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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

As we predicted, Obama can’t take the heat, becomes defensive, and lashes out at a reporter for daring to ask tough questions.

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 6th, 2008 at 07:48 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

A Las Vegas political reporter, Jon Ralston, interviewed Barack Obama and called him on all his policy reversals.

Among the questions Ralston asks was this:

I guess what the American people want to know though Senator, is what is the real difference between you and John McCain. You are running this ad tying him to the industry saying that he has taken all of these contributions, but as you well know there is a story out today about how you supported the Dick Cheney bill and he opposed it. **That bill gave subsidies to the oil and gas companies, John McCain opposed the bill saying those are tax breaks for those companies, Barack Obama favored it.**

And how did Barack Obama respond? You guessed it. He couldn’t take the heat.

Hold on a second John, I thought I was talking to you instead of debating John McCain, but I am happy to let you serve as his proxy.

You can see the whole interview below. Kudos to Jon Ralston for asking tough questions. But then he must just be a dirty racist for daring to talk that way to the Obamessiah.

If the best Obama can do is call the Republican response “ignorant,” we win. To date, his campaign has failed to release numbers to support his claims about inflating tires. As I’ve noted earlier today, even the Politifact claim does now hold water.

By the way, isn’t it snobbish to dismiss the opposition by calling them ignorant? Not that there is anything wrong with that.

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COMMENTS

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  • Socrates

    All he had to say was that there are lots of things in every bill, some good and some bad, and if the good things in the bill outweigh the bad you vote it.

    But instead he accuses the reporter of being in the tank for McCain?

    The pitch wasn’t at your head, Senator. It wasn’t even a fastball.

    Calculated, I say. Not well played, but calculated to plant the idea that the press is not on his side.

  • alabama567

    I watched the exchanged interested to see where Obama lost his cool with the questioning. Ralston certainly went after him, but I thought that Obama handled it well. There was some levity, decent give-and-take, and at the end both Obama and Raslton seemed to have enjoyed the exchange and no one seemed to leave mad.

    Respectfully, I just didn’t see Obama “lashing out”. He was tough with someone that was coming at him pretty hard.

  • poxoma

    Funny to remember Obama’s “Just Words” quote. Another example of BO trying to use “words” to get out of yet another jam. If “words” is another phallic symbol, BO would be blind by now since he plays with it so much.

  • Mord

    I mean, legally or are they sort of traditional? I know he’d never get elected without doing a debate, but the Obama camp must be dreading that day like I used to dread going back to school in the fall. I am sure that if there is any way to weasle out of it, they will try.

  • hunter

    Then Obama does not know the meaning of ‘hard’.
    Then again, Obama does not know the meaning of much, does he?

  • bk

    We keep hearing about his “judgment” which presumably is supposed to prove his “leadership” skills. But in here he expresses a LACK of leadership when he says that he’ll just let the gang of 10 tell him what to do.

  • alabama567

    They were tougher than average questions (certainly more so than he gets on networks). I didn’t think that there was anything offensive in the way that BO handled them. I was just expecting Obama to pop a vein and lose it, like Erick’s headline suggested he did, and that’s not what happened.

  • aaronbg

    yeah probably not…the media would eat him up for that….even though it is true.

    P.S. When registering for RS to explicitly defend Obama wait a day or two before defending him…otherwise your cover gets blown to quickly.

  • Joe_Schmo

    … in the interview he states that the Yucca mountain project is inadaquate but that he will need to form a commitee to determine just exactly what is a safe way to dispose of nuclear waste.

    If he, at this moment, doesn’t know what is safe, how does he know Yucca mountain isn’t the right answer?

  • aaronbg

    n/t

  • alabama567

    I think that the context would be important. If he was rude to Couric and called her a proxy and the interview took a bad turn, it would be inappropriate. The questions asked by Couric would also matter.

    Blown cover? I don’t get it. I read Redstate regularly. As a regular reader, do I not have a right to comment on something that catches my interest.

  • NightTwister

    Pun intended.

  • aaronbg

    …I just get this weird feeling that you may not be a republican since you just signed up for an account 40 minutes ago and the first thing you did was choose to defend Obama….is this article the tipping point that made you decide it was time to sign up for an account and comment defending Obama….quacks like a duck and all that.

  • bk

    You mean tougher than the type he gets usually gets peppered with, like “How are you able to maintain your great sense of humor, your ready smile, and your temper when you are the subject of endless racist campaigning and your terrific wife is continuously hit with baseless personal negative attacks by evil white male Republicans in Karl Rove fashion?”

  • bk

    “how does he know Yucca mountain isn’t the right answer?”

    Because Bush II and McBush III are in favor of it – doesn’t that tell him all he needs to know?

  • Joe_Schmo

    Wasn’t it? :)

  • Joe_Schmo

    N/T

  • Joe_Schmo

    N/T

  • nivlem

    Doesn’t he have 350 economic advisors?? And he has to reference the “gang of 10″?
    I understand this is meant to give him
    some credibility, but it just doesn’t fly.
    Why is it that anyone who has a different
    view than a Democrat must be part of some
    grand conspiracy?…”John McCain’s proxy”
    is just shallow. I agree, it reflects the
    inside of the individual more than the
    interviewer. He has changed positions so
    many times, we need a flow chart to keep
    track of the “changes”. The only way an
    individual wouldn’t want clarity on his position on most every issue, is one who isn’t paying attention.
    He better be concerned, his facade is garnering as many holes as swiss cheese.
    The MSM will not be able to cover fast enough.

  • MiddleMan

    I would actually prefer this style of questioning to every candidate running for office.

    We need more debate on issues than just talking points and softball questions.

  • aaronbg

    …care to take a position on this?

  • Canthros

    Current storage capacity at Yucca Mountain (once the facility is built) is expected to be exceeded in 2014.

    I think I’ve actually heard this as an argument for not doing anything, because the facility will be full about as soon as it’s open, but I have yet to hear anybody offer an alternative that doesn’t involve windmills and rainbows.

  • alabama567

    who said i was a republican? I have always like McCain, I also like Obama. I live in Alabama, and listen to a ton of conservative talk radio. I’m interested in all angles. I read Red State and I also go to Kos. I get frustrated when things get taken out of context on either side of the aisle… it’s my least favorite thing about campaign season, and easy to get caught up in. I didn’t think that this headline was accurate, so I said something.

  • aaronbg

    …but this is a Republican/Conservative website, so it is implied that you are a republican until you show your true colors…we have already had a bunch of mobys and trolls this weak and I get tired of dealing with them…thanks for at least being honest enough to verify my original gut instinct.

    And now….The Hinz Rule…engage.

  • rjd27

    expected a pitbull, and are three weeks away from nonimating a poodle. Always seems to work out that way, huh?

  • alabama567

    I can’t imagine that you know my true colors any more than I know yours. I am sorry if I was mistaken that only conservative republicans are invited to hang out here. As far as my colors do go, I think you learn more by hanging around people that don’t necessarily agree with everything you say. I like to try and understand what people on all sides of the debate are thinking, and why.

    I was commenting on the substance of a tv interview. I didn’t prop up Obama. I didn’t bash McCain. I haven’t misrepresented myself, or trolled. I just said that Obama didn’t seem to “lash out”. Aren’t discussions like that what comments are for?

  • IJB

    …And they’re already in the tank for Britney Obama.

    Ludicrously implying that The Press is in the tank for McCain(!!) won’t make one particle of difference in trying to win ‘swing voters’ over to his side.

    This Obama guy really does look poised to throw this whole election away. (And it’s happening a lot faster than I thought it would…)

  • KevinM

    I live in Las Vegas and have watched and read Mr. Ralston for years. While he tends to lean towards the left in his viewpoints, he doesn’t pull punches and always asks the tough questions.

    Regarding Obama’s comments about Yucca Mountain, what I find ironic in today’s discussion is that the Democrats have tried to pin this on the Republicans, but they conveniently suffer from amnesia. For when the so-called Screw Nevada Bill was passed designating Yucca Mountain as the sole site for consideration, the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate. It was Senator Bennett Johnston (D-Louisiana) who coined the phrase Screw Nevada Bill when this legislation was passed in 1987

  • nomad14

    “All he had to say was that there are lots of things in every bill, some good and some bad, and if the good things in the bill outweigh the bad you vote it.”

    To be fair, that’s what Obama explained immediately after the quote that was pulled from the interview.

  • paint_it_red

    Obama namecalling a reporter a “proxy” for his rival because the reporter asked a question about a matter his opponent has challenged him on? Is Obama still on crack? McCain gets actual Obama surrogates among the press pestering him all the time but responds with class.

    And Mr. Obama, that’s a legitimate question