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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:19 am Post subject: The Politics of Hypocrisy |
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McCain's hypocritical negative attacks just might work against Obama, because when Obama did just that, he defeated Hillary Clinton
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Obama founded his campaign on the promise of a new high-minded brand of politics. But last fall, Obama supporters were worried that despite his big rallies, Obama wasn't closing the gap with Clinton. So Obama telegraphed in an interview with the New York Times that he was going to go after Clinton more aggressively. His target? Her veracity. He didn't make a policy argument. In fact, Obama often pointed out that the two were pretty close to agreement on most policy issues. The issue with Clinton was whether voters could trust her. It was the same kind of values-based argument McCain is making about Obama now as he tries to stoke fears about his opponent's underlying character.
The difference between McCain now and Obama then is that Obama was more subtle, and he escalated his attacks slowly. He ran ads hinting that Clinton was a political opportunist but didn't say so explicitly. His slogan, "Change You Can Believe In," let voters come to the implied point that Clinton was offering change you can't believe in. But after Obama's popular-vote losses in Ohio and Texas, his aides launched a full-out assault on Clinton's honesty that matched just the tit-for-tat behavior Obama was campaigning against. Democratic voters didn't penalize Obama. Surely McCain's aides took notice. And if voters in the general election are as forgiving to McCain as they were to Obama in the Democratic primaries, then maybe McCain aides have a reason to smile. |
McCain will get away with his obscene attacks, in the sense that it will not cause him to lose support. But, I don't think McCain can win the election anyway. Meanwhile, I'm not losing any sleep over McCain's tactics, much less sympathizing with Obama an iota. Presumably, Team Obama is not responding in kind because they feel it more advantageous not to do so. |
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Milwaukiedave
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Location: Goseong
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:39 am Post subject: |
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I agree with you on this one, going after McCain is only stooping to his level of childish attacks.
The media is portraying this as a close race, which is so far from the truth. I just read somewhere that Dems can expect a swing of 4-8 Senate seats and 10-20 House seats. Unless the Republicans can keep the gains on the low end of both of those (4 and 9 to be exact), there is going to be a big swing in power. |
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Kikomom
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: them thar hills--Penna, USA--Zippy is my kid, the teacher in ROK. You can call me Kiko
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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Still, you can't deny this...
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Let's be frank. On the campaign trail this cycle, McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries' names wrong, forgets things he's said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused. Any single example is inevitable for someone talking so constantly day in and day out. But the profusion of examples shows a pattern. Some of this is probably a matter of general unseriousness or lack of interest in policy areas like the economy that he doesn't care much about. But for any other politician who didn't have the benefit of years of friendship or acquaintance with many of the reporters covering him, this would be a major topic of debate in the campaign. It's whispered about among reporters. And it's evidenced in his campaign's increasing effort to keep him away from the freewheeling conversations with reporters that defined his 2000 candidacy. But it's verboten as a topic of public discussion.
[url]
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/206947.php[/url]
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He's nuts, and would only be a figurehead/puppet worse than Chimpy. His VP pick will be interesting: The one who would step into Cheney's shoes. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Kikomom wrote: |
Still, you can't deny this...
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Let's be frank. On the campaign trail this cycle, McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries' names wrong, forgets things he's said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused. Any single example is inevitable for someone talking so constantly day in and day out. But the profusion of examples shows a pattern. Some of this is probably a matter of general unseriousness or lack of interest in policy areas like the economy that he doesn't care much about. But for any other politician who didn't have the benefit of years of friendship or acquaintance with many of the reporters covering him, this would be a major topic of debate in the campaign. It's whispered about among reporters. And it's evidenced in his campaign's increasing effort to keep him away from the freewheeling conversations with reporters that defined his 2000 candidacy. But it's verboten as a topic of public discussion.
[url]
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/206947.php[/url]
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He's nuts, and would only be a figurehead/puppet worse than Chimpy. His VP pick will be interesting: The one who would step into Cheney's shoes. |
He's not nuts.
Obama does the same crap at nearly the same frequency. 57 states? Here's Malkin who's composed a list of Obama's misstatements. Clearly, he's nuts, too! Its just that when McCain does it, it contradicts his narrative of someone who is 'ready to lead.'
McCain's omissions are not in themselves a big deal, but are only a big deal in the sense that McCain prides himself on knowing foreign policy (and it turns out he's nothing special). This is true in the same way that Obama's decision to not accept public financing were not in themselves a big deal, except that he had campaigned on being a change candidate from outside of Washington (and compounded his hypocrisy with outrageousness, by asserting that he had to get around public funding because McCain was getting a lot of money . . . by using public funding!!!!).
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Somewhat off-topic, but here's my favorite of Obama's mistakes:
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Last March, on the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Ala., he claimed his parents united as a direct result of the civil rights movement: �There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born.�
Obama was born in 1961. The Selma march took place in 1965. His spokesman, Bill Burton, later explained that Obama was �speaking metaphorically about the civil-rights movement as a whole.� |
I like this one, because remember how much SHIT Romney got for claiming his father marched in the civil rights movement? And this was the first time I heard of this statement Obama made! |
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agentX
Joined: 12 Oct 2007
Location: Jeolla province
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| Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 12:29 am Post subject: |
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You're quoting a Michelle Malkin article? This is the same woman who declared Jihad against Dunkin Donuts because Rachel Ray wore a scarf. Nonetheless, her list is surprisingly small and tame.
McCain, meanwhile, makes a serious gaff a day. Pretty much every time he opens his mouth, or his surrogates open their mouths, or not open their mouths when they're supposed to, a gaff comes out. It doesn't get much play because the MSM wants a horserace. The national polls show it but the 'map' doesn't.
Here's today's, in which he attempts to pimp out his wife to a crowd of bikers at Sturgis.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/05/scenes-from-the-trail-mccain-makes-the-rounds-at-biker-rally/
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Indeed, McCain felt so comfortable at the event that he even volunteered his wife for the rally�s traditional beauty pageant, an infamously debauched event that�s been known to feature topless women.
�I encouraged Cindy to compete,� McCain said to cheers. �I told her with a little luck she could be the only woman ever to serve as first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.� |
Monday he ran into trouble while at the Urban League and froze when asked a question.
Last week his campaign lost its bearings and released the Paris/Britney ad and the One ad, then had to edit their own site b/c they were calling McCain a "celebrity".
Are you sure he's not nuts? |
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Kikomom
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: them thar hills--Penna, USA--Zippy is my kid, the teacher in ROK. You can call me Kiko
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Milwaukiedave
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Location: Goseong
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| Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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I never liked Paris Hilton much, but that was pretty damn funny.
On top of that, her mom is asking for her donation back from McCain.
While it isn't a fatal mistake, it was a stupid one on the part of McCain's campaign. |
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ytuque
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Location: I drink therefore I am!
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:12 am Post subject: |
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| Milwaukiedave wrote: |
I never liked Paris Hilton much, but that was pretty damn funny.
On top of that, her mom is asking for her donation back from McCain.
While it isn't a fatal mistake, it was a stupid one on the part of McCain's campaign. |
Why is it stupid? It appears to be working. |
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RJjr
Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Location: Turning on a Lamp
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:42 am Post subject: |
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| McCain may think celebrities are shitty, but Spears and Hilton probably pay more taxes than at least 98% of us. I'd like to see Spears come out with an ad saying, "If you want a President nuttier than me with a First Lady who has done more drugs than me, vote for John McCain as President of the United States." |
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