Uh oh. Mrs. Jopek needs to watch out for Malkinites examining her kitchen counters, size of yard, type of home and what kind of car she drives. They will decide whether or not her son deserves to be remembered.

Republicans are just cheesed because there are actually a few mother's out there who, for some unknown and probably hormonal reason, don't want their children to die in a war that is, in every way, a Great Deception.

She asked Obama to "please make sure" other mothers would have to go through what she's gone through.

Would NOT have to go through, right?

Steve Benen wrote: "The far-right freak-out, in other words, was mistaken. The far-right's freak-outs usually are."

Actually it is "sensible liberals" who are so often mistaken, when they opine that the far-right's "freakouts" are "mistaken" when in fact the far-right's "freakouts" are deliberately, knowingly, maliciously dishonest.

More proof that reading Malkin kills brain cells.

A minor correction. The far out freak out was misguided because it was intentional. They seem to think -- all evidence to the contrary -- that they've got savvy political instincts. They believe that the composure of a monkey island at feeding time is important to the political process.

Goldberg is such a turd. Check out his update at your link. Yet another "emailer" writes in to guess that Obama's campaign will force the mother to speak up for Obama, and then points to her comments as proof of it.

Yet another example of why conservatives shouldn't be allowed to handle grownup duties. They really don't understand modern communications. Even though the ability to type exists in the dna of conservatives, the ability to think doesn't.

Well this made it to Fox News. Gibbs pwned them on it.

McCain's cheesy,millionth attempt to play the knowing martyr the POW combat pilot who believes his personal horror somehow transfers directly into competent ability re: all things national security and foreign affairs.

Personally, I think his traumatic experience
and malingering resentment greatly hinders his ability to see foreign affair and security issues clearly and objectively.

I honestly didn't catch every wise word Obama responded with re: the bracelet when I listened live the first time around. I hope he speaks more slowly and emphatically when making such poignant points in future debates.

Several years ago, I coined the term (invented to describe the Bush administration) "truth slaughter" to mean reckless disregard for the truth. It should be apparent by now that right-wingers such as Jonah Goldberg don't care whether what they are saying is true or not.

I thought Barack's response was one of the most liberating moments of the debate.

Think about it: McCain was shoveling out idiot anecdotes that supported his overt claim that we need to win in Iraq. But anybody can conjure up anecdotes to support any position. That is why Barack pointed to his bracelet. Saying in response: I've got anecdotes that don't support the war too...

It was a swift and cool lesson in basic critical thinking skills for Americans.
No wonder that wingnuts are whining like stuck sows: Critical thinking skills are anathema to their future prospects...

Obama misbehaved. We all know that Dems are unpatriotic and always lose elections. How dare he not understand that basic principle of American politics. Bad Dems! The Dems are always craven and wrong, and don't you dare question that.

It was indeed delightful to watch McCain nearly explode when Obama pulled out his own bracelet/soldier/soldier's mother story.

McCain was about to explode, "how dare someone else use the soldiers!?!!?"

Alistair Horne wrote about the Battle of Verdun in Price of Glory. The most painful part was the human cost as exemplified by a little plaque placed by an anonymous mother. In French it says: "To my son, since your eyes were closed mine have never ceased to cry."

Fuck you Jonah and the rest of the 101st Keyboardists who shit on many mothers grief. You wanted this war. You got it. It's too bad that the outraged don't have the balls to commit to the war like say serving in it.

I talked about the debate with a cousin last night and he related to me exactly the sentiment of Tracy Jopek, which was exactly my sentiment.

Obama would have never lead with this story, in fact, I think it was a trap he was waiting for McCain to step into. But once McCain delivered his story to avoid further explaining why he wants to stay in Iraq forever, Obama responded with a counter-punch.

I'm sure that it upsets Obama, and many voters, that politicians use selected personal stories to justify their policies. Clinton did it, and it might be effective as an illustration of a problem, but not as sole justification for a policy.

Republicans have been using this story as justification ever since it was obvious the Iraq war was a failure with no purpose.

Good thing Obama finally called them on it.

While it was not illuminating to the likes of you and me, I think it was one of the reasons Obama "won" his target audience.

The bracelet and the whole patriotism/POW issue McCain's best pitch. Obama was waiting on it and knocked it out of the park. It spoke volumes to the undecideds.

Obama didn't bring up the bracelet to say "for the soldiers' sake, stop the war". He only brought it up because McCain did, and to reply that the soldiers' families are just as divided about the war as every other segment of society.

Shorter wingnuts: only the pro-war side gets to wave the bloody shirt.

The following is a truism. Take it to the bank:

The more a statement gives the GOP the vapors, the truer it is. Those squeals of protest in response to a statement are the sounds of success. Remember that the next time the GOP cooks up some controversy that excites their gasbags to descend upon microphones like flies on dung.

sidebar question here:

Tracy sent her e-mail to the Obama campaign asking that her son not be used to make an anti-war argument.

When Obama raised Tracy's original comments to him as a rebuttal to McCain, the right pounced (despite Tracy herself being fine with Obama's comments.)

Question: how did the right know about Tracy's e-mail? Am I missing something?

I keep wanting SOMEONE to ask McCain...
We left Vietnam in defeat... did all those soldiers die in vain?

Are you suggesting we should have stayed? For how long? Would there have been a timetable? Was there any cost that could have been considered too high?

Maybe he has answers, but I'd like to know what they are. It might help us judge what to expect from a McCain endgame in Iraq/Afghanistan, though "endgame" might be a misnomer.

I used to think that Vietnam vets died so we might learn humility and not fight a future war without an exit strategy.

It appears neither of these causes was fulfilled. Has Dubya (with his allies) created the futility of the Vietnam war? Can we now say no lessons were learned? 2004 gave me doubts.

Zeitgeist, the right knew about the e-mail from Tracy's ex-husband, who tipped off ABC News about it. Nobody bothered to check with Tracy to see if this was the whole truth.

please don't be so hard on jonah. after all, the race has turned the corner into the final stretch and his horse has decided to take a nap. jonah's got nothing left to do but to wave his arms, shake his fist and scream irrationally at the front runner knowing that all is lost.

one day there will be an entire wing of the hack hall of fame devoted johah goldberg's body of work.

And the fReichtards grab their Barbie dolls and race to their sandboxes to prove that Mrs. Jopek isn't really Sgt. Jopek's mom.

10 bucks says that before the day ends some brainiac will claim he went to Ill. Health Department and he couldn't find R. Jopek's birth certificate!!

My son is in Iraq and just lost 5 friends in a helicopter crash. He is TX Natl Guard. When the story hit the papers here, I emailed some friends the blog entry of a Marine Mom who basically said that the Army is broken and that someone should ask the candidates in the debate when they advocate further wars, "You and WHAT Army?" You would not believe the response I got about being unpatriotic. I have a son over there for heaven's sake!!!! I had to set up a spam filter on the subject line for the replies I got from people I didn't even know who received the message in forwards.

It isn't a matter of patriotism. It is a matter of reality. And it is the way I FEEL. There is a cost to the soldiers and the families who do not want their soldiers sent into wars over and over again until they are either killed or maimed. If the RR wants wars so bad, they can send their own kids or vote for a draft and see how far they get.

No member of the US military who has died in Iraq has "died in vain", no matter what the final outcome of that whole sorry mess is and no matter how/when/if we leave Iraq.
Most of those who have served in Iraq did not join the military just to go Iraq; those people had already made a commitment to serve their country, to the death if necessary, and they carried out that commitment. They lived up to their sworn oath.
Now, if anyone wants to talk about those who sent them there...

I am so sorry that these right winged creeps would ever even bring up the soldier that Obama mentioned. Causing that Mom an ounce more of pain is unconscionable. It is my perception that a great many soldiers and their families feel abandoned by the people who sent them to war. It is like Cheney's attitude that they volunteered, so it doesn't matter really how they are treated, if they die, if they are maimed, how many times they have to go back, etc. Who in the world is that slimy Lucy Goldberg's little boy who chose to stay home and write his nasty invectives all over the country think he is mouthing off about any soldier killed in Iraq. Republicans own this debacle, but all soldiers and their families are not necessarily Republicans.