Obama: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun’

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Wall Street Journal

Mobster wisdom tells us never to bring a knife to a gun fight. But what does political wisdom say about bringing a gun to a knife fight?

That’s exactly what Barack Obama said he would do to counter Republican attacks “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said at a Philadelphia fundraiser Friday night. “Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.”

The comment drew some laughs and applause. But it also struck a chord with his Republican rival. John McCain’s campaign immediately accused the Democratic candidate of playing the politics of fear. They also mentioned that Obama said he would use a gun that would be illegal under Obama’s plans to cut down on illegal firearms.

“Barack Obama’s call for ‘new politics’ is officially over. In just 24 hours, Barack Obama attacked one of America’s pioneering women CEOs, rejected a series of joint bipartisan town halls, and said that if there’s a political knife fight, he’d bring a gun,” McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.

Obama made the comment in the context of warning donors that the general election campaign against McCain could get ugly. “They’re going to try to scare people. They’re going to try to say that ‘that Obama is a scary guy,’” he said. A supporter yelled out a deep accented “Don’t give in!”



Read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/06/14/obama-if-they-...

---

BTW here's the YouTube of Connery/Costner "The Chicago Way" scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g0RLyxP13o

[Catch22Dem]

1. Wow, the McCain response is about the lamest I've ever heard

Is it really going to be this easy?

[mwb970]

29. I've never seen a campaign as inept as mcSame's!

He'll win for sure. This is America.

[uncle ray]

36. next weeks McSame response:

"i know you are but what am i?"

[krispos42]

48. Followed by

"Are not times ten!"

[Critters2]

62. To which we must reply

"Am not infinity!"

[harun]

73. A drunk circus clown could come up with a better response than that (n/t)

[gateley]

2. The McCain responses are just silly. Almost embarrassing. nt

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

11. That's because Jill Hazelbaker...

Is the head media flack for McCain. This is a woman who was posting to Blue Jersey through sock-puppet accounts from Thomas Kean Jr. campaign broadband accounts, as well as her home account. It was trivial to find out where all the "outraged Dems against Corzine and other Dems" posts were coming from. The woman is dumber than a ditch carp. If she had a brain she'd play with it.

How she got the job with McCain, after that, is beyond me. That said, we can take some comfort in knowing that she is there in that position. She cannot think her way out of a wet paper bag.

[lolly]

26. LOL!

I once heard the expression "If (s)he had a brain, (s)he'd play catch with it!"

(sounds like this nitwit would lose)

[Kierkegaard]

33. No 'almost' about it.

If I didn't know better, I'd think the responses were being dreamt up by some panel of kindergarteners.

[Kutjara]

3. 'A supporter yelled out a deep accented “Don’t give in!”'

That line alone tells me everything I need to know about the author of this article.

[Radical Activist]

4. That's a line from the untouchables I used to describe Obama on DU long before Iowa.

Good line.

[eShirl]

9. You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun.

He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way.

[Shipwack]

30. And -then-...

You get him for tax evasion...

[Kolesar]

34. Where's Frank Nitti?

-cue the Morricone theme-

[KansDem]

87. Spoken in your very-best Sean Connery impersonation (nt)

[dflprincess]

81. A Sean Connery line from "The Untouchables"

and a line alluded to in the new Indiana Jones movie.

[Warpy]

5. Christ! Republicans are so dumb!

Metaphors are completely over their empty heads!

I suspect there's nothing we can do about the dimwitted 21% who still believe in the right wing dream but march them back to the lunatic fringe.

Even medication won't help stupid.

[hisownpetard]

22. Does McCain know that there are movies now, with sound?

I mean, other than the piano player in the orchestra pit.

Any movie references are lost on him, as are all metaphors, similes and all other abstractions.

[bluestateguy]

6. How dare he attempt to defend himself!

Yeah, the new politics should mean that when he is viciously attacked, he'll just sit back and take it.

[AnneD]

84. The GOP has the same attitude....

toward women also

[Fridays Child]

7. If McCain can't understand metaphor, how will he deal with complex foreign policy?

[MadMaddie]

51. Foreign policy....hell the American economy....he believes

staying on the same track it will just fix itself.

[1Hippiechick]

8. John McCain’s campaign immediately accused the Democratic candidate of playing the politics of fear.

[wtmusic]

10. Love that quote.

In their face, just as he should be.

[mcollier]

12. Today! McCain Strategy

The McCain Campaign is taking another idea from the Obama Campaign and have launched a new website devoted to fighting rumors and political attacks, http://therealmccain.com

Pass this around to the blogs and the gullies are sure to go out and take a look.

[magellan]

21. Love it!

[DinahMoeHum]

13. Who's the "pioneering woman CEO"?? Cathy Fiorina ???

That stupid Republic**t who nearly ran Hewlett-Packard to the ground and showed such piss-poor management and leadership that her board mutinied???

"Pioneering woman CEO" - what a fucking joke.

[jmowreader]

75. Well, Carly Fiorina

She's the one who was CEO during the process of spinning off Agilent Technologies.

Okay, let's see here...you have a company that has two divisions. One makes commodity products--stuff that's sold on price, and some of which you sell in a "blades and razors" model--sell the printers at cost, or below, and hope to make your profit on consumables. The other makes specialized products--test instrumentation. The people who buy it will actually pay a premium for your product because they know HP makes the best equipment.

You're going to get rid of one of those products. If you were a logical businessperson, would you keep the commodity side or the high-profit side of your store?

If you decided to ditch the one that set its own prices and made money hand over fist, congratulations! You used to run HP!

[cstanleytech]

14. McCain grasping at straws so early? Boy he must really be worried.

[Carnea]

15. I love the quote and agree whole heartedly,

But lets be real if McCain had said the same thing we would have 300 posts attacking him for bringing up gun violence in Philadelphia blah blah blah....

I know McCain would has misquoted the movie to begin with but my point stands.

[humbled_opinion]

16. OMG ...Say it isn't so...

Both sides are playing politics....

LOL.. But seriously that is the downfall of the Obama campaign.... He says he can bring the nation together across the partisan divide... Impossible because I will not subscribe to anything that the idiots on the Right want to do to this country and so since they are all F'd up why bother even listening to them.

[MadMaddie]

53. The Rethuglicans are not outraged because of the quote....

they are outraged because Obama is going on the offensive and kicking their asses before they can even come up with their strategy....ha..ha..
this is going to be fun.

McCain and company think that the 80% that hate the Republicans will just roll over and take it....those days are over....ha...ha..

[Mad_Dem_X]

80. Exactly

Obama is not just going to roll over and let them get away with the insults and smears - he's going to fight back. We need a Dem leader with spine - Go, Senator Obama!

edit: spelling

[Plucketeer]

17. Blast them!

For the transgression of "Criminal Stupidity", we sentence you to the firing squad.

[jeff30997]

18. "playing the politics of fear"

Yeah,right.9/11! War on terra! WMDs!!! Mushroom cloud!!!!1!

[and-justice-for-all]

19. McLames repsonse is SO not what Obama was talking about..

Obama was saying, in general, "We are not going to take repig attacks lying down, this is NOT your grandparents Democratic Party." It has NOTHING to do with 'scaring' anyone and everything to do with not taking anyones shit.

'Don't bring a knife to a gun fight' is a metaphor.

[BobbyVan]

20. Youtube video

Go to 1:50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UHNTkVqWpQ

[Paula Sims]

23. That's the way to run a campaign today

Obama is doing it the way Kerry should have -- fight if/when necessary and show them that you can beat them at their own game but prefer to stay above the fray.

I live in IL and have for all my life but haven't really paid attention to state politics. I first heard of Obama when he ran for State Senator and everyone was impressed with the "guy with the funny name". Coming from DuPage county (the home of Henry Hyde), that's a lot to say.

Of course everyone knows about Chicago politics and it is dirty. In Chicago you learn how to play dirty, in the state you learn how to play in a refined manner, and in Washington you learn how to suck the blood without leaving a mark. Obama has learned his lessons well and is willing to apply them IF NECESSARY.

He needs to get the nasty stuff out of the way so that we can get back to the business of rescuing this country.

[bamacrat]

24. McCains replies, comebacks and "zingers" suck.

A fifth grader could come up with better than that, but I guess he lost on that show eh?

[bmichaelh]

25. McCain has no interest in a "positive" campaign

McCain has no interest in pursuing "positive" politics but he is attempting to lure Obama into doing so.

McCain was upset when Ed Schultz called him a warmonger.
Obama supported McCain's assertion.

A few days later, McCain said that terrorists like Hamas supported Obama.

BTW, McCain is a warmonger.
He has supported this war in Iraq since the late 1990s.

[truthisfreedom]

27. Be afraid, Mcknife. Be very very afraid.

Obama will always have the bigger weapon when you decide to attack. He's always a few steps ahead of you.

[DFW]

28. In other words, Obama just told McCain and Rove that Swiftboating won't work this time

And the Republicans don't like it.

Well, we didn't like what happened last time either.

They expect us to roll over and play dead AGAIN?

Typical Republican response. After all, they only attack countries that
they assume won't shoot back (Reagan and Grenada, Bush I and Panama, Bush
Lite and Iraq--oops! miscalculated on that one!). Now they have extended
their thinking to presidential campaigns. They have miscalculated this time
as well. Oops! "If we shoot, they're gonna shoot back! No fair!" There is a
very good reason Cheneybush attacked neither Iran or North Korea. They knew
that both of them would shoot back, and figured Iraq would not.

"No fair" is in the eye of the beholder, I guess, but shoot back we will.

I'm sure Rove is making contingency plans, even if they include a seat on
Dick Cheney's post-inaugural one-way flight to Dubai.

[jpertello]

47. "Bush I and Panama"

PANAMA?

Not McCain's homeland?!?! Hey, can he even run for president?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/politics/28mccain....

[DFW]

74. ¡Si Señor!

Pero el problema es lo siguiente:

As McCain was a natural-born citizen, born of at least one American parent,
he is a natural-born citizen of the USA, no matter where the birth occurred.
This has just been confirmed by the courts in the USA.

Good thing, too!

My two daughters were born in Germany. Their birth certificates, issued by the
American Embassy in Bonn (the capital back then) say "birth of an American
citizen abroad." One them is not heavily engaged in politics (although she
was impressed enough when I introduced her to Bill Clinton and Al Gore! LOL).
But the other one is at the law school where Bobby Kennedy, Jr. teaches
environmental law, and she is heavily into public policy. Instead of earning
cash this summer with some hotshot law firm, she is doing a stint with the
United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in Sierra Leone in West Africa, and getting
paid exactly zero for it.

In case you hear a lot of howling about 30 years from now about whether some
woman is eligible to run for the presidency if she was born in Germany, it
just might be my daughter, and you had better believe she is on our side!

[jpertello]

77. Good luck to her!

And if she runs, she'll have my vote! I admire young people who do difficult volunteer work. It shows true character!

[DFW]

82. If she comes back alive and malaria-free, it'll be enough for me for now!

[Eagle_Eye]

31. Ya' reckon the extended campaign with Hillary toughened Obama up a little?

No more Mr. Nice Guy. Obama is in it to win.

[1Hippiechick]

32. I sure hope so! I was beginning to think he was going to be as laid back as Kerry was! :(

[earthlover]

35. Obama is smart....hesitant to attack a Democrat.....all out against a Republican

I am very impressed with Obama's instincts.

If Obama had attacked Hillary more strongly, it would have been harder for her supporters to unite (it is hard enough for some of them anyhow, but would be even harder if Obama had thrown a lot of dirt at Hillary).

[Amerigo Vespucci]

37. In stark contrast to the 2004 election...

...in which Karl Rove brought the Swift Boat attacks, and John Kerry brought a month of...well, a month of nothing.

Make no mistake, the attacks are going to be direct and vicious and frequent. The cornerstone of Rove's dirty tricks playbook is that you must define the playing field for your opponent.

One day I'd like to read a long, honest interview with John Kerry regarding what the hell he was thinking. Either he didn't see Rove as a serious threat, or he thought it would all blow over, or who the hell knows.

I remember at the time that any criticism of Kerry's passivity was met with "Shut the fuck up! He knows what he's doing!" Well...maybe he did, maybe he didn't.

I remember the Newsweek article that came out after the election, which claimed that Kerry was furious with his campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill and that he complained daily to his daughters. What the public saw was a month of attacks and a seemingly detached Kerry.

So far, I do not see any evidence that Obama is willing to play Karl Rove's game. I've said this before on DU...I think McCain is going to throw the first couple of grenades into the Green Zone, and Obama's going to pick them up and toss them right back. McCain got a free pass from the media during the Obama-Hillary thing, but once full scrutiny lands on Obama and McCain, there is simply too much dirty laundry in McCain's world. It will all come out. The harder he attacks, the more of his own dirty laundry will be held up for public view.

[ryanmuegge]

38. He won't be called on it.

[Doug.Goodall]

39. I am appalled that my candidate would use Gun Pusher language

I am in favor of strong gun control, and I wish Obama would take that stand also.

It serves no one's purpose to advocate using a gun against another human, even as a metaphor.

[Critters2]

56. Thank you. I'm a great fan of sanity. nt

[coalition_unwilling]

60. You object to the metaphor itself?

Obama is not advocating violence nor is he endorsing use of guns. He is using a figure of speech to make a point about tactics.

[Critters2]

63. I object to the metaphor,

and am confused as to how this is a new way of doing politics.

[KittyWampus]

66. it's a line from a damned movie- The Untouchables. A movie about bringing down organized crime

And while you might live in a bubble where violence never happens... we ARE fighting a group of power-hungry thugs.

[Critters2]

67. Right. A line about violence from a movie about violence.

What's your point?

Hell, it's not even a new movie.

How is this a new kind of politics, again?

[KittyWampus]

69. it's a line from a movie about ACTUAL characters & history. In the real world

violence actually happens.

If you're going to establish law and order, there has to be enforcement.

Our Justice system, for example, does require a police force.

[Critters2]

85. So, hope and change mean violence. I guess I misunderstood.

How disappointing.

[coalition_unwilling]

88. Do you really think Obama was endorsing violence in his use

of the metaphor? Have you ever heard of the classical rhetorical figure of 'hyperbole'? In this case, Obama is saying that if the Republicans get down in the gutter (another figure of speech), we will have to get down in the gutter with them, so that switf-boating (of the 2004 variety) does not happen again.

Would you have preferred Obama to have said this literally rather than figuratively? In other words, would you have preferred that Obama say, "If the Republicans use unsavory tactics, we will have to also use unsavory tactics to counter them"? Because that is what I think Obama was really getting at.

No reasonable observer would infer from Obama's remarks that he was endorsing violence or use of guns. Your interpretation stretches ingenuity beyond its human limits.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

71. Thank you for your concern. -nt

[Jack_DeLeon]

98. I'd object if he only used it for a metaphor...

I'd have no problem with someone using a firearm to defend themselves from a knife wielding assailant.

Unfortunately it would appear some people would have a problem with that.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

79. I myself am against big sticks.

And I've never forgiven Teddy Roosevelt.

[Shipwack]

92. I feel more worried about boards with nails in them, myself...

I worry that one day mankind will make a board with a nail in it so big it will DESTROY THE WORLD!

(or something like that...)

[nodehopper]

40. McCain, like Beaves, doesn't understande the symbolic function of language.

n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

41. Excellent metaphor.

I like the idea of, "He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue."

I like the idea of Democrats aggressively counter attacking the Republican smear machine. It's about damn time we fought back with everything in our arsenal.

Be afraid McCain. Be very afraid.

[MGKrebs]

42. But, what do you do when the other guy brings a gun?

After all, that's what we're really talking about here. The Repubs have developed a legacy of breaking the rules of political decorum and using any weapon necessary to attack. This is tricky territory for Obama- to be able to fight back without compromising the politics of hope. Us Dems are predisposed to accept his message, but how are the 15 million swing voters going to see it?

[derby378]

43. Answer: Bring more gun

The heart and soul of America is at stake. No time to pussyfoot around. Gobama!

[MGKrebs]

44. No limits?

The politics of personal destruction is fair play? Because that is what they are going to do.

The knife/gun analogy ultimately leads to being willing to do things your opponent is not. Hopefully, Obama has discovered a better way.

[lutefisk]

50. There used to be limits, but the Republicans have ignored the rules.

The Republicans have rubbed the American citizens' noses in the rules. There is no easy answer, but this isn't a fight we can afford to lose.

[Critters2]

64. I fear we already have.

If we're going to behave like Republicans, Republican behavior has won.

[Juche]

76. Depends

Some will be turned off, and some will be happy that Obama is so willing to defend himself. It is hard to say. Either way I do not want Obama to take the same path taken by Dukakis or Kerry in refusing to defend himself.

[SammyWinstonJack]

86. "We Dems are predisposed to accept his message..."

Really? Oh okay.

[Jack_DeLeon]

99. Have a gun of your own and hope you have prepared yourself to use it...

A gun is just a tool to be wielded. Get trained so that you will be more skilled in its use, that can be a great help, although luck does play a role as it does in everything else in life.

[BobbyVan]

45. I wish he hadn't said this

It's like Bush saying "dead or alive". We're better than this.

[Shakespeare]

46. Thank you for your concern.

[Paladin]

49. I'm Overjoyed He Said This

And your notion that his statement is in anyway like Bush's foolhardy, puerile "dead or alive" comment is just plain wrong.

The fact is that the right wing depends upon Democrats to fall back on the "We're better than this" attitude---then they stomp the shit out of us, serene in the belief that they can do so without any consequences. I've had enough of that sort of milquetoast mindset, and I think most Democrats feel the same way.....

[MGKrebs]

52. We had the "win at any cost" candidate, but we chose the "new politics' candidate.

This is a slippery path to choose: Take no prisoners while selling a message of hope.

This will be interesting.

[BobbyVan]

54. You sound like a Hillary supporter

She's the one who would have "stomped the shit" out of the opposition. Obama is at his strongest when he appeals to our most noble values.

[roseBudd]

55. Smart, the right wing always tries to frame democrats as effeminate girly men

[Critters2]

57. This old Girardian saw this coming. We're a violent culture in a violent world.

We expect violent language, if not more, from our candidates. It saddens me.

[DBoon]

58. When Phil Gramm said he looked forward to hunting Democrats with dogs

that is when we start bringing guns to a "knife fight"

[unkachuck]

59. finally....

"If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun"

....a Democrat with 'balls'....sounds good to me, bring it on!

"...In just 24 hours, Barack Obama attacked one of America’s pioneering women CEOs, rejected a series of joint bipartisan town halls, and said that if there’s a political knife fight, he’d bring a gun,..."

....who would have thought Obama would be doing such a fine job so early in the campaign?....I think the repugs are just jealous that Obama can get so much done in 24 hours while their grandpa naps....

....johnny, they could have at least woke you up to give that statement....have you ever thought about trying Geritol?

[marshall]

61. He better bring his vaseline and straight razor, just in case!

We all need to fasten our seatbelts, this campaign is going to get very ugly.

[lonestarnot]

65. Fired up and ready to go take names and kick ass!

[tomg]

68. So let me get this. McCain does

not favor gun control but he does favor metaphor control when the metaphor concerns guns.

"They also mentioned that Obama said he would use a gun that would be illegal under Obama’s plans to cut down on illegal firearms."

Does McCain want a three day waiting period before you can use the metaphor in a speech? Is he suggesting that you need a permit to carry a concealed metaphor?

[yurbud]

70. thank god. a democrat who gets it. maybe he won't fold like a house of cards like Kerry did

when Republicans do their dirty tricks.

[tinymontgomery]

72. The only thing Obama should have added

was and "the NRA" would support me since they support anyone having a gun. Or something like that. Would the NRA then come out and say they don't support Obama defending himself with a gun?

[MGKrebs]

78. The big lesson here for me is

that the politics of hope and 'bringing people together' thing was just a campaign tactic to win the primary. Now we have a new tactic for the GE, which is good. That makes me feel better. I was afraid a lot of people had really bought into that whole "new politics" thing and would be discouraged when it was abandoned. I am happy to see that we are not as naive as I had feared.

[AnneD]

83. It's about damn time.....

being a Democrat in Texas is tough and if you plan to survive-you learn to strike back....and hard. It is the only way to survive. It's about time our leader wrap their brains around that fact. It's the only way we have survived down here as long as we have.

[DebbieCDC]

89. "That's the Chicago Way"

Sean Connery's immortal line from "The Untouchables" - Was a good strategy then; good strategy now.

[MGKrebs]

90. Except that it didn't really work did it.

They got him on tax evasion, which would be a much better fit as an analogy to the New Politics.

[and-justice-for-all]

91. This was figuratively speaking...

lets not take it out of context.

Obama's 'take not shit' approach to rethugs is a long overdue Democrat position.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

93. McBushCain doesn't know which way to turn

his Swiftboats are being sunk as they launch!

[stanwyck]

94. Exactly. Obama and Axlerod are going to be one step

ahead of McCain and Co. all the way to November.

[samsingh]

95. bless Obama. he gets it.

to beat the repugs, you need to outfight them.

you cannot take their bullshit. you cannot pretend to be taking the highroad because you're too lazy to respond to their attacks.

[depakid]

96. Republicans have NEVER been able to win in a fair fight

and, just like the cowardly sorts of bullies and entitled types that most if not all all of them are, they'll whinge and cry or, like your children, do most anything- throw most any tantrum, to avoid responsibility for their behavior.

I reckon it's about time to have the adults back in charge- and by that I mean grown ups, not the distended adolescents that we've come to be embarrassed by over the past 8 years.

[Jack_DeLeon]

97. Glad to see Obama saying he supports gun owner using them to defend themselves...

I hope he sincerely believes that instead of it just being talk.