What?  ANOTHER surrogate for McSame?  What woodpile are these people coming from?  This is too transparent to go unanswered.  I, too, didn't feel comfortable with Obama's seeming to agree with McCain, but he did "use" that agreement to make his case and point up their differences.  Just who IS this woman?  Is she a reporter, an analyst, a "journalist", a free-lance blow-hard, a shill?  It is getting more and more difficult to cut through the bulls**t, not by the smell, but by the very amount!

As a salesman, this is a verbal tactic to soften the blow as to what follows. It shows professionalism (which mickey c totally lacked). I bet they teach that in law school because to be an effective attorney in front of a jury and to disarm someone on the witness stand, this would be a great verbal tactic (not a strategy). I use it in sales. It works. All mickey c could do is attempt to make Obama look like a ignorant child. This really disgusted me and I think it did a lot of independents and Demos.

I think this is called being and adult even on the job if one of your co-workers can show and easier way of doing something.hey fine let them know.Whats the big deal? Can't wait until the VP debate.That is going to be very interesting.The repubs are already bailing on Sarah.

A clock is right twice a day. This was clearly out of context

Nah. Fock context. Fock all that. Norah is rolling out official McCain campaign talking points. Do you think she's getting frequent liar miles for spreading McCain propaganda, like AA? 

Being an idealist personality type, Obama has the skill to first find a point of agreement and work from there to cooperatively solve problems. It's a common thread among people who have the knowledge of how diplomacy works. Of course, in this case it may not have been the best application of his obvious strength, seeing as how it was exploited. 

This is just some more of the same old, same old of Republicans using an opponents strength against him/her. It's old and stale, but there are the wilfully ignorant who will fall for this cheap tactic. And then there are the journalists (sic), like O'Donnell who enable them.

  

No doubt. Finding common ground is the first rule of diplomacy. It's an interesting, thoroughly hypocritical, dynamic at work with this attack from the McCain entity.  

McCain wants to act like he is in rebellion against the Republican party, like he's willing to work with the opposition in bipartisan fashion. And the entity likes to say that he has a long history of working with the other side. But when Barack reaches out to the entity, the entity chidingly, as you observe, exploits Barack's diplomatic nature for cheap political points in a sleazy campaign ad.

It is old, it is stale. But that's to be expected from Republicans today. They have no shame. They are addicted to power and will say anything to maintain control.

Thankfully, the percentage of willfully ignorant has windled to a paltry 19%.

But freakin' Nora effin' O'Donnell, man. This so called journalist needs to have her credentials revoked. Within minutes of the debate, as indicated by the youtube link in my prior post,  the McCain entity was out there running ads mocking Obama's keen ability to persuade. And we're supposed to believe that it's just coincidence that Nora 'Armstrong Williams' O'Donnell comes out spouting the same argument, with the same clips as the McCain campaign?

Please. Girl is a disgraceful propagandist.

Of course, in this case it may not have been the best application of his obvious strength, seeing as how it was exploited.

A question.  Is it even possible to find something the Repubicans wouldn't twist/exploit?  After all, that seems to be their entire strength.  If the Republicans were once an honorable party--and they were--at this point in time the honor has left the building.

Yes, on Obama's part care is needed, but we are electing a President and we need to see how he would stand, and speak, on the world stage.

the mccain camp lies [yet again] and she repeats the lie by not noting how why it's incorrect.  as in the statement about taxes on business.  obama agreed that the rate was high, but that there are so many loopholes the effective rate is a lot lower.  it's selective editing to produce the exact opposite of what obama meant.  either she is spouting  pro-mccain propaganda or she knows so little she's unqualified to comment. 

This woman is paid to look good (although she looks less attractive to me now). I fail to see the point in this piece. Only an idiot could not see what Obama was doing. Idiots do vote however. All I can say is crummy buttons. (an oold Dick Van Dyke saying)

the point is that people seeing the ad and not the debate will be misled.   she's joining in the false portrayal of the ad.

Mefirst, BOTH of the things you said are right.

Norah O'Donnell is a lying right wing Republican hate hag who is both spewing and/or rubber stamping pro-McCain lies, and she's unqualified to comment.

I do not think it is just her.

Most of media is guilty of the same thing. Whether they do it intentionally or not, we never know.

McCain says earth is flat, Obama says earth is, kind of, round, and the media report both things with equal weight and with a lot Norahs appearing to suggest it is flat.

I no longer expect journalism from these people. I watched the debate and there is nothing that she can do to change what I heard. Half-truths are equal to lying.

My expectations are gone, have been for a while.  When did these people turn into children?  I would have a much better time listening to this garbage if, instead of seeing them make meaningless hand gestures to compliment their foolish distortions of truth, they were molding play-Doh into shapes of they're favorite amimals. I'd be ok with Norah's utterences if she produced along with them a modest farm animal or perhaps an octopus with multi-colored tenticles.

My Gov., your expectations are low indeed. Mine have been for about the last 5 years. That's why I've tuned out these miscreants on a permanent basis. They offer nothing but propagandistic malarky to feed imbecilic rubes.

...propagandistic malarky to feed imbecilic rubes

That's got a ring to it.  Maybe Fox News could refresh their motto? 

I find that Norah O'Donnell's laughing style is similar to a cackle. Disconcerting trait that takes away attention from what she is trying to report.

I knew this was going to be an issue when I watched the debate last night. I turned to whoever would listen to me and said: "He sounds like he's agreeing with him too much; the right-wing and other critics are going to have a field day with this tomorrow." I hate being right. I know it's nuanced, and I know it's a MLK-style debate strategy to cede a point to argue a larger point, but nuance is lost on this American electorate. Obama's people need to tell him to STOP agreeing, STOP saying he's right about anything. Did you notice McCain never ceded anything? In fact, his catchphrase was "Sen. Obama doesn't understand."

How about THIS, Dr. Engine.  Only a sci-fi idea, but what if Obama had the means of hiring Karl Rove to take over his campaign?  Wow, what a coup that would be!  Can you imagine the effective dirty tactics (er, strategy) at Obama's disposal.  Shades of "Twilight Zone".  AND, the inside information that Karl could put to evil use.  I'm not going to get too much sleep tonight...

Give pigrove enough money and he will take mickey c on a hunting trip and blame it on cheany. Of course you could get him to say just about anything also.

Karl Rove would sell his own mother to Osama bin Laden if the price was high enough!

That creepy little bastard is so vile.... I can see why we only see his mug on FoxNoise!

As for Nora O'Donnell..... I wish I could say that she should know better than to undermine her status as a journalist and purposely removing the CONTEXT of Obama's own words........... but I'd only be kidding myself!

I wonder when Max Dharma is going to show up? Can wait to see what he thinks of this...... Oh Max.... come out, come out where ever you are!

And yet, Obama won the debate, according to every poll I saw.  I think the electorate understood what he was doing quite well.

If Obama doesn't say McCain is right in order to pursue a larger point, then he'll get criticized for that.  "Why can't Obama just say McCain is right about something?  Is this indicative of mature leadership?"  If people are going to find a criticism no matter what, make them look hard.  Make them be dishonest in order to do it.  There's no way to prevent someone from being disingenuous, so wringing your hands over something like this is a waste of time.

It should also be noted that we've had bitter divisiveness in this country for fourteen years at least.  I don't think that advising Obama to stop agreeing or saying McCain is right about anything does much to make anyone think that he's a candidate of change.  McCain's failure to be cordial and respectful (particularly his inability to look in Obama's direction) may have been a major factor in the poll results.

You're exactly right.  I said the same thing to my wife, that Obama was giving McSame credit and repeating "he's right" a bit too much.  He should stop that immediately.

DAY THREE AFTER OBAMA KICKED MCCAIN BUTT AND THE WEB SITES ARE TALKING ABOUT MR. NEWMAN PASSING BUT IF MCCAIN HAD WON THE WEB SITES WOULD STILL BE TALKING ABOUT HOW MCCAIN KICKED OBAMA BUTT. WELL JUST WAITE FOR THE PALIN BIDEN DEBATE IF PALIN DOES A GOOD JOB OF BIDEN LOOKS LIKE HE IS ATTACKING THE POOR WOMEN THE WEB SITES AND NEWS SHOWS WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THAT DEBATE 24/7.

O'donnell's cut and paste video clips have about all the weight and substance of a third-graders' art class papier mache project.

i think they mean edited, not cropped.

I think they mean cropped.  If you change the meaning of something by taking it out of context, that's cropping a quote.  Clearly if Obama is disagreeing with McCain's larger points, then that context changes the perception of his concessions.

That darn Norah O'Donnell! She's so conservative it makes me sick!

“Norah O'Donnell aired cropped "John is right" clips, but in nearly all instances, Obama was criticizing McCain”

That’s because what’s newsworthy is that:
 1. the McCain camp came out with that ad before the candidates walked off the stage
 2. the ad is flatout hilarious

Why is anyone surprised by this? It’s called ratings.

PS. The ‘ratings’ comment explained: The reason’s it has to do with ratings is because if Norah O'Donnell aired cropped "John is right" with a full blah blah blah about how Obama was actually criticizing McCain, she would have sucked the funny out of the story whereby reducing ratings.

You think this is a problem, right?  Or do you think that journalists should concentrate on humor over honest reporting?

The funny aspect was a freebie. Remember, the #1 reason for the story was “the McCain camp came out with that ad before the candidates walked off the stage”

The whole point Norah O'Donnel was making was that Barack said John was right so many times, that the republicans were quick to pick up on that and that it may have played well with independents.

MMFA’s presentation here is either disingenuous or incredibly naïve in suggesting that the context should have been explained.

What the hell are you talking about?  The ad creates the impression that Obama actually ceded rhetorical ground to McCain.  That impression is false.  O'Donnell saying that it wasn't actually a debate clearly pushes that false impression, which is irresponsible journalism at best.

Do you really have an argument to the contrary?

The ad creates the impression that Obama actually ceded rhetorical ground to McCain. That impression is false.

I understand that, but the ad content was not the focus of the comments by Norah O'Donnel. Norah O'Donnel’s whole point was that republicans were quick to pick up on that and that it may have played well with independents

That’s the point. That’s what was being reported.

This is reverse psychology working out against Barack Obama.  He should know better than to give McCain any sort of praise or credit even if the old man deserves it.  And this discussion is precisely the reason why.  The media is controlled by interests that are more aligned with McCain than Obama and will take anything out of context if it suits their agenda.

Obama should refrain from continually saying "John is right, but..." because the media will not bother to address what comes after the "but" and instead will just echo "John is right".  It is such an elemental rhetoric mistep I'm surprised Obama keeps doing it.

To paraphrase the great linguist Professor George Lakoff, if you address a room full of people and you tell them "Whatever you do, do NOT think of an elephant", that's exactly what people are going to do.

Obama would be smart to study Lakoff.