Yeah, McCain is crazy, but what gratifying about your article is that you know about Marvel's "What If" Series. Impressive bit of geekdom.

Is there any question McCain can't turn into a question about the War on Terror? Kind of like 6-degrees-of-kevin-bacon: how many illogical twists will it take for him to relate, say, midwestern corn subsidies to Bin Laden?

You know what's weird about McCain's answer? (I mean, apart from the fact that he completely omits the much more pressing threats from robot overlords, monkeys, zombies, robotic monkeys, and Svalbard.) What's weird about it is that it takes him eleven seconds to come up with a knee-jerk answer like that. (If that doesn't sound like a long time, picture this: debate moderator asks McCain about the most pressing economic issue, and he waits eleven seconds before answering.) Rudy would have given the same answer, but he'd have given it before the question was even finished.

Shit, whitey. It isn't like he claims to have invented the internets!

McCain is starting to remind me of Joe Biden's priceless description of Rudy Giuliani: all sentences out of him mouth contain a noun, a verb, and 9/11.

That Josh Marshall piece on "The Orwell Temptation" is underrated.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0305.marshall.html

Sadly that wasn't even the best answer if you wanted to pivot to national security. If you wanted to talk about an economic threat to the country due to terrorism, you should probably look at Robert Baer's scenario in "Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude".

The scenario is basically a terrorist attack on 3 key choke points in the Saudi oil distribution network. A truck bomb at the stabilization towers at Abqaiq, a small suicide boat (think USS Cole) hitting the sea island loading platform, a couple of guys with some camels and some c4 hitting pump station one on the east-west pipeline to the red sea. The Regan era disaster planners estimated that an attack on just 5 of the sensitive choke points in the Saudi oil web could take them out of the oil producing business for about 2 years.

You would basically be taking out 10% of the world's oil production for two years, and nobody else in the world has spare capacity to make up the difference. Oil prices between 200 and 400 would be the likely result.

Dude, this is just nuts.

The entire Arab world has a GDP less than Spain. Even if Al-Qaida took over a bunch of Arab countries, we'd still squash them like a bug.

Their power is in keeping us scared. Unfortunately, that also intersects with how the GOP hopes to keep power.

McCrazy LOL!! It's hard to believe how someone could vote for him... great post!

And the real answer all along was "Republicanism."

Frankly, I think Democrats should hope that McCain continues with stuff like this, given that it worked out so well for Rudy in the primary.

It is more befitting of FireDoglake or LGF to use a picture of someone you disagree with that looks like he is about to give a blowjob to the mike, like you did with McCain here. Anyone can find a picture of any candidate that is far less than flattering, but that doesn't mean they have to use it in their political blog. It looks like you see yourself as an entertainer, first and foremost.

because the photo is the most important thing about the post. not the actual candidates words, mind you, just the photo. wow, and as for trying to look at post for entertainment value- who is sitting around trying to figure out how fotos resemble sex acts? i got to admit I'm gay and didn't even think of a blowjob there. so it takes a special kind of mind to go there.

"Senator, what can we do to improve American educational competitiveness and numeracy, and how can we close the gap in the mathematical knowledge of, for instance, Taiwanese girls and boys and their American counterparts?"

"Well, a good mathematical education depends on a sound schooling system, and learning to memorize the Qu'ran in madrassas just doesn't do much to teach our children algebra or geometry, so the key to improving American children's math scores is victory over radical Islamic extremism."

"Senator, what do you view as the most essential part of baking a good pie?"

"Well, I'd say that the key to a good pie is access to quality ingredients, and I think that if Islamic extremists prevail, our access to such ingredients would be imperiled, so victory in our war on Islamic extremism is ultimately the crucial ingredient to good pie."

"Senator, what can we do about all of the emo kids, furries, and goths in our great nation?"

"Well, I think victory over radical Islamic extremism is the key to revitalizing confidence in Main Street American values, while correspondingly, if the radical Islamic extremists prevail, they shall shake that confidence further. Victory over creepy deviant subcultures depends on victory over radical Islamic extremism."

"Senator, how can we make Saturday Night Live funny again?"

"Well, it's no secret that the sharia law backed by the radical Islamic extremists takes a dim view of satire and free speech that might impinge on Islam, so the first step in making SNL funny again is to secure free speech rights in this country, which can only be done if we prevent radical Islamic extremism from prevailing."

Looks more to me like he is belting out a verse of "Trouble in River City".

"because the photo is the most important thing about the post. not the actual candidates words, mind you, just the photo."

I agree that the candidates words matter the most. That is why I wonder why Ezra picked that absurd photo which distracts from the rest of his essay about McCains words. Why make a serious argument and then put up a picture that would fit in more in the national enquirer? I realize ezra is far from being the only one who does this. The pictures that right wing sites and magazines put up of Hillary Clinton are absolutely ridiculous and uncalled for. It is just a pet peeve of mine, I suppose.

""threats to the American economy. Things like a deep recession that's worsened by a credit contraction.""

Call him crazy, but a recession is not a 'threat' to the economy, a recession is actually a economic condition...so who you calling crazy. A recession maybe a threat to a growing econony.

Since the last major economic contraction we had was directly due to the 9/11 attacks where the economy lost a trillion dollars of economic output..McCain is exactly right, Osamas attack was meant to damage the economy and it succeeded.

A recession is not a threat to the economy, a recession is simply a term for a lack of growth in the economy and recession are cyclical and bound to happen.

Well Michelle was right, Obama did manage to take us out of our comfort zone and ask us to do things we normally wouldn't do..such as support a politician that saw a choice between a whole wad of cash for him or clean, publicly financed campaigns and he went right for the wad of cash.

Supporting such a candidate puts me outside my confort zone......

scottynx, it's perfectly appropriate for Ezra to choose a photo of McCain looking silly to illustrate a post on McCain saying something silly.

The real questions are why anyone ever uses a photo of McCain looking anything other than silly, and how on earth they manage to find such photos.

Ezra, you don't seem to understand the difference between a 'threat', which is what McCain was asked and what are normal ebbs and flows of the economy.

Your answers are not 'threats', they are economic conditions.

A THREAT is and EXPRESSION of an INTENTION to inflict harm. The biggest issue expressing an intention to harm the economy is Islamic terrorism.

But calling people crazy is a nice touch, it really raises the level of debate. I suggest Obama use it alot if he ever agrees to actually have a town hall meeting with McCain and stops running away like a scared kid.

Rea, just as long as Ezra doesn't compain when people use pictures of Obama that make him look Muslim when they are talking about his Muslim background......

Ezra's photo doesn't make McCain look Muslim.

Anonymous--there is a difference between a photo making McCain look like something he is--silly--and a photo making Obama look like something he isn't--Muslim. You'd have to use photoshop to get the latter, anyway--add a beard?

A THREAT is and EXPRESSION of an INTENTION to inflict harm.

No expression of intent is required. Your house can be threatened by a tornado, without the tornado having any malicious intent.

So Obama's answer is the correct one: global climate change is a threat to our economy and way of life. Islamic terrorism? Not as much: it's a low-grade problem, rather than an existential threat, as is the case with most non-local terrorist movements.

Political-comicblogging.
I approve.

If you could learn to throw in some football metaphors along with the Marvel comics metaphors than I might just get the hang of this politics thing afterall.

It seems that by debating Guiliani in the primaries McCain contracted some kind of Guiliani virus and now is only capable of forming sentences that consist of a noun, a verb, and "terrorism".

They just report what they want... I mean, look, that tie is purple, not wine-colored.

Sheesh!

All that is is a picture of him talking into a microphone. It's comparable to this without the goofballs on either side. If McCain looks sillier than Obama when he talks into a microphone, that's not Ezra's fault.

You know, if you're going to bring up Marvel's "What If?" in relation to John McCain, you have to discuss a comparison of his plans for the country in relation to the issue when Galactus turned Aunt May into Golden Oldie with the Power Cosmic. Said issue being where she kept him from eating planets by making gargantuan snack cakes for him.

And if you can't think of how to compare McCain's economic policy to giving someone nigh-infinite power and getting them to make snack cakes... well, you're not even a quarter of the geek I thought you were, Ezra.

I don't know which I find more disgusting- the fact I know 32_Footsteps What If reference or the fact I think mixing sporting analogies with comic book analogies maybe an interesting thought experiment.

The question is dumb the answer is even dumber but it may not mean that McCain is dumb. It may be part of a strategy that might work. Most voters are pretty ignorant of such things. Many have bought into the republican idea that radical Islam is world threatening force. If he wins with this strategy (hopefully he does not believe it), who is stupid? ...That is right the voters.

“”Tyro: No expression of intent is required. Your house can be threatened by a tornado, without the tornado having any malicious intent.””

No, but an expressed INTENT is far more dangerous for my house. I would much rather a threat to my house from a tornado touching down in my state, which statistically would not hit my house and would do relatively little damage as opposed to a terrorist cell specifically targeting my house for destruction.

We know Islamic terrorists have specifically targeted our economy. Not just the WTC attack, but also the aborted attacks on banks and financial centers in New York and New Jersey in 2004.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5569979/

They have also attacked financial centers in London and India.

Bin Laden even boasts in a video in December 2001, that the Sept. 11 attackers struck the American economy "in the heart."

The idea that global climate change is a threat, is laughable. The global climate has changed everyday for the entire time man has existed.

"No, but an expressed INTENT is far more dangerous for my house."

This is poor reasoning. We are talking likelihoods, and probabilities. The discussion is what is more likely to happen to your house regardless of intent, and therefore where should we allocate resources?

Read "Culture of Fear" by Barry Glassner. I believe it predates 9/11, but accurately describes how your way of thinking leads to the misallocation of time and resources.

I don't read McCain as envisioning the global Caliphate coming into being. I think he meant that another successful major attack would threaten American democracy - especially, you might add, under a President like McCain who eventually saw in the first attack occasion to gut FISA, suspend habeas, and authorize the CIA to torture terrorist suspects. And of course the people he beat for the nomination were greater threats than he to our civil liberties. Imagine: McCain dies in office, Mitt "Double Guantanamo" Romney or some other thug takes over, there's a major terrorist attack, and what's left of the Bill of Rights goes into the fire. McCain's right. Terrorist success could "affect our very existence."

Also the measurement of 1 trillion dollars lost is a quaint accounting trick that corporations use. It sounds neat when it comes to tax time but it has no real meaning.

Money not made does not equal money lost. Global warming is a direct threat to the economy not by stalling business (money not made) but by destroying towns, infrastructure, and crops (money lost).

Certainly Bin Kaden boasts that he had an effect on the US economy. This was long after every major news outlet in the US was shouting about the possible effects to wall street.

Bin Laden if nothing else has a decent handle on using good propaganda when its handed to him. In reality we lost 2 buildings and 1500 people.. this is nothing relative to other disasters and wars we've experienced in the past.

We changed our laws, we stopped the financial centers from running, we gave away our constitutional freedoms. Bin laden launched the attack, but we have done far more damage to ourselves then he ever did.

The biggest threat to our country and our economy is another subject that Obama likes to speak on. A lack of education andunderstanding about what it means to be a citizen.

Anonymous at 4:36:

Cry me a river. You do know where the donations to Obama are coming from, do you? Overwhelmingly from the ordinary Americans, not astroturf groups, political lobbyists, or whatever.

There is nothing inherently dirty or evil in accepting donations, and nothing inherently noble and just in using public funds. You wouldn't go by the name "Pi of 9" elsewhere, by any chance?

Wakboth,

Its nice that you know Obamas money is coming from 'ordinary Americans', simply because that's where Obamas says it comes from.

Bu then again you'll believe anything he says...like how much he supports public financed campaigns,,,except his of course...because he's special..

One ultimate sign of whether global change is a major threat is the reaction to insurance companies to it. Afterall it's their job to assess risks and figure out which ones are of most concern to them because otherwise they go out of business. Guess where they stand.