Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

If Obama is responsible for what Wright says, or anyone else for that matter, doesn't it follow that the victims of Catholic abuse are also responsible for the actions of their pedophile priests? After all, these priests were once the victim's "reverends" too.

-- IMPOLITIC

To make a calmer, more substantive point about what we're seeing in Iraq. The rhythm of any protracted war goes something like this: you do stuff; the enemy responds; you adjust; so does he; and on and on until a point of decision is reached. An Air Force colonel named John Boyd once coined a useful (if jargony) term for this: The OODA Loop, where "OODA" stands for "Observation / Orientation / Decision / Action." Boyd reasoned that the initiative in war goes to he who can achieve a faster OODA Loop than his enemy, and who can disrupt his enemy's Loop.

At the risk of saying something disputable, from 2003 to mid-2007, the insurgencies in Iraq had faster OODA Loops than the U.S. did. That's not to say that there weren't discrete tactical successes: there were, and lots of them. But those developments are coterminous with the concept of the Loop — you adjust and inflict pain on the enemy; but the enemy does so faster and more powerfully. Once Operation Phantom Thunder began in the late spring of 2007, lots of people on the right and on the fake-left declared, without using Boyd’s term, that Petraeus and Odierno had finally broken the enemy’s Loop.

-- SPENCER ACKERMAN

And you know what, rich people -- God bless us -- we deserve all the opportunities to make sure our country and our blessings continue for the next generation.

-- HILLARY CLINTON

We can legitimately debate whether McCain is right or wrong to believe that America can successfully fight its way to a longterm peacekeeping role, and whether the length of time it would take is worth the cost. But that's too nuanced for your basic 30-second attack ad, which requires that words be wrenched from context and used as a cudgel.

So the Republicans' annoyance is justified. And yet . . . OK, here's the thing:

They're the last people who should be crying in their beer about campaign falsehoods, given the fact that, over the past 20 years, they have perfected the art of distortion.

-- DICK POLMAN

I have been inspired.

Today I am announcing my support for Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States of America. I am changing my support from Senator Clinton to Senator Obama, and calling for my fellow Democrats across my home State of Indiana, and my fellow super delegates across the nation, to heal the rift in our Party and unite behind Barack Obama.

-- JOE ANDREW

[T]here is no denying the enormous attraction that candidate Obama brings to the table. He has that incredibly rare gift of being able to inspire people. His rhetoric on the stump touches something deep inside – so American, so seductive to believe that he really is "an agent of change" or that he is somehow a different politician who can bridge the chasm between the races, between ideologies, between all those who feel cut off from the body politic.

I think Obama is sincere in his desire to accomplish these miracles. The problem, of course, is that there is absolutely nothing in his past – absolutely nothing – that would give anyone not taken in by his post-racial, post ideological mantra any hope whatsoever that he has the first clue as to how to go about such a task.

-- RICK MORAN

His (Obama's) campaign is not being derailed by his race, it's being derailed by a person who doesn't want him to prove that we have made great advances in this country.

-- MIKE HUCKABEE

[A]ccording to the latest NBC/WSJ poll, the biggest political albatross heading into November is — drum roll, please — George Bush. In the poll, 43% say McCain being too closely aligned to Bush and his policies is a major concern. That's compared with 36% who say that about Clinton's apparent flip-flops; 34% who say that about Obama's bitter-guns-religion remark; 32% who say that about Wright and Bill Ayers; 31% who say that about Clinton's honesty and trustworthiness; 27% who say that about Bill Clinton having too much influence on policy decisions; 17% who that about Obama not being patriotic enough; and 16% who believe McCain might be too old.

-- JONATHAN STEIN

Cartoon by Tom Toles/Universal Press Syndicate