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DEMS: From "The Buck Stops Here" to "Above My Pay Grade"
Boston Herald ^ | August 20, 2008 | Michael Graham

Posted on 08/20/2008 4:08:29 AM PDT by suspects

In 1948, they had Harry Truman and “The buck stops here!”

In 2008, they’ve got Barack Obama and it’s “above my pay grade.”

This is definitely not your grandfather’s Democratic Party.

Certainly not mine. My grandfather, Ray Futrell, was a lifelong FDR Democrat, the kind who would proudly rather vote for a wife-beating, syphilitic drunkard than for a Republican. In fact, he would find the previous sentence entirely redundant.

My grandfather helped push Patton’s tanks across Europe, and one reason for my grandfather’s unshakable party loyalty was his belief that Harry Truman saved his life by dropping the A-bombs on Japan.

If Truman hadn’t made the call - if he’d demurred that such a profound life-and-death decision was “above my pay grade” - my grandfather believed that he and untold thousands of Americans would have died invading the Japanese mainland.

I miss my grandfather, but I’m also glad that he isn’t around to witness the tragic descent of his beloved Democratic Party.

Watching Obama with the Rev. Rick Warren this past weekend, answering questions - or, more accurately, not answering - about his most basic beliefs was simply embarrassing.

Obama supports partial-birth abortion and voted against the “Born Alive Infant Protection Act.” When he got the invitation to an evangelical forum hosted by a pro-life pastor, he had to know that issues regarding life and the law were going to come up.

And his prepared answer to the most fundamental question about public policy and abortion (“is the fetus a human being?”) is that it’s “above my pay grade?”

There are certain sentences that should never appear on the lips of the Leader of the Free World. “That Vladimir Putin, what a great guy!” is one of them. “I did not have sex with that woman” is another...

(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: democrats; liberal; obama; saddleback

1 posted on 08/20/2008 4:08:29 AM PDT by suspects
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To: suspects

Amen, Michael!


2 posted on 08/20/2008 4:13:20 AM PDT by Edgar3 (My SUV just ate your Pius)
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To: suspects

Yeah, it’s not my dad’s and grandparents’ Democratic party anymore, either. They didn’t leave the party, the party left them.


3 posted on 08/20/2008 4:13:35 AM PDT by Cloverfarm (Children are a blessing ...)
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To: suspects
“above my pay grade.”

“Eez not my chob!”

4 posted on 08/20/2008 4:20:39 AM PDT by johnny7 ("Duck I says... ")
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To: Cloverfarm

“They didn’t leave the party, the party left them.”

Agreed. The Party actually Left the Party. The Democrat Party is like that movie “Starman” one of the Bridges brothers starred in with the giant space bug squeezed inside the human body slime and all.


5 posted on 08/20/2008 4:22:50 AM PDT by rockinqsranch (Say Obama were "Pinky", Then who is "The Brain"?)
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To: Cloverfarm

And for many, the Republican party dropped off of the same radar screen, not many of those who fought with Patton are standing tall in the ranks of the Republican party today.


6 posted on 08/20/2008 4:23:00 AM PDT by rovenstinez
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To: suspects

bttt


7 posted on 08/20/2008 4:23:36 AM PDT by petercooper (IQ tests for all voters!)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: suspects

Obama’s “above my paygrade” remark was the most astonishingly eye-opening stupid thing someone who wants to be president could ever say. His handlers are probabl;y still trying to recover from it.

Truman, IMO, wasn’t up to the job when he was forced into it by FDR’s death however, he quickly grew into it and made the job his own. There are many things I respect and admire about Truman, and the A-bomb call was a tough, courageous call by a leader. Obama severely lacks any qualities of a leader and is rapidly becoming his own worst enemy.

The President of the United States is not an OJT training program. Either the president is ready to lead and make tough calls on day 1, or he/she isn’t. Should Obama inadvertently be elected to the WH, we will be dragged through 4 years of an inept, unprincipled idiot who lacks the ability to lead thirsty horses to water trying to figure out what his policies, principles and beliefs are.

I’m not a McCain guy, but the more I see of Obama and McCain such as the Saddleback appearance, the better McCain is looking.

How bad have our choices gotten when the choice for president comes down to a decision between a complete and total walking disaster and a walking disaster?


9 posted on 08/20/2008 4:36:16 AM PDT by DustyMoment (FloriDUH - proud inventors of pregnant/hanging chads and judicide!!)
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To: suspects

Someone should email a link to this article to the McCain campaign, what a great idea for a tv ad, “The Democratic Party has gone from the days of ...,” I’d send it but I have to run to work now.


10 posted on 08/20/2008 4:38:48 AM PDT by moose2004 (Drill, Drill, Drill, Drill, Drill, Drill And Then Drill Some More)
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To: suspects
Anyone running for President of the United States who replies that a particular policy position is, "above my pay grade," is totally unprepared for the job.

He is telling us all what a majority already know.

He is in WAY over his head.

11 posted on 08/20/2008 4:47:42 AM PDT by NoControllingLegalAuthority
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To: suspects

This article pretty much sums up the Obama problem. He is a lightweight with just wrong positions and nothing should be above his pay grade if he is running for President. As McCain said, life begins at conception. I just hope the Republican party uses the easy ammunition Obama provided when unscripted last Saturday. It is just too easy.


12 posted on 08/20/2008 5:02:24 AM PDT by kevinm13 (The Main Stream Media is dead! "Global Warming" is a HOAX!)
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To: suspects

How does one compensate for when a presidential candidate loses a debate and performs poorly? The said person’s campaign screams, “They cheated!” as long and loud as possibly to distract from that fact that said person did quite poorly in the debate.


13 posted on 08/20/2008 5:03:41 AM PDT by IrishMike (Obama stands for change. He wants to change the subject.)
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To: suspects

I beg to differ. This is your grandfather’s Democratic Party.

This is the party of Margaret Sanger and Alger Hiss. This is the party that split in 1948 because Truman actually did something for civil rights. Do you think this year is the first time the Democrats nominated a completely inexperienced socialist and media darling? Try Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956. Do you think the Clintons were the first to win elections by personally destroying the Republican opponent? Consider how in 1932 FDR demonized the greatest humanitarian ever to live in the White House or the downright disgusting things Truman said about Dewey in 1948. Do you think Democrats have never kissed up to anti-American foreign dicatators the way they do today to Chavez, Castro, etc? Consider Charles Lindberg and Joseph Kennedy. What President rounded up thousands of loyal American citizens and locked them in internment camps in the dessert because of their race? FDR did that.

The difference between today’s Democratic Party and your grandfather’s Democratic Party is that your grandfather’s Democratic Party had a media monopoly.


14 posted on 08/20/2008 5:06:07 AM PDT by bobjam
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To: suspects

“And his prepared answer to the most fundamental question about public policy and abortion (“is the fetus a human being?”) is that it’s “above my pay grade?””

Actually the question was (paraphrase): When do babies get rights in your view?

I think that Obama was expecting the “When does life begin?” question and that is the one he was answering. I’ve read that that answer was actually focus grouped and is supposed to show humility (in that only God knows).

He really has no core values.


15 posted on 08/20/2008 5:08:39 AM PDT by Not gonna take it anymore
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To: suspects

We need someone to come up with an “Above Obama’s pay Grade” bumper sticker.


16 posted on 08/20/2008 5:21:59 AM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: suspects
"above my pay grade"?

Does he have to relate EVERYTHING to a government job???

Geeeez, I guess your "pay grade" determines EVERYTHING in the mind of Obama.

17 posted on 08/20/2008 5:30:53 AM PDT by stockstrader (CHANGE--a euphemism for further dividing our country along racial, social and economic lines)
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To: F15Eagle
"above my pay grade"

A very "NUANCED" answer, wouldn't you say????

18 posted on 08/20/2008 5:32:28 AM PDT by stockstrader (CHANGE--a euphemism for further dividing our country along racial, social and economic lines)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore

I was extremely impressed with Rick Warren for asking the question the way he did. You’re right—Obama was expecting the usual “when does life begin?”—and he clearly hoped to fudge with the usual “that’s a theological question” or “people of different faiths have different views.”

Warren forced Obama to deal with the PRACTICAL question: When is the government REQUIRED to act as though babies have human rights?

The way the question WAS asked, Obama could not escape the fact that he HAS taken a position—some significant time AFTER BIRTH.

Over on insidecatholic.com Deal Hudson has written about the Saddleback forum—and the usual Obama-bots are over there praising Obama for his “humility.”


19 posted on 08/20/2008 5:34:09 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: suspects

Good point in the article about Obama being outmaneuvered by the Clintons. Touche.


20 posted on 08/21/2008 5:18:49 PM PDT by Utah Girl (John 15:12, Matthew 5:44)
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