And the Hitchens endorsement goes to...

There is only one man who could endorse Barack Obama with words like this:

Obama is greatly overrated in my opinion.

Yes, Christopher Hitchens has picked his man to be next President of the United States.

His main argument is this:

[John McCain is] someone suffering from an increasingly obvious and embarrassing deficit, both cognitive and physical.

And the only public events that have so far featured his absurd choice of running mate have shown her to be a deceiving and unscrupulous woman utterly unversed in any of the needful political discourses but easily trained to utter preposterous lies and to appeal to the basest element of her audience.

Set against this, Hitchens says that Obama is at least not a "surrenderist".

I am not an American, but Hitchens's logic seems quite hard to resist.

This is only anecdotal, but it seems to me as if picking Palin to energise the base and to allow him to run as a "maverick", may have cost McCain the support of War Democrats who supported Bush against Kerry.

Comments

[William]

Well, thing is that with McCain/Palin you know how bad it'll be. With Obama, it could be better, but it could be much worse. No-one really knows.

[JOHN CHUCKMAN, TORONTO]

Well, Hitchens is right for once.

Either that or he's just come out of a long drunk.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NtgXlrcvXZA/SPINpAR9_AI/AAAAAAAAQmU/eMybmfoFI0A/s1600-h/CHUCKMAN+-+MCCAIN+-+PALIN+-+REPUBLICAN+CAMPAIGN+2008+-+THE+CLIFF%27S+EDGE.jpg

[Irfan]

Is he able to vote in the US election?

Is Hitchens a dual citizen? On British TV (for local consumption)
he has voiced opinion in a manner making it obvious he is British.

So is this 'carpet bagger' to US politics talking out of both sides of his mouth?

But, does anyone take his prognostications seriously?

Unfortunately judging from his girth and (perhaps) other bad habits such as smoking and drinking, etc, I am worried about his health; I certainly hope he is around for a long time for my amusement.

[Andy]

I don't like Hitchens but he's spot on about Palin.

[John W Meadows]

It has often been said "you can judge a man by the company he keeps"
When one takes a serious look at the political sleazebags Obama has used as stepping stones in his career the thought of him as President I find quite terrifying.
Remember a President is only as good as those he moves up into positions of power around him.
How about the Reverend Wright for the supreme court!!

[Juan]

Give him a pint of whiskey and he'll tell you another thing or two about Palin.

[Robert Iddiols]

McCain gave away his most prized possession, experience, by picking Palin. All previous doubts about Obama's legitimacy have been far overtaken by Palin's incompetence. It seems the only reason she hasn't been totally admonished and berated by the media is for their fear of appearing misogynistic or condescending. Indeed, Tina Fey's widely accepted impersonation on SNL would not be laughed at were she a man in drag. Hitchens has had enough, along with everyone else who has exposed themselves to the election campaign in recent weeks, and he has an audience. It's about time someone came out and said it.

[Mark Farber]

The John McCain of the luminous eyes and the engaging smile has become a simulacrum of the original, a hollow-eyed husk of what once was, his smile a grim rictus grin, more akin to that of a corpse than a living creature.

John McCain has become the portrait of Dorian Gray as politician.

I'm no fan of Obama, but at least the body is still warm, and there is still hope.

[Brien Comerford]

Obama and McCain were even candidates as far as I was concerned. Joe Biden is far perferable to the internationally inexperienced and vicious animal hunter, Sarah Palin. By process of elimination Obama get's the nod.

[Mary Dawb]

Since when is it okay to disparage a man because of his age? One thing and Senator McCaine and Mr. Hitchens seem to have in common is passion, yes, Senator McCaine has passion, a quality that cool Senator Obama seems to lack. Senator McCaine is a proven leader and he has reached across the isle in the Senate to enact bypartisan legislation, many, many times. Senator Obama on the other hand, in his very short political career, has straddled the fence, has been very cautious to make no wrong moves, he has lead nothing sponsored nothing that ever passed in the Senate. Therefore, don't expect him to be much of a leader if he does become president. He is sadly lacking in many areas, substance and experience being two. I am a democrate, one who has voted all of her adult life, but I will not be voting for Senator Obama. How could he belong to a formal church for 20 years, and not know that his minister was a hate mongoring racist. It was all there to see on any Sunday, all you had to do was listen. I don't believe the lie that he did not know, that itself was enough for me.

[mike magnuson]

at least Obama has sentences that make some sense. Palin and McCain have non logical sentences, thus non logical thinking that appeals, as I see it, only to emotion. Palin speaks a language I do not know and even us Scandahovians in Minnesota don't understand her. Scandahovian means a loose group of Norwegians and Swedes.

[SteevK]

WOW! This is the first time I can remember agreeing with Hitchens.

I'm thinking he's endorsing Obama because he Kicked the Clintons' butts.

As he said to Chris Matthews. "It's not tha I hate the Clintons, I loathe and despise them!"
.

[Martin, Chicago]

"Obama is greatly overrated in my opinion." As compared to whom? Obama is the most intelligent, thoughtful, decent, honest, pragmatic, candidate we have seen in the U.S. in more than a generation. If he comes close to running the country as intelligently as he has his campaign--with the best and brightest minds advising him--our country is about to experience a real renaissance.

[mark]

Spot on. McCain is weak and Palin is a crackpot ignoramus. Obama at least is vital and Biden is engaged.

[Mike Cotgreave]

Neocons fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the battle against the Endarkenment. This cannot be fought like a conventional war, or with the old paranoid Cold War mentality. It is a battle for hearts and minds. Obama could single-handedly begin to stem the tide of anti-Americanism in the world, re-establishing the US as a beacon of hope and freedom, rather than an aggressive, neo-imperialist power. Compared to McCain - who thought the fundamentals of the US economy were sound and the Iraq war would be a pushover - Obama is clearly the sane, rational choice.

[bondy]

RE:Mike Cotgreave's Post..... The neo-cons are the endarkenment.

[Steve]

America is sunk with Obama, sunk with McCain. Let's hope it is as brief and painless as possible. Damage limitation seems the only remaining subject of interest.

[William]

What have the Hitchens brothers ever done to warrant such high profile reporting of their comments. Obama is greatly overrated in his opinion - who cares - least of all American electors I would think. Would the British media please stop giving credence to the observations of those two buffoons.

[David Cunard]

No-one, well hardly anyone, cares a hoot about what the Hitchens have to say about the American election. Irfan asks "Is he able to vote in the US election? . . Is Hitchens a dual citizen?"

If he became a naturalized American citizen and then subsequently voted in a British election, he would lose his newly acquired citizenship. Something to be investigated!