A couple of videos for you today. The first, via Josh Marshall, shows some of the crew at MSNBC discussing John McCain’s juvenile ad campaign. Their conclusion? John McCain is so honorable he must be too out of it to understand his own ads.
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The other shows McCain just plain out of it, via Jed Report:
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Yet the two candidates are currently tied in the polls. I’m here in New York, where Obama will win easily, and I don’t know how people in other parts of the country are perceiving the campaigns. Any ideas?
I feel safe in making only one prediction this election season: most of the polls are going to prove to be spectacularly wrong.
I suspect that the pollsters are being jerked around by demographics, by an increasing unwillingness of people to participate in polls (I never do, anymore), and by a natural tendency toward caution.
It isn’t only journalists who benefit from a close race. Ever wondered how pollsters make their money? I’m not suggesting that pollsters — or journalists — would choose to cook the results. A simple tendency to err on the side that your bread is buttered on would do, if there are other factors clouding the results.
I’m not comfortable dissing my fellow-citizens, but honestly too many of my fellow citizens have become lazy, self-absorbed, uninformed-on-purpose ciphers. McCain has assumed, by design, the role of the permissive parent who promises to give us children everything we want and require nothing from us, other than our vote, in return. Today, we’re a perfect fit.
When and if we ever ‘grow up’, when reality finally sets in, which it will, we might realize that our permissive parent was our enemy, not our friend.
I’m in Florida, and my sense is that most people aren’t paying attention yet. I’m hoping that once people get a look at what a horrid candidate McCain is, they’ll vote for Obama. But I think it’s gonna stay close throughout despite the fact that McCain sucks at basic politicking. For one thing, the media is in the tank for him, as the vid you posted demonstrates. For another, it was always gonna be hard to elect someone who isn’t a white dude with an Anglo last name. Possible, but difficult. I expect to gnaw my nails down to the bloody quick the evening of the 1st Tuesday in November. My hope is that Obama wins on the strength of massive turnout and new voter registration, which his campaign (and I as a volunteer) is certainly working hard to ensure.
I am in Los Angeles, so I have no clue what the rest of the country is thinking or talking about. I have never been optimistic about Obama’s chances because, at the gut level, this is still a very racist country. Not in the Klan sense, but in the “he’s not one of us” sense.
McCain’s image has taken a few minor hits, but the “he’s an honorable man” reflex is still there and no one is taking on the absurd presumption that McCain is superior on military and foreign policy matters simply because of the early years of his biography.
I do not believe in attacking just to be seen as attacking, but the Democrats should have begun the assault on these two embedded notions early and hard.
For the love of God, no more rock-star moments. Please. If Obama had come home after the Middle East leg of his trip, or had limited himself in Europe to meetings with politicians, he’d still have a lead. The Berlin speech couldn’t have fit more perfectly into the GOP’s “frou-frou/Hollyweird/dubiously American” Obama frame (which is only a slight variation on the GOP’s frame for all other Democrats, so it’s not as if Obama couldn’t challenge the frame or sidestep it if he wanted to try).
The stadium speech in Denver is his next huge mistake.
McCain seemed a little sluggish in his response..like he’s having difficulty processing information. Maybe it’s the high altitude in Boca Raton? He has the same characteristic as Bush of falling back into a rote reply of gobbledy gook that’s unrelated to the question presented. Does McCain really think that people are interested enough in him to research his record? McCain had the opportunity to blow his own horn and showcase his abilities in leadership given the question asked, but instead he was knocked of balance by a straight forward question that didn’t require an immense amount of thought, so he blew off the questioner with a bunch of meaningless tripe.
If McCain was wearing an open back hospital gown when he answered the question every thing would seem normal.
When you compare Obama in his response to questions and notice he takes less that 5 seconds to organize his thoughts and deliver a remarkably clear and concise response, you can see that he’s bright, alert, and able to think on his feet. Whereas McCain seems to be just hanging on to reality trying to comprehend his environment.
I’ve smoked a lot of marijuana in my day and sometimes I would injest such high levels of THC that I be in the same state of bewilderment as McCain appeared to be in that second video. I don’t think it would unkind or inapropriate to descibe McCain as befuddled. McCain is ready for Shady Oaks..forget the White House.
I have been thinking McCain has been mixing with a lot of average Americans in the small venues that we’ve been hearing about. I think these events will be used to support the claim that McCain is the candidate of average middle Americans, whereas Obama is the candidate of a small elite group.
I think McCain’s handlers are not only scurilous about their TV ads, but they are shrewd about what it is that will stick in the minds of voters. Yes Obama will make points by meeting leaders and crowds in foreign countries. But, McCain will also make points by being in small town America taking his message.
I don’t think the message will be as important as the effect of these subtle images.
My response is to Steve M. I understand your concern that the Denver convention speech sets up the Repubs for more “celebrity” crap. But if Obama were able to hit back on this, basically by arguing that (a) it’s totally vapid, (b) Reagan, Schwarzenegger, Heston, Sonny Bono..they’re all celebs–anyway, Obama can not let himself be “neutered” from driving his inspirational campaign forward. If he doesn’t inspire new voters, he loses. He just has to hit back on the stupidity.
Where do the videos go? I get the message they are no longer available.
Here in Oklahoma, people are completely uninformed. The media is all conservative. The only way to get any “liberal” news is to subscribe to satellite radio. Needless to say the populace is completely brain washed. It is simply pitiful. I keep hoping for change but things look pretty bleak in this state.
Understand that I voted for Obama in the primary and will not vote for McCain in November, but I have also decided not to vote for Obama. Frankly, some of the positions he has taken since the end of the primaries have convinced me that he is as crooked as Dumbya or McCain only a whole lot smarter and that scares me more than another 4 years of a GOP president particularly with a Congress more firmly in Democratic control. Two issues stand out more than any others. First his plan to tax those earning over $250K to “save” social security. Understand I do not make that kind of money and I think that there should probably be increased taxes on me as well as those who make over $250K, but social security does not need “saving” and by trying to get extra revenue by claiming it does not ionly is fundamentally dishonest, betrays an inability to lead, but threatens the underpinnings of the most successful social program this country has ever had. Social security has involved a transfer between generations, but it has never been a case of the rich subsidizing the poor. In one fell swoop, Obama proposes to give those who want to kill social security that talking point. The second is his flip flop on FISA. I am upset enough about the telecom immunity, but could have lived with that. It is the wholesale disregard of our constitutional rights in the legislation that upsets me more. I will probably write in Feingold come November.
Maha, this is silly season. Neither the news nor the polls count for much right now.
My basic impression is that things are not going too well for Mr. McCain in this election. It should be a fun Fall.
terry … social security very much DOES need saving, it’s going broke.
It’s going broke very slowly, though, and I’ve always believed there is a very easy fix … just raise the cap on how much income gets taxed. It has absolutely zero effect on the poor and middle class, and not much effect on the upper class, all things considered. That Obama is doing this is very much to his credit.
Now, FISA and telecom immunity … that is not nearly as defensible. My guess is that he didn’t want it to be an issue for the campaign, so he took the easy way out. He has always struck me as a guy that knows and respects the constitution, so I’m gonna trust him on this.
Nevertheless, even with FISA, even with SS, he is infitely better than McCain will be, trust me on that one.
-me
I saw Paris Hilton do an ad touting her own candidacy for president, referring to “old white haired guy” and thanking him for his endorsement. Unfortunately, it merely reinforced her bimboness.
Meanwhile, McCain’s on video at TPM offering to put Cindy up as Buffalo Chip Queen (a bare breasted competition at the biker rodeo) . After the dissing Jessica took for owning breasts in the vicinity of Bill Clinton, I’m sure the Reichwing Babblethumpers will be out in force to tut-tut him (uh-huh. right.)
So how’s it playing in Peoria? My non-activist feedback loop is yawning, waiting for the Olympics. Some registered disgust about telecom immunity and, being westerners, on his offshore drilling comments. Western indies tend to be libertarian and pro-environment, that was predictable. But nobody’s heard a deal killer.
I hope his Olympics ads go well to avoid annoyance demerits, but really, the post-Olympics is the real game time. All I see is the usual soft support shifts of a typical summer and McCain still can’t break 45%.
My error: I just wasn’t paying attention. Actually, See Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad and more funny videos on FunnyOrDie.comSee more funny videos at Funny or Die”>Paris’ spoof was pretty good.
I botched the HTML on that but you can click thru to see it.
Terry – get a brain! If McCain wins that means Republicans appoint literally thousands of key jobs all through the executive branch, the regulatory agencies, and the courts. These are the people who enforce civil rights, environmental regulations, and God knows what else. It means more Richard Perles, John Boltons, and Michael Browns. We need a Democrat in the White House, even if its Carrot Top.
It’s the appointments stupid!