McCain's Closing Argument (No Joke): Obama Hates Special Needs Children

So this is how John McCain is going to go out. You can just picture the staff concocting this bizarre argument:

STEVE SCHMIDT: OK, so we say Obama hates old ladies.

MARK SALTER: Yeah, I like it!

STAFFER 1: Damnit. Guys, just got this on my Blackberry. Obama is going off the trail to visit his sick grandmother.

STEVE SCHMIDT: F*CK!!! That guy is GOOD! What now?

MARK SALTER: Obama hates puppies.

STEVE SCHMIDT: No, too trite.

MARK SALTER: Obama hates... umm.... special needs children?

STEVE SCHMIDT: YES! You know why that works? Because Sarah Palin HAS a special needs child! We can have her give a speech, and then get Obama! Oh this is delicious! Run with it!

And thus, no joke, the McCain argument of the day, per the Wall St. Journal:

Looking for fresh ways to press the tax issue, John McCain plans to roll out a new attack against Barack Obama on Friday, claiming the Democrat's plan would increase the burden on families with special needs children.

Except, as with most of the other ridiculous attacks from the McCain campaign, this one has no merit:

Andy Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, a nonpartisan nonprofit, says he has not heard any complaints from constituents about how the Obama tax plan would affect them.

"It's my understanding that he'd raise taxes on anyone making more than $250,000. That doesn't seem to single out parents of disabled children," he says.

It's tough to even get angry at the McCain campaign for such low-ball tactics and arguments anymore. Frankly, reading the Journal story, I laughed.

The McCain campaign, in complete disarray, has become a national joke. Today's spin - which amounts to "Barack Obama hates special needs children" - only furthers that notion.

Because, besides the fact that the argument is silly on its face, on a day when futures trading had to be halted, and the market (once again) is on the brink, the McCain campaign thinks the appropriate response is this.

Comments

[access2narnia]

Please, Eric, what is BIZARRE is not that they will say this, it is that so many desperate and hurting families will actually believe it!!! Trust me on this, we are ACTIVE in the disability community and you can't imagine how many parents and extended family members really believe that INSULTING claim that Sarah is an "expert" who will finally fix everything for everybody on an individual basis ---this from a campaign that refused to even participate in the National Disability Debate July 4th ---instead sending a last minute e-mail that they HAD NO DISABILITY POLICY at all to even discuss (and haven't had one until now either).

Unfortunately the proposals they are putting forth are in our opinions, MORE TROJAN MOOSES ----not only to usher in full voucher systems to fund private and religious schools for ALL not just special needs, to usher in "education" by unqualified, non-Special Ed knowledgeable, experienced or certified educators, and to POTENTIALLY DRASTICALLY INCREASE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN in private, residential "educational" facilities through the option of "parental choice" using federal funds.

CHILDREN ---especiallly Children with Disabilities ----have INDEPENDENT RIGHTS to Free and Appropriate PUBLIC Education ----Please help us stop McCain Pa;in from GUTTING 504, IDEA and ADA so they can redirect the funds to their private, religious benefactors.

Our letter from a DISABILITY RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE follows ---Please pass it on to Policy-makers as well as the Public ---don't let them destroy Educational Rights as well!

[BJD44]

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!

[milo h minderbinder]

"claiming the Democrat's plan would increase the burden on families with special needs children"

HOW exactly is McCain saying that would happen? What part of Obama's tax plan is he pointing to?

And McCain wonders why people think he is a joke of a candidate.

[jobecky20]

Let's not laugh too much...this is just the kind of CRAP Republicans get away with all the time. Their strategy lies in giving people a reason.--no matter how unfounded--not to vote for the Democrat. This tactic worked beautifully against Kerry in the last election (Swiftboat ads and flip flopper). Don't underestimate the Republican's ability to appeal to the mass of ignorance in this country. This ignorance has been manifested in our current economic crisis.

[4real]

Sick. And for Sarah to go along with politicizing her special needs child is offensive. It will definately backfire.

Obama and Biden need to stay away from this issue. It's all a set up for the Mccane camp to start some fake outrage on any response they might have for this issue.

[rmajh5]

When it comes to the political world, garbage and smear tactics remain a regular playbook activity.

This morning, I received an email from an acquaintance that insisted Obama is like Hitler and would destroy America if elected.

A threat to America? This man who was raised by white grandparents, one of whom fought in World War Two just like one of my uncles, and one of whom worked in a factory in America to help our America win the war. This same Obama who graduated from Law School at Harvard, and instead of taking a high priced law firm job, went into the neighborhoods of Chicago and worked to make a better world for the underprivileged.

Is Obama the perfect person for the job of president? I doubt it. I probably don't know anyone who is. But then again, neither FDR nor President Kennedy fit the perfect mold, nor was our first president, George Washington, who did do some amazing things even as he was a slave owner.

I’ll be voting for Senator Obama not because of John McCain’s age, but because of Senator Obama's positions on Iraq, on the economy and on a host of other issues. I am hoping that we all make our choice, for Obama or for McCain, based upon issues and not on rumors and smear tactics.

[fedupwithrepublicans]

You are right on! Good comment.