A Dumb Obama Ad
An example of the Obama campaign “taking the bait”. About the only good thing to say about this stupid ad is that at least it’s not telling out and out lies like most of McCain’s most recent ones.
Campaigning vs Governing
It’s all about marketing … and the Republicans are better at it.
It sure is a shame they don’t take actual governing nearly as seriously as they do campaigning.
Politics As Sport
I suppose it’s always been this way, but in our hyper 24-hour news cycle, it’s just amplified.
We treat our politics like a sport.
There are about a gazillion daily polls now … and we watch, and cheer, every little movement. We view endless stream of 30 second ads, with the same fascination as we would a fight in a hockey game. The nasty ad, that may not be true, is much more exciting than the truthful promises about how to make our lives better.
… and even better, there’s no penalty for lying.
Because in the end, we’ve all become so caught up in the “game” that we forget that when it’s all over, WE THE PEOPLE have to live with the “winner” for the next 4 years.
Unlike our favorite weekend sporting event, this matters
… it’s a shame we sometimes have such a hard time remembering that.
A Different Take on McCain’s “Fact Check” Ad
Another completely false and misleading ad from the McCain campaign … no surprise there.
But …
I have a theory as to Why they put out this particular ad.
They finally did their vetting … and they know something is coming.
This ad is a booster shot to help shore up the inoculation of Sarah Palin.
How many people already won’t believe ANYTHING bad about Sarah Palin?
The answer to that question could possibly have an impact on this entire election.
Just a theory … what do you think?
Lipstick On A Pig
It’s kind of ironic that one of the first issues taken up by the Palin “truth” squad is total BS …
This faux outrage over supposed sexism is already getting old pretty fast.
And really, if they’re gonna throw a fit, they ought to at least ensure first that their own candidate has never used the EXACT SAME PHRASE in the past:
The Inoculation Of Sarah Palin
Whether it was “stupid liberal tricks”, or planted information by a brilliant right wing operative, that rumor which hit the Internet almost immediately after the Vice Presidential announcement insinuating that Sarah Palin might not be the mother of baby Trig has done the new nominee much more good than harm.
In true Rovian fashion, the McCain campaign immediately tried (and it would appear did an amazingly good job) to tie these rumor to both the Obama campaign, and even more so to the mainstream media.
The net effect …
Now that there is some real vetting going on about Gov Palin’s record and views, we already have a fairly sizable chunk of the American population who won’t believe ANYTHING negative about “Sarah” … even if it happens to be true.
If this group consists mainly of right wing conservatives, it probably won’t have a dramatic effect on the eventual outcome of this election.
However, if the same persuadable people who voted for George Bush in 2004, and later regretted it, can be hoodwinked again …
The Return of the Culture Wars
Upon further reflection …
The Democrats might need to change the narrative of this campaign again. Fast.
If this election is about actual issues, Obama/Biden should win going away … the Sarah Palin effect aside.
However, if the Republicans can keep this about personalities and about culture, there’s a very real chance that many of us may wake up on Nov 5th with the exact same feeling we had the morning after the 2004 election … “how the heck did that happen?”
The Republicans are amazingly good at marketing the culture wars.
Think about this …
I have a brother who lived in Florida. He’s married with a young kid. Worked at Walmart, couldn’t afford health insurance, struggled to pay his rent, etc,.
Yet, he’s a die hard Republican primarily because he doesn’t think two gay guys should be able to get married.
The culture war makes no sense.
… but it works.
Palin is McCain’s Double Edged Sword
As the right-wing blogsphere and radio talkers pee themselves with happiness because John McCain has (entirely as expected) pulled ahead in some of the latest daily tracking polls, we might all want to keep something in mind …
The Republican base is excited about Sarah Palin … not McCain/Palin.
When you peel away the curiosity and excitement over the still basically unknown Palin, what’s hiding underneath is the simple fact that …
John McCain still has a Conservative problem
His acceptance speech on Thursday night devoted a fair amount of time to pushing the idea that he is a maverick who bucks the party line, and is willing to work closely with Democrats to get things done.
This is a tightrope that is going to be tough to walk … for both McCain and Palin.
Unless the media totally abdicates their responsibility (which unfortunately is quite possible), at some point McCain/Palin will have to offer up some Specific ways that they may be willing to work together with the Democratic congress in the Future (not just site past positions that John McCain has already flip-floped on).
When/if this happens, one of two things will occur:
1) McCain Palin won’t be able to point to any specific bi-partisan agenda items, exposing their Maverick campaign for the obvious gimmick that it is.
2) Mr McCain (who probably really does want to work across party lines) will offer up some areas of agreement … which will immediately re-ignite criticism from the right … and probably lead to more open wondering why they even need McCain at all. (I bet most of them wouldn’t mind a bit now if McCain was to take that one term only pledge)
On a related note …
What’s it going to look like (and how will it be reported), when McCain and Palin finally start traveling separately, and she continues to draw much larger crowds than he does?
Just as Obama may have over-reached a little this summer in his choice of some venues, Republicans should be careful not to get too excited about the status of their own new celebrity.
Double edge swords and cut both ways.
John McCain The Uniter
I like John McCain. I think at heart he’s a good and decent man, who would have made a fine President … back in 2000.
Lately though, it’s obvious that he has no control over even his own campaign.
I watched his speech the other night, and as I’m listening to him talk about reducing the partisan rancor and bringing people together, I remember thinking to myself that he must not have watched Rudy and Sarah the night before. Apparently, Barack Obama was wondering the same thing
If John McCain had been running his campaign for the past 2-3 months as the John McCain (circa 200) that many of us admired; his speech on Thursday night would have made sense.
But since his campaign is being run by the same (Bush) people who have pretty much perfected the art of gutter politics over the past 8 year, John McCain’s call for unity rings amazingly hollow.
… at least to those of us who are actually listening.
Quote of the Day 09-07
At some point, it’s become not enough for me to look at all the wonderful charts over at FiveThirtyEight.com, so I’ve taken to reading the long comment threads in addition to the posts.
Today, in the course of a discussion about “elitists” looking down their noses at those who support Sarah Palin, a guy by the name of Charles M. Kozierok came back with this zinger …
I don’t want a “hockey mom” in the White House, dammit! I want a smart, capable leader. I want someone who can *outsmart* a Putin, not serve him a mooseburger!
