A Terrible Campaign (for McCain)

Or, alternate title: Post Mortem

In 2000 I thought McCain was going to win the Republican nomination after New Hampshire. Then, McCain fell victim to Rove's, "dark arts," tactics (see this blog, post # 8) and lost the 2000 nomination to W. In 2008 he won the nomination and was leading in the polls immediately after his convention. But, after the economic crisis hit McCain and his camp never had an overall theme to his campaign or consistent talking points. Whereas, Senator Obama had his theme down, namely, "Change" and talking points such as "middle class tax cuts," "McCain equals Bush," "McCain is out of touch".

Why McCain lost can be summed up with the below talking points/attacks/missteps by McCain, Palin and Republicans generally, in no particular order. Keep in mind that all of these points/attacks/missteps were made after the Republican convention.

1)elite(s)

2) Ayers

3) Joe six-pack

4) Joe the Plumber

5) liberal

6) socialist

7) communist

8) inexperienced

9) we're for change

10) Bridge to Nowhere

11) Alaska Independence Party

12) reform

13) pork barrel spending

14) Barack Hussein Obama

15) country first

16) un-American

17) real America

18) Khalidi

19) national security

20) for the bailout

21) McCain got the first version of the bailout passed

22) the first version of the bailout is voted down

23) the bailout was a bad idea

24) maverick

25) fundamentals of the economy are strong

26) suspend the campaign

27) postpone the debate

28) economy in crisis

29) Obama will raise taxes

30) how many houses does McCain own

31) Palin/Couric interview

32) Gibson interview

33) Palin's clothes

34) the prank call

35) "that one"

36) air quotes regarding a mother's health

37) Reverend Wright

38) "my fellow prisoners"

40) at a rally McCain asks Joe the Plumber to stand up, Joe's not there

41) Palin is a "diva" (from a source in the McCain campaign)

42) Palin is a "whack job" (from a source in the McCain campaign)

43) Palin is going rouge

44) Palin 2012

45) Palin

46) Cheney endorsement the weekend before the election

That's alot. There are more but, that's all I could think of off the top of my head, please, let me know if you think of any others. A campaign cannot win with even a handful of the above much less all of them. Obama could essentially sit back and let McCain's campaign implode, each day was seemingly a different talking point/attack/misstep resulting in a disjointed, muddled and rudderless campaign.

Oh, and by the way, Obama ran an almost gaffe-less campaign after the Dem convention (with two big expceptions, Obama "spreading the wealth" and Biden's assurance of an "international crisis" to test Obama's mettle). And the economy (stupid) hurt McCain (especially the way he handled it) and helped Obama.

Sidenotes: Why didn't McCain learn from Hillary

How Hillary Clinton lost:

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1738331,00.html

And McCain didn't learn from Hillary

What if McCain had hit hard on Wright?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15191.html

McCain's pastors would have been talked about:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/22/mccain-rejects-hagee-endo_n_103143.html

McCain Acolytes on Display

Mindy Green (featured in the first clip) is going to vote, does that scare anyone else besides me? It shouldn't matter if you are a Democrat or Republican or Independent, the type of ignorance displayed by some the people in the below clips should be combated at every turn by everyone.

Michele Bachmann: the New Joe McCarthy?

 











Channeling Joe McCarthy - Have you no decency, ma'am, at long last ?

Michele Bachmann is a Republican U.S. Representative from the state of Minnesota. Below is a link to a full blog post with part of the interview she had on Oct. 17 with Chris Matthews. In that interview she called Obama, "Anti-American," and called on the media to investigate the U.S. House and Senate to ferret out other "Anti-American" members. I am not the first to say this but, she is raising the specter of Joe McCarthy and one of the darkest times in our county's history by calling for another witch hunt in to so-called "Anti-Americans". Whatever her intentions by making these careless and incendiary comments, they have had an impact that she could not have foreseen. See the link for that consequence.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1008/Bachmann_comments_raising_money_for_opponent.html

Is this indicative of the the general Republican response to opponents with whom they disagree? Plainly, the Republican mantra, whether it be their vice-presidential candidate or Ms. Bachmann, as examples, appears to be at times and at its worst, "if you don't agree with me you must be Anti-American." That type of rote, circular argument (if one can call it an argument without being insulting to those that actually want to have a meaningful debate and trade constructive arguments on issues of substance) is, I would assert, the epitome of "Anti-American." Perhaps one should ask, "have you nothing better to offer to the discourse, ma'am?" But, I again return to that fateful question asked of Joseph McCarthy decades earlier by Joseph Welch that essentially derailed McCarthy and his sad, witch hunting hearings. Specifically, to Ms. Bachmann and those of her ilk I ask, "have you no sense of decency, [ma'am], at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

Update: From

StarTribune.com" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; width: 452px; height: 17px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 6px; display: block; ">

http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/31261989.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhUec7PaP3E77K_0c::D3aDhUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU

The Return of The Angry - The Final Presidential Debate of 2008

What do you think "She Who Shall Not Be Named,"

thought of McCain's final debate performance?

And the winner is........Joe the Plumber!

McCain vs. Middle Class: McCain-3; Middle Class-0

McCain and Obama have had 3 presidential debates. I watched them. I don't recall McCain ever, ever uttering the phrase "middle-class". If I'm wrong let me know. By my count: McCain debates-3 , "Middle-Class" mentioned by McCain-0

If you consider middle-class anyone that makes $250,000.00 or less, that's a lot of people McCain did not address. Why? Please, someone let me know.

Side Notes:

McCain hurt himself, BADLY, when discussing the abortion issue. He said at some point that the states should regulate abortion and used the two handed "quote" hand sign to refer to the health of a mother.

I swear I heard McCain sighing off camera more than a of couple times. Not to mention the constant blinking and face making half way through it when he was on split screen. And he started looking angry about mid way through the debate.

During the debate McCain said, "I admire, so much, Senator Obama's eloquence and you really have to pay attention to words." So let's pay attention to Senator McCain's words shall we?

McCain said that "all" the people that come to his rallies are "patriotic". And that he has, "repudiated every time someone has been out of line, whether they have been part of [McCain's] campaign or not. And [McCain] will continue to do that. But the fact is that we need to absolutely not stand for the kind of things that have been going on, I haven't."

Has Senator McCain corrected his vice-presidential nominee, "She Who Shall Not Be Named," when she issues the rhetoric that Obama, "pals around with terrorists," plural, present tense? No. No, he has not repudiated that statement, at least not to date.

As for, "all," the people that attend his rallies being, "patriotic," does that include those that yell, "terrorist," "kill him," "off with his head," "treason," ect., at the mention of Obama? Are they, "patriotic" too? According to McCain, yes, they are all patriotic. Live by the rhetoric...

Second to lastly, McCain declares he's a "Federalist". Does he mean "Federalist" as in one of the founding fathers of our country that supported the ratification of our constitution like those that wrote the Federalist Papers and supported our first two presidents, Washington and Adams? Or Does he mean a "Federalist," like the Federalist Party founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1792 and lasted until roughly 1816, now defunct, that was formed to rival Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party? If he's been around that long he looks good for his age. What year are we in? 1787 or 2008? Again, live by the rhetoric...

Lastly, and kind of on a comical note, McCain said that Obama voted against Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Breyer. One problem with that, Obama was not a U.S. Senator when Justice Breyer was confirmed in 1994.

Here's a link to a transcript of the debate: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/debate-transcri.html

McCain Campaign's Fake Pre-Debate Talking Points

Here's an interesting article from ABC describing how the Obama campaign accidentally released their pre-debate talking points. Since they've run such a smooth campaign so far is it fair for me to wonder if they ever do anything "accidentally" given the innocuous tone of the talking points?

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/obama-flack-acc.html

What if, and this is only a what if, McCain's camp had accidentally released its pre-debate talking points? (that pre-supposes that they have pre-debate talking points, which I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't given how poorly the McCain campaign has been run) What might the McCain camp's pre-debate talking points consist of? Here's a guess:

1) Denounce negative tone of people at McCain campaign rallies in media interviews.

2) At rallies issue the "pals around with terrorists," line (make sure it's plural terrorists and present tense, people may yell, "terrorist," "kill him," "treason," "off with his head," ect., don't denounce such sentiment).

3) John McCain is the victim. (Don't worry if it doesn't make sense.)

4) The stock market recovered quite a bit of its losses from last week. See, the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Now it is the time to turn the page on the economy and talk about foreign affairs.

5) If they point out that the jobless rate, new jobs numbers, home sales, foreclosure rate and other key economic indicators are still bad respond with: we're still in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and John McCain is single handedly going to fix it. (Find McCain's accounting visor and his calculator)

6) Announce McCain is suspending campaign to focus on economic crisis again. (don't tell reporters it's to save money so the campaign can make it financially until Nov. 4; we'll still run web ads and tv ads we've paid for already)

7) Announce McCain is calling Letterman and canceling on him again for this Thursday and heading straight to Washington after the debate. (Then do interview with a real news person Thursday night nowhere near Washington.)

8) Obama-Ayers over and over again. (We don't care if the poll numbers are getting away from us. It's got to work eventually.)

9) Downplay McCain's ties to lobbyists

10) Palin is not running the campaign and is just offering suggestions. (will someone tell her to wait until 2012?)

11) Who is the real Barrack "Hussein" Obama? Emphasize "Hussein", even say it twice to scare the ignorant people out there.

12) Oh yeah, talk about the issues or something, maybe something about the economy.

(Again this is a comical, fictional guess at what the McCain camp's pre-debate talking points might be if they had been accidentally released)

Side Note: "This One Goes to Eleven"

It's pretty telling when the big debate inside the McCain campaign is whether or not to go more negative.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14587.html

The "Great Schlep"

This great article from CNN's Patrick Oppman demonstrates the misinformation that Obama is combating. Remember the older lady at the McCain rally who said that Obama was an, "Arab" (Post #5, this blog)? I guessed that she may have received her information about Obama from smear, chain emails. Given what the below article relates, I may not be too far off the mark about where some people are getting their information, namely, smear, chain, patently false emails.

Meanwhile the "Great Schlep" tries to get out the Jewish vote in favor of Obama in Florida.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/13/great.schlep/index.html

Again, What Are McCain & Palin "Sowing"?

someone outside of Obama's economic policy speech in Toledo. Oct. 13



image from http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/religulous.html



Civil Rights leader and U.S. House of Representative John Lewis recently said that McCain/Palin are, "sowing the seeds of division and hate." Rep. Lewis went on to describe the atmosphere of hate created by segregationist Governor George Wallace during the civil rights era. McCain called Rep. Lewis remarks unfair. McCain/Palin rallies have had people say that Obama is an "Arab", and yell, "terrorist", "kill him", and "off with his head". And of course there's this gentlemen above.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/13/mccain.interview/?iref=mpstoryview



Biden has warned about fringe elements that could latch onto the McCain/Palin rhetoric.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6021550&page=1



At how many more rallies are people going to have to yell such hateful words before McCain realizes and/or acknowledges what his campaigns rhetoric is inciting? How many more people need to show up with signs like, or worse than, the one pictured above before McCain gets it? Maybe not too much longer since, apparently, Palin toned down her rhetoric.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/sarah-palin-ton.html



If McCain and Palin are going to stop their divisive rhetoric, good, finally. But do you really think we've heard the last from the McCain campaign regarding Obama being, "pals with terrorist" or asking rhetorical questions like, "who is the real Barack Obama"? I hope so. But, somehow I doubt it.

Postscript:

Well, I doubted it for a reason. Surrogates of McCain continue the rhetoric of divisiveness.

Take for example this person giving a blessing before a McCain rally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws_MhRovj5E

His prayer said:

"I would also pray Lord that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their God -- whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah -- that his [McCain’s] opponent wins for a variety of reasons.And Lord I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you would step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and Election Day.Oh Lord, we just commit this time to you, move among us, make your presence very well felt as we are gathered here today in Jesus's name I pray."

This is so out there, where should I start? Apparently, according to this guy, all the other gods' followers are praying Obama wins. He must have some type of dialouge with those other deities to know something like that. And so God should back John McCain so God can show up the other gods or he'll look bad at the next deity card game. Maybe he never considered that God might be in agreement with his fellow deities. Of course I would think someone like this guy would believe in only one true God, and wouldn't think the Christian God is in competition with other "lesser" gods, but I digress.

Then there's this Virginia Republican chairman who said that Obama and bin Laden both have friends that bombed the Pentagon. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dot.comments/2008/10/obama_polls_ahead.html

A New York Times article explored Obama's relationship to Ayers in detail and found that there really isn't that much there, they merely "crossed paths". http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/us/politics/04ayers.html

Where is McCain correcting these surrogates? Maybe McCain will only correct his surrogates and supporters when they make wild allegations in front of his own eyes and within earshot. Maybe he's flip flopped again about what is true about Obama and what is not. Remember, this the 2008 McCain that defended every political ad and talking point from his campaign as 100% true to journalists not so long ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhb41Z-Znkg

And lastly, if McCain and his surrogates think this rhetoric is going to help McCain win they must not be looking at the same polls everyone else is.

Side Note: Obama when someone boos McCain

Notice how differently Obama responds when someone just boos at the mention of McCain's name. http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/10/13/obama-urges-his-supporters-to-vote-not-boo-mccain/

Side Side Note: McCain and Glass Houses

If McCain wants to play guilt by association, and the closer and more recent the association the more guilty then, what is to be made of this? McCain's transition chief was essentially a lobbyist for Saddam Hussein. How many lobbyists does McCain have in his campaign anyway? Answer: lots.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/09/mccain.lobbying/

Now of course McCain himself wasn't a lobbyist for Saddam. But he's employing someone who was. Someone who served as an advocate for a genocidal dictator. So to be clear, McCain would hire, for his campaign, a former advocate for a genocidal dictator. Obama didn't decide whether or not Ayers would be on the board they served on. Shouldn't McCain be careful of throwing stones from his 5+ glass houses with associates and associations like this? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/14/mccain-transition-chief-a_n_134595.html

Who's Running McCain's Campaign - A Democratic Operative?

Seriously, is Rick Davis a double agent for the Democrats? How else can you explain how poorly run McCain's campaign has been since the Republican National Convention. Or is it someone else's fault entirely.

Republican strategists, not associated with the McCain campaign, appear to agree that McCain needs to focus on the economy to try to make up his deficit in the polls.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14512.html

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a McCain supporter and often seen talking head, said on Saturday that McCain was going to offer a, "very comprehensive approach to jump-start the economy."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/politics/13plan.html

Somebody should have told the McCain campaign because they said that McCain wasn't going to do so. Specifically, Tucker Bounds, McCain campaign spokesperson said, “We do not have any immediate plans to announce any policy proposals outside of the proposals that John McCain has announced, and the certain proposals that would result as economic news continues to come our way.”

In the mean time on Monday, Oct. 13 Obama unveiled a four point plan in an attempt to help deal with the economic crisis. Essentially doing what Graham had promised McCain would do Monday.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14523.html

Wow.

Seriously, is Rick Davis secretly working for the Dems or Obama? For that matter where was the communications director, Jill Hazelbaker, on this one? (of course she didn't do so well when she credited McCain for the passage of the bailout bill that didn't pass) Steve Schmidt is the chief strategist, where has he been?

Not to go over recent history in detail nor kick dead horses but let's not forget the following to date:

1) picking Palin

2) fundamentals of economy are strong on Sept. 15

3) worst economic crisis since the Great Depression Sept. 24

4) suspends campaign, kind of, ads still run, surrogates still campaign

5) calls on (demands) Bush call a meeting of both parties' leaders including himself (of course) and Obama

6) his communication's director and other surrogates give McCain credit for getting first version of bailout passed before it passes, and oh, by the way, it doesn't pass

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/14088.html

7) rhetoric of his campaign has inspired some of his supporters at rallies to say/yell that Obama, "is an Arab", "kill him"; "terrorist", and "off with his head - See past posts and

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/08/1517943.aspx

That's all I can think of right now. There are more, I know.

And now the "very comprehensive approach to jump-start the economy" isn't needed because the situation presumably doesn't call for it otherwise McCain would offer up new ideas, right? If the situation for new economic policies is not called for now, then when would it ever be called for according to McCain?

So who is to blame for the poorly run McCain campaign? Rick Davis, the campaign manager? Someone else in the campaign like chief strategist Steve Schmidt, communications director Jill Hazelbaker, or talking head/supporter Senator Graham? Maybe all of them to some degree are to blame. But, it's McCain's campaign ultimately. Ultimately, the blame lies with him for his poorly run campaign.

Although I still think there's an outside chance Rick Davis is a double agent for the Dems. That way this poorly run campaign by McCain would make more sense.

(To be clear, I have no information that Rick Davis or anyone else associated with the McCain campaign is a secret, double-agent operative for Obama and/or the Dems, the suggestion made that he or anyone else may be a secret, double-agent operative for Obama and/or the Dems is made in jest.)

Postscript: John Martin on his blog on politico.com is reporting that Doug Holtz-Eakin, McCain's chief domestic policy adviser, said on a conference call that McCain is going to offer specific new measures regarding the economy. Wow. Double wow. First, Graham says McCain has new policy proposals regarding the economy. Then, spokesperson Bounds says no, he doesn't. Now, Hotz-Eakin, says wait a minute, yes he does, tomorrow though. Stay tuned, they may decide they don't have any new economic policy proposals by tomorrow. Triple wow.

McCain to Supporter at His Own Rally: "Obama is not an Arab"

Why oh why on God's green earth would McCain have said something like that? Well, because just moments earlier a female supporter at a rally for his campaign, that somehow was handed a microphone said, "I can't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's not, he's not uh — he's an Arab. He's not — ". Then McCain snatched the microphone from this yahoo and responed, "No, ma'am. He's a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign's all about. He's not [an Arab]."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14479.html

This type of untrue and misguided sentiment is indicative of the beliefs and feelings of at least some of the people that have been gathering for McCain/Palin rallies. See post 3 on this blog for more. Now more than ever the Republican model of campaigning to and inspiring fear has reached new heights. The McCain of 2000 is rearing his head when he sees first hand what the McCain of 2008 has inspired and felt compelled to correct this ignorant woman. McCain also said to her and the crowd, "I have to tell you. Sen. Obama is a decent person and a person you don’t have to be scared of as president of the United States." He said it to boos from the crowd. Maybe McCain is scared by what his campaign has fomented. Maybe his conscious, finally, is making him act. Either way it's about time. What is sad is very likely she didn't and doesn't believe him, even after McCain told her that Obama is not an "Arab".

Why would she if, for example, she's a person that only gets her news and information from chain emails. Emails like the ones that make wild allegations about Obama. For an example of these strange, wild and highly inaccurate accusations made in these atrocious emails you have no further to look than here:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp

That same McCain supporter would probably lose a small fortune if she received an email plea for help from a Nigerian prince requesting her banking information so that he could transfer his vast wealth to an American bank. Too bad for her that McCain probably won't be there to try to stop her from believing that email too. The sad thing is she probably wouldn't believe McCain if he told her the Nigerian prince wasn't real either.

Side Note: "Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia and Never Go In Against a Sicilian When Death Is on the Line"

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/a-misplaced-hockey-mom-moment/

Or, Oh, That's Why You Don't Send a Candidate to a Sporting Event During Election Season, Much Less a Sporting Event in Philadelphia

Apparently, "The Hockey Mom," Governor Palin was not appreciated by some fans when she dropped the first puck at the Flyers' home opener. By the way, Pennsylvania is a swing state this election. By the way again, Philly fans are notoriously rude. The McCain campaign should have known better. Or maybe they're that out touch that they didn't know about Philly fans.

Side Side Note: The "Reverse Bradley Effect"?

Regarding the "Bradley effect" some new research indicates that in some states' Democratic Primaries there may be evidence of a "reverse Bradley effect". Bad news for the McCain campaign, see Post 3. on this blog.

http://www.physorg.com/news142862643.html