CNN

With 3 winners like leiberman, Palin and Fiorina in your corner you can't lose!. If there was ever an example to question someone's judgement it's Mcains VP pick!.GW says he's ready, But, GW said a lot of things that were not true!. Let's see 72 years old and if something happened to him then the VP takes over.I feel safer already!.

"intelligence briefings will be made available to the presidential and vice presidential candidates of both major parties, CNN has learned."

Obama is going through a positive official process like any other presidential candidate. I don't see why we should be critical of this.

Obama. A man of mixed race as all of us are. (Asian, African, Irish, German, Croatian, Russian, Indian, Latino etc. etc. etc.) All of us Americans. This American man proposes genuine goals for our country to step forward into the future of our Global World.
McCain proposes...uh, let's wait for his staff to get back to us. Buffalo John and Sarah Oakley with their outdated rhetoric can hardly save the day, or the future of our country. Voting is serious business. Make it worth something more than fear.

Roger D. Perkins what exactly are you talking about? Do you even know? Obama already has some foreign policy experience from his almost 4 years in the US Senate (securing loose nukes is his biggest foreign policy achievement). He has more foreign policy experience than many previous presidents who first served as governors. And he has more than McCain's VP pick.

I never would have thought that "High Level Intelligence" and "Obama" would have been used in the same sentence. He claims his executive exoerience comes from running his campaign, now he will claim some foreign policy exoerience from this briefing. He's got it going on.

"Real_American," you're scared because your future president is briefed? You'd prefer him to be unprepared? Not that he doesn't know more about the world than Bush, McC and Palin combined already....

Obama's getting his first intellegence report while his blowhard doofus is out calling Pilan unqualified. Is this the change we are to expect?

Before Bush, diplomacy had meaning and substance. And being stateman was actually an ideal to which we strived. Living abroad changes your perspective, just as going off to college, or having a child, or a number of other life altering events. In the late 90s, when I was living abroad, the US was respected. I felt it everywhere I traveled. After 9/11 we had the sympathy of 90% of the countries around the globe and it was squandered by Bush and his neo con idealogues.

We need to regain that respect. Obama has the wherewithall to do just that.

I have been a registered republican for many years, but I would rather President Barak Obama pick up the phone at three in the morning.

Obama gets that you can't have "victory" in the traditional sense, after all, who are we going to fight and where. I lived and worked in the middle east and knew when we went into Afghanistan that we could never "win". That is exactly what attracted me to Obama because HE GETS THAT! This is 2008 and we have to stop with the traditional fighting and GET SMARTER! That means bringing troops home and putting them EVERYWHERE HERE! Then regroup, get some of the best innovative technology designed and use THAT to keep them away. How does a country fight unamed people in numerous unknown countries that are faceless? People get a brainwave! They want attention and an attempt at some respect – its called keeping your friends clse and yor enemies closer. Does not anybody see that Iran is goading us because they know we are stretched thin both in money fighting the faceless and in manpower. I want somebody in office smart enough to not fall for it!

Even when you receive such high level intelligence briefing, you must have some intelligence and a understanding of National Security in order to understand and grasp the information being given to you. I am sure BO can handle that however, I have serious doubt about McWar and whats her name.

Obama has time and time again proven his superior intelligence. Not only is he a constitutional scholar. He is an erudite, curious, a magnificent organizer, great fund raiser, orator, phenomenal leader, and brilliant. That's what I want in a President. And, I almost forgot, I would love to drink a beer and converse with him.

Sarah Palin and John McCain don't need the briefing, they will just make it up as they go, to suit their short term political needs.

Actually, they'll get a briefing from the oil industry and maybe from the corporate lobbies. That will tell them whom they should bomb and when.

Of course, then they'll have the head lobbyist for Georgia working for Mccain and taking a few hundred thousand for McCain's campaign to get us into war there too.

And then Palin will ad the couple hundred million in earmarks she's gotten for Alaska and the 27 million she got for her town of 6500, and she'll make sure that the oil companies pay her at least that much when she decides that invading Iran for the oil there too, (just as she said about us being in Iraq.)

Oh yes, McCain and Palin will come fully equipped to do damage.

The last thing we need is an actual thoughtful and careful and caring President like Barack Obama, think about how many lobbyists he's already put out of work.

At that rate, he'll cause such a rise in unemployment there won't be any oil rich jobs left at all, and then what would John McCain and Sarah Palin do?

Be sure to give lots of time to the McCain/Palin briefing. He'll be asleep and she won't have a clue about what's being discussed

Wow, GW was given all kinds of intelligence briefings about potential attacks like 911; briefing after briefting saying there were no WMDs in Iraq. That there would be an insurgency in Iraq if we went in and stayed too long. Yeah he really showed great INTELLIGENCE and listened to them didn't he –NOT.

McCain at one time criticized Bush's policies, I had respect for him then.

it does not matter. this election is over. obama is winning in the polls, even when young voters aged between 18-25 are being vastly excluded due to the fact they don't have LAN line phones. This election will be a blowout. Obama will win PA, MI, MN, VA, CO, and probably OH as well. So what if he loses FLA, that place is nothing but old people and cubans anyway.

Saying that Palin has more experience than Obama because she holds an executive office, will have to apply to McCain and all of the other past Senators who have run for office of the President. McCain is a senator, he has not held an executive office either. Under this criterion, that makes him unqualified to lead the country as well.

Did he understand the report?

THIS IS A PERSON WE NEED IN THE WHITE HOUSE

OBAMA/BIDEN 08

YEAH YEAH YEAH

I'm sure the Repubs are doing everything they can to make Palin "appear" to be knowledgeable about foreign affairs and high level intelligence. They are probably giving her a crash course on world affairs right as we speak.

And yes...Palin is a gimmick pick.

It is good that the candidates will be able to speak from an informed position.

By the way, I do believe it is poor judgement on McCain's part for picking Palin as his running mate. The first litmus test is whether or not she can lead the country, if McCain is unable to. The fact that there is a perception that she may not be able to, along with the public is engaged with alot of new information about this VP pick, means that the campaign will not be able to get its messages out effectively.

My perception based on all my readings are that 1) More people are comfortable with Obama being President (50% would vote for him); 2) People are comfortable with Biden as a VP 3) Palin is a flawd choice with too little known about her at a critical time in the election season;
4) A significant portion of people believe that McCain represents a 3rd term of bush (CBS poll)

It is therefore critical that the McCain campaign gets quickly on message, if it is to have a fighting chance.

As a Republican, I am anxious to see what this week will bring. I am uncomfortable with McCain, I am uncomforable with his VP choice; I do not believe Palin shares my values– no way would I leave my kid of 4 mths (esp. one with special needs) for politics. As a matter of fact her family is starting to strain as a result of her choices. And even if she makes a great speach at the convention, I still know her values are different from mine & I don't like it.

If I do not get a compelling argument from mcCain, I will have to sit this one out or vote Obama.

Sarah Palin getting a security briefing??? Yikes!!!

It is my understanding that Senators Obama, Biden and McCain have security clearance for high level briefings by the Director of National Intelligence. Sarah Palin does not. Just because she is Senator McCain's choice for Vice President does not, in my view, entitle her to be such briefing. She may not have even been fully vetted. If this is the way things are done, perhaps we could all have access to such information. Why bother to have clearance?

So, does this mean he'll start conducting some extra-constitutional foreign policy like McCain has been for the last three weeks???

McCain has some strategic genius on his team and no way would he select Palin if he ever thought he would give her the reins. I think he has something else up his sleeve and his VP pick is just a decoy. Keep your eyes on the ball people.

Senator Obama can probably understand the high-level intelligence briefings better than your average politician. Being the Editor-in-Chief of Harvard Law Review doesn't happen to dummies.

The "many threats" out there as you mentioned are a result of 8 years of reckless Bush policies! If you think the best way to protect this country is to strain the military by having it fight useless and expensive wars, then go ahead: go for the Republicans again! It seems like, although you are not having tea with "them", you are not much better at hunting them down either!

But hey, as Palin says, maybe it's God's plan! (doesn't this sound a little bit jihadist to you!?)

It's okay folks. Still time for him to mentally vote "present".

Someone better tell him he can't do that once he becomes president.

Let's hope the intelligence is not cherry picked.

Palin has already disclosed where her son is being shipped. A no-no. She and her husband were members of an Alaskan secessionist movement. I'll bet she'll be the first VP candidate in history to leak sensitive intelligence information to the media for political reasons.

Oh I forgot, Dick Cheney has already beaten her to it!

now that's frightening, they are giving a wannabe rock star these kind of briefings. All Obama seems to be good for is demeaning women, if the briefings aren't about that he won't understand it. The new Obama talking point, working women are bad parents, and shouldn't be elected to office. Yea Obama, that will get the woman's vote. Demean her as a parent, I guess the fact that your wife works escapes most Obama supporters, is she a bad mother. She seems to spend a lot of time on the campaign trail, or getting the kids ready to go on Access Hollywood, or pose for people, that's some good parenting, who are you to throw stones at anyone else.

Obama has Biden by his side, one of the GREAT'S.

McCAIN has PALIN by his side, soccer mom and PTA member.

GUESS WHO I'LL BE VOTING FO???

IT'S NOT McCAIN>

Hey Obama, keep your change!!!

To Proud American, can you please tell us how did Obama prove he can lead this country?
Please be specific.

Jacob, that's actual what proves Sarah Palin is a gimmick pick. She wasn't picked because she's particularly skilled or worthy: just because McCain thinks evangelicals who didn't like him very much before will give him their votes now.

Just a reminder: She lives her pro-life talk, but she's not doing such a hot job of instilling certain values in her kids. How will she help us keep more teens from getting pregnant before they're ready? Especially the ones whose families, perhaps, are not as pro-life or supportive as hers.

Yipee! We Canadians will finally be living next to a peace-builder. Say no to the war mongers, vote Obama.

At least Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden are intelligent to understand it. The same CAN'T be said of the other two.

Obama/Biden – the smart and safe choice.

I agree with Brandon–good for Bush (words I never expected to utter) for doing the responsible, non-partisan thing. McCain or Obama will be capable in the role of Commander in chief–one for his experience as a soldier and in foreign relations, the other for having a cosmopolitan worldview, exceptional intelligence, and experience on the foreign relations Cmte. Of cours, in every other arena, Obama excels by far, much as I have historically liked McCain.
Obama/Biden '08

I love Obama. Let the Republican party implode while he is paying attention to issues. I trust his judgment more than I trust McCain. McCain is a disaster waiting to happen.

Waiting for Jan. 2009! Go Obama Go!!

This is his first experience with intelligence!!

Sarah Palin is not a Gimic pick. She is very dear to evangliicals.

This news scares the hell out of me.

This is "Great" that they are including him in any updated Intelligence, He might get "Lucky" and have a little foreign policy experience NOW! This guy is almost as big a jerk as CNN. We need to remember "Country First" Not the Obama network (CNN). You people do not have a clue as to the damage you are trying to cause our nation, but you won't succeed, because "America" is smarter than that. If there are riots in the street because we do not elect the first "Black" president (as CNN as promised), Then "Bring It On". Maybe we can get our country back. I'm ready, how about "You"?

I would feel safer with the Dream Team, Obama/Biden. A man that brags about his experience and chooses someone he doesn't know for the VP spot does not deserve to run this nation.

Obama has proven that he is more than ready to lead our country.

I will sleep at night confident that a president Obama would govern this country with intelligence and good judgement. Joe Biden, equally prepared, could step into the presidency, if needed. However, it is a different story with John McCane. He is much too apt to answer a problem with military intervention than diplomacy. And, at 72 and with two cancer bouts behind him, the thought of Sarah Palin as president is too unsettling to even contemplate. McCane's selection of her shows unthinkingly poor judgement. I see John McCane as the past of America and Barack Obama as the future.

A Southern Independent

I'm glad to see this non-partisan activity that allows the future president, of either party, to be more fully prepared and knowledgeable on foreign and domestic security on Day One.

As someone recently wrote:

2 out of every 3 democrats have low levels of intelligence!!! How any democrat can ever say no to a Constitutional Scholar (such as Obama) to vote for a fighting pilot amazes even me with mild mental retardation!

Even with my low level of IQ, I know that Hillary will never again have the chance that she just missed by running a "poorly" managed campaign.

Biden is the only one left, that will need to be involved with the Briefing !

Obama/Biden '08-'12

There for a moment I thought someone was actually going to implant intelligence in him.

One more step closer toward the presidency. He is already being treated as our new President and leader. It is quite fitting that he would receive the briefing first. His judgement so far has far exceeded that of McCain's. He has run his campaign like a well-oiled machine, he had the judgement to oppose Iraq from the start, forseeing the consequences, and his first presidential decision was made with the best interest of the country and his party in mind. Obama will act with tempered judgement and diplomacy when dealing in foreign policy. Change is coming. Get ready for better days EVERYONE...not just the chosen few.

So now Obama get's to see the mess he has to clean up around the globe!

Way to go GW; what a way to be a good steward of the country!

Please don't reveal anything about national security to Palin. She is an advocate of Alaska First and secession for Alaska. I don't think that she will be around long.

LOL! Maybe he will finally change his tune once he realizes that this is the big leagues...there are many many threats out there and if he wants to sit down and have tea with them, well, that stance will be short lived.

Let's start getting ready for the job!

Obama/Biden in 2008 and beyond!

did no brain obama take joe with him so he can understand waths up ?

That sounds sick!! I wish I could be there. "At O nine hundred we picked up a radio frequency from Afghanistan. Turns out the Russians are trying to invade Afghanistan again, and that Iran will attack the world at the same time. Spies are currently in positions around the world. And aliens are REAL." Coming to a theatre near you. I think Obama's up to the challenge.

Obama will be a great President and make wise choices in keeping this country safe.

I feel a sense of relief that Presidential nominee Barack Obama has been briefed. He has the judgement and listening skills America needs to be safe.

he should. he will be the next president in 4 months.

Well its about time!!! What is the DNI waiting for?? Obama is going to be President!!!

Sounds Like Obama Is Ready To Be President To Me! He Has Been Briefed Already! I Cant Wait To Vote And Make It Official!

Bet he didn't understand a word!

That's actually a smart idea as it allows both candidates to make security-related promises from the a more informed perspective. I always thought the "here's the way things really are" briefings didn't happen till after the election. It'll be interesting to find out if Obama and McCain receive identical briefings ...

Palin's experience as governor of Alaska, dealing with the oil industry and pipeline agreements with Canada, certainly compares favorably with that of Barack Obama, a community organizer who dealt in the mommy issues of food stamps and rent subsidies.

Besides Obama's brother lives in a hovel in Kenya with Obama's fathers people. Nothing wrong with that but you would think if you lived in a million dollar house, you would help your own brother out.

Hey how can Obama help us when he won't even help his own bro?

Obama help your bro.........