It was January 1, 1929 and Tom Lifson’s beloved California Golden Bears were facing the fearsome Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Midway through the first quarter, Tech’s Jack “Stumpy” Thomason fumbled the ball and Cal’s center, a callow youth named Roy Riegles, picked up the ball and was hit a glancing blow by a Tech lineman that spun him around until he was facing his own goal. This proved tragic because Riegels, temporarily losing his bearings, began to run the wrong way – toward his own endzone.
The fastest man on the field was Reigles’ teammate Benny Lom, who took off after Riegels, screaming at him to stop and turn around. But the 90,000 fans in the Rose Bowl that day were yelling so loud – some for him to stop, others for him to continue – that it wasn’t until Riegels was at his own 3 yard line that Lom was able to corral him and get him turned the right way.
Too late. Half the Tech squad swarmed over Riegels and dropped him at the one yard line. The very next play, Tech blocked a punt for a two point safety, eventually winning the game 8-7.
Forever after, the young man was known as “Wrong Way Riegels.” He went on to live a successful life, dealing with his notoriety with good humor. Eventually, he was named to the Cal Hall of Fame and the play itself was enshrined as one of the six most memorable sports moments of the 20th century.
Barack Obama would do well to study the life of Mr. Riegels. For the last fortnight he has lost his bearings and has been sprinting as hard as he can toward his own goal line while his own teammates are screaming at him to turn around. In the annals of modern American political campaigns, it is hard to remember when one candidate has shot himself in his own foot so often in such a short time period.
His attacks on Palin backfired horribly. Obama should know – since he is the master of this game – that people don’t care much what your position was previously on an issue, it’s where you are now that matters. Hence, Obama’s lurch toward the center during the summer where he threw many of his previous far left positions on issues under the bus and adapted a more moderate stance worked with the voters who now see the former #1 liberal in the senate as a moderate. Similarly, Palin’s previous support for the “Bridge to Nowhere” gets tossed out the window because she now opposes it. Voters are not going to hold it against her no matter how many millions of dollars Obama spends on commercials calling her a liar.
Beyond that, he and his campaign’s snide comments about her experience and his supporters attacking her family seems to have enraged many women. You don’t go from a comfortable advantage in the polls among women to a 12 point deficit in two weeks without screwing up royally.
And speaking of screwing up, the guy who came up with this bright idea of an ad should be fired:
“Today is the first day of the rest of the campaign,” Obama campaign manager David Plouffe says in a campaign strategy memo. “We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain’s attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people.”
The newest ad showcasing their hard line includes unflattering footage of McCain at a hearing in the early ‘80s, wearing giant glasses and an out-of-style suit, interspersed with shots of a disco ball, a clunky phone, an outdated computer and a Rubik’s Cube.“1982, John McCain goes to Washington,” an announcer says over chirpy elevator music. “Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn’t.
“He admits he still doesn’t know how to use a computer, can’t send an e-mail, still doesn’t understand the economy, and favors two hundred billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class,” it says. It shows video of McCain getting out of a golf cart with former President George H.W. Bush and closes with a photo of him standing with the current President Bush at the White House. “After one president who was out of touch, we just can’t afford more of the same.”
Bravo, Barry! You’ve just won the prize as the biggest numbnuts to ever run for president:
Yep. The day after 9/11, as part of its “get tough” makeover, the Obama campaign is mocking John McCain for not using a computer, without caring why he doesn’t use a computer. From the AP story about the computer illiterate ad:
“Our economy wouldn’t survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats,” [Obama spokesman Dan] Pfeiffer said. “It’s extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn’t know how to send an e-mail.”
Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by “extraordinary.” The reason he doesn’t send email is that he can’t use a keyboard because of the relentless beatings he received from the Viet Cong in service to our country. From the Boston Globe (March 4, 2000):
McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain’s severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain’s encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He’s an avid fan – Ted Williams is his hero – but he can’t raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.
In a similar vein I guess it’s an outrage that the blind governor of New York David Paterson doesn’t know how to drive a car. After all, transportation issues are pretty important. How dare he serve as governor while being ignorant of what it’s like to navigate New York’s highways.
John Hinderaker headlines his post on this “Obama Gets Tough, Shoots Self in Head.” That just about sums it up. If this is the campaign’s idea of “ferocity,” I would suggest they stop taking lessons on how to be an attack dog from Huckleberry Hound. What an insanely stupid thing to do; criticize someone for not being able to perform a physical task because they were brutally tortured (not by the “Viet Cong,”) in service to their country?
The liberals are ignoring the gaffe and concentrating instead on the fact that torture is no excuse for McCain not to be able to type, that there are plenty of devices out there that he could use that would allow him to be as computer literate as the geniuses in the Obama campaign who don’t know how to use Google to find out why McCain is somewhat constrained from using a keyboard because the North Vietnamese used a hammer on his hands to break his fingers several times not to mention hanging McCain by his thumbs and hoisting him off the ground.
The McCain campaign is taking a different tack in defense, pointing out that the candidate travels with a laptop. McCain himself has said that he is “learning” to surf the web and that his wife reads emails to him.
It is largely an irrelevant issue as Goldberg points out. And examining the attack for its political impact, let’s look at this excellent piece by Patrick Ruffini on what makes a good attack meme. First, he quotes Phil Singer’s incisive take on what is needed for a successful attack:
Political attacks work best when the charge they make is both echoed by the subject of those attacks and resonate with voter perceptions of that candidate. Case in point: The flip-flop attack on John Kerry wouldn’t have been nearly as effective as it was if he hadn’t told voters in West Virginia that he voted for the $87 billion before he voted against it. Kerry gave the Republicans a real time example of the negative storyline they were driving against him.Fast forward to 2008: It’s tough to make the McSame attack stick because John McCain rose to national prominence by being a thorn in George W. Bush’s side. McCain might have voted for 90 percent of the Bush agenda but the public got to know him as a pain in Bush’s behind – a perception aided by the fact that Democrats rushed to exploit the McCain-Bush schism that came out of the 2000 primaries.
So does that mean the Obama campaign should ignore the fact that McCain voted 90% of the time with Bush. Absolutely not.
It means that the Obama campaign needs to focus its energies on generating some real time examples of McCain hugging Bush. (I think there are some other areas to hit as well but that’s a post for another time.)
Does the “out of touch because he can’t use a computer” attack resonate with voters? I’ll grant a yes to that but add that there’s a helluva lot more potent angles to attack McCain on than whether he can use a computer. Even if you can come up with an answer to the idea that he can’t use a keyboard because of torture, you are missing the point, John Cole. Even if he could use one of those devices for the handicapped, all the attack does is remind people that John McCain was tortured. Nothing else matters. You don’t criticize your opponent and then leave yourself wide open to a counterattack that uses your opponent’s powerful narrative as rebuttal.
Towering idiocy.
Ruffini points out that the Obama campaign’s attacks fail to resonate not because they’re not true but because they go against how McCain has defined himself:
This is the Obama campaign going with an Attack 1.0 strategy—pick your opponent’s theoretically most damaging vulnerability and hammer away at it, regardless of how initially believable it is. The premise: repetition will make an initially farfetched but damaging attack believable.The McCain campaign and the Steve Schmidt machine is pursuing an Attack 2.0 strategy. Pick the most believable attack (or the one most likely to get picked up by earned media, which magnifies paid media by orders of magnitude) even if it isn’t the most damaging, and hammer away until it is the most relevant and therefore damaging.
Attack 2.0 beats Attack 1.0 because there is some kernel of public belief in the attack that allows it to go viral.
This is the premise behind “celeb”—up to that point, Obama’s celebrity status had been considered an asset. But in reality, it was always a hidden vulnerability.
I said when Obama first chose to decline federal matching funds that having too much money was a curse in many ways. This is one of them. They have been hammering the “McSame” meme for weeks, spending tens of millions of dollars and have failed to make a dent in McCain’s “maverick” personae. I daresay with less money, they probably would have realized sooner that this strategy was going nowhere and backed off. Now here we are in the middle of September and they really have not developed an overriding attack strategy at all. They are in limbo – caught between a failed strategy and a ticking clock.
Meanwhile, the McCain campaign is driving Obama and the netnuts wild with attacks that are resonating because they play into people’s growing perception of Obama as a far left liberal with no experience and someone who is full of hot air and not much more.
And Obama is assisting the McCain campaign by coming up with attacks that help the Republican rather than destroy him. If things keep going the way they have been for the past two weeks, this election is going to be remembered for how many times Barack Obama took the ball and ran toward his own goal line, scoring for his opponent.
11:05 am
The foundation of Obama’s fall is his campaign’s (and his wife’s and liberal blogs’) absolute hatred of Hillary Clinton and her supporters. Personally, I think this transcends the typical primary give and take – not that it didn’t contribute – to a belief that Obama is the real liberal deal and all rivals need to be destroyed.
So Obama never even considered Hillary for a running mate despite pandering statements to the contrary. He also couldn’t take the compromise step of picking up a woman like Sebelius. When I brought this up with liberal Obama fans they’d get outraged at Hillary supporters and whine they’d had to put up with lackluster moderates for years so the Hillary supporters could go $@#& themselves.
Nope. They’re &5$*@$# Obama.
I know one personally. A woman who feels so empowered a woman she can relate to is finally on a ticket. Palin is way, way to the right of her but she doesn’t get caught up in ideology on abortion, gun rights, Supreme Court picks, etc. She assumes checks and balances and public opinion will keep Palin in the mainstream and, if you look at her performance in Alaska, she’s been more moderate in action on topics like teaching Creationism than she talks.
I was listening to a non-partisan moderator on XM’s POTUS 08. I think it was Wednesday or Thursday. He had talked to the Obama campaign who were being advised by Democrats to simply ignore Palin and she’ll fade away. Obama wasn’t buying this dubious advice because this is the same game Hillary played for a while when Obama was the hot new thing. It sunk her campaign and she never recovered. So he planned to start the attacks post-9/11 but had no clue how to go about it.
Me? I say Obama’s only hope is to run an issues-based campaign that emphasizes stories which former Hillary supporters will relate to. Personal stories, like on health care, women can relate to that will point out how dangerous, say, McCain and Palin’s ridiculous right-wing health care plan is.
Unfortunately, the left is still shocked by Palin’s popularity and in full hysteria mode. For example, Huffington Post, a web site I often enjoy, is nothing but Palin-bashing smears.
Like you said, smears against Palin backfire. But the liberal Obama supporters, as I said, are true believers so they’re in full angst mode. POTUS 08 was interviewing some guy named Jon Elliot, I think, from Air America who was in full smear mode attacking Palin’s kids. Making comments about how her son could find drugs to abuse in her town but her daughter couldn’t find a condom.
The moderator kept warning him POTUS 08 was going to get nothing but a lot of email blasting Elliott and the show for his smears – as he has in the past when liberals appear on his show and personally attack Palin or her family. He kept trying to get the guy to talk issues. But the guy was just too angry and agitated. He just kept up the personal attacks thinking it’ll destroy Palin. No, the hate destroys Obama.
Obama and his liberal fans have about 50 days to calm down, abandon the insanity, and get on message. Not a lot of time. Hillary, IMHO, did a much better job addressing Obama in the early days than the hysterical nonsense coming from Obamaland and she still got buried until a little past midway through the primaries.
11:34 am
Criticism of McCain’s physical difficulty in the use of computer technology pale in comparison to his having been able to successfully operate a jet fighter from an aircraft carrier. Carrier fighter operations are not “virtual”.
11:53 am
This one really irks me. I expect politicians to offer slanted attacks against their opponents, but to purposefully attack an opponent’s disabilities is in a classless league of its’ own. Feigning ignorance on this one, or attempting to mitigate, by offering all the alternatives available to the disabled, will not work on this one. Neither will an apology.
This was a premeditated attack against not only against Senator McCain, but also an attempt to belittle the millions of Americans that do not, or cannot afford to, own a computer. Not to mention the countless Americans with disabilites that would prevent, or hinder, their use of a personal computer.
This is polictics at its’ absolute worst.
I think you’re way off base here. Obama would have to be insane to go after the disabled or that they thought for one minute about McCain’s inability to type due to disability. It is more due to their arrogance that they feel invulnerable to mistakes that continues to hurt them.
I partially agree with the thought that they are insulting seniors who don’t use a computer. But even there, it’s nothing the McCain campaign would use as the major thrust of their response. Why bother when Obama has played into their hands on torture?
ed.
12:47 pm
If, as you write, McCain said he is learning to surf the web, doesn’t that make the whole “too injured to use a computer” meme false? I am quite aware that logic does not reign supreme in presidential politics, but just a little wouldn’t hurt, would it?
The whole damn president race has become a People magazine, Inside Edition gossip and celebrity worship festival. Obama as the new Denzel Washington, Palin now playing the latest Lindsey/Brittney/Paris famous-for-being-famous celebrity, and featuring John McCain as Cotton Hill!
Politics has always been a somewhat ugly, hardball game, but everyone enthusiastically going for the lowest common denominator of stupid is a new low. A pox on them all.
1:07 pm
So, McCain is using a computer. And at the same time can’t because he was a POW.
Well, thank God we’ve cleared that up.
Same tired phony outrage from the same tired phonies.
1:52 pm
I’m not sure what’s worse – that the Obama campaign ran with an ad like that without even bothering with something as simple as a Google search, or that Obama partisans seem to have acquired their candidate’s absolute refusal to admit when he’s wrong.
Instead of saying “you’re right, the ad is in poor taste and should be pulled,” Obama and his supporters are doubling down and suggesting since McCain isn’t really all that disabled, the ad’s central charge still holds true.
I predict such weak-tea rationalizations will impress voters much less than simple decency.
2:04 pm
Slublog:
I’ve been biting my tongue, not wanting to help the “enemy,” but you’re getting played. You ought to see it. It’s straight out of the GOP playbook.
Democrat message: McCain is old and out of touch. (I happen to think that’s true, but purely as a question of tactics, setting aside morality, it doesn’t matter.)
Now, what you all could have done was say, “No way, he’s online all the time. He just doesn’t do much typing himself, because of his war injuries.”
Instead you all launched into full Republican phony outrage mode, screaming and yelling and rending your garments in the usual display of bogus affront. Thus magnifying the Dem’s message.
The voter’s take-away is: McCain is really old and out of touch.
Someone needs to have a talk with whoever launched this counter-attack. Wrong way Obama? Um, nope. Not this time.
2:29 pm
michael reynolds, how long did it take you to type your oh, so stupid post? And I would assume that you have full use of your hands and can do so without any pain.
Can you turn on a computer without using your fingers? Nope, you have to push the little “on” button. Can you then log on to the internet to retrieve mail? Sure, you can even use a mouse. But can you then type a response to that email? Hardly.
John McCain cannot tie his own shoes due to his disability. He cannot comb his own hair because he can’t lift his arms above his shoulders. When he salutes, he has to bend his head to do it. No snappy salute for a man who has had his shoulder broken by a rifle butt.
I have a handicapped sister whose greatest accomplishment was finally mastering the art of being able to turn the page of a book. Does that make her stupid? Does that make her out of touch with the world?
Perhaps John McCain has better things to do than be online. And perhaps Barack Obama should teach his minions to use Google if they want to know why John McCain doesn’t use a keyboard. Yeah, it was a keyboard featured in the ad, not a computer screen.
If you, like the Obama campaign seems to be, are so worried that John McCain is not a computer geek, perhaps you should replace your candidate with Michael Dell or Bill Gates. At least then you could blame the government with the little error box shows up on your monitor.
2:44 pm
Michael – nonsense. I can understand your desire to spin this in Obama’s direction, but the advertisement was a major mistake.
What you say would have been true had McCain’s inability to use the computer been simply the result of old age and disinterest on his part. However, that charge doesn’t stick given the McCain campaign’s pioneering use of the internet in 2000 and how he’s used it this year to run circles around the Obama campaign’s “quick response” team.
Where this line of criticism against McCain goes wrong is that every time McCain’s disabilities are highlighted, how he received those injuries is discussed. Like it or not, the fact that McCain sustained those injuries while serving his country is more impressive than his inability to personally use a computer.
To most voters, the takeaway message is not “McCain is old and out of touch,” but “Obama’s campaign makes fun at expense of disabled veteran.” Tell me, which will resonate more with voters?
Your own website puts the lie to your spin. The fact that you and other Obama supporters felt the need to rationalize the attacks with pictures of how he could have used the computer despite his injuries shows the effectiveness of the anti-Obama pushback. If Obama’s message was really as strong as you claim, why did you and others feel the need to bolster it? Seems to me an effective message should have spoken for itself, no?
3:10 pm
More false-outrage from the republicans. Should anyone be surprised? You guys are so dishonest, about as honest as “iraq was connected to 9-11”.... The lipstick on the pig outrage is more phoney-baloney, littering our airwaves with useless, manufactured distraction. Same old GOP!
You know what is really outrageous? The continued effort to disqualify black and poor voters from getting to the polls. It is all right here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/158392
That’s right – another election year, another republican effort to ditch voters from the rolls. How incredibly un-American. The GOP a is threat to democracy…
Repugnant…
McCain and Palin’s lies will catch up to them in November and we will beat the pants off you. America is sick of what you brought us the last 8 years…now you bring more of the same…Running against the truth, running against voter equality….running the wrong way again.
3:30 pm
Lots of blogs wrote about this low hanging fruit, but Rick’s creative take was by far the most enjoyable. RWNH is moving up on my favorites list.
3:44 pm
If this were “The Untouchables, with David Axelrod as “Malone” and Obama as “Eliot Ness,” here’s the advice that “David Axelrod-Super Genius” would be dispensing:
“You wanna know how you do it? Here’s how: McCain nominates a hot-looking, intelligent woman for VP, you tap a hair-plugged windbag from Delaware. He puts out hilarious, withering ads about your lack of experience, you post ignorant, insulting vids about his computer skills. That’s the Axelrod way, and that’s how you get elected! Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?”
3:45 pm
Hey libs/dems,
WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Your guy is an unaccomplished empty suit, bloviating, milquetoast who has managed to “win” all his previous elections by digging dirt and forcing the other candidate to withdraw. Now he has to man up and he can’t. He can’t take a joke about his ears looking like Dumbo’s, and can’t see his whole campaign is a joke and a waste of money. In that respect, he’s just another failed lib.
Go home and eat some pablum. Let adults run the country. Take Pelosi and Reid with you.
4:06 pm
Your own website puts the lie to your spin. The fact that you and other Obama supporters felt the need to rationalize the attacks with pictures of how he could have used the computer despite his injuries shows the effectiveness of the anti-Obama pushback. If Obama’s message was really as strong as you claim, why did you and others feel the need to bolster it? Seems to me an effective message should have spoken for itself, no?
Yeah, not so much. I do enjoy pointing out GOP bottom-feeding. That’s always a plus. As to the net effect, I guess we can both wait and see how the polls look in a few days. Because right now it looks to me like 1) we’re talking about McCain and not Palin, and 2) we’re discussing McCain’s age. His heroism—and I have never had the slightest reluctance to say that McCain is not just a hero, but has in the past been one of my personal heros—is a known factor. His being past his sell-by date is not.
My guess is your convention bump is about played out.But who knows? We’ll see what we see.
4:29 pm
KP - What? Are you begging to get schooled?
Obama is unaccomplished? Really? An average kid from less than modest means who went to Harvard versus the Son of an admiral who graduated 894 out of 899 students? Really? Does the bottom of the class really get to be president? Obama Law school rank – #1.
Obama was a constitutional Law Professor, and helped get 150,000 people registered to vote. I know that’s a bad accomplishment for your party…but for mine it’s pretty damn good.
Won “ALL” of elections by disqualifying “ALL” of his opponents? Better check your facts or sit quietly at the kids table, KP. Obama disqualified 1 opponent and any political expert knows that’s the first thing you check after you know who your opponent is.
Dumbo ears? What the hell are you blabbering about? Wipe your nose and get a grip on yourself, you child.
Failed Lib? The president you elected couldn’t get elected to a job washing dishes.
You own this failure, KP. Iraq, mortgage crisis, gas prices…reputation of our nation around the world.
You own it. Who’s a failure?
Run along now…Take Jack Abramoff, Mark Foley and that dirty senator from the Minneapolis airport bathroom with you, you sniveling little simpleton…
4:34 pm
I know this is off topic by why isn’t the US News Media reporting about the Muslim Terrorist attack in India’s capital yesterday?
Could it be that they are afraid that reporting on this would hurt Obama and help McCain?
http://www.sajaforum.org/2008/09/breaking-news-b.html
4:43 pm
Yes …that’s right, Larry. The mainstream media is terrified that President Bush’s failure to find Osama bin laden and do more to root out Islamic terrorists in Pakistan is going to hurt Obama. Of course…Good analysis…
5:04 pm
Say, Tim, what businesses has Obama run? What has he ever really been in charge of? Does he have any executive experience?
I will admit, he is accomplished at shooting himself in the foot. For instance, in the ad referenced in this post, Barry complains about McCain having been elected to Congress all the way back in 1984. Um, does he realize that Biden was first elected in 1972? For those with Liberal Math Syndrome, that means 14 years before McCain.
5:13 pm
I think it is officially time for the Obama campaign to hit the panic button. Obama’s campaign team is starting to look like a political version of the keystone cops. The wounds are self-inflicted, and quite frankly, to numerous for him to be considered a serious candidate, let alone a US senator. McCain’s campaign Strategy has been brilliant, fight a defensive battle with your opponent initially, who is better funded, and treated like a rock star. Let him play his cards, then counter attack where your enemy is perceived strong, turning his strengths into weakness. The Palin pick has kept the Obama Camp off balance, and struggling to find a channel to attack. Again after days on the attack against her, the McCain campaign just stayed silent, only building up the moment for her to speak. Instead of fluffing over an acceptance speech, she ridiculed and attacked Obama. It matters not to me whom you are voting for, but if you can see what is going on here, then you aren’t paying attention.
” This is where we hold them by the nose, while we kick them in the Ass”
George S Patton.
5:13 pm
And…Oh I know this is going to p*ss some of you off…but nevermind McCain’s computer skills…he crashed 5 fighter plains – not just one over Vietnam. He crashed 5 of them… He may be the only naval aviator in history to make Ace by splashing himself – 5 times.
..m’kay?
Probably never should have been allowed to fly aerial combat in the first place but his father and grandfather were admirals. Remind you of any other privileged sons of government-military? Hmmm?
McCain came from very prominent stock. The son of an admiral. Barack Obama was raised by a single mother sometimes and his grandparents most of the time..
One graduated 894th in his college class
The other graduated #1
One lost his first run for his party’s presidential, nomination..
The other won it the first time…
We all clear on who’s who here?
5:38 pm
You are so right about money. The Obama campaign has spent a lot of money on stupid things, such as a “seal”.
5:41 pm
So, um, Tim? What is so great about Barry? I see you whining and trying to smear McCain, but, you aren’t really telling us why he should be president.
5:51 pm
Funny how he didn’t use that same privilege to get out of Hanoi early, especially after such incredible treatment at the hands of his captors. The same captors who wanted to make sure that he couldn’t type when Al Gore invented the internet.
I love your elitism, now you know what Ails the Obama campaign.
“We all clear on who’s who here?”
Thanks for clearing up the experience argument for us, you only need graduate first in your class, and come from a single parent childhood, and you can be president.
” The world is full of educated derilicts”
John Calvin Coolidge.
5:53 pm
Tim:
I think we’re on the same side in terms of who we support. Diss McCain for his policies or even the man he seems, sadly, to have become in this campaign. But lay off the man’s service.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never taken fire for my country. I didn’t spend 5 years in a cage in North Vietnam, and I’m guessing you didn’t either. I think McCain is past his prime. And I think he’s sunk pretty low in this race.
But when he was still John McCain he was a better man than me, Gunga Din. You, too, I’m guessing.
5:58 pm
Wlliam –
All I have to look at is his resume up until he became a state senator…Hardly any need to go further but you can if you want: Just look it up on Wikipedia…Or any other site you choose…
Looks great to me..All the things I believe in…helping regular folks instead of just keeping lobbyists in business and kissing Bush’s #ss. He’s accomplished more before 1997 than McCain has his whole career…
No Smears…all documented facts… I don’t need to smear McCain… The facts are plain as day…
Obama is a self-made man. McCain isn’t. He is so much older and if he is so much better and wiser, shouldn’t he be beating Obama handily right now? What’s up with that?
McCain seems like your 2nd or 3rd choice. I’ve seen that sentiment on this blog many times during the primaries…
6:15 pm
Michael I agree…and I don’t mean to denigrate his service. I can’t imagine being locked up in a cage for 5 years. I applaud him for that. It is just that the story of his military career is less than conventional. Most freshly commissioned ensigns wouldn’t make it to the cockpit, much less Vietnam with his flying record and his academic record. And when people are bashing Barack Obama over his so-called “lack of experience”, I feel a need to point out the differences of where these 2 men came from…
One came with a silver spoon, one a plastic spork… One achieved notoriety through a fateful incident of war, (which thousands of other brave men have faced) one built his notoriety with his own will.
McCain survived torture and imprisonment. That is something to be honored and appreciated. Does that story make him presidential material? What about all the others? should they be president too?
6:21 pm
I thought Obama said that Running a campaign gave him the experience to be President. Not sure why he wouldn’t have mentioned his incredible resume, since you say its available on Wikipedia or any other non bias site like Obama08.com or something like that. Maybe the press needs to remind us of his accomplishments, or you can try this. Take a package of napkins. Place one napkin on the table, the place the rest next to it. That is the difference in experience between McCain and Obama.
6:30 pm
DK -We have differing opinions of what elitism means. Yours seems to be about how ivy the alma mater is. – Old gop trick to infuriate the middle class.
My version of elitism measures how much richer the rich get and how much poorer the middle class gets. The numbers speak for themselves for the past 8 years. So in my opinion the current policies of the republican party show them to be the biggest elitists America has seen since the gilded age… Under Bush, It’s been a great time to be rich. Not so much if you make say…$65,000 / year.
Obama’s tax plan will cut taxes for more middle income Americans than McCain’s will. That’s not elitism… That what most people need…
I wish you guys would stop parroting that “elitist” thing… It’s false and meant only to distract from who really sucks up to the rich and powerful..the GOP.
6:49 pm
DK, the napkin thing is very scientific. Really.
But isn’t the kind of experience one gets equally important? McCain branded himself a maverick and bucked his party when he had designs on the white house in ‘00. He thought that would work for him. Now, He’s realized that’s not the best approach and it got him in plenty of trouble with his own party elite. He has since reversed. He was opposed to Bush’s tax cuts, now he’s for them and wants to make them permanent. He stood up against torture but now can’t find the balls to stand up against gitmo. He’s become quite a weather vane now. His pick of Palin seems to be his latest wet-finger in the wind. And he has shown that he’d rather lose his integrity than lose an election…He’s got flip-flopping experience down pat.
To me, Obama’s policies are right in line with when he was a puny community organizer… I like that..That’s for me..
7:00 pm
Tim- You argument is about class warfare, You seem to think that the Rich are the problem. Why not call people who have obtained success, successful. You don’t question Obama’s wealth do you, and personally I don’t care how much he makes, I only worry about how much I do.
Trying to sell me on Obama cutting taxes for the middle class is complete nonsense. You have no idea what you are talking about, I run a successful business, Coporate taxes are way to high, second highest in the world, and yet Obama want’s to raise them more. When you tax corporations, we pass it along to the consumer, and hire less people.
I’ve listened to Barak, and he can’t pay for all the crap he is talking about. We need to cut the size of the government in half, lower corporate taxes, capital gains, and eliminate the death tax. The American people and small businesses are the innovators, not the government, so get the hell out of the way. FYI, more money has poured into the treasury the last 8 years, but we have drunk sailors with their earmark spending and entitlement nonsense.
7:03 pm
Tim-If Obama is your man, great, no excuses as to why he loses though!
8:12 pm
No, DK… I don’ think this is about class warfare Its just that right now, the balance is tilted in favor of the rich, the smallest segment of our society. Obama does not want to raise corporate taxes, he wants to eliminate some corporate tax breaks. And yes, he does want to raise capital gains. But most people who earn capital gains make over $200,000 a year.
If you are running a business, how are you going to survive if the largest segment of society can’t afford to spend a dime? I understand you want to keep what you have but someone’s gotta pay for it. As a business owner, you probably have ways to limit your tax liability like no working joe has ever dreamed of.
But if that working joe keeps getting squeezed how will your business survive anyway?
Personally, I think corporations have become irresponsible in how they handle money any way. Does a CEO really need to walk away with 400 million dollars like exxon did for its CEO? Jeez – cut executive pay and pay your share while cashing in on this country. The disparity between the average worker and the average CEO/executive has skyrocketed. Sadly some have become used to it and don’t want to lose it.
This argument is about greed – plain and simple.
I wish you wouldn’t call it a death tax – it is a windfall inheritance tax. Small business es and farms are already exempt from paying the estate tax…. So what are we doing by killing it? Rescuing heirs so they can more easily join the idle rich?
So I see we agree on earmark spending…That’s good.. Too bad Palin was for it before she was against it.
I don’t think McCain is going to change anything… He owes too much to the people who want to keep things just as they are.
8:59 pm
Tim, you are entitled to your opinion, and to your own interpretation of selective facts. Other facts are not going to persuade you because they do not fit your pre-defined narrative. But I have to try.
Something like 65% of Americans take capital gains. The top 1% of income earners pay 35% of the taxes. You can’t get a job from a poor guy. There is a corporate tax rate at which it doesn’t pay to stay in business, but it does pay to move the whole operation overseas, where taxes are lower. Estate taxes are double taxes, and they are not fair. US history is proof that most fortunes are dissipated within a couple of generations, so there is no need to give the government more money to produce this unfair “fairness” through the estate tax.
CEO’s get paid what they get paid because somebody agreed to pay them that for their services. You could get rich, too, if you could do what the CEO does. Businesses don’t pay taxes, never did, never will. Taxes are paid by their customers, or by their shareholders (the vast majority of Americans) taking less in dividends. If you haven’t noticed, the lower-taxing nations are already eating our lunch. If you think we’ve got economic problems now, tell me how it will be when we have no businesses or corporations at all. Government doesn’t produce anything, and cannot give you anything that it doesn’t first take from somebody else. Your man Obama promises to be the Prince of Thieves.
10:18 pm
I want to fly me some plaines.
can i?
Tim, you are an overeducated dolt.
noam chomski, ward church ILL, you know..
You have a better chance of getting your point accross somewhere like kos?
Give us a brucking fake.
10:20 pm
I haven’t read a peep about this McCain e-mail ad goof-up and now I see why. How embarrassing! Have they ever heard of using Google?
But, despite their naive mistakes, I still get the sense that they are trying to mimick what they would call a “Rove style campaign”. I think they are just trying to throw around as many accusations as they can with the hope that 1 or 2 stick. So much for a new kind of politics. (But I don’t think anyone on the left cares at this point—they want to WIN at any cost!)
Anyway, the election is weeks away. A lot can happen in a couple of weeks. It’s just going to get worse!
11:45 pm
This nonsense about McCain not using a computer because he is disabled is just that. There are thousands of devices and software packages designed specifically for the disabled. Christsake, look at Stephen Hawking.
McCains lack of computer knowledge is f’ing absurd in 2008. Absolutely absurd. And anyone who cries about him being disabled is making themselves look stupid. I know people in my personal life who are far worse off than McCain and they send email and search google on a regular basis.
For the record, it matters not HOW he got disabled. It’s completely outside the scope of the argument. If someone is going to be legislating the f’ing internet, they should at least be able to search it and compose a letter to someone. McCain makes Ted “series of tubes” Stevens look like an internet genius.
Stop making excuses for the guy. Just stop. It’s insulting to independents, and even more insulting to the disabled who use the internet every f’ing day.
2:43 am
Bill Clinton Sent two Emails during his 8 years as President, worked out pretty well for him.
Chuck, Why so angry?
3:28 am
DKM,
I’m angry because a man who might legislate areas of what is essentially my place of business, knows absolutely jack shit about it. That should scare internet users of all types, especially bloggers.
5:05 am
Tim: Obama went to HARVARD? OOOOOOH! Better change my mind, then!
Why do you think a mediocre HS student who was stoned half the time got into Columbia? ANd what did he accomplish there? How difficult was it for black applicants who could put two words together to get into Harvard Law School in 1989? For that matter, how difficult is it now? And has there EVER been another President of the Harvard Law Review who has failed to submit or to publish a single scholarly article on the law? EVER?
Imagine how thrilled the Harvard faculty was to find this charismatic somewhat-black kid who could speak so well! Conversations around the faculty lounge in 1990 must have sounded like Joe Biden: “He’s so CLEAN
”
Well, if Brother Obama’s fan club is going to use his towering intellect as a qualification for the Presidency (and I’m seeing this resume-based argument all over now), you are going to have to come up with some evidence of actual scholarly activity, which occurred either at Columbia or at Harvard. Unfortunately for you, there is no such evidence.
And among actually intelligent people who are not already in the tank for Obama, everybody knows why.
6:01 am
I know so many people from both political sides who are not only computer illiterate, they CHOOSE not to use computers. These are the same people who understand the value in a phone call, a hand-written note, an in-your-face visit, or a hug. You can use those funny characters to try to do all of those (and yes, I know you can use a computer to make a phone call because I’ve done it), but there is a very large group of voting age people who see McCain as “like them” in this respect, and they feel good about that.
There is a large group of people who see his military record as something to be proud of, including every single Viet Nam veteran who returned to this country to face the outburst of hate from the anti-war crowd. Who cares if they were doing their legal duty, right? Well, those vets care. And they see McCain as “like them” and proud of it.
There is an equally large group of people who wish the hot button issues of abortion and gun control and the other social issues would be taken right off the table. One person cannot change those issues, in any direction. The issue of my having or not having a gun or an abortion will not protect this country from attacks by other countries. The issue of sexual preferences – whether I agree with those preferences or not – will not build that fence. This large group – and most likely many others – believe that the job of a president is to protect and defend this country and the job of a vice president is to support the president and be ready to take over if needed. Palin may not have as much experience as McCain (although she has more than Obama, definitely), but she will have 4 years to learn, on the job.
How is this so difficult to understand?
11:36 am
“He’s accomplished more before 1997 than McCain has his whole career… No Smears…all documented facts… I don’t need to smear McCain… The facts are plain as day…”
OK, Tim. All documented facts. List them like you would with a resume. You know, position held – then accomplishments. Show us the list and then be able to back it up. You know – No Smears, all documented facts.
From where I stand, Obama is a political opportunist, an empty suit with an empty resume who happens to be articulate and charismatic – charismatic in a way the Hillary is not. So, if you know so much about your Messiah, then educate us. Show us his resume.
If you can.
Heh
1:39 pm
[...] Moran makes a great sport analogy of what’s happening with the Obama campaign. If you aren’t familiar with the infamous Roy [...]
2:28 pm
Note to my fellow Obama supporters:
Obama has accomplished essentially nothing in the public sphere. It’s a fact. Live with it.
My reasons to support Obama over McCain are 1) I prefer Obama’s positions to McCain’s, 2) I think Obama will do a better job of uniting the country, 3) I think McCain is a man of the past and Obama is a man of the future.
Stop pretending Obama is something he’s not. It’s waste of time and you’re playing a losing game.
The appropriate response to accusations about Obama’s lack of experience is to laugh and say, “You gave up that argument when you nominated the mayor of Wasilla.” And then talk policy.
1:26 am
Michael Reynolds said,
“You gave up that argument when you nominated the mayor of Wasilla.”
No, we did not for two reasons. One is that Palin is not running for President. Two is that we nominated the Governor of Alaska.
Tim said,
“Obama is a self-made man. McCain isn’t.”
Obama was made by Emil Jones and Richard Daley. That fact, in and of itself, disqualifies him for President as far as I am concerned.
2:47 am
Irish:
You nominated a woman who I doubt could find Europe on a map. She’s an ignoramus. She’s another George W. Bush type: long on charm and bluster, short on knowledge or curiosity.
She was a purely tactical pick in no conceivable way the best person for the job. And by picking her to be one 72 year-old heartbeat away from the presidency, McCain sold out his country for his ambition.
11:00 am
Really? An ignoramus? Prove your statement,sir. I live in the People’s Republic of Illinois. I know how The One came to be. That is something the MSM is studiously ignoring.
3:41 pm
Back on topic… I know plenty of people who do not know how to use a computer. This does not make them stupid. My father is a brilliant, self-made man who does not know how to do much more than push the on button on his computer. (The only reason they have a computer is so my mother can get frequent pictures of her grandchildren.
Priorities. hehe) But anyway, the older generation in this country may not be computer savy, but if you would take the time to talk to them you would find they are far from ignorant.
I am constantly amazed at the topics that get discussed with regards to who is the better candidate. Can’t we just have politicians that present a platform and we, the people, decide which direction we prefer and vote accordingly? I hate the pandering… from both sides! Say what you mean! Do what you say! If the American people don’t choose to elect you, don’t take it personally. We aren’t voting against Barack the person, but rather Barack’s policies and direction he would like to take the country. Same for McCain.
Our government is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people, for the people. It’s not a vote for prom king. This is OUR government. WE get to decide where we want our country headed. I couldn’t care less that Barack went to Harvard or McCain graduated in the bottom of this class. This is about the platform and the direction they plan to take our country. I just want a politician to tell us what they will do and let the people decide on policies/plans alone! I know… utopian, but a girl can dream…
PS… one last note… McCain served in the military, Barack has not. That, in my opinion, should be a prerequisite for anyone running for CIC. But that’s another topic…
1:11 am
DBO
I strongly disagree with your prerequisite idea, as did the founders.
9:43 am
Which is why I clarified it as “my opinion”.