back to the 1960s. LBJ is president, both houses of congress are overwhelming in the hands of Democratic party, we are buried in a war that cost us 58,000 precious lives not the 4,000+ that people are screaming about now, And neither LBJ or Congress had any exit strategy what so ever. It took Nixon three+ years to get us out of a war that we had already lost. Fast forward 2008, now we seem to be in a similar situation only this time the party roles have been reversed. "History forgotten, is History repeated". Both instances you have huge national debt and inflation starting to ramp up. Only differences, this time the war may be won, and there is an exit strategy. Also last time the death toll was 58,000, this time might reach 6 or 7 thousands, and yes every loss is tragic. I don,t think it's realistic to give either party total blame or total credit, do you? Have you ever tried discussing politics with your friends or coworkers on given topic, and mostly what you get is a blank stare? Talk to the same people about professional sports and they tell you any thing you want to know? I actually had a coworker who thought that the general election was going to be between Clinton and Obama and couldn't understand what all the fuss over primaries was about. People like this are allowed to vote, and we wonder why we're trouble?

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 2:07PM CST Always Free: Lots of good points there, although I have no idea how we can possibly win a war we should never have begun in the first place. What exactly are we defeating?

Posted by: Iconoclast on August 23, 2008 2:28PM CST Mark: Joe Biden is smarter than you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyEqyYUGk4I

Posted by: ALWAYS FREE on August 23, 2008 2:49PM CST Mark I might be using the term a little loosely, but if we can hold back the insurgency, mostly non Iraqi long enough for the regime to get its legs, and become a somewhat stable country, we could end up with a sort of ally in the region, or at least a country that's not plotting to destroy us, or providing safe harbor for people that are plotting to destroy us. We all know that nothing is permanent in that part of the world, but I think that we have to contain the biggest threats as they arise. I'm sure that you and I could debate who or what is the biggest threat at any given time, and maybe never come to an agreement, but I will respect your right to your opinion all day long.

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 2:59PM CST Iconoclast: That's kind of a lame clip, because it only frames Biden's 1987 insult, and doesn't include the context. If you really want to go back in history, you could include the fact that Biden exaggerated about his academic accomplishments that day. Of course, if you wanted to go back in history, you could go back to this past May, when McCain still opposed offshore drilling. Or back to any number of McCain's flip flops on all sorts of policy issues. Or back back a month ago, when McCain rearranged the facts of his own Green Bay Packers-interrogation story to impress Steelers fans. Or back a week ago, when McCain told a questionable story about a benevolent guard at his POW camp. Still, you have to love the way Biden speaks his mind openly. He destroyed Rudy Giuliani's campaign with one matter-of-fact line. And I agree, he is smarter than I am.

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 3:04PM CST Always Free: Hey, I would love to see things work out as well as they can too, but I don't see how you can ever call a surgery a success if you begin by operating on the wrong patient.

Posted by: ALWAYS FREE on August 23, 2008 3:15PM CST like I said we could debate

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 4:47PM CST TBV: I am so proud of you I have tears in my eyes. This is real progress!

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 5:14PM CST Always Free: Fine, let's debate. Who, in your estimation, is "plotting to destroy us, or providing safe harbor for people that are plotting to destroy us"?

Posted by: great dane on August 23, 2008 5:20PM CST Always Free.....please stop using your ENTER key, it's hard to read what you are writing! I've been skipping yours and going on to Mark Czemiec's, who is so full of himself it's scary!

Posted by: great dane on August 23, 2008 5:26PM CST Let us not forget that Biden has had two (2) brain aneurysms! He may not be functioning on all of his brain cells. Kind of like you Mark!

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 5:28PM CST Great Dane: At least I know how to cook, which is more than I can say for you, Mr. Crock-Pot/Nesco slouch. :)

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 5:31PM CST Oh, I'm sorry -- Ms. Crock-Pot/Nesco slouch.

Posted by: MC on August 23, 2008 5:36PM CST TBV is not agreeing with you Mark. She is making fun of your "logic".

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 5:39PM CST MC: And I was not really welling up with pride, I was being sarcastic, but thanks for the clue. Care to take a crack at telling us how you can begin a successful surgery by operating on the wrong patient?

Posted by: MC on August 23, 2008 5:43PM CST I live here 2 - Did you not notice Mark also had "pages of crap to complain about" McClain?

Posted by: MC on August 23, 2008 5:47PM CST Make that McCain and not McClain. Must have been thinking about Shirley again.

Posted by: great dane on August 23, 2008 6:26PM CST Teeheeteeheeteeheeteeheeteeheeteeheeteeheetee! If that is a pix of your nose, I'd think about getting a nose job! Hope they don't operate on the wrong patient!!!!

Posted by: Kay on August 23, 2008 6:40PM CST Wow, way to go totally off topic on both Obama/Biden and McCain. Why not stick with policy? Oh, nevermind, it's the JT blogs.......I'm game for comparing the two in personal terms. One is married to the senior version of Paris Hilton (tall blond, fashionista, inherited wealth v/s earned, and can't keep track of all her investment properties and Obama has a wife who had an acutal job.....until she took the time off to work with him on his campaign. A very well paying job, but a job nonetheless. One has enough wealth to buy a large section of Hawaii and Obama can afford to go there to visit his grandparents. McCain is a sure bet to continue in Bush's footsteps no matter how far down this economy is dragged because of wars he's almost giddy about (remember him singing Bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb, bomb Iran?)and allowing unchecked corporate greed. And, Obama wants to end all tax breaks for companies shipping jobs out of this country. A country which without those corporations could not have grown as they have in the first place. So, I think they owe it back to the nation to help out since we helped them out countless times. On temper? The old fart called his wife the "c" word and that trumps anything Biden has ever, ever said as far as I'm concerned. That is the lowest a man can go in name calling a woman. Temper is one thing, but to have that word that easily flow out of your mouth says a whole lot about how McCain really feels about women in general. Disgusting.

Posted by: Poor child on August 23, 2008 7:31PM CST UGHHH.... some of you people are insane. Can I just ask one question and get a reasonable answer? Which canidate has experience being president? Correct me if I'm wrong but the last time I checked it was neither.

Posted by: great dane on August 23, 2008 9:29PM CST I'm insane!

Posted by: great dane on August 23, 2008 9:39PM CST Hey Mister Food Network Guy.....what happened to your debate with TBV? Oh, you probably had to go out and deliver some of your iodized cookware. Kay, McCain called his first wife the "c" word? What a "prick".

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 23, 2008 10:36PM CST great dane: If you were able to scroll up and follow the sequence of comments, you could see that TBV is the one missing. Maybe she's finally taking her Christmas tree down. Also, if that's a pic of your cellulite inside the tanning bed, you need to just accept your pastiness and cut back on the Crock-Pot dinners. ;)

Posted by: MC on August 23, 2008 10:49PM CST MAN-LAW #17 states; "It is perfectly acceptable to call an ex-wife any name in the book."

Posted by: AngelMT on August 24, 2008 12:15AM CST Wow, this is like watching high school kids try to beat each other up. Cellulite and noses? Whatever floats your boat people. I would still like to know why he chose Biden. The man came straight out and said that Obama does not have the experience and that McCain is the better candidate, but I guess he changed his mind when he was asked to be VP. And if we really want to get petty and start in on the tabloid news stories of half sisters and such, lets not forget about Obama's half brother who is apparently living in a shack on less than a dollar a month.

Posted by: racinenativemn on August 24, 2008 1:06AM CST What ever happened to Bidens response last year that he was not interested in the VP slot position and he wouldnt take it?

Posted by: racinenativemn on August 24, 2008 9:44AM CST Brewers are a lot more exciting than these elitest presidential candidates

Posted by: Freedom of speech = just my opinion on August 24, 2008 11:23AM CST KISS OF DEATH

Posted by: great dane on August 24, 2008 11:35AM CST Does any body have a vowel for Mark's last name?

Posted by: great dane on August 24, 2008 11:45AM CST Ops! "anybody" Doesn't anything go during a campaign? Biden said a lot of things. He usually says whatever comes into his mind (like me LOL). I think his frontal lobe is Republican, and his cerebellum is a Democrat.

Posted by: Freedom of speech = just my opinion on August 24, 2008 12:41PM CST great dane, you crack me up

Posted by: AngelMT on August 24, 2008 12:47PM CST I find it rather amusing that the guy who is supposedly all about hope and change is pairing up with a guy who has spent the majority of his adult life in Washington politics.

Posted by: Freedom of speech = just my opinion on August 24, 2008 12:52PM CST He did CHANGE his mind about his thoughts on Obama and about being a VP. Go figure.

Posted by: ALWAYS FREE on August 24, 2008 12:56PM CST Mark Since this blog seems to have degenerated to you hurling personal insults at people who dare to disagree with you, I think I'll pass on the debate.

Posted by: great dane on August 24, 2008 1:38PM CST Good for you Always Free! He seems to be cooking or watching the Food Network anyway! Personally, I wanted Hillary as V.P., but that was a long shot, wasn't it? She and Bill worked so hard during this veeeery long campaign; I just wanted her to get something out of it besides a debt.

Posted by: MC on August 24, 2008 2:58PM CST gd - Don't give up on HRC just yet. Watch the Clinton machine go to work at the convention.

Posted by: great dane on August 24, 2008 3:12PM CST Thanks MC! You can be assured that I will be watching. The #1 thing we all have to do is VOTE! No more apathy or we'll get screwed again.

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 24, 2008 6:44PM CST Always Free: I always try to give people the disadvantage of insulting me first, but since you have, I'm not surprised that you're bailing on your own proposal after the very first challenge.

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 24, 2008 7:48PM CST TBV: If you scroll up you'll see that it was Great Dane missing you, certainly not me. As for baseball, I have no affiliation or interest. I can think of nothing more boring than millionaires on some grand lawn in their pajamas scratching themselves in right field after yet another foul ball in the interminable fourteenth inning. Other people may pay good money to watch 162 games of this per season at 3 and a half hours each, but my time on earth is finite. I have a long list of better things to do, beginning with sex and food.

Posted by: ALWAYS FREE on August 24, 2008 8:24PM CST Mark, I agreed to respect your right to your opinion. you know very well that neither one of us will ever change the others mind. Since there is no impartial third party to moderate or judge your proposed debate, it would just be an act of futility for both of us. So in the interest of civility let's do the adult thing, and agree to disagree. Peace

Posted by: ALWAYS FREE on August 24, 2008 8:36PM CST Mark RE: BASEBALL Well I guess we can agree on one thing. By the way, I didn't propose a debate, I used the word "could", not should.

Posted by: Winger on August 25, 2008 9:12AM CST Mark - You have sex with food?

Posted by: Mark Czerniec on August 25, 2008 9:39AM CST Winger: No, but sometimes the other way 'round.

Posted by: Give Me a Break on August 25, 2008 10:20AM CST Kay, How will Obama's plan to raise taxes on businesses bring jobs BACK to this country? How will raising the cost of doing buisiness help them or us? And no, the corporations owe NOTHING to this country. The country became great because of the systems that allowed innovation, freedom, and business to flourish. They pay hefty sums in their earnings to the government already. What more do you want?

Posted by: MC on August 26, 2008 11:45AM CST Don't expect to get an answer from "KAY". As she typically does in other blogs, she swoops in, makes her insults and irrational statements and then disappears never answering any questions put to her. She is to be ignored IMHO.