Month: August 2008

Obama Promised to Bring a Gun to the GOP’s Knife Fight – Where Is it?

Jon Ponder

Writing at Open Left, Mike Lux, co-founder and CEO of Progressive Strategies, has been reading my mind:

It’s no accident that the only two Democrats to win the Presidency since 1968 were governors who were from small states, far away from DC, unaffected by the Culture of Caution that tends to grip Democrats on Capitol Hill…

My hope was that Obama would be more like JFK in that although he was a Senator, he was enough of an outsider and confident enough in himself that he was not infected by the Culture of Caution. Much of the time in the campaign he has shown that kind of confidence and strength. But I fear that, at least for the moment, the Capitol Hill Culture of Caution has taken hold of the campaign…

Instead of having the confidence to win the bigger argument on investing in alternative energy production and conservation, they make the shift on drilling. Instead of pushing back firmly and assertively on the race card accusation, they have the campaign’s reply be “No, we’re not playing the race card.” Instead of having the confidence to really negotiate with McCain on debate formats, they fell into the we’ll-just-do-what-candidates-have-always-done formats. Instead of having the confidence to lay out some of his good new ideas on foreign policy that are clearly different from the Bush doctrine in his widely watched Berlin speech, he stuck to cautious generalities. Instead of having the confidence to back up his strong and effective primary rhetoric on FISA and NAFTA, he cautiously moved towards the conventional wisdom.

[…]

McCain’s Sturgis Speech Worse Than ‘Dean Scream’ – But His Media ‘Base’ Gives Him a Pass

Jon Ponder

Worst Candidate Ever?

John McCain has often joked that he is so popular with the corporate-owned media that he considers Beltway reporters to be his “base.” This decades-long courtship is paying off big time this year, as reporters persistently look the other way as McCain suffers one self-inflicted wound after another.
Imagine the reaction in the corporate media — not to mention among the howler monkeys on rightwing radio — if Barack Obama had offered his wife up for a stripper show.
A prime example of this is McCain’s performance at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota last weekend. As you can see in the video above, especially starting at about 03:15, this was hands-down the most embarassing performance by a presidential candidate since Howard Dean’s purported “scream” at a rally in 2004.

What really happened to Dean, of course, was that his supporters in the room were cheering so loudly that he was yelling into a “hot” mike to be heard over the din. It was clear to most television viewers watching that night, however, that the “scream” would kill Dean’s campaign because cablenewsers would be unable to resist playing it rotation as often as possible for weeks to come. In fact, they still run it when the opportunity arises.

By contrast, other than on MSNBC shows hosted by Keith Olbermann and Dan Abrams, the video of McCain’s humiliating performance at Sturgis has barely made a blip in cable news rotations.

McCain’s campaign made an equally egregious mistake at Sturgis, as shown in the video — a little earlier than McCain’s rant, at around 02:35 — when his operatives set him up to offer his wife Cindy as a contestant in the bikers’ annual “Miss Bufffalo Chip” beauty pageant. As we reported earlier this week, the “pageant” is more like a live show produced by Hustler magazine than, certainly, Miss America.

What is important to notice in the clip is that this was not an ad lib gone wrong — McCain was reading from prepared remarks as he pimped his wife out to strip for the bikers.

Imagine how the media would have reacted if any Democratic candidate had turned in a performance as awful as McCain’s in Sturgis. And worse, imagine the reaction in the corporate media — not to mention among the howler monkeys on rightwing radio — if Barack Obama had offered his wife up for a stripper show.

Best Exit Poll: What TV News Do You Watch?

Trish

FOX is still lying about Obama *

A fascinating new poll shows a very high correlation between which television news channels you watch and who you support for president.

87% of Fox News viewers say they are likely to vote for John McCain

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of Fox News viewers say they are likely to vote for John McCain, while those who watch CNN and MSNBC plan to support Barack Obama in November by more than two to one.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 65% of CNN voters plan to vote for the Democratic candidate versus 26% who intend to go for the Republican. Similarly, MSNBC watchers plan to vote for Obama over McCain 63% to 30%.

Only nine percent of those who watch Fox News say they will vote for Obama…

While McCain is regarded favorably by 88% of Fox News viewers, only 43% of CNN viewers and 38% of those who watch MSNBC agree. But just 14% of Fox viewers have a favorable opinion of Obama, as opposed to 70% of CNN watchers and 72% of those watching MSNBC.

How voters rate the importance of issues is also reflected in the cable news programming they prefer. For 36% of Fox viewers, national security is the most important issue in the campaign, followed by 32% who say economic issues are number one. By contrast, those who watch CNN rate economic issues over national security 56% to 13%, and MSNBC viewers agree 50% to 12%.

No word on how those of us who watch no television news (except ABC’s This Week on Sunday morning) vote but it’s small wonder so few FOX viewers are favorable toward Obama. As NewsHounds pointed out, the broadcaster is still pounding home the lie that Obama is not a Christian.

* At least four presidents — John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft — were Unitarians. Abraham Lincoln was unaffiliated with any faith, and was not thought to have accepted Christ as divine.

McCain Flipflops on Keeping Tires Inflated, Is Forced to Agree with Obama, NASCAR, AAA And Common Sense That It Does Save Gas

Jon Ponder

What’s truly unbelievable here is not that John McCain has done yet another remarkable 180 on a position he adamantly took just three days ago — or even that he believed making a controversy out of tire inflation would work against Obama when his campaign operatives suggested it.
“And could I mention that Sen. Obama a couple of days ago said that we ought to all inflate our tires, and I don’t disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it.”
– John McCain
What is hard to fathom is how studiously the media has avoided mentioning McCain’s latest about face, which occurred during a conference call with supporters Wednesday night:

“And could I mention that Sen. Obama a couple of days ago said that we ought to all inflate our tires, and I don’t disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it, but I also don’t think that that’s a way to become energy independent.”

Maybe not, but experts agree that properly inflating tires could make a big difference:

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, “every pound per square inch of tire underinflation wastes 4 million gallons of gas daily in the U.S.” Survey information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that 27 percent of the cars on the road have a significantly under-inflated tire…

“[The] production offset is … likely to approach 800,000 barrels per day -– a tidy sum and a worthwhile target for savings, but not equal to [Outer Continental Shelf] output,” [wrote Frank Verrastro, Director and Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).]

[…]

Lindsey Graham Puts Loaded Words in Obama’s Mouth

Trish

Eugene Robinson:

On Sunday, the exceedingly thin-skinned [Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey] Graham was still shocked, saddened and outraged over Obama’s throwaway line, spoken days earlier, about not looking like previous presidents. Graham said on “Fox News Sunday” that “there’s no doubt in my mind that what Senator Obama is trying to suggest — that he’s a victim of something.” Graham later added: “We’re not going to run a campaign like he did in the primary. Every time somebody brings up a challenge to who you are and what you believe, ‘You’re a racist.’ That’s not going to happen in this campaign.”

The key words are “victim” and “racist” — which Obama did not say

The key words are “victim” and “racist” — which Obama did not say. Graham puts them in Obama’s mouth because of their power to alienate.

With the first loaded word, Graham is trying to tie Obama to a stereotype: the Great African-American Victim. He’s playing to the annoyance some whites feel at being reminded of racial sins committed long before they were born or even long before their families came to this country.

As Graham well knows, Obama has taken great pains to sanitize his campaign of even the faintest whiff of victimhood. He understands that in order to be elected president, he has to come off as the least-aggrieved black man in America.

McCain’s Campaign Worker Apologizes to Black Reporter

Trish

For those few who contend the McCain campaign did nothing wrong when it ejected the only black reporter from a group of journalists at a campaign stop in Panama City, Fla., I have bad news. Even the candidate’s handlers disagree.

Following his appearance on Countdown with Keith Olbermann they have offered a big ol’ “whoops” to Tallahassee Democrat senior reporter Stephen Price.

There is still no explanation from the campaign about why Price was thrown out to begin with

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers called Price Tuesday evening and apologized on behalf of the campaign.

Rogers said “We feel terrible about it,” according to Price.

“I accept the apology,” Price said. “I definitely wish I was never singled out. I came up there to do a story, that’s all I wanted to do is write a story.”

Rogers told Price McCain would call him personally in the next few days.

We’ll see if he does. I would think he could have squeezed in a phone call by now — five days and counting later — but I guess it takes a story being spotlighted on the national cable news shows before it begins to sink in on Gramps.

And anyway, McCain’s been so busy. We’ve seen him cavorting with the bikers at their rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, and egging his wife on to compete in the topless biker babe contest. Who has three minutes for a phone call?

There is still no explanation from the campaign about why Price was thrown out to begin with. The story they’re developing seems to shift the blame to the Secret Service.

Price said Rogers told him the security detail is not controlled by the campaign.

Price was among three other Florida reporters near McCain’s campaign at the time. A Secret Service agent asked Price to show his media credentials, which he did.

When another state reporter asked why Price was being removed, she too was led out of the area. Two other state reporters remained.

McCain Offers Wife for Biker Babe Nudie Event

Trish

Somebody needs to wing a buffalo chip off his shiny, asymmetrical head.

Yes, John McCain offered his wife up for the Sturgis, South Dakota Motorcycle Rally “Miss Buffalo Chip” pageant. Contestants often start out semi-clothed in the legendary event, but rarely win that way. McCain allowed that “with a little luck,” Cindy might be both First Lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.

“With a little luck?” Does this woman have any self-respect at all? First he called her a trollop and a cunt in public, then he chuckles as the drunken bikers wolf whistle and yell, “Show us your boobs?” Why is she married to him?

There are a lot of things I don’t understand about Hillary Clinton supporters saying they are willing to vote for John McCain but overlooking behavior like this, or the time he agreed with a town hall questioner who called Hillary a bitch, or jokes about Chelsea Clinton being so ugly because Janet Reno is her father, or my favorite, the one about a woman beaten, raped, and left for dead by a gorilla whose last words are, “Where is that marvelous ape?”…I just don’t get.