How frustrating. So, let's go through this latest fear-tactic, shall we?
Enough Democrats will be elected into the Congress to create imbalance. Choose a Republican for president to balance them out.
A number of reasons why this irritates me:
Imagine McCain. His sneers. His air-quotes. His privatization and his flippancy towards the rest of the world. Do we really want someone who believes in supporting his private investors more than the common American people? Do we really want someone like McCain or Palin, who immediately turn to smearing opponents instead of dealing with issues? Do we think that is an effective way to lead a country?
Remember when Bush mentioned the "Axis of Evil" and we were all ashamed that our leader so brazenly bypassed diplomacy and called names? Or how about when he called the leader of North Korea, a "pygmy"? Don't we see that now, in our own country, with McCain/Palin throwing out labels and accusations of socialist, terrorist, and "celebrity"?
We aren't happy with Bush's diplomacy methods - how could we support the same in McCain and Palin?
How many times have we shaken our heads when Bush would come out with gaffes and errors in his statements? And now we want to elect McCain and Palin, the top gaffe-makers in our country today?
And how many times have we questioned the Bush tactics and strategies that deliberately lead us into situations that are designed to benefit himself and his cronies? And now McCain and Palin are using the same cronies and political campaign advisers as Bush did. How many times did we say we disliked "flip-flopping" but ignore the fact that McCain's entire campaign has been a flip-flop. He was against torture, but ended up supporting Bush in it anyway. He was for campaign reform, and now he's been taking advantage of every loophole that exists. He was against tax cuts for the wealthy, and now supports them again. He left the 2000 campaign after Bush's campaign smeared him and his family terribly. Now he's using the same people to smear Obama. He says he puts his country first, but ask Americans how they feel Palin fits that theme. He claims he's moderate, but then takes up all the most conservative ideals of his party.
He's shown his disdain for what Americans want at every turn. We don't like the negativity - he does more of it. We don't like the idea of privatizing health care, he makes it a pivotal part of his campaign. Just what does McCain stand for that Americans really want?
Fear-mongering is tiring. Our country has been at Orange Alert for so long that no one even pays attention anymore. McCain wants people to question "Who is the real Obama?" when we really should be asking, "Who is the Real McCain - and which one is trying to be president?"
(originally posted at Exponential)
I always hate it when candidates like John McCain criticize others for being flip floppers. Especially when he flip-flops all the time. Just take a look at the attached article from the Dow Jones News Wire.
While I do not necessarily disagree funding our auto companies might not be a bad idea the fact that McCain and his Republican buddies like to think they hold some moral high ground only show’s me what a bunch of phonies they really are.
McCain is nothing more than a rich grumpy old man living in the fog of the Bush Administration. Not only does he have nothing new to offer he can’t even remember how many houses he owns. Next thing, he won’t be able to remember his own name.
Congratulations to Joe Bieden for his selection as Vice President. Seems like a really good balance to the ticket. I know Hillary supporters may find this difficult. But, lets face it; we need a Democrat in the White House. So lets all pull together and do our best to unseat all Republicans. They had their shot and look what it got us.
The art of politics, and a democracy in particular, is the ability to reach consensus where no unanimity exists. By its very nature, in order to accomplish anything, government requires both sides to compromise. This means they must change their positions. The evolution of the term flip-flop into a pejorative that is used to denigrate any change in a candidate or party’s position is at the heart of our inability to get anything done in government.
The media, along with Karl Rove, are probably at the heart of all this. Elected officials must rise above it. The media needs controversy in order to sell headlines, but elected officials need to be willing to compromise in order to get anything done. Some past campaigns have been built on demeaning the opposition in order to deflect serious evaluation of the their own candidate. Most citizens are smart enough to understand the need for compromise and are eager to “live and let live”.
In the 110th Congress, John McCain voted with his party 88.3% of the time. The average for all Republicans is 80.8%. 33 (out of 51 Republican senators voted with their party fewer times than "maverick" McCain. And there is no way of knowing what he would have done on the 63.8% of the votes he missed - the worst record for all senators.
In addition, Senator McCain has claimed to be on one side of an issue, even though his record shows he has consistently voted on the opposite side. He seems to have difficulty putting his vote where his mouth is. Several times in his career, he opposed legislation he had championed or even introduced!
It appears that John McCain has earned his reputation as a maverick by opposing, not his party’s position, but his own.
One of McCain's biggest pitches is his Maverick status. He gives it to you straight. We all know that to get the nomination he put that stuff aside, but he's still working the angle hard.
We need to see The Straight Talk Express as his Achillis Heel. The same way he attacks Obama for his fervent popularity, we need to attack McCain for what is his supposed strength. In short we take a leaf out of Rove's book.
If we can spread the seeds of doubt about the Straight Talk Express, if we can embed the idea of a "double talk express" in the voter's mind, the less he'll get traction with his own assertions. Heartland voters hate the idea of double talk more than anything. They hate flip-flopping. And while we may see it as obvious that McCain's changed direction, it's just not getting through to the voter.
Obama worked the angle a couple of days ago, but he did it with a more circumspect, and frankly charitable approach. "That doesn't meet my definition of Maverick". It's fine if you're listening but it's not catchy.
"The Double Talk Express"
That's catchy and it's got a ton of rhetorical avenues. Because if you get on that train, you end up right where you started. In Crawford Texas.
In the business world this is called "WISE DECISION MAKING" but in the political world it's called "Flip-Flopping" and viewed as a bad thing.
Having been a Corporate Manager at a large firm I can recall a number of times when decisions were made or a course of action taken only to be changed or altered based new facts or a change of events. Sometimes plans were changed to take advantage of an opportunity that did not exist previously or to avoid a pit fall that suddenly emerged.
The Obama team should make this their standard response to the flip-flopping attacks of the McCain camp. They should state that this is "wise decision making" and not political business as usual.
Senator Obama is making decisions on what is best for the American people. Make this an example of the type of changes needed in Washington.
Dear Mr. Herbert,
You have my deepest gratitude for outing the McCain campaign’s, “Karl Rove style,” trashing. McCain may have once been, the straight talking American war hero, although it is hard to believe someone could fall so far from ethical to be the lowest common denominator in the most crucial Presidential campaign in the last sixty years.
I am physically ill and fighting despair for this country’s future. What McCain and his campaign are doing is putting the final nail in the coffin of this country’s dying greatness. What had been good and positive about the US through all its horrors were the hope and reach for the ideals of our Constitution. The framers were flawed men but knew enough to reach for their better angels when it came to their vision for this country. Not so for McCain, McCain is Sherman devastating and burning everything on his way to White House. McCain like Hillary who like Bush rather further break and fragment the remains of the electorate than run a fair campagin. And the press and media are the bandleaders. I cannot believe what passes for news. The French literary theorists announced the death of the author. Who will announce the death of the journalist? Or have we mourned the death of impartial reporting with the lost of Tim Russet? Is his death at the beginning of this campaign a metaphor for the end of rational and reliable journalism in this country?
The press and media, expect for you a small hand fill, are once again failing their duty to the public. Instead of reporting or discussing the candidates polices they sensationalize and worst set up the publics attitudes with sensational leads into broadcasts and headlines. I am an Obama supporter and have been from the very beginning. I agree with you I do not know how he endures the slander of the press, the daily vile and insulting tag lines attributed to him. While McCain or the idea of McCain is cherished and coddled in gentle voices and amazement that the man they so highly honored is running such a malicious and salacious campaign as they repeat and loop every single slur over and over. If the press and media are not racist, if their behavior and presentation of Obama is not racist and they are not purposely painting this presidential campaign with a tar brush than how is racism to be defined?
The press and media’s bang and banter the idea of Obama’s arrogance into the ground. Are they hoping in nailing him with arrogance and hubris they will bring him down to his proper peg? What actually are print, TV and cable journalist and pundits trying to do to Obama and the country? I can sort of understand McCain and his campaign’s strategy. They are dirty, low and desperate but is the media out to get Obama because he does not play by the same old rules? I do not know for certain what is going on. It looks like propaganda or why report on Obama with code words like flip-flop and arrogance except to maintain the status quo which McCain embodies.
I hope the electorate is hip to this by now but I fear we are doomed by the very system that once made this country appear to be democracy is done or maybe the curtain has been ripped away and we see the wizard for what he is, an old man working the levers on a machine.
At least I know I can count on you but I think you are breaching to the choir. Reasonable voices can't be heard since they are rarely looped and repeated by the media.
Thanks,
Deborah Di Bari
At TPMCafe, Theda Skocpol argues today that the Obama campaign must ignore the McCain campaign’s subtle (and not-so-subtle) appeals to racism and put out ads, preferably humorous, revealing McCain’s extremism. That’s a very good idea, I think, but I think we need to do more than that.Beyond the dog whistle appeals to racism, McCain’s ads are aimed at demolishing Obama’s character—something the GOP is expert at. Of course, they have to—they don’t dare run on the issues.
What astounds me is that Obama is still playing by The Marquess of Queensberry rules. It seems to me the most obvious line of attack should be McCain’s utter lack of principle. Steve Benen has cataloged 71 McCain flip-flops to date. Every time McCain opens his mouth he either displays total ignorance of the subject on which he opines or contradicts whatever he said the day before. When challenged, he has on several occasions claimed not to have said what the videotape clearly reveals that he did say. Whether one characterizes this as confusion, incompetence or dishonest (or a combination of any or all of the three), it surely constitutes a track record that should raise questions about McCain’s veracity. This is important, unfortunately, because the McCain campaign is trying, a la Karl Rove, to attack Obama on the very things they know to be their own candidate’s biggest vulnerabilities.
Yes. He is still smoking friends. It looks like a pack of Republicans a day. And, since going overseas, he has turned to using his wit and overall hard work ethic to bring 200,000 of the European community to now start smoking a pack of McCains.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/25/obama-partners-abroad-will-help-solve-problems-at-home/
You cannot gain allies by assuming they are your friend. You have to lay the ground work. Thank you Mr. Obama. Please continue the lesson.
So not only is the Bush administration sending a high-ranking diplomat to meet with Iranian officials this weekend, it may also station U.S. diplomats permanently in Iran:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/17/usa.iran
Isn’t this the same President Bush who went before the Israeli Knesset to blast Obama for saying he would meet with our enemies? Is this the same Bush who labeled Obama an appeaser on the same level as Neville Chamberlain?
In a similar hypocritical vein, the administration also said it would seek a "a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals, such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq."
--from the same administration that blasted anyone who talked of timetables for getting out of Iraq.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcWJu9bbzrJZ7uNHjvMn0BuTGqHQD920BJ900
Here's what I got published on June 12, 2008.
To the Editor:
My gratitude to Gail Collins for “The Audacity of Listening” (column, July 10). She points out that those people who are wringing their hands about Barack Obama’s “flip-flops” haven’t been paying attention.
Most of what people are calling flip-flops are long-held positions of Mr. Obama that some voters chose not to pay attention to during the primaries.
Mr. Obama is working to change the process and practice of politics as we know it through a rejection of ideology in favor of common sense and by affirming the need for grass-roots change.
He is building the narrative that will convince all Americans, once and for all, that we need universal health care, that we need to invest heavily in education, that we need to rebuild our economy in a way that addresses climate change.
Leadership requires compromise, and as long as Mr. Obama uses compromise as a means to reach an end and not as an end in itself, then I say, “Yes, we can!”
Liz Arnett El Cerrito, Calif., July 10, 2008
Link:
"If I can’t trust a self-described constitutional scholar to defend basic constitutional principles, even with a vote on the losing side of a constitutional issue, how can I trust him with (for example) future Supreme Court nominations? After today, I can’t," says Richard Blair. Here's more:
I know that Obama’s FISA vote won’t mean a thing to his hard core supporters. They’ll make excuses the same way that George W. Bush’s sycophants make excuses for him. “Oh, he had to vote this way, or the GOP would paint him as soft on national security.” The bottom line is that there is political reality, and then there is principle. Barack Obama has billed himself as a new breed of politician who will stand up on principle. It should be clear today that he’s reneged on that promise. He’s been revealed as an old school politico, who sticks his finger in the wind to see which way it’s blowing.The character assassination of John Kerry as a “flip flopper” in 2004 was largely a product of the GOP noise machine. The abandonment of principle in 2008 by Barack Obama, in the middle of an election fight, is the true embodiment of the charge.
I know that Obama’s FISA vote won’t mean a thing to his hard core supporters. They’ll make excuses the same way that George W. Bush’s sycophants make excuses for him. “Oh, he had to vote this way, or the GOP would paint him as soft on national security.”
The bottom line is that there is political reality, and then there is principle. Barack Obama has billed himself as a new breed of politician who will stand up on principle. It should be clear today that he’s reneged on that promise. He’s been revealed as an old school politico, who sticks his finger in the wind to see which way it’s blowing.
The character assassination of John Kerry as a “flip flopper” in 2004 was largely a product of the GOP noise machine. The abandonment of principle in 2008 by Barack Obama, in the middle of an election fight, is the true embodiment of the charge.
