I am just shaking my head. Don't they think these things through before putting them in the stump speech?

Jesus, they sound like they're campaigning for 3 grade class president.

This election is really starkly showing the difference between the demagogues and the truly serious people.

And not the press village idiots version of serious but actual in fact serious.

Fortunately, smart is the new cool and loudmouth bullies are the new losers.

What is it, exactly, he's promising to do?

Wet start the economy by offering tax cuts to inventors of new easy-to-use nuclear technology?

You kids get out of my yard!!! Now!!!

I just read a very interesting blog about this same topic at Kos:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/26/55545/776/238/642524

Perhaps McCain could bomb that Zapatero fellow, wherever he's from

Six months? Fuck that. Six days, baby. Six days.

Now, I'm not saying we won't get our hair mussed.

McCain's take on his hero Teddy Roosevelt is to speak loudly and wildly wave around a big stick.

It's a mistake to attempt to closely parse McCain's statements as if they held some deep meaning. As we saw during the economic meltdown/bailout, McCain's words and actions alike are empty, are mere gestures. He doesn't mean anything by them.

If you look at the reporting of this McCain stump speech quote, you find that McCain said (sorry, I cannot find more of the transcript -- I did hear more of it on the radio yesterday and I don't think I'm leaving out context in a misleading manner):

"I have been tested. I'm gonna test them. They're not gonna test me.''

This seems to refer to McCain having been a POW for five years. But that isn't international crisis experience at a high level. Or even a low level. So what international crisis management experience does McCain have? This seems to be more of McCain's "Guantanamo isn't a prison, its a leadership academy" stance, just this time a international crisis management leadership academy. I could see McCain going after Obama's lack of international high level crisis management experience if McCain himself had some, but McCain does have any. Like HR Clinton, who famously had to duck snipers in Bosnia to have tea with the wives of local politicians, McCain seems to believe having been in the public eye for more years than Obama, he can claim more high level international crisis management experience and success than Obama, even if that claim doesn't have any actual foundation.

Obviously, McCain could talk about all his good work going to Nato-security conferences and talking to German members of parliament and the various deputy chiefs of staff of European foreign secretaries, but I don't think that would sound quite as impressive as a slam on Obama.

I'd all be up for considering voting for a politician with actual high level foreign policy management experience. But we don't have one of them in the running, just a pretender.

Who? Well, that would be the Sioux at the Little Big Horn.

How has he been tested? He surely has not been tested as President. I don't want war! Sounds like McCain is challenging his enemies. He is a dangerous man!

I believe we know Mccain so well by now that nothing he says should surprise us. The man is erratic, dishonest and above all, a liar.

I do not believe Mccain can stand on national TV saying that he's been tested for having been in a cockpit of an aircraft during the Cuban missile crisis. Everyone who knows a bit about the military would know that being in a cockpit as Mccain might have been, does not constitute a test preparing someone to be President of the United States of America.

Now we've heard Mccain during one of the debates telling Mr. Obama to talk softly while carrying a big stake. What a change of heart! Mccain now believes he should carry the big stake with tough talk! SOMEBODY PLEASE GIVE JOHN MCCAIN A DOLLAR SO THAT HE CAN BUY A CLUE!
MOREOVER, DO NOT GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO TEST ANYONE.

With Tom Brokow just now on Meet the Press, John McCain really is coming across as in denial
of the facts.
Polls are meaningless to him, except the one
that has him closer to Obama.
And he keeps showing signs of indigestion, sour belly--with a kind of burping while incessantly playing with a pen. Like gramps at dinner he wiped his mouth after spitting a bit, having interrupted Brokow with lengthy familiar refrains.
Less than a half hour later my eyes glazed over, I started fading out, thinking about an old couch
I had...
old. he just puts me in mind of...old

I think McCain meant he was going to test our patience by being as testy as possible.

Nikita lives on. The resemblance is just creepy.

Let me get this straight:

1) Joe Biden predicts that U.S. enemies may try to "test" Barack Obama
2) "I'm gonna test them" John McCain later blusters at a campaign rally.

Does this mean that McCain is boasting that he is an enemy of the US? Or maybe he just means that, like so many conservatives, he will never, ever, acknowledge the legitimacy of a democratically-elected Democratic President?

You guys are sicko's. McCain has been through more than most of us will go though in a life time and to put him down like you are doing is a shame. You like a guy who hangs with terrorists and manipulates votes with people such as ACORN because he can't win any other way. Obama has never fought for your right to say the awful things you guys are saying, but McCain has. Why is it ok for Obama and Biden to say stupid things and you make fun of everything McCain says?

Testosterone, pure and simple.

Old man in a wolf suit

McCain also said he was going to "whip" Barack's "you know what" in the 3rd debate...

McCain should start his test by locating Spain on a map and then deciding whether it's fried or foe.

"How has he been tested? He surely has not been tested as President. I don't want war! Sounds like McCain is challenging his enemies. He is a dangerous man!"
Posted by: Julie on October 26, 2008

You're right, that sounds much like the "bring it on" foreign policy statement of Bush.

John McCain do us all a favor by growing up and pulling your head out of your ass. If you can't do that, then go sit in the corner with the rest of the 3rd grade bullies.

You guys are sicko's. McCain has been through more than most of us will go though in a life time and to put him down like you are doing is a shame.

Sorry, but prior military service and having been a POW does not exclude one from scorn and derision when running a dishonest, dishonorable campaign for President.

You like a guy who hangs with terrorists and manipulates votes with people such as ACORN because he can't win any other way.

No, these false charges have been thoroughly debunked, yet are trotted out by the McCain campaign and its supporters in order to smear Senator Obama. See "dishonest, dishonorable campaign," above.

Obama has never fought for your right to say the awful things you guys are saying, but McCain has.

Prior military service does not qualify one to be POTUS in and of itself.

Why is it ok for Obama and Biden to say stupid things and you make fun of everything McCain says?

Bring the quotes and we'll see if they have said anything half as stupid as Senator McCain. You may have noticed that Senator Obama gives considerable thought to what he has to say before he opens his mouth. Senator Biden sometimes gets ahead of himself when speaking, but has largely kept himself out of the weeds. Senator McCain and Governor Palin? Not so much. When Senator McCain stops running a sleazy, dishonest campaign and stops saying stupid things, I'm sure that he'll get a little more respect around here.

McCain has been through more than most of us will go though in a life time and to put him down like you are doing is a shame.

Yeah? How many more former POWs and former pilots think they're presidential, pray tell? None of that qualifies anyone for jack and you know it! In my opinion, it disqualifies! Jesus. Think of the untreated PTSD and alcohol abuse that has corroded away McCain's gray matter, not to mention a looming return of cancer!

I know vets from that war. Some still live it! And they weren't even POWs! Some Viet Nam vets will only be happy until we hold a fucking ticker-tape parade every day for the rest of history. And yet they have the nerve to bitch about entitlements for other Americans!

Not only does his chest-puffery diminish what this heroic generation of soldiers are doing right now, it darkens the acts of so many unsung heroes of that war who have never asked for a damned thing, and who have never once had shared the delusion that they should be the president!

John McCain's a loose nuke and Sarah Palin's gone rogue. And neither should be let near the White House! Not even for a photo op.

@ stefan - you beat me to it Tested ? at what ? examples please. New Rule - Any journalist who is interviewing him and doesn't ask him this question must return their journalist credentials.

Military Prepares for Threats During Presidential Transition

Didn't Joe Biden just say the same thing?

The same question could have been asked after McCain's speech at the Convention, when he had all the delegates standing up to fight for America. I was wondering then who he intended to fight against.

One of the reasons George W. Bush remains so amazingly popular to this day is that when Americans ask themselves "what do we need more of in our foreign policy?" the answer that immediately comes to mind is "more swaggering, 'bring 'em on' jackassery."

saber-rattling towards Iran

Biden's comments, including the comment that Obama's response to the "test" would not be popular in the U.S., was stupid.

Have you paid any attention to Obama's saber-rattling toward Iran and Pakistan? Of course, Obama is probably just trying to cover the fact that he intends an immediate withdrawal from Iraq (just a prediction on my part, or a hunch), and when Obama yields to Barney Franks' call for a reduction in the defense budget of 25% there won't be many sabres to rattle. But Obama's rhetoric is very aggressive.

McCain's used his POW experience as an excuse for everything from breaking the rules at the Saddleback appearance to bailing on David Letterman to not knowing how many houses he owns. If he doesn't take his POW experience seriously I don't see why we have to.

McCain uses his POW experience as an excuse for everything because he has never recovered from it psychologically or emotionally. The need to regain something lost in captivity is still driving him at the basic level of his personality. This cripples him from being able to make reasoned decisions under stress. Just look at the decisions made since August alone.

If the stress of heading up a losing campaign is driving him to make these rash decisions,imagine the rash decisions that would be made under the stress of the office of POTUS.

I have said it before. The man deserves compassion and understanding for what happened to him 40 years ago, but he is not only NOT qualified to be president, it would be dangerous to put him there, for him and for us. He is simply too damaged for the job.

McCain's remarks about "testing" our international rivals means he does not have the temperment or positional rationality to be our President. It also shows he is too reckless to avoid stepping on himself and snatching defeat from possible advantage offered by his (domestic political) rivals' possible gaffes.

"Given McCain's record of saber-rattling towards Iran, aggression towards North Korea, and antagonism towards Russia, McCain's vow to "test" U.S. rivals isn't exactly reassuring. What is it, exactly, he's promising to do?"

Shouldn't you add Spain to that list?

Maybe McCain could take a moment to elaborate on what this means, exactly. He's going to "test" rivals? Which ones? How will he "test" them?

John McCain: "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran".

McCain's take on TR is 'Speak loudly + carry a big schtick.'

I mean, is he really *trying* to make SNL funnier? Perhaps he's been getting checks from Lorne Michaels all along.

Ba dum dum,
-Z

McCain was unable to find an effective campaign strategy with two hands and a flashlight. The racist comments, anti-American labeling and beating the Ayers story to death has alienated a lot of voters. More negatives about Palin come out each day and yet he says he is proud of her. It all adds up to a severe case of electile dysfunction.
With respect to being tested as a POW, why are those documents still classified? Let us see how you were tested. He has so much anger and way too big an ego to be testing anyone else-bottom line, we cannot allow him to take risks and play craps with our future.