Obama Advisers Ponder Ad Campaign Against GOP That Points To Rise Of Tea Party

The New York Times:

President Obama's political advisers, looking for ways to help Democrats and alter the course of the midterm elections in the final weeks, are considering a range of ideas, including national advertisements, to cast the Republican Party as all but taken over by Tea Party extremists, people involved in the discussion said.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[Olivia212010]

04:11 AM on 09/21/2010

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[pwd2008]

10:45 PM on 09/20/2010

This makes a lot of sense. When the people don't like your policies, the economy is getting worse every day, spending is out of control, and taxes are about to blow through the roof then there is only one thing to do. Go on the attack, call everyone in the opposition names whenever they disagree, and accelerate the fearmongering....

Somehow, I think the majority of Americans will see right through the politican shenanigans. It looks likes silly season is once again upon us...

[emp122]

07:27 AM on 09/21/2010

You could not be more wrong! Technically, we have been out of the recession (as it is defined), since 2009. There has been GDP growth, growth in the stock market, and job growth. In summary, the economy is starting to recover! If you put the repubs back in office we will reverse course and wreck the economy. Instead of growth, there will be steady decline. Instead of 10% unemployment, there will be 25%.
The stimulus package saved jobs and the "bailouts" saved the American car industry and banking industry. Both were very sucessful.
Just what is the Tea Party Platform: "We don't trust government; now vote for me to fix the problem. We will reduce the deficit and cut taxes (does not make sense!). Then we will cut taxes. Then we will cut taxes. When all fails, then we will cut taxes.
I'll let you in on a little secret. I live in a Republican district, and they tax even MORE that Democrats. How do they accomplish that? By charging back breaking FEES.

[pwd2008]

12:01 AM on 09/23/2010

I like that you are at least trying to use facts to support your case. My point is that many democrats don't this. Instead they engage in personal attacks on anyone who disagrees with their point of view. While I don't agree with your facts and believe there is more than a good dose of spin in the numbers, we should keep the debate focused on the issues.

The Obama administration can't support candidates in the upcoming elections on the democrats performance so all that remains is name calling and fearmongering. Instead of an Ad campaign attacking the GOP and the Tea Party, why not an campagin focused on the policies which are supposed to be good for the country - like: Health care reform which was delivered by a democrat control government, a near pass on cap and trade and how wonderful that would be for our country, open boarders policy and why this is so good for the countries future prosperity, more redistribution of wealth through the tax system and how this will help everyone. There are more great ideas which have come out of congress and the President these past 2 years - let's put those front and center during an election and see what happens.

Btw - employment is already close to 25% - long term unemployed dropped out of looking for work and aren't counted in the stats. So your projections are coming true under the current political leadership.

[Terence Duke]

07:22 PM on 09/23/2010

Sir,
I do taxes. Taxes have gone DOWN this last year no matter what you are TOLD. They are at the lowest level in YEARS. If they go up on the higher income bracket, they will still be half of what they were pre-1980. Spending is out of control, unfortunately it is not spent in our country. Our best and brightest minds from math and science are not brought into industry to develop new technologies, they are taking jobs on wall street to develop such complicated derivatives and financial that no one but them can understand it, not even the IRS. Which is why the top 10 hedge fund managers made over ONE BILLION dollars last year,while paying little of that in taxes. Say to yourself almost ONE HUNDRED MILLION (yes i said ONE HUNDRED MILLION) A MONTH!!!! Even if they were taxed at 50% which they are not, they would still make 50 MILLION dollars a month!!!!

People have been robbed blind by the banks etc. One the thing that was recently fixed was the ability to raise credit card balances on existing balances by sometimes over 20% for being ONE day late. Imagine if your car. house etc was one day late and your 5.5% home loan was now 24.99%? That used to be the case as it was barred by law. That law was repealed by deregulation. Who caries a balance on credit cards? not the rich. the average american does.

[Bushwhacked]

10:18 PM on 09/20/2010

For as the world looks at America these days, all to often they see a religious Taliban - the equivalence of a culture of carnival barkers not seen since the days when hypocrite Newt Gingrich was cheating on his second or third wife while feigning indignation at President Clinton.

As Americans, we have to have the courage to tell the truth and we have to have the courage to act on the truth, because Republican conservatives, Tea-party cultists and witches are seeping out of the ground all around us and are a real threat to our democracy.

America, do not stand by and allow the brutalization and a degradation of the children of this nation - a destructiveness of mind - by sitting idle. Don't allow conservative Republicans and the Koch brothers, FOX news, Tea Party cultists and "witches" to destroy education, alter textbooks to fit their agenda, shift our politics to a culture of lies and our culture to a nation of fear.

In power, they will tell women what they can and can't do, force religion into public schools and become the Ayatollahs of America. Stand up, spread the word, fight back against this scourge. Don't let them take out a new contract on America. Don't let them destroy the Middle Class.

[Terence Duke]

07:29 PM on 09/23/2010

the problem none of the tearight would let a fact get in the way. They will believe what they are told with out checking facts and if they do they check them via right wing sites. IF you tell them the facts they will hold onto their beliefs HARDER

[synchronicity2]

09:55 PM on 09/20/2010

I heard the DNC chair say this morning that the tea party 'is' the republican party.

Fight the Crazy!

Please 'like' and help us get the word out on this facebook page to defeat John Boehner and Hold the House!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Kick-John-Boehner-Out-Of-Congress-Hold-The-House/149196308454642”

Spread some enthusiasm! Pass it On. Thanks

[Appleton]

08:29 PM on 09/20/2010

I believe that Democrats can use the published positions of the current Republican candidates to establish that the party has been taken over by the most radically right-wing ideologues in modern political history and that they have redefined what it means to be considered an American citizen. Consider the following platform points:
1. The Constitution should be amended to eliminate direct election of U.S. senators and replaced with the former system of appointment by state legislatures.
2. Homosexuals are not entitled to equal rights and their biological status should be criminalized.
3. All federally funded health care, including Medicare, should be abolished and left to the states.
4. Unemployment compensation should be eliminated because it discourages people from seeking employment.
5. Social security should be privatized.
6. Abortion should be outlawed under all circumstances.
7. Freedom of religion should not be construed to apply to the Islamic religion and construction of Moslem places of worship should be prohibited.
8. Children born in the United States should not be entitled to automatic citizenship.
9. Minimum wage laws should be abolished and further restrictions placed upon union organizing.
10. The Department of Education should be abolished and states should be permitted to revise curricula to de-emphasize separation of church and state, the evils of slavery and the scientific understanding of evolution and global warming.

I could go on, but the point is that the new "contract on America" is a xenophobic, racist, jingoistic assault on freedom, tolerance and inclusion.

[Bushwhacked]

10:22 PM on 09/20/2010

Fanned and faved, but as others have pointed out, there is a growing base of Americans who want all that. That's the scary part. We can use your comments to motivate the rest of the country that has a brain but needs to use their legs and go vote!

[Terence Duke]

07:36 PM on 09/23/2010

How do you think Hitler did what he did? He had the country behind them.
its Arrogance and Ignorance that will rule this country... we can say."I do want my country back"....but we could legitimately mean it

[TTUconservative]

07:57 PM on 09/20/2010

I believe the only way to remake our Country in the mold intended by the Founders is to simplify and clarify. Something Republicans cannot do if their lives depend upon it. (It does, actually) With this in mind, I believe that the Country is far better off with the election of President Obama. The difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Socialism lives within the Democrat party and capitalism has a home in the Republican party. Now, through this prism, let's look at what is said. For instance, if one were to look at everything the Democrats say and do and compare it to the Communist Manifesto, there would be no degree of separation. Democrats are for the "little guy", Republicans are for the rich. No, Demos are for income redistribution from the rich to everyone else. The Manifesto? Check. They are for unions. The Manifesto? Check. Progressive tax system? Check. Government control of education? Check. Elimination of religion? Check. National healthcare? Check. I wish people would actually read the Manifesto. This exercise would be clarifying in itself but would also cut into each and every argument they make. Tax cuts for the rich has some currency unless it is thought about in terms of redistribution. It does not make sense in terms of coherent economic policy. Everything becomes clear. The term "socialism" would be our "racist, homophobe, etc.". Let them try to deny it. They would stutter like Petunia Pig.

[Bushwhacked]

10:32 PM on 09/20/2010

Corporatists are destroying Democracy in this country. Fair elections have gotten President Obama and the Democratic majority elected. Socialism is government enforced; our two party system and separation of powers prevent any one branch from having too much control. Never more than this year has our system shown how even a popular President with his party as Majority can not get his political agenda completely accomplished. Minority Republicans have blocked progress. The "redistribution of wealth" that we are witnessing is because of greed. And the greediest, richest among us are trying to install shills who will do their bidding so that they can have more power, lower wages and regulatory authority which lapsed under Bush allowing the economic collapse and the BP Oil spill. These wealthy folks, Murdoch and the Koch brothers, use their vast financial and industrial resources to stir fear and fanaticism. Democrats don't want Socialism; we're too busy trying to save our democracy from the far Right.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opinion/29rich.html?scp=4&sq=frank%20rich&st=cse
http://libbyshaw.blogspot.com/2010/09/meet-goptea-party-billionaire-puppet.html
http://www.clicker.com/tv/the-rachel-maddow-show/Astroturf-activism-of-the-wildly-wealthy-1063908/

[BMcCue7]

09:42 AM on 09/21/2010

Strange; I don't recall any Democratic candidate or politician calling for the elimination of religion.

You talk about clarity, and then offer bizarre distortions.

[boldgravy]

06:20 PM on 09/20/2010

Both major political parties in this country have become self-perpetuating mockeries of themselves. Extremism to any degree is inherently biased. When conservative and/or liberal citizens begin to feel justified in identifying themselves as extremist thinkers, the opportunity for impartial discussion, compromise, and social balance is forfeited.

What I find particularly worrying about the debacle of a political system we currently have on our hands is how easily the ideologies can be flip-flopped, and how pervasive double-standards seem to be. When religious fanaticism manifests itself in the Middle East it's called terrorism. When religious fanaticism manifests itself here in the U.S. it's called exercising our right to freedom. How can anyone feel justified in feeling indignant when people in Middle Eastern countries burn the American flag, when American citizens think it's a good idea to burn the Quran? How is one so different from the other?

[mybostonjack]

05:04 PM on 09/20/2010

The GOP is the Titanic and the tea baggers are the iceberg.

[Bushwhacked]

10:35 PM on 09/20/2010

And "Witchcraft" is their theme song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIZIBm2QGaM - but with the following lyrics:

Those fingers in her hair
That blank deer-headlight stare
That strips one's conscience bare
It's witchcraft

And you've got no defense for it
Here spell is too intense for it
What good would common sense for it do

'cause it's witchcraft, nutty witchcraft
And although, I know, she's strictly coo-koo

When you arouse the fear in me
My heart says yes indeed in me
Proceed with what your leading me to

It's an annoying pitch
But I can't channel-switch
'cause no one's more bat-sh*t than you

[morris111]

02:50 AM on 09/21/2010

Good analogy!! Kinda like the Dems are the farts and the and the GOP will be the wind - come November elections!!!

[PinkOne]

04:42 PM on 09/20/2010

find it completely fascinating President Obama, who was raised a christian by his single American mother in the united states of American, falls suspect because his father is Kenyan, but, Sarah Palin who was "anointed an Apostle", by a Keyan Witch Prayer Warrior on the Alter of the Wasilla Assembly of God, gets FREE PASS from the Lame Stream Media! What do you think of Sarah Palin's Keyan Prayer Warrior worldview, Newt? Talk about the "best Con" on the American People! http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/12841-to-sarah-palin-and-the-new-apostolic-reformation-.html”

[Bushwhacked]

10:38 PM on 09/20/2010

Great point! Fanned/faved. So, the lyrics to "Witchcraft" in my reply the the comment before you is even MORE apropos.

[Terence Duke]

07:38 PM on 09/23/2010

FAAAHHHHTHHAAA MAKE A WINNAAAA

[PinkOne]

07:49 PM on 09/23/2010

lol...lol...lol...lol....www.sarahpalincitizenarrest.com .....

[ThePeacemakers]

04:05 PM on 09/20/2010

If the administration does the ad campaign, they need to come HARD or don't come at all.

[Bushwhacked]

10:40 PM on 09/20/2010

Agreed. Here's an example of the type of rhetoric the Right uses that works. I'm not saying use this, but it's literally at the same level that we Democrats are facing from the other side:

For as the world looks at America these days, all to often they see a religious Taliban - the equivalence of a culture of carnival barkers not seen since the days when hypocrite Newt Gingrich was cheating on his second or third wife while feigning indignation at President Clinton.

As Americans, we have to have the courage to tell the truth and we have to have the courage to act on the truth, because Republican conservatives, Tea-party cultists and witches are seeping out of the ground all around us and are a real threat to our democracy.

America, do not stand by and allow the brutalization and a degradation of the children of this nation - a destructiveness of mind - by sitting idle. Don't allow conservative Republicans and the Koch brothers, FOX news, Tea Party cultists and "witches" to destroy education, alter textbooks to fit their agenda, shift our politics to a culture of lies and our culture to a nation of fear.

In power, they will tell women what they can and can't do, force religion into public schools and become the Ayatollahs of America. Stand up, spread the word, fight back against this scourge. Don't let them take out a new contract on America. Don't let them destroy the Middle Class.

[The hard truth]

03:51 PM on 09/20/2010

And the WH deines the lead story in today's Pravda. Can't you pathetic losers get your stories straight?

[efffox]

03:57 PM on 09/20/2010

Pravda? And you people call liberals "elitist"??????????????????/

[The hard truth]

03:58 PM on 09/20/2010

Yes, absolutely.

[The hard truth]

04:00 PM on 09/20/2010

denies

[Mattcat25]

03:17 PM on 09/20/2010

Republicans behaving badly.

[pecosdog]

03:11 PM on 09/20/2010

The teabag crowd would like us to believe that they are new. Their argument about the deficit would be believable if we had seen them out there with us as we marched to stop the the Iraq war. We would have had our signs about the needless deaths and they would have had theirs about the fiscal irresponsibility of the thing, it would have been weird and that wasn't the main reason to be against that war, but it would have been a reason and they would have been welcome at the marches. But no, they were bush republicans and they still are. They cut up some American flags to dress themselves up in funny clothes in hopes that we wouldn't recognize them, but the bush-loving stench is thick on them, it won't go away. Look at their candidates now, they don't harp on fiscal conservatism as much as social issues. That gives them away right there.

[veritas aequitas]

03:14 PM on 09/20/2010

You should continue to under-estimate what is happening. The pleasure of seeing your confusion in November will be sweeter.

[pecosdog]

03:20 PM on 09/20/2010

A bunch of insincere hypocritical republicans running around in funny clothes. I'm not underestimating their insincerity and have no doubt that they will win some seats and continue their attack on this country. Obama and the dems just gave the country a short reprieve from it's destruction that you repubs were administering.

[TC Mits]

03:43 PM on 09/20/2010

Fanned. Funny how the baggers get upset whenever they see a story about burning the flag but do not hesitate to desicrate it as well. Their dredibility (see Sarah, I can make up words as well) is at an all time high.

[The hard truth]

03:55 PM on 09/20/2010

Calm down baggee. I believe that if you want to burn the flag, that is your constitutionally protected right. That still doesn't change the fact that those that chose to do so are pathetic little losers looking for attention.

[Bushwhacked]

10:45 PM on 09/20/2010

Speaking of making up words:
Sung to the tune of Sinatra's "Witchcraft" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIZIBm2QGaM

Those fingers in her hair
That blank deer-headlight stare
That strips one's conscience bare
It's witchcraft

And you've got no defense for it
Here spell is too intense for it
What good would common sense for it do

'cause it's witchcraft, nutty witchcraft
And although, I know, she's strictly coo-koo

When you arouse the fear in me
My heart says yes indeed in me
Proceed with what your leading me to

It's an annoying pitch
But I can't channel-switch
'cause no one's more bat-sh*t than you

[veritas aequitas]

03:09 PM on 09/20/2010

Liberal logic:
Muslims are peace loving and are no threat to America, despite the evidence of flying planes into buildings and strapping bombs on children in attacks.

Tea Party members are ALL violent and racist because there was 7 signs at a rally 10 months ago that had Obama dressed as a witch doctor to protest the government takeover of healthcare.

[ldcbl]

03:34 PM on 09/20/2010

i guess you told them. i guess all muslems are our enemy and there were only 7 people at the tbagger rally that thought the president was hitler, mussolini and worse. i'm sold.

[leftyandproudofit]

03:36 PM on 09/20/2010

Irish people throw bombs too. Should we ban all Catholic churches in the USA?

Sorry, but look at ANY Tea Party rally, including the one in August, and the signs are ignorant, ill-informed, and there were way more than 7 of them. Continue living in your delusional world. Our victory will be that much sweeter in November.

[serialcoma]

03:50 PM on 09/20/2010

Don't bother trying to talk sense to veritas.. he is posting from the public affairs office at Koch HQ....   

[The hard truth]

03:57 PM on 09/20/2010

If it weren't for the ignorant and ill informed monolithic voting blocks, BHO wouldn't be president today.

[Marcospinelli]

02:52 PM on 09/20/2010

The biggest mistake was when Obama tried to get things done on a bipartisan basis.  That turned out to be a big waste of time.
=============================================

Obama hasn't seen the light; he's still doing it.  

Obama hasn't sworn off 'bipartisanship'.

For all of his tough rhetoric of the last couple of weeks (and I don't think it's tough at all -- it's show-talk), it's only directed at a specific faction of the Republican Party -- The teabaggers.  He hasn't taken on the actual Republican leadership, the Mitch McConnells, John Boehners, Eric Canters, John McCains, Lindsay Grahams, et al.  

What do you think Obama is going to do after the election in a few weeks if Republicans take control of one or both Houses of Congress? 
 
Do you think he'll veto the legislation they pass (through reconciliation and every other means they can manage)? Do you think Obama will take to the bully pulpit, urge Americans to bury Republicans in email, phone calls, snail mail, and urge Democrats to block Republicans every way possible? 

Or do you think that Obama's going to be making deal after deal with them, spinning what he can as somehow "Good for the People and Democrats", and/or, "I'm president of all the People, and the People in their infinite wisdom put Republicans in the majority, so I must honor their wishes and work with Republicans, and not try to obstruct their will"?