Fight! Fight!

I have waiting for a substantive counter punch for a few weeks now.  Can't wait.

I really really hope the McCain camp is hit hard on this from both Obama and surrogates.

BTW, I'm "rennert" on Daily Kos and posted the diary on this there:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/26/17188/9947/875/557468

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor responds, "John McCain is an honorable man who is running an increasingly dishonorable campaign. Senator McCain knows full well that Senator Obama strongly supports and honors our troops, which is what makes this attack so disingenuous. Senator Obama was honored to meet with our men and women in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan this week and has visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed numerous times. This politicization of our soldiers is exactly what Senator Obama sought to avoid, and it's not worthy of Senator McCain or the 'civil' campaign he claimed he would run."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0708/New_McCain_ad_hits_Obama_for...

Of course, they release it just as the top leadership takes off on a 8 hour flight home. Hopefully, the people in Chicago have a good head start. Their initial response is fine, but they need a rebuttal ad by tomorrow when it starts to see the light of day in free media.

... because if he's wrong I'm thinking my chicken-littelish nightmares about Obama morphing into Dukakis will return.

that only says they're jealous that everyone likes Obama in Europe.  They can complain all they want but McCain would make speeches abroad except that he'd get shouted down by the small crowds.  This sort of ad only speaks to Bushist unilateralists.  It's like the frowning guys in the back row saying that Elvis has something wrong with his hips.

What McCain doesn't get is that any discussion of Iraq hurts him on poll numbers and only hurts his lead in national security ratings.  He wants to keep the discussion on national security but it only makes him seem more aloof on the economy - because he is aloof on the economy.  'Leave your wife for an heiress' isn't an economic solution for the millions struggling.

The hospital visit-gate is such a lame campaign issue.. didn't the Pentagon tell him not to go?  Aren't there other hospitals he can go to?  That only repeats the Charlie Gibson "Well, smartass, the moment you actually do something wrong, we're going to hammer you for it" stance.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor responds:

"John McCain is an honorable man who is running an increasingly dishonorable campaign. Senator McCain knows full well that Senator Obama strongly supports and honors our troops, which is what makes this attack so disingenuous. Senator Obama was honored to meet with our men and women in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan this week and has visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed numerous times. This politicization of our soldiers is exactly what Senator Obama sought to avoid, and it's not worthy of Senator McCain or the 'civil' campaign he claimed he would run."

He's not honorable anymore. This campaign LIES and also uses the wounded troops as political props for those LIES. The Obama camp needs to show OUTRAGE and put McCain on the defensive. This is what they need to say:

"Once the Pentagon contacted us and said the visit could be seen as political, I decided to NOT put our troops in the middle of a political fight. Now John McCain has done just that and I find it unconscionable."

I'm really riled up about this. This could be an important point in the campaign where the Obama camp shows if they have the stuff to fight the big boys.

Right now, I'm guessing Obama may be second-guessing himself and saying "maybe I just should have gone anyway, to avoid all this..."

But he CAN'T do that. He needs to realize that it wouldn't have made a difference. This smells of a setup.

Why did the Pentagon contact the Obama campaign the day before he was scheduled to visit the troops to warn them that it could be "inappropriately political"?

They were setting him up so that

A) if he went ahead with the visit, he could be slammed for doing so on a "campaign" trip and the Pentagon spokesman could be ready with "We warned the Obama campaign that it was inappropriate. I don't know why they went ahead with it."

B) if he didn't go ahead with the visit, then they could do what they're doing right now.

This is Karl Rove tactics all the way.

Obama needs to see this as an OPPORTUNITY. There needs to be no defensiveness and no more explanations. He and his surrogates need to forcefully call McCain out for LYING in the ad (there were never going to be cameras on the visit) and for using wounded troops as props for those lies. McCain should be ashamed of himself and the Obama camp needs to make that point forcefully.

Remember, Obama said he doesn't "do cowering". We need to see that in action now.

McCain's judgement has lead to the unecessary deaths of thousands of troops and tens of thousands of soldiers maimed and wounded.

Obama's team has to punch back--without appearing to stoop to the degenerate level of his desparate oponnents.

In a way, implying that Obama doesn't support the troops and would rather play hoops already points to the Republican desparation.  So, in a way, Obama can maintain his presidental image by not going to the gutter.

All McLame has are tired rightwing Republican ideas, tax cuts to corporations and the rich, give aways to transnational oil interests (by way of drilling contracts), horrendous economic austerity and anemic preformance, a generalized national malaise with no way out, and endless war.

Obama definatley cannot let McLame 'punk' him--but he shouldn't stoop to the same level of a group of people, enslaved to corporate greed, that have so miserably failed the US public.

Yep, the whole thing stinks of a set-up.  The Pentagon approved the trip and then pulled back.  I'd like to see surrogates raise this as an issue.

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/07/right-wing-flac.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lumea/pentagon-red-lights-obama_b_115...

But I think the Obama ad should be mostly positive - hit McCain for false attacks but then quickly pivot to show Obama with troops, on the trip, raise the GI Bill issue and the link to ending the war in a way that America and Iraq's leader Maliki want.

They need to take this stuff seriously more seriously, even if it is summer. McCain has been hammering away at this all week and the Obama communications staff is coming out with weak, reactionary responses. Not to mention that the initial response needed further clarfication and the various add-on statements to the original created the impression that they were lying/caught doing something regrettable.

This can get really serious. Probably the worst kind of narrative you'd allow to set in.

As of now, I am very disappointed but I hope they come out with all guns blazing tomorrow. Obama's back home now and really needs to get back in to the game.

I am new to the political scene, I admit, but I don't get the meltdown in some quarters about this ad.

I mean, its sleazy, and slimy, and scummy (pick your "s" word), I understand that. But the Obama campaign will deal with it. And since I can't control their response, I'll volunteer and donate (stuff I can control).

Having JUST gotten my equilibrium back from the primaries, I refuse to go into freak out mode until, maybe, September!

"I always knew that John McCain would run his presidency like Bush and Rove.  I never expected John McCain would campaign like Bush and Rove too."

Just keep repeating the magic four letter word "Bush" in every sentence with "McCain".

The amount of Chicken Little-ing about this ad in the blogs and comments is already driving me crazy. The sky is not actually falling, Obama does not "need" to have a response ad up in all 50 states within one hour or all is lost.

Jumping instantly to react to whatever McCain does lets McCain control the narrative and the message. That's the whole idea of the "kitchen sink" strategy, to throw so many attacks that even if only a few of them stick, the victim is forced into a state of reaction and defense and loses control of their campaign.

Let's not play into McCain's hands here. The response will come and I'm sure it will be good, but we do our cause no good by thinking Obama is doomed if it is not immediate.

Let's have a little more trust in the guy who defeated the Clinton attack machine.

I agree with Laura on chicken littleism, which is why I think a new ad that's very positive about Obama's visit and his connections with the troops is the best course. But also a robust surrogate operation needs to be out there.

Hagel and Reed are on Face the Nation. I hope they are well-prepped and will be tough on this issue.

BTW, the Architect, Karl Rove, is on Fox News Sunday. I wonder if he wrote the script or even got the Pentagon to change what they told the Obama campaign in order to create a story for the right wing attack machine.

No response to this sort of "troops as political stunts" demagoguery should go without mentioning that MCCAIN voted AGAINST the G.I. Bill!  Why?  Because it was too generous.

Seriously, let's get that meme out there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/27rich.html?ref=opinion

(Sorry to raise your chicken little hackles)

amk

MONTHS ago announced that they knew the attack would be on Obama's patriotism.  Only the most obtuse Chicken Little would think they don't have strategies for dealing with this.

The Obama campaign is enlisting thousands of organizers across the land who are canvassing and registering new voters block by block and precinct by precinct. Lists are being created to be checked off on election day to assure Obama supporters make it to the polls. This campaign is about each person sharing why they support Obama one on one with neighbors and associates. Each person doing something to carry the message, one day at a time, right through November.

My take: the meaner McCain gets, the more energized the Obama grass roots becomes.

I can't believe the McCain camp decided to go with this. This will come back to bite them hard!

How dumb for that ad to show Obama shooting hoops with troops in Kuwait. It was DoD footage too. :-)

I trust the responses of Obamas campaign. They're looking at the big picture and believe me, they called McCain an "honorable man" for a reason yet to be seen.

Contrary to the Chicken Little perspective, I like the Obama campaign responses in general, especially because I believe that the responses are not directed at the so-called Average Voter, but rather at the press corps to give them the talking points and the argument at hand.  They are very logical and cover not just the attack at hand, but possible future attacks, all the while avoiding getting dragged down in the slimy muck. 

McCain campaign statements alternate between Rovian and gibberish. Further, all his spokepeople look like sleazeballs (I hope that is a gender-neutral term, cuz I mean absolutely ALL of them).

@Nate, they cannot say McCain voted gainst the GI Bill because he didn't. He opposed it, but didn't vote and now is taking credit for it.  But I expect the Obama campaign is stepping up its Vets and Armed Services outreach, so I expect to see a great mailer, TV and radio ads and new, concise talking points soon.

Si somos americanos, seremos buenos vecinos;
compartiremos el trigo,seremos buenos hermanos -- canción de Rolando Alarcón

Todos somos americanos.-- Barack Obama

So, who's really using the troops for political gain? This ad stinks of some major hypocrisy and is already backfiring. The Obama camp needs to put out an ad in response with men and women in the armed forces looking at the camera and one after the other stating, "I support Barack Obama for President." Who will the people believe on this? A hypocritical person like McCain or the men and women in uniform who are actually on the front lines everyday? This could really be turned into something positive for Barack if they use it correctly and I'm sure the midnight oil is burning right now!

"The Obama camp needs to put out an ad in response with men and women in the armed forces looking at the camera and one after the other stating, 'I support Barack Obama for President.'"

The problem with your suggestion is that this is illegal under federal law, and punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  Moreover, any military member participating in such an advertisement would open themselves up to punishment by non-judicial punishment (Article 15), and/or a military court marshal.   Having served in the military for 6 years myself, before separating, believe me it irks me to no end to see any campaign politicize service members, as these service members are not within their right to counter that politicization.  Here are some important facts to remember about the UCMJ:

From  about.com:

"Federal Law (Titles 10, 2, and 18, United States Code), Department of Defense (DOD) Directives, and specific military regulations strictly limit a military active duty person's participation in partisan political activities.

DOD defines 'partisan political activity' as 'activity supporting or relating to candidates representing, or issues specifically identified with, national or State political parties and associated or ancillary organizations.'

Military members cannot  participate in any radio, television, or other program or group discussion as an advocate for or against a partisan political party, candidate, or cause."

Once someone becomes an active duty military member--including guard or reserve on active duty status--he or she must then really watch his or her own behavior at all times, and more particularly while in uniform, as it can be construed as an endorsement by the entire military rather than that one member.  These laws provide specifics as to when you may assemble in protest, what signs you are allowed to put on your property (house, car etc.) and even what you are allowed to sign your name as. 

Rich is at what again ?

I loved the end 'graf where Rich calls McCain "the strange alternative offered by the Republicans: a candidate so oblivious to our nation’s big challenges ahead that he is doubling down in his campaign against both Mr. Maliki and Mr. Obama to be elected commander in chief of the surge."

The Jed Report posted a great clip of Obama in New Hampshire saying that he is calm and even-tempered but responds forcefully if someone "comes at him."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC8C_JH2eQc

Laura, I agree with you sentiments on this.  I mean, really?--so McLame goes into the gutter and tries to say that Obama disrespected the troops: the only people that will belief this against Obama are the folks that never had a remote intention to support Obama.

The only error Obama can make with this is to not answer these charges forcefully so as to dispose of this issue moving forward.

McLame is a lying war-mongering bully-boy--but the point is to not sink down to his level.  To do so would be to loose the inititive and the growing appearance of being competent and 'presidental'.

This past week has been a huge sucess for Obama--and McLame's smarmy comments make him look like  a desparte looser.  No reason to honor McCain by stooping to his level.

(Off topic:  I have come to loath the interogative expression "What say you?"   Rightwing corporate media seem to ape the use of this expression from O'Reilly.  Don't ever form a question to me in such a matter--anyone, ever.   Indeed, it i s one of the things that I pick from myriad others; and it epitomizes my antipathy for the fake, ignomynious qualities inherent among the  corporate rightwing.)

It was a snark. See my last line.

Hope you didn't fall for me ribbing.

I agree that Rich's last paragraph was the money quote (pardon the pun)

amk

Whoever thinks Obama needs to stop calling McCain an honourable man, needs a lesson in rhetoric and more specifically Shakespeare's Julius Caeser Act III, scene II.

http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/julius_caesar/10/

I also hope they come back this week with a clear line on "the surge." I remember in the debates, both Barack and Hillary had very clear comebacks to the anchors whenever they tried to suggest that the surge was working (i.e., obviously there is a decrease in violence when there are more troops on the ground, but if we have no strategic goal, or no idea of what winning the war looks like, then the surge is just a tactic). But now, it is just being played out like McCain was for the surge and Barack was against it, with some sort of general agreement in the media that the surge has worked. Also, back when they were voting for the surge, it was supposed to be a 90 day thing or something wasn't it? And now it's 18 months later. In those 18 months, how many vets have been killed or injured, come back home to find their homes foreclosed on, or suffer from mental illness, or if they were in the National Guard, find their old jobs are lost, or if they had a business, it has probably gone under? How many more billions have been spent in those 18 months? What is so different now 18 months later to begin the drawdown, rather than 18 months ago?

KD

Jed has this good video from back in November:

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/07/if-somebody-com.html

KD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StvCkAFKu4w

Obama cannot simply not respond to McCain's attacks, or he would be seen like a sissy a-la-Kerry. However, going negative on McCain has a potential massive downside: uniting the GOP and energising McCain's base, as well as making himself less attractive to independents.

Obama is better off remaining positive while highlighting "contrasts". For example, show Obama playing basketball with troups, and talk about the G.I. bill he supported, and McCain's opposition to it. Can also remind viewers of McCain dirty tactics, connecting him to Bush/Rove, and contrasting this with Obama playing hard but fair.

What is with all the chicken-littling here people?

Step back, take a deep breath, make a healthy donation of money and/or time to this campaign and put your nervous energies to good work!

For crying out loud...have you learned nothing from Al??

I've got my popcorn buttered and salted Al!!  :)

and some of the CLs are clucking already! Get it through your heads: McCain had a bad week. Terrible. Devastatingly. Stupid. Strategy. With. Remarks. To. Match.

Obama was out. of. the. country. And, still John McCain couldn't get coverage. Because people are seeing that he doesn't matter when it comes to real people and real solutions and real unity. of. the. world.

HelloWWWWW.

The idiots from the McCain campaign used the Kuwait footage -- which shows Obama with cheering soldiers!

That's right:  They used footage of Obama visiting with cheering, happy soldiers, ecstatic at being in the presence of the man they KNOW will be their next C-in-C -- to bash Obama for allegedly not visiting soldiers!

Even members of the MSM noted how stupid this is for McCain.

Meanwhile, McCain's got a big-ass quid-pro-quo problem:  Seems that Big Oil turned on its money spigots for him immediately after he announced in June that he was abandoning his long-held stance against offshore drilling.

For those thinking of succumbing to an attack of the Chicken Littles, may I suggested Mungo MacCallum’s Poll Dancing - an analysis of Australia’s recent ‘revolution at the ballot box’ by a legendary political commentator and prolific author.

To quote from a lengthy review from Melbourne’s The Age of four books examining this last Australian electoral cycle:

"MacCallum is a political writer of rare brilliance, as those who have followed his long career will know, and neither his wit nor his depth of knowledge has been diminished by fleeing Canberra to reside on the north coast of NSW. On the contrary, the move has furnished him with a host of minor characters to adorn his political drama, namely the denizens of the front bar of the Billinudgel pub. These anonymous citizens act as a kind of Greek chorus in Poll Dancing, commenting on the foibles of the great ones whenever MacCallum prefers not to do so directly.”

“[MacCallum’s] approach is leavened by satire, signalled by an opening sentence that deserves to be quoted: ‘One morning in his 10th year as Prime Minister, John Winston Howard awoke in the master bedroom of Kirribilli House to realise that he had become not only omnipotent but invincible.’ "

The full article is here: http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/vive-the-kevolution/2007/12/20/1197740467779.html

This article is a good brief summation of how the Australian Parliamentary press gallery and mainstream media were getting it so wrong with reports of daily doom and disaster and misreading the 'mood' of the country.

The Byron Bay Writers Festival profile of Mungo MacCallum: http://byronbaywritersfestival.com.au/v1/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=225&Itemid=77

Dudes, dudesses, the ‘rules’ have changed! Wake up, Team Obama is doing the right thing.

BondiBeachViews

I just have to concur with many other comments here.

We Obama supporters are ending the best week for our candidate so far in this season--and all we can do is fret that McLame's attacks on O-man about dissing the troops is going to stick?

Gimmee a break?

I am quite confident that O-man will address this issue in an adroit manner, in a timely fashion.

Having suffered through 2000 and 2004 lackluster Democrat campaigns (I know, five points against me for not calling the liberal wing of the ruling class 'Democratic'--according to Al's buddy at Kos),  I believe again that someone left-of-center in the US can deal with rightwing smears in a superior, effective manner.

Please, people, get over the 'beautiful loser' syndrome.  This week has been a smashing success--and we should be encouraged to increase our efforts--the wind is behind the backs of peopel that believe in progressive reform in the US.

For myself--indeed, I am engaging my ecological landscaping and farming efforts with my head held high.  I am a hard-working patriot--and we honor our workers and strive to bring a modicum of sanity and health to all of our endeavors.  This is very much in line with progressive reform that is coming our way--because the status quo is weakening our nation.

Let's develop and bolster our faith that average citizens can see through the disinformation and key-in to authentic virtue and small 'd' democracy.

The two rings on Obama's left hand look suspiciously large and bright. I haven't searched carefully, but I haven't come across any images of Obama wearing rings on his left hand (the wedding ring he wears on his right). It is easy to imagine McCain's media team throwing around the term "bling" as they proposed and developed this spot.

Compared to the storms weathered by Obama in the primaries, this is a tempest in a teapot. Did all the people calling for "an immediate response" and saying the campaign is being "weak"* sleep through the  kerfuffle with Rev Wright and all that other baloney? All were deftly handled by Obama's crew. In fact, they've been nothing if not outrageously competent. I'm beginning to think these ads aren't aimed so much at potential McCain supporters, but at potentially hysterical Obama supporters.

*this is happening on other blogs, not so much here.

Here is the money-quote from this NYT's columnists latest essay:

He never would have been treated as a president-in-waiting by heads of state or network talking heads if all he offered were charisma, slick rhetoric and stunning visuals. What drew them instead was the raw power Mr. Obama has amassed: the power to start shaping events and the power to move markets, including TV ratings. (Even “Access Hollywood” mustered a 20 percent audience jump by hosting the Obama family.) Power begets more power, absolutely.

Obama is becoming more presidental, and thus more powerful, by the day.

Indeed, there will be close polling and some mistakes in the months to come.  We all know that the corporate media have to keep this a close horse-race for reasons that are tied to ratings and revenue.

No, victory will not be 'cakewalk'--but it will be victory nonetheless.

I don't know why it's relevant, but the picture of Obama in that ad is flipped; he wears his watch on his left arm like any god-fearing American: http://dcpox.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/obama4.jpg ... along with a pretty gigantic wedding band.  I think the big white spots between his fingers are just the result of a hastily-made ad in which someone did a poor job of masking Obama's image to replace the background and then did a glow effect (the white halo around Obama) that affected the deleted spots between his fingers in a weird way.

To me, the more blatant symbolic imagery here is the use of the upward looking/Citizen Kane angle - http://www.sptimes.com/2007/02/25/images/citizen-kane.jpg

You're giving McCain's communications staff too much credit if you think they have any hope to successfully utilize subliminal advertising on a such short notice, though.  All available evidence points to mass incompetence.

Obama should respond, but this is already a minus for McCain and the damage has been done -- to McCain.

The Rove element is looking for Dukakis on the tank moment but this story line is so easily refutable.  Hagel and Reed did a job on this ad on Face the Nation, citing Obama's visits to the wounded in Iraq and that Obama did the right thing by not visiting during a political trip.  More importantly, this race is not 1988.  People are tired of Rove, the Iraq War, and all these fake news stories that further the agendas of the defense industry at the palpable expense of the rest of the economy and our foreign reputation.

McCain's main asset is, like Obama, being adverse to 'old politics,' and a key moment in his 2000 loss to Bush was when he ran a stupid, false negative ad John Weaver made in South Carolina.  It showed he was just another politician despite all the spirited speeches claiming to 'break the Iron Triangle in Washington.'  This will hurt him as well.

Rove is advising McCain and a Rove surrogate (Schmidt) is running the campaign.  This is an illustration that the same people who are running the White House now are running the McCain campaign, and that fact, as well as how easily refutable this cheap shot is, is the main effect of the ad, as well as McCain running for the gutter first.

It should also be noted that this is playing in three media markets, so most of the buzz this creates is within the internet political junkie circuit, which knows better.  The Dukakis ads were run nationwide in a sustained fashion for months on end, which absolutely can't happen with this junk.

Being as it's obvious that Al's last dose of the Chicken Little vaccine is wearing off, here is another booster shot courtesy of Josh Marshall at TPM:

Just think that a couple weeks ago the entire campaign was engulfed by scrutiny of Obama's suggestion that he might be "refining" his plan for a 16 month timetable for withdrawal -- a twitter, if that, on the seismograph of campaign course corrections. Now consider that over the span of a few weeks Sen. McCain has gone from predicting a decades long presence of American troops in Iraq and attacking any discussion of timetables for withdrawal to endorsing Maliki's push for a 16 month timetable and tying himself in knots trying to explain why what Maliki's endorsing is any different from Obama's.

When confronted with Maliki's own words saying that he supports what Obama supports, McCain now falls back on that last redoubt of philanderers, asking the American people, "Who you gonna believe? Me or your lyin' eyes?"

For all the seismic shifts that have taken place over the last two weeks, we need to recognize that McCain has now abandoned virtually everything he's been campaigning on for the last year. There's really no more eloquent confirmation of that reality than the fact that McCain now appears determined to base his campaign on charges that Obama is unpatriotic and despises American soldiers.

@Joshua-That's a shame because it seems to me that any person who fights for their country should have freedom of speech under our Constitution to say who they support when and/or where they want to... So perhaps if we weed through the legal jargon what it really means is when you choose to give up your life for your country you are really giving up some of your freedoms as an American citizen?

all over the tube. Saw him on MTP which was taped earlier in London and he was also covered live at the Unity 08 conference in Chicago. Suzanne Malveaux and a Time Mag editor hosted and questioned.

BO was very clear about his trip and his impressions. He answered questions from the audience including a totally stupid question from Leonard Pitts claiming that BO doesn't stand up to the anti-Muslim smears thrown at him. BO set him really straight and later went on to get the last word about him being too black or not black enough.

It ain't McCain's week. Just sayin'.

Of course nasty campaign ads will be addressed by the Obama camp, but the non-cable MSM (ABC, NBC, CBS) deserve a really sharp poke from that three-pronged pitchfork, as well.  Below is a link from the LA Times, which reports that since the Democratic primary was over, Sen. Obama has received more negative coverage.

" The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-onthemedia27-2008jul27,0,2066363,full.story

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Register New Voters! Register New Voters! Register New Voters!

Another McCain/Pentagon lie demolished.

Check this out, here:

UPDATE: Obama campaign spokeswoman Linda Douglass says, "We told military officials explicitly that Senator Obama had absolutely no attention of bringing any members of the media or photographers in with him to visit the wounded warriors. In all of our communications with the military, we stressed that this was to be a private visit by Senator Obama."

So the last of McCain’s and the Bush Pentagon’s lies on this has been detonated.

I have no doubt that Obama's response to this ridiculous ad will be dignified and respectful.  The campaign's response will be to tear down McCain's argument without sinking to McCain's level.  This is what Obama did so successfully against Clinton.

These ads and the pronouncements from McSurge are getting more ridiculous by the day.

The more Obama talks on TV, the more he shows he knows what he's talking about...MTP this a.m. was awesome.  He knew everything about the politics and geography of Pakistan, including the fact that it DOESN'T border Iraq!  I want a C-in-C who knows Middle East/Asian geography and the difference between Sunni and Shia!

All McPasty can talk about is the surge; his whole campaign is based on attacking Obama.

Even as one of the latest stupid ads to come out--saying that Obama is responsible for the high gas prices has backfired on McCrusty; gas prices are dropping!  Prices are predicted to be "only" about $3.25-$3.50 by Labor Day--nowhere near the $4-$5! Just as Barack said last spring when McWrongWay and HRC were touting their ridiculous "gas tax holiday", Barack didn't fall for that foolishness and told everyone that the most imeediate drop in prices would come from reduced demand, and that is exactly what has happened.

Barack is NOT Dukakis, and he's learned a lot from his mentor Kerry.

As has been stated by many above, the best thing we can do is to register voters and work to GOTV.  All of these polls are with "likely voters"---people who have voted before.  Boy are they going to be surprised when all of the new voters and newly energized voters show up!

The Repubs are going to try the kitchen sink and everything else!  McRidiculous is running a worse campaign than HRC, if that's possible!  They are trying to use HRC words re: who is ready to be C-in-C; I hope all of those HRC supporters realize the damage she's done to the Democratic Party with her scorched earth methods...

Rove & Co. are even going to try to bring back Rev. Wright and Michelle's "proud" statement...without the full context, of course.

The O-man told us this would be a hard campaign; we've trusted his judgment so far--why stop now? If he can take down the Clinton Machine, he can beat McSurge!

Make sure to plan your Birthday Money Bomb Fund-raiser...August 4th is his 47th birthday! That's only a week from tomorrow! Go to the BO.com site for instructions!

People "worry" about "only" a 6-point lead; Chuckie T says that a 6-point win would be a landslide! The Repubs are just jealous...even if McRidiculous went overseas, he couldn't fill up a weinerschnitzel diner, much less have 200,000 people come out because they wanted to...not because they were paid to or forced to!

Let's Stay FIRED UP!

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

One other note on strategy – in chess there’s gambits that are accepted and not accepted. The obvious gambit here is that after Obama has done an exemplary job at showing his potential as a world statesman, McCain, Rove, and company are trying to drag him into the mud.

But there’s a larger gambit, opened by Obama – ‘I am the candidate that represents renewed trust in Americans abroad, a break from Bush’s unilateralism, the statesmanship of Kennedy’ versus what Bush did for seven years, and McCain accepted that gambit by running this Rove-generated ad directed at ‘rally around the flag’ provincialism. That was the wrong move to take, but because all of his ‘maverick Senator’ advisors have been elbowed out by the Bush team, he took it when he should have been making the case for his own brand of change and his vision for the country. That will only make for a week perhaps more devastating, long-term, for McCain than Obama’s trip the week before, which has already given Obama a visible bounce in the polls.

Ok, as soon as McLame heard that viagra 'is' covered by many health insurance plans, all we have been hearing about is 'the surge', and how 'the surge' is working.

Is this coincidence?  Ask sinful Cindy McLame--not everything has been McLame since McCaine started forcusing on 'the surge'.

LOL.  Yes, I know the above is gratuitous, locker-room humor, but what the hell.

You're more in tune with this than I am.  His statement today is a drastic shift from where he's been since his time in the Navy.  I compared his statements on affirmative action from 1998/1999/2008/today here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayAvDdzA6J0 - what's opinion on the ground like about these sorts of ballot initiatives?  I assume McCain's playing for the Michigan vote by flipping his position on this, but how does it play in heavily hispanic states like Nevada that are in play this year?

At 1:54 am, Sharon wrote: 

"I trust the responses of Obamas campaign. They're looking at the big picture and believe me, they called McCain an "honorable man" for a reason yet to be seen."

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.

- Bill the Bard

Check out this version of the electoral map!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/27/obama-mccain-matchup-blow_n_115...

Can't remember the source but w/in the last day I read about how some news source had this nice photo of Reagan to accompany a hard-hitting article. Reagan's campaign wrote the publication to thank them for the nice coverage. The negative article? Oh, no one will pay attention to that. The photo they ran was a good, complimentary one, though.

Consider McCain in that light. He doesn't like to go for "optics," according to this article from Newsweek.

It hasn't helped that McCain has resisted pleas from his aides to cut back on the visually dull town-hall meetings he loves and submit to carefully choreographed events in grander settings, where the pictures tell the story. The senator has a deep distaste for the artifice of modern media-driven campaigns—all this business about standing in precisely this spot and reading precisely this line off a teleprompter exactly the same way a dozen times a day.

WIN! McCain just conceded the optics ground, and Obama's been winning at that, big time.

Carrie, I read the same article.

Indeed, I would like to believe that this will be a blow-out--however, there is also a compelling case to be made that racism will be a drag on Obama, from folks that would otherwise vote for the Dem alternative when all aspectes (youth, vigor, style, policies) are considered.

However, I think that Obama's more grass-roots ground-game will help correct for any of the drag that can be attributed to irrational, residual racism.

While I did not give Obama's Berlin speech stellar reviews, I think his convention appearance and speech will knock the ball out of the stadium.   More, I think that Obama's goal in Berlin was to be sufficient--but not to overshadow the speech he will give in Denver (which Al will watch no more than 100' feet away from the O'man, of course).

McLame is desparate, his supply of viagra is running low and his insurance company has just informed him that they 'will not' cover drugs that address severe erectile disfunction (because they are controversial and experimental).

Alex is a pretty ruthless effer, and I like his style:

For his part, McCain trails Obama by anywhere from 4 to 9 points. Often he seems a forgotten candidate. Only one reporter turned out to cover his arrival at an airport in New Hampshire last week. He flails wildly, whining that it’s Obama’s fault that the price of oil is bankrupting Americans. He is cursed with misfortune. A scheduled photo-op flight to an oil rig to call for more offshore drilling had to be cancelled because of a tropical storm. His plea for more refineries had to compete with news reports of a catastrophic  oil spill on the Mississippi. Supposedly versed in foreign affairs, he refers to “Czechoslovakia” and the “Iraq-Pakistan border.”

Reporters with McCain realize gloomily that their candidate will probably not be leading them into a coveted slot in the White House press corps. So their reports get splenetic and morose, in distinction to the ecstatic bulletins from Obama’s campaign planes.

Bottom-line: McCain's McScrewed LOL

Obama has just had about one of the most successful weeks of a presidential campaign that I've ever witnessed - in spite of the MSM's chronic and untreatable case of the vapors (will red state voters feel he's ignoring gas prices? The horror! The horror!) about it - and all the liberal blogosphere can think about is yet one more attack ad from Bumble McSurge? Folks, get used to it. The McCain campaign, lacking any coherent policy positions of its own, is at the beginning of what will become for them a 100% anti-Obama campaign.

And who cares? Going negative in July only means that by October McCain will have impressed independents and undecideds as nothing more than a dark and bitter old codger offering voters nothing but spittle and spleen - while the gravitational force of Obama's brightness only grows strong.

btw - I think the O campaign consistently referring to McCain as honorable is incredibly clever. It has the paradoxical effect of making Obama seem super-honorable - flattering the man who is insulting him (he used this tactic effectively against Hillary as well). And it cuts McCain and his phony McMaverickness off at the knees. And it has the added bonus of actually being an honorable approach. Keep it up!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howie-klein/30-second-tv-spot-shakes_b_115212.html

I agree.

How about this for an ad?

"Wanna know why John McCain is going negative?"

Shot #1: McCain in New HAmpshire "I don't care if we have to stay there for a 100 years..."

Shot#2: McCain on CNN July 25: "I think a 16 month timetable for withdrawal is a good timetable."

Nuff Said!