Tonight in Denver, Hillary takes the podium with the assigned task of bringing her dissatisfied supporters under the Obama umbrella. Obama desperately needs this to succeed. But today, in Denver, Bill Clinton was speaking to a group of foreign dignitaries about political campaigning, and says the following:
"Suppose for example you're a voter. And you've got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don't think that person can deliver on anything. Candidate Y disagrees with you on half the issues, but you believe that on the other half, the candidate will be able to deliver. For whom would you vote? (pause, then in a clarifying tone) This has nothing to do with what's going on now."
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
So...How did that happen?!
Was it Accidental? Totally unrelated? Or did he accidentally reveal his inner thoughts? OR, was it deliberate and planned? My normal instincts would say that third possibility is a stretch. But then normal instincts don't necessarily apply to the Clintons.
Think about it. It is much under review whether Hillary actually in her heart wants to unite the Democrats under Obama. She would like to try again in 2012, but that only works well if there's a Republican in the White House, not Democrat Obama, so she may actually be wanting Obama to lose. But she has to behave in a way that can be defended as supporting the Democrat ticket, because her effort in 2012 would be hugely endangered if she is seen as sabotaging the 2008 candidate. So she helps Obama....and yet her "help" to Obama in recent weeks has seemed flat and lifeless. And Bill? He's been successfully silent for weeks or even months. And then suddenly on the very day that she gives the big speech that's aimed at exactly the unity she does not want, her husband undercuts that speech and its aim.
Was it deliberately planned? Perhaps even with her knowledge? I don't know. Maybe not. But it seems very possible.
I have said little (or nothing?) about Obama's connection with William Ayers, because I didn't see enough there to call Obama into question. That has changed.
William Ayers, with others, bombed the Pentagon and the Capitol building in the 60's and 70's. Ayers to this day remains unrepentant about those acts, and has more recently said that he wishes they had done even more.
Now think of some good men you know personally, be they conservative or liberal. What attitude would those men have toward a man like Ayers?
Well, Obama has maintained some level of friendship with Ayers. Obama launched his political career in Ayers' living room. Obama called Ayers "mainstream" and "respectable."
Couple that with Obama's close relationship with the "reverend" Jeremiah Wright. It's not that I think Obama shares philosophy with either man. But one must question whether Obama really has any principles at all; whether there is anything at all that would cause Obama to take a hard principled stand in opposition.
In the last polls before Obama named Joe Biden for his VP spot, Obama led McCain in the low single digits. In the three polls taken after Biden was announced, the results are 1) tie, 2) tie, and 3) McCain leads by two.
Wow... There is so much here that I hardly know how to respond.. I must simply go to my knees! There is ONE who is in charge here, and I must appeal to Him! I have been reading different news stories regarding this election for the first time in my life (I have you to thank for that) but I did not know some of this...I will make no comment regarding the Clintons... I don't want to start anything here!
I just have to say that, thus far, all of the guys and gals at Fox News have really brought their 'A' game to the network this week. Dennis Miller was just on O'Reilly and his spot was a classic. They, FOX NEWS, are making this convention so very entertaining!
For fear of retaining my branding, I do agree that Ayers is a questionable association, but their current association seems distant at best. I might as well be associated with him since his bibliography contains some familiar-looking titles. I probably studied his stuff training to be a teacher. I had no clue about his past life, and I doubt Obama did either when they first met. He would have been 8 when Ayers was most active, and most eight-year-olds I know (and I know A LOT of eight-year-olds) have a very limited grasp of current events outside of broad strokes, especially among the socioeconomic sphere I teach in and Obama grew up in. Is he a great guy? No. However, even Michael Kinsley (himself a longtime critic of Ayers) says, "If Obama's relationship with Ayers, however tangential, exposes Obama as a radical himself, or at least as a man with terrible judgment, he shares that radicalism or terrible judgment with a comically respectable list of Chicagoans and others — including Republicans and conservatives — who have embraced Ayers and Dohrn as good company, good citizens, even experts on children's issues."
Since we're talking about principles, and you called for fairness in a previous post, are you going to blog about McCain's affair(s) and unscriptural marriage, his close association with white supremist Richard Quinn, his open praise of David Duke (a man who praised the assassination of Lincoln), or his seeking of endoresements from radical preachers like Hagee (who has argued that 9/11 and Katrina were God's retribution against America and that Hitler was fulfilling God's will)?
As to Bill Clinton, I wish the DNC would stop letting him open his mouth. Sheesh. After his presidency was done, he was pretty cool for a while -- heading up aid for tsunami survivors for the UN and such humanitarian efforts. He even got a TED award. Then he came slinking back into politics. (shakes head)
(They will be) No votes in Heaven/No nation'l convos/No touchscreens and no hanging chads.../There'll be no smear ads/Pundits nor hit jobs/In heav'n where nothings red or blue...
I have been provoked into making a furthur comment. In neither candidate do I have any trust or favor. I am thankful that H.C. is not up this time around. I pray that the Lord intervenes again to prevent her next time - that more people become aware of her character! When you read through the OT, and what made nations great or not, it was whether their leaders feared the Lord. I fear for America, because her people have turned from His way. Only relying on and trusting in God is what makes a nation great. I feel frustrated... yet, for the remnant of His people, I am grateful!
Coulter, I had known only that Obama and Ayers had served on some board together and that rumors of association existed. Since that didn't seem by itself incriminating, I hadn't investigated it further. I only recently learned of Obama's "respectable" and "mainstream" descriptions, and that Obama had chosen Ayers' home as the place to launch his political career.
Robert, nice choral re-wording. :) But on to other things. You wrote:Since we're talking about principles, and you called for fairness in a previous post, are you going to blog about McCain's affair(s) and unscriptural marriage, his close association with white supremist Richard Quinn, his open praise of David Duke (a man who praised the assassination of Lincoln), or his seeking of endoresements from radical preachers like Hagee (who has argued that 9/11 and Katrina were God's retribution against America and that Hitler was fulfilling God's will)?
First, when a politician says he is sorry about past mistakes, you back off, unless those mistakes show a pattern of bad judgement, in which case that point might still be made. So let's take McCain: his divorce, and beginning the new relationship while not yet divorced, is reprehensible, and he acknowledges that. Asked at Saddle Back what his greatest moral failure has been, he answered with the failure of his first marriage. Is there some pattern of bad judgement there? I don't see anything. So how would I make any political criticism of him for that? Obama, on the other hand, still sees nothing bad in his relationship with a terrorist who bombed American government buildings. While condemning the bombings, he has let stand his descriptions of Ayers as "mainstream" and "respectable." If a man wants to be my President, he cannot think a man who does those things is mainstream and respectable. Further, this becomes part of a pattern of Obama being buddies with people who unjustly hate America.
Second, no I don't have anything against a candidate accepting the support of preachers who say 9/11 and Katrina were divine judgment. Why should I? That's not in the least comparable to Obama choosing Wright and his church as Obama's own, and calling Wright his spiritual mentor. Can those really be considered parallel in any conceivable way?? As an aside, is Hagee really so off the wall about 9/11 and Katrina? Doesn't God judge nations? Isn't that pretty clear from scripture? And isn't our nation due some judgement? Isn't it quite possible that Hagee is RIGHT about 9/11 and Katrina?? I don't know if it was divine retribution or not. But it's not a quack theory, and I wondered about possible divine purpose on the day Katrina hit.
Third, I've never heard of "McCain's affair(s)." I've never heard of Richard Quinn. And I've never heard that McCain praised David Duke. Maybe you could blog about those things.
Finally, I have already made it clear that there are numerous things I don't like about McCain, many areas where I don't trust him. It's not like I'm overlooking his faults.
Below is a snippet of a DNC blog entry from one of my wife's high school classmates. I don't know the size or influence of such in the RNC...
Today the Democratic Convention officially kicked off. Wow! It was amazing! The
day started bright and early with our state delegation meeting at 7 am. There we
had an introduction to what our day was going to be like, had some great guest speakers
to get us into the mood and received our credentials.
From there it was off to the Convention Center to attend the LGBT caucus. There
were some amazing speakers there, including the man who successfully won the case
in front of the California Supreme Court that gave gay and lesbian couples the right
to marry. He was very inspirational. We also learned that there are 277 "out"
LGBT delegates in attendance at this years DNC. That is an increase of 41% from
2004. How incredible! I was very impressed to say the least.
To crysnrob...having spent a week with Mr. Clinton while flying him over Africa, I will say that he was extremely tired from the hectic schedule over Africa. While, I disagree with the man on just about everything, when he did speak he was very coherent and quite sharp as a tack. But that's just my humble judgement.
@upintheair: Fair enough. Thanks!@db: Thanks for responding, but I doubt I'll blog about McCain. No time. I can't even keep up with my real site at the moment! Cheers!
On CNN last night, Lou Dobbs told his guests, "My colleagues in the national media are absolutely biased, in the tank supporting the Obama candidacy while claiming the mantle of objectivity." His guests, including a Democrat strategist, agreed.
Here are two parts of the discussion:
LOU DOBBS, HOST: You know, it's really not working because the fact is we have a tied race here. You know, with all the national media, as I've been saying here for months, in the tanks. My colleagues in the national media are absolutely biased, in the tank supporting the Obama candidacy while claiming the mantle of objectivity. Whether they're in the front page of "The Washington Post," "The New York Times," whether it's any one of the news casts, I mean, it's ridiculous.
----skipping to a moment later----
MIGUEL PEREZ, Syndicated Columnist: Look, what the media has failed at here is putting pressure on Obama, especially, because McCain wanted to do those meetings together with Obama, those public forums.
DOBBS: The town hall meetings.
PEREZ: Yes, and Obama has really evaded the issue and the media has not been after him for it. And I think that's disgraceful.
DOBBS: Well, I think the way the national media in this country right is performing, is disgraceful. And I mean, when we - "The Washington Post" had the courage to admit that it - Deborah Howell, the public editor, the ombudsman for the "Washington Post" ran a piece this past Sunday acknowledging that "The Washington Post" has put Barack Obama on the front pages of the Washington Post three times as many times as Senator McCain. "Time" magazine has run seven covers with Obama. McCain two. I mean, this is not close, folks. And it is ugly. It is nasty. And I guarantee you, we are watching a shift in the way in which the media in this country, which is already reviled by the public, I believe it's going to be even worse.
I'm an advocacy journalist. I'm an independent populist. When I speak, people know where I'm coming from. When these news organizations are doing this and trying to pretend cloaking themselves in the mantle of objectivity, you know, they're silly, (trulish), absolutely in my opinion, despicable phonies. They need to step out, they need to be objective or get their opinions out where it can be examined. We're going to be right back. Next, Hank Sheinkopf. He'll tell us about what he thinks of media bias. We'll be right back.
DOBBS: Well, we're back and I want to take a look at the "Time" magazine cover. Seven times, seven times in the past year, Barack Obama has been placed on the cover of "Time" magazine. Now, John McCain twice. Hank Sheinkopf, that is rather typical of the inundation of affection, the inundation of Barack Obama with the affection of the national media. What is your reaction as a democratic strategist?
HANK SHEINKOPF, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good for democrats, not so good for the nation in the long term. Barack Obama is interesting, he's new, therefore he is news. OK. The fact that a black man can reach that pinnacle of success, raise the amount of money, run this kind of organization, beat Hillary Clinton is big news. At some point there has to be some fairness in the discussion. The problem here from the beginning is from day Obama showed up, I was wondering when the reporters will start chiseling his face on to Mt. Rushmore and the guy hadn't even won the nomination yet. That's the danger here, Lou. And people know it and they're not stupid. Average guy says wait a second, I want news and he isn't getting it.
When both campaigns put their focus on Obama for awhile, what do you really expect? If McCain's campaign wants more press on McCain, then they should be talking more about McCain than they do Obama.
McCain has to go after Obama, because the press doesn't. And if NOBODY questions Obama, I'm sure you're right, McCain won't win. Pretty clever move of you lefties. Leave it to McCain to be the only one questioning/attacking Obama, and then criticize him for doing it.
The press didn't go after Obama during the primary season? The last Democratic debates didn't focus on all the stupid things that came up, versus matters of policy?
And where's all the press coverage questioning/attacking McCain? Or is it just the Democrat who is supposed to get attacked?
Well, how the media performs doesn't matter for the citizen that actually looks at the record of the two candidates. Perhaps that citizen wants someone that believes in more and bigger government (raise taxes and regulations), thinks appeasement with terrorists is the best foreign policy and that goes for finding the lowest common denominator of morals as well.
^On all that, McCain is worlds better than Obama, but that ain't sayin' much! *Hitting self on head for not liking Thompson early on (not that MS's delegates mattered though)*
If I vote McCain, I'll feel like I'm voting for slightly prolonged agony followed by painful death, whereas a vote for Obama is more like an immediate, sudden, knife to the heart, bullet to the brain, and kick in the groin all at the same time
What say ye, gents? Tough it out, or end it all? Sorry... I'm not mature enough to carry on a serious discussion anymore as long as "the One" is half of the subject...
I've been wondering a lot if KBH is going to get the VP spot. I think the odds for Jindal may have decreased, as he might look weak across the debate table from Joe Biden. I don't know enough about Tim Pawlenty to have any opinion about whether the same might apply to him.
When it got down to McCain or Romney, yeah, I liked Romney between the two. But, no, I don't like him. Now that we have an open filed from which McCain can draw a VP, surely there's somebody better!
Fascinating that they were so frank about the media bias! I really hope McCain gets a conservative VP. No clue if he will, but it would be a smart move on his part.
The Obama campaign has very successfully kept it's work on choosing a Vice Presidential candidate secret, and announced this week that a choice has been made, and that the choice would be made known by week's end. The campaign announced today that text messages will go out to their supporters tomorrow morning identifying the VP choice, and that Obama will appear with the VP choice in Springfield IL tomorrow.
APPARENTLY, Senator Biden of Delaware is Obama's choice.
Two potential choices, Tim Kaine of VA and Evan Bayh of IN were informed today by the Obama campaign that they are not Obama's choice. Whether informed or not, Hillary simply is not Obama's choice.
This evening, a private plane from from Chicago (Obama's home) was tracked in a flight to Delaware, where Biden lives. Reportedly, a Secret Service team was dispatched from Washington to Delaware. And Biden's people are working late tonight, and have provided a list of information to the Obama campaign in response to the latter's request for such.
So, there you (probably) have it.
---------------------------------
Now, what I would love to see, is an attempted Clintonian coup d'etat! She's been playing nice, perhaps really hoping Obama would self-destruct, and lacking that perhaps hoping for the VP slot. At the same time, Obama has been forced to concede a roll call vote for Hillary at the Convention...as a ceremonial gesture to acknowledge Hillary's primary campaign. Now that Obama hasn't self-destructed, and now that he's stiffed her and chosen Biden for VP, what if her plan is to make an all-out, final attempt at really winning that roll call vote in Denver. Oh what fun the convention would be!
PRE-CONVENTION STATUS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Next week is the DNC convention in Denver, where Obama will be nominated and celebrated. The following week will be the RNC convention in St. Paul, where McCain will be nominated and celebrated. Those are big weeks, and both camps hope to change the polling numbers in their favor….so now, just before they begin, is a good time to see where we are.
I’ve been tracking the polls, especially in the last few weeks. All year, the national polls have shown the two candidates to be within single digits of each other, with precious few exceptions. McCain led in some polls, Obama led in more. McCain’s low point was from mid-May to late July, when he won no national polls. In mid June, Obama had his peak (so far), winning successive polls by margins of 15, 6, and 12 points. The three most recent polls (taken this past Tuesday-Thursday), show Obama ahead by 1 point, 1 point, and 3 points.
But of course it’s the Electoral College, the state by state results, that determine a Presidential victory. Obama has held a clear lead in the electoral numbers, but is still vulnerable. Neither candidate has reached 50% of the electoral vote, though Obama is close. Below are maps which show the electoral situation as of July 31, and as of today, August 22.
JULY 31 .......................................................AUGUST 22 .. Error of 3 votes in Obama numbers; in Aug they
....................................................................................................................................should be 183+77=260; see EDIT at end of post.
Here are the changes from July 31 to Aug 22:
In Obama’s direction:
Washington state moved from “leaning Obama” to “Obama.”
In McCain’s direction:
Wisconsin moved from “Obama” to “leaning Obama.”
New Hampshire moved from “leaning Obama” to “too close to call.”
Indiana moved from “too close to call” to “leaning McCain.”
Missouri moved from “too close to call” to “leaning McCain.”
Texas moved from “leaning McCain” to “McCain.”
Obviously, McCain has had a good three weeks. And I might mention that most of the movement in his direction took place before Russia’s invasion of Georgia became big news. Florida is teetering back and forth across the line between “too close” and “leaning McCain” -- it moved to “leaning” after July 31, but edged back across to “too close” in the last few days -- so I’ve shown it as “too close” in both maps.
Obama has been on the defensive lately, never good for a candidate. Expectations are high for his performance in Denver, but he’ll probably meet those expectations. He’s good -even great- when he’s got a script. Expectations are probably pretty low for McCain’s performance the following week in St. Paul. He’ll probably surpass those expectations, which will serve him well. Many -though of course a minority- of Democrats will be angered when Obama names his VP and it’s not Hillary. Some number of them will switch to McCain.
So the result of the next two weeks? Barring other events that always break in and affect the numbers, I predict McCain will be helped more than Obama.
If McCain wins the convention wars, and if he can stay on the offensive, he has the hope of adding states like Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, Nevada, and Montana (woohooo! 3 votes from Montana!), and solidifying his leads elsewhere. If he gets those (even without Montana), without losing any he currently has, he wins the November election.
The odds are indeed with Obama, but really the fat lady isn’t even in the building yet.
____________________________
EDIT: Comparing my numbers to Rob's from Pollster.com, I realized that I'm 3 votes short. Worked the numbers all the way through again, same result! Argh! Finally realized: I'd forgotten to count Washington DC. So give Obama 3 more electoral votes than in the maps above and my comment below. So, it's BO 260, JM 197, Tossup 81.
from the linked page: "The official who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to pre-empt a text-message announcement the Obama campaign promised for Saturday morning." LOL! So much for the secrecy the Obama campaign had managed until now.
Biden is probably a good choice. Obama shows that he's willing to work with someone who has been critical of him in the past. He brings in a person with good foreign relation experience, and he has a reputation for getting things done. He is also considered more of a moderate than Obama.
I have NO idea how to put this on so you can just click, so I will type in the code that I saw! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FCNKwHRCQM&NR=1 Please let me know if that worked, okay? I can forward you an email I got from a friend in Alaska that told me about it. I know before though some of my forwarded emails haven't reached you, so let me know, okay? Thanks!
As I was typing the above message, I couldn't help but notice the 3 letters together "CNK". Right away I put them together as "sink" - somewhat appropriate as he is just sinking lower and lower.....
The only problem with that is that McCain does have a history of quite impressive gaffes. I mean, come on-- "nations don't invade nations in the 21st century"? You only say that when you're not thinking clearly.
The issue would have gone away quite better if he were upfront. I recognize that there are some times where tactics seem to be in play, but this time it seems that it was just plain stupidity.
@deusvitae: Looking further into this, I did find other occurances of him not knowing houses, number of cars, or even the car he drove the most. I guess I was giving him too much credit this time...
good grief. nations DONT invade other nation and get away no reaction from the global community.
if you are referring to iraq as to why hes being stupid its clearly a completely different situation. How long did we discuss what to do about Iraq with other nations and amongst ourselves?
plus all the international laws broken.
and this whole pass Mccain has been given is ridiculous as well. the liberal media has been Obama's patsy for the past year with little mention of anything positive on Mccain yet nothing but praise for BO.
I was wondering about that "pass McCain is getting" as well. Strongly held but misguided opinions about policy does amazing things to one's perception.
As for the accusations that McCain is "stupid" and "unstable" and "unpredictable," and "not thinking clearly," and as for deciding that it would be giving McCain "too much credit" to think there might be some reasonable explanation for his reference to his staff for the number of houses, Please take note:
--It turns out I was right about those houses being properties of his wife (and trusts that her family owns), and that therefore she probably has more to do with them.
--Today in Springfield, Obama introduced Biden as "the next President," and Biden said, "the next President of the United States, Barack Americ--!" stopping himself short at the mistake. Had McCain made either of those gaffes, some of you would be declaring him to be afflicted with advanced dementia! Come on. Let's be fair here.
And not that you've expressed an opinion on it, but just for an academic discussion Ethan, would there be anything wrong with Mr. McCain owning several houses?
1. The McCain campaign (and the whole republican party) has been trying to paint Obama as a materialistic elitist for months now. This is not a new tactic for them either. Kerry was painted by their smear artists as a pampered elitist who gets everything provided by his rich wife, and who can forget the media frenzy over Edwards' haricut? Unfortunately, things aspects like McCain's rich wife, the insanely expensive shoes he wears around, his superfluous housing, numerous cars, and his line that no one making less than $5,000,000/year should be considered wealthy undermine these character smears by the RNC. He contains these silly superficial flaws The Party has taught its legions to abhor. Now they are scrambling to make a man whose net worth is roughly 40 times that of his opponent's seem more "down-to-earth."
2. To tell you the truth, though I personally think he and his wife could be using their $36 million+ a year more wisely than on houses, the number of houses is not the real problem. The problem is that he doesn't know, and this is yet the latest in a series of things he doesn't know – like Middle East and European geography, troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, which leaders belong to which countries, the timeline of the war, Islamic sects, etc. He's even claimed to not know his own position on given issues more than once. These are not gaffes. These are factual errors.
I don't think any of this smacks of dementia so much as carelessness. He has access to a wealth of information, but time and again he demonstrates that he will not get his facts straight. That is important. That it is about houses is not important. I will also note, because I have a feeling I'm included in that "some of you" statement that I have been equally critical of Obama when he has made factual errors, and I was verbally critical of him when one of his recent Senate votes (one McCain missed) contradicted his campaign. I just don't choose to air that stuff here.
3. Re the "liberal media" meme, I agree that much of the media shows liberally leaning slants on many issues, but, when it comes to elections, the media in general is far kinder to Republicans than Democrats. In 2000, the liberal media created a harsh caricature of Gore as something of an Eddie Haskell. Years later, Dan Rather was critical of the media's coverage of that election, even including himself in the criticism. Another reporter claimed they "just wanted to tear Gore apart." It was easy, and it fit the roles in which they cast the candidates.
I've already touched on Kerry, so I'll fast forward to today. According to a study run by The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, while Obama is getting more press, the media is considerably more critical of him than McCain. This study quantified statements from ABC, NBC, and CBS. Note that these results came without the inclusion of Fox News. The sheer number of media-created controversies around Obama are astounding: "terrorist fist jabs," flag pins, crazy pastors (while McCain seeking the endorsements of Robertson and Hagee go unremarked), "guns and religion," secret Muslim, etc. It's ridiculous, and it demonstrates that our so-called news organizations have learned nothing from past elections. Apparently, neither have we because we keep giving them ratings for this drivel.
In contrast, CBS recently edited a McCain interview to cover up mistakes he made in the interview. The news networks following Obama overseas repeated McCain's talking points criticizing Obama's visit while ignoring McCain having done the same things in the past. The networks ignored that McCain left out chunks of his economic plan when he submitted it to various economists for approval. Numerous media outlets reported on McCain's attack on Obama over public financing without noting McCain's loan. CBS did a report on candidates' tendency to exaggerate their records while ignoring or failing to research many of McCain's own exaggerations, and the list keeps going. Again, this stuff is omitting Fox. This is from the "liberal" media outlets.
Speaking of Fox, I think the only place the liberal media exists that holds Obama up on a pedestal is in the imaginations of their anchors (oh, and possibly on Countdown, though Olbermann has laid into Obama when he feels Obama deserved it). The media as a whole has been far more critical of Obama than McCain -- even to the point of double-standards at times. You can contradict this subjectively all you want, but an objective parsing of the coverage of the candidates and the language usage in said parsing bears it out.
4. Re "invading other countries:" I think McCain's statement is, in fact, undermined by our presence in Iraq. We ignored other nations and acted all but unilaterally in that move. Our administration ignored or covered up intelligence that contradicted our stated reasons for invading. We claimed national threat where none existed and attacked a country that had not provoked us. Did not possess weapons capable of attacking us, and was not collaborating with Al-Qaeda.
28-year CIA veteran Paul Pillar states "Iraq did provide other kinds of sponsorship to terrorist groups, some of the Palestinian groups that aren't so active anymore... But in terms of it having provided support or sustenance or strength, or having anything close to an alliance with al Qaeda, it simply wasn't there." Additionally former White House Press Secretary Scott Scott McClellan and former Secretary of State Colin Powell express distrust of the information they were giving to the American people. In light of this, yes, Iraq undermines McCain's statement.
Finally, in all fairness, how would you have reacted had Obama been the one to forget how many houses he owns? Would you have defended him as you are McCain, or would it have served as another illustration of his elitism? Sure, I admit I was taking a cheap shot at McCain, but how many cheap shots have been taken at Obama around pleonast that are equally as uninformed or trivial?
Sorry about multiple posts, it didn't all fit into one box. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll let you guys debate among yourselves now. I'm all done... :-)
^ Joseph Biden, Democrat US Senator since his original election in 1972, chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, and very visible member of the Judiciary committee. Knows foreign affairs, but has a softer (typically Democrat) approach than I would have; on the Judiciary, he's a consistent opponent of judges nominated for the Supreme Court by Republican Presidents. Has working class roots, still appeals to blue collar voters. Has a little history of saying things he would have been wiser not to say, though probably folks have made more of this over the weekend than is reasonable. Good speaker, intelligent, doesn't seem to have the naked, selfish ambition for power some other politicians have. A liberal Democrat, apparently more liberal than I realized. The group that ranks Senators by their voting record (who listed Obama as the most liberal member of the Senate) ranked Biden as the 3rd most liberal Senator.
The top four reasons I think Obama had for choosing Biden:
1. Foreign Policy respectability.
2. Perhaps more important, appeals to liberal and moderate Blue Collar voters, which Obama has had difficulty attracting, and can make as much difference for their campaign as the female vote.
3. Good Attack Dog to go after McCain, while Obama stays above the fray.
4. He's not Hillary.
As for the potential VP candidates and Hillary, she might well have been the best VP to help Obama win the election, but would have been absolutely the worst choice for Obama's actual Presidency.
This argument that our presence in Iraq is analagous to Russia's invasion of Georgia is PREPOSTEROUS.
We invaded a country run by a murdering terrorist and then spent billions to give its people something much better. Russia invaded a democracy, utterly destroyed its infrastructure and undermined its democratically elected president, and seems intent on leaving it in shambles. I'd vote to remove citizenship of any American that can't see that difference, and let them live under the mafia-style thugs that run some of these other countries.
It's not just a matter of perception, Darryl. McCain's strategy has been to focus on Obama and to keep himself in the shadows, and on the whole, it's been working.
Obama makes statements about people being bitter and it's all over the airwaves. McCain makes a comment clearly not thinking about America and Iraq and it barely gets noticed. He admits a lack of understanding of economics and it barely gets noticed.
The media still presents him as a maverick despite his very clear rightward lean in the past 2-4 years to solidify the base.
The media is a master of portrayal, and it goes two ways. It's neither liberal or conservative-- it's confrontational. It tells the story it wants to tell and ignores anything that gets in its way.
And the problem with McCain and his houses is exactly what was said. You have no right painting your opponent as an out-of-touch elitist when you don't even know how many houses you own because they're so many.
It's your perception Ethan that McCain wasn't thinking clearly about the invasion thing. As per nathan's comment just above yours, the two aren't even in the same category, as to have necessitated explanation, excuse, or distinction -- at least not to anybody who disallows their policy beliefs from prejudicing their thinking.
The Obama "bitter" comment is huge. It reveals his world view, his nation view, his view on religion, it tells us about who he is. Not everything about who he is, but it's a truly significant view into his soul. That's big. McCain's comment on a lack of economic understanding is big too, and it has also been played in the news...even on FOXnews. I suspect it would have gotten even more play had he made that comment during the primaries. I think your view that Obama's line has gotten disproportionately more airtime is wrong.
And yes, the media is confrontational, and will attack both Dems and Repubs....but clearly favors the liberal point of view. Ain't no doubtin that.
As for the houses, I already put my feet where they ought to be, and I stand firm there.
On a matter of fact, America invaded Iraq. However justified or unjustified, we did so. If nations don't do that in the 21st century, well, neither should have we.
A recognition of the mistake and a correction would have been in order.
More than a year ago, I posted the story of an accident I was in on a little Serbian mountain highway some years ago (Serbia is part of the former Yugoslavia). It and the three days that followed are one of the most bizarre stories of my life.
The story came up again this week, so I tried yet again to find photos of the area on the 'net, and I finally did! Found photos, even found video of the road through the whole gorge, including the scene of the accident, from a German who was filming a trip to Istanbul, and who posted it on YouTube!
Perhaps few of you will find this interesting, but I wanted to post the pics and vids for family....if some of the rest of you enjoy it too, great. In fact, there are a number of people who have started reading my blog since I posted that whole story last year or whenever, so I guess I'll just include the story again too. ((I would just link to the earlier post, but the "temporary solution" has removed it from view!))
The story involves the cities of Nis ("Neesh") at left, Sicevo ("SEE-cheh-voh") center, and Bela Palanka at lower right; as well as Sicevo Gorge and a Car Repair Shop.
It's still in the form of the email I sent my parents after I was back home in the Czech Republic, though I have gone back and fleshed it out with more details.
The date of the accident was August 30, 1997, on a Saturday night.
_______________________________________________
The most exciting part of our trip happened before we ever got to Greece. When we were choosing our route, Honza and I decided to go through Yugoslavia (necessarily including the Serbian region) because of all the negative things I’d heard about traveling in Romania, which seemed to be the only realistic alternative.
With any luck at all, I wouldn't need to identify myself in Yugoslavia as an American, except at the borders, and we filled up the tank just before entering so we could make it through to the Bulgarian border without even stopping for gas. We certainly wouldn't spend the night in-country. Such concerns for myself, as an American in Serbia while American forces were fighting in parts of the country, turned out to be irrelevant to the actual events.
Our plan was to reach Sofia Bulgaria Saturday night, and worship with the church there on Sunday. We left Prague on Friday afternoon and spent that night with David and Teresa Bunting in Budapest. We got away from Budapest after 1 pm on Saturday, later than planned, and then crossing the border into Yugoslavia consumed more than one and a half hours of the late afternoon. So it was late Saturday evening when we reached the southeastern Yugoslav city of Nis. Actually just reaching the edge of Nis, we turned off the interstate-like highway onto a smaller highway which would lead us east and south to the border, and then to Sofia, Bulgaria, our destination for the night. Honza was driving.
About 15 miles after joining this highway, it had become a narrow two lane road, twisting through a 5-mile-long mountain pass (Sicevo Gorge) which would lead from one plain to another, occasionally going through short tunnels where there wasn't room to put a strip of pavement on the side of the mountain.
Sicevo Gorge
The road
A very light rain had just begun, and it was something like 10:00 at night...very dark. I was testing Honza on the order of the OT books. Just getting past a delay (it took him a minute to remember Amos), we came around a right curve, valley on the right, mountain on the left, but there was just enough dirt on the right to support some tall bushy plants just beyond the guardrail, before the ground dropped off into dark oblivion, at the bottom of which runs the Nisava River. Those plants along the guard rail blocked our view of the road ahead until we were completely around the curve. Once around the curve, we both saw a truck in our lane. I realized immediately, and Honza not quite so quickly, that the truck was stopped.
The curve: We were coming in the direction opposite to this view, i.e. toward the camera. And it was completely dark.
The back end of the truck would have been roughly even with where you see this parked car, pointed the opposite direction.
I called out "Pozor!", the commonly used Czech equivalent of 'beware' or 'look out'. Honza hit the brakes hard, too hard, and locked the wheels. I could see him turning the steering wheel to the left, but with the car simply sliding on the wet pavement, we continued unwaveringly straight toward the truck. I wanted him to release the brakes so he could steer. I was yelling now, "Off the brakes! Off the brakes! Off the brakes!" Unfortunately, Honza's English isn't so advanced as to catch the meaning of my frantic idiom. He told me later that with each repetition of this phrase, the only word he had really understood was "brakes!" - which of course conveyed the exact opposite of my wish.
Finally he must have let up though (or else the hot exhaust of the parked truck had kept the pavement immediately behind it dry), because suddenly the car lurched sharply left just before reaching the truck, and for a brief one hundredth of a second, both of us thought we just might make it through. But having already turned the wheel all the way left, Honza had no chance to correct the steering, and we shot completely across the oncoming lane, and crashed into what was on the left side of the road. What was on the left side of the road, in a small pull-off space carved out of the side of the mountain (see photo above), was a parked car and its owner standing outside of it, right where our car was aimed. The man didn't have time to jump out of the way, and we sandwiched him between our front end and his left front fender. As the moment of impact passed, and the cars separated once again, he was thrown over the hood of his car, but only after smashing our windshield with his extended hand. He was on his feet and hobbling around his car before we could even get out of ours. I'm glad he was a really big man, because I'm sure that's the only reason neither of his legs were broken. In fact, he thought at first that they were; when I asked, with gestures, if that were the case, he nodded yes, with an exasperated look on his face. Honza got out to see if he and his family needed help, while I scrambled to find paper and pen to write down the license number of the truck, whose driver seemed to be preparing to get in and move, away from the scene I thought. As it turned out, he only moved it to another small pull off area some 100 yards down the road. By the time I recorded the tag number and got out of our car, the man's wife in the back seat of the parked car was in shock, crying and wailing. When the force of our car moved theirs several feet sideways, her head had gone through the left rear door window, causing cuts and bruises, and on top off this she had no doubt seen our car hit her husband just before the impact into their car.
The Mercedes filming this video travels the same direction as we were. At 2:35 to 2:45, he comes around the curve and passes the scene of our accident. You'll just barely see the pull-off area on the left, then a longer one on the right. Unlike this video, our travel was after 10 at night, so there was almost no traffic.
A passing car stopped for a moment, then pulled away after apparently agreeing to call police. When the police arrived some length of time later, one of them interviewed all three drivers. I watched as he interviewed the man we hit, and he seemed to be describing the stopped truck at one point. And of course Honza described the stopped truck, although communication was very difficult since none of the locals spoke English or Czech. Serbo-Croatian and Czech are related though, so with accompanied gesturing, we could get the basic idea across. The officer we dealt with actually seemed like a really decent guy. Later, a camera crew came out to document the damage and position of the cars. At first I had been thinking that ours might be drivable, with a little bending of the fender away from the tire, but then noticed that while the left front wheel was pointing straight ahead, the right one was turned sharply to the right. Finally, about two hours after the accident, they were ready to start removing the cars. The truck that had been in the way when we rounded the curve was an "auto shlep", an auto-service truck, the kind that uses a motorized cable to pull disabled cars up onto a tiltable flatbed. So the police directed as they loaded up our car first, onto that very truck, and the police took us into town for more paperwork, with the auto shlep following behind, carrying our car. Bela Palanka is a small town on the plain, with only one main through street that we ever saw (but we didn't have time for exploring), and was about 10 more miles farther toward Bulgaria from the accident. The man we hit, his car, and another set of police remained at the scene of the accident.
Maybe around 1 am the police were through with us, except for holding Honza's passport so that we would show up at court Monday morning where fault (and consequences) would be determined. They promised to provide an English speaking translator for the hearing, since they realized that we know English. Outside the police station were waiting the men with our car. They and the police told us that they could take us to a place where they would work on our car that night, maybe even have it drivable in a couple of hours. The police said that if the car was successfully repaired, we should let them know ASAP, since there was a chance, though only a chance, that they could get the judge to stop in the office Sunday morning, and maybe that way we could be on our way. Not knowing where else to take the car that time of night, and with the possibility of being on the road again soon, we agreed and went with them.
So they took us several miles away, to a lonely repair shop on the side of a little highway, far away from town (the next morning I realized it was the same highway we'd traveled on, and that we were right at the exit from the pass, and within 3 or 4 miles of the accident location).
The last couple miles of the Gorge flatten out before opening up into the plain beyond. Somewhere on that plain at top stands the repair shop.
Upon arrival at the shop, they woke up a fellow worker who was sleeping in an old abandoned Mercedes surrounded by overgrown weeds, got a fourth worker from who-knows-where, and started working on the car (I later realized that the garage was only half the building; the other half was a residence, from which this fourth man must have come). Tired and stressed out, I hadn't realized it would be their own shop they were taking us to. I didn't like this too much, as they were the ones whose stopped truck had caused the accident in the first place. We were at least able to see what they were doing though, and saw the damaged parts they worked on. But I was so tired. I don't remember for sure, but I think they stopped for a while, while a couple of them went into town where they could get a certain part (Honza verifies my shady memory). After watching them work until sometime between two and three, I could not stand, or sit, or do anything effectively anymore except fall asleep, so I accepted the offer to sleep in the abandoned Mercedes. After a while they could do no more work until they could get another part, which they could not get until daylight hours, so Honza joined me in the car to sleep.
Around 7 in the morning one of the guys tapped on our windows, told us something about the car which we didn’t understand, and that Princess Diana was dead from a car accident. It turns out her accident happened just about three hours after ours. When we got up later (this is Sunday morning), it was a cold, drizzly day, and they showed us the part they needed: the steering mechanism that reaches from one wheel to the other. Adding up the cost of parts already involved, now I would be more than out of all the emergency fund Dollars and Deutschemarks I had brought with me in case of “something unexpected,” and I remembered the State Department's statement that you can't use credit cards in Yugoslav banks to get money. Honza still had some.
At any rate, they went to get the part, and were gone for at least a couple of hours while Honza and I tried unsuccessfully to stay warm and dry. When they finally returned and got everything assembled, they started the car, and began backing out for a test drive. After just a few feet, there was a horrible grinding noise, followed by more as he pulled it back in out of the rain. Something about or connected to the driveshaft, as best I could understand their Serbo-croation and gestures, though of course a drive shaft in a front wheel drive isn't what I picture in my mind. This part of the repair would have to wait until Monday.
Now I'll need to begin using the names Honza and I made up for various people while we were there. We knew no one's actual names until the day we left, and we have a hard enough time communicating with each other already. So without trying, we began making up names for the various parties for ease of communication. The man we hit became Legman, after frequent referrals to him as "the man with the legs" which actually meant "the man with the hurt legs" (he had trouble walking on those sore legs the whole time we were there).
Sometime during this part of the day (midday Sunday), a car pulled up in front of the repair shop. It was Legman, his sons, and a friend who drove them. The two sons knew a few English words. This was supposed to help. In a combination of languages, they told us that we must pay their father 750 Deutschemarks (German currency; about US$425) for the damage to his car. If we refused, he would not testify in court that the truck was stopped there on the highway. It was either pay him now, or surely be found guilty and pay later, plus face high fines from the court. We said we had a lot to think about, and needed to talk to the police first. We had a "zelena karta" (green card) from Prague, which is liability insurance. It should be a simple matter of the local police recording the information from the card, and overseeing the process. After Legman and his sons talked with us, the worker who had been driving the auto shlep went out and talked with him, to some degree arguing, but we weren't sure about what. Honza thought he understood a little from the truck driver about a flashlight Legman was holding (or waving?) before we hit him, which the auto shlep driver seemed to be arguing warned us about...about what? The stopped truck's presence?
Then with nothing more that could be done to the car on that Sunday afternoon, the car repair guys offered to take us to a hotel, to which we agreed. The same auto shlep driver took us in a second auto shlep back west through the gorge (their shop was just outside the east end of the pass), to a three story hotel in Sicevo, in the direction of Nis. Autoshlepguy (our name for him) went in with us, and greeted a very well dressed man who seemed to be in charge at the hotel. They obviously knew each other. I wasn't happy about this. Were there no sources of help in this country which would have no association with the guy whose stopped auto shlep had caused the accident??
After getting our room in this large yet seemingly empty hotel, we went back outside and caught a bus east, back through the pass once again, to Bela Palanka to talk with the police, hoping to find the same, seemingly decent, officer we had dealt with on the highway. He wasn't there, and we had absolutely no success trying to communicate with the ones who were there. We got back to the hotel at around 5:30 pm, got showers, had a time of worship and study, then went down to eat supper in the large dining room. We were the only ones there besides three or four very well-dressed middle aged men seated at a single table, who either were employees or friends, but in either case, seemed to have absolutely nothing to do. When we came in and sat down, they dispersed. One took a seat alone at a corner table reading a newspaper, another sat in a different section watching television news, another disappeared... It was just weird.
Hotel Sicevo: just west of the Gorge. The white one-story section is the large dining room.
We checked out Monday morning to go to Bela Palanka and court, but never saw another guest or any evidence of such all night or morning. It just seemed strange.
I had asked at check-in if they would accept Visa. They had said yes. Now on Monday morning, Autoshlepguy was to come pick us up at 8:30 to take us to court. We went down a little earlier, but the man wouldn't check us out until Autoshlepguy got there for us and came inside. This also seemed strange, and made me wonder more just what was going on. I suppose now that he had agreed to make sure we didn’t skip town. When Autoshlepguy did arrive, the man at the desk had to get yet a different man who knew how to do the credit card procedure. He got out the little contraption you used to see in stores, in which they place a credit card, a credit slip, and then slide part of it over and back to impress the numbers from the card onto the slip - except he put the card on top of the paper instead of under it. I tried to show him his mistake but he wasn't interested in my advice. After attempting the procedure though, he realized it didn't come out right, and he fiddled around with the materials some (contraption, card, credit slip). I tried again to show him the problem, but he wouldn't listen. He then put it all back the same way again. I had become skeptical of the whole operation, and their connection with the car service guys, and the non-functioning nature of the hotel, so when Honza started to correct him a third time, I pulled at his sleeve to signal him not to. If the man insisted on doing it that way, fine. I wasn't sure yet if they were on the level, if they were in some mafia arrangement with the car shop guys, if we were going to get ripped off by them all, so I figured I'm not going to pay them now if I can get away with it. When it's all over, if it seems they were fair, I can send them the money from home in Budejovice. As it turned out, the number did just barely show up on the slip the last time, and he was satisfied. I remained hopeful that it was not legible enough for the folks at Visa to decipher.
So, with Autoshlepguy, we headed east through the pass again, past the accident scene, past the repair shop, to Bela Palanka and the 9:00 court session. Legman wasn't there yet, so the hearing was delayed. When he arrived, it appeared from everyone that there was no rush to get to the courtroom, so apparently the court session had been postponed for quite a while, though we always had trouble understanding just what was going on. That language problem was driving me crazy!
Outside the building, I tried to talk with Legman about our insurance. He pointed to a little bar across the street that had three or four tables out on the sidewalk, so we went to sit down, but neither Honza nor I could communicate well with him. Czech and Serbo-Croatian are related, but not so closely. It had been much easier to communicate with the policeman, describing with accompanying gestures the physical events of a car accident, than to discuss the finer points of international insurance claims. He asked the waiter if he spoke any English, which he did, but in
a very limited way.
The waiter wasn't so much help in translating between us and Legman, but he was helpful nevertheless. He was a pro-democracy college student, studying law to become a lawyer in a better Yugoslavia than now exists. Between Honza and me, his name was Advokatman (advokat is the Czech word for lawyer). He told us that the car service guys who were sitting in the highway that night, and who now had our car, were "bad people," and that they cooperate with the police, so that they have business, and so that the police have something to do so that they can keep their jobs. He used the word "mafia" to describe the relationship. Then I realized how the policeman from Saturday night, who had seemed like such a decent guy, was also very cooperative with Autoshlepguy in getting our car into the latter's repair shop. Advokatman also said the court was communist, and that we had little hope for justice, and that we were in danger of being thrown in jail if found guilty and unable to pay. All of this was part English, part Czech, part gesture, part Serbo-croatian. Despite the bad news, it was so good to talk with someone who seemed to be a friend. Advokatman also told us about a woman from Brno, Czech Republic, who was in town, and that maybe she could help us communicate with Legman, since she speaks both Czech and Serbo-croatian.
While waiting for her to happen by, Honza and I were trying to see if we could get money in town (Deutschemarks is what everyone wanted from us, instead of the Yugoslav dinar), and making calls from the Post Office (European Post Offices provide phone service for a fee) to the American Embassy in Belgrade, and to the car rental agency in Prague. What with communist judges and mafia alliances, I had decided by this point that I wanted the embassy to know we were there, and we needed more detailed info about the insurance. It was impossible to get Deutschemarks with my cards, and the young man at the first bank we went to said I couldn't use my cards at all: "No, No! It's your fault, your fault! Sanctions!" And as for the Embassy, I had trouble contacting the right people since it was Labor Day, and they were in the process of moving the office I needed. This was such a frustrating morning.
In the meantime, Advokatman had spotted the woman from Brno, and he and Legman had explained the situation to her. She spoke fluent Serbo-croatian, and was very helpful and hospitable to us that day and the next, even allowing us to stay overnight in the flat she and a friend of hers share (actually, we later learned, she is Yugoslav, originally from that town, not Czech; she lives in Brno after having married a Czech, and runs an import-export business between the two places, and apparently, she runs it successfully; she was always better dressed than the rest of the population). She helped us communicate with Legman, whom I had begun to regard as less of an enemy, but merely as a dishonest guy who rightfully wanted to be reimbursed for something that was not his fault, and was in fact partly our fault. We explained about the green card liability insurance, but they all, including the woman, said it just doesn't work in Yugoslavia. So, after some calls to Prague that seemed to indicate the likelihood of being reimbursed later by the liability insurance if we paid on the spot, we agreed to pay the man his car damages in exchange for his testimony (if the accident were ruled fully our fault, we had to pay a large deductible on our car).
In between all of this discussion, Honza and I were frequently having to go back to the Post office, where we could make calls. We were trying to get information from the car rental agency, trying to contact Jindra in Budejovice for his assistance to research some things about insurance, as well as trying to contact the right people at the embassy. Some of these things were only partly accomplished. But I was finally able to speak with the Consul at the embassy, to simply make him aware of our presence there and about our problems.
Helpwoman (as Honza and I began referring to her) took us to the police station, where she talked with a friend of hers. Based on what she found out there, apparently not all the police operate in cooperation with the car service guys. Her officer friend told her that someone in the area has been placing some kind of materials in the road to cause flat tires, hoping to gain car service business from passing motorists; they have suspected the people who have our car, but they weren't sure. He also told her that Legman's testimony on the highway Saturday night included the fact that the reason he was stopped was because of a flat tire, the second one in only a few kilometers; further, that Autoshlepguy had stopped both times to offer his services, while Legman refused the offer both times. It was while he was refusing the offer the second time that we came around the curve.
Just great. If in court we somehow prove Autoshlepguy's activity, and thus escape fault which might then be solely his, we're okay with the government, but this crooked guy has our car and will not be too pleased with us. If we lose in court, the repair shop will finish what so far seems to be a reasonable and fairly reasonably priced repair on our car, but we may be thrown in jail because we have no money to pay for damages, car repairs, and high court fees. A real catch-22. This frustrating morning was becoming really worrisome now. This, Dad, is when I called the embassy again, and asked the Consul to call you and ask that you wire money to the embassy for me. Although I hadn't yet figured out a means of getting the money from Belgrade to where we were (I was thinking of catching a bus; I found out the next day it couldn't be wired), it seemed to be the only possibility of having sufficient money.
(For other readers of this story, here’s the phone call Dad received in the middle of the night:
Dad: “Hello?”
Voice: “Is this Dale Smelser?”
Dad: “Yes.”
Voice: “This is Xxxxx Xxxxxx, U.S. Consul to Yugoslavia, in Belgrade. First, I want you to know that your son Darryl is alright.”
Dad: *thinks* *If the Consul in Belgrade is calling me, Darryl may be alive, but he’s not alright!*)
Helpwoman said we could stay that night at the flat where she was staying with her friend, but that now she needed to go to Nis, the larger city to the west on the other side of the mountain pass, to meet some friends of hers. Nis has a population of probably 100,000 to 200,000. She and the woman with whom she stays had arranged a ride for themselves with Legman and his friend who had brought him to Bela Palanka (Legman, it turned out, lives in Nis). We asked if we could go also, so as to investigate the possibility of using credit cards in the banks there. So we all went to Nis (four of us in the backseat of his mid-sized Opel), first to Legman's flat, whose wife served us tea. Her eyebrow was swollen and ugly from the accident, but she was okay. This was the beginning of a really strange Monday afternoon. Legman's friend then dropped us off downtown, and we found one bank where I could get Yugoslav money on my card, but not Deutschemarks. Helpwoman said she thought we could get Deutschemarks elsewhere, so we didn't get any money yet.
The next stop was the police station, where Helpwoman and her friend looked for the Chief of Police, whom Helpwoman knows. She said that sometimes she can ask him to influence the police in Bela Palanka, and that Bela Palanka usually does as he says. He wasn't there.
After a stop at the Post Office for another call to the embassy, Helpwoman took us to a little restaurant, where she waited for a couple of her friends. A little while after these two friends arrived, one of them took us in his German car to another restaurant, this one small, loud, and smoke-filled, where a larger meeting of friends took place at one of their sidewalk tables out back. One of them was already seriously drunk when we arrived. Another gradually got tipsy. It was apparent that they all had money. We all sat outside for 30 to 45 minutes while a couple of guys with a guitar and an I-don't-know-what played and sang apparently traditional Yugoslav folk songs at our table. The drunk kept handing out 20 dinar bills to the musicians, until it amounted to about US$20. At one point, while they were all drinking and singing, Helpwoman leaned over to us and said with a smirk (in Czech, of course), "These are business men, and this is how they work."
Honza and I were wanting to find out about banks and money, but Helpwoman said she thought one of these men would be able to help us get the Deutschemarks we needed. It was obviously impolite to rush things. It was such a strange situation to be in. Sitting there at a sunny sidewalk table in a Yugoslav city, with people who didn't seem to have a care in the world, listening to them sing their songs and rejoice with each other in their worldly way, and us with our freedom in the balance at the time, and needing to do something about it, but sitting there was somehow necessary for us to endure in order to accomplish what we needed. It really was comically strange. After sitting so long with these people, we wanted to get up and take a walk, but Helpwoman said we were just about ready to move to a table inside for the meal. This was news to us, and we got treated to large amounts of lamb ribs, bread, and cucumber salad (all very good!), though in not such an enjoyable atmosphere. The drunk finally left, then Helpwoman had to go somewhere with the man she thought could help us get Deutschmarks, and was gone for at least 30 to 40 minutes. Honza and I got up after a while and tried to check prices for Skoda parts at a couple of neighboring car parts places (to compare with the prices the repair shop gave us), but neither place dealt with Skoda parts.
Finally Helpwoman returned, with a different friend, and the 5 of us started back to Bela Palanka in this friend's Yugo (Honza and I, Helpwoman and her friend with whom she stays, and the Yugo owner). Apparently the plan for the one guy to get us Deutschemarks had fallen through.
Court had been postponed until the following morning. That night in Bela Palanka, Helpwoman took us and her friend out walking, looking for a friend who would be able to give advice for court. We found another friend first, a police officer, and Helpwoman talked with him about the situation. He said that he was writing a letter to Belgrade about the situation with someone causing flat tires on the highway, and the suspicions about Autoshlepguy, and that he would be in court with us to tell about this. We also found the man she had been seeking, but I don't know what she found out from her conversation with him. Still, several things now were looking like we just might be able to escape any guilt, placing all of it on Autoshlepguy, which would mean not only escaping court fees and who knows what other consequences, but also that the rental agency would return 10,000 Kc ($330) to us which we had paid as a deposit. But of course we still couldn't decide if this was good or not -- our car was still at the shop where Autoshlepguy works.
The next morning, Tuesday, we were still trying to make calls to Prague, and to Jindra in Ceske Budejovice who was searching information for us, but with everything going on it was impossible to get all the information we wanted about the insurance arrangements. Finally the woman judge was ready for us. Legman went into the 2nd floor room, and we went in, and Helpwoman went in. It was small, maybe 15'x15', with cabinets on one wall, and I think three large desks pushed together in the middle. Twice during the hearing, one of the two women at the other two desks wadded up papers she had been typing, and threw them, from her seat, out the open second floor window. Make of that what you will.
Legman told about his flat tires, Autoshlepguy's offers, and about the accident, as did Helpwoman on our behalf. So we were three witnesses to the truck's presence stopped on the highway. But the judge irately insisted that there was no evidence as to the truck's presence, that nothing in the police documents mentioned a truck stopped on the highway, and probably (I don't know) that Autoshlepguy said he wasn't there so he wasn't there. Guilt was wholly Honza's and that was that. We would pay the court fines and we could go, and it was over. I didn't know how they do things until it was all over. It certainly hadn’t seemed like a court room, and I didn't realize there would be a final decision right then, until the decision was handed down. What about the policeman who had been at the accident scene? What about the policeman who said he would come tell about their suspicions about Autoshlepguy? Where were they? Where was Autoshlepguy for that matter? But it was done.
Later Helpwoman told us that when the others found out it would be this particular judge, that they didn't bother showing up. I don't know if she realized that earlier, and if so why she didn't tell us, and why we had to show up. At any rate, the judge gave us the lowest possible court fines (and the high ones were high indeed), apparently because Legman didn't pursue any claim against us.
So we went back to Helpwoman's flat, and Legman and friends came also. After I confirmed with the embassy that the money you sent there could be returned to the States, Legman and friends prepared to take us to Nis to the bank we had found there where we could get Yugoslav dinars with my Visa card. In the parking lot before we left for Nis, one of Legman's friends pulled out his gun to show me. I suspected at the time that this was to prevent any thoughts of escaping before paying up, since we were now free of the government. Just as a matter of pride, I was glad I wasn't intimidated by it, but rather was simply interested in looking at the gun. I gestured, asking if I could look at it; he removed the clip, which held about 10 rounds, and handed it to me. It was a 9mm, no insignificant handgun. I admired it and handed it back. I hoped he was disappointed in my reaction, even though such would be a very small victory. And really, I now suppose it may have been that he just wanted to show me his gun.
Anyway, we went to Nis and the bank we had found there, seven of us in the car of one of Legman's friends, got 5000 dinars, came back toward Bela Palanka to the repair shop, where they had finished our car, and I test drove it. One fender needed a little more pulling away from the tire, which they immediately took care of. Then I divided the dinars between the repair shop and Legman. Afterward, Legman agreed to do a little more work "gratis" on the front corner of our car so the headlight would aim the right direction (it turned out he runs a little body shop behind his flat), so we followed him back west into Nis, where he spent about an hour (?) disassembling the front end and banging things into shape, and finally then reassembling it all. As darkness fell, we headed back east, through the pass for the last time, to Helpwoman's flat in Bela Palanka for our things. We left on that Tuesday night, about 9 pm, on our way east out of Bela Palanka, into new territory at last, and out of the country, considerably poorer than when we entered. We were not sorry to leave.
Clearing Bela Palanka, I asked Honza what comes after Amos.
