Quoting Rifter:

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Why?  Are you buying into all that BS perpetrated by the media?  Joe Biden is an idiot!  He can't be trusted to keep his mouth shut without sticking his foot in it up to the knee.  Sarah Palin is a rising star in the GOP and is going to be around for a long time.  You can take that to the bank.

I'm gonna hope you're wrong there Rifter, but I am sure the Democratic party is hoping you're right..  Palin is a train wreck for the Repulican party and I *like* balance. 

I've talked to a number of friends in the past week (mostly independents) and Palin is (to put it mildly) unpopular.  No matter what her potential is, her rollout was... rocky.  It's going to take a heck of a rehabilitation for her to become palatable to those outside her base who are excited more by her philosophy and manner than by her knowledge or experience.

Quoting Rifter:

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I'm as hardcore a Republican as you're ever likely to find.  Sarah Palin got a bad rap from a bunch of people who aren't smart enough or qualified enough to hold her coat.  That goes for any Republicans who have attacked her as well as the media and Democrats.

I'm not a hardcore anything.  But IMO she got a bad rap from being desperately unqualified. 

From watching her it seems to me that she just didn't have the background to cut it.  As president she can't count on the world to throw her softballs and if she can't handle press interviews she isn't up to the job.

Quoting Berak:

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Quoting hal9g:

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Quoting Lord Of The Sith:

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You act like Canada is perfect and that there is no political turmoil there, why don't you worry about your country's problems and let us worry about ours.

Amen!

Yeah right - cause America is well known to let "other countries" sort out their own problems. Please! 

Can anyone say "World Police"?!   

Pray tell, when was the last time the U.S. involved itself in the affairs of Norway? 

What on earth does that have to do with anything?! The fact remains that America has been acting like a world police, ever since they "decided" to get involved in WWII - and you took your sweet time deciding to get involved there, didn't you? (No oil to be gained at the time, so why bother?) Took a direct attack from Japan to even get you interested in the conflict! If you ask me - England won that war for the Allies - NOT USA!

I am not impressed at any rate - and that you haven't invaded Norway yet  (we have lots of oil you know ), shouldn't make me less qualified to voice my opinion.... 

Maybe we should have just sat out WWII.

It would be interesting to know what language you'd be speaking today.

Yeah maybe you should have! You Americans really need to get off your high horse, and stop seeing yourselves as saviours of all mankind! Sure - your effort in WWII was well appreciated, but to insinuate that we (Europeans) would all speak German without your precious involvement, is just beyond stupid! It's more likely we'd be speaking Russian rather than German - get your facts straight! 

Rule Britannia!! 

Did I say anything about speaking German?

No, I did not!

Try reading before ranting! 

All I can say is.... I hope I'm wrong about Obama. As soon as the polls close in California, in just a few minutes, it's over.

You guys have no idea how much I hope i am wrong about President-elect Obama. I will be wtching him very closely. I know what things i expect to see from him and thiis utterly nuts Democratic congress... only time will tell if i am right or not and I hope to God I am wrong. But I don't dink Kool-Aid, nor am an idealist, I am a realist first, last and always.<fingers crossed>

First and foremost I expect to follow his oath of office and defend the Constitution, some of his public comments have given me some severe doubts about him in this area, and IF he crosses the line...

Skip

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Quoting Berak:

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Quoting rorymatt:

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@ Berak

For the most part your statement is correct, but don't forget there were some Americans who volunteered and served with distinction in the RAF and the RCAF even when it was discouraged and illegal by American laws at the time. My Father for instance lied about his age and enlisted in the RCAF in 1939, and flew in the Battle of Britain and Europe, receiving among other awards The Victoria Cross.

Rory


(P.S. I don't know who gave you the RED ARROW for voicing you opinion, but here's a GREENIE to compensate, for I as an American was not offended by you opinion. )

Rory,

I apologize for generalizing - you are of course absolutely correct in your statement. Your father served both your country and the world a great service in his actions, and for that I salute him. 

However, for your fellow American's, hiding behind their great "rescue operation" when the war had already raged for so long without official US interference, I give no credit whatsoever. If not for Churchill and his stance against the Nazi's, US involement would have come too little too late...

Rule Britannia!! 

Oh, give me a break!  Just who the hell do you think kept the Brits going from 1939 to 1941?  How many thousands of tons of US merchant shipping and American merchant crewmen went to the bottom running convoy duty across the North Atlantic keeping Britain from going under?  Who pulled Navy destroyers that were critically needed in the Pacific to provide the Brits with the means to take on the German wolf packs?  The US provided millions of tons of food, munitions, tanks, trucks, ships, and planes to Britain when their backs were against the wall.  All while we were staring down the barrel of the Japanese Empire's big guns.

Lest anyone accuse me of anything, I have no axe to grind with the Brits.  I'm glad we were able to help them out, but let's not forget the facts here.

It's easy for us good old patriotic Brits to dismiss the US involvement, just as it is too easy for Americans to believe that Britain would have "gone under" without their help. The fact is, both sides are right and wrong.

My take is that liberating Europe couldn't have been done without US help. D-Day wouldn't have happened and the subsequent push into France. Not to mention the war in the Pacific.

But that's an offensive move, not defensive, and on that score, England was safe enough without the US. The English in England would still be speaking English today and any suggestion otherwise is rubbish. It's only because the Allies took the responsibility for liberating Europe that any help was needed. Churchill had some radical plans should England be invaded and I doubt the Germans would have even wanted the place after a while! But that was unlikely even before D-Day.

I believe a key to this was the raid on the St Nazaire dock, which released Germany's stranglehold on the Atlantic. It's a fantastic story and you can read one account here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/42/a4211542.shtml

Consider the will that was needed to conceive and execute such a plan. Churchill basically invented the first Mission Impossible and created the force capable to pull it off, men so strong Hitler apparently ordered anymore commandoes caught should be executed immediately. England was far from defeated with a leader and men like that. Remember we still had the arrogant attitude of an Empire and were willing and able to take the fight to Germany from day 1.