Johnny said:
[3.2M people defecting is ALOT of people. When you add the number of other democrats that voted for Kerry and that are now voting for McCain, that's another 6M people. Only 2M Republicans are voting for Obama. That's a net gain for McCain of almost 7M people.
Do the math and think analytically instead of spewing out typical Obamabot rhetoric. ]

Re: The three million defectors are PART of that number of whom had voted for Kerry and are now defecting. Obama still has a higher number of Democrat support than Kerry. Therefore, your math is mush, sir.


[This guy is wrong for the times and wrong for the country.]

No, McCain has already been proven wrong for the country because he want's to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. That's a problem because the cuts were supposed to stimulate job growth, instead, both unemployment and outsourcing are on the rise. Since there was no job growth, Obama will repeal the cuts from all companies who outsource jobs. Oh, not to mention, Obama will end the war while McCan want's to remian there until 2013. That's horrible for the country, i'm no Obama-bot as you childishly call me, I know why I support him.

What is really arrogant in my eyes is when Senator McCain says over and over and over again, that he knows what's going on in Iraq, yet he confuses time lines, shiite and shia, borders...etc. He obviousely believes that General Patreus doesn't need protection when he leaves the green zone and that everybody could take a stroll around Baghdad. What is really arrogant is airing an add, claiming that somehow Obama is responsible for high gasoline prices and against all advice and evidence telling the American people that offshore drilling now will solve the problem of high gas prices immediately. What is really arrogant is, calling a veteran a liar, when confronted with his own personal voting record and what is really arrogant is, having a temper, everytime somebody asks a question that is "not to his liking".

All the fuss about Obama's trip - first he was accussed of not knowing what's going on, because he had not been to Afghanistan and only once to Iraq. Now that he did go, it is somehow portraying him as arrogant. Yet, when Senator McCain made a similiar trip in April, it was all ok....Senator McCain would give a speech in Berlin rather as President then as candidate? Well, that did not stop him from going to Mexico and Canada back in April, now did it? It also did not stop him from inviting the Dalai Lama, now did it ?

McCain giving a speech in Berlin would not be a good idea no way, be it as candidate or President, because he clearly lacks the ability to make people listening to what he has to say. He leaves more of a "I would like to go to sleep" impression, then anything else for that matter.

Using the phrase "my friends" in almost every sentence he speaks has gotten so annoying and I can't help but wonder, if he would adress Iran's President with the same words, should he become President, or if he is going to sing the "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" song right away, which is by the way another example of Senator McCain's arrogance.




OBAMA 2008

NO-Bama in November. He epitomizes narcissism, naivety and arrogance and don't tell me that Michelle, who has picked the "best fruit" this nation has to offer but still despises the U.S., shouldn't matter. In the real world no one influences us more than the one we sleep next to nightly.

Pauline Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, obama's arrogance and hubris will not attract
> all those women who supported Hillary. Here is a
> man who is supposed to be so progressive but never
> once acknowledged how sexism, misogyny, and male
> privilege

Those must be code for 'the media was biased' against Hillary. That we could all see for ourselves. They're almost always biased against republicans in the same exact ways. I'm not rubbing it in, just saying later when we complain about the bias, you now know it is not all in our heads. You've just seen it happen to someone you support.

Matt Weiss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Matt Weiss Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > beth barnat Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Matt Weiss Wrote:
> > >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> >
> > > -----
> > > > Aside from unsubstantiated and very vague
> > > > accusations, can we see some concrete
> > examples
> > > of
> > > > this fatal arrogance? What was he supposed
> > to
> > > do
> > > > when meeting with world leaders? Wear
> shorts?
> >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > First he was raked over the coals because
> he
> > > > hadn't been to Iraq and hadn't shown his
> > > foreign
> > > > policy chops. Now he's getting savaged for
> > > > looking too dignified overseas. Meanwhile,
> > > McCain
> > > > is talking about the notorious
> "Iraq-Pakistan
> > > > border," bemoaning Russian treatment of
> > > someplace
> > > > called Czechoslovakia, and attributing the
> > > Anbar
> > > > Awakening to the surge when, in fact, it
> came
> > > > first. I guess if these things put a
> little
> > > dent
> > > > in my confidence in McCain's vaunted
> foreign
> > > > affairs credibility I must be a mindless
> > > Obamabot.
> > > > Oh, well. Can't let the facts get in the
> > way
> > > of
> > > > name calling.
> > > >
> > > > In fact, people like Fareed Zakaria and
> David
> > > > Brooks have both praised the complexity of
> > > Obama's
> > > > thinking on foreign affairs (though Brooks
> > > > criticized his speech this week in the NY
> > > Times),
> > > > as have many others. The truth is that,
> for
> > > some
> > > > of you, it wouldn't matter if the guy
> solved
> > > the
> > > > crises in Burma, Darfur and the West Bank
> > > tomorrow
> > > > (no, I don't believe he could); you'd find
> > some
> > > > way to bash him.
> > >
> >
> **************************************************
>
> >
> > > ******
> > >
> > > Here are is a Laundry List of Barack Obama's
> > > Lies:
> > >
> >
> [www.audacityofhypocrisy.com]
> > >
> > > These lies are examples of his arrogance.
> > >
> > > Here's another example:
> > >
> > >
> >
> [race42008.com]
>
> >
> > >
> >
> e-obama-iraq-documentary-whatever-the-politics-dem
>
> >
> > > and/
> > >
> > > If someone has experience and qualifications
> > for
> > > an office or a positions, a few mistakes can
> be
> > > forgiven and understood, but with the
> > razor-thin
> > > resume that Obama possesses, everything he
> says
> > > and does is much more imporant. He has
> > virtually
> > > no track record of success or
> accomplishments.
> > >
> > > Name one piece of legislation that he wrote
> and
> > > saw through to passage. And I'm not talking
> > about
> > > bills that people tacked his name onto to
> make
> > his
> > > resume look good.
> > >
> > > I'm still waiting for Willy39 to give me a
> list
> > of
> > > Barack Obama's accomplishments and
> > qualifications
> > > for the office of POTUS.
> > >
> > > "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we
> > > practice to deceive."
> > >
> > > By the way, how old are all you Obama
> > supporters
> > > on this thread. I get the impression that
> you
> > are
> > > youngsters. I'd love to know.
> >
> >
> > Forty-one years old, for the record. If that
> > makes me a "youngster" in your book, many
> thanks.
> > It's been a little while since I've been called
> > one.
>
>
> Your "laundry list" (has anyone made a laundry
> list in 50 years, by the way) of lies is, in my
> view, awfully weak and the sort of thing that
> could be constructed about every politician. He
> said he'd serve out his full term? What a shock.
> How many office-holders say when running for
> office, "I might ditch this office to seek a
> higher one."? Yet it happens all the time. If
> you disqualified everyone who pledged to serve his
> full term and then ran for something
> else--particularly president, you'd radically thin
> the field. His father wasn't a goatherd? I
> suppose that could be an issue. Of course, the
> guy met his father once and met his African family
> not at all as a young person.
>
> What I find most baffling, though, is this
> obsession with this article he apparently saw as a
> child about a dark-skinned person disfiguring
> himself to look whiter. First of all, to hold a
> nine-year-old accountable for remembering where
> the article came from is bizarre. Second, does it
> matter? Does anybody with a shred of a sense of
> history deny that these sorts of things happened.
> The skin whitening and hair-straightening
> industries were and have been huge in the US for
> over 100 years. All the space given to this claim
> on the "laundry list" seems to bespeak a desire to
> deny the sort of racism Obama claims was a shock
> to him as a child. Who cares where he saw the
> story--such stories existed and I challenge you to
> come up with such a detailed accounting of what
> you read when you were nine (unless you're 11). I
> have a good memory and I couldn't do that with
> something I read 32 years ago.
>
> Finally, if you google "hillary lies list" or
> "mccain lies list" you get about 7 million hits
> (much more for Obama, though I think that says
> more about the hysteria around him than about
> whether he's told 5 million-lists-worth more lies.
> Was Hillary really always a Yankees fan? Has
> McCain really never flip-flopped on an issue?
> Want to play gotcha politics with anybody, and you
> can. We can snipe back and forth until November
> if you want. It won't help much.
>
> As for his resume, yeah, I'll admit that it's
> thin. It's thinner than his opponents'. Clearly,
> that's not what's impressed so many Americans
> about him. If experience were the sole
> qualification for a job--any job--it wouldn't make
> sense to read a resume or interview most
> candidates: just give the job to the most
> experienced guy. Nixon had a lot more experience
> than Kennedy. Douglas had more experience than
> Lincoln. Hoover had more experience than FDR
> (though not by as great a margin as the other two
> examples). In each case, experience was not
> decisive and in each case the country was better
> for it.


This is the meme Obama supporters trot out over and over again, comparing their candidate to less-experienced candidates in the past. Yes, it's true Lincoln was less experienced than Douglas...however, Lincoln was a founding member of the Republican party and was a leading thinker on the issues of his day. Obama....gave one speech in 2002 that amounted to the usual laundry list of objections as to why we shouldn't have gone in...there was nothing terribly insightful about it (I was in college then, and made the same kinds of arguments against the war to my friends over drinks...so Obama was hardly overly insightful or prescient in his thinking then).

FDR and Hoover - FDR was a successful governor of what was then the most-populous state in the country. Kenedy - 12 years in Congress. And as for other other comparisons:

Clinton - no foreign policy credentials (but he was a highly successful, long-time governor)
Carter - successful governor
Reagan (perhaps the most rich comparison of all) - a two-term governor of California - he managed the world's fourth-largest economy.

In pointing these out, it's clear that not only is Obama inexperienced, he falls vastly short. He not only has no foreign policy experience, but also no executive experience. He's never been a governor. He's never run a company. He's never run anything, near as I can tell, except his Senate staff and the Harvard Law Review.

Furthermore, he has accomplished little in public life. What were his actual achievements in the IL state senate? Not much of anything....In the US Senate? Zilch...as a law professor - nothing; he published no articles of any importance....as a community organizer? Anyone with a law degree can do public interest law (note, I'm not demeaning community organizers - I'm just saying it's not that hard to become one).

So in short, Obama is one of the least accomplished presidential candidates in American history. That has me concerned.

Scare, Scare, Scare...that is the Republican strategy this fall...for the past 7 years all we have been is scared...scared of Bin Laden, scared of "tax and spend" liberals, scared of illegal immigrants, scared of ourselves ( reminds you of Joe McCarthy doesn't it?He would be proud of Bush & Co.).

Now it is time to be scared of Barack...with his victory over Hillary, with his Ivy league education, with his crisp organizational way of getting things done!

But we will find a way to blow yet again, I am not sure if people will see him has a positive force....one can only hope...or leave the country!

Matt Weiss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> beth barnat Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Matt Weiss Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Aside from unsubstantiated and very vague
> > > accusations, can we see some concrete
> examples
> > of
> > > this fatal arrogance? What was he supposed
> to
> > do
> > > when meeting with world leaders? Wear shorts?
>
> >
> > >
> > > First he was raked over the coals because he
> > > hadn't been to Iraq and hadn't shown his
> > foreign
> > > policy chops. Now he's getting savaged for
> > > looking too dignified overseas. Meanwhile,
> > McCain
> > > is talking about the notorious "Iraq-Pakistan
> > > border," bemoaning Russian treatment of
> > someplace
> > > called Czechoslovakia, and attributing the
> > Anbar
> > > Awakening to the surge when, in fact, it came
> > > first. I guess if these things put a little
> > dent
> > > in my confidence in McCain's vaunted foreign
> > > affairs credibility I must be a mindless
> > Obamabot.
> > > Oh, well. Can't let the facts get in the
> way
> > of
> > > name calling.
> > >
> > > In fact, people like Fareed Zakaria and David
> > > Brooks have both praised the complexity of
> > Obama's
> > > thinking on foreign affairs (though Brooks
> > > criticized his speech this week in the NY
> > Times),
> > > as have many others. The truth is that, for
> > some
> > > of you, it wouldn't matter if the guy solved
> > the
> > > crises in Burma, Darfur and the West Bank
> > tomorrow
> > > (no, I don't believe he could); you'd find
> some
> > > way to bash him.
> >
> **************************************************
>
> > ******
> >
> > Here are is a Laundry List of Barack Obama's
> > Lies:
> >
> [www.audacityofhypocrisy.com]
> >
> > These lies are examples of his arrogance.
> >
> > Here's another example:
> >
> >
> [race42008.com]
>
> >
> e-obama-iraq-documentary-whatever-the-politics-dem
>
> > and/
> >
> > If someone has experience and qualifications
> for
> > an office or a positions, a few mistakes can be
> > forgiven and understood, but with the
> razor-thin
> > resume that Obama possesses, everything he says
> > and does is much more imporant. He has
> virtually
> > no track record of success or accomplishments.
> >
> > Name one piece of legislation that he wrote and
> > saw through to passage. And I'm not talking
> about
> > bills that people tacked his name onto to make
> his
> > resume look good.
> >
> > I'm still waiting for Willy39 to give me a list
> of
> > Barack Obama's accomplishments and
> qualifications
> > for the office of POTUS.
> >
> > "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we
> > practice to deceive."
> >
> > By the way, how old are all you Obama
> supporters
> > on this thread. I get the impression that you
> are
> > youngsters. I'd love to know.
>
>
> Forty-one years old, for the record. If that
> makes me a "youngster" in your book, many thanks.
> It's been a little while since I've been called
> one.


Your "laundry list" (has anyone made a laundry list in 50 years, by the way) of lies is, in my view, awfully weak and the sort of thing that could be constructed about every politician. He said he'd serve out his full term? What a shock. How many office-holders say when running for office, "I might ditch this office to seek a higher one."? Yet it happens all the time. If you disqualified everyone who pledged to serve his full term and then ran for something else--particularly president, you'd radically thin the field. His father wasn't a goatherd? I suppose that could be an issue. Of course, the guy met his father once and met his African family not at all as a young person.

What I find most baffling, though, is this obsession with this article he apparently saw as a child about a dark-skinned person disfiguring himself to look whiter. First of all, to hold a nine-year-old accountable for remembering where the article came from is bizarre. Second, does it matter? Does anybody with a shred of a sense of history deny that these sorts of things happened. The skin whitening and hair-straightening industries were and have been huge in the US for over 100 years. All the space given to this claim on the "laundry list" seems to bespeak a desire to deny the sort of racism Obama claims was a shock to him as a child. Who cares where he saw the story--such stories existed and I challenge you to come up with such a detailed accounting of what you read when you were nine (unless you're 11). I have a good memory and I couldn't do that with something I read 32 years ago.

Finally, if you google "hillary lies list" or "mccain lies list" you get about 7 million hits (much more for Obama, though I think that says more about the hysteria around him than about whether he's told 5 million-lists-worth more lies. Was Hillary really always a Yankees fan? Has McCain really never flip-flopped on an issue? Want to play gotcha politics with anybody, and you can. We can snipe back and forth until November if you want. It won't help much.

As for his resume, yeah, I'll admit that it's thin. It's thinner than his opponents'. Clearly, that's not what's impressed so many Americans about him. If experience were the sole qualification for a job--any job--it wouldn't make sense to read a resume or interview most candidates: just give the job to the most experienced guy. Nixon had a lot more experience than Kennedy. Douglas had more experience than Lincoln. Hoover had more experience than FDR (though not by as great a margin as the other two examples). In each case, experience was not decisive and in each case the country was better for it.

beth barnat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Matt Weiss Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Aside from unsubstantiated and very vague
> > accusations, can we see some concrete examples
> of
> > this fatal arrogance? What was he supposed to
> do
> > when meeting with world leaders? Wear shorts?
>
> >
> > First he was raked over the coals because he
> > hadn't been to Iraq and hadn't shown his
> foreign
> > policy chops. Now he's getting savaged for
> > looking too dignified overseas. Meanwhile,
> McCain
> > is talking about the notorious "Iraq-Pakistan
> > border," bemoaning Russian treatment of
> someplace
> > called Czechoslovakia, and attributing the
> Anbar
> > Awakening to the surge when, in fact, it came
> > first. I guess if these things put a little
> dent
> > in my confidence in McCain's vaunted foreign
> > affairs credibility I must be a mindless
> Obamabot.
> > Oh, well. Can't let the facts get in the way
> of
> > name calling.
> >
> > In fact, people like Fareed Zakaria and David
> > Brooks have both praised the complexity of
> Obama's
> > thinking on foreign affairs (though Brooks
> > criticized his speech this week in the NY
> Times),
> > as have many others. The truth is that, for
> some
> > of you, it wouldn't matter if the guy solved
> the
> > crises in Burma, Darfur and the West Bank
> tomorrow
> > (no, I don't believe he could); you'd find some
> > way to bash him.
> **************************************************
> ******
>
> Here are is a Laundry List of Barack Obama's
> Lies:
> [www.audacityofhypocrisy.com]
>
> These lies are examples of his arrogance.
>
> Here's another example:
>
> [race42008.com]
> e-obama-iraq-documentary-whatever-the-politics-dem
> and/
>
> If someone has experience and qualifications for
> an office or a positions, a few mistakes can be
> forgiven and understood, but with the razor-thin
> resume that Obama possesses, everything he says
> and does is much more imporant. He has virtually
> no track record of success or accomplishments.
>
> Name one piece of legislation that he wrote and
> saw through to passage. And I'm not talking about
> bills that people tacked his name onto to make his
> resume look good.
>
> I'm still waiting for Willy39 to give me a list of
> Barack Obama's accomplishments and qualifications
> for the office of POTUS.
>
> "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we
> practice to deceive."
>
> By the way, how old are all you Obama supporters
> on this thread. I get the impression that you are
> youngsters. I'd love to know.


Forty-one years old, for the record. If that makes me a "youngster" in your book, many thanks. It's been a little while since I've been called one.

Baffled Democrat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For those of you Obama supporters who actually
> care about having educated opinion, please, at
> least see History Chanel 'The Rise and Fall aof
> Adolf Hitler." Available at amazon.com. I am
> mostly concerned about the spectacular
> similarities in the way that they both carry
> themselves and create their self-image.


you are a voter, I presume? why don't you just get on with voting for mc cain and spare us your delusional opinion.

what is obama supposed to do, run a weak, colourless, campaign like mc cain? mc cainites!!!!!!! he is not mc cain. A lot of mc cain supporters are unhappy that their candidate is unable to spark any enthusiasm anywhere even among themselves. He is supposed to be an experienced foreign affairs expert and he can't tell the difference between iraq and iran? he's been abroad 4 times and is unable to engage our allies productively? so mc cainites, take it out on obama who is running a campaign you wish mc cain had. he does'nt and all someone would come up with is silly commentary like obama is arrogant. all because the man is where you wish you were and your candidate cannot be. be proud obama is american and you know what, I would wear this as a badge of honour because you guys can't stick anything else on obama, you have tried and failed and I know you won't stop trying. just back up your charges with evidcence so we can have a discussion

Jim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The RCP average is Obama 46.4, McCain 41.8. That's
> a lot of undecided voters.
>
> As for the accuracy of the polls, both men have
> had double-digit leads in Ohio in the past month.
> Besides, looking at the polls, who would have
> expected Obama and McCain to be the nominees a
> year ago?
>
> As for my personal observation, the Obama
> supporters are either proudly liberal or black.
> These are people who probably all voted for Kerry
> and you see how far that got him. Everyone else I
> have talked to is voting for McCain, even though
> most aren't happy about it. Conservatives will
> vote for him, even though he is clearly not thier
> first choice. Clinton and Edwards supporters are
> mostly backing Obama, but a significant number are
> going with McCain. They are going for McCain not
> because they loved Hillary, but because they find
> that Obama is simply too far to the left.


We must know different people then. My good friend, who lives in a battleground state, just recently told me that she almost always votes republican. But this time she is voting for Obama. She said her parents had been republican and she knows that at one point her mom had voted for John Kennedy.

What, exactly, is it that validates this belief that Obama is arrogant? Even when 200,000 spectators and millions of viewers are focused centrally upon him, the only moment he speaks of himself is when he declares his American -- and world -- citizenry and tells the story of his upbringing, which is always placed within the broader contextual framework of the American Dream.

Is it because Obama chose to speak abroad? A vital and oft overlooked attribute of a good presidential candidate is ambassadorial merit -- the ability to communicate American ideals, achieve alliances, and sway the hearts and minds of foreign citizens. This is especially relevant today, as much of the world continues to characterize Americans en masse as arrogant, and yes, elitist. In the perception of some American citizens, Obama's gesture may have seemed arrogant. But in the eyes the rest of the world, this is probably the first time many have seen an American politician reach out and ask for cooperation (rather then demand it) in years.

When great powers lead through coercion, that is arrogance. When great powers lead through persuasion, that is humility. Even Machiavelli could tell you that.

As a postscript, the offensive accusation of arrogance could easily be applied to McCain as well.

After McCain said his "Obama would rather lose a war than lose an election" remark (which reaks of arrogance in the first place), did anybody else notice the grin he had on his face? That's the same grin he has virtually every time he says something he thinks is clever. I don't see Obama shining his teeth every time he makes an incendiary remark.

Disagree? Well, that just goes to show that anybody can call anybody names.

7 points up in Gallup, 6 in Rass

Up in the electoral vote

Not arrogance, just confidence

Arrogance won't win the election? Arrogance won every single presidential election since Reagan. But I'd judge McCain to be slightly more arrogant than Obama, anyway.

Obama isn't experienced enough? There is no portfolio adequate for the taking the position of President. Nobody is experienced enough. McCain being cloistered in the Senate for many years isn't superior experience to what Obama brings to the table. Obama has at least been rubbing elbows with common people over that period of time. McCain has only been rubbing elbows with fellow country club members. The best presidents in US history took the office with less experience of relevance than Obama's.

The US has now seen the longest, most intense and grueling campaign season in living memory. Running a campaign in the current political environment has highly relevant similarities to running the oval office. Large staff, big budgets, thorny policy decisions, crucial staffing decisions, the need to win over those who would sit on the fence. ALL of the other candidates flubbed the challenges at crucial moments in crucial ways, except Obama. He mis-spoke a few times, but fewer than the other candidates. Otherwise, his organization has run CONSISTENTLY like a well-oiled machine. We have every reason to expect similar performance going forward. It would be nice to have a White House that isn't run like the Keystone Cops for a change.

One comentator compared Obama's campaign to Hitler's path to power. That is sick, and the ultimate in confusing style over substance. Effectively, the commentator is confusing personal charisma and good public relations with fascism and genocide. Please.

As for Obama picking Hillary for VP, that would be a sad mistake. Sure, she seems to improve his polling numbers, and maybe more than other choices right now. But that's only because the voters aren't familiar with whoever his (other) pick will be. Compared to any other plausible choice for VP, Hilary would take votes away from Obama. Sure, she has lots of supporters, some of whom will stay away if she's not on the ticket. But there are a lot of undecideds and conservatives who won't vote for any ticket that includes Hillary. She's a very hated and despised figure for many. Obama can (and will) do better.

Obama can be a little weak in formulationg effective "talking points" on his feet; he shines better in prepared speeches. Thus, head-to-head debates with McCain could be perceived as a bit risky to Obama's campaign chiefs. McCain might manage to eke out better wording (but doubtful; witness far more damning flubs from McCain's aging mind than Obama's overly-nuanced thinking). Regardless, the debates will clinch the outcome in Obama's favor. McCain will look feeble and confused, while Obama will exude strength and confidence--the ultimate "American values."

After some head-to-head comparison shopping, voters will hand Obama the most convincing landslide since Nixon trounced McGovern.

Matt Weiss Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Aside from unsubstantiated and very vague
> > accusations, can we see some concrete examples
> of
> > this fatal arrogance? What was he supposed to
> do
> > when meeting with world leaders? Wear shorts?
>
> >
> > First he was raked over the coals because he
> > hadn't been to Iraq and hadn't shown his
> foreign
> > policy chops. Now he's getting savaged for
> > looking too dignified overseas.

I'm sorry but this is too funny. What on earth could he hope to accomplish by meeting world leaders?
They certainly wouldn't discuss any policy issues with him, and what could he say to them but IF I become president. It is not dignified, it is embarrassing and arrogant beyond belief.