Meanwhile, the tactic that was working – comparing what Obama and McCain presidencies would look like – has taken a back seat. I say let’s get back to that. Sarah Palin is a distraction from reminding people that if Obama loses, McCain will be the President and will be a continuation of what we’ve gone through for the last 7+ years.
Taking a look at the Guardian today, I discovered someone (Michael Tomasky) who says this all better than I can. Have a look and see what you think.
So, please, when you discover that Sarah Palin didn’t feed her dog for three days in a row some time in 2005, don’t email it to me. Can we concentrate on Obama (good) and McCain (bad), please?
Please share widely!
Why talk about him? it’s almost irrelevant, he’s so old, right? A heartbeat away, and all. On Volokh there are long threads about the scenarios what if he dies before the electoral votes, or dies after them but before they’re counted, or after that, but before inauguration, etc, like it’s Palin we’re electing for the next four years.
One in three kaput in eight years and one in six in four.
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p>A history of melanoma can’t help….
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p>That’s why. Hearbeat away and all that, in a rather literal fashion.
It’s just that the thousand-paper-cut attempt to knock her down only seems to be increasing the chance that she and McCain will actually get elected. It’s not working.
Remember, we’re a week out of their caucus. We have 56 (?) days to go.
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p>Sometimes death by a million paper cuts actually works. The American electorate is slow on the uptake, given their headline mentality. It will take some time for the Palin poison to spread. There is, of course, the distinct possibility that they will choose to ignore all that. So be it. The problem, as I see it, is not so much with the Obama campaign’s response, but the media bias in McCain/Palin’s favor. They are grabbing the ratings; therefore, McCain and Palin cultivate headlines.
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p>This is less about campaign tactics than it is about the vagaries of media coverage. We may well lose this thing–I wouldn’t be surprised–but it wouldn’t be on the merits of the campaign. Does “Gored” ring a bell?
The stuff that is coming out about Palin getting more and more explosive: the state paid for her to live at home? (“Lodging — own residence” or “Lodging — Wasilla residence” more than 30 times). Come on!
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p>Put that together with misleading people on national TV (“I put the plane on eBay” … sounds pretty close to “I did not have sex with that woman,” if you ask me), and a potent cocktail is brewing.
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p>This is why she is hiding from the press; her minders may also be trying to figure out all the things she has hidden away too.
That’ll get the GOP base excited in a whole new way!
Tell me more…
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p>And Bob please add that she put a Coke on her expense report and she clearly drinks Pepsi. It won’t work. When Obama was attacked because of Rev Wright and wearing a flag pin, the deafening cry from the left was “can we please talk about important issues and not this silly noise…” SO?????
The question remains, would The Base repudiate her for her bisexuality, or would they only say they do and then vote for her with lust in their hearts? What one does in the privacy of the voting booth, etc…
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p>By the way, Palin’s church is hosting a “pray away the gay” conference this weekend. The timing couldn’t be political or anything, could it?
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p>And speaking of politically convenient homophobia, now that McCain has passed over Charlie Crist for a real woman, Crist has all of a sudden gone soft in his support for the FL anti-gay marriage amendment. Ah, the convictions of a GOP politician. Do they even go skin deep?
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p>Vote McCain/Pailin, because we need 4 more years of false morality, failed foreign policy and staggering federal debt!
Can’t say I’m surprised.
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p>Please go easy on the Personal attacks, they are not allowed on this site.
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p>Yes.
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p>That was Carter… a Democrat.
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p>Yes, a central theme of the American election system is the right to vote in private. I love it. I especially love it when the polls look one way but the results of the election show someting else.
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p>Fools. That doesn’t work, believe me I tried it. (That was a joke).
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p>Be careful, Obama has made a number of changes to his positions which I called pandering and your people called moderating, shifting, learning… Do DEM convictions include FISA, offshore drilling, Faith-based initiatives…
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p>Same old, same old… Someone on this site recently said a robot could replace me just playing the same stuff over and over. BTW, concerning the staggering debt… doesn’t Congress write the budget? Don’t the 2 houses come together and develop a budget and the President signs it (or vetoes the whole thing)/ So… how do you blame the debt on the POTUS while the Congress are the culprits?
Only if you’re actually a homophobe.
One of the biggest whoppers, the Bridge To Nowhere lie, was debunked almost immediately and has been covered by just about every media outlet. Yet McCain’s now ahead in the tracking polls. I’m starting to think that Tomasky’s idea, which is to aim 80% at McCain and only 20% at Palin, might be the right mix.
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p>If I happened to like Palin and everyone kept reminding me that there’s a good chance she’d become President in the next four years, I’d say “good” and vote for McCain even if I couldn’t stand him.
The media swallowed whole everything we had to say about Dan Quayle being an idiot. How’d that work for us?
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p>I’m with Jasiu. Waaay too much focus on Palin. And she’s polling well. Build Obama, bash McCain.
Jasiu is EXACTLY correct.
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p>I think this is the beginning of a slippery downward slope for Team Obama. Please direct your attention to today’s Boston Globe, front page photo, above the fold: a split line photo of Palin and Obama. Obama is now running against Palin. If this keeps up, it’s over.
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p>There’s no plausible Palin Defense, at least at the moment. This is why an army of investigative reporters has been dispatched to Alaska. Conventional attacks (so far) have been not only ineffective, they been counter-productive and filled with unintended — yet positive! — consequences for the McCain campaign.
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p>And the media is aiding and abetting McCain/Palin! They won’t shut up, they won’t stop trying to attack her, and only dig a deeper hole for Obama. The more the talk about her “inexperience,” the more they highlight Obama’s inexperience.
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p>Even Barak is getting tripped up; please reference the “lipstick on a pig” comment. Hey, I use that cliche all the time, so does Obama, but look what happened. It became a Obama vs. Palin story.
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p>I know much can still happen in the remaining weeks, but I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve been following politics since JFK/Nixon.
You people are finally starting to see the light. You had better start playing it cool with regard to Sarah or you will be trounced in the election.