A Line of Attack the Obama Campaign Must Answer Forcefully

Tonight during the evening news the Republican National Committee ran an attack ad (multiple times) that featured menacing black-and-white images of Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Patrick Leahy and other leading Democrats with the captions: "Ready to Tax" and "Ready to Spend." I was hoping the DNC or the Obama Campaign would answer this propaganda with an ad of its own, but I have yet to see one. Right-wing talk radio and Glen Beck (the "King of the Cretins") have been hammering the idea that if Barack Obama were to be elected president the Democrats would control the government and it would lead to higher taxes. Steve Moore, formerly of the Club for Growth, whose vision for America Charles Dickens described long ago, was mercilessly flogging this idea on the Glen Beck show just yesterday. Moore said that if Obama were elected the stock market would tank and there'd be capital flight.

This argument, unfortunately, might have legs because many "independent," "centrist," and "low information" voters believe: 1). Government can't do anything to help you with your health care, housing, or energy bills and anyone who thinks it can is naive; and 2). The only thing Government can do is raise your taxes. These false notions have been beaten into the brains of voters for the last 28 years. The McCain-Palin campaign is lying and misrepresenting Obama's economic plan, but their target audience pays little attention to things like truth, reason, or rationality; they vote their feelings or their "guts." By running with this Big Lie the McCain-Palin camp is hitting below the belt. But what would you expect from Karl Rove acolytes?

I was astounded to learn that more television viewers watched John McCain's acceptance speech than Barack Obama's. I hope this doesn't mean that Sarah Palin is going to succeed in energizing the right-wing Christian evangelicals and other flat-Earthers to get out and vote in 2008. She might be able to do for the election of 2008 what gay marriage did for the election of 2004.

The Sarah Palin phenomenon tends to neutralize the inroads (if any) Obama might have made with white evangelicals. The religious Right has already denounced Obama's Saddleback colloquy with Rick Warren as being not "pro-life" enough. The only thing these people seem to need to know is that Palin knowingly chose to give birth to a "special needs" baby. They will ignore the fact that as Governor of Alaska, Palin cut the budget for assistance to families with "special needs" children from about $8 million to $3 million. The DNC or a sympathetic 527 should immediately begin running television and radio ads pointing out Palin's hypocrisy on this issue. Palin needs to be hit hard and hit now. Hesitating to slam her with some well-produced attack ads would be like John Kerry failing to respond to the Swift Boaters.

Sarah Palin is this election's Grand Swift Boater -- the sooner the Obama camp recognizes this the better.

Joe Biden cannot allow the corporate media to kowtow him into going soft on Palin just because she has a pair of overactive ovaries. She is a liar and a fraud and a religious extremist, and the sooner the bark is stripped off her the better. Hillary Clinton, if she is forceful and diligent on the campaign trail, can be very effective in countering the Palin pander. Hillary might have to be just as bitterly sarcastic and caustic as Palin to counter her. I don't think she should hold back.

But I cannot help but think about how Phyllis Schlafly (an ally of Palin's) and women like her -- to almost everyone's surprise -- killed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the late 1970s. It would be foolish to underestimate the political power of anti-feminist women in this country. They're angry, vocal, motivated, armed with a Carrie Nation fanaticism, and they have a hell of a lot of money.

Comments

[KillBillV2]

I agree with everything you said!

[Bobrobert]

Time is short for Palibush.

The clock is ticking - American minds want to know!!!!

[rgblue]

Unfortunately, the extremists have been energized. Get out the vote is even more critical now than it was.

And a few words about the number of people who watched both McCain's and Palin's speeches:

First, a lot of Dems and Independents watched just out of curiosity and/or to know what they're up against these last few weeks.

Second, almost 14 million people watched the Giants/Redskins game which cut IMMEDIATELY to the convention after it was over. That brought in many more than would've otherwise watched.

Third, there were hundreds if not thousands of house and hall parties around the country to watch Obama's speech as a shared experience. With a count of, what, 2.5 per household, that means a whole lotta people who watched Obama were not counted. It would be interesting to find out what an adjusted number would be if these parties were all counted.

Don't get too nervous about the numbers here.

[democratICnpround]

Joseph,
Your reaction about whether Palin was actually the reason for such a good viewership of McSame's speech was mine as well. But then I relaxed a bit and thought - 'Hey, I'm certainly NOT voting for these two twits but I am curious to see if he would improve on his usual teleprompter skills'.
I do believe there was a huge number of viewers like me so we need to not confuse "viewers" with "supports/voters".
ALSO, I am waiting for SOMEONE/ANYONE in the media (MSNBC) to point out that on both of their stops Friday MsSame and Popgun Palin simply gave their convention speeches, almost verbatim to the point she included her make-believe story about him giving the other POW the thumbs up.
I am anxious for Hilary to put Palin in her place; back shooting moose and bullying people in AK !!

[wendyleigh]

Yesterday I was thinking Palin was dubya in a blue dress, but I think ur are right that she's Cheney.

A copy and paste collage of fun facts to forward to fend off pittbulls with lipstick and creepy old hating men... (insults my pittbull)

Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 570 bills in the 109th and 110th Congress.
Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 15 bills that have become LAW since he joined the Senate in 2005.
Senator Obama has also introduced amendments to 50 bills, of which 16 were adopted by the Senate.
His record is in fact quite impressive for a junior Senator from Illinois.
Most of his legislative effort has been in the areas of:
� Energy Efficiency and Climate Change (25 bills)
� Health care (21 bills) and public health (20 bills)
� Consumer protection/labor (14 bills)
� The needs of Veterans and the Armed Forces (13 bills)
� Congressional Ethics and Accountability (12 bills)
� Foreign Policy (10 bills)
� Voting and Elections (9 bills)
� Education (7 bills)
� Hurricane Katrina Relief (6)
� The Environment (5 bills)
� Homeland Security (4 bills)
� Discrimination (4 bills)
AND... 95% of America listen up!
If you make less than 250,000 your taxes will stay the same and NOT increase
If you make less than 150,000 your taxes will be further reduced in the form of additional tax breaks.
I'm just getting started but how's that for change we can believe in!

[aofh]

I think that it is very important that you consider the audience that you want to address. As someone below notes, a lot of the viewers of McCain's speech probably listened to Obama's speech as well. They were wanting to hear both sides, and that's as it should be in a democracy. (The infatuation with the rating numbers is beginning to sound more like standard media horse-race mentality.) It may sound like a good idea to mirror the Repug strategy but don't forget that millions of people have been turned off by that kind of campaigning over the years and have stayed at home. Also, as noted below, the people who do listen to those kinds of attack probably have already made up their minds and aren't going to vote for Obama or any other Democrat anyway. (At least not one worth of being called a Democrat.) If Obama and the Democrats need to do something different, it is certainly not to mimic the Repugs. That bridge goes nowhere.

[boing007]

Obama has a new plan, from pre-school thru college, with help in covering the high cost of tuition in exchange for community service. This also promotes his 'I am my brothers keeper & sisters keeper philosophy, breaking from the me-ism only way of thinking.

So let's expose McCain/Palin as anthithetical to true Christ-like values.

[jms2008]

First of all, "I am my brother's / sister's keeper" is not the philosophy upon which this country is based. If you want that system of government, move to Canada. Second of all, Obama's stated plan for tuition assistance in exchange for community service, does not espouse the "I am my brother's / sister's keeper" idea. It espouses the idea of working for something. If you expect to receive benefits from the government you must work for it. That's not a hand out and it's not charity. It's working for what you receive from your government. We are not our brother's / sister's keepers. We are communities of people who pay taxes, and we expect our government to use that money wisely not make our citizens believe that they are victims who should line up with their hands out. The citizens of this country are strong and smart. Your comment suggests that the American people can't take care of themselves. That may be true for a very small few who need and deserve assistance, and I have no problem with our government offering help, but for you to suggest that we all need to be watched over, controlled and "kept" by the government is astonishing and scary.

[Wilsonv]

Kind of like the McSame/Bush years?

[HulkSmash]

I loved this article -and I hope the DNC will hammer the fact that the Republicans lie on even inconsequential thing like the E-Bay plane sale. They're pathological.If they can't tell the truth when it doesn't matter how can they ever be trusted. I agree with these posts explaining the ratings - I watched McCain's speech (though I nodded off a time or two) because I wanted to see what spin and lies he would spew. I doubt many pro-repub.'s
watched Sen. Obama.

[Bobrobert]

Just a quick thought - I got quite a reaction from a group outside my chuch last week when I heard one of them insist Obama was not a christian.

I took a rather direct approach and told the individual that a methodist does not spread lies and gossip on church grounds.

Someone that had been listening spoke up and said, " That's right. Everyone knows Obama is a christian."

:-)

Just keep spreading the truth folks - one voter at a time.

:-)

[Bobrobert]

Calm down everyone.

Obama / Biden are constantly saying taxes will be reduced for everyone making less than 250,000 a year.

Obama has been constantly saying the same thing for many many many monthes.

Don't assume the low information voters are stupid.

Don't forget that we have Obama supporters everywhere reinforcing the truth.

They can run their ads and continue lying - I KNOW they are wasting their money.

Obama / Biden 08 is a no brainer.

The other folks are so scared they are wasting all their money on smear and fear - we knew it was coming.

Obama has a plan - and he will follow it to the White House.

[meg415]

The issue is not "attacking a woman" but attacking her record or her statements, most of which will be choreographed by the Bush campaign team, which includes Karl "King of the Dirty Tricks" Rove. However, Palermo's contention about Palin cutting the budget for 'special needs' children is apparently inaccurate. Katherine Hall Jamieson explained on Bill Moyers' Journal that Palin did increase the budget for 'special needs' children, but that it was moved to another line item in the budget, so reporters made a mistake when they started running that as a misrepresentation by Palin and that reporters need to be more thorough in their examination of her record. If Wasilla resident Anne Kilkenny's email report can be substantiated, then there are plenty of inaccuracies in how Bush-Rove are painting Palin's competency. Heck, just because someone has "executive experience" doesn't mean it was competent OR beneficial to the community. Wasilla-5,000 to 6,000 people when she was mayor--had no debt when Palin began in 1996, but was $18-$22 million in debt when she left in 2002; government grew during her term; property taxes were cut, but sales tax increased by 25%, including on food! Kilkenny also attests that an administrator had to be hired to run things when Palin was mayor, due to problems with Palin firing people which nearly precipitated a recall. So, if she was mayor, but needed an administrator to take over duties of managing the town--what great experience does that give her?

[duze]

first lets get this straight. Obama did not vet Hillary because it would have been futile. As usual
people want to blame it on sexism, color, gender and plain old male chavanism. But least we forget what the process really is. Vette, mean investigation. Hillary would have had to answer to numerous unanswered questions about money, her senate race, Whitewater, bills library contirbutions and the lie. Not to mention her handling of the shadow of Monica as well as the rest of the gals. Bills, associations with Afganistan, and the money he got coming from that direction. Hillary, will forever have Mark Penn and his reputation and ties to unsavory individuals on her back along with the fact that she is on trial in a L.A. superior court case for fraud, misconduct and mispresentation. This trial will expose the 2 million she illegally received from Peter Paul as a campaign contribution and refuses to pay it back.

Second. Hillary and Bills reverend, william procanick was convicted of child molestation. How's that as opposed to Rev Wright? Obama knew enough not to bring this kind of dirt to his door, because the Republications certainly would have.

[frustratedhonestyfreak]

If people were willing to listen to economic and foreign affairs experts, if people could understand what was being said, if people could convert the knowledge gained to the candidates policies, then this would not be a problem. So long as we have pundits spouting party talking points with no concern for the truth, so long as we have pundits who are such good friends of McCain that they are unable to report fairly, so long as we have single-issue voters without regard to the big picture of American politics, then this will be a problem. I heard on CNN this morning that neither convention covered economic issues....Huh? That tells me that CNN didn't listen. And, unfortunately, there are many voters who will vote without good knowledge about the issues. All we can hope for is that there are more thinkers, listeners, and big picture Americans than there are gullible people who think the republicans own patriotism, and that all democrats will do is raise taxes. Someone once told me to show him a person who was not willing to spend one tax dollar to help someone else and he would show me a republican. Neither party has ownership of bravery, decency, compassion, patriotism, frugality, or intelligence. But the republican party does own the last eight years. That's enough for me.

[Actionmac]

To answer these ads with force all the DNC and Obama camp have to do is say the word LIE... every time the palin/mccain lie call them a liar, not misrepresent, disingenuous or confused the facts just plain ol LIE.

[Curly87]

I couldn't agree more. Dems need to call them out on their lies.

[tantip]

I'm glad that many people watched McCain's speech because they saw he didn't say anything about what he was going to do about the economy, health care etc...

The Economy maybe just find for some people such as McCain and his wife who under Bush's tax plan save over $300,000 in taxes but for the rest of us it's getting real hard to make ends meet.

I find it Hillarious that now McCain is calling himself the change agent when he has voted with Bush 90% of the time and let us not forget that McCain said himself that he doesn't know much about the Economy and from his speech he shows that he doesn't.