Message Discipline

maybe the next time the polls take a dip the chicken littles can be inoculated with the above JedReport video.  I notice they have virtually nothing to say over on DKOS when Obama is ahead and gaining ground.  Hmmmm...

To give the McCain team credit, they do want to win and will do what it takes to win. Nothing necessarily wrong with that. Thus far, all that has seemed to work for them has been the 6 weeks of negative ads starting with the Paris-Britany ad. I would suspect they will get back to the "throw the kitchen sink" strategy the first chance they think they can -- obviously, the current financial crisis prevents them. I also wonder/fear how the levers of government will be used to aid McCain. We've already seen examples of this (during Obama's trip to Asia/Europe this summer). I would suspect a resumption of the old Terror Alert system and several "breaking news! attacks foiled" style stories. Regardless, I have faith in Obama and the excellent team he has put together. Just donated another $500 to the campaign as proof.

Republican Controlled Government Says:

“We don’t have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Social Security
We don’t have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Medicare
We don’t have ENOUGH MONEY to provide health care to ALL Americans
We don’t have ENOUGH MONEY to help out Americans losing their homes
We don’t have ENOUGH MONEY to help all our veterans returning from war

BUT

We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Bears Stearns
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out AIG
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to pay for an unnecessary TRILLION DOLLAR war

When the LITTLE GUY needs help, they scornfully say, “GET A JOB!”
But when of their BIG GUY CRONIES need a bailout, what do they say?

LET ME GET THE CHECK BOOK!”

"The Real Scoop On Palin’s Staged Town Hall Meeting — Another Pretend Moment!
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

So, what was the catch? Unlike most town-hall events, which are open to the public, include diverse crowds, and no one needs an advance invitation, this event was for ticket-holders only. And the only way to get a ticket was through the local Republican Party, after an advance RSVP. No wonder Palin was prepared to play "stump the candidate" — it was a very friendly crowd that had no interest in testing her.
It doesn’t exactly sound like a vote of confidence in the candidates’ ability to answer tough questions, does it?"

How long will the GOP continue to get away with lying, cheating and deceiving the American people? McCain and Palin are frauds.

McCain Wants to Gamble With Social Security!
http://www.youtube.com/watch...

the state of the race.  Things appear to be going well and the Obama team seems to have a well thought out strategy that seems to being executed in a very focused manner.

I know we still have quite a ways to go and there will likely be small setbacks along the way, but things seem different to me than they were in 2000 and 2004, I am fairly confident we won't see a repeat.

With the fundraising goals nearly being met for VA, PA, MI and OH and the race tightining in IN do you think you'll be taking new donations for a side trip to IN?

I ask because I fear the funding raising goals for the first four will be met before I get paid tomorrow and I really wanted to contribute.

These economic speeches of Obama's seem to get more local coverage than national.

McCain really has a lot of gall (not a surprising allegation at this juncture) to criticize Obama for having a VP vetter that headed Fanny Mae (during the 91-98 boom years), that is, a VP vetter that was fired early in the process, when McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis was a longtime lobbyist leading the fight to deregulate Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac.

'McCain campaign manager Davis headed the Homeownership Alliance, a lobbying association that included Fannie, Freddie, nonprofit groups, real estate agents, homebuilders and consumer advocates. The group’s stated goal was to increase affordable housing. But it also worked to oppose congressional efforts to tighten controls on Fannie and Freddie.

'In July 2003, Davis wrote to the American Banker, taking issue with an opinion piece by Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste, arguing that Fannie and Freddie should operate with greater transparency.

'"Several of Ms. Paige’s assertions bear correction," Davis wrote, defending Fannie and Freddie on behalf of the group. "The GSEs are subject to an innovative and stringent risk-based capital stress test — the toughest in the financial services industry." '

 http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080716/pl_politico/11781;_ylt=Aqra8AQGuKZ7chQBIo7D5e2s0NUE

What Obama should do is call for Davis' resignation and have top Congressmen press the point so that the story has news legs, and of course throw in some commercials on the topic.

A good story yesterday on the Nevada race on NPR - focusing on Washoe Co. and the uniquness of the Nevada electorate (think legalized prostitution and gambling...).  I think they eare doing more today:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94729666

Does National Journal publish or make available on their website the internal poll numbers so that we can check to see if McCain's 48-41 lead in VA is for real or just a screwy sample?

Viewers on other blogs have said the VP referred to the 'Palin-McCain' ticket today. I don't think Obama can touch this but how can we exploit Palin being the de-facto head of the ticket and main draw?

Sorry if this is too off-topic, but I'm really interested in views about this particular issue.

According to a Huffington Post article - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/18/mccain-meant-to-reject-sp_n_127... - McCain intended to reject a meeting with Spain's prime minister.

This sounds to me like a post-hoc rationlization (albeit a weird one).  But because hostility to Spain seems so odd, might this also become part of the mix of McCain being out-of-touch, if not dangerous?

You can still contribute even if the initial goal has been met!  More funds means more flexibility for Al on the ground to take side trips, make more calls, stay in more expensive areas longer if necessary, etc.

but in his defense, nobody expects a Spanish Inquisition

I read a comment on some far-right Christian blog that I can't link to because I didn't save it that the churches are being urged to turn out for Palin rallies to show people how popular she is. Assembly of God congregations are being tapped to turn out for one of their own. It's a resentment against the media, and an attempt to show that the Rs doo-too have a superstar of their own. In addition to all the religious stuff.

Would be interesting to check the mega-church congregation numbers in the area of each rally.

At least, that's the way it looks from down south:

It's not every day that a superpower makes a bid to transform itself into a Third World nation, and we here at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund want to be among the first to welcome you to the community of states in desperate need of international economic assistance. As you spiral into a catastrophic financial meltdown, we are delighted to respond to your Treasury Department's request that we undertake a joint stability assessment of your financial sector. In these turbulent times, we can provide services ranging from subsidized loans to expert advisors willing to perform an emergency overhaul of your entire government.

Read the whole thing here.

Al, that was hilarious about McCain's applause line about firing the SEC chair.  You are of course right about that just being inside-the-beltway grandstanding.

But best yet, McCain can't even fire the SEC chair!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/mccain-blasts-o.html

Keep up the great work.

Jim

p.s.  Your contribution graphic must not update real time... seeing it at $3962, I contributed $50 to put you over the "top" but it seems to be a "lagging indicator"...

[Sorry for being OT but couldn't resist. Al, pehaps you can hold it until there are sufficient comments on the thread?]

Prior to the Zapatero question, McCain was asked about meeting with Chavez (Venezuela) or Evo (Bolivia). He said of course not. Then he was asked about Zapatero. Unaware of the current relationship with Spain (and possibly confused about the location of Spain in the map), he might have thought the question was a trap. He didn't know what to anwser, so he said he had great relations with Calderon, plans to engage with Latin America, and that "we will meet with our friends and stand up to our enemies". He repeated that about 3 times (when pressed by the journalist, who the third time said "I'm talking about Eurpe, Spain is in Europe"), just in case Zapatero was some communist dictator of a banana republic called Spain (next to Nicaragua, perhaps?).

So much for foreign policy experience.

And by the way, we Spaniards get pretty offended when Americans think Spain is in Latin America (we actually _discovered_ America, remember? ;-) ). The fact that the confusion is fairly common in the US is used as an argument in Spain to illustrate how "ignorant" Americans are. So McCain somehow reinforces that stereotype.

Anyway, I don't think this will have any serious consequences wrt diplomatic relations. But it's a gaffe, and could be used to weaken him on the "foreign policy expertise" argument.

 

Speaking of message discipline Kos's midday open thread continues a theme he's been pushing more overtly very recently: anti-chicken-little-ism.  Spot on! Message discipline in the blogosphere--as in focus free of non-reality-based panic at every campaign challenge or poll shift--will really firm up positive narratives as we head into the debate cycle. The engine of this movement from the volunteer registering voters to the candidate himself, is really starting to hum. 

Jim, McCain had no idea who Zapatero is, which throws a wrench in aides' narratives that he is trying to rekindle multilateralism. His foreign policy advisor Schuenemann is a pro-Iraq War wacko and is using this as an excuse to sever relations with a country and president that pulled out of the Iraq War. Like Bush II, McCain and Palin are getting crash courses on foreign policy by the neo-con hawks, which makes for a very dangerous situation.

This is off topic, or tangental, as it does have to do with getting messages out.

I propose on my home page today that the Obama Campaign ask CSPAN for three half hours where Barack would discuss issues with people of his choosing -- like the economy with Warren Buffet, Health with Hillary or green economy with Al Gore. McCain would have the same option.

My guess is that this idea has a better chance of being picked up here than on my site.

Should the idea be impractical I would urge Barack to do it infomercial style.

 

 

 

 

 

So Palin talked in Cedar Rapids of how McCain/Palin would introduce some transparency in DC that she had brought in in Alaska...only problem was someone has already got there first... “We’re going to do a few new things also,” she said at a rally in Cedar Rapids. “For instance, as Alaska’s governor, I put the government’s checkbook online so that people can see where their money’s going. We’ll bring that kind of transparency, that responsibility, and accountability back. We’re going to bring that back to D.C.” There’s just one problem with proposing to put the federal checkbook online – somebody’s already done it. His name is Barack Obama. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/18/palins-transparency-prop...

Obama 50% McCain 40% http://www.pollster.com/blogs/or_obama_50_mccain_40_portland.php

Obama on fire again today in New Mexico. My favorite quotes:

"McCain can't decide if he is Barry Goldwater or Dennis Kucinich!"

"Now that this disaster has hit, John McCain is calling for the firing of the Security and Exchange Commissioner.  Well here’s what I say:  In 47 days, you can fire the whole Trickle-Down, On-Your-Own, Look-the-Other-Way crowd in Washington who have led us down this disastrous path. "

Ouch!

http://election.princeton.edu/2008/09/18/the-palin-bounce-ends/#more-1147

 

Obama Pulls Ahead in Electoral College Projection

Brilliant, D. Quayle, brilliant!  I hadn't heard a Monty Python reference in a looong time.  Made my day.

Elizabeth, I was going to link 538 but glad you did it with the siren too!

Russell Glober - lol -- Spanish Inquisition... Perhaps after this (if the right guy wins), they will put an age limit on running for President. If there is a criteria for being too young, there has to also be a criteria for too old. McCain is struggling to keep up with events in the world. Hell, I'm much younger than him and I'm exhausted every day just following this race.

I too came here to mention the great new polling projections on 538! And to congratulate Al, and all of us, for his swing-state tour! WOO HOO!!!!

And appreciation to everyone GETTING OUT THE VOTE and GETTING OUT THE WORD for OBAMA, which is, simply, our job.

Heather aka gratitude

The whole Spain thing isn't a small thing. He didn 't know what the hell he was saying, and rather than admit that, is willing to risk an international incident with a country that has been supportive of us.

 

McCain is NOT qualified to be POTUS.

 

Two high-fives to Chuck Hagel for gutting Caribou Barbie like a fish.