"I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it."
-John McCain, 2000
This analysis, in my opinion, is right on the money on how to deal with the "new" Republican distraction machine. Yeah, it sure is easy to get all worked up about Palin, whether you're for or against her. I know I've fallen into that trap myself. But... It distracts from the truth of McCain and Bush and the Republicans' last 8 years of systematic destruction of our rights, freedoms and standing in the world, who used to look up to us as a country, even with our known faults. And we are not any more safe. In fact probably far less so.
So, yeah she's a feisty, moose huntin', Pentacostal "in tongues" speakin', sarcastic ex beauty queenin', it's "God's plan" that we're in Iraq talkin' ball of jingoistic energy, er... bullshit, but... SHE'S JUST THERE TO DISTRACT FROM McSAME'S LACK OF REAL CHANGE AND IDEAS.
-Maltok 5
The correct answer to all these questions is: who cares? Which isn't to say these aren't valid questions, or that Palin and the McCain camp aren't playing it fast, loose, and coy with each of them. The point is that Palin, and the circus she's brought to town, are simply a bountiful collection of small lies deliberately designed to distract the country from one big truth: the havoc that George Bush and the Republican Party have wrought, and that John McCain is committed to continuing.
Every second of this campaign not spent talking about the Republican Party's record, and John McCain's role in that record, is a victory for John McCain.
Her critics like to say that Palin hasn't accomplished anything. I disagree: in the space of ten days she's succeeded in distracting the entire country from the horrific Bush record -- and McCain's complicity in it. My friends, that's accomplishment we can believe in.
Just look at the problem John McCain faced. George Bush has a disastrous record, and the country knows it. John McCain -- the current one, not the one who vanished eight years ago -- has no major disagreements with George Bush (and I'm sorry, wanting to fire Donald Rumsfeld a bit sooner doesn't qualify) and wants to continue his incredibly unpopular policies for another four years. The solution? Enter Sarah Palin, a Trojan Moose carrying four more years of disaster.
And the plan has worked beautifully. Just look at what's being discussed just 57 days before the election. Is it the highest unemployment rate in five years? The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? The suicide bombing yesterday in Iraq that killed six people and wounded 54 -- in the same market where last month a bomb killed 28 people and wounded 72? That the political reconciliation that was supposedly the point of "the surge" is nowhere near happening? That Iraq's Shiite government is now rounding up the American-backed Sunni leaders of the Awakening? That the reason 8,000 soldiers may be leaving Iraq soon is so more can be deployed to Afghanistan where the Taliban is steadily retaking the country?
No. We're talking about whether Sarah Palin was or was not a good mayor, whether she was or was not a good mother, whether her skirts are too short and her zingers too sarcastic.
Contrary to what we're hearing 24/7 in the media, the next few weeks are not a test of Sarah Palin. The next few weeks are a test of Barack Obama.
He needs to dramatically redirect this election back to a discussion over the issues that really matter -- the issues that will impact the future of this country. A presidential campaign is a battle and this is the time for Obama to show some commander-in-chief skills. I'm not talking about calling Palin out for lying about his record and demeaning community organizing. I'm talking about grabbing the political debate by the throat. The country is already angry about what's happened over the last seven-plus years -- he shouldn't be afraid to give voice to that anger. Obama has spent years adopting a non-threatening persona; but he can't let his fear that appearing like an "angry Black man" (a stereotype not-too-subtly fueled by Fox News) will turn off swing voters keep him from channeling the disgust and outrage felt by so many voters --swing and otherwise. [more]
This guy doesn't seem to have a big axe to grind. He might even be telling the truth. Either way, it's good to try to put a countering argument to the whole "I'm a hero! Vote for me!" thing McCain and his campaign have been doing, regardless of the topic. They cheapen the true worth of McCain's actual heroic deeds.
I just couldn't help myself. Besides, who needs an intern when you've got a...
History in the making, indeed!Bill O'Reilly's wooden nose grows almost as long as the "bridge to nowhere," and Dick Morris eats his own foot.
When did the Republican Party become the Pity Party?
What has surprised me this week in St. Paul is the sense of grievance that Republicans feel, or pretend to feel, at the cruel forces that are treating them in such a beastly manner. The news media are the principal villains. Having rallied around Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate, Republicans are outraged that anyone would ask whether a first-term Alaska governor, whose only other political experience was as a small-town mayor, is the right person for the job. Having announced that Sarah Palin’s unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, the McCain campaign is irate that anyone would write about this circumstance, much less ask further questions about it.
“Why hound the Palin family over such a private matter?” the campaign protests. Uh, maybe because you put out a press release?
Anyone who questions Palin’s qualifications, or points out that she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it, is being sexist. Anyone who mentions that McCain is 72, which would make him the oldest man to be elected president, is being ageist. Who knew the Republican Party was so keenly attuned to delicate matters of political correctness? It’s hard to square the image of the party that Fred Thompson tried to project Tuesday night -- tough, muscular to the point of being martial, unafraid and uncompromising, able to skin a moose -- with all the exquisite sensitivity, all the wailing and the lamentation and the gnashing of teeth, on display in St. Paul. This is a party that seems to want reassurance, validation, and maybe a hug.
It all reminds me of those old Saturday morning cartoons in which an elephant would jump up on a stool and tremble in fear at the sight of a mouse.
By Eugene RobinsonWell, John McCain has sure stirred things up, that wily wascal maverick type old guy that he is. Hmmm... let's see... How can we tap into that whole "youth, change" thing? Oh I've got it! Let's pick an anti choice former school basketball star who has been mayor and is now governor of a state with very little population! Oh yeah, well, she's got five kids, one a newborn with special needs... ah she even said recently she wasn't ready to be Vice President. Er, uh that'll sure shake things up. See? I am a maverick, yes I sure am...
Don't worry that I'm 72, have had 2 bouts with cancer and might blow a head gasket next time I get angry. This person can do the job. And... she'll pick up all those disgruntled Hillary voters.
Well, maybe not, with that anti choice thing she's got going. It is historic though.
These folks aren't really helping us out with the whole "I'm proud of America" thing... Maybe someone could help them with their spelling...
-Maltok 5
In Florida, the cars were spray painted with words like "Oboma [sic] smokes crack"
And "Oboma [sic] is a Nigger"
In Indiana, the windows were broken, more hateful words were scrawled, and an American Flag was stolen.
So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name, you know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."
In Nevada, fliers of Obama posing like a monkey, with a noose/lightbulb hanging over his head, were on the lightpoles.
In Georgia, they made Obama is monkey T-shirts. Hate groups like them so much, [warning: hate site linked] they sell them too under the motto "Buy this shirt from us, we won't deny being racist!" [more]
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Posted September 8, 2008 | 03:28 PM (EST)