Obama's Campaign is Doomed

[Termagant]

Originally posted by: Fern
Drug use "Dooming" Obama's campaign?

Firstly, this interest in drug use of people years ago when they were young really annoys me.

Secondly, any long ago drug use is not his problem, 800K people (that's how many of his books have sold) are already familiar with this. It's old and IMHO a non-story.

Inexperience is his #1 campaign problem.

BTW: People always refer to him a "black". He's mixed race like Tiger Woods. Why don't they say "mixed race"?

Fern

Because like in the olden days if you are 1/16 or more African ancestry you can be considered "Black." By keeping a low threshold for "Black," the White race could be kept pure. And it is Obama's ancestry which will preclude him from becoming President of the United States, not any coke sniffing.

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Sadly, I agree with Donvito. This is unlikely to have much effect. This is not so much a swipe at Obama, but a swipe at America as a country that we now find it acceptable.

Show me your opposition to Bush in 2000 and 2004 over his drug use before you are permitted to use the word "sadly" there. If you're against it, you need to be against it.

Show me where Bush wrote about using cocaine in a book. Or show me proof of this 'Bush sold coke' accusation.

I actually do not remember any stories about Bush and cocaine. I think he decision to not talk about anything worked in his favor.

I think we all read into his refusal to talk about his past what we wanted. The left, as seen in this thread, assumes he meant coke etc, the right figured he meant pot. Did Gore not also admit to smoking pot while in Vietnam? I am not sure, but I thought that was the story.

It would be nice if we could find someone who did neither.

what were you 8 at the time? I vividly remember myself getting pissed off at an SNL skit where bush pulled up in a car, opened the door and white powder flowed out of the cardoor.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
Bush is smart because he never admitted to anything.

Bush does not and will not ever admit to making a mistake. Remember the last open and official press conference we had a while back ago.

 

[sothsegger]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Senators make lousy candidates, just ask Kerry, Gore, Dole etc.

What about JFK?

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: Gigantopithecus

Originally posted by: alchemize
Moonie: I don't buy it. I always hear this "filling our jails" line - but if you look at the statistics, yes the Federal jails are being filled with drug offenders (2002 numbers say about 50%), but Federal numbers are very small (140K) compared to state numbers (1.2M). In state, drug offenses are only 20% of total sentencings (again 2002 numbers) which is actually down from 1995. Jail numbers are growing primarily because of increases in violent crime.

Source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/p02.pdf

50% of Federal prisoners & 20% of state prisoners sounds a lot like 'filling' to me. I don't even want to know how much $$$ is wasted keeping dope smokers behind bars; how often are murderers, rapists, armed robbers, etc. let out of prison early to keep those horrifying three strikes potheads off the streets?

Way to respond to statistics with an emotional response :roll:

 

[Thump553]

Originally posted by: alchemize
Moonie: I don't buy it. I always hear this "filling our jails" line - but if you look at the statistics, yes the Federal jails are being filled with drug offenders (2002 numbers say about 50%), but Federal numbers are very small (140K) compared to state numbers (1.2M). In state, drug offenses are only 20% of total sentencings (again 2002 numbers) which is actually down from 1995. Jail numbers are growing primarily because of increases in violent crime.

Source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/p02.pdf

Alchemize: Take a morning off sometime and visit your local criminal intake court (not traffic court). You'd be surprised at the large percentage of cases that are drug related.

Drug enforcement is very much a industry in the US, with many police, prosecutors, etc. paid for by seized property. There are certainly valid reasons for certain drug enforcement, but many rational people feel our current system is badly in need of massive correction.

 

[Pens1566]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
Bush is smart because he never admitted to anything.

This is the only time I've ever seen anyone accuse Bush of being smart. Oh wait, it was Barney Fife. NM.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: marincounty
Ahh, remember the '80s, when everyone was so worried about people using cocaine.
It all seems so quaint now. I wonder when we will have our first cranker senator or president?

Are you serious? uh...you don't have to look too far.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Craig, after this thread started I headed over to Google and wikipedia to see what I could find on Bush and cocaine. And what I found? Not much. Just a bunch of allegations with very little proof behind them. Bush was arrested in 1974 and daddy had his record cleared etc etc. Stuff like that, with out any named sources or evidence.
Reminds me of the whole Rather memo before the 2004 election, you remember, the fake memo and all that.
Just because you want to believe something, does not mean that something is true.

John, you're not in a position to lecture about wanting to believe something not making it true. I've done nothing to indicate that; it's more useful for you.

Further evidence that he used drugs illegally is that he refused the physical the first year it added drug testing, despite that being a serious offense; and the date of his time he refuses to discuss lies shortly after that period with the drug test. The picture becomes pretty clear about some drug.

You mention the Rather story - the story where there was plenty of solid evidence for the main points outside the memo, and the memo's content was called accurate by the officer's secretary, whether or not the copy of the memo was the original or a later recreation. The huge investigation done by CBS with a republican and the former head of AP was unable to determine whether it was an authentic original. There's still a mystery about who 'leaked' the memo, if it was a campaign ploy by the Bush side.

The truth is we do not know what types of drugs Bush used, although pot seems to be a certainty. Beyond that we have NO clue at all.

Yo have no reason as far as I know to say that marijuana is 'in' but not cocaine; what we know is that he almost certainly used illegal drugs which could either or both.

Bush specifially refused to deny cocaine.

Well, based on the type of "evidence" that the "good professor" likes to provide in his stem cell arguments, I'd wager that no amount of proof will help him change the things that he has already convinced himself of.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: DonVito
The claim (which is admittedly the product of unnamed sources) is that Bush was selling cocaine at a fairly high level (ounce quantities) in New Haven. I don't honestly know whether it's true. He is also reputed to have used cocaine on many occasions at Camp David when his father was President, when he was in his early 40s (the latter accusation has in fact been verified by Doubleday, who published Kitty Kelley's book about the Bush family).

Donvito, you are now using Kitty Kelly as a source of information? Are you going to start quoting the National Enquire next?

From Wikipedia: ""The Family" provoked another firestorm of publicity due to its allegations, allegedly supplied by Sharon Bush (although Mrs. Bush denied making the allegation,), that George W. Bush snorted cocaine with his brothers at Camp David during his father's presidency. The book also claimed that First Lady Laura Bush dealt drugs in college. Kelley was widely attacked in the media for the book, with charges of partisanship and challenges to her credibility. "

Yes, she has never lost a libel case, but you of all people should know how hard it is to win libel cases in America.
Her book on the British Royalty was never published in the UK because of libel fears.

Question for you: If the allegation that Bush did coke at Camp David pushed by a tabloid type writer lowers your opinion of him, then what is your opinion of Clinton after he was accused of Rape? At least in the Clinton case the accuser is not some unnamed source hiding their identity.

So at which point do media attacks = loss of credibility? In fact...hell, I don't think I've ever seen an instance where this administration had no control whatsoever of its own image as presented by the media. Not at all...Why, they've never even had "news" anaylsts on the white house payroll.

I wonder on what channel this media presents its news reports?

 

[raz3000]

I'm surprised this topic has generated this much interest. Sensational titles FTW!

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Tab
Unforunate, but I must say he has good taste in the substances he's used

white bagger. how are the nasal passages treating ya?

 

[Jhhnn]

I find Obama's candor entirely refreshing. Whenever any politician of Obama's generation or older claims they never used drugs, it's a sure sign they were a total dweeb as a teenager, or that they're lying, take your pick.

As far as I'm concerned, the whole thing is just a variation on the usual fundie fringe attack... a demand that politicians lie to their constituents.

"Tell me you love me, then you can have sex with me." Just one of those ways to absolve oneself of guilt when it turns out that they really didn't love you, anyway... They Lied! The Horror!

 

[SirStev0]

Originally posted by: raz3000

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: Genx87
Ask President Bush how that worked out.

fixed

Has President Bush ever officially acknowledged his substance abuse? (The DUI charge I know about but in the eyes of many Americans, such as myself, the cocaine use is a huge issue).

Not officially but that tape of him admitting it to the reporter and giving his reasons why he never admitted to it came out a bit ago. (I actually truely respect his reasons, however I feel he should be honest and the fact that he is lieing about it is concerning)

 

[Tab]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: Tab
Unforunate, but I must say he has good taste in the substances he's used

white bagger. how are the nasal passages treating ya?

My nasal passages are quite fine actually, I've never used cocaine. He doesn't appear to be an alcoholic nor does he smoke. These drugs are much more far damaging than cocaine or weed will ever be.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: Thump553

Originally posted by: alchemize
Moonie: I don't buy it. I always hear this "filling our jails" line - but if you look at the statistics, yes the Federal jails are being filled with drug offenders (2002 numbers say about 50%), but Federal numbers are very small (140K) compared to state numbers (1.2M). In state, drug offenses are only 20% of total sentencings (again 2002 numbers) which is actually down from 1995. Jail numbers are growing primarily because of increases in violent crime.

Source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/p02.pdf

Alchemize: Take a morning off sometime and visit your local criminal intake court (not traffic court). You'd be surprised at the large percentage of cases that are drug related.

Drug enforcement is very much a industry in the US, with many police, prosecutors, etc. paid for by seized property. There are certainly valid reasons for certain drug enforcement, but many rational people feel our current system is badly in need of massive correction.

Ah yes, because we all know anecdotal trumps stats!

I believe the "war on drugs" is a failure and we need to look at legalization options. But it doesn't change the numbers referenced above...