Flop sweat smells like fear:
Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama’s character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat’s judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said.
With just a month to go until Election Day, McCain’s team has decided that its emphasis on the senator’s biography as a war hero, experienced lawmaker and straight-talking maverick is insufficient to close a growing gap with Obama. The Arizonan’s campaign is also eager to move the conversation away from the economy, an issue that strongly favors Obama and has helped him to a lead in many recent polls.
“We’re going to get a little tougher,” a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. “We’ve got to question this guy’s associations. Very soon. There’s no question that we have to change the subject here,” said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
In other words, they are going to behave like Republicans in October. No one could have ever predicted this would happen. That could explain this pointless piece in the NY Times today about William Ayers (long story short- there really is no relationship there), and could explain why the wingnuttosphere was whipping themselves into a froth about the FBI’s raiding the office of Larry Walsh, when it turns out they did nothing of the sort.
The thing about this is that while it will no doubt infuriate folks like me, the good news is that we know some stuff about negative advertising- yes, it works, but it also drags down the negatives of the people launching it. Additionally, we know that there are ways to combat negative campaigning, and that the Obama campaign is aware of this and knows what they are doing- on many of the things that will be brought up, the country has already dealt with them and moved on. Another factor is the enthusiasm factor- most of the Obama supporters I know would crawl over glass to vote for him in November. And finally, for those of you who are Michael Pfau fans, we know that elections usually end badly for folks who never get out of the negative campaigning phase of the election cycle.
In other words, bring it on. McCain will continue to trash his brand as a straight-talking bi-partisan maverick, the media will be repulsed, and it really is too little too late. I really am surprised that they thought they could run a substance free biography based campaign during a two-front war and an economic crisis, but by now I should never be surprised by Republican stupidity.
*** Update ***
The roll-out of the new product line is apparently already underway:
In remarks to GOP donors in Englewood, Colo., on Saturday, Palin said Obama seems to see the U.S. as being so imperfect that, in her words, “he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”
Obama served on a charity board with Ayers in Chicago and has denounced his past activities.
Wonder who wrote that line for her? I hope there is video to see if she recited it from memory or read it from a card.
Comrade Incertus
No doubt Agent Flowbee is fapping himself to ecstasy in front of his computer at this very moment.
RoonieRoo, dontcha know
I was wondering if they would go this route or not. To me, it seems a bit risky since Palin has her own "association" problems but maybe they are counting on the fact that the Obama campaign won’t take that low road. But I do think that the public will take it and the punditry just might if McCain keeps pissing them off.
Not to mention McCain and his "association" problems – Keating 5 to name one.
QDC
And for the rest of his life, McCain will be able to look back and know that, when his character faced its greatest test, he squandered his integrity and sold out his country for one last shot at an office which, even now, he has been unable to articulate a coherent reason for seeking. When he inevitably loses, what will be left of the values to which he proclaims to have dedicated his political career, indeed his adult life? It is not a fate I would wish on anyone, but it will be one he chose freely, in full knowledge of the consequences.
Alan
Another mind numbing attack comes from the Sarah Palin Quotes Generator. It’s like listening to her at the debate.
Brachiator
While I see why the compliant media continues to give her a pass, I don’t understand why Democrats are letting Palin get away with her "aw-shucks I’m just a reformin’ outsider" routine. While they should probably stay away from Troopergate since it is still being investigated, they should hit her hard on her actual performance as governor and mayor, running deficits, giving jobs to cronies and loyalists, punishing enemies — acting like an old school pol and being little more than Dubya in a skirt. And when the GOP Smear Machine brings up Rev Wright, the Democrats should hit back with the Palins’ flirtation with Alaska separatists. Why this latter bit is not being seen as anti-American is something that mystifies me. Does Sarah "Bible Spice" Palin really deserve getting a pass on her political actions while being allowed to sell herself as "experienced?"
The Dangerman
@RoonieRoo, dontcha know:
Regarding Keating 5; bad, but ancient history for most folks. I think that his treatment of his first wife, however, will still resonate with folks. How many people get to marry into a beer fortune?
[First post under the new regime; I need more Joe (coffee, not Biden) so I can figure out all these buttons]
Comrade Jake
You know what? Bring it on.
Count me among those who believe it’s simply not going to be enough this cycle. I’m not afraid of this shit anymore, and Obama is one bad motherfucker.
JGabriel
WaPo, as quoted by John Cole:
Is that really where John McCain wants to go?
Last time he went after Rev. Wright, McCain ended up having to disassociate himself from two of his own religious advisors/endorsers.
Just seems like, with all of the lobbyists running his campaign, and that Keating Five scandal just waiting to be exploited for its similiarities to today’s economic troubles, that Johnny Drama is more likely to shoot himself in his own associations rather than getting anyone to seriously question Obama’s.
.
JenJen
So, smelling the desperation in the air, the McCain Camp’s final Hail Mary is going to be the not-at-all-subtly-racist campaign.
Who could have ever predicted…?
I’m with John and the commenters. Bring It. Obviously, the Obama Camp is ready for this, and are probably a little surprised it’s taken so long to get to this phase.
cyntax
They probably are counting on that, but with the Dem 527’s started back up [e.g. that ad about McCain’s medical records], it should be pretty obvious to the Repubs that they’re going to be getting some negative fire coming their way too.
And I think most of the negative stuff coming their way will be things the electorate hasn’t thought about unlike, as other posters have noted, the Obama stuff which is mostly old news. So if the McCain campaign goes hard negative, Obama can stay on message while the Dem 527’s take hard shots targeted to particular demographics and regions.
Comrade Kolkhoznik Jon H
You know, I don’t think "God Damn America" will have quite the same resonance right now, when everyone’s kinda pissy and Congress is busy shoveling cash to Wall Street.
Just Some Fuckhead
John, the McCain twist on negative campaigning will be when he announces frantically that he is suspending his negative campaign to assist with (insert disaster; natural, financial or otherwise.) That’s maverickness you can believe in.
comrade chopper
shut yo mouth!
Notorious P.A.T.
Sure, why talk about the economy? Nothing’s going on in that department. Let’s talk about who Obama talked to 30 years ago instead.
SGEW
There was never a second’s doubt in my mind.
As has been said before, all of our ears will be bleeding by Nov. 4th.
sfHeath
And what a good opportunity to send around the youtubes of Sarah Palin’s witchhunter again. Or would that end up being a plus for the McCain campaign?
Phil in TN
Well, Ayres and Rezko will be making an appearance, but possibly not Wright, at least until they get even more desperate. From the same article:
The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. appears to be off limits after McCain condemned the North Carolina Republican Party in April for an ad that linked Obama to his former pastor, saying, "Unfortunately, all I can do is, in as visible a way as possible, disassociate myself from that kind of campaigning."
It appears someone in the McCain camp has finally figured out that YouTube thing.
PaulW
Republicans will do whatever it takes to win, because that is all that matters to them anymore. Win the election, stay in power, pay off their crooked buddies, continue the cycle. Can you name one Republican in office that genuinely wants to serve the public trust?
Comrade Jake
Of course, the "Obama wants to give sex ed to little kids" ad has done wonders for their campaign. It’s worked like a fucking champ.
Bizzle
Really? Bringing up past associations? After railing on Joe Biden for "pointing backwards" and stressing the need to "look forward?"
The McCain campaign is its own worst enemy.
Juan del Llano
Bring it on, indeed. The only way to kill this practice is to let it be shown that voters have actually moved on. I think they have, and that the negative crap won’t work any more, but then I’m weird.
DougJ
America may also have to be reminded that the Keating Five never opened for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
Rick Taylor
One of the very few positive things I ever had to say about Bush and McCain was they didn’t usually explicitly exploit the racism of some of their base. It’s disappointing but not surprising to see them throw that in the toilet along with everything else. If they want Republicans to be a permanent minority (an admirable goal, I’ll admit), then this is a positive step.
Polish the Guillotines
Yeah, that’s about right. This is a wash with the bases: The Dems are inoculated and the Wingtards are already a-froth.
The big question is what the undecideds think about the media. If they’re not virulently anti, then McCain’s gamble fails. He queered his relationship with the press. So when Joe Six-Pack dials in to find out what he’s supposed to think about Wright, Ayres, and Rezco, he’ll hear that it’s all old news, largely debunked, and a sign of McCain’s desperation.
EddieInCA
To All Balloon Juice readers:
There is only one way to counter the smears about to be unleashed:
Get. Involved.
Seriously.
I’m 48 years old. I’ve been voting since Reagan. I voted for Reagan twice, then Bush Sr, then Clinton, Gore, Kerry. I consider myself moderate. Socialy liberal. Financially conservative. For the first time in my life, I’ve gotten involved.
I’m doing phonebanks. I’m sending texts. I’m doing mailings. And I’m doing all because the last 8 years have pissed me off more than anything in my previous 40 years. The idea of another man (and Palin) continuing the policies of the last 8 years was too much for me to just sit still. So I got involved.
If you’re pissed off, get involved.
If you’re depressed over the last 8 years, get involved.
If you’re shocked at the unseriousness of the McCain campaign, get involved.
If you remember how the last Democrat in the White House managed the economy (regardless of his personal shortcomings), get involved.
Otherwise, you’ll regret it.
If you have some time, even a couple of hours a week, you can make a difference.
SGEW
@Rick Taylor: ". . . Bush and McCain was they didn’t usually explicitly exploit the racism of some of their base"
I’ve long maintained that George W. Bush is probably one of the least personally racist Republican presidents we’ve had* (he doesn’t care about any poor people, not just black poor people). For real.
John McCain, on the other hand, has always been a racist son of a bitch. Fuck him, and this doesn’t surprise me in the least.
*Note: this is not saying much.
Loneoak
What if this is a double backflip ratfuck? Next week, right before the debate, McCain calls a conference and says "My friends, I have decided to suspend all negative ads and double-down on telling American citizens what my plans are for rescuing our economy and winning our wars. I invite Sen. Obama to do the same."
Nah. That would require some basic decency.
cyntax
It was pretty awesome seeing Fox News push back on that one.
Comrade Jake
I understand the "Joe Six Pack" approach as a means to appeal to the GOP base, I do, but as an approach to Independents it makes zero sense to me.
Yesterday my father (who used to like McCain and is very much an Independent) said "What do they think? We’re all drunks?"
Comrade Jake
This would’ve been effective, were it not for the following:
1) McCain already suspended his campaign once for the bailout. That was viewed by most to be a stunt, and so McCain’s credibility has taken a serious blow.
2) This would lead to a campaign focused on the merits, in which case McCain loses.
JimPortlandOR
There are some things that a person says that are just so despicable that in life, you just write them off and refuse to engage them further.
While I don’t think Obama will do this after he’s in the WH, my petty self would surely just ignore McCain’s existence. No invites to the WH, refuse to talk with McCain, no administration response to any inquiries he might make as a Senator, etc.
It is quite clear that McCain’s claims to be bound to honor are just pure bullshit and he seems to be intent on grinding whatever remains of his honor into dust. So be it.
But I wouldn’t let McCain’s campaign get away with the lying shit before the election. Clinton’s campaign had a team that responded to the negative campaign attacks: it was called the Defense Dept, and they had counterattacks ready within hours.
This is going to be ugly, ugly, ugly. But Obama’s smart enough and his team is organized in a disciplined manner. McCain’s campaign death throes are unlikely to make a significant difference in the outcome.
Someday, maybe even in this election, the electorate will resoundingly reject baseless, fear-based, or character-assassination campaign tactics (which must be differentiated from fact-presentation negatives that belong to your opponent.)
cyntax
Good point about the press. I think that’s a classic example of McCan’t confusing a tactic with a strategy (maybe someone shouldn’t have skipped out on all those classes when he was at Annapolis–a little Clausewitz or Sun Tzu goes a long way). Losing the press plays well to his base (like Palin) but on the strategic side (i.e. winning the hearts and minds of the Indies), it’s a loser.
Like I was mentioning above: even Fox News is pushing back (a little, here and there but still).
Also, nice work EddieInCA!
Lisa
I find it laughable that, while you bash McCain for going negative, It has been Obama’s strategy to do it all along! ," Plouffe: Obama’s campaign says the escalation is not in response to the changing dynamics of the race, but part of a planned strategy timed to the final weeks of the campaign after mourning the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. There have been many complaints about Obama Nation Radio, the extreme lies and negativity. When his campaign was asked about that, they said " It is not something that we are trying to hide, but we don’t want it mainstream so that it doesn’t take away from his message of change? WTF ?
JGabriel
Cyntax:
Rupert fears what a re-energized Democratically staffed FCC and FEC might do to him. Since he knows Obama’s likely to win, he’s been pushing Fox & Ailes to play a little nicer.
.
cyntax
Well here’s to hoping all his fears come true…
=)
Getting there… I don’t think my liver can take another Republican administration.
John Cole
@Lisa: There is a marked difference between negative attack ads that attack your opponent’s position on the issues, and going on a full-tilt smear campaign.
For example, I see a difference between attacking McCain on the economy and this:
You probably can’t or won’t notice the distinction.
Zuzu Hussein's Petals
And three, two, one … liftoff:
NY Times
Roket
Never, never, never underestimate the stupidity of a Republican.
Bad Horse's Filly
Bring it on. The only way to end this practice is to take it to the net and watch it bounce off the rim, only to be rebounded by the opposing team and turned into a three point shot that wins the game at the buzzer (sorry I’m tired of all the Hail Mary Pass metaphors).
OT: I came to BJ during the ‘beating a dead horse’ phase of the Hillary campaign. So I’m having a hard time coming to terms with the John Cole who calls us ‘stupid fuckers’ and the John Cole who posts pictures of cute kitties.
It’s the wonder of it all that brings me back twice a day.
cyntax
There have been many days when it was foggy where I live. What’s your point?
Cite some specific examples to us of these lies and negativity please.
EddieInCA
The Ayers smear is easy to rebut:
"Oh, do you mean William Ayers, the Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois? The William Ayers who has published more than 15 books on education, and is considered one of the leading voices advocating strong public schools in the United States? The William Ayers who is lauded by Chicago Mayor William Daley as a tremendous asset to the city of Chicago? That William Ayers?"
It’s amazing how much the association changes when you list Bill Ayers as a distinguished professor rather than a "terrorist".
Hmmm… he’s a terrorist, but somehow he’s still teaching at a Major University? He’s a terrorist but somehow the Mayor of America’s 2nd largest city is a friend and associate? He’s a terrorist and he’s lauded for his work on childhood public education?
Me thinks there is a problem with this road taken by the McPalin campaign.
Stuck in the Fun House
Lisa seems to have wandered away from the NO Quarter Asylum . Should we call SusanUnhinged to come pick her up?
Dulcie
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
You should’ve been here for Cindy Sheehan or the Terri Schiavo debacle!
cyntax
Well… if you’re missing the invective, you might want to check out the thread on ‘more functionality.’ JC was dropping some serious f-bombs and generally disparaging our collective intelligence, while at the same time speculating on our inability to blockquote and drink at the same time [slanderous—hic].
So the fun hasn’t gone away, it just comes with kittens now [which I think is the added functionality he was alluding to].
mercurino
Meine Dammen und Herren,
Die Weissedammerung beginnt…
Perry Como
The Ayers line seems to be well coordinated amongst the pants-wetting-set. Looks like it’s time to start up the rat fucking machines (in the 21st century software rat fucks you!)
smiley
Sean Hannity. He’s been going on about Obama’s "radical associations" for, like, forever.
Soylent Green
Good advice. Especially for those of you in Ohio, Florida, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, or Nevada. These states are all in play. We don’t want to just beat the Horseshit Express, we want to blow the fucker off the road.
Bad Horse's Filly
@cyntax and @Dulcie
John flogging all of you for your inability to use an obviously flawed system and calling you all ‘stupid fuckers’ had me rolling. I thought, this is going to get good. I wasn’t wrong.
Also, in the last 6 mos, it’s become apparent that nothing is funnier than John +5 or more. ;-)
BJ: Sarcsam and snark making campaign ’08 bearable.
Obama/Biden ’08
Maggie
McCain going negative just makes him that much harder to distinguish from Bush. I don’t see how this doesn’t rebound on him hard and furious. Not only does it make it harder for McCain to dodge McSame, it probably also frosts the electorate. In good times they might worry about reading the tea leaves from Obama’s past. But these aren’t good times. McCain’s blatant effort to NOT talk about what matters also will bite him in the ass.
I’ve a bet with a skeptical friend that Obama will win by 10 points. I’ve been pessimistic that I’ll win that one. But if McCain goes down this route I’ve got a fighting chance!
cyntax
@Bad Horse’s Filly
Yep, come for the snark, stay for the
WP errorsblockquote failures.=)
comrade chopper
this shit is easy for obama to respond to. christ, we’re dealing with the biggest economic meltdown since the great depression, we’re mired in two wars and unemployment is taking off. people are concerned with far bigger things than ayers.
Soylent Green
Ayers, Wright, and Rezco are yesterday’s fish wrappings, thanks to Hillary’s campaign a while back. Old news with little remaining entertainment value. Softballs that Obama batted for extra bases.
If the rethugs want to get the USA talking, they’ll have to come up with something new. But they got nothin’.
Brachiator
Wow! This is some serious propaganda. Despite the stupendous blunders that McCain has previously committed, they have this stuff down cold, using a speech writer (an unemployed screenwriter, perhaps) who has been told to use a deliberately folksy style and the most informal vernacular (e.g., "palling around") to emphasize Palin’s connections to Soccer moms and Joe Six Pack. The depths of their cynicism is breathtaking.
Unfortunately, it’s not. Here it is October, and the GOP Smear machine (abetted by a lazy media) has created the lasting impression that Obama was the only man in the entire state of Illionois who was hanging out with a supposed terrorist Ayers. Clarification is always tougher than a simple and elegant smear. People have to think about a clarification, but they only have to react to a smear. If you can provoke fear and disgust, a residue of the emotion can linger long after a person has been confronted with the more complex truth.
demimondian
You missed Schiavo and Katrina, then. Our host is a fascinating mass of contradictions.
Welcome to the fun house.
demimondian
OT: Mary, et al., if you’re the kind of geek who lines up her notebooks with the edge of the desk, centers his keyboard under his monitor, and closes all his or her HTML tags, it is worth knowing that inserting a ⟨p /⟩ (that is, a closed p tag) at the front of a blockquote cleans up the bold faced font.)
Kid G
Isn’t it hilarious that Palin quoted the NY Times after her campaign manager said it is not a credible news source?
Indylib
@EddieInCA:
No problem bringing up Ayers as a distinguished professor and associating him with University of Chicago, but for Godsakes don’t connnect him to Chicago politics and Mayor Daly.
I used to live in Chicago and when I would tell people that, the first thing out of their mouth was how corrupt Chicago politics is. Chicago pols have a reputation second only to those idiots that run Louisiana, the only difference being that the Louisianans are known for being hopelessly incompetant on top of it.
BTW edit feature rocks!
Ed Marshall
The Ayers smear is easy to rebut
I bet you don’t hear any of it again. Tom Ayers is going to make some calls and Palin is going to shut up. They will have to go back to Wright. He’s just a black nobody instead of the son of massively powerful man.
George Prager
Steve Schmidt:
"Whatever the New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization. It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization. This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate."
Ed Marshall
Scratch that, Tom Ayers died last year. If he was alive no one would have said boo in the first place.
Jeff
@Ed Marshall: Didn’t Tom Ayers die last year?
Edit: Woops, you caught it. Sorry
cyntax
Thanks demimondian [and I thought the new site made p tags obsolete].
Can’t speak to whether the lasting impression is there or not, but I think pushing on the absurdity of it [Obama was 8 years old at the time Ayers was part of the Weather Underground] is the way to go. Currently Ayers associates with people across the political spectrum [from wikipedia, emphasis mine]:
Bring this up in an ad and then pivot and ask the viewer why McCain is talking about this when the economy/war/healthcare/jobs are doing however badly they’re doing that week.
McCain’s attacks are going to present great opportunities to question his seriousness and his connectedness to issues that matter to the voters. It’s just up to Obama and the 527’s to use those opportunities effectively.
Zuzu Hussein's Petals
Brachiator @57:
I’m dying to know if she actually said "pallin’ around."
As to the Ayers smear, it’s always helpful to have Mayor Daley interjecting himself, vouching for the respectability of said radical.
Jason F
The answer to this is that every time they mention Tony Rezko, you mention Charles Keating, and every time they mention William Ayers, you mention G. Gordon Liddy. And then just for the hell of it, you mention Joe Bonanno.
If the McCain campaign wants to play the questionable associations game, they need to keep in mind that their own candidate is holding a losing hand.
Plus, like EddieInCA said, get involved!
Comrade Kolkhoznik Jon H
In order to rebut the Ayers thing, Obama just needs to run an ad where first it shows his head and Ayers’ head, along with a quote saying Obama worked with Ayers.
Then the heads would shrink and move to opposite sides of the screen, and several more heads would appear in between them, showing the other people on the board in question, along with some indications of their politics and role in society. Photos and names probably wouldn’t be necessary.
Putting a bunch of other people between Obama and Ayers in this way would help illustrate that it wasn’t Obama alone, and would create an impression of distance. By highlighting that conservatives were also participants, it would help remove the impression that the organization was a radical left cadre.
EddieInCA
To John Cole –
To me, the worst part of Palin’s speech today came right before the "palling around with terrorists" line.
The worst part of the speech, and the real code in it was this:
"This is not a man who sees America as you and I do – as the greatest force for good in the world. This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country. "
In other words… "This guy is scary. He’s foreign. He’s not one of us. He doesn’t share our values. He’s dangerous "
That was the key phrase. We’re back to the culture wars.
Will it work? Doubtful.
Scott H
I am just going to sit here and watch that "palling around with terrorists" remark blow up into that jacked to Jesus hair.
George Prager
Picture This: John McCain Visits Criminal’s Yacht
My oh my, look what has "surfaced," as they say: A photo of populist war hero presidential candidate John McCain lumbering his way onto Raffaello Follieri’s yacht in Montenegro! And on the day after Follieri pleads guilty to multimillion-dollar fraud! How highly enjoyable. It was already known that McCain spent his 70th birthday, in 2006, aboard the yacht with Follieri and glamorous actress Anne Hathaway. But this is the first photo of the meeting, which drives home the unmissable point: John McCain spends his birthday on foreign yachts with criminals and Hollywood types. There’s not enough lipstick in the world to cover this pig.
http://gawker.com/5048485/picture-this-john-mccain-visits-criminals-yacht
Beej
I can’t remember where I read it, but the Obama campaign needs to send out some information on the other people who served on that charity board and thus had contact with Ayers. Apparently, several of them were big Republican donors. Not surprising since the charity was started by Walter Annenberg who was Nixon’s friend and one of his biggest supporters.
demimondian
Personally, I’m not interested in refuting the "palling around with terrorists" line. For my part, I want to know what Governor Palin has against Nelson Mandela? Menachim Begin? Golda Meir? Lech Walesa? John Brown? Samuel Adams?
Soylent Green
If they send one of our guys to the hospital, we send one of their guys to the morgue! Capiche?
demimondian
@Soylent Green:
For better or for worse, Obama has not chosen to pursue a "hit back harder" strategy. Maybe Dem 527’s will choose to play the role of Elliot Ness over Obama’s objections, but I’m skeptical.
Annette
One of the more amusing things about this is that she couldn’t name any newspaper or magazine that she read to keep up with things ("all of them"), after a little more prep, she rattles off the NYT and the Economist (come on – I’ve read the random article in that mag here and there but I’ve never read a single issue in its entirety), and today, she referenced that NYT article on Obama/Ayers, where they concluded there is nothing there, while claiming that Obama and Ayers "pal around".
So, she’s gone from not knowing what she reads, to lying about what she reads, to implying that she read something, to not actually knowing the content of what she claims to have read. Seems like a perfect circle to me.
SGEW
Also: You can phone bank from anywhere! It’s fun (sometimes)!
SGEW
Give some of the other material in it a try, besides th’ international and business sections: their science articles and literature reviews are almost always worth it.
Also, make sure you acknowledge the point and counterpoint of reading The Economist (via the Onion).
ThymeZone
Hmm. We seem to have disappearing posts here.
Delia
You know, Obama’s cool niceness approach seemed to pay off in the first debate. And for all the goopers’ fawning and prostrating before the Palin creature, the undecideds seemed to give the debate to the well-behaved, well-informed and professional Biden. So perhaps we are just wrong. Hit back with ads attacking them for being wrong and for being attack creatures. Prosecute troopergate. But Obama’s focus seems to be connecting with the people he needs to connect with.
Shinobi
I wish that I knew anyone who was still on the fence about this election so I could talk them out of believing this tripe. Fortunately 90% of the people I know have already made up their minds firmly for Barak. Unfortunately, the other 10% are idiots.
ThymeZone
I agree with John, bring it on. This slamfest will be like everything else the McCain noodlebrains have done so far:
Epic.Fail.
Here is one reason you can figure that this ain’t 2004.
The story debunks Palin’s slam before it even gets out the door.
I agree with John, bring it on. This slamfest will be like everything else the McCain noodlebrains have done so far:
Epic.Fail.
ThymeZone
Yeah, the thread is seriously hosed. I have posted several items (actually, the same one but rearranged) and they either completely disappear, or else I get a Word Press error.
I’ve done this in both FF and IE.
Comrade Jake
Again, at this stage the Ayers BS is not a strategy to win over independents. It’s at best a strategy to stop the bleeding among Republicans in red states.
Good luck to them. They’re fucked.
ThymeZone
Actually, MSNBC is totally rebutting the Ayers claim right now.
I posted more information on this but the thread is broken and eats the posts.
ThymeZone
Alright, attempt number 6, without the link.
MSNBC has already in its first story on this, completely debunked the Ayers claim.
See their "firstread" story on this, stamped 4:13 today.
And, this thread is completely eating posts.
Polish the Guillotines
100% agree.
1968, Vietnam — hell, Watergate — it’s all ancient history to anyone under 40. All Obama needs to do is keep up the "I was 8 years old, dipshit" response. No further explanation is required.
By the same reasoning, the Keating 5 attack on McCain would be doomed under normal circumstances. The only reason it may (likely will) resonate is due to the current crisis. It’s really easy to frame: "We’re in the worst financial crisis since the savings and loan meltdown that John McCain was mixed up in back in the 80s. Do you really want to trust John McCain with the economy?"
MJ
I just gooseGraded you and wanted to say hello so you wouldn’t think I was being snarky! :) I enjoy your blog – I actually found out about you via gooseGrade.com, and now I’m subscribing! Kinda cool, huh? Anyway, you can gooseGrade me at my website anytime.
eric k
As an educated urban liberal whose views are costantaly attacked and called unamerican by assholes like Sarah Palin and John McCain and I have to say is fuck you and the horse you rode in on.
I’m damn sick and tired of being attacked by right wing selfish assholes like Sarah Palin who constantly rip off the government (see her per diem scam for starters) and then don’t even pay the low tax rates they already have while trying to cut them even more.
I’m damn sick of them touting their "small town values" as some sort of badge of honor. The only way the phrase even means anything is by the implication that people from cities have inferior values. Fuck you Sarah, this big city pro choice liberal will put my values over yours any day. For starters I don’t cheat my state out of $17,000 by making them pay me for living in my house. I don’t cheat on my taxes. I don’t think gay people are second class citizens who deserve less rights than me. And I give a hell of lot more of my income to charity than you do. And I give it real charities not a bunch of whack job preachers.
Zuzu Hussein's Petals
@ eric :
And when your small town is part of the meth capital of Alaska, seems like you’re better off not bragging about those "values."
oh really
Best case scenario: Obama wins (by a substantial margin) and McCain, Palin, and the Republican Party are utterly discredited.
If there is any justice in this world, the end of this campaign will result in both McCain and Palin being permanently tarnished by their campaign tactics. I’m not as certain of Palin having the bright future that everyone seems to think she’ll have in the Republican Party. I think she has little or no capacity for growth. She’s always going to be a lightweight clown (wink, wink, perky, perky). Admittedly, that plays well (at the moment) in the GOP, but it may not be so popular if McCain/Palin lose convincingly.
Will Palin’s Dogpatch Kitsch really wear well?
McCain has nothing to offer, so he has to campaign in the gutter. It’s all the same to Daisy Mae Palin (wink, wink, perky, perky). She’s so fucking stupid she’ll say or do whatever she’s told. It is really sad to see the Republican Party finally get around to nominating a woman for president or vice president and to choose such an unqualified bimbo. (Note: I rarely use crude or vulgar language in a post, but the McCain/Palin ticket requires the strongest possible language.)
I can’t remember using the word "bimbo" before Palin appeared on the scene. However, it fits so perfectly, I can’t figure out a way to avoid it.
Delia
Well, here’s an interesting take from the folks at TPM.
If Caribou Barbie’s going to run around shouting "terrorist," then what about her own husband’s membership in the Alaska Independence Party, as well her long courtship of same? Their founder, BTW, said, "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government." Lots of other good stuff at the link.
Oh, yeah.. "TPM" up there is a link. It just doesn’t show up in the text.
Brachiator
What are you people smoking? Earlier this afternoon, Palin spoke before a large crowd at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. She said that Obama was unpatriotic because he was someone who liked to "pal around" (her words) with domestic terrorists, and that Biden was unpatriotic because he wanted to raise taxes. Presumably, this enthusiastic crowd doesn’t read the New York Times or watch MSNBC.
Although the Obama camp issued a denunciation of Palin’s charges, and there was a large crowd of Obama supporters outside the stadium with a large electronic sign showing many of the questions that Palin has dodged, the GOP clearly is going to ride the Ayers/Rev Wright thing as hard as they can.
The GOP strategy has been to lie their asses off, and then get indignant about it, since McCain is incapable of lying because he is a War Hero POW, and Palin is incapable of lying because she is the Official All American Hockey Mom ™.
It’s not enough for the Obama campaign to simply deny the Ayers connection, even though they rightly point out McCain’s desperation. Even though she was not a member of the Alaska Independence Party, Palin should really be forced to explain her husband’s membership in the organization, and why she videotaped a welcome for the organization in early 2008.
It seems to me that a separatist organization is by definition anti-American. Shouldn’t Palin have to answer exactly how she could bless an organization whose founder Joe Vogler once said, "I’m an Alaskan, not an American. I’ve got no use for America or her damned institutions." I don’t see much difference between Joe Vogler and Rev Wright, aside from the fact that Wright could at least point to historical oppression, while Vogler just seems to be a crank.
Delia
In more Palin family news, preggo daughter Bristol and her "fiance" are considering a summer wedding.
Which would mean the nuptial vows are recited well after a) the election and b) the arrival of the bundle of joy.
I can hardly wait to hear Dr. Dobson’s explanation of how this turn of events fits into Traditional Family Values.
This is Great News for the McCain Campaign!!!!!
Annette
@ThymeZone:
Not hosed: you posted multiple times and they wound up in the spam queue. One was retrieved (and it has the link).
@SGEW:
Oh, I read whatever catches my fancy. That’s one of the (very few) downfalls of having a wide variety of interests: there’s usually something to be found.
Best comment I found on another site about this "palling around with terrorists" nonsense:
"He is friends with a FEW REPUBLICANS but I wouldn’t go as far as Mrs Palin does and call them TERRORISTS…."
Polish the Guillotines
That’s right. So they’re preaching to the converted.
They’re not going to flip any Dems on this, since it’s well-tilled soil.
The only folks they can hope to influence are the undecideds, and the undecideds don’t necessarily share the wingtards’ view of the media.
gwangung
Wonder what those Republican friends think…
Dennis - SGMM
Isn’t this a shorthand way of saying that they got nuthin’? They can’t run on their own records. They can’t run on Bush’s record. McCain’s health care plan is a poor joke. The two wars are yet to be won and, by some measures going backwards. The economy is tanking yet McCain retains his militant supply-side "economic team." Slinging shit is all they have. In a normal election year it might even work but this is not a normal election year. If McCain had posed as being steady, dignified and thoughtful he’d have a shot. He didn’t. Gambling addict that he is, McCain bet the whole election on antics and anger. That works with the Republican base, who would vote to elect a two week old tuna sandwich if it had an "R" on it. The rest of America is looking for someone thoughtful, steady, and poised. That would be Senator Obama.
Brachiator
Palin appeared in California, which strongly tilts for McCain, but she appeared before a crowd that was mainly women, but also ethnically diverse. The crowd was warmed up by actor Jon Voight, and more surprisingly, by a head of the National Organization for Women. So the aim is to try to pick off votes, send a message to voters in swing states that Palin is a viable candidate, and to raise money. More details on Palin’s appearance can be found here:
McCain and Palin seem to have no problem exploiting either a residual resentment among some Democrats that Hillary Clinton was not their nominee or a fear of Obama or just plain political stupidity. This may not be a huge problem for Obama and Biden, but they need to stop treating Palin as a joke, an ineffectual know-nothing, and spell out why she is just as bad for America as is McCain.
HRA
Moments ago I read a comment on another site from an Independent woman who was thinking of McCain until this step back into Ayers while there are very important issues that must be addressed by the campaigns.
This regurgitation of stupidities already over done earlier in this election year will leave most if not all digusted when they are looking for change to get us out of the 8 year mess. Furthermore it shows a prelude to the last rites of a campaign.
EddieInCA
Palin appeared in California, which strongly tilts for McCain
In what planet?
Comrade Jake
California tilts strongly for McCain? Are you drunk?
Look, this was about two things: raising money, and creating a diversion away from the economy. You want to know why they want to talk about the latter? Because they’re desperate to change the subject. They have nothing with Ayers. Zip, zero, zilch. That dog won’t hunt.
Palin’s a diversion. They expect her to be counterattacked, they want her to be counterattacked. It takes Team Obama’s eye off the ball, which is the economy and McCain’s lack of ideas. It’s GOP tactics 101.
Polish the Guillotines
@Brachiator:
Huh? California’s almost +16 for Obama. It’s safe Dem. At least according to 538.
SoCal (where she appeared) has some seriously conservative enclaves, but unless Obama pulls a Lex Luthor and detonates a nuke that causes a 9.0 on the San Andreas fault, no way does CA go red this year.
Dennis - SGMM
Brachiator, did you mean to say that Palin appeared in Orange County, California, which does indeed tilt strongly toward McCain? Of course, Orange County would give a warm reception to Palin: they’d give a warm reception to a trepanned orangutan if it was a Republican. Shelley Mandell is a Hillary Clinton supporter who may be the last of the red hot PUMAs.
Comrade Jake
Springsteen’s rally for Obama in Philly.
EddieInCA
Dennis –
She appeared at the Home Depot Center, home of the Galaxy soccer team. It’s in Carson, CA, well inside the Los Angeles County limits. She was close to Orange County, but not that close.
Also, I have it on good authority that there was a huge Obama protest outside the Home Depot Center.
ThymeZone
Um, no. I posted multiple times because the posts never appeared on the thread. In two browsers, on two different machines, over a period of some time.
Posts I made in between those disappeared posts did appear on the thread. Immediately.
What’s more, I made subtle changes to the posts so that they were not duplicates.
Like I said, the thing has a problem, and it wasn’t my posts.
I am familiar with all support traditions. But after you blame the user, it is sometimes necessary to investigate the actual problem :)
Dennis - SGMM
EddieInCA, thanks for the clarification. I’m a Californian as well. Although California is considered a Blue State it has a lot of red. Drive inland fifty miles in most places and you’re in a Red State. It is to the discredit of the Democrats here that they are satisfied to rely on the Democratic-leaning urban parts of California while yielding up the rest of the state to the Republicans. Their complacency may yet bite them on the ass.
Brachiator
I meant to write "California tilts strongly for Obama," but I was wrestling with edits and missed this error (block quote and formatting is still off even when things look perfect in preview). But some may have figured this out from the context, since I noted the odd appearance of the head of NOW even though the organization itself has formally endorsed Obama.
Actually, Obama has either dropped the ball here or is carrying water for the boneheaded Democratic Party leadership. Voters are still steaming over the $700 billion bailout, and even though both sides talk about oversight, there is not a syllable about stronger regulation of the financial services industry in the now bloated 400 plus page final bill.
On the other hand, Democratic Party leaders Pelosi and Barney Frank, otherwise honorable, somehow agreed to over $100 billion in extra pork and tax breaks for business, while giving up on any breaks for the little guy. On top of this, Senate Republicans have successfully blocked an attempt to extend unemployment benefits because it would be — don’t laugh — fiscally irresponsible.
There are already signs that the bailout won’t work. A yahoo news story notes how a German government deal to
address their side of the problem has fallen apart:
Instead of spanking Republicans directly for their foolish attempt to fight off reasonable regulation and make sure that the bailout won’t be a waste of taxpayer money, Obama is talking about the differences between his health care proposal and McCain’s views. But with $700 billion and more for the financial system "rescue" and $600 billion and more thrown into Iraq, it is not likely that Obama will have money available for health care reform, so his emphasis on this right now is odd, and his failure to make use of citizen anger over bailing out the wealthy at the expense of ordinary people is a wasted opportunity.
TenguPhule
In a just world, there is a special place in tentacle hell for Palin and these people.
Zuzu Hussein's Petals
@ Brachiator –
If the name Shelly Mandell sounds slightly familiar to anyone over a certain age, possibly it’s because she has a long history as a ratf***er extraordinaire:
NY Times
Edit: danged blockquote tags
Delia
With all due respect for whoever still lives behind the Orange Curtain, this has a lot to do with why I was so glad to get out of that county and move to Oregon. I would much rather live in Utah, the state in which I grew up, than in Orange County.
Comrade Jake
What the hell does any of that have to do with your previous post, which was all about Palin?
Anyway, the vast majority of the public already blames the GOP for the mess in the first place, and also for the delay in passing the bill. Obama’s going to have a hard time doing a heckofa lot more with that one.
He’s pivoting to healthcare because McCain made the mistake of crafting a plan that actually raises taxes on some people. He’s pivoting to healthcare because he wants it to be discussed in the upcoming town hall, as he knows in this case that it’s a far simpler case for him to make against McCain. The rescue plan/bailout is much more difficult to explain.
Annette
@ThymeZone:
Yes. You posted multiple times. And each time, the post was picked up by the antispam plugin.
Yes. Because those posts were not picked up by the antispam plugin.
Irrelevant, really. The plugin doesn’t care, although there is one that will tell people they’re trying to make a duplicate post if they are doing so. At least, I think it’s still active, but that doesn’t matter much either in the current case.
It has no problem, as it did what it is supposed to do. Nobody said anything about your posts except to the extent that you managed to set off the plugin.
If you were as intimately familiar with such traditions as I happen to be, you would note that a) nobody blamed you for anything, and certainly not I, and b) there is no "actual" problem: each one of your posts set off the antispam plugin. They were therefore held in the queue until someone came along, approved one, and dumped the other two. Which is, as it happens, exactly what I said.
Polish the Guillotines
That’s quite a pivot from your original point. But in spite of the anger Californian’s feel over the bailout, we also got the message when the Governor and Treasurer made it clear the entire state will be broke by the end of the month since no banks are in a lending mood and CA needs a loan to pay its bills.
Look, Obama isn’t going to lose CA. Ain’t gonna happen.
Delia
Hey, you wanna read about the real McCain? Just read Rolling Stone
Scott H
@Annette
As of a day or two ago the duplicate post alert was still working. I had some browser hang, tried to repost, got the alert.
Not that I was concerned, but I at least now why occasionally a post gets queued to ‘moderation.’
rikyrah
Palin has a pastor who is a goddamned WITCH HUNTER, and they want to bring up Jeremiah Wright?
Bring it on.
As for Ayers.
Obama was EIGHT YEARS OLD when Ayers did his crimes.
Palin is MARRIED to a mofo who belonged to a SECESSIONIST GROUP.
Yeah, bring it on.
gwangung
Wonder what Nelson Mandela was doing about that time…
Brachiator
The claim was that Palin’s statements about Ayers was an attempt to divert attention away from McCain’s wrongheaded view of the economy. I simply pointed out that Obama dropped the ball on this. He should have slapped McCain hard for no longer campaigning in Michigan, which is hit hard by economic hard times. And Obama is misreading public anger. The public may blame the GOP for the mess in the first place, but they blame both Democrats and Republicans for potentially throwing $700 billion down a rathole and calling it a "rescue." Obama could have channeled some of that anger by pointing out that Republicans are still lying to the people about "oversight."
The health care plans of both Obama and McCain are theoretical. There really isn’t much to discuss because no legislation has been crafted or passed. But taxpayers want to know what the hell they are going to get for their $700 billion, and what either Obama or McCain is going to do to make sure that the same thing doesn’t happen again.
A couple of talk radio goons here in Southern California have been perfectly willing to help Palin out on the ridiculous Ayers nonsense by mentioning her quote and dropping all the factual details. The point of the smear is simple. If Obama were really patriotic, he would never associate with terrorists. As I noted earlier, the lie is that Obama was the only person in Illinois who associated with Ayers, a known terrorist, and so may be a terrorist himself, as opposed to John McCain, who did you know was a POW Hero.
On the other hand, I would love to see the Democrats throw this stuff back on Palin by challenging her on her possible approval of a separatist group.
gwangung
Yeah, true. What about the president of the McCormick Theological Seminary? And the member of the Boards of Directors of the Chicago Board Options Exchange? Obviously, just as guilty of associating with terrorists…
TenguPhule
President Bernie Porn
Greatest. Sentence. In. News. Ever.
Conservatively Liberal
With the ‘Southern Strategy’ in mind, I wonder if her and her hubby’s affiliation with a Alaskan secessionist group would really bother many wingnuts and racist Democrats in the South.
Just something to chew on…
Richard Bottoms
Forget about AIP John.
Start asking questions about Palin’s support for FIJA (Fully Informed Jury Association) and its ties to Joe Holland, Byron De La Beckwith, Timothy McVeigh, Neo-Nazi Skin Heads, Christian Identity, and Militia nuts from the 90’s.
Contact the Southern Poverty Law Center for details.
4jkb4ia
This is where the McCain campaign is so desperate that they would use The Tape, if there was any. Telling the media ahead of time that they are going negative is probably a sign there is none.
SGEW
God dammit, it’s the AKIP, not the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
(grumble grumble)
Brachiator
A full vetting of this might cause Palin’s support in the midwest to evaporate, and while some southerners might try to play off the Alaska separatist thing, it would cause evangelicals in the south and elsewhere lots of problems. It’s hard to claim that the deity has a special plan for American and also to believe that the whole of the United States is not a legitimate nation.
Lisa
#44 Stuck in the fun house
#42 Cyntex
#38 John Cole
I don’t listen to Obama radio ads. The listeners were complaining, however, the campaign response was most revealing. " We are not trying to hide it, we just didn’t want it to go mainstream so that it wouldn’t cloud Obama’s message of change". That would imply that they were NOT attacks on the issues. I am not like a lot of you hacks that just make shit up. Look it up yourself. Try, maybe, uh, google? You want to talk about the economy ? Let’s do. I know that Obama supporters tout their extreme intellect so I will not pretend to be anything more than a simpleton. I am not impressed with Obam using the working poor. He always refers to his policies as "middle class" when he is really refering to our poor. He will sink the middle class and further expand our working poor class. You can not bring the poor out of dispair with hefty promises, you can not provide the services he is talking about because our problem is not services, it is ACCESS! Mandating parents to buy insurance for their children or be fined is another slippery slope I am not comfortable with. His campaign is as much about instilling fear in the most vunerable of our society, the poor. If you think negative ads are shameless, shame on both candidates. If you think that pandering to our poor is shameless, raise your hand. Don’t under estimate how much we can do together, all of us, don’t let Obama start or reinvigorate a class/race war.