I can not imagine why the McCain campaign would do this (via):
Constantly under the watchful eyes of security, the media wasn’t permitted to wander around inside Coachman Park to talk to Sarah Palin supporters. When reporters tried to leave the designated press area and head toward the bleachers where the crowd was seated, an escort would dart out of nowhere and confront him or her and say, “Can I help you?” and turn the person around.
When one reporter asked an escort, who would not give her name, why the press wasn’t allowed to mingle, she said that in the past, negative things had been written. The campaign wanted to avoid that possibility Monday.
Couldn’t have anything to do with this, could it:
So we have McCain today getting his crowd riled up asking who Barack Obama is and then apparently giving a wink and a nod when one member of the crowd screams out “terrorist.”
And later we have Sarah Palin with the same mob racket, getting members of the crowd to yell out “kill him”, though it’s not clear whether the call for murder was for Bill Ayers or Barack Obama. It didn’t seem to matter.
Maybe the McCain campaign isn’t as incompetent as we think they are. They at least have the good sense to keep the media away from the loons at their rally.
This is going to get ugly, fast.
Octavian
Disgusting but not shocking.
Elderta
Did you catch the look on McCain’s face when he heard it? Even he was taken back a bit.
jakester
Wait, it’s not ugly yet?
SamFromUtah
So are the reporters still buying him doughnuts, or what?
anonymoose
loons at the rally?
or McCain campaign operatives who actually did the shouting.
The McCain campaign were just scared that the reporters who went into the crowds would find out that the "loons" were actually campaign plants.
Unsubstantiated, I know, but you know….it is out there. It is irresponsible not to speculate.
Comrade Jake
Did you catch the look on McCain’s face when he heard it? Even he was taken back a bit.
I just caught the video. I’m not sure what McCain thought. All I see is Mr. Magoo up there, trying not to stumble over his lines. He’s terrible. Absolutely terrible.
GSD
McCain has been reckless all of his life. Now he’s leading his party off of a cliff and is pushing dangerously close to pushing his corn fed lunatics into violent actions. The nation needs someone of maturity in these troubled times, not a new George Wallace or Joe McCarthy.
This man isn’t fit to hold Michael "Brownie" Brown’s jockstrap.
When fascism comes to America it will be carrying a flag and wrapped in a cross and now, as we know, wearing lipstick.
-GSD
4tehlulz
This ugly atmosphere seems rather … familiar.
.
Just saying that I hope the Secret Service is following up with some of these supporters before something really nasty happens.
James
The McCain campaign probably knows that were journalists allowed to mingle with the crowd at a Palin rally, they’d inevitably capture something as deranged as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wroj0FLvzs
Basically, the McCain campaign has descended to saying precisely what that lunatic is going on about; the only difference is that they sound somewhat more sober.
liberal
John Cole quoted,
I saw that clip over at Glenn Greenwald’s blog, and somehow it reminded me of that "Burn the witch!" scene from Monty Python’s "Holy Grail."
What a bunch of morans.
Conservatively Liberal
Fix’d to reflect the ugly reality of it. If you have a dog then be sure to get the poor thing some earplugs or it’s going to start hemorrhaging from its ears.
jcricket
Something about dogs and fleas comes to mind right about now (I think I said this earlier)…
But fine – encourage the secessionists, the paranoid fringers, the Jew-Haters, etc. in the party. See how well that serves you long-term.
Elderta
Did you catch the look on McCain’s face when he heard it? Even he was taken back a bit.
I just caught the video. I’m not sure what McCain thought. All I see is Mr. Magoo up there, trying not to stumble over his lines. He’s terrible. Absolutely terrible.
Well, that’s true about the Magoo, that’s for sure. Bad road he’s traveling down. Can’t lead to anywhere good for him… I hope.
Prematurely Grey
"going?"
My husband is worried that the Obama campaign blew their principles with Keating Economics. I argue that they went with it for two reasons: one, counterpunch/media refocus on "Obama is a terrorist day." Two, it’s got to make McCain really, really mad. And I think Obama is actually trying to goad McCain into a display of his severe anger/aggression on national television.
Who’s right at my house?
DaveA
So, let me get this straight:
First, McCain sends his own party into a tailspin in Michigan.
Then he proposes cuts in Medicaid and Medicare.
Then we go off the rails into "Obama is a terrorist" territory.
So: what is McCain smoking and where can I get some?
Comrade Jake
One does wonder, as McCain continues to push his celebrity/terrorist/scary negro trifecta on Obama, and as his crowds begin to look more and more like "Rednecks Gone Wild", will it ever hit him? Will he ever gaze across a rope-line of toothless wonders and realize how far down in the weeds he’s gotten?
ed
Um, this was a Republican rally, right? So what’s the problem?
4tehlulz
.
You don’t want that shit. Trust me.
SamFromUtah
what is Mcain smoking and where can I get some?
I don’t think you’ll want any – sounds like PCP to me.
cleek
with guns.
Comrade Fwiffo
All the candidates have Secret Service details with them at all these sorts of rallies, and those folks are fucking professionals. I’d wager whoever shouted that has had a knock on their door by now.
Of course, when you’re whipping the nutbags into a frenzy like that, you’re gonna push plenty more over the edge.
Comrade Jake
My husband is worried that the Obama campaign blew their principles with Keating Economics.
I wouldn’t go that far. The Keating thing is at least fact based. It’s "guilt by guilt" rather than "guilt by association".
I think Team Obama may have miscalculated slightly with it. I think they could have given McCain/Palin a few more days to roll out the bile, and then countered with Keating. I’m not sure they needed the preemptive strike here. Compared to McCain, Obama has looked like the adult lately. I think the preemptive strike tarnishes that a bit.
Comrade Scrutinizer
"Uh, to get back to the, uh, the warning that I’ve received you may take it with how many however many grains of salt you wish, that the brown acid that is circulating around us is not specifically too good. Uh, it’s suggested that you do stay away from that, course it’s your own trip, so be my guest, but, uh, please be advised that there is a warning on that one ok?"
Polish the Guillotines
You.
SamFromUtah
I’m not sure they needed the preemptive strike here.
I think your reasoning is good, but Obama’s timing, especially coupled with the fact that the Keating counterattack was clearly prepared ahead of time and professionally, sends a message to McWorse that Obama will not only hit back, he’ll do it immediately. And even worse, he can foresee the attacks.
I think Obama’s campaign pulled this off beautifully, to keep the McWorse bunch off balance.
James
Prematurely Grey,
I think you’re right. This is more than a gratuitous or arbitrary counterattack: the Keating Five scandal goes straight to the core of McCain’s economic philosophy and his wholesale embrace of deregulation. In short, it’s relevant to the issues.
I do think that this may now be raised at the debate tomorrow night, and it’s just the thing to make McCain lose his cool. Although McCain managed to salvage his political career by spinning a redemption yarn ("I did wrong, but I learned my lesson") it’s apparent that he no longer knows how to react to it in the context of a fading presidential bid. There were McCain surrogates out in force today, asserting the McCain did no wrong and that the whole affair was a "partisan witch hunt"–despite the fact the four of the five were Democrats. It should be interesting.
ATinNM
The Leaders of the Republican Party:
President Bush — Can’t construct a complex sentence consisting of a Noun, a Verb, and a Direct Object.
Senator McCain — Can’t construct a complex sentence consisting of a Noun, a Verb, and a Direct Object having a cognitive relationship to any previously constructed sentence consisting of a Noun, a Verb, and a Direct Object.
Gov. Palin — Can’t construct a complex sentence in which the Noun, the Verb, and the Direct Object enfold semantic content to anyone living inside the orbit of Mars.
Anyone taking these people seriously is seriously deranged.
Of COURSE it’s "going to get ugly." They gots nowhere else to go.
Comrade Scrutinizer
I think it’s meant to question McCain’s credibility on the economic scene, and more importantly, to piss him off before tomorrow’s town hall. The Keating video wasn’t a response to the McCain campaign; it’s too well produced to have been anything but a planned strike by the Obama team.
gopher2b
If it wasn’t Obama and all that goes with it…it might be funny. But, it’s not.
Most important job in the United States for the next 4 months (apparently Treasury Secretary). Second most important – Secret Service Agent.
Comrade Scrutinizer
Had I typed faster, I would have beaten James to the punch, and then he would look like he copied me, instead of t’other way ’round.
Joshua Norton
Palin already tried to pull that crap at an appearance in a town near San Francisco and the anti-Palin crowd outnumbered the pro-Palin people.
That’s been happening a lot, needless to say.
kommrade jakevich
Yep. Because keeping the reporters penned up worked so well at the U.N. Smart. Strong.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama’s SS detail is keeping a close eye on Manic L. Panic.* But! I hope we get more of this from Camp McPOW also. Nothing drives away the moderate voters like a few howling lunatics. And if we’re really lucky, they’ll follow Palin back home.
*h/t, whoever.
John S.
Quite.
Many, many years ago I went to a baseball game with my boss and two co-workers after work. The boss stopped at his house on the way there to grab a couple of joints. I was 19 at the time and thought, "Hey, this guy is pretty cool!" Except that he didn’t tell any of us that there was angel dust (PCP) in them thar doobies.
The thirty minute ride to the stadium was enjoyable enough, what with having a good buzz going. Stepping out of the car into the warm night air felt great, and I was looking forward to the game (Cardinals at Marlins). But walking into the stadium and up the ascending ramps, I could tell something was off. For one, my heart was racing like crazt – and two, I felt like I was gliding 2 inches of the ground as I walked. This was pretty cool for a while until I got to the upper level, looked up and realized WHERE DID ALL THESE FUCKING PEOPLE COME FROM?!?
Not fun to be in McCain’s shoes right now, folks. At least I was able to run outside and find everyone else equally freaked out at the car and haul ass. Johnny Drama doesn’t have that luxury.
Martin
Really? Something that both Keating and McCain admitted to, that we have testimony of, and it’s off limits? It’s part of the Congressional Record. Hell, it’s even the foundation of McCain’s own reformist platform. It doesn’t rely on 3rd party sources or even the media. It’s all first hand, even from McCain himself.
Nothing at all unseemly about reminding the public that an elected official was found in violation of Senate ethics rules. If McCain wants to recreate his reform myth, he’s welcome to do so.
Wyogal
It’s Hate Week!
Comrade Jake
I think your reasoning is good, but Obama’s timing, especially coupled with the fact that the Keating counterattack was clearly prepared ahead of time and professionally, sends a message to McWorse that Obama will not only hit back, he’ll do it immediately. And even worse, he can foresee the attacks.
Yeah I see that. It’s definitely designed to produce a gut-check from the other side. They’re not used to being kicked in the balls. I just think Obama could have waited a bit with it, but perhaps he really wanted to get it out there in advance of the debate tomorrow night.
Still, the local news here (and I’m in a swing state) is describing this as both sides attacking one another. I suspect that’s the way it’s going down in a lot of places. The economy is crashing, and these guys are in a pissing match. You see how the optics of that aren’t the best?
Comrade Poopsie
I don’t understand . . . why is the terrorist press still being allowed into the political rallies of Sarah Palin (the only vice presidential candidate who is certifiably NOT a witch).
Mrs. Peel
Let me guess – you were a Kerry adviser, right? That "high road" bull-shit really worked SO well for him. It’s too bad that the high road doesn’t go through the playing field.
slaney black
Were G. Wallace’s crowds as ugly as Palin’s? I’d find that hard to believe…
Ash Can
Constantly under the watchful eyes of security, the media wasn’t permitted to wander around inside Coachman Park…When one reporter asked an escort, who would not give her name, why the press wasn’t allowed to mingle, she said that in the past, negative things had been written. The campaign wanted to avoid that possibility Monday.
Oh, Jesus Freaking Christ. OK, a story here: When I was in Romania in 1980–a notoriously politically oppressive place back in that day–a member of the state police came up to me when he saw me writing in my travel journal as I sat in a coffee house. He was polite, but firm. "Don’t write about the things you see in Romania," were his exact words to me. I remember it like it was yesterday.
WHAT IS THE USA BECOMING?
dslak
That’s just what they always do. Don’t assume that everybody is so dense that they take newsmen at their word even on things that they can see with their own eyes.
Comrade Jake
I think it’s meant to question McCain’s credibility on the economic scene, and more importantly, to piss him off before tomorrow’s town hall. The Keating video wasn’t a response to the McCain campaign; it’s too well produced to have been anything but a planned strike by the Obama team.
Clearly it was a planned strike, but it’s roll-out is meant to be perceived as a counter to McCain. They were just waiting for McCain/Palin to begin forcing the issue with Ayers, Wright, etc., to hit them with this.
ronathan richardson
From soulless political machine who wouldn’t help out on the bailout, we are now back to Al Qaeda’s manchurian candidate as the central theme of McCain’s characterization of Obama. This time it won’t get them the bump in the polls.
Ash Can
Constantly under the watchful eyes of security, the media wasn’t permitted to wander around inside Coachman Park…When one reporter asked an escort, who would not give her name, why the press wasn’t allowed to mingle, she said that in the past, negative things had been written. The campaign wanted to avoid that possibility Monday.
Oh, Jesus Freaking Christ. OK, a story here: When I was in Romania in 1980—a notoriously politically oppressive place back in that day—a member of the state police came up to me when he saw me writing in my travel journal as I sat in a coffee house. He was polite, but firm. "Don’t write about the things you see in Romania," were his exact words to me. I remember it like it was yesterday.
WHAT IS THE USA BECOMING?
Brian J
See, this is McCain and Palin being mavericks. Any old politician would dance around the claim. Even Bush and Cheney, not exactly clean, honest political opponents by any stretch of the imagination, didn’t call John Kerry or John Edwards terrorists; they simply implied it. Part of me expected McCain and Palin to smear Obama Hastert-style, like if he claimed, "I’m not saying Obama has terrorist friends and shares their beliefs. I’m just saying we don’t know." Alas, McCain and Palin went that extra step. That’s change you can expect from a McCain administration!
Ash Can
(Apologies for the double post for emphasis–in my fury I messed up the edit.)
SamFromUtah
You see how the optics of that aren’t the best?
Indeed. We’ll see how it ends up playing.
Comrade Jake
Let me guess – you were a Kerry adviser, right? That "high road" bull-shit really worked SO well for him. It’s too bad that the high road doesn’t go through the playing field.
I think you’re misunderstanding my position. I don’t have a problem with Obama hitting McCain with Keating. I’m simply questioning the timing. I think he could’ve roped the dope a bit more, as he’s done pretty damn effectively so far this campaign season. Obama’s very skilled at getting his opposition to overreach.
rikyrah
My husband is worried that the Obama campaign blew their principles with Keating Economics. I argue that they went with it for two reasons: one, counterpunch/media refocus on "Obama is a terrorist day." Two, it’s got to make McCain really, really mad. And I think Obama is actually trying to goad McCain into a display of his severe anger/aggression on national television.
Who’s right at my house?
I believe you are. Tell the hubby that Obama couldn’t have the ‘ Obama associates with terrorists’ thing hanging out there unchallenged.
Keating 5 goes to the heart of the economic philosophy to which John McCain subscribes.
It, and the other 2 sites Obama set up, are there to tell 2 stories:
1. To McCain – try something else, Senator Country Last. I’m no Al Gore or John Kerry.
2. To the base – I hit back when the timing is right. I’m no Al Gore or John Kerry – so get back to work to get me elected!
harlana pepper
Heh. See Olbermann’s Special Comment tonite.
Comrade Jake
That’s just what they always do. Don’t assume that everybody is so dense that they take newsmen at their word even on things that they can see with their own eyes.
All the thinking people are already voting for Obama. The problem is they don’t constitute anything approaching a majority.
Martin
Well, producing it was insurance. Releasing it was a response. I suspect that Obama has a lot of material in the can that we’ll never see.
Martin
Um, Romania? C’mon, that was an easy one…
Joshua Norton
When the only thing you do is play defense you come across as a weaker person. People who support Obama are chomping at the bit for him to start landing a few first punches of his own. McCain and crew has already ridden the wheels off the so-called Ayers connection. This the second round and Obama should have clobbered him with Keating a long time ago, and kept it up so that the press would be forced to acknowledge it everytime McCain, Palin or any surrogate dared to mention Ayers – or any other phony "bad guy" connection they wanted to dream up.
Clutch414
My only hope is that this is the death rattle for the radical right-wing garbage that has infected our political discourse the past 8-10 years.
Martin
Debate tomorrow. If he’s going to over-reach, it’s when he’s pissed off and on a live mic.
jcricket
Abso-frickin-lutely. No need to get hand-wringing about this. It’s a well-produced, hard-hitting, fact-based attack that strikes directly to the heart of McCain’s shady connections to lobbyists and the current financial crisis.
The key is not backing down. Democrats need to have no mixed messages about this.
Let Kristol, Broder, and all the concern trolls freak out and gnash their teeth. Let Palin and McCain take the bile off the deep end – they are unhinged and we can see what they’re doing.
I absolutely believe the craziness will help the Republican GOTV operation. The crazies will start believing Palin and McCain are one with them.
But, just like the debates, it will equally invigorate Democrats in opposition and as importantly, turn off independents and moderates. It’s like the Iraq war – making enemies faster than he can kill them.
jcricket
BTW – someone else made this point, but it bears repeating. The worst that Obama is accomplishing is turning the whole attack line from McCain into a "campaigns both go negative" spin, which blunts any direct impact from any specific charge.
And it makes Palin and McCain shriek even louder to get heard above the din, which risks them being labeled as erratic, swinging wildly, racist, etc.
The Dangerman
Here we are 29 days out and what else do Buffoon and Bouffant have to run on that hasn’t been thoroughly discredited? All they have left are taxes and character assassination – and their tax claims have already been discredited, so it’s either attack character or have Sarah do a striptease to get some attention.
Comrade Scrutinizer
Looking at what a disgrace the McCain campaign has become—probably the worst, most desperate Presidential campaign I’ve seen in 50 years—I can’t help but think it’s probably good that Russert died when he did. He seemed to be looking forward to a campaign season that would feature a substantive debate between Repubs and Dems on the merits. Instead of that, we get a Punch and Judy show.
Bunker
Those aren’t loons. They are McCain Campaign plants. They’re no different than Hillary’s faux questioners, except they’re way more vile and racist.
jcricket
I predict no specific freak-out by McCain, but a lot of clenched teeth accusations as he struggles mightily to contain himself. He’s committed to hard-hitting words that veer dangerously close (if not do it outright) to accusations of treason, etc. He can’t make those while sounding like a nice guy (something Reagan could do).
LiberalTarian
I watched the Obama Keating video–it’s like 14 minutes long. It is also a lot of material to take in–it really doesn’t even go after McCain in a big way until 7 minutes in.
I think they were going to roll it out now regardless of what McCain put out. It looks like a reaction to McCain being nasty, but really, it has everything to do about the man’s character and lack of judgment. It’ll take a while to get absorbed, but by Nov 4, it’ll have done its work. Of course, a lot of people are voting already … hope they are voting for Obama.
And, I hope those religious and rightwing nutjobs don’t make the whole country really dangerous for the rest of us. Hey, I bought my Obama shirt in Rasta colors this weekend … I intend to wear it!!
CT
Count today as one of the few times I agree with Chris Matthews-he suggested the Obama campaign released this as flak-it muddied the waters, obscuring the planned rollout of the McCain sleaze. At worst, its a push-"both sides attacking each other", at best, voters see that the Obama attack is a)true, if old, and b)at least somewhat relevant to the current financial crisis.
sistermoon
I think the timing was genius. People are focused on the economy in general and, in particular, bank failures. What better time to remind people that Senator McSame was a part of one of the biggest S&L scandals of the 20th century?
John Cole
You are. McCain is trying to smear Obama with the acts of someone else that have NOTHING to do with the current debate, while Obama is blaming McCain for things McCain did that are at the CORE of the current economic meltdown.
I don’t think people fully understand the enormity of what is going on right now economically. A trillion and a half of accumulated wealth has been wiped out recently (my numbers may be off). That means retired folks living on fixed incomes are in deep trouble. That also means that folks getting close to retirement are looking at their portfolio, and deciding not to retire and to work longer.
Add that to the rising unemployment, and people just getting out of college and just getting started are going to have a very difficult time getting jobs. I would recommend that any senior in college right now start prepping for the Miller Analogy or the GRE or the GME and plan to weather the next few years in grad school.
And when the job market contracts like this, and there is high unemployment, it is the only time that the free market really works like the free market- wages will stagnate, and because there is a glut in the work force, salaries will not only increase, but probably decrease.
We are fucked for the next few years, and there is a very solid argument to be made that had the reckless behavior been reined in by regulation McCain opposed consistently, we would not be in this mess. This was not an unfair hit on McCain. It was spot on, which is why they are squealing.
And don’t get me wrong- the Democrats have their share of responsibility in this mess, too. Dodd, Frank, and so forth all share some blame.
dslak
Yes, some people are idiots, but the denial of that wasn’t my point.
My point was only that you’re overestimating the effect of the "plague on both their houses" approach that talking heads love so much. They’re not the only ones who know the script.
Noah
Palin is acting like she’s already Vice-President.
Hell, she even referred to herself as " the Vice-President" in the third person the other day.
gbear
OK, I know a lot of BJ readers think KO is a blowhard, but:
Comrade Scrutinizer
My point is that the Keating video wasn’t insurance, nor was it a response—it was planned to come before tomorrow night’s faux debate in any case. The Obama campaign has been vigorously going after McCain’s judgment and credibility on the credit crisis and deregulation since McCain’s ‘fundamentals of the economy’ remark. The Keating video ramps that up, since McCain himself has confessed to poor judgment during that scandal. Even though the Senate Ethics Committee found that he wasn’t in violation of Ethics rules, the Committee admonished him for poor judgment, and McCain agreed. McCain can’t dodge that.
That keeps the heat on McCain, the focus on the economy, and it pisses McCain off again, just when he needs to look less pissed off since he didn’t come over well in the first debate.
flavortext
So is the media going to do their job and decry this or wait for another OKC bombing to happen? I’m betting on the latter. Dammit, I already lived through the 90s once and I don’t want to experience that again. When will this ever end?
Comrade Jake
When the only thing you do is play defense you come across as a weaker person. People who support Obama are chomping at the bit for him to start landing a few first punches of his own.
I know what you’re trying to say here, but, really, there’s very little chance of Obama being perceived as a weak person at this stage.
I think the timing was genius. People are focused on the economy in general and, in particular, bank failures. What better time to remind people that Senator McSame was a part of one of the biggest S&L scandals of the 20th century?
I’m just not sure that message is getting through though, because it’s being perceived as a counterattack. I’d even suggest the timing could have worked much better had he released it last week.
Look, I’m not wringing my hands over this. All in all, I think Obama’s a jedi fucking master. I just think it could’ve been played just a little more deftly, that’s all.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@gbear: KO’s special comment didn’t make a lot of sense tonight. Witch hunter = terrorist? Sorry, does not compute.
Comrade Scrutinizer
He needed to wait until the bailout/rescue/whatever bill passed Congress so he wasn’t accused of playing politics with the bill, and he needed to get it out before tomorrow night. He couldn’t have done it earlier.
Existenz
According to Al Giordano at The Field, the Obama campaign does the same thing. The press go into their cordoned-off area. But he did say that the only thing separating them from regular folks was one of those rinky-dink metal fences, so he could still talk to people.
jrg
Plus, the media was going to say that both parties have been mudslinging, anyway, so why should the Obama campaign stand there and take it?
Yeah, they learned that after the Couric interview.
Yeah, because no one could have known that McCain was going to go negative.
kommrade jakevich
Gak! Too … much … win.
handy
KO = tendentious pompous blowhard.
Conservatively Liberal
I have to disagree with this view. Political ‘cow chips’ have a shelf life and if Obama rolled this out earlier it would be worn out, tired old stuff that people would be sick and tired of hearing about by now. With the election looming next month, the next debate coming up tomorrow and the McCain camp trying to divert attention from the economy, this puts McCain’s past problems front and center in the frame of the current financial problems we face plus it delivers a hit that is going to piss McCain off right before the debate.
Obama has made a few missteps in his campaign but this was exquisitely timed to land during the perfect storm.
The dope has been roped and Obama is going to ride him all the way to the White House. With spurs on.
Prematurely Grey
@Polish the Guillotines:
I knew I liked you!
Grendel72
I’m not so sure the video was prepared so far ahead of time. Don’t forget the major talent gap between the two campaigns- I have no trouble believing the video started production when McCain announced on Friday he was going even more negative.
Davis X. Machina
Russert owned the Punch and Judy show, the puppets, the stage, the whole megillah. He was no more looking forward to ‘a substantive debate’ than to a lower GI series. He was the problem, and not any part of the solution.
An untimely death’s an untimely death, not an excuse for a whitewash.
Comrade Jake
He needed to wait until the bailout/rescue/whatever bill passed Congress so he wasn’t accused of playing politics with the bill, and he needed to get it out before tomorrow night. He couldn’t have done it earlier.
Good point. I suppose the timing now is about as best as it can get, but I think the net effect here is going to be to cancel the McCain/Palin push on Ayers, rather than to gain any traction with Keating. Perhaps that’s not such a bad thing.
Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see if and when Obama brings this up tomorrow night. I’m sure Brokaw won’t. OTOH, I think we can almost count on a question about Ayers.
Comrade Fedorovich Stuck
I’m starting to get the impression that the plurality of Americans are starting to get just how bad things are going to be. I think most have known things were not only going badly in the economy, but that something fundamental was out of whack. Since 2005, the polls have been consistent on this, even when the GDP was 5 or 6 and the Bushies were preening on the boom they created. I think it was a general attitude of the quintessential Laissez-faire (the French have such cool words for stuff) environment that came from the top of the wingnut economic braintrust and stamped for approval by Bush and the asshole supply siders. This attitude had begun in 1980 and the Bushies threw jet fuel on the profiteering fire and now the whole goddamn forest is going to burn down.
I’m dumb on this subject, but seems to me if the initial spark for this was the sub-prime mortgages then the government should have focused like a laser into fixing the source of trouble. They should have done whatever was necessary, even buying and nationalizing every fucking one and administering them as needed to keep people paying what they could afford. Maybe it’s not to late, but it seems to be.
In the meantime, it looks like the safety net Roosevelt put in place will get a real test on whether the country stays glued together through this, or not.
There will be Pebble Soup with Humble Pie served every night till further notice at the Funhouse Arcade and Roadhouse Cafe (FARC) bring all your Comrades.
handy
What I want to see tomorrow night. Barack, in a friendly engaging way mind you, opens up with, "John, I’m hearing a lot of things on the campaign trail you’re saying about me, things like ‘He’d rather win an election and lose a war’ and ‘He pals around with terrorists.’ Now I know you’re an honorable man and are above such cheap and vicious assaults, so maybe I heard wrong. Did you really say I’m a seditious traitor?"
To which McCain can only mumble "Well…uhh…c’mon, people know me…they know my record" with his head bowed in shame. That would be awesome.
dslak
This is why the Obama campaign released the Keating video today:
If somebody at the AP knew this, you can be certain the Obama camp did. They’re trying to get under his skin.
kommrade jakevich
Yep, and there’s the problem. Preventing this train wreck required oversight and enforcement. bAdmin. is stocked with a bunch of stoned conductors who were TMing their friends when their little west-bound choo-choo switched onto a track that had few trillion tons of fiscal reality heading east. "Dimocrats suck! LO-"
Rick Taylor
After watching the high minded Democrats sit back and take whatever the Republicans wanted to dish out, it’s a relief to see our candidate hit back and hit back hard. You remember what they did to John Kerry, a Vietnam war veteran? Unless we make it clear we will fight back, they will just keep pulling out the slime whenever it looks like they might loose.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
Yeah, this is the Obama campaign saying "You send one of ours to the hospital, we send one of yours to the morgue." Or, shorter: "We’re not the fucking Kerrey campaign."
Of course, the desired effect is blunted by the fact that the McCain campaign has absolutely nothing left to run on but smears, as today’s Klan rally showed. If they can’t smear, they may as well pack up and go home.
comrade sparky
just to add one other point i didn’t see mentioned about the timing of the Keating clip–
if you recall, last week Obama started talking about McCain’s judgment. now we have in front of us a specific example of bad McCain judgment, released just in time for the debate. so this is really explicating the same theme that had already been launched, rather than "going negative." IMO, the timing WRT McCain overtly going nasty was just a fortuity.
Tim Fuller
Will be considered one best response advertisements in American presidential election history. This and Johnson’s ad against Goldwater (Daisy ad). Even though the ads themselves differ markedly, they both focused on the instability of the other candidate vis-a-vis the biggest public fear at the time. Nuclear confrontation back then, total economic collapse now. Brilliant.
Enjoy.
DaveA
Sad thing is, I can say: been there, done that, got the t-shirt — and oh by the way there was a car upside down into a phone pole (not me driving, in one of my rare acts of non-idiocy). Which is about where the McCain campaign is about to end up…sans the non-idiocy part…
ThymeZone
Okay, there can be no doubt that I have been super vocal as to how bad, what a trainwreck, the McCain campaign would be.
But I never in a million years thought I would see shit like this. This is something else entirely.
I am putting these fuckers on notice: I won’t be governed by you. You can take that to mean whatever the fuck you want it to mean, I will spend the next four years organizing protests in Washington, I will call for a general strike. We are not going to have this shit in this country. You will not govern this country if I have anything to say about it.
This is fucking bullshit.
That’s my immediate reaction. But I also think, what if McCain’s goons have another strategy here. What if their goal is to stir up an uprising of angry citizens who start holding noisy protests near their campaign appearances, letting them play the Nixon scenario, constantly posturing against a backdrop of negroes, dirty rotten hippies and mexicans making trouble in the streets ….. and using them as a strawman in the campaign?
Do I think they would try to do this? Fuckin-A right I do.
SGEW
I concur. The freak-out comes in the last debate.
OriGuy
FWIW, keatingeconomics.com was created on 25 September. So they’ve been planning this for at least 2 weeks.
TenguPhule
Now if the Secret Service witnesses one candidate implictly soliciting for the assassination of the other candidate, do they not have a duty to take the first candidate into custody along with their raving bloodthirsty supporters?
Or is this another edition of IOIYAR?
comrade sparky
TZ– good point, and certainly one that could emerge from the Nixon-Rove cauldron. but i don’t think the Obama people will be gulled into anything. this time around teh youth are filling out forms, not burning them.
SGEW
I knew it would be coming as soon as I thought about how the G.O.P. would run against a black man named Barack Hussein Obama.
I’ve been gritting my teeth, waiting for it. And here it comes. And it’s only going to get uglier and uglier.
McCain or Palin will straight up call Obama a "terrorist" before we’re done. Count on it.
Prematurely Grey
@rikyrah: Your comment goes to something we were discussing earlier (when my husband was questioning the timing).
I saw Wes Clark speak this summer. (Alright, I’ll admit it–I was at Netroots Nation.) He made one truly memorable remark, which was quoting Carville (yes, I know…):
"Americans will only start to believe that Democrats will defend our country when we start to defend ourselves."
(yes, I know not everyone on this site is a D, but I think the comment goes to the heart of Obama’s strategy–and tactics.)
Comrade Poopsie
@SGEW:
One step closer
Not sure if Comrade Poopsie got the link to work. Upshot: The head of the Pennsylvania GOP has officially called Obama "a terrorist’s best friend."
limniade
You know, as a Twin Cities resident (and a cynic), I can’t help but think that if a similar anti-McCain sentiment had taken place during the GOP convention, the criers of "Kill him!" would still be in jail. As it is, they stormed and arrested a bunch of hippies who hadn’t even protested yet.
I guess inciting violence is only okay for Republicans.
jcricket
Don’t forget McCain’s (or his campaign surrogate’s) admission that his health care "plan" will be paid for by gutting Medicare. Coupled with his plan to gut Social Security it should help win that senior vote real good now.
There’s a terrible movie starring Dolph Lundgren (Men of War) where one of the villians says:
That’s about what Obama needs to do right now. These fuckers are like Romero’s zombies. And it’ll take a stake through the heart with silver bullets followed by holy water and a flame thrower.
Church Lady
Meanwhile, John Glen, another one of the Keating Five, introduced Obama at a campaign event today. I can’t quite figure that one out.
binzinerator
Thanks, Davis X. You said exactly what needed to be said.
Beej
Church Lady,
John Glen is not running for President.
binzinerator
Yes. SATSQ.
binzinerator
Stupid blockquotes.
What is it with the flippin’ blockquotes? No line spaces or it leaves it out. What, did someone assume that we are only going to blockquote a single sentence? And fugly bolding. Way too heavy. The shading and indenting is plenty, IMHO.
And the Preview is worthless. What you see is NOT what you get.
I’m glad the server is more responsive, but the interface ‘upgrade’ is more like a Windows Vista ‘upgrade’.
And what the devil is with this ‘click to edit’ BS? Isn’t that what the preview was for? To see what you get before posting so you could make changes? Of course, if the preview doesn’t work, then I guess that necessitates the implementation of the ‘other other preview’.
Silly. No, retarded. Get a reliable preview. Then, if people post embarrasing shit after a real preview, well, what can I say? That’s how the blogcomment cookie crumbles….
Delia
Yeah, Rachel tonight was trying to figure out if this was part of his secret strategy to lose Florida. Apparently it seems to be working. Coupled with Hannity rounding up an anti-Semitic crackpot as part of the Obama-terrorist strategy, this is just all sorts of WIN for the McSlease campaign.
Zuzu Hussein's Petals
If you must troll, try getting your facts straight first.
John Glenn (note the correct spelling) introduced Bruce Springsteen. Obama was not even there.
Columbus Dispatch
TenguPhule
Rove and his disciples really do want to experience the joys of Iraq first hand here at home.
TenguPhule
Is it sad that I miss the good old days when the trolls were Darrell and the other one?
Sure they were stupid assholes, but they were funny stupid assholes.
Zuzu Hussein's Petals
@binzinerator:
Best no-bolding advice I’ve seen right here.
Conservatively Liberal
Nor is he claiming that he has the answers to fix the mess our economy is in.
It’s a swing and a miss…
It’s kinda fun pointing out the obvious to these mental midgets who make the mistake of wandering in here.
Anne Laurie
Nothing stopping them being *both* (they’re a floor wax and a dessert topping!). McCain’s staff were supposed to be professionals, but as his poll numbers shrink, I’d bet the Rethugs are starting to understand the fine Hunter S. Thompson line "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Many years ago, Gore Vidal wrote a probably-intended-as-a-joke essay suggesting that the man who attempted to assassinate George Wallace was a RNC plant ‘programmed’ by E. Howard Hunt. The last two decades are turning all those tongue-in-cheek Watergate ‘paranoid fantasies’ into Rovian instruction manuals. The Dubya document releases of 2038 are going to make the steady dribble of Nixon horror-tapes look like middle-school kids playing Yu-Gi-Oh… assuming there’s anyone still around to read those documents, of course.
Brachiator
@Comrade Jake:
Obama was in a no-win situation. Here’s the arc of the story:
Media previews that McCain is about to go negative.
Hand wringing in the media about whether negative campaigning works and how Obama may react.
Palin comes out with the Obama pals around with terrorists stuff. The media reports it as if it is meaningful, instead of just saying "WTF?". Coverage about Obama’s speeches on health care and the economy are minimized as coverage shifts to his reaction to the Palin smear.
Hand wringing in the media about whether Palin’s attacks will hurt Obama.
GOP Twist: Palin is still hidden away from the media, but is given cover by friendly pundits (e.g., Kristol). Despite previous charges that Obama is a celebrity, puff pieces on McCain and Palin’s brother(?!) embedded with attacks on Obama pop up on crapotainment shows "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider." This continues the trend by savvy candidates in both parties to use non-news shows to get the message out. The GOP gets a double bounce since many of these shows appeal to the Palin demographic.
Obama rolls out the Keating ad. Now, suddenly the media sees equivalence — both sides are going negative. This leads to much hand wringing and editorials devoted to negative campaigning. The smarter pundits, who had been chronicling McCain’s descent into nastiness, are pushed to the side.
TV and radio stations count up the money they have earned from running negative campaign ads and laugh their asses off at the rubes who take their weak whining about negative campaigning seriously.
The McCain team preps for more crap-slinging, secure in the knowledge that they will get away with it again.
TenguPhule
Because…POW, that’s why!
Did you know Fuckstain was a POW? POW, it solves everything!
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
from binzinerator’s link:
Isn’t that really what they are hoping for?
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Zuzu, I’m working with a Firefox add-on to shortcut my coding, can you please post what the coding looks like for the non-bolding blockquote so I can put it in my custom code area?
Thank you.
Zuzu Hussein's Petals
Hi CIRCVS –
The best thing that’s worked for me was using the buttons at the top of the comment window. If you’re asking how the html would look, I guess it would be like this:
But I’ve had all sorts of problems trying to do stuff by hand, so can’t guarantee it.
Good luck, and if you find a way to get past the black wall on FF, I’d love to know.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Zuzu,
All I see is what you wrote in your code, the actual blockquote, not the code itself.
Can you please substitute the tag symbols with [ and ] and show me what the coding looks like please?
I’m not using the buttons as they appeared troublesome previously and I want to use my FF add-on as it saves a lot of time and trouble.
The code will be what you see in preview with the greater than and lesser than signs (those are the tag symbols – so it should look something like this):
[blockquote] [non-bolding code] text of quote [/non-bolding code] [/blockquote]
I cannot post the code with the greater than or lesser than signs as they appear in code because the page will read them as HTML (as it did in your post), that is the reason why I’m asking you to change the greater than and lesser than signs with the brackets instead.
Do you understand?
Also, can you please do this with a two paragraph quote so I can see what the line break looks like as well?
Thank you in advance.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
this is a test… please ignore:
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Okay, I got the non-bolding figured out.
I’ll head over to the other thread and check the page source there to figure out the multiple paragraph quote (don’t know why I didn’t think of page source before – duh!)
Thank you Zuzu, you provided the answer.