This is just win:
While Barack Obama is speaking about international affairs in Germany before thousands of fans tomorrow, John McCain will be talking about a pressing domestic issue with an equally striking if very different backdrop.
Weather permitting, McCain will helicopter from Louisiana to an oil rig in the Gulf Coast to make the case for expanded off-shore drilling, says a McCain aide.
While Obama is speaking to an international audience, McCain will be dodging a hurricane to stand on the symbol of big oil, where he can presumably tell the American people that if we start looking for more oil offshore, in ten years when McCain is 82 we might be able to start producing enough to lower the price of gas a nickel.
And then there is this winning art design:
Nothing says peace, prosperity, and optimism like fire-red skies and fighter planes. How much is the Obama campaign paying Steve Schmidt?
*** Update ***
Dr. Melissa Clouthier is going to shit a pink twinkie when she sees the McCain poster.
*** Update #2 ***
Awesome timing for the oil-rig stunt, McSame:
The U.S. Coast Guard has closed 29 miles of the Mississippi River from New Orleans southward after a tanker and a barge collided, spilling more than 400,000 gallons of fuel oil into the river.
Tugboats hold up pieces of a barge after it collided with a tanker Wednesday in the Mississippi River in New Orleans.
The river, a major shipping route between the Midwest and Gulf of Mexico, could be closed for days during the cleanup, the Coast Guard said Wednesday.
More than 30 ships already are queued up along the river, waiting to pass through the closed zone, Coast Guard Petty Officer Jaclyn Young said.
The Coast Guard has deployed 45,000 feet of inflatable booms to contain the spill and is lining up another 29,000 feet, but it could be days before the river is reopened, she said.
The accident left a sheen over 90 percent of the area, she said.
At what point does the McCain campaign staff just start drinking heavily?
Mike S
It’s not Obama paying Schmidt. It’s the far right Christians. They want him to lose so they can say “I told you so…”
Tony J
Is the answer “Not enough?”
Noah
Thank you for the link John! You are awesome!
LITBMueller
I just hope when McCain flies in the chopper, staffers warn the pilot to steer clear of the tanker that struck a barge and spilled 400,000 gallons of fuel oil into the Mississipi River near New Orleans!!!
While they’re at it, they should probably come up with answers to these question:
1) “Why are we shipping 400,000 gallons of fuel oil OUT of the US when we have needs here?”
2) “Does more off-shore drilling only mean that Exxon-Mobil will just earn more in exports, since our refinery capacity will not be increased in order handle whatever new oil is drilled out in the Gulf?”
JL
Are Joe and Lindsay going? Maybe it’s a romantic holiday for three.
HumboldtBlue
Peace is born of wisdom? What the hell does that even mean? Peace is the absence of conflict, or a dirty fucking hippy idea or somethin’.
That’s gonna bug me all day …. peace is born of wisdom, peace is born of wisdom …
NewUnansweredQuestions
Schmidt is turning the McCain campaign into a caricature of the McCain campaign.
Who said satire is dead? These guys are satirizing their own schtick.
In ten years, when our $12.00 gasoline starts pumping at $11.55, Americans will cheer the day they elected this gasbag president!
johnosahon
” How much is the Obama campaign paying Steve Schmidt?”
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Jake
Every day, they have a different stunt scripted. Have we ever seen a candidate this desperate for attention? Consider:
1) The bruhaha over McCain’s “rejected” NYT op-ed over the weekend
2) The non-leak leak to Novak over a possible VP announcement Monday night, just before the evening news shows
3) McCain’s repeated use of the “Obama would rather lose a war than lose a campaign” line yesterday
The best part: they recently cancelled a press conference. Ostensibly this is out of concern McCain would have to answer questions over the Anbar Awakening flak.
McCain might not be Bush 3.0, but he’s definitely running a bush league campaign.
johnosahon
” How much is the Obama campaign paying Steve Schmidt?”
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Tlaloc
I suppose that’s one way to look at it. Another would be that while Obama is off talking to people who have absolutely no effect on his chances to be president McCain is taking advantage of a populist issue that affects every american voter. Now granted McCain isn’t going to be honest about the matter. Duh. What should also be taken for granted is that he doesn’t have to be. People like to hear that eveything will be alright, particularly if it requires no effort on their part.
In terms of political manuevering this seems like a pretty clear win for McCain. The major mitigating factor is that McCain’s stunt may not get nearly as much press as Obama’s.
Joshua Norton
Next McCain slogan:
War is just a noisy peace.
David
That poster honestly looks like something you’d see attached to an obituary.
John Cole
It wouldn’t surprise me if it is a play on the Reagan-era Peace through Strength, as McCain and the Republicans haven’t learned a new trick since 1980.
The thing is, Peace Through Strength made sense- we were at the height of the Cold War. Peace Through Wisdom is kind of harder to sell when the Wisdom you are offering is singing “Bomb Iran” and supporting unflinchingly the clusterfuck in Iraq.
Good luck with that one, McStooge.
NewUnansweredQuestions
Oh, man, what the fuck are you smokin’?
That’s the funniest thing I have seen around here in days.
Krista
That’s right, and when he lands, he’ll be wearing a flightsuit, with his truss worn on the outside.
Manly!
John Cole
Have you always been this batshit insane, or did I just start to pay attention to you during the primaries?
Old man McCain getting buffeted around the deck of an oil rig while Obama speaks to thousands of cheering Germans is a win for McCain? I guarantee you won’t even be able to hear McCain with the wind on that oil rig, the acoustics are going to be so fucking bad.
Maybe they will borrow Bush’s Mission Accomplished banner. Then it would be a clear win for McCain, AMIRITE?
w vincentz
That slogan, “peace is born of wisdom” needs to be changed to “war is born of idiocy”.
But, I must say that the Biblethumpers will love the “god” like image among the clouds. Dobson will use it, no doubt.
NewUnansweredQuestions
It does! I expect to see it on CNN with the caption: Breaking, McCain Dead?
SpotWeld
McCain, I suspect is playing up to the “War(!!) on Terror” Crowd.
In other words, War is good (somewhere else) because it means peace (over here). It fits into the whole “Fighting them over there so we don’t fight them here.”
To me, it’s pretty much “Give the enemy the logistic advantage so I can better control the PR.”
NewUnansweredQuestions
This looks like material for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report for a long time. Years maybe.
Wisdom? How about applying some wisdom to keep us out of the useless fucking war in the first place?
Oh.My.God. These guys have totally lost it.
We are watching the hapless citizens of Pompeiirepublicania watch the advancing cloud of death from the Vesuvius, not sure exactly what is about to happen to them.
Brachiator
The poster looks like McCain is bringing the Rapture. Praise Jesus!
Nate
John,
You’re missing the big story here–the oil rig photo-op was cancelled due to a massive oil spill in New Orleans which has shut down the Mississippi.
Jonathan Martin has blogged about it. Here is the CNN link http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/23/mississippi.spill/index.html
JL
Whom’s wisdom is peace born from? Certainly not McCain’s.
SpotWeld
Okay.. is this irony?
A photo op meant to support increased offsure drilling is canceled because of a massive oil spill.
Or is this just one of those “reality as a know liberal dias” sort of things?
gbear
Question for the grammar police: Should born be spelled with an ‘e’ in this setting? ..borne of wisdom?
Joshua Norton
It really needs a few mushroom clouds to make the republican “peace” message ring true.
Dreggas
More appropriate IMO.
Halteclere
I agree. When I first saw the picture I thought McCain was pimping his own version of the Bible (King James version instead of that new fangled NLV stuff, with large, easier-to-read print of course).
Wilfred
Sherlock Whoms. Otherwise, finalist for most ungrammatical sentence in the history of the site. Kudos.
NewUnansweredQuestions
McCain has slipped the surly bonds of reality,
and danced the skies on delusion-silvered wings.
I just made that up. I swear.
Joshua Norton
Am I missing something in all this “drill, drill,drill” hoo-hah?
Are they intending to nationalize the oil companies? Because if they’re not, the oil isn’t going to us, it’s going to Exxon, Mobile et al. They’ll be selling it to China, Europe and anywhere else that meets their price. It’s not at all guaranteed to end up in American gas tanks.
Mary
When you get this many signs in one week that God hates you and your candidacy, isn’t that a sign to wrap it up?
Ted
SpotWeld
Joshua, you’re appling “common sense”. Which is an utter mistake during an election season.
Wilfred
The ad makes sense in the traditional War is Peace kind of way.
Tlaloc
How many of those thousands of germans are american voters? So why the hell would it matter that they cheer on Obama? At the same time what is the major issue for this election according to polls?
Oh yeah, the economy.
You are trying to argue that in the middle of a crappy economy american voters will be more swayed by the approval of foreigners than by someone promising easy fixes to their money woes.
Yeah, good luck with that one.
Ted
Aaaaaaannndd that has been canceled due to the hurricane. Damn. Damn damn.
It would have been so awesome.
Ted
SRY FR DBL PST
KXB
With a Hat Tip to The Simpsons, how about this slogan – “McCain – if you were running, he’d vote for you.”
calipygian
Why does that McCain ad remind me of the cover of the DVD of Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Or God from the same movie?
jake
McCrumb’s new campaign slogan: A Series of Unfortunate Events.
I really shouldn’t laugh this hard at an oil spill.
JoyceH
Well, that blows my theory then. Considering the weather in the Gulf, I’d started to think the helicopter stunt was a way for the party big mucks to ‘tragically’ lose their candidate so they could start fresh with someone else.
John Cole
Mark Halperin, is that you?
jesus, you really can not be this dim. the events are not for the people at them, otherwise McCain would be better off pressing the flesh at a venue with voters.
These are MEDIA events. that is why McCain scheduled his trip to the three Berlins and an oil rig while Obama is in the real Berlin- to detract from the media attention.
And since your responses so far indicate no signs of intelligent life, I am forced to do this- the media events will be seen BY AMERICAN VOTERS.
The Other Steve
What’s up with that Dr. Melissa Clouthier blog?
Is that supposed to be a blogs4brownback type spoof. If so, it’s clever. Blogs4Brownback should keep that in mind, call themselves Doctors. Makes ’em look smart.
Koz
I don’t know, oil is down to $125 which is almost $25 off the high. Would you vote McCain to keep oil from going to $200/bbl? I know I would, but then I was going to vote for McCain anyway. But I bet some others will too.
If McCain leverages the energy issue right, he’ll be President. It’s one thing to have enough distaste for the GOP to indulge BHO’s callow indifference to real thought. It’s another to support Obama at the expense of the survival of our economy as we know it, like _right now_.
w vincentz
Leave it to the liberal captain of the tug Mel Oliver, a registered Democrat, to fuck up McCrap’s photo-op on the oil rig.
In other news, there’s some good and some bad.
The bad news first:
Johnnie McCranky, you’re going to lose the election in November.
The good:
You have alzheimers, so afterwards you can go home and forget about it.
Punchy
Uh…shouldn’t the correct spelling in that poster read “borne“? Quite sure he didn’t actually give physical birth to Peace.
Fucking dumbasses, the lot of ’em.
joe
I’m coining a new unit of time: the McCain.
1 McCain = the time between the release of a new John McCain poster, like the one shown above, and the appearance of a version with the text edited to read “Get the hell off my lawn” on the world wide web.
SpotWeld
Has anyone blogged the folllowing yet: “Barack Obama: Germans love him!”
Shouting at the Rain
I give these guys about two days before they turn that poster of NoClue into something awful…
Punchy
Yep, no Jews in this country. And the 8 or 9 that may be here, probably have little to no influence in politics.
Epic fail.
Joshua Norton
Exactly how would McCain stop that from happening? When we ask the question of whether there should be drilling off the coast of Florida or in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we should ask the question this way – would you be comfortable with the Chinese or the Germans or Russians or the Saudis drilling on American land? Because for all intents and purposes, they will be.
Large multi-national firms like Exxon-Mobil are not US property. They sell to the world and their allegiance is to corporate profits. They don’t want their profits to go down, no matter what load of crap they’re currently selling you. So, when they drill, they drill for the whole world, not just us. Some might find that heart-warming, but it certainly has nothing to do with the US having more oil or lower prices.
The Other Steve
Apparently they have no television cameras in Germany.
calipygian
Uh oh.
Dude, you picked the wrong blog to be a stupid troll.
They are going to rip out your liver and serve it with some fava beans and a nice chiati.
FFPFPFPFPFPFPFPFPFPFPFPFPFPFPFPFP!
Jake
Oh and Cole, I assume you’ve seen the latest on the birth-certificate follies?
It really does remind me of the people who insist the moon landing was a hoax. The lengths they’ll go to concoct batshit-crazy arguments in order to maintain their own fantasies is pure comedy.
tomjones
Peace is born of wisdom. Ignorance is strength. McCain ’08.
Ted
A lot of Americans actually do like the idea of having a president who is not universally hated/loathed/despised in nearly every country, but especially Europe. Obama gets a chance to show people back home that he won’t be greeted like Bush.
w vincentz
Koz,
Explain…how is McCrap going to keep oil below $200 /bbl?
Just wonderin’…
Jim Henley
I think McCain’s post-election plan is to make a living selling motivational posters.
b. hussein canuckistani
“The economy as we know it” == “The inalienable right of GM to make big profits selling Hummers”
RSA
Those fighter putti on the upper right of the McCain poster just kill me. Nice iconography.
Hedley Lamarr
In the photo the four jets represent those he crashed; the four stars represent the four he did not achieve, which helps explain why he wants more and more wars.
smiley
Some sources are reporting that the oil rig trip if off because of the weather.
nightjar
This disclaimer from the Wingnut Chiropracter about the HItler/Obama imagery.
Dumb as a fucking sack of hammers. “I was struck by how similar they are in feel” Christ on a pogo stick, these people are so stupid they ought to have to register themselves as hazard’s to continuing human existence.
Notorious P.A.T.
I expect to see it on CNN with the caption: Breaking, McCain Dead?
I can see it now: “John McCain dies, still leads Obama among Republicans”.
demimondian
I keep reading “Peace through Protein Wisdom”, and wondering what the Instapedant has to do with is.
Dreggas
Snake Oil salesmen promised easy fixes which usually led to blindness and other maladies, I’ll take the guy who is over-seas trying to rebuild a tarnished brand over someone trying to sell me the bad brand NOW WITH MORE OIL!
Andrew
I think it’s quite clear that they’ve already started.
w vincentz
There are hidden messages in the clouds.
Do you see the “batman” logo under the “W”?
How about the Jesus in the cloud in the upper right corner?
And whatsup with the reclining Cindy (lower right) looking like she’s writhing in orgasm?
I’m still trying to figure out the clouds under Johnnie’s neck. Might be manure.
Nellcote
A couple of years ago McCain voted against a bill to require oil drilled in the US to stay in the US.
montysano
I wonder if some of Cindy McCain’s recipes include a certain cactus product from her Arizona backyard? ‘Cause that would explain a lot.
Jay B.
If Obama adopts Gore’s challenge to be energy independent, he and Congress will be spending billions and billions on technologies and innovations that will spur further investment and sales — it would literally transform the economy in a VERY positive way (I’m partial to giving tax dollars to innovative companies and not simply Lockheed Martin and Halliburton).
To say nothing of allowing us to get the fuck out of the Middle East. So that’s a good start.
And I do love how the right, having failed to convince us that we’re whiners and that the economy is just fine, is now convinced that it’ll get even worse under the Democrats.
It’s almost as if they hadn’t run the government for the past 8 years and people have forgotten that not so long ago, a Democratic administration governed over a time of relative peace and decent prosperity.
I’m sure that’s just an oversight though.
Jay B.
Also: The sepia-tones of the American flag do wonders for the McCain message of progress, modernity and vigor.
Notorious P.A.T.
It’s one thing to have enough distaste for the GOP to indulge BHO’s callow indifference to real thought.
Yep, nothing says “I hate real thought” like opposing a preposterous war even though almost all the government, the media, industry, and a good portion of the populace are pushing for it.
And when someone says “I don’t care what happens (or how many people die) as long as my gas doesn’t get too expensive” I just figure they’re a psycopath.
Brachiator
If Germans don’t matter, one might also ask why the Bush Administration is strongly suspected of trying to get Obama’s appearance there minimized (Bush blamed for Merkel opposition to Brandenburg date for Obama)?
You have a point, but Obama had to accept McCain’s challenge to visit Iraq. This gave him an obvious opportunity to combine this with a visit to other countries. It’s still early in the campaign season, so while it may not greatly help Obama, it certainly can’t hurt him. It also sends a message to potential voters here in America that Obama might be far better able to enlist the support of our allies than McCain.
Meanwhile, McCain’s reaction to Obama-palooza reaches new heights of ridiculousness every day, and drowns out anything that McCain could possibly say about the economy.
All in all, a win for Obama.
McCain is angling for a role in the next Bourne Identity movie?
cyntax
Talk to the kettle much?
Ya got some examples of McCain’s “real thought” on hand there? Like maybe we’re a nation of whiners? Or the difference between Shia and Sunni? Or that pesky Iraq/Pakistan border? Or how about the fact that McCain said if the Iraqis asked us to leave we should, but oh wait, not if that means supporting a timetable? Or in terms of energy, why the hell do we need to open more coastline for drilling when all the current oil permits are going begging with no one to develop them?
SamFromUtah
Isn’t mentioning wisdom at all making an issue of McCain’s age??? How dare they!
Calouste
We weren’t. It was a barge, which is a river vessel.
That barge however was struck by an oil tanker (that didn’t leak) that is carrying 4,000,000 gallons of bio diesel to Rotterdam.
Ash Can
In light of this latest gem, I suspect that alcohol wouldn’t be enough for them at this point.
Dreggas
Not to get all giddy over the guy getting assassinated and all but really, that’s rich. He was assassinated after the surge started so the surge didn’t really protect him now did it?
w vincentz
Old Rolling Stones song…(Mick sings)
“Hey! You! Get OFFA MY CLOUD!
Hey! You! Get OFFA MY CLOUD!
Hey! YOU! Get OFFA MY CLOUD!
Off my cloud…”
off my lawn, baby…
Brachiator
McCain appears to be counting on the media to continue to cover his ass, or the idea that some voters are so afraid of the prospect of an Obama presidency that they will believe whatever McCain says. Because he just won’t stop with knowingly false assertions (McCain denies he misstated timing of Iraq surge):
So now, the surge is whatever McCain says it means, and it started whenever McCain says it started, no matter what he said earlier about it. Because he knows things. He has foreign policy and military experience. And a crystal ball and a time machine. So, there!
Also note how the media loves to enable McCain’s political gibberish. So he is “pushing back against Democratic criticism,” not denying reality.
cybergal619
McBush looks sooo angelic, I actually hear harps playing.
Oh! I just realized what this poster reminds me of – a holy card they give you at someone’s funeral. You know, on the back side is a prayer and stats of the recently departed…
Just sayin’
w vincentz
@ b. hussein,
Since you mentioned “hummers”, any news of what Monica L is up to lately?
Pug
The U.S. has 3% of the world’s estimated oil reserves and consumes 20% of the world’s oil production.
I wonder if McCain can do the math?
Volum
I made a campaign poster that at this point is a lot more fitting for McCain:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28873980@N03/2696192699/
gbear
Eight years ago John Ashcroft lost to an opponent who had died just before the election
OriGuy
I’m looking forward to going to Europe next year without having to learn how to say “I’m sorry our president is an idiot, but I didn’t vote for him” in half-a-dozen languages.
OriGuy
I had to share this; one of Matt Iglesias’ commenters, hight Pesto, had the best line on the wingnut kerfuffle about the Obama Berlin speech poster.
SamFromUtah
I’m looking forward to going to Europe next year without having to learn how to say “I’m sorry our president is an idiot, but I didn’t vote for him” in half-a-dozen languages.
You might still, though it looks pretty unlikely McCain’ll win.
Don’t tear the maple-leaf patch off your backpack just yet.
harlana pepper
Um, just what kind of ‘peace’ were you talking about, Mr. McCain?
harlana pepper
I think the trolls on here (and Dr. Melissa Clouthier, whoever the fuck that is) are equating modern Germans with Nazis, they just don’t want to come right out and say it which, for them, is quite surprising.
Laertes
No, the poster should not read “borne.” “Born” is correct.
“Peace is born of wisdom” means peace comes from wisdom.
I don’t know what “peace is borne of wisdom” would even mean. I can’t imagine how you’d use “borne” with “of” like that.
Either way we’re speaking metaphorically, but using “born” in the sense of something creating something else seems like a pretty natural use of the word. Using “borne” in that context seems more awkward.
Bob In Pacifica
Is Steve Schmidt the son of a certain Congressman Schmidt from down around Orange County, California?
Because, if I recall, there was a story that one of Congressman Schmidt’s sons had an unusual injury to a sex organ that might have been the result of some kind of abuse.
Also, this congressman used to play German martial music and march his kids around the house.
If it’s the same Schmidt, his sister was the schoolteacher in Washington State who got pregnant from her student. Mary Tourneau or something.
Really, this Steve Schmidt may have come from a very strange family.
Maybe someone with better Google skills can flesh out the Schmidt family history.
w vincentz
Volum,
Purdy gud. Yup.
Purdy gud.
Bob In Pacifica
Sorry, my mistake. It was Mary Kay Letourneau who was daughter of Congressman John Schmitz. Her brother is Joseph E. Schmitz, appointed Inspector General of the Department of Defense by George W. Bush.
Not Schmidt. My apologies to Steve Schmidt.
Delia
Kevin Drum in his comments on the McCain poster suggests they have gotten their ideas over at despair.com. Or at least that that’s a good place to start designing your own snarky imitation.
I don’t think the McCain campaign is drinking. I think they’re inhaling ether.
Brachiator
McCain probably can’t. But I can.
The US is responsible for about 20% of the world’s GDP.
Energy usage and economic productivity track pretty closely.
Consumption is not always the most meaningful way to look at energy use.
Chris Johnson
“Object to Obama, or my hands will be around your throat again!” :o
Cruel Jest
Just a little heads up for you:
I’m stealing “shit a pink twinkie” and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.
Koz
Uhhhh, do you know who has the expertise in exploring and extracting oil? It is largely, but not exclusively America. Here’s a little quiz for you. How many Americans work in Saudi drilling there versus the number of Saudis who are here in the energy business? When you figure that out get back to me.
Koz
IOW, “Let them eat cake.”
Btw, have you checked on GM’s profits recently?
Koz
Because the areas that are closed to drilling are known to have oil (among other things, the coastal drilling ban abuts areas where oil has already been successfully been drilled), where as much of the leased areas are not.
But this is superfluous anyway. We need all the oil we can find. If we want to restructure federal oil leases to encourage more production, that’s fine. But that’s not a justification for banning drilling by the coastline or in Alaska.