The capital letters come from my frustration – I believe you’re too smart to actually believe silly crap like what you’ve been writing on the election in the last few months.

If you want to use bathroom insults to express your frustration, post to some other blog. I am interested in comments that are useful to me.

That is why the “analogy” you made is, in my original word, “retarded.”

To paragraph someone, I believe you’re too smart to actually believe the silly insults you write.

It can be frustrating to think that other people can disagree with you, even on matters where you believe deeply.

Your last post ignores two questions I put to you. Please answer them, as your answers (unlike your insults) interest me.

Curits,

It has nothing to do with age — unless you are so sensitive about your age, you choose to hear it in a much more limited context of your own creation.

Are there any useful online phrase dictionaries? I was wondering about that.

“This is offensive, and I think it’s disappointing, because John McCain always says, ‘Well, I’m not going to run that kind of politics,’” Obama said. “And then to engage in that kind of smear, I think, is unfortunate, particularly since my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his.”

The Illinois senator added: “For him to toss out comments like that, I think, is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don’t need name-calling in this debate.” [1]

A definition of “bearings” includes:

“6. Direction, especially angular direction measured from one position to another using geographical or celestial reference lines.

7. Awareness of one’s position or situation relative to one’s surroundings. Often used in the plural: lost my bearings after taking the wrong exit.“ [2]

“Bearings” has a relation to seafaring, as anyone even slightly aware of that subject knows (#6 above); the word has been metaphorized to include any sort of veering off course, through the phrase “to lose one’s bearings” (#7)

Reading the fuller quote from Obama, in context — not merely pulling the phrase and then dreaming a context for the proper negative spin — shows how he meant it. To on the one hand claim an aversion to smear politics, but veering into using such political ploys after all, is to lose one’s bearings. To claim one is a “straight talker”, to take a principled stand against smear politics, but engaging in dubious assertions precisely to smear Obama, McCain has veered off his principled course: he may be losing his bearings.

It has nothing to do with age — unless you are so sensitive about your age, you choose to hear it in a much more limited context of your own creation.

[1] http://news.aol.com/story/_a/obama-accuses-mccain-of-losing-his/n20080508214809990005

[2] http://www.answers.com/topic/bearing?cat=technology

My ultimate point – it matters if we have a senile president or a non-senile president. It does not matter if we have a black president or a non-black president. That is why the “analogy” you made is, in my original word, “retarded.”

To expand the previous comment.

conjuring the image of a befuddled old man not knowing where he is, or whether Al Qaeda is Sunni or Shiite.

Would those an analoous situation be John McCain conjuring the image of a befuddled affirmative action hire, not knowing where he is, or whether the United States is composed of 50 or 57 states? [1]

I appreciate how you let your opinion be known (non-grammatical and rhetorically capitalized sentences such as “WRONG.”, for instance), though it would be convenient for me if you bothered to address the questions and criticisms I present on my blog.

[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2008/05/10/obama-and-the-57-states.html

[1]

I’m confused by your comment. I hope you can clarify.

Are you arguing that Barack Obama referenced John McCain with respect to subnormal cognitive function associated (though not universally so with age, or that he did not?

WRONG. I give you credit for trying, but this is ridiculous. His words were “losing his bearings.” i.e., conjuring the image of a befuddled old man not knowing where he is, or whether Al Qaeda is Sunni or Shiite. Not age making him dumber, but age impairing his judgment and memory. Old people don’t have their drivers licenses taken away because they get too dumb to drive, but because of health effects like dementia and alzheimers.

Obama’s slur referenced cognitive function and age, not health effects. Arguing that Obama would not have been bigoted if he said something else may be true, but it is besides the point.

Regarding Jeffrey’s question of a five year old, adolescents brings on a qualitative change in cognitive function, and hence is beyond this discussion.

Muzenberg,

Thank you for your discussion on parallel reasoning! It was informative!