There's Always A Plan B
By Nicole Belle Wednesday Jul 30, 2008 5:00pmThe McCain campaign had adopted an ad strategy that has been dubbed "desperate" by Time Magazine political columnist Joe Klein. Klein was writing in response to this latest ad from McCain's new ad/communications honcho Steve Schmidt.
Klein writes that a candidate air (this) ad only if: "1. You're desperate. 2. Your Middle East policy has been superseded by events and abandoned by your allies. 3. You apparently have nothing substantive to say about America's future role in the region and the world."[..]
This ad asserts a McCain campaign talking-point that Obama wouldn't make time for wounded troops unless cameras were allowed to follow him, but did make time to work out at a gym. This, of course, is a lie. It's a blatant lie. Steve Schmidt, a disciple of Karl Rove's who worked on George W. Bush's 2004 ad/communications effort, though, is playing the Rovian playbook that says that it doesn't matter if it's true as long as your target audience (non-college educated white working class voters) won't bother to find out the actual truth, and believe that it "sounds like it might be a true."
For the second time in a week the non-partisan www.factcheck.org takes McCain to task for a false ad [false, btw, is another word for lie].[..]
What the McCain campaign doesn't want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was...wait for it...using wounded troops as campaign props. So, no matter which way Obama turned, McCain had an Obama bashing ad ready to launch. I guess that's political hardball. But another word for it is the one word that most politicians are loathe to use about their opponents-a lie.
This is what some people are calling the Hannity strategy. Right wing nut-muffin Sean Hannity employs a slick strategy of repeating canards very quickly over and over, day in and day out, which aren't challenged by his TV co-host Alan Colmes or by any of his radio listeners. By relentlessly repeating falsehoods day after day, the theory goes, it becomes embedded in the media.
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John McCranky is the new Bob Dole
Complain
Complain
Complain...
"...if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was…wait for it…using wounded troops as campaign props."
I'm so not shocked.
I believe it, but I want to see the script, or I want McCain grilled on it.
He won't answer, because he never answers a question. McCain is a scumbag lying politician, but I'd like someone to ask him whether or not his team had that counter ad ready to go.
Hm...I figured that the Spears Ad wasn't all that was in the GOP's arsenal. Sadly, outright lies get repeated and seldom challenged, which never works well for any state, much less a multiethnic federalist republic. The more people lie with all the troubles brewing, the worse they'll blow up in our faces. The US may be heading for an equivalent of the Crisis of the Third Century in Imperial Roman days.
HELP WANTED. Practical dreamers with high emotional intelligence needed to become experts in the following subjects: the art of possessing abundant resources without feeling greed or a sense of superiority; the science of cultivating luxurious comfort in a way that does not lead to spiritual sloth; and a knack for enjoying peace and serenity without diluting one's ambition.
General_Rennenkampf @ 4:
For those less schooled among us that would be the equivalent of a fallout in the house on Big Brother.
There's Plan A, then there's Plan B .. and then there's McCain ..
Washington Post: As Aides Map Aggressive Race, McCain Often Steers Off Course
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/30/AR200807...
Let's send him a case of ball point pens.
Obama is running for the USA not a country over seas. We have more here to deal with like the Katrina mess that is still a mess, McSame can give 2 chits for that eh. How about the USA for a change? Im voting for Obama, its time for a change.
Ruthless People @ 6:
Pretty much, yeah. And we likely don't have any Gallienuses or Aurelians to pick the pieces up again, either.
Umm @ 9:
It's important for a US leader to have good relationships with the wider world, as any sense of effectiveness of the US is dependent more on goodwill than the Big Stick. US military power is in some sense psychological, and backed up equally by our economic power, at least prior to the decline of about the late 90s.
This should come as no surprise to anyone. McCain's campaign is running down and dirty.
Pat Buchannan may have just said the most stupid thing ever said on tv. He's on hardball and he said, what was wrong with using Sen. Obama's middle name? He said Richard Nixon had his middle name, Millhouse, used all the time. He actually said that there is no difference in what the two people's middle names conjure up in the public's mind.
He also said that it's fine for McCain's campaign to do things that are just plain wrong, if it works.
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 8:
Sorry, that was in reference to the Bob Dole comment @#1. Forgot to hit 'Quote this Comment'.
I have an off-topic question, and I apologize for going off-topic, but I really was wondering about this.
let me preface this by saying that I consider myself middle of the road leaning liberal. There are things I believe that fall on the Conservative side, and things I believe on the Liberal side. A little more liberal than conservative, but you get the idea.
That being said, why is there virtually NO coverage on Newshounds or here or The Raw Story about the fact that McClellan went on O'Reilly's show and apologized and said that he was unaware of O'Reilly getting talking points from the White House?
There was a lot of coverage of O'Reilly ripping McClellan and calling him a liar, with the comments about O'Reilly upset at the truth or something.
I can't stand Billo, but in this instance it appears that McClellan at the very least inappropriately suggested that Bill was included in the talking points to Fox News.
I just think that it should be reported, but all I've heard from it happens to be links to Newsbusters or some other Right Wing site.
Just wondering. Not meaning to be an a-hole here.
General_Rennenkampf @ 10:
I don't think they could make here in time to do any good anyway traveling all the way from the Delta Quadrant....unless I'm thinking of a different Gallienuses and Aurelians.
Gary @ 14:
That deserves to be reported on this site indeed. I wondered what had happened to the McClellan story, now I know.
[Put it in an email with links and email us. If you send a story idea to the sitemonitor email, we'll forward it to the group that writes for the site. I see Nicole answered you-Sitemonitor]
My Flying Spaghetti Monster! You can just smell the desperation! Desperate that the election will be so great a landslide for Obama, they can't steal it.
Ruthless People @ 15:
You are. Gallienus, Aurelian, Probus, and Diocletian all ended up building on each other's shoulders' work to rebuild an empire upon its knees. Unfortunately, looking at the state of the US, a whole selection of leaders of that quality seem...lacking.
Even if this is a joke, those unfamiliar with Roman history ought to look at that period and how people survived something in Roman times that made 1861-1865 look tame. We also ought to look at their methods and see if some of them might not work in the 21st Century, especially since the repeated deficit increases of every President since FDR are getting worse, and will kill us if we don't stop.
Gary @ 14:
Gary, we did this post. I think we thought there wasn't much more we could add to it.
Billo can say that he personally didn't get talking points, but the fact that the news anchors get talking points directly from Roger Ailes daily is well-documented. Billo also didn't deny that his producers got talking points from the White House (or anyone else at FOX, for that matter.)
Let me just say that what Scott said isn't that controversial. I--me, little blogger Nicole Belle--have received White House press releases, because I got on some distribution list. I also get them for dozens of congresspeople. The question isn't receiving them, the question is whether you regurgitate them wholly with no fact checking or context.
Question: IF, as factcheck indicates, the McCain ads are false(or a lie), why is
it that the Corporate MSM owners are running them? Oh, cuse me, now I remember; it's for the BIG bucks they are paid, and since all of the MSM has
no scruples,integrity or credibility, it's just part of the game they play...
doggiebobo @ 20:
Considering the MSM engineered a war in the past (Spanish-American War), I think we're returning to 19th Century Yellow Press journalism, with FOX News leading that Colossal Leap Backwards.
Enough with the FSM already. It was amusing the first million or two times but now it just smacks of me-too-ism.
Why are the polls so close? Are people that brain dead or huffing? Watching this cranky old man is depressing. Old man shakes fist a clouds!
P.D. @ 23:
The polls are so close because 1) people are ignorant, many down here don't even know who's running, 2) if they do know, they usually get information from biased sources, often word-of-mouth or something like FOX, 3) the choices aren't that great anyhow.
How much McCain's recent desperation is linked to race?
I mean, here you have a guy who consistently and passionately opposed MLK day. Now a black guy gets a few points up on him, and he loses message discipline, turns hostile, and becomes hypersensitive about race.
I watch a lot of small-time college basketball, and I see it happen where a really solid white rural team matches up against a mediocre black team and their game gets totally knocked off kilter. They get nervous. Miss their passes and shots. Get scared to block.
It's not overt racism, per se, but a sort of latent racial tension that leads to crippling anxiety.
I just don't understand how McCain has turned so bizarre lately. Though he compares Obama to Britney, I keep waiting for McCain to shave his head and check himself into a clinic. He just can't seem to cope with the particular stress of running against Obama. What gives?
I heard that Sen. Obama even fathered a black child! TWO, in fact!
Sadly I think that the price of gasoline is pulling voters into favor with McCain. They seem to have latched on to the idea that if there is offshore drilling their gas prices would fall tomorrow. I heard today that when Fla voters were polled, six in ten were in favor of drilling off our coast. I just don't want to believe that, but I guess it shouldn't surprise me. The quickest way to get someone's attention is to hit them in the pocket book.
P.D. @ 23:
I don't think they are that close. found out long ago you can make a poll say whatever you want it to.
this is a media event they have to make it appear this way so they can keep making their bank. i really believe if the truth was known it is really a battle now for about 10-18% of te voters and that's only because they either haven't paid any attention to this at all or they're morons!
Obama needs to attack McAsshole on the things that middle America care about. Things like McShame’s divorce. The republicans always try to take the moral card. Well put it out there. Find some video with McGoldDigger saying something about moral and then show the reality of McCad’s life. Let McShithead whine about Obama’s trip to Europe. Let Obama show what kind of ashit McGramps is.
Run another ad about how McPOW hates the troops. One example after another how McHatethetroops has voted against any help for them. Run the ad over and over and over. Show every single time McFuck has voted against the troops. I mean run this ad for a week every few minutes.
Somebody out there must have pix of McSame stuffing bills in some chicks g-string. It would be worth millions!
Tim in Japan @ 26:
And he's a rampant hetero who's still married to his first wife!
And don't forget, lindsey graham (who, btw, fails at least one of the above criteria) says he's "gettin' too big fer his britches". You know, kind of like an uppity negro.
Joe Klein... Ug - one of the worst "journalists" out there - and that's saying something, while being generous with the label.
Anyway, it's evident that he's now beginning to suck up to Obama. It's what he does. Sycophant to power. The tide's turning and he senses it.
General@24: Let's all remember, the MSM is wanting/demanding/needing a "close
horse race", therefore THEY are the ones reporting a close race. I don't see it that
way. Take a poll here in my locale(A RED State), and Obama is easily running by
10 or more points ahead of McShame. I do agree that there are many ignorant/
misinformed/uneducated persons, but they are in the minority and probably won't
vote anyway since they couldn't find their asses with both hands.
Run another ad about how McSame over the years has voted against every energy saving legislation and how he has put the ax to any kind of alternative legislation. It doesn’t have to even be McBush. It can be the Republican Party because the Republican Party is McAsswipe.
mac @ 31:
If it happened the McCain campaign would just say, there he was being a Maverick again. And the right would say, boys will be boys and don't forget he was a hero and a POW
Funny how the so-called religious right aren't knocking Mccain for tossing a loyal wife for a rich Barbie Doll. Hypocrites, all of them.
FD @ 33:
Which is disturbing. Even the best of men can become corrupted when everyone's a syncophant. Fortunately for Obama, that's not even remotely possible. An Obama term will be a 1990s on PSP laced with crack. Remember, Clinton was a fairly conservative white Southern male, and he became the Antichrist. Obama...
I'm not at all pleased with how a lot of people will act, nor with the fact that if the GOP candidate is inaugurated, it spells even worse trouble.
POP@27: But don't you have an awful lot of really, really old folks in Florida
who only watch Faux Noise or listen to Rush, and if so, they are included in
that group of uneducated(not stupid) and misinformed voters.
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 32:
Heh. Maybe graham was just doing a package check and found a little something he liked.
And get on the ball with better McSame/Bush ads. They are not doing a good enough job there. Take over the media. Instead of chasing McSkinCancer get McSenile to chase Obama.
doggiebobo @ 34:
That's another factor as well. Their favoritism towards McPapen betrays that need as well, because without them manufacturing competitiveness, Obama would have effectively already won.
Take the wind out of Joe Scarborough’s sails. Ever morning Scar and his puppet Mika (who has not had an original thought, EVER!) hammer on Obama. Somebody from Obama’s crew need to set the record straight here. Let it be known that Scar and Mika and Willie are McShame’s talking heads. Put these people in their place in no uncertain terms. Flat out call them for what they are. Loud and clear. With examples. There are so many it will be a cake walk to put them together.
Duh.
Tim in Japan @ 40:
Yeah. Little lindsey probably gets a stiffy when he thinks about Obama's shoe size.
BigT @ 25:
John McStain losing to a black man will, in all likelihood, for him, be the equivalent of John Ashcroft losing to a dead man...
Oh, well if facts aren't going to get in the way:
"John McCain sodomizes puppies in a secret basement dungeon. He couldn't find the time to vote for troop supporting, because he was oiling up pink tennis balls and pushing them up his nostrils, along with his closest companions, Mao Tse Tung, Josef Stalin and Tomas de Torquemada. Everyone knows pink is a color for gays and socialists. Ask yourselves: Can America survive a puppy sodomizer with a gay socialist tennis ball fixation who fraternizes with evil people who are dead?"
POP @ 12
In a nutshell Buchanan demonstrated everything that's wrong about the modern conservative mindset: the ends justify the means and the ends suck.
mac @ 31:
I'd bet money that there's fotos of McStain disorting himself scandalously at some Tailhook function sometime, back in the day. That'd be where to look...
This should come as no surprise. The last repig to lead in the polls was Regan against Mondale. Since then, we have seen nothing but negative, misleading lies. No surprise that McBush does the same. You can't ignore these ads because they got 3 repig presidents elected. Each one needs to be dissected and rebutted. Then the people responsible need to be outed and vilified. These scum bags need to be blown out of the water with every and all means nessisary. Look where "not stooping to their level" got John Kerry. Being nice loses elections. Being an absolute prick wins the popular vote ( or not really since the popular vote was rigged for the las two elections). It is long past time for the Dems to be seen as pussies. Unless of course they really are. Then you might as well hang it up.
This is election season people, pull on your jocks and screw on your helmets. If you can't do that, then don't show up for the game.
P.D. @ 23:
The polls are close for two reasons (probably more but I’ll comment on two). First is that they take polls over the phone. A huge demographic that is going to go for Obama do not have land lines and they don’t poll cell phones. So a huge portion are not even polled.
Second and more important is race. I hate to say it. I don’t want to get into the reason for racism in America but like it or not there is a large racist demographic in America. Let’s say there are 10% of the population that are Racists (I don’t know what the number is but I will use this number. I think it is maybe higher but maybe not.). Ok, let’s say half of them are Republicans and would not vote for a Democrat no matter what. That leaves 5% Democratic racists or racists that are Republican but would vote for a Democrat if he was white. They just cannot vote for Obama. Sad but true. That is a 5% (and I actually believe it is higher) that Obama has to overcome. If you were to add that 5% to any poll then Obama would be up by 10% (take 5% away from McCain and add it to Obama to give a 10% difference). That is what we and Democrats and people who know that the Republican agenda is horrible for the country are up against. That is why the polls are so close in my opinion. Luckily Obama has very very good people working for the campaign. They have done everything very well. I just hope they can pull it off. Damn I hope they pull it off.
It has become the Republican M.O. to strike at your opponent for his motives no matter what he does. In Obama's case, since his foreign trip was such a rousing success, the familiar refrain of "not supporting," or the "exploitation" of the troops was decided on.
Because, Democrats don't support the unending Iraq War or the Surge or attacking Iran, so they by definition "don't support the troops."
If I object to my neighbor shooting at my dog, does it follow that I do not support hunting?
Oooooh, a fact check website took McCain to task . . . .
I'll bet they did the same fine work defending Kerry, too.
Only fighting back counts, at this stage of the game. Obama campaign, hello?
Mc Cain plan B=Bomb Bomb Iran and by doing so pay off the national debt. What a genius.
FD @ 33:
Yeah, he's disgusted me since the 90s. I spent a short time as a journalist for a very, very small newspaper. The kind of paper where mistakes in the land sale reporting could catch you hell. (Sadly, I am not exaggerating, much less making that up.) Let me tell you, I wouldn't have gotten away with half Klein's hackery--and certainly none of the self-promotion. Why? Because I (or, more aptly, my boss) had to live cheek by jowl with the folks I was reporting about. Combine the hackery and cookie-cutter world-view with this chip on his shoulder about being a soi-dissant "minority" (i.e. conservative in the so-called liberal media), and...blech. What a tool. A year or two under my a-hole ex-editor (making only slightly better than minimum wage) would do him a world of good.
#23 - The polls are so close because Obama is 'BLACK'.
Katfish930 @ 56:
Didn't I say that @51?
Captain Bitter Whiner Husein Kangaroo @ 57:
Yes, you did, and what's more, you're correct. The prospect of a black candidate's gonna stir up all kinds'o'hornet's nests.
Speaking of Hannity and Colmes, why does TV co-host Alan Colmes not call Hannity on his bullshit lies???
Is there some way to get Colmes to grow a pair?
or is it in his contract that he can only contradict Sean once per hour?
No kidding I laughed out loud when they said "john mclame is always there for the troops."
You would have to be some special kind of fact avoiding moron to think that could be true in any place other than bizzaro world.
Captain Bitter Whiner Husein Kangaroo @ 51:
Two things:
According to Pew Research Center, the "cell only" issue is worrisome but statistically insignificant (+-2%) right now.
Regarding the race issue. Its smells worse.
"In a recent CBS poll, among white voters who say race is a factor in their presidential choice, McCain leads Obama by nearly 20 points, 56 percent to 37 percent. It's a major problem for Obama, with no easy solution."
Nicole Belle @ 19:
Fair enough. I haven't checked that link yet, but will do so after posting this. I was just wondering. The last thing I had seen was the one where O'Reilly called him a liar and said he wouldn't say it to his face. And then the next day McClellan went on the Radio show and then I was looking to see if anything was gonna be posted here or the other two places I mentioned and I didn't see them. *shrugs*
Thanks for the response, though.
If Obama was going to be damned if he did and damned if he didn't, then he should have "did".
It was either a rank rookie mistake on Obama's part to hand this juicy talking point to his opponents or, in fact, it really didn't occur to him that his not bothering to visit wounded soldiers having travelled so far to look like he's got a clue would cause such a stir.
The ratpublicans were ready to attack him no matter if he did or didn't. Get it? The rookie mistake is yours in taking the criticism seriously.
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If Obama was going to be damned if he did and damned if he didn’t, then he should have “did”.
It was either a rank rookie mistake on Obama’s part to hand this juicy talking point to his opponents or, in fact, it really didn’t occur to him that his not bothering to visit wounded soldiers having travelled so far to look like he’s got a clue would cause such a stir.
Time for Hannity to be forced to debate one of our best .... how about Rachel Maddow?
Ah, Colmes is a paid whore for FAUXNEWS, and sucks what he's told to suck.
The Liberal as windowdressing.
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E. Skyhawk Says: Speaking of Hannity and Colmes, why does TV co-host Alan Colmes not call Hannity on his bullshit lies???
Is there some way to get Colmes to grow a pair?
or is it in his contract that he can only contradict Sean once per hour?
Quote This Comment July 31st, 2008 at 4:08 PM - PDT
Bill O'Lielly was bitching that he didn't personally get his talking points from Karl Rove, but from FAUX producers who got it direct from Karl Rove. For that, he says McClellen is a liar.
In my book, anybody who would even consider the possibilty that O'Lielly is telling the truth is gullible as hell.
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Gary says,
I have an off-topic question, and I apologize for going off-topic, but I really was wondering about this.
let me preface this by saying that I consider myself middle of the road leaning liberal. There are things I believe that fall on the Conservative side, and things I believe on the Liberal side. A little more liberal than conservative, but you get the idea.
That being said, why is there virtually NO coverage on Newshounds or here or The Raw Story about the fact that McClellan went on O’Reilly’s show and apologized and said that he was unaware of O’Reilly getting talking points from the White House?
There was a lot of coverage of O’Reilly ripping McClellan and calling him a liar, with the comments about O’Reilly upset at the truth or something.
I can’t stand Billo, but in this instance it appears that McClellan at the very least inappropriately suggested that Bill was included in the talking points to Fox News.
I just think that it should be reported, but all I’ve heard from it happens to be links to Newsbusters or some other Right Wing site.
Just wondering. Not meaning to be an a-hole here.
Quote This Comment July 31st, 2008 at 2:22 PM - PDT
Does anyone even understand where this country is going. Obama is just another slick talking liar like the rest of them. The only change he will bring is who will get the kickbacks. McCain is a sorry, crusty, old piece of crap with an authoritarian ideology that makes me sick on so many levels. Nothing will ever change in this county until the selfish me first American mentality subsides, which won't happen in my lifetime. The so called informed people volley their partisan BS back and forth trying to prove who is the bigger liar, while all the while the two parties use your ridiculous prejudices and liberal guilt to back what ever crazy new scheme they want to jam down your throat. When the people in this country allow the political process to divide everyone into their special groups and pander to them the political machine wins and the people lose. American's are just a bunch of well fed slaves being led anywhere the military industrial complex takes us. Keep thinking you have a choice and the game goes on.
Can't Obama sue McCain for defamation? And get an injunction against these ads? The formula, at least when I went to law school, you've been defamed when someone goes around telling lies about you that hurt you professionally (i.e. cause damages). If the plaintiff is a "public figure," which Obama certainly is, the defendant can claim "absence of malice" as a defense, which amounts to a claim that "I didn't know and reasonable effort would not have revealed that the story was false; I was just exercising my right to free speech." (This protects newspapers, etc. from being sued every time a story turns out to be wrong, as long as they reasonably believed it was true.)
With ordinary political lies, haling the other guy into court is a high-risk strategy; if you don't get the injunction, people will a) think you're a crybaby and b) think that the court has ruled that the lies are in fact true. But with out-and-out lies, like McCain is doing, McCain will have tough sledding proving an absence of malice.
And if so, Obama should be able to get an injunction.
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