The Republicans think they are the ones who own this line of attack. They realize that all the things they said in 2004 can come right back and bite them, as they apply just as fairly (or unfairly) to St. John (did you know he was a POW?). An example:
Joseph Farah, World Net Daily, “President Gigolo?”:
But if there is one characteristic of Kerry’s life that should disqualify him absolutely as a candidate for president, it is the fact that he has sought out millionaire wives to take care of him. Not to put too fine a point on it, he’s a serial gigolo.
Let me ask you this: How many single women do you know worth a hundred million dollars or more? . . . After raising children with her, Kerry sought and received an annulment of that long-term marriage. Then he married Teresa Heinz Kerry, the widow of a Senate colleague five years his senior. She is worth approximately $500 million.
Is marrying well good preparation for serving as the president of the United States? . . . . He’s always had a net underneath him throughout his political career — in his case, a net woven of homespun 24K gold.
And my favorite, Rush Limbaugh:
Rush Limbaugh Online, “John Kerry’s Resume”:
[Kerry] has lived the life of a millionaire living off the inherited wealth of his two wives. As an Ivy League educated millionaire who did not have to work for his fortune, Mr. Kerry never had to worry about the money he earned, the taxes he paid, or the programs he and Ted Kennedy forced the rest of us to pay for. . . . Mr. Kerry Heinz is not effected (sic) when these neighborhoods are destroyed and working class families lose the largest asset in their retirement plans — their home’s value.
Goose, gander.
It stings even more because they walked right into it. They are the ones who spent the last month talking about elitism and being out of touch. They are the ones who made the celebrity ads. For a campaign team that has allegedly learned from Clinton’s mistakes in the primary, they must have missed it when Hillary spent weeks calling Obama elitist and attempting to profit on the “bitter” comments, only to have this happen:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton reported $20.4 million in income for 2007 and more than $109 million since 2000 as they gave the public the most detailed look at their finances in eight years.
Oops. USA Today breaks it down for you:
By dinnertime, the McCain team had released an ad about Obama and his former fundraiser Antoin Rezko, who was convicted of corruption charges in June. On the same day in 2005, Obama bought his house and Rezko’s wife bought an adjoining lot owned by the same sellers. She later sold a strip of it to Obama.
McCain, who has portrayed Obama as an elitist, is the son and grandson of admirals. The Associated Press estimates his wife, a beer heiress, is worth $100 million. Obama was raised by a single mother who relied at times on food stamps, and went to top schools on scholarships and loans. His income has increased from book sales since he spoke at the 2004 Democratic convention.
They are the ones who were pushing this sort of nonsense about a guy from a broken home who worked his way up from food stamps to a comfortable life, never in a million years thinking that the Democrats would, in fact, fight back. But he is. And they are shocked, angry, and most of all, scared. Their entire campaign is on the rails, with one comment from McCain exposing how very vulnerable they are on the battlefield they prepped.
Memo to Obama campaign- keep pushing this. And when they talk about Ayers, look into a guy named Bonanno. Why was McCain getting party invitations from mob bosses? When they talk about Rezko, talk about Charles Keating. And in both cases, just as it is with the current out of touch rich guy nonsense the Republicans themselves brought up, their candidate is more vulnerable. Obama was eight when Ayers was a factor. Their candidate actually admits to guilt in the Keating affair. When they say Rezko, you say Keating Five. And again, unlike Rezko in which nothing took place, there is something there for the Keating Five.
And whatever you do, ignore the concern trolls claiming Obama is ceding the high ground and “so much for the new politics.” The new politics is about competent governance and working with the opposition to gain consensus on worthwhile goals. The new politics requires getting elected, and taking accurate statements made by your opponent (in this case, their own admission they do not know how many houses they own) and highlighting them is not ceding the high ground. It is politics. Watch it again (I saw it this morning on CNN while I was having coffee):
Nothing in the Obama commercial was taken out of context. Nothing was distorted. McCain made those comments about the economy, he made the statement that he did not know how many houses he owns.
And, as a side note, as someone who was a Republican forever, watching a Democrat actually not only fight back, but fight back capably, quickly, and smartly IS a new kind of politics of a sort. In the past, you all sat by, let yourself get trashed and defined, and then wailed plaintively about mean Republicans taking the low road. Ask anyone out there- if someone punches you, you are allowed to punch back. It isn’t your fault if your assailant thought he was bullying a wimp but accidentally picked a fight with a heavyweight.
They are scared. They don’t know what hit them, and are about to bust out their limp Ayers nonsense and Rev. Wright stuff several months before the general. Keep punching. You know you are hurting them when the first thing McCain does is… hide behind his wife.
Andrew
Good post. TOO BAD NO ONE COULD READ IT FOR AN HOUR BECAUSE WORD PRESS SUCKS BALLS. Ahem.
liberal
I’m not sure how much of it is that, versus just being self-righteous, hypocritical pr*cks.
And while I hope Obama hits back hard, the press might turn it into a “oh, they’re both negative” story. At least that blithering idiot David Broder had some stupid column that sounded a bit like that, recently.
Warren Terra
Nice post, but what is this “Balloon Juice” I see here, and what happened to my favorite blog, “WordPress Error“?
Svensker
Heh.
Obama: One home, one wife.
Elvis Elvisberg
Amen.
In the world Democrats wish we lived in, where media coverage is defined by scrutiny of candidates’ proposals, voting records, and likely actions and decisionmaking processes when in office, attacking McCain over house-forgetting would be an off-putting distraction.
Instead, we get McCain lying his ass off all summer long about Obama’s energy and tax plans, and a series of gleeful McCain ads pounding away at Obama as some sort of vapid celebrity– and, because the media sucks at reporting the news, it works.
So, we deal with the world as it is, not as we wish it would be.
dmsilev
This is gold, on so many levels. First, we have the “He’s so rich, he’s lost track of the number of houses he owns” thing. Then, there’s the “He’s living off of his sugar momma, rather than being a Real Man” subtext. Beyond that, the actual audio was being aired by network newscasts last night, and he sounded really out of it, contributing to the “old and confused” theme.
And that’s even before getting into things like demonstrating that the McCain campaign isn’t very good at playing defense, and that the Obama team can throw a sharp punch on very little notice.
-dms
myiq2xu
Somewhere, Turdblossom is laughing his ass off.
Jake
Excellent post Cole. Spot on.
If the “noun, verb, and POW” meme picks up (and it seems to be gaining steam), they’ll also have succeeded in making McCain pull that Ace one too many times. Not quite the same thing as the swiftboating Kerry received, but I’ll take it.
Whatever you think about this whole thing, one thing should be absolutely clear. Only one of these candidates keeps his cool under pressure.
cain
That’s my visual bookmark on my firefox ‘speed dial’ page of visual bookmarks. ;-) I’m at the point where I am surprised when I can get to the home page.
cain
dmsilev
This is gold, on so many levels. First, we have the “He’s so rich, he’s lost track of the number of houses he owns” thing. Then, there’s the “He’s living off of his sugar momma, rather than being a Real Man” subtext. Beyond that, the actual audio was being aired by network newscasts last night, and he sounded really out of it, contributing to the “old and confused” theme.
And that’s even before getting into things like demonstrating that the McCain campaign isn’t very good at playing defense, and that the Obama team can throw a sharp punch on very little notice.
(2nd try at posting. Apologies if this is a dupe.)
-dms
gbear
It’s cool to see Obama putting up a fight. I hope that he shows enough spunk to convince these people that he’s worthy of their vote. This is going to be a rough election.
Splitting Image
Nicely said.
I’ve been thinking for a month that Obama was waiting for McCain to dig deeply enough with the “celebrity” stuff that Obama could bury him with a spoonful of dirt.
If Obama had counter-attacked right away, McCain might have tried a different avenue of attack. But as it is, he spent weeks laying the groundwork for what had to have been the Democrats’ main plan of attack to begin with.
A.Political
John!
Move your GD wordpress app to a server that can handle the load on the sql server!!
Either that or rebuild the thing from scratch, if you need any help let me know (email),
I’ve torn apart WP, done the web/graphic design and customized these things before – see http://www.exposedmusic.com or http://www.bringthebeats.com
Anyway, have a good weekend.
The Bobs
I’m sure Obama has been waiting for the right time to start beating McCain over the head with Charles Keating. McCain’s involvement was swept aside, but there is a lot of dirt there.
Then there are all the lobbyists on his campaign staff. Why are all the people he knows lobbyists? He has said that he doesn’t do favors for lobbyists. If this is true, why did these guys keep coming to visit him?
Warren Terra
Myiq, if Rove does laugh his ass off, as you suggest, what will you stick your head up?
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Word.
I so very much want to get out of this cycle of ever escalating partisanship, but the GOP has made it unmistakably clear that this will happen over their dead bodies. So be it. As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason
This is the house McCain sold in Phoenix.
Now granted it may have been too much in the upkeep department when he is usually in washington (he pays his household STAFF 270k+ a year). However you don’t sell something to buy a lower quality model (well unless you are selling your gas guzzler in order to buy a cheaper, fuel efficient car), so one can assume that the 2 condominiums McCain purchased (and combined into 1) must be pretty swanky.
Ed Drone
No, the dupes are anyone who votes Republican!
Ed
Laura W
I was just going to say that the upside of this frustrating situation is that sometimes I write these lengthy comments and can’t post them. By the time I sober up, and the site is back up, I am glad I was not able to post them.
Always making lemonade.
Have I mentioned that I wore McCain’s POW bracelet? I should go check on that eBay auction that was nearing $5,000 last I checked…
djork
One Spouse, One House.
montysano
I’m afraid he’s right. The whole I-Haz-Minny-Howzez thing is loads of fun, but will it affect how anyone casts their vote in November? Probably not. For people to get it requires a degree of self-awareness, and a certain grasp of irony and hypocrisy, qualities which the average Murikan lizard-brain does not possess. As we speak, Limbaugh/Hannity/Fox and all the other Boyz are batting this aside without even breaking a sweat.
What is my solution? Sadly, I got nuthin’. The GOP has, over the past decades, successfully degraded the process to the point where we might as well just have a dick-measuring contest and declare a winner.
@ John: why stick with Word Press? Is it a money thing? If so, just say so and I’m sure many of us will pony up.
The Other Steve
I agree. When they start flailing like this don’t hold back, toss ’em an anvil.
I so want Mittens! God I hope it’s Mittens.
wasabi gasp
If Bill Clinton attempts passing a Get Out of Jail Free card to Johnny McNopoly during the convention, I win the beauty pageant and collect $10.
John S.
Why, does he read your ratfucking screeds on Balloon Juice, too?
jake
A slight difference but resonates more.
“Senator McCantCount, a bank with branches in Nevada, Arizona and California recently went tits up in your primary backyard. Are we seeing a replay of Lincoln Savings & Loan scandal?”
The Other Steve
It’d be a riot if his motorcade was 9 Volvo’s!
nightjar
This thread post pretty much says it. All the pearl clutching about Obama not fighting back, or being another Kerry has once again been put asunder. People just haven’t been paying attention to the precision of timing the Obama camp has displayed time and again with only a few minor screwups
The timing was pitch perfect with this. MCain has been filling his wingnut balloon to near capacity with facetious hot air, and then handed the needle to Obama waiting to poke a hole in just the right spot. We saw the same thing with Clinton, although restrained cause she’s a dem. The damage to Mccain is not the substance of the house thing, but the overreaction into a panicked firing in all directions way out of proportion to the silliness of how many houses he owns. Beautiful to watch. This is the new politics of competence of being tough without being dragged into a wingnut sewer.
Koz
Oh yeah, that’ll work. Except for the fact that McCain has actually done some important things in his life, whereas Obama once gave a speech.
jibeaux
Well, I’m freaking out because this website is still down all the time. Waaaaah.
Davis X. Machina
The Times has the franchise on the Bonanno story. You think they’ll stick Jeff ‘Pulitzer’ Gerth on the story?
–
–
–
No, I didn’t think so, either.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
If Obama’s staying to his course, he’s not going to go after McCain for Bonanno or Keating. The strategy has always been to ignore the small stuff, and hit back hard on the important things. You don’t play his game, you make him play yours. Steer the narrative your way, don’t keep it where McCain and his ratfuckers are comfortable.
So McCain wastes hot air over Rezko and Ayres. Just keep hammering away that the ‘Maverick’ who knows how to steer the American economy back on track couldn’t remember how many houses he owns or that he thinks $5 million a year is what makes you rich. Paint him as out of touch and clueless and let the general concern over the state of the economy do the rest. Just like what Bill did to Poppy in 1992.
b
As a lifelong high-road dem I am so tickled by Obama’s response. High road never meant laying down in front of the opposition’s tanks when history has shown the tanks will pulverize with glee.
Speaking of glee: I’ve laughed, chortled, giggled and just grinned about politics more in these last 24 hours than in all my life.
Kirk
That bit about POW was bound to happen. Kerry and Vietnam Vet, Giuliani and 9-11, … if it’s used so often that drinking games disallow it to prevent alcohol poisoning, it actually becomes a negative.
And yes, this unforced error will probably break things open BECAUSE the ground is so well laid. All that stuff from Kerry and now implying how wrong it is to be rich and famous. And what’s the big thing that demonstrates how rich and famous you are? Started a long time ago with Robin Leach, and still going on with the MTV Crib. REAL money has multiple, extravagant houses on display.
Stupid.
The Other Steve
Wait, I think I might have found an exclusive picture of John McCain’s motorcade this morning.
Martin
Truthfully, I hope to hell Obama has a 9 car motorcade as well. That’s not the candidate, that’s the secret service doing what we pay them to do – and they do it well. Let’s not start attacking competent government when there is so much incompetent government that is more deserving of attention.
The Other Steve
Did you know John McCain was a Vietnam POW?
NonyNony
Which is really damn shocking when you realize that the other guy you could describe like that was William Jefferson Clinton. Who had a half-ton more skeletons in his closet, and fought his way through nuisance investigations and a nuisance impeachment proceeding and STILL managed to be one of the more popular presidents at the end of his term of office.
This needs to get uglier before it can get better. As an ex-Republican myself I agree with John – Democrats need to learn that this is not a “gentleman’s debate” AND IT NEVER FUCKING HAS BEEN IN THE GODDAMN HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY! This whole idea that there was some mythic “golden age” where the two candidates laid out their ideas and citizens rationally selected between the two is a myth – codswallop that is fed to us as kids in school because the truth is too damn ugly and our parents would have complained angrily about the schools being “unAmerican” if they’d laid it all out.
Democrats keep getting rolled over because they expect the other side to “play fair” and that Democratic policies will win with voters because they’re better. It does not work that way and never has. The Dems who won the presidency did it the way every president has – by throwing punches, and kicking the other guy in the groin when he leaves himself defenseless. You think LBJ would stand by and let McCain throw baseless smears out? Nope – he’d be doing the smearing himself. Kennedy? Ha! About the only one that it worked for was Carter, and arguably he only won because Ford pardoned Nixon and pissed off the country because of it.
Seriously – have better ideas. Take the high ground whenever possible. Don’t throw the first punch. These are actually very good things and things I respect in a candidate. But when punches start getting thrown you need to punch back – preferably a cock-punch so hard the other guy falls over – because otherwise you. will. lose.
John S.
BWAHAHAHA!
Like what? Get shot down over Vietnam? Star in several communist propaganda films? Be a part of an S&L scandal? Cheat on his first wife? Marry into money? Craft campaign finance laws that he circumvents? Bring bills to the floor that he has no intention of supporting?
There’s a reason why McCain isn’t highlighting his career of accomplishment: He has done fuck all.
joe from Lowell
The whole I-Haz-Minny-Howzez thing is loads of fun, but will it affect how anyone casts their vote in November? Probably not.
Windsurfing.
Swiss Cheese.
Hair Cut.
This stuff works. Sad, but true.
People just haven’t been paying attention to the precision of timing the Obama camp has displayed time and again with only a few minor screwups Darn tootin. In the words of a grinning Joe Scarborough, “If you want to second-guess Barack Obama’s political instincts at this point in the campaign, you’re braver than I am.”
Oh yeah, that’ll work. Except for the fact that McCain has actually done some important things in his life,…like agitating for an Iraq War while the rubble was still smoking at the World Trade Center …whereas Obama once gave a speech. in opposition to that war. Gee, Hillary, how’d that work out for you last time?
joshers
Great post.
cyntax
Jeez John I know you’re an ex-Repub, but do you have to bash us over the head with supply-side economics when we’re just trying to get to the web-site? The “scarcity” of Ballon-Juice does not enhance its value; we’d enjoy it just as much if we could log on all the time (though I’d be happy with 75%).
=)
rekroc
Excellent post! And great picture of Obama in front of Ali to cap it off!
Teak111
John hits a three-run homer, finally. Thinking about trading you to the Padres for a PTBNL.
Don’t care how many cribs McCain own, what’s revealing is McCain’s thin skin and glass chin. Christ, it was a verbal mistake and he should have laughed it off a la Roosevelt and moved on, but he and it campaign got defensive and the media dogs and blogs have something to chew on for the weekend.
BTW, I didn’t know Senator McCain was a member of the Keating Five.
John Cole
Gratuitous self-promotion- I would like to point out that 72 hours ago, the majority of the left wing blogosphere was having the vapors about some polling data and I said to not worry about it.
Xanthippas
Look, I haven’t even been around to read all of your comments but even I’m beginning to find you to be annoyingly self-righteous. Not only that, but you’re obviously clueless. If you think a Democrat would win by talking about the “issues” while their character, credibility, intelligence, faith and morality are being repeatedly impugned by McCain, who feels free to borrow talking points from right-wing pundits and bloggers, then you are truly clueless. And if you think for one second that Hillary wouldn’t have whipped out these attacks on McCain even EARLIER than Obama has, then you are truly and profoundly out of touch with the world.
D. Mason
Leave it up to a McCain sympathizer to gloss over the importance of pulling ones self up from poverty by the bootstraps. Yeah, Yeah I know, McCain was a POW. You know who else was a POW? Saddam Hussein.
Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason
Not true.
I remember growing up in NY and the entire “Leona Helmsley” scandal with her not paying her taxes and saying “Taxes are for little people”. The story is different but the reactions, for the most part, will be the same. Especially given the current housing crisis. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Considering his rich statement, his economic advisor saying we are whiners and now he can’t remember how many homes he owns people would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to figure out just who the elitist is.
Further the press is now seeing his POW defense as akin to Rudy and 9-11. The shine is coming off. The reporting on this is even worse for McCain because not only are they saying how many homes he owns, they’re pointing out the worth of those homes, the fact he came from money and married into more money (shades of what they did to Kerry with his wife) and just what he pays for in STAFF for his homes.
If Obama keeps hitting him on this and continues weaving the narrative the way he has McCain is toast.
TR
Amen to that.
Great post, John. And it looks like the Obama camp is handling this well, from the quick ad, to the broad pushback through surrogates, to even delaying the VP announcement a little to let this story breathe.
Egilsson
This is excellent news for McCain!
Zifnab
He’s got Clinton-style street cred without the sex-with-interns baggage. The wingnuts would have been better off trying to brand Obama as black trash. I’m sure Rove’s crew will try to pivot and fire back that Obama isn’t elitist enough. Expect the next front in the War On Credibility to go towards who has more experience. It’s one of the last strong fronts McCain has left.
Equal Opportunity Cynic
I’m curious if the two posts above faulting WordPress know something I don’t about WP’s scalability. When I come here and get a message that the database is down, I would think the problem is with the hosting or the database configuration. (I’d be surprised if the DB itself weren’t scalable to the needs of this site.)
It could well be that people see the message generated by WordPress and blame the messenger. Then again, it could well be that there are limitations of WP that I’m not familiar with. Just curious if there’s evidence the fault lies with WP.
bootlegger
Glenzilla does a similar roasting over at Salon, with far more quotes from conservative bloviators.
I’ve been saying it all year, The Whippersnapper knows how to counterpunch, which is far more effective against the Rovian Strategery than anything else.
b. hussein canuckistani
Can we rephrase “John McCain was a POW” to “John McCain surrendered to Communists”? I saw Gene Hackman evade capture in a movie. Why couldn’t John McCain?
rachel
John, your site goes down more often than a Las Vegas hooker.
DougJ
John, your site goes down more often than a Las Vegas hooker.
Or a Washington gigolo, for that matter.
CMcC
It’s time to update Republican attacks from 2004. Only a few words and phrases need to be changed. Below are the original versions, followed by the revised and updated models.
Rush Limbaugh Online, “John Kerry’s Resume”:
[Kerry] has lived the life of a millionaire living off the inherited wealth of his two wives. As an Ivy League educated millionaire who did not have to work for his fortune, Mr. Kerry never had to worry about the money he earned, the taxes he paid, or the programs he and Ted Kennedy forced the rest of us to pay for. . . . Mr. Kerry Heinz is not effected (sic) when these neighborhoods are destroyed and working class families lose the largest asset in their retirement plans—their home’s value.
Rush Limbaugh Online (updated version), “John McCain’s Resume”:
(McCain) has lived the life of a millionaire living off the inherited wealth of his second wife. As a Naval Academy graduate (who got in and stayed in only because his father and grandfather were admirals) and millionaire who did not have to work for his fortune, Mr. McCain never had to worry about the money he earned, the taxes he paid, or the de-regulations he and Phil Gramm forced the rest of us to pay for. . . . Mr. McCain-Hensley is not effected (sic) when these neighborhoods are destroyed and working class families lose the largest asset in their retirement plans—their home’s value (which is why every American should have at least seven homes).
Joseph Farah, World Net Daily, “President Gigolo?”:
But if there is one characteristic of Kerry’s life that should disqualify him absolutely as a candidate for president, it is the fact that he has sought out millionaire wives to take care of him. Not to put too fine a point on it, he’s a serial gigolo. Let me ask you this: How many single women do you know worth a hundred million dollars or more? . . . After raising children with her, Kerry sought and received an annulment of that long-term marriage. Then he married Teresa Heinz Kerry, the widow of a Senate colleague five years his senior. She is worth approximately $500 million. Is marrying well good preparation for serving as the president of the United States? . . . . He’s always had a net underneath him throughout his political career—in his case, a net woven of homespun 24K gold.
Joseph Farah, World Net Daily (Updated Version), “President Gigolo?”:
But if there is one characteristic of McCain’s life that should disqualify him absolutely as a candidate for president, it is the fact that he has sought out a millionaire wife to take care of him. Not to put too fine a point on it, he’s a serious gigolo. Let me ask you this: How many young single women do you know worth a hundred million dollars or more? . . . After raising children with his first wife, who stood by him while he was a POW and who was seriously injured in an automobile accident, McCain sought and received a divorce of that long-term marriage (but not until he had cheated on her repeatedly and begun an affair with the woman who would become his second wife). Then, a few weeks after his divorce, he married Cindy Lou Hensley, a beer heiress over fifteen years his junior. She is worth approximately $100 million. Is marrying well good preparation for serving as the president of the United States? . . . . He’s always had a net underneath him throughout his political career—in his case, a net woven of homespun 24K gold.
John S.
I continue to be fascinated by McCain running a hybrid Rove/Clinton playbook.
What makes his campaign think these things will work for him when they didn’t work for Hillary in the primaries?
PeterJ
It’s time for funny people to start writing jokes about how the McCain campaign is trying to deflect any attacks or gaffes by stating that he was a POW.
The added bonus would be if the McCain campaign then attacks spreading these jokes by pointing out that McCain was a POW.
jack-of-all-thumbs
Sweet post.
And at djork’s suggestion, I’m off to make my new bumper sticker:
Obama. One spouse. One house.
Trinity
John – you, I love.
Wordpress? Not so much.
WTF is up today??
Socraticsilence
Koz-
WhAt important has McCain done in his life, seriously I’ve got Campaign Finance Reform, and what else, I mean he makes a lot of noise, but for a man who’s been a senator for more than a quarter century I see precious little in the way of actual accomplishments, McCain’s not Ted Kennedy, he’s not even Orrin Hatch, he’s a media whore, who’s failed up his whole life and is now being called on his shit.
Laura W
It appears my post of 2 hours ago got lost in WP space.
Someone above made the point about focusing on the important stuff (economy/war(s) I presume) so unless I have totally lost my mind, I don’t recall seeing a Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran commercial yet. Maybe paired with the draft quip, which was quite heated last night in terms of people pointing out that it was not a misunderstood, muddled statement and is truly McPOW’s position.
Is this commercial coming to a teevee near me (NC) soon? Or does it open the door too much for the security/foreign relations/experience/protector/Daddy/Warrior/Hero/911/POW retort? (I must see 3 Obama commercials to every 1 McCain, if not more over here. Rock the Vote, North Carolina!)
cleek
yeah. i used to say the same thing every time people started complaining about WP. i’ve given up.
Liberal Masochist
Socraticsilence – He was a POW. Get with the program already. Jeesh…
Scott Alloway
Wish I thought of this comment which showed up in a post at the LATimes:
jon
Google “legendary land speculator” to meet another great friend of McCain’s.
Fe E
FANTASTIC post John. I knew there was a reason I regularly checked out your blog even when you were a Republican–it was to keep me in touch until this rolled out!
Steve V
Two distinctions between Kerry 2004 and this; one, McCain (or at least his persona) is a bit more butch that Kerry, so maybe he’ll be able to weather the assault a bit better than Kerry did (which is why I think if the dem side is going to run with this, it’d be nice to find more examples of McCain being effete; what kind of cheese does he like on his sandwiches? Etc. etc. etc. ad nauseam); two, does the dem side have a comparable media army to push this to what the right had in ’04? Just wondering here.
patroclus
Wonderful pic of the Greatest!
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, who’s gonna be in Denver??
Muhammed Ali!
Sloegin
Meh, I don’t put too much hope on the press clique altering their storylines with this new round of bruising.
They could discover a basement of arugula under grow-lamps at one of McCain’s properties and it wouldn’t even tweak their silly narratives.
Davis X. Machina
Gratuitous self-promotion- I would like to point out that 72 hours ago, the majority of the left wing blogosphere was having the vapors about some polling data and I said to not worry about it.
Yeah, talk all you want about polls, but after this Mansion Accomplished stuff, I expect McCain to actually be up 3-5 points over Obama. Who needs to worry about your opponent’s convention bounce when you can count on the well-known National Pity Fuck?
PaulB
Actually, Turdblossom has already responded. Free clue: he wasn’t laughing. Instead, he was using the incredibly lame response the McCain camp already floated: “How dare you attack Cindy McCain?”
Courtesy of DailyKos, who got it from the JedReport.
shortstop
Nice post, John. The content is great and the rhythm is even better.
Conservatively Liberal
Excellent post John, you nailed it well. Politics is not a ‘gentleman’s sport’ and it never has been. Politics is a nasty game and the media only makes it nastier. If your opponent hits you, the American public have grown to expect a certain response. Both sides are like this but the Democrats seem to have this fatal attraction to being the ‘good guys’ in politics.
Everyone knows that good guys always finish last. Good fighters win fights, and a fair fight is always great to see. In this case, we have the right hammering away with hits above and below the belt. Obama has insisted that he stay above the belt, which gives him the advantage that if he is able to knock the wind out of his opponent he is able to maintain the high road.
All Obama is doing is using McCain’s own words against him, which is what the right would do if they had the chance to. It was a nice, clean political punch and it landed squarely on McCain’s jaw.
The Boss
Downing champers just like Robin Leach a’ searchin’ for his groove
You buy stuff like John Paul Getty til you can’t find the room to move
Well everybody better move over, that’s all
‘Cause I’m runnin’ out of condos now and I got my back to the wall
Tenth Mega-House Squeeze-out
Tenth Mega-House Squeeze-out
Well, I was standin’ on the corner takin’ all the love the press was givin’
‘Til some joker there had the nerve to ask where every
single place was I was livin’
Well, I didn’t have time to call up Mini-Maids
So I looked around for one of my trusty aides to calculate the
Tenth Mega-House Squeeze-out
Leave me alone, Leave me aloooooone
(Kid, I’ve been a POW)
And I’m on my own on my own
’cause I can’t go home
A move was made uptown but Little Cindy didn’t give me the address
From the coastline to the city, I was searchin’ all the maps in high res
I’m gonna sit back right on this bus and mope
While Britney’s BFF makes me look like a real dope
With the Tenth Mega-House Squeeze-out
Tenth Mega-House Squeeze-out
Tenth Mega-House Squeeze-out
Tenth Mega-House Squeeze-out
I’m talking ’bout a Tenth
Oh, nothing but a Tenth
I’m talking ’bout a Tenth
I’m talking bout a Tenth, Tenth, Tenth, Tenth, Tenth, Tenth, Tenth, Tenth
Tenth, Tenth, Tenth, Tenth, Tenth, I’m talking ’bout a
Tenth Mega-House Squeeze-out
(fade)
LiberalTarian
OK, so I skipped the other commentary. Someone else probably did it better!
But, I really like the thinking on this post. :) Really, let Obama lead. He is tough, he is smart, and as far as I can tell, he has vision.
In the speech I watched by Michelle Obama. “He’s special.”
The GOP has plenty of reason to worry–they have mismanaged this republic into a mess for the rest of us. They keep saying, “Who do you believe, me or your lying eyes?”
Just economics say, “punish the incumbent party.”
LiberalTarian
These weren’t insignificant events. The baby boomers, what, a third of the population? probably remember when these things happened. Not small. Not good judgment.
Do you remember this joke from the time?
You know the Democrats got in trouble for using the Congressional bank–floating bad checks and so on, right?
When asked why they didn’t use the House bank, the Republicans had a simple explanation:
“That’s what Savings and Loans are for.”
Phoenix Woman
Obama, Obama Ali,
He floats like a butterfly, and stings like a bee!