Scorned on Issues, GOP Tries to Manufacture "Character Gap"
A flood of recent polls suggests the 2008 election will once again display the "Iron Law" of 21st century Republican presidential politics. That is, with Americans showing an overwhelming preference for Democratic positions across virtually the entire spectrum of issues, the GOP has to make the race about something else. This year as in 2000 and 2004, the Republicans will try to turn the race into a presidential personality contest. And to win it, they need to manufacture a "character gap" between John McCain and Barack Obama.
Two surveys in the past week show the Republicans' dilemma. First, a new Rasmussen poll revealed that voters trust Democrats more than Republicans on each and every one of the 10 issues measured. Democrats enjoy double-digit advantages on the economy (50%-36%), government ethics (45%-26%), health care (54%-33%), Social Security (49%-36%), education (50%-35%), Iraq (50%-39%) and immigration (45%-35%). The GOP lags by smaller margins on national security, taxes and abortion.
Meanwhile, an ABC News/Washington Post poll similarly reflects the devastating impact for the GOP of Americans' record-setting disapproval for President Bush and the direction of the country...With 82% of respondents now believing the U.S. has gone off the rails, Democrats have built a massive 21 point cushion (53%-32%) as the party Americans trust to "do a better job in coping with the main problems the nation faces over the next few years."
Those lopsided results are consistent with an April poll from Rasmussen which found that "election 2008 is creating record numbers of Democrats." The results showed a 10-point Democratic advantage in party identification (41.4% to 31.4%), almost double the margin one year earlier. That delta is unprecedented:
"In fact, the Democrats now have the largest partisan advantage over the Republicans since Rasmussen Reports began tracking this data on a monthly basis nearly six years ago."
The calculus is simple. If Americans vote the issues, Republicans lose. Which is why character matters more than policy to the Republican faithful.
In early May, yet another Rasmussen survey showed that by a 52% to 36% margin, Americans contend that a candidate's policies on the issues matter more than his or her character. Unsurprisingly, given Americans' clear support for Democratic positions and priorities, Republicans instead responded that character counts most.
The Rasmussen findings show a sharp partisan cleavage over the importance of candidate's policies versus character. By a two-to-one margin, Democrats said policy positions matter most. But Republican respondents argued the reverse, with character trumping issues by 49% to 43%. Among independents, policy proposals rank as more important, by 49% to 32%. As a result, the Rasmussen poll like the later ABC/WaPo survey showed a dramatic advantage for the Democratic Party in a generic presidential match-up:
"The survey found that 48% of the nation's adults are inclined to vote for a Democratic Presidential candidate while 34% prefer a Republican."
Which is precisely why the Republican Party cannot let the 2008 election be about the issues.
As Rasmussen suggests, thus far the GOP has been very successful in converting the White House race into a personality contest in which the supposed maverick John McCain is amazingly competitive at a time of almost universal disdain for his party and its policies:
"In fact, one of the most significant stories so far in Election 2008 is the way that John McCain significantly outperforms the Republican brand. On a series of key issues, the Democrats are trusted more than the GOP but McCain is trusted more than either Democrat."
As I noted recently, John McCain has been the beneficiary of both the bitter (and endless) Democratic race and the seeming imperviousness of the media's McCain maverick myth. For example, on the economy, Americans prefer Democrats over Republicans by 48% to 40%. Yet in head-to-head matchups, voters say they trust John McCain over both Hillary Clinton (47% to 42%) and Barack Obama (46% to 39%). Despite John McCain's repeated admissions that "the issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should," right now Americans trust him more than his Democratic rivals on the issue they consider most important in 2008. On Iraq, national security and taxes as well, McCain is also seen as more trustworthy. Even with the albatross of a disrespected Republican president and a discredited GOP brand, John McCain may be winning the character war.
Sadly, we've been here before. The 2000 and 2004 exit polls clearly show the Republican Party succeeded both in portraying the presidential contest as being about character and in defining the accepted media narrative for candidates Bush, Gore and Kerry. Eight years ago, 24% of voters claimed being "honest/trustworthy" was the quality that mattered most; among them, George W. Bush trounced Al Gore by 80% to 15%. In 2004, Bush walloped the supposed flip-flopper John Kerry by 70% to 29% among those claiming honesty was the most important presidential attribute. Among those wanting a "strong leader," Bush swamped Kerry by a staggering 75 points.
In his 2007 book The Big Con, Jonathan Chait described how Republicans consistently win elections despite almost universal disdain for their policies among the American people. In a nutshell, Chait argues that Republicans must convert elections into contests of character because they simply can't win on issues. While their man, be it George W. Bush or John McCain, is the "authentic" guy you'd "like to have a beer with," the GOP drives the media conventional wisdom that paints the likes of Al Gore, John Kerry and now Barack Obama as effete, out-of-touch elitists whose positions change with the wind:
"Media outlets functionally affiliated with the Republican Party have been able to create news that makes its way into the nonpartisan media. It is a kind of machine that manufactures images of character.
The Republicans' seminal insight was that the random process by which small events come to wield great symbolic insight into the character of presidential candidates didn't have to be random. It was possible to prime the pump, in a way." (p.169)
The data is clear. If the election is about the economy, health care and Iraq, John McCain cannot become the 44th president. Only if the GOP succeeds once again in transforming the race into a media medley about lapel pins, angry ministers and Muslim-sounding middle names can the Republicans hope to maintain their hold on the White House.
The right-wing media machine is already hard at work on producing the 2008 version of the character gap. The supposed elitism of Barack Obama (and not the perpetually out-of-touch John McCain) has already emerged as an indispensable, if demonstrably false, conservative story line. In Monday's New York Times, Bill Kristol extolled McCain's "exceptionalism." Meanwhile, uber lobbyist and McCain senior adviser Charlie Black now labels his man "slightly right of center" after just weeks ago airing a McCain television spot titled, "True Conservative." No doubt, McCain's move to the center and away from his president and his party is well underway.
All the more reason why the Democratic Party needs to move beyond its interminable nominating process and begin the demolition of John McCain's maverick myth. To win the war for the White House, Democrats need to win the battles for Americans' hearts - and minds.
So...the GOP slogans will be "Vote for Grandpa, he's a nice man" and "Don't vote for the inexperienced guy with the mouthy wife, besides....he's black".
Barack better get a base-ball sized chrome lapel pin with florescent lights, sparklers, and bottle rockets.
Walter Sobcek @ 2:
Why? So Grandpa will be able to see him during the debates?
Oh please- the GOP is dead in the water- the only place for distraction of facts and irrelevancies is the race card- which will be played to the hilt. Obama will be easily distracted with stupid issues like negative comments regarding his wife and other idiotic distractions all designed to keep the people from seeing the real game which is being played by the elite.
He is playing right into their hands and will make the republicans actually appear less distracted and more mature.
It is amazing just how stupid the American public is and how much more stupid and easily played are the new crew of empty headed blow hard politicians.
This isn't even interesting enough to make me sick anymore.
In fact, he should start his own fashion scandal. He can start wearing an American flag arm band. "where's your arm band, McCain?" Or maybe a bandanna.
Character gap?
There's a big one... Obama has character, but McCain is a caricature.
"Character Gap"??? Why not just call it what it is - an "Appeal to Racism"?
Darrell Kern @ 4:
Yep, the majority of registered voters are ignorant and dumbf...., so regardless
what polls show, the Dems will probably find a way to screw up the Nov. elections
and permit the Repugs to win again. Hope not, but with all the bitterness within
the Dem Party between Obama and Hillary, it would not be a great surprise to see
them blow it again.
JOhn McCain is going to run on his personality ?........ i predict a landslide victory to his opponent :)
Let me tell you how this is going to go down.
For the Democrats it’s developing into a perfect storm.
- A reviled president, an incompetent and corrupt administration, a hugely unpopular war and the economy in recession.
- A young, charismatic and intelligent candidate for the Democrats with no political baggage and a young, vibrant intelligent wife. A campaign that’s awash with cash and people keep on giving – even business sectors that went for Bush big time in 2000.
- An old, out-of-touch, adulterous Washington insider for the Republican candidate with a violent temper, lots of issues he would rather we all forget, married to a remote, icy millionairess with a pathological sense of privacy.
- A congress that fails to pass major legislation because (and this is the only reason) the republican minority uses any procedural tactic they can to block everything.
- A populace that has finally realised that the 2000 election was stolen, the last eight years have been misery and that’s what you get if you don’t get out and vote. They don’t trust what the MSM says anymore (Stephanopoulos – you’re fired) and they’re more energised and alert.
Now all Republicans running for election are now vulnerable.
Republicans will become an endangered species in the House and the Democrats will have a veto-proof majority in the Senate.
An amusing footnote - Lieberman’s career will be over.
I hope that in the general election Obama is able to continue to respond to asinine and banal attacks of a trivial nature with the same poise that he has in the primary.
andy @ 9:
Perhaps he can borrow some from Lieberman. :-)
I predict a landslide victory no matter what. The Republicans already lost this election.
Yeah, right.
This will literally be a black and white contest.
I sneer at the thought of 2008 being a "race", as the stinking republican party has brought this country to its knees, perhaps mortally wounding it. Nobody in their right mind would vote for another 4 years of generic Bush.
Grampa is a neo-con, an old-fart, warring son-of-a-bitch, and his party has to manufacture a way of stealing this election, too. They can't win fairly; they must resort to theft, distraction, caging, trickery, and law-breaking.
The Dems need to focus on war profiteering, lying the country into war, New Orleans, the elite 2% at the top, the destruction of the middle class, the health insurance industry's raping of our healthcare dollars/system, and among other things, Big Oil's rule over this country.
Forget character. Grampa IS the problem of the hellish last 8 years. Focus, focus, focus!
"Democrats enjoy double-digit advantages on the economy (50%-36%), government ethics (45%-26%), health care (54%-33%), Social Security (49%-36%), education (50%-35%), Iraq (50%-39%) and immigration (45%-35%). The GOP lags by smaller margins on national security, taxes and abortion."
Someone PLEASE explain to me how Republickers, in all seriousness, can get ANY numbers above the ignorant/whacko 25% after the last 8 years!
Seriously.
IS there something wrong with Americans?
Observances and explanations welcome as it continually BLOWS my mind there aren't already screams for their, the cabal, heads.
they can reach into their bag of tricks, play every rotten card they have, but the american people for the first time in a LONG time see a light at the end of a tunnel made of blood and corruption and hate and fear
we are tired of being scared
tired of being lied to
tired of being played
Darrell Kern @ 4:
I'm always surprised when I see people make exaggerated statements like this about people. I can't think of any of his previous actions that would lead me to believe he will be distracted and play into Republicans' hands. I don't know if you're underestimating Obama or overestimating the Republicans.
The media has Mccain on life support.
He's DOA in the general...
The MR.Magoo of foreign policy experience still does NOT know who OR WHERE the enemy is...is it sunni...no...shia...no...Iraq...no...Iran...no...Saddam...no...
The Mr. Magoo of economy.
The Mr. Magoo of healthcare.
The Mr. Magoo of social security.
The Mr. Magoo of minimum wage increases.
The Mr. Magoo of equal pay for women.
Vote John Magoo.
The change you deserve???
Too bad MSM can't cover for him in the upcoming debates like they have during the primary!
Gee,
Why don't we all just throw up a white flag, and bow down to the mighty John McCain?
/Snark/
Look, John McCain's character isn't too much better than his stance on the issues. I believe that if it got to a debate, Obama would smoke his sorry butt with his grace and eloquence. As for the media, people just have to stop taking its word as gospel. I mean, I read the paper (Chicago Tribune) business section every day, and every day they try to downplay the economic problems this country faces. Economic problems that people see in their attempt to buy food and gas. So it's going to take much more than "I like to share a beer with this guy" to get some people to vote for John McCain.
oh, it is going to be a "character gap", this time.
i had my bets on another pointless, distracting and insulting salvo into the "culture war"
anything to distract the voters from the fact that the GOP/dem centrist economic policies and foriegn policy has kneecapped america, our economy, our future, our 'standing' and our environment. anything to keep the people from realizing that the corporatist party (D-R) has sold our future on the "free" market, losing our shirts in the process.
but, sure, yeah, 'character gap', i bet the msm will eat this up like chocolate num-nums.
2012: the end.... ?
Blue Lensman @ 7:
Exactly. All McCain needs to do is emphasize all the negative stereotypes about Muslims blacks and democrats.
MSM MODERATOR: Senator McCain, would you care to comment on the economy?
MCCAIN: MY OPPONENT IS A LIBRUL!
MSM MODERATOR: Senator McCain, would you care to comment on healthcare?
MCCAIN: MY OPPONENT IS A MUSLIM!
MSM MODERATOR: I see. Can you comment on the war in Iraq?
MCCAIN: MY OPPONENT IS A N&&&&R!
MSM MODERATOR: Well, there you have it folks! Vote McCain and you'll get a White Anglo Saxon Protestant in the white house, as it should be.
"I'd like to share a cell with John McCain."
G.W.Bush
StevePam @ 17:
They can't?
Uhh hemm...
Timmeh: "Senator Obama, Hillary Clinton questioned your foreign policy credentials, particularly with regard to your willingness to talk to terrorist regimes. It's been said that your approach is borderline if not outright appeasement. So, my question Senator, is....why do you hate the troops?
Timmeh: "Senator McCain, sir, we all know of your service to our country, and we thank you for it. We know that this has given you insight into war that many in the present generation cannot appreciate, and probably does position you best in terms of foreign policy. Having said all that, sir..can you answer for me...what is the address of the White House?
I'm not quite ready to be calm and unworried about Obama's chances just yet, although I'm feeling better seeing how he's handled all of this "appeaser" BS recently.
The McCain packaging is nice, real nice. War hero, maverick, patriot, etc, etc. Just the kind of John Wayne crap the public eats up. But McCain himself is a flaming doofus and can barely string a coherent sentence together without a teleprompter and Lieberman whispering in his ear.
Obama, on the other hand, is a little light in the steak department, but man, has he got a lot of sizzle. Maybe he doesn't come off as well on paper, but put the two of them on stage together, and sit back with popcorn to watch the old geezer bloodbath begin.
Come to think of it, Obama is the kind of candidate I would be pissed to see the GOP putting forward (not that they ever would) - all the flair but with some real potential gaps in substance. I'm just kind of hoping the electoral shoe will be on the other foot this year.
Just wait till the Military Industrial Complex strikes Iran!!!
The mindless American population will once again gleefully wave their flags and elect McCain unless Bush declares a national emergency.
the fight to get cindy mccain's tax returns must be won.
i am amazed at how many "regular people" have absolutely no idea that he is married to THAT kind of wealth. when i've had an opportunity to inform people about the amount of money she's sitting on, the reaction i've seen is palpable, it's like they've been struck by a lightning bolt -- he is no longer simply "a good soldier," he is instead just another guy trying to pull wool over their eyes.
GOP will try everything. I suppose they'll try to present Obama supporters as baby sacrificing "Molech" Obama loonies to their fundamentalist base.
http://tinyurl.com/5hndq4
There's a gap all right. jeepers.
If you want eight more years of dying because they're stupid, help yourself to the all you can eat smorgasbord of lying, cheating, robbing, torturing, warmongering you want.
McBush - what's in your wallet?
Until the MSM stops treating McSame as the kind old grandpa , there will always be doubts in average joe voters mind about Obama.
Character Gap???
Tell me McSame, when did Barak Obama EVER force people from their homes and relocated them on a Superfund clean up site?????
http://www.cain2008.org/
http://www.culturekitchen.com/winter_rabbit/blog/mccain_instrumental_in_...
Character? John McCain wants to run on his character? Usually, when we praise a man's character we mention traits like courage in the face of adversity (remember the hanoi hilton video?), or steadfastness of opinion (what position hasn't he reversed and then reversed again), or loyalty to friends (has he got any? I mean any that haven't bought him), or patience in disagreement (ha-ha), or probity in financial dealings (cheating 5, anyone? And why, exactly, won‘t his wife let him handle the money?), or true in love (In this McCain is a little complicated as he is sexually attracted to women but romantically involved with men, hence his lieber-love and bush-crush. Something to do with Daddy. He shares this trait with most of the pundits we are saddled with, btw.) . That is a person of good character is honest, brave and wise. Those words will never describe John McCain.
Character Gap???
Tell me McSame, when did Barak Obama EVER force people from their homes and relocated them on a Superfund clean up site?????
McCain is sounding like a parody of himself, which is actually a parody of SNL....but when you're talking to Florida Cubans I guess there's no such thing as semantic excess....just appearing ridiculous. Forget "The Hug", my friends, it's "The Kiss"!!!:
(AP):The Arizona senator recalled the ridicule President Carter faced in 1979 when he kissed Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev during the signing of an arms treaty.
"Carter went over and kissed Brezhnev, remember?" McCain said Tuesday in Miami. "So it's dangerous; it's dangerous to American national security if you sit down and give respect and prestige to leaders of countries that are bent on your destruction or the destruction of other countries. I won't do it, my friends."
A woman in the audience applauded McCain's position: "For that, believe me, Florida will be yours," Ninoska Perez Castellon told McCain. She is a radio commentator for the anti-Castro station Radio Mambi.
Darrell Kern @ 4:
The PROPHET DARRELL has spoken! all hail his mystifying foresight and wisdom! Perhaps with enough canoodling, we can convince this man to build a site on the intertoobs so we can avoid the wasteland of C&L comment threads and go directly to the source for the deep understanding of social constructs we all crave and he generously provides.
Don @ 32:
Then why did he hug Bush?
of the remaining 18%
1% are actualy doing better
17% are clinging to delusions or hatreds
Underground Pirate @ 25:
While the other 225 million of us shut down the country.
What, in the name of the almightiest of fucks, is wrong with the approx. 30%? After eight years of what can only be described as "utter shit", who can still feel inclined to vote back in the colossal ass from which that shit was excreted?
Darrell Kern @ 4:
you are off your meds, aren't you?
And thanks for including the book "The Big Con". An overlooked masterpiece. And the short analysis from it in this blog should be taken to heart by all of us. The GOP does not win on original ideas, or on even addressing them. IT wins by running AGAINST someone. And I'm fairly optimistic that Obama seems to understand this, and to try and have a reaction to it. But, I never underestimate the stupidity of the public, and the stupidity of some of us who will vote for McCain out of petulance.
Loonie @ 38:
it can't be 30% if 82% disapprove.
the msm keeps playing with the numbers to keep you off balance.
the real approval number is 18% the other 12% probably hold their noses and vote repug for reasons other than their own best interests.
Republicans put party over country summarizes all the character they can muster.
Let the character assassination begin!
Remember to take that poll finding...
82% of Americans feel the country is moving in the wrong direction
...with a grain of salt. It doesn't mean they feel all feel the country should be more liberal and Democratic.
Some of those people are Bush supporters who feel that we are going in the wrong direction by not nuking Iran right now and just anointing Bush king-for-life.
Liberal AND Proud @ 23:
OH MAGOO....you've done it again.....
: )
And since even wives are fair game, I'd like to see a little side-by-side questionnaire to Michelle and Cindy:
1. Have you ever had an extra-marital affair with a married man?
2. Have you ever had a drug addiction resulting in breaking the law?
3. Did you earn your money through you own efforts or did you inherit it?
4. Do you love this country?
I through in (4) to get one thing the two women might agree on....
All Obama has to say is one word. Corruption!
Hey McCain why don't you release your wife's income tax records? Corruption.
Ho, ho, ho....now this shows just how lame the McCAin team is when put on the defensive....go, go, go.
“It appears that John McCain is very much a creature of Washington and one of the things that we’ve said from the outset of this campaign is that if we’re gonna change policies, if we’re gonna deliver on universal health care or have an energy policy that over the long term can bring down gas prices that we were gonna have to change how Washington works,” Obama told reporters Sunday at an ice cream shop in Milwaukie, Ore. “We can’t have special interests dictating what’s happening there and that’s why I said at the beginning I wouldn’t take PAC money and I wouldn’t take money from federal lobbyists. And it does appear that over the last several weeks John McCain keeps on having problems with his top advisers being lobbyists, in some cases for foreign governments or other big interests that are doing business in Washington that I don’t think represents the kind of change that the American people are looking for.”
The McCain campaign responded with a strange attack:
"Just a few years ago when Barack Obama was beginning his career in politics he was launching it at the home of William Ayers, an unrepentant domestic terrorist who his chief strategist said Senator Obama was certainly friendly with. If Barack Obama is going to make associations the issue, we look forward to the debate about Senator Obama’s associations and what they say about his judgment and readiness to be commander in chief."
If the Democrats cannot point out the staleness of this technique perhaps they should not win. This has been done before and no one liked what they got from it. The GOP cannot paint Bush a man of character no matter how they try but he was elected by this method. Point that out.
Loonie @ 38:
It's that those people are just as stridently partisan for the Right as many of us are for the Left. Can you imagine yourself ever voting for a Republican under any realistic cirumstances?
Let's say the current mess had happened under a Democratic administration. Would you reach the conclusion that the GOP was the party to save the country, or rationalize that it was just this particular president, this particular group of congressmen, who weren't committed enough to the Democratic ideals, but that the next Dem candidate was the one to bring the country back to the light?
I'm not saying it's a rational decision process or that it's not stupefyingly fact-free, but partisanship is partisanship, on both sides of the aisle.
I think Obama can handle himself quite well. No worries.
Well, so much for John McSameAsBush's 'honorable' campaign he promised.
Hey, once you've sold your soul, why not go for the gusto !
Does Obama ever publically call his wife c**t?
HAHA! The pubbies are so screwed. Here we have the most chrasmatic figure the dems have put up since JFK vs. a mean, old man and they want to make it a personality contest? Really? Barack is gonna win in a landslide...
I demand that since Bush cheated in the debates with a recorder "hidden" behind back jacket, Grandpa should be allowed to do so also, simply because it's unfair otherwise: After all he came bottom of his class in school and needs an aid, just like Bush had.
If Americans vote the issues, Republicans lose. Which is why character matters more than policy to the Republican faithful.
And if Americans vote character, the Republicans get blown out of the water altogether.
Richard @ 49:
They may not HAVE to point it out. They should, but they may not have to. American's are getting sick and tired of GOP tactics. They have fooled some of the poeple all of the time but they cannot sustain it. It's all crumbling around them and they know no other course, so they will plow forward with their divisive rants and continue to drive hoards or people away from their crippled party.
McSame is a reflection of today's GOP..
Old, senile, out of touch and NO CLUE on what's happening in world today.
Don @ 48:
gag, CinC, gag again. why are goopers so ready to play with guns on the freeway?
McCain, are you a reformer or not? details please.
ysbaddaden @ 53:
In McSame's defense, I think it's considered "OK" to call your 'trophy' wife the c-word, but not your real wife.
;)
and hillary, neo-con mole that she is, works feverishly to drag obama and the party down.
"We pick politicians by how they look on TV and Miss America on where she stands on the issues. Isn't that a little backwards?" Jay Leno
Chico Hussein @ 59:
mccain probably gets his head stuck in tropies alot.
I think we can all agree that McSenile wouldn’t be where he’s at today without the aid of the MSM. Unfortunately, after 8 long years of neo-con rule, the American people have become very good at reading between the lines. Sorry, I don’t agree that the American people are stupid. I believe the MSM is stupid and is trying to dumb down the populace. It’s no longer working and soon the MSM and the Republican Party will be going the way of the Condor. It’s like they’re having a race to see who goes extinct first.
I read a post on U.S. News & World Report that nearly made my head explode. Unlike this reality-based commentary, USN actually had the gall to write an article entitled Voters (Heart) Obama, But Think Like McCain. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2008/5/16/voters-heart-obama-but-think-like-mccain.html Apparently, the Winston Group did this study and found that those surveyed love Obama even though they are more ideologically like McWane. I sure would like to know how cherry-picked their survey group was!
Anyone else feel that way?
Karen@26 Mccain has more money than almost anyone in congress thanks to his wife and her daddys criminal indeavors. Add that to all the bribes, kickbacks and other transgressions he has committed and you soon see that he cares only for old number 1. He sold out to the vc while a pow, then sold out and hugged and kissed the commander of the camp he was in, on national tv. He then sold his first wife down the river ,after she was wheelchair bound from a car crash, having stuck by him and raising his kids while he was a pow. He has sold out so many times he likley has a printed price list of bribes. You can trust john to fight and fight hard, until he get the price he wants. I hope everyone does their homework on this little traitor. Ignorance is expensive. CEO
Personality contest, are they kidding? Nobody in the republican party has a personality. If the people in this country elect Mccain, then this train cannot be put back on the tracks,we are doomed. To the working people who plan on voting republican, please go deeper than abortion, gay rights etc. You're being played.
I work with a guy who claims McPhony has more character than either Dem. He's welcome to his opinion, but if he chose to be honest at all or do any real research, he'd see what a total pretender McFlippityFloppity really is and might even be horrified at the potential damage this man can pile on to The Chimp's 8 years in office. What is really aggravating is that he is an educated, mild-mannered (read that as: "He seems like a nice guy"), upper middle-class dude and he still takes this position. I have not gone deep enough with him to ascertain if this is ignorance, willful stupidity or simple party loyalty (curse you conservative buttheads: party over country every time, eh?).
Anyway, willful ignorance crosses class and economic boundaries, it seems.
ya know @ 66:
I know that whenever he gets in front of a camera what I see is a used-up, boring, nervous, ill-informed politician with a limited imagination. If he ever had any real character he sold what was left of it for a few more delegates.
I can't tell what's more plastered
mccain
or his hair.
I think the GOP's focus on the character issue is quite telling about why their "brand" is so bad. When you have no substance to back up the party platform the only think left to do is attack.
And isn't it a shame for them that people are finally opening their eyes to see the transparent and rather vacuous ideology the Republicans run on?
McChimp has learned the Republican rule: "The most important thing is the world is sincerity -- once you can fake that, everything else is easy."
I doesn't matter what you say (or if it was the same as you said yesterday) as long as you sound like you mean it.
I'm embarrassed that that attitude is effective against an amazing portion of the American people (including 2/3 of my family). I suppose that is what happens when you have a selfish, lazy, ignorant population.
Bonkers Hussein @ 68:
Definitely past his prime.
dosido @ 72:
Was that a prime cut?
Polaris @ 10:
From your fingertips to the ears of the gods.
John "Reverse Ace" McCain dumped his first wife, a model, after she was disfigured in an accident. After cheating on her with the younger, prettier, and far richer Cindy. Whose drug addiction and stealing he helped to cover up. And lets not forget the Keating Five and all that shady maneuvering to help out with real estate deals for wealthy Republican donors. And Vicki Iseman, and all the other lobbyists who handle McCain. And his kow-towing to extremist religious kooks Hagee and Parsley.
"Character gap" strategy?
Bring it on.
Janicot @ 71:
That's right, my friend. :>)
The probability of McCain winning the election is as closer to zero than any candidate in the history...
The probability of McCain becoming the president is much higher.
There's certainly an enormous "character gap" between Obama and McCain with McCain at the losing side of the gap. McBush is an unprincipled flip-flopper who will say or do anything to win. He brings to mind something that his soul-mate Dole said in a campaign speech in 1996: "If you want Reagan then I'll be Reagan".
oh god look at that picture of mcsame — he looks like he's melting! is this guy even gonna make it to november???
Ask McCain's first wife about the "character gap"
Oh yeah, Gramps is nothing but a bastion of high moral fiber and character. I'm betting his old shipmates on the USS Forrestal would agree. This information comes from a republican pundit who's less than thrilled with McSame.
"McCain’s most horrendous loss occurred in 1967 on the USS Forrestal. Well, not horrendous for him. The starter motor switch on the A4E Skyhawk allowed fuel to pool in the engine. When the aircraft was “wet-started,” an impressive flame would shoot from the tail. It was one of the ways young hot-shots got their jollies. Investigators and survivors took the position that McCain deliberately wet-started to harass the F4 pilot directly behind him. The cook off launched an M34 Zuni rocket that tore through the Skyhawk’s fuel tank, released a thousand pound bomb, and ignited a fire that killed the pilot plus 167 men. Before the tally of dead and dying was complete, the son and grandson of admirals had been transferred to the USS Oriskany."
McCain does not know Jack! He will be just as bad a president as Bush. Maybe worse! Read this and weep!
Later in the day, Klein confronted McCain with this question at a press conference. For a foreign policy "expert," McCain clearly has a pattern of getting the basic facts wrong. McCain insisted that ultimate political authority in Iran rests with Ahmadinejad -- even mocking Klein when he challenged him on it. In fact, according to the CIA's World Factbook, ultimate political authority in Iran rests with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, not the president.
Here's the exchange:
KLEIN: I've done some research, and um -
MCCAIN: I have too.
KLEIN: Also checked, also checked with the Obama campaign and he never, he's never sai -- mentioned Ahmadinejad directly by name. He did say he would negotiate with the leaders, but as you know - Ayatollah,
MCCAIN: (Laughing) Ahmadinejad is, was the leader.
KLEIN: But if -
MCCAIN: Maybe I'm mistaken.
KLEIN: Maybe you are, because -
MCCAIN: Maybe. I don't think so though.
KLEIN: The Supreme, you know, according to most diplomatic experts, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is the guy who's in charge of Iranian foreign policy and also in charge of the nuclear program, but you never mention him. Do you, you know, um, why do you always keep talking about Ahmadinejad since he doesn't have power in that, in that realm?
MCCAIN: Oh I thin-Again, I respectfully disagree. When he's the person that comes to the United Nations and declares his country's policy is the extermination of the state of Israel, quote, in his words, wipe them off of the map, then I know that he is speaking for the Iranian government and articulating their policy and he was elected and is running for reelection as the leader of that country. Yes sir, go ahead.
NEW REPORTER: One more quest-
MCCAIN: I mean, the fact is he's the acknowledged leader of that country and you may disagree, but that's a uh, that's your right to do so, but I think if you asked any average American who the leader of Iran is, I think they'd know. Go ahead. Or anyone who's well-versed in the issue.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/20/mccain-confronted-with-ne_n_102...
When I think of John McCain's character, I have to wonder about the make up heroism. Is it a constant throughout a person's life, or is it fleeting?
McCain was regarded as a hero for his behavior while a P.O.W. of the Vietnamese 40 years ago. My question is: what circumstances turned him into a craven coward at age 71?
Cap Jones @ 83:
Here's the really fun part about that, apparently it's a total fraud:
"On October 26, 1967, McCain’s A-4 Skyhawk was shot down over Hanoi. The fractures of 1 leg and both arms were reportedly due to his failure to tuck them in during ejection. According to U.S. News & World Report (May 14, 1973), McCain didn’t wait long before offering military information in return for medical care. While an extraordinary patient at Gi Lam Hospital, he was visited by a number of dignitaries, including, to quote McCain himself, General Vo Nguyen Giap, the national hero of Dienbienphu.
Jack McLamb is a highly respected name in law enforcement circles. After 9 years of clandestine operations in Cambodia and unmentionable areas, he returned home to Phoenix where he became one of the most decorated police officers on record. Twice McLamb was named Officer of the Year. He went on to become an FBI hostage negotiator. This man has stated that every one of the many former POWs he has talked with consider McCain a traitor. States McLamb, “He was never tortured…The Vietnamese Communists called him the Songbird, that’s his code name, Songbird McCain, because he just came into the camp singing and telling them everything they wanted to know.” McLamb further quotes former POWs as saying McCain starred in 32 propaganda videos in which he denounced his country and comrades. "
Loonie @ 38:
They only have acess to Fox Noise for their information.
so what do you think the media will drive home day after day? hhhmmmmmmmmmm!?
The repubs got nothin so they actually want to create a discussion based around charactor issues and try to turn that against Obama!??? Hahahah, good luck with that one morons.. McCain definitely will lose on charactor points if the repubs want to go there...
Some of the specifics that sink that desparate move can be found right on this thread (principal involvment in the Forrestal incident, his canarylike singing as a P.O.W. with no actual torture involved) The P.O.W details alone puts the lie to that whole phony war hero meme he's been working like forever. I never quite got how just being a P.O.W. automatically made him a war hero even when I had some respect for his background.. Where was all the rest of the heros from the Hanoi Hilton??? Something about that just never made since... I have since found out why... It can't make sense, it's a fraud, just like him...
Really if the dems want to sling the same kind of mud the repubs want to do, then I'd suggest ignoring his rich trophy wife.. Not like she has anything to do with the part of his past that ought to be brought out into the daylight for real evaluation of his charactor anyway, though an examination of how he dumped his first wife so he could marry into money is itself is a real strong indication of charactor trait as well...
The shortest story possible as results of trying to sling charactor mud on Obama? Everyone gets to find out that McCain A. was a traitor as a P.O.W., and B. As an aviator, he was a shitty pilot who lost several aircraft thru his pisspoor piloting skills and his fooling around on the flightline awaiting his turn to takeoff on a mission which caused a major major accident on a ship of the line in a time of war with loss of life and equipment... Hell footage of that Forrestal incident was required navy bootcamp viewing as a part of learning firefighting when I went thru.... Don't know if they still show it today... But that is your synopsis, of John McCain..'the war hero'. Yea right.... So yea, bring it on McCain staffers, lets have ourselves a little charactor examination....
Frankly I don't understand why this hasn't been a front and center discussion even before he became the front runner.. I mean, given that the MSM is sooo freaking liberally biased an all... Isn't that the story from the right??? The liberal MSM, yea, about as truthful as the McCain war hero bit.....JD
Folks, there is a better than even chance McCain will win this thing. I will gladly vote Obama. He is obviously the superior candidate. But if we (Democrats) have learned anything over the past 8 years it is this. 1) The Repubs will stop at NOTHING to win and 2) you will never go broke misunderestimating the stupidity of the electorate. Batten down the hatches...it is going to be an ugly, ugly ride until 2012.
andy @ 9:
Yeah, I know. By "character" that is a code word for gender and race. That's all the GOP has got left at this point.
I can see the ads coming out of the southern states' GOP offices
"Vote for McCain. Because we can't let a Negro in the White House".
We already know how low they will go, see the Mischelle Obama ad.
McCain will put the national interest ahead of partisanship, he will work with anyone who sincerely wants to get this country moving again. If John McCain is elected President, the era of the permanent campaign will end. The era of problem solving will begin.
jjasonham @ 17:
Probably both. Considering I do not believe there will even be a 2008 election due to martial law. Its all just mass distraction and a bunch of bullshit rhetoric speech that neither party ever follows through on.
Obama has made several statements lately about the press and opponents laying off calling his wife names. He is playing right into the game and keeping the pot hot so to speak.
Why am I missing something?
Well, we can all discuss the beauty of hindsight on the REX-84 Express!
....to win it, they need to manufacture a “character gap” between John McCain and Barack Obama.
And manufacture they will. The 'swiftboaters' are hard at work searching for anything in Obama's past that could be spun into an issue. If they can't find anything, they'll simply make something up, and much of the public is waiting to lap it up.
Don't think this is over by any means. I'm sure Hillary thought she had the Democratic nomination locked up a year ago?
As I've said many times, do not underestimate the stupidity of the American public.
The poor GOP. Bush will forever be saddled around its neck. they deserve the bad polls. the picked Bush and couldve had McCain in 2000. they rejected and smeared the veteran and went with the idiot. now look at what a failure he is. and its their fault. they couldnt deserve it more.
Talk about setting themselves up for a collosal smackdown!
Is the character gap any wider than the one in condi's teeth?
The Republicans will try to turn the race into a presidential personality contest.
Duh, don't they always...isn't their opponent always the most liberal thing since Marx? Isn't everyone who wants to do things differently than the failing path we are on terrorists or appeasers? Of course any type of connection to "undesirables" will be played to the hilt. This is a generic,usual Republicon campaign. People will only buy this so many times. Only those that are desperate to believe will bite this time.
This is a great post, keep it alive!
what fantasy is this?
the 2000 and 2004 exit polls clearly showed gore won in 2000 and kerry in 2004!!!!!! or has everyone been completely brainwashed??????
how will the GOP overcome the apparently insurmountable lead by the Dems?
D I E B O L D
can be counted on to deliver the now-traditional 51-49 result.
that is, if there is an election at all...
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