So I guess the McCain campaign has decided in for a penny, in for a pound, and has gone full wingnut with Ayers (count the number of links to the NRO):
Several good things. First, after McCain loses in November, we won’t have to listen to the scumbag right claim he just didn’t hit Obama hard enough. Instead, maybe they honestly will reassess what they have become and determine that their party and their ideology is utterly bereft of ideas. While I am rooting for Obama, believe me, I want a reality based and decent opposition party. After some soul-searching, maybe the GOP can reconstitute themselves and fill that role while they convince the American public that they deserve another chance at leadership.
Second, I will no longer have to listen to certain old friends and, in one case, a member of my family, pretend that McCain is running an honorable campaign. The McCain campaign has now sunk to the putrid depths of the Bush 2000 crowd and beyond, and it is to the point it can not be argued. Those shouts at McCain/Palin rallies of terrorist, treason, kill him, and off with his head all have a direct line back to the McCain/Palin campaign. They can not be denied. While there may still be some dim bulbs who need to see some burned effigies and more overt incitements to violence, the rest of us can clearly see the connection here. John McCain may have bear-hugged George Bush in the past, now he is passionately tongue-kissing Karl Rove.
Finally, if by some freak act of nature, the McCain campaign does win, he will be the most ineffective President ever. Remember in the primaries, when Rahm Emmanuel said the following:
“The way the loser loses,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who is close to both candidates but has made no endorsement, “will determine whether the winner wins in November.”
While that was certainly the case, it is also true that how the winner wins will help determine how effective they will be as President. If McCain wins this way, the atmosphere in Washington will be toxic. Although the country need strong leadership right now, at least we can count on a Democratic party that will strongly oppose the bad ideas and failed policies of the third Bush term that McCain will represent.
And there it is. The descent of McCain into the sewer of American politics is now complete. This is not an honorable man, this is not a decent man, this is not a good man. He may have been a war hero once, but no longer will that provide cover for his despicable behavior. John McCain is a disgrace to the country he claims to love.
*** Update ***
And don’t be confused. This is a 1:40 second web ad, and McCain has neither the money nor the balls to ad it nationally in any meaningful manner. Again, this is the guy who spent 90 minutes on stage with Obama and did not once bring it up. He is a coward. This ad has two target audiences- the first is the cable news bobbleheads, hoping that this will dominate the news cycle and the ad will get some free play. It will probably be successful in that regard, but with the DOW and S&P tanking again, will simply work against him as it advances the Obama narrative that McCain is out of touch.
The second target audience is these guys:
And they are already beyond hope.
NonyNony
I like most of your post, John, but I think this is off-base:
Really? More likely they’ll STILL be saying that he didn’t hit Obama hard enough. That he didn’t start soon enough. That he didn’t break out all of the double-secret hidden stuff linking Obama directly to Mao and Castro and bin Laden. That he should have hit harder and deeper and uglier than he was willing to go.
There’s no way they give up their fantasies just because they’ve been proven wrong. They think the rest of the country is as ugly and evil as they are, and if McCain doesn’t win by going there, it will just be because he didn’t do it right.
SGEW
Now, now, Mr. Cole. You give McCain short shrift here: I’m sure that he’ll be able to sink even lower before election day rolls around.
ThymeZone
Wow. Just wow.
Once you get over your initial reaction, you know what to do.
Donate, volunteer, stay focussed. We are taking the country back from these people. Just short of four weeks to go.
Comrade Jake
So, wait. Is this just a web-ad, or something that’ll be put out nationally?
I think it’s in our interest to examine the extent to which McCain is simply trying to game the system here, and get some free media attention or simply win the media cycle for a single day this week. The story here really should not be the ad so much as Team McCain’s desperation.
John Cole
@Comrade Jake: Of course it is just a web ad- it is 1:40. McCain doesn’t have the money or the balls to run this nationally.
The goal is to just dominate another news cycle while getting your smear on.
Punchy
HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HEE…….(damn, out of breath)…..HEE HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA HAAAAAA HARDY HAR HAR…..(/gets up off floor)…..HA HAHAHAHA! HA!
Also, we can expect gold-plated ponies, daily oral sex, and a Cubs world series win.
HAHAHAHA! Cole made a funny!
Cris v.3.1
And again we think of Daniel Larison. In spite of what we know about Pat Buchanan, I wonder if the Paleoconservatives may be the best hope for the salvation of the conservative intellect. I may renew my subscription to AmConMag — though we’ll see what turn their tone takes under an Obama administration.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
r€nato
You’re dreaming, John. The hard right’s every response to the failure of their ideology is to double-down on the shit that isn’t working.
Iraq war not going so well? Kill more ragheads! Problem solved.
What? They hate us and want to kill us because we’re killing too many Iraqis? Then kill the ones who hate us, too. And their friends and family if they turn on us. And so on until they learn to like us. The killing will continue until morale improves.
(I actually had a conversation much like this with a wingnut protesting outside a Michael Moore event. There’s really not much that’s civil, which you can say in response to this kind of bloodthirsty lunacy.)
Markets tanking? More tax cuts! More deregulation!
Country going into the shitter? More GOP hegemony!
McCain campaign tanking? Get tougher? What? We’re losing badly? Get even tougher!
GOP candidates getting routed? Move farther to the right!
That won’t happen until they have been soundly defeated in several straight elections – addicts have to hit bottom before they wake up to the consequences of their destructive behavior and acknowledge it for what it is.
SGEW
Well, one out of three ain’t bad, I guess.
The Thinking Man's Mel Torme
So, if McCain goes down and the long knives come out in the Republican party, who’s left standing for 2012? Ovenmitt, obviously, and Huckster. Will her bite at the apple and waves of adoration turbocharge Gidget’s ambition for the top of the ticket? I can’t imagine she’s going to go quietly back to Jerkwater, Alaska. Could the Repubs actually get much worse before they get better? Are they consitutionally capable of introspection and self-criticism?
Dan
Didja see this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E&eurl=http://wonkette.com
Holy Shit.
Dug Jay
I love a good maniacal rant in the morning. This one fairly drips with the sort of insanity and total remove from reality that one can find in the better rants of such whackjobs as Andrew Sullivan.
Comrade Face
Pretty sure John made another funny here, too.
I bet the Dems have in every office already-printed letterhead that reads "Sternly Worded Letter"
SGEW
Huzzah! Our champion of intellect returns, unbowed and unabashed!
(eagerly awaits next missive of enlightenment)
Comrade Jake
Right. So I guess the question is: how do we prevent him from doing that? What’s the best strategy here? Ignore this kind of thing? Mock it?
w vincentz
@Cris v.3.1:
Conservative followed by intellect, huh?
lMFAO!
NickM
Hatin’ homos and Ay-rabs don’t count as "ideas"? The countertop-inspectin wing of the party – which is almost all of them, now — will wonder whether they should have burnt more effigies; they don’t even know what "bereft" means, for god’s sake.
r€nato
welcome back Dug Jay. I was fearing that our trolls would abandon us.
Please stick around for another four weeks, I can’t wait to hear your shrieks of despair when Obama crushes McCain like a roach.
Comrade Jake
@Dan: Yup. That’s why I’m pretty sure Ohio will remain red this year. That clip pretty much reminds me of all the people I know from Ohio.
r€nato
sure they do.
When Jesus comes again, all you atheist lie-bruhls will bereft behind.
NickM
I stand corrected.
linda
this is so cool, i get to relive a moment of my teenage years. maybe i’ll even pull out my very own original copy of ‘prairie fire’… i was such a rebel…
lol….
Breschau
So – does anyone have a bottle of bleach for my inner eye? I’d like to remove this horrifying image forever.
Nylund
Ah, but Cindy says its Obama that has run the dirtiest campaign of all time.
If Bill Ayers is such a scary terrorist, why are Bush, Cheney, and McCain just letting the guy walk around free? If he’s the most evil person ever, shouldn’t McCain spearhead some sort of operation to capture him? Laura Bush has killed more people than Bill Ayers. I think the only people to die from a weatherman bomb were a couple of people from the group who blew themselves up. I mean, we’re talking about terrorists named after a Bob Dylan lyric for Chrissakes.
I don’t want to defend any sort of bombing, but you gotta remember that during that period, black people would get KILLED for looking for a job in a white neighborhood. JFK, RFK, and MLK were all KILLED. the national guard KILLED students at Kent State. There dozens and dozens of riots. Uprisings at Ivy League schools. Even the daughter of William Randolph Hearst became a terrorist. It was a violent time in America. People drove through riot-burned streets only to go home and watch the news which showed their children coming home from the other side of the world in a body bag. There were concerns amongst the rightwing that the black soldiers coming home from war would be starting a guerrilla war revolution in the streets of American cities. It was a crazy crazy time. And Obama was about 8 when all that was happening.
Comrade Dreggas
John,
I have to agree with everyone else who basically said the republican morans will get worse. Hell that was their mantra after 06. They weren’t "conservative enough". They want people even further to the right than Santorum. They’re not going to go quietly either. They never do.
Brachiator
A Tale of Two Campaigns
The following stories are on the front page of today’s LA Times (though not the main page of the Times website)
Here it is. Hope vs Fear. And the Times does not fall into the "both camps are going negative," but clearly delineate the direction of McCain’s campaign. But you also see clearly how McCain does not simply view Obama as an opponent, but as someone who is "unworthy" to be considered presidential. This has been a consistent theme from the beginning of McCain’s campaign. He is just getting more openly nasty about it.
Zifnab
Yeah, I’m basically in agreement here.
After the ’06 election, wingnuts were dead certain that the reason Pelosi gobbled up Congress was because Republicans weren’t leaning hard right enough on social issues. The Club for Growth is a growing force in the GOP. If the wingnutroots do manage to gain some control over the primary process in the Republican Party, they’ll be fielding the wackiest loons they can come up with and scream their heads off about ACORN stealing the vote when they crash and burn.
But there is a contingent of GOoPers out there that have been worshiping George Bush as Jesus. They’ve been pissing their pants at the sight of every brown person who crosses the street. The GOP roped them in back in the 80s, but now that the center can’t hold and its back to the wilderness, these guys will feel free to cut loose. It only gets crazier from here.
jcricket
They’re already running with the idea that McCain wasn’t a real conservative, and that’s why his explanation of conservative ideas didn’t go over so well with the public.
And that failure to sufficiently brand (read: lie about) Obama as a terrorist/communist was a result of not being aggressive enough.
I’ve said it a million times, but this is awesome. Even better than Democrats winning in a landslide and picking up a bunch of swing state victories in the Senate. I would love nothing more than for the GOP to embrace their inner-wingnuts in a soothing bear-hug.
C’mon GOP – Let the hate wash over you. Feel the release as you can finally say what you’ve wanted to all along. That the blacks, latinos & gays don’t belong in this country. That jews run the banks. That we need to bomb the shit out of more rag-heads to teach them a lesson. That taxes should be 0, Medicare should be eliminated, Social Security destroyed.
Be 100% conservative, and the public will love you. I promise.
Sunshine – the great disinfectant.
Cris v.3.1
@r€nato:
[applause]
r€nato
OK I keep hearing this, but I don’t agree it makes him a coward – at least, no more so than any other politician. I thought it was SOP that the candidate leaves it to the surrogates to do the shit-slinging. Have I become too accustomed to GOP dirty politics?
ThymeZone
The poll trends don’t show that the smear-o-rama is gaining any traction.
I’m surprised, at this point, that they aren’t pulling it.
There was one round of champeen prizefight in the recent debate, a round that Obama won with his reference to "bomb, bomb Iran." That was a message to McCain. You wanna play that, I came to play. What else you got?
McCain won’t bring this up to Obama’s face, and unless he does, the smear thing is going to fail. If he does, Obama will smack him down and stay calm and presidential while he does it. McCain has painted himself into a corner. He can fire up the crazies and the idiots, but he is losing the attention of everybody else.
He has chosen a trajectory that is going to take him right down the toilet bowl. Good. That’s what we said he would do, and has hasn’t disappointed us, has he?
Comrade Face
Where’s my strike button?
Nylund
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Grumpy Code Monkey
No we can’t. Not as long as Pelosi and Reid remain in their leadership positions. Telecom amnesty, anyone?
There need to be serious primary challenges in 2010 against all incumbents, Democratic and Republican. We should have had them this year, but we were too focused on the Barack and Hillary show.
The House is supposed to turn over on a regular basis; there should not be such a thing as a safe House seat.
Comrade Dreggas
When McCain loses, look for the reich wing to be led by Palin and turn on McCain and watch for the "My god, what have I done" moment. Then again given McCain’s past associations and such (see eugenics researchers, domestic terrorists) he is probably all too happy to don a brown shirt.
r€nato
I sure hope so, he is "my" senator.
He comes up for re-election in 2010. I had assumed he might retire but from what I have heard he probably will not (should he lose this election).
I’m hoping this shameful campaign rubs off on him and provides plenty of material for Janet Napolitano to work with when she challenges him for his Senate seat in 2010, as she almost certainly will. That campaign will not be pretty either. Janet is widely rumored to be a closeted lesbian and McCain is showing us what he will stoop to when he is forced to run a close race, something he’s not had to do since his very first GOP primary in 1982.
limbaugh's pilonidal cyst
Well, a McCain administration would certainly be the end of the republican party, if not all of us. But hopefully republicans before that.
r€nato
I GUARANTEE you that what McCain will do after this election is make profound apologies for it. Some of the media might even accept his apologies and happily hop back on the tire swing.
That’s what got him off the hook for Keating Five, this tactic worked pretty well for him, making the motions of contrition and doing the whole campaign finance reform two-step. If it worked before, he’ll do it again. Why shouldn’t he?
w vincentz
Ahh, the memories…
Ohio has always lead the way. The students at Kent State that were murdered by their own National Guard for exercising their Constiutional right of "free speech" in protest of Nixon’s expansion of the Vietnam debacle into Cambodia…different time, same story.
cleek
i like that Obama kinda-sorta called-out McCain on the smears, daring him to bring it up at the next debate. i’d like to see Obama repeat that, with a little more fire in it – something like "McCain and Palin keep saying these things about me, but when we meet in person, they won’t bring it up. why’s that? if they believe this stuff is so important that they’ll devote tens of millions of dollars of their rapidly-diminishing war chest to it, why not take the opportunity to bring it up when they have the free TV time? i guess there’s something holding them back from speaking about this issue that’s clearly so important to them. what on earth could it be? could it be that they’re a couple of LYING LITTLE BITCH-ASS PUSSIES ? "
jcricket
There’s a great quote from 1984 that is applicable for this situation:
I used to make a practice of lifting quotes from 1984 and contrasting them with stuff the GOP was doing/saying a couple years ago, got too depressing. The GOP reads 1984 and thinks its a screed against socialized medicine, government regulation, etc. When in fact, it’s a screed against totalitarianism and authoritarianism, which they currently embody in spades.
The worst "nanny state" instincts that any one on the far left of the Democratic party possesses (speech codes? gun bans? porn bans?) pale in comparison to the authority those on the right would give their government and corporations (the quasi-government/gods which the right worships).
SGEW
@r€nato: I love Janet Napolitano. I was a little disappointed when she didn’t get the V.P. nod.
scarshapedstar
It’s cliche to say that I’m wiping mango nectar and coconut parrot bay off my keyboard, so I’ll just say that I’m wiping it off my chin and my nose burns a little.
Seriously, though, the scumbag right will still be fuming about how McCain didn’t ever mention how Barack Hussein Obama had a terrorist roommate and swore his oath of office on the Koran and probably isn’t even circumcised.
SamFromUtah
Instead, maybe they honestly will reassess what they have become and determine that their party and their ideology is utterly bereft of ideas.
You’ve heard of the exception that proves the rule, yes? That’s you, John.
I’m with the others who say the only possible wingnut response is to get even crazier. I have no idea how the public will respond, especially if things get really bad and a large number of dumbshits believe the GOP scapegoating of Democrats that will inevitably accompany the bad times.
S. Palin
Fixed, garsh durn it.
Perry Como
Doughy Pantload is over in the corner comparing sex to heroin. I can see why he would do that considering he needs to pay for both.
Davebo
Patterico seems to think this is a brilliant idea.
Meet the "sane right". Pretty sad.
S. Palin
Dag nab it – the strike through "right" disappeared even though it was there when I previewed!
comrade scott
And as a lifelong Democrat, so do I. It makes things work better. Effective one-party rule, be it Dem or Rep, has shown to be mostly disasterous.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m not somebody like Broder who thinks bipartisanship is the end-all to "good things". Far from it. But a opposition party as you describe keeps the ruling party honest.
And if you ever switched back to a party such as that, I’d be glad to have you there. Just like I’m glad to have you here, wtf here is at the moment.
And don’t think that the vast right wing noise machine will ever layoff Obama. Remember the Clinton years? They’ll spend every second and dime simply trying to bring the man down.
I’m hoping he’s a harder nut to crack then Clinton turned out to be.
Brachiator
The following two stories appear on the front page of today’s LA Times (but not the main page of the Times website). Note that it’s not the lame phoniness of how “both sides are going negative,” but clearly delineates the political sewer in which the McCain camp bathes. It’s also becoming more clear that from the beginning, McCain never viewed Obama as his opponent, but as an unworthy upstart who refuses to be lead around by the more experienced, mavericky former POW.
Martin
I think at the last debate, when McCain won’t have a followup debate to spin something for the public, Obama should just throw down: "Senator, you’ve been accusing me at rallies and in ads of being a terrorist sympathizer and dangerous for the nation. Now, I’ve called you erratic in my rallies and ads, and here to your face I’ll repeat that charge and explain it to the audience if the moderator permits me the time, but I want to see right now if you have the courage to accuse me to my face of being a dangerous radical and explain to the public what your evidence is for that charge and how you think my Presidency would endanger the nation. I think it’s a cowardly smear, but let’s hear it out."
r€nato
SGEW, a lot of us in Arizona love her. She destroyed her GOP opponent in her race for a 2nd term.
How bad was it?
The GOP – in supposedly red-state Arizona, land of Barry Goldwater – could not find any credible candidates to run against her. Nobody wanted to waste their time or ruin their political career getting flattened by the Janet steamroller. Finally they found their sacrificial lamb, a fourth-stringer named Len Munsil who is a full-on family-values fundy wackjob with a thin veneer of button-down corporate GOP respectability.
The AP called the race for Janet five minutes after the polls closed.
One of the really great things about Janet’s campaign was that she was a "Clean Elections" candidate. That is, she raised money through lots of small donations from citizens, which qualified her for public campaign financing. The AZ GOP HATES Clean Elections and has sued over a dozen times to try to overturn it, losing nearly every time (recently they scored a minor win but it remains to be seen if it will materially affect Clean Elections).
I would prefer Janet stays here in Arizona. While America is clearly ready for a black president, I am not so sure that we are yet ready for a lesbian on the national ticket. Someday soon, I hope. But, ya gotta walk before ya run.
Brian J
It would be rather comical–aside from possible death threats, which I am sure aren’t funny to the Obama family–if it didn’t represent the implosion of a major political party.
DragonScholar
Will the Republicans reform after this as you mention? I’d say it depends on the timeframe.
Right now they’ve spent years whipping up the wingnut base, to the point where they are too often owned by it – just witness the pandering via Palin. These people form a base, the pundits make money selling this stuff, and too many of the party are willing to exploit them.
Long-term, that’s different.
My take is McCain is going to loose impressively, won’t run for re-election due to his health (he looks awful), and fade away. Palin will quite likely be the new darling of the right, may make a bid for Congress, and will become the new wingnut icon. This will last for a good 3-8 years – because, frankly, I think a good chunk of her appeal is being all cute and spunky – and as she ages, that shallow appeal to the wingnut males will fade.
I expect the first reaction to the loss of the conservatives will be "we didn’t go far enough." Having a new darling media figure, many will pour their dreams into her. There will doubtlessly be some conflicts with Newt Gingrich, who apparently wants to make a bid for president, and has all the charisma of a turnip.
This will of course fail. THEN, perhaps 3-8 years later you’ll see some reformation. But there will be a last gasp – probably centered around pundits and Palin.
jcricket
That was a good moment. Let’s quote the wise sage, Rocky Balboa, at this moment:
Seemed apropos.
comrade scott
I don’t see the GOP going the way of the Whigs. If, in fact, what we’re seeing in 1964 all over again, they’ll pull back, regroup, and start all over again. The big question is whether or not they’ll have the balls to chuck whichever of the three legs of the party they’ve grown to depend on electorally. The obvious choice is the American Taliban but the GOP leadership has grown mighty accustomed to that particular brand of electoral crack.
NickM
Look at the GOP in Virginia for a sign of what they’ll do nationally. Since 2000, the VA GOP has been on a losing streak. Dem governors elected in 2001 (!) and 2005, Webb ousts Allen in 2006, they lose the state senate in 2007.
In 2008, they have a choice in the race for John Warner’s Senate seat. The Dems put up Mark Warner, a centrist, well-liked and very successful former governor. Republicans can choose between Tom Davis, a moderate Republican from Virginia’s most populous county, with a great reputation and a plausible chance to win; or Jim Gilmour, a religious-right-pleasin’ utter failure as a governor — who was succeeded as governor by Mark Warner, who was a great success.
A sane party would have picked Davis and tried to win. The Republicans, if I understand right, changed the rules to avoid a primary and picked Gilmour at their convention. Gilmour is going down to what is sure to be a disasterous, but theologically pure, defeat.
Douche Baggins
Hey, am I the only one who thought John McCain’s joke about Chelsea Clinton was really funny? Cuz Janet Reno is tall and has big hands and… a madam’s apple and… umm… well, I still think it was funny. (And it helps that Chelsea’s kinda hawt now.)
Brian J
There was some polling that showed Napolitano to be leading McCain in a hypothetical 2010 Senate match up earlier this year or in late 2007. Granted, that was when he was still down as a candidate, but it’s from his own fucking state, where’s been a senator for twenty years. I don’t know if he has recovered, but if he hasn’t, it doesn’t make for a good starting point.
Also, didn’t Arizona have at least one or two openly gay House members recently? Perhaps some sort of pathetically homophobic campaign wouldn’t matter.
jcricket
I loved her song "Joey" in that movie with Christian Slater. And that side project she had with Holly Vincent, and even Marc Moreland of Wall of Voodoo fame. She’s a cool bass player, along with being a kick-ass governor. Who knew?
Oh, Janet, not Johnette Napolitano!
Never mind.
w vincentz
@S. Palin:
Garsh durn it…correct.
The lesson learned from Gooper "thought" is that "you’re either with us or your against us."
If you’re against us, we’ll label you as traitors so as to justify unleashing our Gestapo to murder you.
It will take so much to reclaim the real America, but reclaim it we (the people) will despite the tyranny of those that seek to silence us.
WE DO NOT FEAR!
Martin
What else have they got? Gay marriage and tax cuts stopped working. McCain has already hinted at two additional wars, that didn’t work.
McCain knows he isn’t pursuing a winning strategy here, but he’s fighting for dear life for Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, and worrying about West Virginia, Georgia, and Texas.
I’m thinking ‘scary black man’ is going to work to keep those states at least close. McCain is just trying to keep Obama from running up the score right now in the hopes that something happens in the next 3 weeks that will turn this election around for him. But I think he realizes that it’s out of his control. He’s praying for lighting to hit Obama on the campaign trail, basically.
jcricket
Sure, the GOP could make a credible claim for the 20% of the undecideds in the "middle". But only if they abandon the American Taliban and the hardcore anti-tax folks.
The 20% in the middle are not as swayed by anti-tax arguments (note I said "not as", instead of "not"). They want their parks, roads, police, fire, etc. funded. They know that trickle-down economics is a joke. Sure, they can still be swayed by some tricky rhetoric about redirecting money, or paying for everything by combating waste/fraud but lowering taxes too! But Libertarian Utopia doesn’t appeal to them – not at all. In fact, the American Taliban wants plenty of restrictions in place (just a different kind of government intervention than we liberals want).
I’m not predicting imminent GOP death – just a lot of years of in-fighting, etc. Think the Likud party in Israel.
Dennis - SGMM
Some candidates might have produced the outlines of an economic plan.
Some candidates might have made an encouraging ad, pointing out that America has weathered other storms and will weather this one.
And then there’s John McCain, running against the Sixties. What a maverick!
The Republicans won’t change one iota until they’re hammered down to being a regional party, still nursing their grievances against the commies, hippies and dark skinned people who cheated them of their birthright.
Zifnab
@comrade scott: Cheers to that, Comrade.
Kayakr
Tail Wags Dog
From the Fox News feature article all about McCain’s new ad:
"Obama is outspending McCain in TV ads by a wide margin. On Monday, Obama’s camp spent $3.3 million and McCain spent $900,000 and the Republican National Committee dropped another $700,000 on his behalf. At that rate, Obama will spend more than $90 million on ads through Election Day.
But Web ads are relatively inexpensive and gives McCain a shot at more exposure, especially if they appear in the media."
Thanks, guys.
Brian J
Which means he was old enough to walk and talk, and thus his failure to control these things is forever a black mark on his record.
Martin
Not after this. Obama will be waved away as an anomaly, and there will be a hundred excuses why they lost – including McCain not being conservative enough. I think 2010, when Democrats have a really favorable calendar in the Senate, if they get solidly over 60 seats, then you’ll see the transformation come.
The challenge for the GOP will be – what do they run on – what do they become? Democrats are the more fiscally conservative, small government party now, and I think conditions will force it to be that way for the better part of a decade. Either they are going to have to do the painful exorcism of the religious right, or that’s going to become the party. Either way, it’s going to be a mess for a while.
Zifnab
I don’t know if they’ll change then, either. But there will inevitably be people outside the GOoPer bastions that don’t agree with their current representatives but aren’t batshit loopy. Those are the people who will build an authentic opposition party. Whether that group co-ops an existing party structure – the remains of the northern GOP, the libertarian party, the Green Party, the Constitution Party, or what have you – or starts from whole cloth is an interesting question. But the grassroots of the next generation opposition to modern Democrats – god willing – won’t spring back out of the rotted corpse of the Dixieland Republicans.
jake 4 that 1
Nope. For as long as I can remember GOP SOP has been to shit the bed until the Democrats gain control. Then they scream about the big piles of dooky that have mysteriously appeared and blame the Democrats. Once the Democrats have moved a few layers of poop, they hop back in bed. And each time the ReThugs have repeated the cycle, they have increased their fecal output 10-fold.
Now the crap is piled so high Hercules would say screw it, the GOP is over its head in the mess they created and they know they’re going to get a world-class beat down.
So what do they do? They lay the ground work for the next cycle by getting Das Base so riled up that if Obama found a cure for cancer, diabetes and the common cold that was administered orally and tasted like candy, they’d scream and say it was poison. That’s why the GOP is no more. If Karl Rove hadn’t nailed it to the perch it’d be pushing up the daisies. It needs to be buried so another party (or parties) can step in and we can get some actual political discourse going in this country, rather than the schoolyard BS we’ve put up with for decades.
comrade scott
All true but then the only thing they have left is the Chamber of Commerce/Corporate leg of the GOP tripod. Not sure in the upcoming environment if that’s enough to be viable. If they stay hooked up to the fundy meth, they can at least remain viable regionally and attempt to exploit the divides in states like VA and here in MO with a stark urban/rural divide.
jeff
The Republicans did their soul searching after the ’64 defeat of Goldwater and turned into what they are today. They have no where else to go. I see a conservative party forming. The Republican party is dead.
Napoleon
I have been saying for years that if the Dems ever truely kicked the Rep asses out of Congress and the White House it would set off a waive of right wing terrorism in this country and every day of this campaign reenforces that belief in me.
As to that video of the Strongsville Ohio McCain rally, that is the same county where I live which is the most democratic county in the state. I can’t even imagine how much worse it would be if it was Hamilton County (Cinci) or someplace on the river like Marietta.
Oh and I think the Republican party will double down on the stupidity.
Tsulagi
Looks like you’ve already been tagged on this in the comments. Yeah, we’ll see that happen about the same time we see pigs with lipstick on flying in formation.
Speaking of which, in the comments from the RedState boyz over at RS one of the common themes I’ve seen now is that McCain waited too long to bring the “truth” about Obama to the public because he suffers from bipartisanship and other afflictions causing him to be too nice to evildoer colleagues. They’re already calling for Palin in ’12. As always, they see the big picture.
Actually, I would like to see Palin as their standard bearer in ’12. It would just fit. Let the comedy continue.
Jim Pharo
This won’t be the end of the Republicans (a la the Whigs), nor a retreat to the woods to re-group. These wing-nuts are not going to be marginalized. Nor are they going to change their minds. They are fifty million strong. Look at an electoral map and see how much of the US is under their sway.
Everyone is myopically fixated on the election, for understandable reasons. But for the extremists of the right, elections are just bumps in the road. We won’t get to December 1 without the right and the media ganging up on Barack and his "numerous and growing scandals and missteps." If you think that Bill Clinton was hunted, that was Elmer Fudd time. These guys have an army dedicated to the preservation of ignorance, fear and poverty.
We win nothing on November 5. Wait — we win the right to be derailed and abused for four or eight years.
jcricket
That’s why polling in WV is going better for McCain in the last week or two. He’s riled up the bigots who were previously depressed enough about their economic situation just to stay home.
But in Georgia "extra" black turnout might counteract the bigot vote.
The look of the electoral map right now is about what I think it should be given demographic trends. Democrats will completely control the west and east coast (maybe with the carolina’s excepted). We will also control almost the entire rust belt/northern border (good – need to keep eye on the Canadians). And oon
I would love to see McCain crushed by Napolitano in 2010. Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, eventually Montana – that whole "mountain west" should all be blue states in reasonably short order if we run the 50-state strategy right.
Then the GOP is the "regional + whitey" party only (deep south, racist or mormon parts of the west, and the big empty rural pockets of the other big states). Fine.
Brian J
I don’t, either. Perhaps "implosion" was the wrong word. But you get the idea. They are basing the rest of the campaign on some fake connections to terrorism from the 1960s, not on ideas for health care, or education, or trade, or energy, or the financial crisis. We’re less than 30 days away from the election, and John McCain thinks William Ayers is the Most Important Election Topic Ever. As John said, it’s a perfect example of a party that has nothing left to offer.
I know there are rumblings that in certain states, like Iowa, McCain is closer than public polling suggests, but I’d bet money that in most cases, his internal polling is terrible. As in, Georgia and even Texas look like they might be a lost cause. The moves he’s making are not ones that would come from a confident campaign. They reek of desperation.
gbear
Only new things I can add to this coversation is to state that TBoggs has the best title of any blog post so far today…
You don’t need a weatherman to know that your campaign blows
..and also add that I SO wish he’d abandon FDL and go back to a format where you don’t have to be registered to comment.
Prematurely Grey
Another limb here.
Anyone else picking up on the Pontius Pilate echoes of Palin’s rabble rousing? For me, whenever I hear a crowd call for someone’s death–especially if there’s a person of power standing in front asking what to do–I have a quickie Crucifixion flash.
Or am I the one who’s become a Crazy Christian?
cleek
@Jim Pharo is 100% right.
TheFountainHead
I think the thing to remember when viewing ads like this one, is that the people who are not bright enough to realize that this is a completely irrelevant attack from a desperate man, are people who are already voting for McCain.
Alan
Rush Limbaugh’s October surprise is to propagate a rumor that Acorn and the Obama campaign may or may not be nailed for racketeering under the RICO Act. Oh, and Obama hangs with terrorists.
w vincentz
@ Martin,
It all comes down to a very basic tactic. The absurdity of constantly playing "FEAR" (gays, terrorists, immigrants, etc) vs "HOPE" (fairness, peace, honesty, people’s needs, etc).
For quite a while, the people became fearful rabbits allowing the wolves to "protect" them in their anxiety.
A little boy cried "wolf" too many times while the rabbits studied a document that begins with "WE the people…"
Fear didn’t win against hope that time either.
comrade scott
What cleek said about Jim Pharo.
Those 50 million people aren’t going to go quietly into the night. They have a radically different vision about the future of this country–the parallels to the pre-Civil War US abound.
There’s no dealing with them or attempting to forge a compromise. That’s another reason why as an opposition party, they’d suck at making the country better…or even viable.
r€nato
Jim Kolbe, who retired two or four years ago (I forget which) was openly gay. Of course he represented the rather liberal Pima County/Tucson so it wasn’t quite as remarkable as it would be if he had been elected by voters in other parts of the state.
Tempe (college town) had an openly gay mayor for a long time.
The legislature has at least a couple of gays – all Democrats – and for a time there was actually a Log Cabin Republican in the Leg from a rather right-wing part of the Phoenix metro area, Steve May. He’s turned out to be quite the disappointment after his career in the Legislature ended. Sometimes he stands up for progressive causes like gay rights, but he’s also taken work lobbying for some truly anti-progressive ballot amendments.
The Moar You Know
OT: Thank you, Howard Dean. The fifty-state strategy is already paying off.
This is a historic shift for San Diego County, long a stalwart bastion of the right wing.
Ned Raggett
Meanwhile, a telling moment I found at the very end of this story on the legal battle over the Branchflower investigation:
r€nato
So do I. I don’t care for FDL and I am not particularly thrilled that Jane Hamsher is ‘one of us.’
LarryB
John,
Nah. This will just add fuel to the "librul media conspired to quash the story" meme that they’re working up. Dark Forces must always be in collusion when conservatism suffers a setback.
r€nato
that’s amazing, Moar. Though, I would agree with the person quoted in the article who said that party registration does not necessarily equate with an ideological shift.
Brian J
Why is that?
Dennis - SGMM
I can see the future:
February, 2009, Republican Congressmen demand impeachment. "President Obama deliberately and maliciously mailed a letter with only forty cents postage!" thundered Republican Congressman John Boehner on the House floor today. "This high crime is an affront to all postage using Americans," Boehner continued. "It’s time to remove this cancer from the White House."
James F. Elliott
John, you must be engaging in sarcasm here. The memo’s already gone out among the zealous commentariat that McCain has lost because he’s insufficiently conservative. Whatever that means.
Rick Taylor
Nonsense. The only way that will happen is if McCain is man enough to say this to Obama’s face, to hit him at the debate, and you’ve already said that’s going to happen.
Of course we won’t have to listen to them, but they’ll certainly say it.
Josh Huaco
You mean like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwdr_st81qc
damn tags…
cleek
@Brian J:
here’s my reason for not liking her.
i’ll read TBogg over there, but i never look at any of the others.
Original Lee
Kinda OT, but I came across this beautiful rant today.
Sometimes I just have to shake my head at the cognitive dissonance exhibited by these people. One mild example with which we are all familiar: Obama is vague, but McCain can say "I know how to…" whatever without going into any details, and that’s NOT vague? I think the crazy we’re seeing in Wingnuttia lately is due to the ringing in their ears from the wave interference caused by so many opposing ideas bouncing around in the echo chambers of their skulls.
Kamishna ya Watu Xenos
You are missing good stuff at Emptywheel. But if you are not a legal nerd, maybe not so much.
gopher2b
I just want to thank George Bush. Why? I voted for him, twice. As I’ve said before on this thread, I regret the first vote but not the second (because Kerry was such a douchebag and his second win made the collapse of that Republican party inevitable). But, on a personal level, I want to thank W for something entirely different. He taught me to actually listen and watch what the candidates do and say to win elections.
During his first run I would rationalize his stupidity and incuriosity as an “act.” It was just something he did to get the votes of people like those on the tape. I also didn’t believe in “Compassionate Conservatism” or actually think for a second that he would expand the size of government. WHOOPS! Well, process matters, and what these guys say matters, and if you’re willing to sell everything to win an election then governing won’t be any different. So, thank you President Bush. I no longer have to “read between the lines” to figure out what candidates are going to do. It’s really made things a lot easier; now I just have to listen to what they say, recognize the things they don’t say. It makes voting for Obama so much easier than pretending McCain is something that he is not.
And btw, McCain’s VP is a marginal member of secessionist movement in Alaska. Obama is a sitting U.S. Senator who happens to live on the same block as a washed up hippie. Who’s closer to being a terrorist?
Scrutinizer
@jcricket:
Huh? What? Porn bans?
You can have my porn when you pry it from my cold dead hands, buddy.
Atanarjuat
While you barking-at-the-moon socialists are shooting spitballs of contempt at John McCain’s efforts at trying to set this country back on its feet, you ignore the fact that if elected, Nobama and Lyin’ Biden plan to nationalize every single institution of this nation, just as Chavez had done in Venezuela.
By the time you’ve realized what a horrible mistake you’ve made in helping to usher in this new wave of Marxism, you’ll all be living in squalid tenements, which will be overcrowded, noisy, and you’ll be offered exactly one style of clothing: drab gray overalls to match the sad desperation of all your faces. After Nobama is done restructuring this country to better fit his unforgiving Marxist vision, the movie, "Soylent Green," will look like a Utopian paradise in comparison.
Country First.
jcricket
Yep – no more bipartisanship. No more sternly worded letters.
We’ll reach across the aisle again when there isn’t a rabid tasmanian devil or Lucy from the Peanuts on the other side.
Since Americans still cling to a fantasy that "bipartisanshipfullness" is useful, we Democrats need to push a couple of memes:
1) Republicans do nothing but obstruct/get in the way – no positive agenda.
2) Non-partisanship is actually what we seek. Common sense solutions that are apolitical.
People hate politics and "politicians" (despite that they love the earmark money coming their way) – so dispense with the notion and brand Democrats as the people willing to cast all partisanship aside and get shit done.
r€nato
Cleek cited a pretty good example of my thoughts on Hamsher. She’s not far from being a mirror image of a RedStater. When Malkin talks about us being ‘unhinged’, I think of Jane Hamsher.
Besides, she owes me the $7 I wasted on that POS Natural Born Killers.
Just kidding.
Sort of.
Redleg
These dumbfucknuts think that terrorism is hereditary. What a bunch of fucking rubes. It was apparent than none of them really could defend their views- they were just parroting the McCain-Palin-Hannity-Limbaugh talking points.
AkaDad
The Republicans will become a permanent minority party when white people become a minority of the population, which is supposed to happen in the next 20-30 years.
*wink*
PG
I hope that Democrats like Biden who say they used to count McCain as a friend can put it back together after this campaign.
jcricket
I know this was a rhetorical question, but let’s go to the video, shall we?
The right has a real-live domestic terrorist/radical problem, not the invented one they claim the left has. Dave Neiwert has been cataloging this for years, so it’s not entirely unnoticed, but when Eric Rudolph blows shit up, the righties cover for him.
When a leftists does the same, he’s turned in by his fellow socialist/communist/DFHs.
Amazing how this all comes back to psychological projection, isn’t it.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
It’s called code.
Brian J
I can see why you wouldn’t particularly like her. I’ve only read that blog a few times. There’s simply too many to keep up with. I think my regular reading habits–this blog, Brad Delong, Steve Benen, Sadly, No!, Kevin Drum, Marginal Revolution, Yglesias, Ezra Klein, TAPPED, Dean Baker, Krugman, Talking Points Memo, and the crew at Mark Kleiman’s samefacts.com, plus some others I check out every other day–represent decent taste.
If I can probe a little, is that you never really liked her and the politics she stands for, or is it more her and the personality she represents by her actions described in that link? I ask because I am not sure how many people are more right-leaning than left-leaning. It’s not a bad thing one way or another, but I am curious.
Cris v.3.1
@Scrutinizer:
You can have mine via Bittorrent
jcricket
There are some on the far left (marginalized, no doubt) that call for banning porn on the grounds of it being anti-female. My point is that even the most interventionist sentiments on the left pale in comparison to how violently the government would invade our lives if the right got their way.
The "best" we can come up with is hate speech codes on colleges, and the call for banning some porn.
The right comes up with having the SS kick Americans out of parks during Republican speeches. Warantless wiretapping. Terrorist watch lists. Declaring citizens enemy combatants and stripping them of rights after you ship them off to an undisclosed prison.
It’s mind-boggling people think there’s any comparison between the far-left and far-right.
Scrutinizer
USENET’s faster, and it’s easier to retain some anonymity there.
gbear
@Brian J:
For one thing, the FDL crew is willing to go ballistic and withdraw support for any democratic candidate who dares to stray from their pet issues (Obama’s stance on the telecom thing is one example). John harps on this all the time as one of the democrat’s fatal flaws and I agree. They tend to organize circular firing squads at the drop of a hat. The less said about the comments over there the better.
I know they do some good organizational work there too, but TBoggs, Phoenix Woman and occasionally Emptywheel are the only contributors that I can read on a regular basis.
Brian J
In other words, you feel she gives fellow left-leaning individuals a bad name?
Scrutinizer
Ready to lead on Day One?
Apparently not John McCain.
cleek
the first i heard about her was that Lieberman picture. that was enough to make me certain that i never wanted to read anything else she wrote.
we’re definitely on the same side of the political fence, but i have no use for anyone who thinks that’s a good way to push Democratic principles.
Punchy
Of the very few things I know, I know this: Obama aint taking Mizzou, and McCain aint taking Iowa. They’re both fools for wasting their time in those states.
Brian J
This isn’t a slam against FDL, but there definitely appears to be a negatively insular quality on some blogs. I like Daily Kos because there’s always something interesting to read, but I usually don’t go there that much because there’s so many people, it gets a little overwhelming. I used to frequent that site a lot more back in 2004. One time, when I posted a diary about a book I was reading called Neoconomy, which was written by a reporter and economist named Daniel Altman from The New York Times. This book described the thinking behind the economic decisions Bush and his fellow Republicans made in a clear, concise way that a non-economist like me could understand. I thought it was a great read for any Democrat, because it gave you a great understanding into what the other side was doing, which is necessary when you are trying to defeat it. Now, when I posted this diary, a few people attacked me as some sort of Republican plant who was shilling for Bush and trying to disrupt the site, or something like that. Needless to say, that was certainly not my intention.
Brian J
Why do you say that? It wouldn’t shock me if Obama pulled off a small win in Missouri, because he’s been behind by small margins all year, but McCain has never held a lead in Iowa. The best he’s been at is tied with Obama.
Brian J
I agree.
r€nato
yes. I’d say more but I would just be re-stating what I wrote above. I guess I could say one more thing, maybe things are different there now but when I used to spend time there, I saw her lashing out in a very nasty way at commenters who dared to stray ever-so-slightly from the blog’s common wisdom. I don’t mean lashing out at trolls, I mean lashing out at people on her side who happened to hold a more nuanced opinion of this or that.
The Lieberman/blackface episode was just another manifestation of this tendency to go way overboard in her enthusiasm to defeat the rightards. We should leave the Ideological Purity Enforcement Brigade antics to the wingnuts. We’re better than that.
Punchy
The ones I’ve seen (hypothetically) were most certainly NOT anti-female. In fact, they had a ton of females in them. For some reason, all of them in prison.
Punchy
B/c I live very close to the border. I know those people. You haven’t seen hardcore racism until you’ve visited the cesspool that is Southern Missouri.
It’s not a R/D thing. It’s a white/black thing.
the Reverend boy
Did anyone notice the look in the McCain-Palin mob’s eyes is basically the same as those cut in the same mold as Fred Phelps and his clan?
All I see is hate and fear and rage. They are more of a clear and present danger to this country than anything i’ve come across.
r€nato
I don’t think you were asking me, but my thoughts are: her politics are in the right… er, correct place AFAIAC, but she definitely engages in this scorched-earth, anything-is-fair-game thinking in order to get where she wants to be.
Maybe that is something she learned from climbing over bodies to get within sight of the top of the heap in Hollywood. Maybe that works OK there. In electoral politics, it ain’t beanbag but neither should we engage in a race to the bottom with the right. Not if we want to insist that we are better than they are.
Brian J
And there’s not enough of a good thing going on in other parts of the state to override it?
jake 4 that 1
Here’s the only difference between radicals who adopt right wing v. those who adopt left wing rhetoric: The fReichtards have managed to get their paws on the levers of power. There are liberals who would be just as unpleasant in the same position. Fortunately lefties don’t have enough cash to buy their way up the ladder.
Napoleon
I couldn’t agree with the first sentence more. As to the second that guy who wrote "how to rig an election" got that kind of reception from some posters on TPM and all I could think was "you can’t beat them unless you understand what they are doing."
Brian J
I probably wasn’t asking you, as I apparently mixed up who said what, but the opinions on her seem to be the same.
I definitely agree with you. There’s a big difference between fighting hard and fighting dirty. I have no problem with us doing the former, and even encourage it, but the latter puts at the same level as the clowns who run campaigns for the Republicans.
laughing out loud
Oh…. gee I couldn’t stop laughing.
The best line?
"I’m John McCain and I approve of this message."
Holy crap. Senator McCain are you absolutely sure you want to approve of something as laughable as this?
I mean you could have pretended that it was put together by some diehard supporters, and it would have still have made an impact on those gullible enough to believe this.
Martin
I happy to break the news: Obama is now up by 8 in WV according to ARG. Obama 50, McCain 42.
Just one poll, and not many outfits are polling WV, but that’s pretty damn encouraging.
comrade scott
I live smack dab in the "other" virulently red spot in "more-red-than-anyone-admits" Misery, central Misery. The bigotry here is classic code speak….in any public or professional place. Get em in private and ply em with Stag beer and it’s a different story.
The two classic blue spots, KC and STL, are ringed by red burbs–that being said, just in the last 4 years, those same burbs have pinkified to a certain extent, a combination of events (dissolussionment with Dubya combined with immigration). Columbia is a blue spot but fairly small in terms of numbers. Some portions of the state north of I-70 are purple.
Everything south of I-70 is a red as any Deeeeep South red state.
The key, and the Obama campaign is actually doing this, is to campaign outside of KC and STL. Sure, we Dems here are outnumbered (my country went 3:1 for Dubya in 04 just to give you an idea) but there’s enough of us to shave off the 2% points needed to swing the state blue IF WE’RE ASKED FOR OUR VOTE! It’s just like Dean said back in 04.
You combine that with a massive GOTV operation in STL and KC and you *might* win this state. That’s how McCaskill won in 06.
But, never ever, ever, underestimate the power of bigotry in red, rurl Misery, even amongst rurl Dems. If Obama does take this state, it’ll be part of a landslide.
b. hussein canuckistani (comrade)
@Scrutinizer:
Shouldn’t that be "cold dead hand"?
jcricket
You’re kidding me. Really?
That One - Cain
The election series is reading like Star Wars: (hey do I get a prize for conflating Star Wars with politcs?)
2008 – A New Hope
2012 – Empire Strikes Back
2016 – The Return of Clinton
cain
Martin
Missouri is really two distinct places (like a number of other states). There’s St Louis/Kansas City and everything else, and the two places are close enough in population to keep things tight. I don’t think there are a lot of undecideds there, however. I suspect that Missouri will be won by whoever can physically drag the most people to the polls, and not really by advertising, message, or anything else at this stage.
Brian J
I actually went back and looked for my original posting about this book, which was created under my first name there, and only one person commented, but it was asking Kos himself to ban me. (Of course, as I said, there was no way the guy could have read what I copied.) But there were others posts I made there, like one worrying about some close polling in New Jersey, where people accused me of being a troll. Thankfully, these people are the minority on these sites, or at least most of them.
Brian J
That’s why I am starting to think he’ll take it. Maybe this isn’t a smart thing to do, but I imagine he’d do no worse than Kerry, because for a lot of these people, the idea of a Massachusetts Liberal equals Scary Black Man. I don’t think he’d win it like I think he could very well win Pennsylvania, by a margin of possibly eight to ten points, but I think if things go well, it’ll go blue.
comrade scott
He’ll do better than Kerry because his campaign is here, and has stayed here. Fucking wankerific Kerry bailed practically the first day after the Dem convention in 04. That alone depressed Dem turnout.
I mean Obama actually put in an appearance in Union (south of STL). I’m guessing he’s the first presidential candidate to ever go to Union (unless Truman was there at some point).
And here Biden is today in Jeff City. The park where he’s appearing is surrounded by nothing but Old Spice and Bible Spice yard signs–this is definitely enemy territory.
But this is what they’ve needed to do to get Dems out here to vote.
Now, will it counteract the "bigoted Dem" (last night’s Colbert Report pie chart was hysterical) non-vote? If you’d asked me 8 months ago, I would have said no. Now, I’m not so sure.
comrade scott
He’ll do at least as "bad" as Kerry did. That fucking wanker pulled out of here something like the week after the Dem convention. That alone ended up costing him 1% point here, probably 2 points since I know many Dems simply didn’t vote.
Obama is campaigning here, I mean he was in Union, UNION!, this summer. It’s south of STL. I doubt any presidential candidate has ever been to Union (perhaps Truman). And here Biden is today in Jeff City. The park where he’s speaking is surrounded by nothing but Old Spice and Bible Spice yard signs. This is definitely enemy country.
But, by campaigning in places like this, the Dems actually increase Dem turnout by at least 2 points. And that’s what you need to win out here. Misery Dems want to be asked for their votes, not have them taken for granted. By stopping in Misery and making damn sure it’s someplace other than KC or STL (while my red, rurl, wingnut neighbors might pull for a KC or STL sports team, they damn sure never actually go to those big cities, perish the thought), that sends a real message to rurl Dem voters here.
Now, will that counteract the "bigoted Dems not voting" aspect of this? If you’d asked me 8 months ago, I would have said no way in hell.
Now, I’m not so sure. At the very least, the Obama campaign is doing Missouri right this time around.
boonagain
win
Brian J
Did Kerry really pull out so early in 2004?
Dave
I strongly feel that Obama HAS to address what is going on. Not Biden, but Obama himself. And I think the place to do it is in the next debate. Take a page from Palin’s book and skip a question and say something like:
I have to address my opponents current campaign. Several years ago I served on a board with William Ayers. Forty years ago when I was 8 years old, he was involved in a bombing. These were reprehensible activities that I have in condemned in the past and wull continue to condemn.
That being said, I would like to ask Senator McCain a question. (Turn to McCain and look him in the eye). Senator McCain I have been in the senate with you for almost four years. Do you think I am terrorist? Or perhaps you believe my wife is a terrorist. Or maybe you consider
that my 7 and 9 year-old daughters are potential terrorists?
(Turn away from McCain):
Ultimately, this election is about leadership. Which of us do you want leading this country? With all the crises going in this country I think it says a lot about Senator McCain that his campaign has decided to focus on character assassination and not on the problems that affect
the people in this country such as will they have a job next month or will they be able to ever retire.
Punchy
True: My across-street neighbor (whom I’ve never met) just went bonzai with the McPalin signs in their yard. I told the old lady that we oughta counter with some Obama gear.
Now I watch that vid and realize that these fuckers are truly, absolutely unhinged. As in, destroy property/car/shat in yard/burn cross unhinged. I’m actually scared to pimp The O for fear of physical or verbal abuse.
Christ…..
Mr Furious
It’s so cute to see these fresh-faced new Democrats have such faith in the party…
You’re fucking high, John. They will roll over as easily, if not easier, than ever. I have NO doubt in my mind about it.
comrade scott
Well, probably not the actual week after the convention but yeah, he pulled out waaaaay early. And the painful thing is that Missouri Dems were fucking energized! For Kerry of all people! And there went his campaign.
He would have still needed to campaign here in 04. If he was here at any point, I’m pretty sure it was only in KC or STL.
McCaskill ran for governor that year and ran a classic, obsolete Missouri Dem campaign….and got her head handed to her by one of the worst governors in our state’s history. She learned from that experience when running against Talent(less) in 06.
The Obama campaign’s taken a page outta her 06 playbook.
jake 4 that 1
Did someone mention Missouri?
Oh dear! I do hope none of those dreadful fReichtards try to check these gentlemen’s counters! That would make this LIEberul Islahomo so angry! [snicker]
ksmiami
Punchy – you have every right to put up signs and if one of McCain’s supporters gets unhinged about it, speak to them slowly, calmly and then mention that you are a Democrat that supports gun laws cause you own one. That should diffuse them and it has worked for me.
Mr Furious
@Nylund:
Nyland, that’s a great point, and the Laura Bush line is POTD material… Hope you don’t mind me blockquoting you.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
I am happy to report that I can read this page without being stopped by the scary Black Wall of Death now that I’ve set up a quick jump from Firefox to Chrome.
Geeno
@Kamishna ya Watu Xenos:
Yeah – the Plame coverage over there was top-notch.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
LMAO! That’s an interesting tactic. ;)
r€nato
the ‘far left’ is virtually a myth concocted by Fox News/GOP propagandists to describe, well, anybody who is to their left.
the ‘far right’, though, definitely exists and large parts of its ideology are considered acceptable thinking in ‘respectable’ GOP circles:
Torture.
Suspension of habeas corpus and indefinite detention.
Rampant warmongering.
Advocacy of retribution killing.
de facto repudiation of the Geneva Conventions, if not de jure
Blanket, warrantless domestic spying.
Actively denying voting rights to minorities and the poor.
…to say nothing of the mainstream acceptability of people like Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly… all of whom regularly engage in extremist rhetoric, so often in fact that it’s utterly unremarkable when they do so.
Someday, the ‘far left’ may be as dangerous as today’s far right. That day is far, far off and when we have AM radio talk show hosts openly advocating the detention and execution of all right-wingers, then I’ll wring my hands over it. Until that day, this myth of the ‘far-left’ is as patently ridiculous as magical unity ponies.
Chuck Butcher
Hmmm, they’ll recognize their insanity? John, their crap worked in 04, against a decorated Veteran. That was an ugly election. In 06 facing a referendum on Iraq their crap avoided a steamrolling. Look at who was replaced, it wasn’t the red meat R’s other than 2 where Webb & Tester won. The Senate ended at D 50+1. That was a win, but is wasn’t epic.
The R junk campaign will work in the solid R districts and bring them back to the House & Senate, they’ll be hurt in any moderate districts, but the junkyard dogs are coming back.
The blame has started already, it’s Palin, it’s McCain, it’s the McCampaign, it’s not hardcore enough, it’s the media. It is not that "It is the Republicans." They have marginally admitted it is economics. They have not admitted once that it is THEM and they won’t. They will use their minority status to try to screw the works and propagandize.
The bad part is that the next couple years are going to give them ammunition. Things won’t magically turn around with an Obama election. I don’t know if a single term can put us on a publicly comfortable economic track. If Obama wins he’s going to have to mimic FDR and talk to this nation real frequently.
You propose that they will learn from lessons they haven’t been given. Let’s add in that as far as fear goes, this economy is all about fear and one Party seems to be benefitting.
TenguPhule
You seem to have confused religious gay adulterer Republican wetsuits with ‘lefties’.
TenguPhule
They’re so eager to get there.