[Pwy9egVW]

I think he did a nice job.

[AromeWahmaron]

I'll have to read it tomorrow, I can't stand to hear the man speak.

I'll have to do the same. Can't stand looking at him, buck ofama

You guys can't stand to hear one of the most eloquent public American speakers in history? What, you don't like people cheering a liberal even when he is praising the very country you live in? Absolutely pathetic. I couldn't stand W speak because every word out his mouth was nucular or war on terror and it was beneath me. You guys appear to be what everyone in that arena wants to reject.

[pharmaclid]

Good to see that the right is focused on the important things

hair color

style of dress

It's called humor. you will hear more of it tonight on Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel.....

Remember how many jokes you made about Bush? (don't ask me to find them, that'd be going back over 2 years on here and you know you've mocked him)

[pharmaclid]

You guys can't stand to hear one of the most eloquent public American speakers in history? What, you don't like people cheering a liberal even when he is praising the very country you live in? Absolutely pathetic. I couldn't stand W speak because every word out his mouth was nucular or war on terror and it was beneath me. You guys appear to be what everyone in that arena wants to reject.

Using "uh" ever 4th word and reading from a teleprompter is far from eloquent.

[ElenaEvgeevna]

You guys can't stand to hear one of the most eloquent public American speakers in history? What, you don't like people cheering a liberal even when he is praising the very country you live in? Absolutely pathetic. I couldn't stand W speak because every word out his mouth was nucular or war on terror and it was beneath me. You guys appear to be what everyone in that arena wants to reject.

Oh Danny put a sock in it

I read what he said here:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Gabby opened her eyes for the first time," Obama said during the memorial service,..

"There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy pull through," Obama said.

"As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility," Obama said. "Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together...."


.."And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, it did not, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make (the victims) proud."


Obama: 'Gabby opened her eyes for the first time' - U.S. news - Crime & courts - msnbc.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


And can find no fault with what he said. I didn't want to watch the guy for the same reason(s) you probably didn't want to watch george bush talk.

BTW I hated the "nuculer" thing bush did too. You'd think someone would have informed him that it didn't make him look all that sharp to keep saying nuculer instead of nuclear

[steevytraunse]

After reading this thread, it's pretty clear who is intent on politicizing the memorial.

[steevytraunse]

This ought to be something else....It seems that they are handing out souvenir T-shirts for this memorial event.

Pic at link

Does anyone care to know who "they" are, before rushing to judgement?

Does anyone care to know what the t-shirts say, before rushing to judgement?

Nah.

[ThisIsOK]

Does anyone care to know who "they" are, before rushing to judgement?

Does anyone care to know what the t-shirts say, before rushing to judgement?

Nah.

If you click that link thingy you can see what the T-shirt says....that would be "Together We Thrive". It's an interesting choice for a memorial (heck, giving out t-shirts is kind of different by itself) since, when you get right down to it, the people that are being memorialized aren't exactly "thriving" any more.

[Tactattcahhaw]

I think he did a very good job.

I think some of the college students where just there for him though. The event was clearly intended to be a celebration of lives instead of a tearfest, but I think they dragged it a little to far into the pep rally category.

And where did they dig up the medicine man for the invocation?

[agiopwer]

The sad reality is that a man suffering from raged paranoid schizophrenia, who just happened to metaphor his angels v. demons split attendant to the illness with political terms rather than philosophical, religious, fantasy, etc. terms, committed a horrific violent act because of his illness.

There's nothing more to it than that as far as his reason for doing so: he was mentally ill, that is the only cause of this tragedy.

So when it comes to eulogies and the like, the only appropriate things to say are good things about the people who passed and maybe the importance of finding cures and treatments for mental illness to prevent such tragedies.

It is not appropriate to take any of the sick man's illness's angels v. demons metaphored terms and try to make sense of them ..

.. And it is certainly not appropriate to take any of the disease sufferer's metaphored terms and do anything in any way politically opportunist with them.

Knowing Obama as he is, any politician for that matter, especially in an underdog administration, presuming he would use this opportunity to make an egregious political perspective pander, preying on the grief of the families, etc., to make a vote-getting-attempt rhetorical statement .. I, too, refused to watch.

My understanding is that is just what he did.

I might have watched had a member of the deceaseds' family, friends, church, etc. been the one giving the presentation, but not a politician.

But family grief really shouldn't be aired nationally like this. And merely because a member of the government was attacked, I would argue does not warrant a national speech spotlight.

Other mass tragedies don't get this kind of response from The President .. and I don't think a dog and pony show is ever appropriate at these times.

The tragedy itself is sad enough.

But for politicians to try to pander votes from it all is disgusting.

And for people to use the sick man's metaphors against their political opponents is just that: sick.

[ThisIsOK]

I think he did a very good job.

I think some of the college students where just there for him though. The event was clearly intended to be a celebration of lives instead of a tearfest, but I think they dragged it a little to far into the pep rally category.

And where did they dig up the medicine man for the invocation?

Man, this is Arizona! We have medicine men and Shamans all over the place. Really, the history of this area with regard to the Native Americans is fascinating.

Both Cochise and Geronimo were Chiricahua (Cheer-uh-cow-uh) Apache and their lands were right in this area. The Pima tribe (Tucson is the seat of Pima county) is the tribe of Ira Hayes who served at Iwo Jima and was one of the men in the famous photo of the flag raising as well as being the subject of a Johnny Cash ballad.

Slightly north of here you get into the Anasazi lands and the lands of the tribes that came after the Anasazi. There are ruins all over the place in the back country and, even coming from a good old Catholic boy like myself, there is definitely something other-worldly and very spiritual about some of the sites. These people, to have not only survived but thrived in this area were quite special.

[SallyIsNice5]

My understanding is that is just what he did.

You should actually watch, or read, what he said. I'm more sensitive than most anyone I know when it comes to politicians, or media whores in general, using tragedy for their own advantage. It's the reason I can stomach television. But I didn't see any of that here. He was doing his job. He called for all of us to rise above politics and honor the victims by loving each other more. I can't find fault with that.

It's bound to frustrate some conservatives to see Obama actually doing a good job as President. But he did that tonight.

[bingookenoo]

Merely attending brings legitimate questions of politicization. B. Hussein isn't one to drop everything to attend a funeral. This guy skipped his own white grandmother's funeral. When she died in November of 2008 he stayed home. But I heard he sent a lovely note.

[ElenaEvgeevna]

You should actually watch, or read, what he said. I'm more sensitive than most anyone I know when it comes to politicians, or media whores in general, using tragedy for their own advantage. It's the reason I can stomach television. But I didn't see any of that here. He was doing his job. He called for all of us to rise above politics and honor the victims by loving each other more. I can't find fault with that.

It's bound to frustrate some conservatives to see Obama actually doing a good job as President. But he did that tonight.

No frustration.

A little surprised. From a man who has been very challenged on how to act 'presidential,' I find this rather refreshing.

Can he keep this up for the next 2 yrs. ?

Does it even matter at this point ? We can only watch and see.

[GECEDEANY]

Outstanding job by the President.

[agiopwer]

He called for all of us to rise above politics and honor the victims by loving each other more. I can't find fault with that.

I can, easily, because it is most certainly rhetoric at fault.

His call for "loving each other more" is not relevant to the matter at hand.

That's a political double-talk attack at Tea Partiers whom he has criticized as being angrily beligerent, implicitly at fault for "stimulating" the killer's disease.

That's pure BS.

I will likely read the text of his statement tomorrow and see for myself if he didn't do more than that in his rhetoric.

Regardless, the political dog and pony show was not warranted -- there was no reason for The President to make a speech.

[ThisIsOK]

No frustration.

A little surprised. From a man who has been very challenged on how to act 'presidential,' I find this rather refreshing.

Can he keep this up for the next 2 yrs. ?

Does it even matter at this point ? We can only watch and see.

I don't think it matters too much if he doesn't keep it up for the next two years..whatever "it" may be. Obama's biggest job tonight was to present a reason to stop the bickering and I think that, at least for the time being, he did that.

There were two points in the speech that I though were pretty good. There was the remark about not laying blame and then a comment regarding not being able to know what would have stopped the shots (or something to that effect). That, in my opinion, was the right idea. Now it's going to be up to his "legion" to live up to those ideals.

I have to say, though, that a couple of things struck me as strange. I really never got the sense of "memorial". It wasn't a particularly intimate or warm display and, frankly, the cheering gave things kind of a pep-rally feel. I don't know as if that really makes a difference as I think that the important thing for this particular event was, in fact, more political than personal.

[Enalsebeerkawl]

I usually also cannot stand to listen to Obama talk,
mostly because he politicizes EVERYTHINK,, in constant campaign mode,,
unlike any previous president in my experience, often distorting and lying, with a dspicable arrogance. Rather than bringing the country and races togethe like he claimed he would, he has been partisen and polarizing. I have come not to believe any of his voiced concerns for troops and tragidies.

However, I did watch the Memorial at the U of Arizona, and Obama was apolitical and somewhat inspiring , bringing the country together like a president should.
Of course it was obviously no place or time for political rhetoric.

Is it not ironic however that this is the same president that did not have the time to visit Arizona to personally visit and address the concerns of border violence,
the same president and Attourney general suing the sate ofArizona, with the the Democratic congress CHEERING THE PRESIDENT OF MEXICO WHO WAS CRITICIZING ARIZONA--DESPICABLE!!!!

[SallyIsNice5]

That's a political double-talk attack at Tea Partiers whom he has criticized as being angrily beligerent, implicitly at fault for "stimulating" the killer's disease.

I haven't heard him lay this on the Tea Party. He did just the opposite tonight. You got a link or something?

...I don't know as if that really makes a difference as I think that the important thing for this particular event was, in fact, more political than personal.

Exactly. Whether it warranted it or not, this was turning political. What I heard from Obama tonight was, "let's not".

[zithromaxlinks]

You know what I'd like to see?....Not Obama on the damn TV. Seriously, he's milking this for all the attention he can. He should have made his statement and focused on his job. How much damn effort is he putting into this shit while we have soldiers dying over here in Afghanistan and Iraq??? How many soldiers does it take to be of equal value to these elected officials. He is the damn president and this is not a presidential matter. End of story. He should get back to work because there is a multitude of other, more pressing concerns, for his position. Get off the damn TV and stop campaigning.