The Obama campaign wishes so badly it could run against a divisive national figure like Sarah Palin that it’s decided to just pretend it actually is. Here’s Obama’s latest ad, which attacks Palin for calling him a radical (via HotAir):
The strategy of attacking Palin – who is still influential with the conservative base but increasingly marginal in the Republican Party – could be chalked up to Obama’s nostalgia for the 2008 campaign. But it also seems remarkably similar to a communications strategy the White House orchestrated back in 2009, when it tried to elevate another polarizing figure, Rush Limbaugh, to the position of “de facto” Republican leader, thus forcing congressional Republicans to respond to his inflammatory comments. Politico reported on the White House’s internal plan at the time:
Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.
Soon it clicked: Democrats realized they could roll out a new GOP bogeyman for the post-Bush era by turning to an old one in Limbaugh, a polarizing figure since he rose to prominence in the 1990s. …
The seeds were planted in October after Democracy Corps, the Democratic polling company run by Carville and Greenberg, included Limbaugh’s name in a survey and found that many Americans just don’t like him.
“His positives for voters under 40 was 11 percent,” Carville recalled with a degree of amazement, alluding to a question about whether voters had a positive or negative view of the talk show host.
Then came what Begala called “the tripwire.”
“I hope he fails,” Limbaugh said of Obama on his show four days before the president was sworn in. It was a time when Obama’s approval ratings were soaring, but more than that, polls showed even people who didn’t vote for him badly wanted him to succeed, coming to office at a time of economic meltdown.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was the first to jump on the statement, sending the video to its membership to raise cash and stir a petition drive.
Come to think of it, this seems to bear a close resemblance to how the White House and Democrats manufactured the whole Susan Fluke/Rush Limbaugh controversy duringthe past few weeks. The strategy goes something like this:
1.) Obama personally responds to inflammatory comments from a loose-cannon conservative figure, in an attempt to raise this person’s standing to the level of a serious Republican leader.
2.) The media reports on the “controversy.”
3.) Right-wing bloggers and Fox News pundits defend the loose-cannon conservative.
4.) Democrats call on Republican candidates to repudiate the comments.
5.) The media asks Republican candidates whether they agree with the polarizing conservative’s comments, which sets up a lose-lose scenario. If the candidate criticizes the comments too forcefully, he risks alienating the Fox News demographic. If the GOP candidate criticizes the comments too gently, Democrats slam him for pandering.
Maybe the anti-Sarah Palin campaign video really is just a sign the Obama team is in completely desperate straits and simply has nothing else to run on or against. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Democrats start trying to emphasize Palin’s influence in the Republican Party, and call on Romney, Santorum, et al, to condemn her comments in the coming weeks.
The answer to all this is simple: If the American people are even half as stupid as the Democrats believe they are, their stategy has a decent chance of succeeding. Come to think of it, doesn't every Democrat idea or proposal depend on an ill-informed and inattentive electorate?
” doesn’t every Democrat idea or proposal depend on an ill-informed and inattentive electorate? ”
Well, it is being helped along by the media.
Well, I don’t think it’s fair to refer to Rush as a loose cannon, in the same way, say Glenn Beck was. I don’t even think his joke about Sandra Fluke was THAT out of line: I mean, her statement that her colleagues were going “broke” due to the cost of birth control was definitely worthy of mockery. He just missed the mark this time. Also: “polarizing” as a political term is meaningless. Who cares if someone is “polarizing” if they’re right, most of the time.
Face it: Palin could probably beat Obama in a FIST fight. In a war of words, his side always has to resort to sexual smears. That includes you, of course.
Obama is using the republicans worn out playbaby strategy against them. He is mocking them. You missed that did you?
You are the 'dregs'. n nPretty disgusting even for a Liberal. You would not do that when a man could get his hands on you. n nCoward. n
This ad meshes very nicely with the vet-Obama, or whoever he is, series coming from the Breitbart Web site. The series just validates what Gov. Palin is saying in this Obama, or whoever he is, fund raising ad. It would not be hard to believe that this ad campaign has been planned to coincide with the “Game Change” HBO obscenity and all the weasel liberal press reviews of same. Too bad for them that more and more people are paying attention. We are Breitbart.
We Democrats have nothing to gain by bashing Palin BEFORE the Republican convention. In fact, we would have an easier time defending the incumbent President against Palin (or Santorum) as his rival, rather than Romney or Gingrich. Of course the future is unknowable, and we remember how we rejoiced as Reagan got the nomination in 1980. The Republican strategy that worked then could work now, by invoking "anybody but the incumbent." In the general election, Palin could not win anyone's support outside of the tea party, just as she sunk McCain last time. Romney, however, has potential support from the swing voters. In short, we Democrats would welcome Palin's candidacy.
The only thing Governor Sarah Palin did was beat Democrats and “Frick & Frack” Republicans, become Mayor, become Governor and run as Vice President, raise her family, not abort her child, share earnings responsibility with her Husband, start a small business, and stick by her pregnant daughter. I can see how she would be a bad example for the woman's liberation movement, the establishment, Demoocrat & Republican, abortion for children without notifying parents and others who want us to buy oil from the Mddle East and hate Israel.
Maybe this attack on Sarah Palin has something to do with the rising influence of misogynist-in-chief Bill Maher. A million bucks buys a lot of Palin bashing…
Yeah, that's right. Democrats should "condemn her comments." Which tend to be the most spot on excoriation of Obama's catastrophic record available. I thought the plan was to invent any conceivable distraction to AVOID a look at his record.
Considering that Obama aimed to fundamentally and foundationally change America, I hoped he would fail, too. Did I also hope he would do the things necessary to allow the nation to emerge from the economic abyss? Yes, of course I did. Did I think chances were good that he would? No, not considering who he is, what he believes and on whom he depends for advice. n nThe Democrats often miscalculate and overreach. After the 2008 election, they figured Republicans would be wandering in the wilderness for at least the next 40 years and that they were positioned to make every liberal wet dream that ever was a reality. Instead, when America saw what they were about, a majority of us stepped up to put a stop to it. I don't know what they're trying to accomplish by going after Palin, but whatever it is, I doubt they'll succeed. And it smacks of desperation.
You are a really sick person. Please seek professional help before you harm yourself or others. Is your mother aware you think in these terms about women? Have you ever had any kind of successful interpersonal relationship lasting more than 10 minutes?
I watched the highly-touted HBO film "Game Change" and came away with two perceptions. One: It's amazing how slick direction and good actors can make you almost effortless swallow the liberal point-of-view (unless you carefully keep your guard up); and two: Whereas in the 1970s it was the journalists, like Woodward and Bernstein, who became the culture heroes in political life that made so many bright young things pour into journalism school, in 2012 it's the political operatives who are the wise, all-knowing heroes, and all smart kids should aspire to be one of them. Hell, the political handlers should be running the country, since they know so much! The actress who plays Nicolle Wallace does a masterly job of looking so pained, so condescending, so sagacious and sadly contemptuous of the poor fool, Sarah Palin, whom she must instruct in the basics of American political culture. Forget about Obama — NICOLE WALLACE FOR PRESIDENT IN 2012! n
Well, one thing's for sure, you’d definitely qualify for an NEA grant. To steal a line from Churchill, your art has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
The stupidest of all is a large crowd of fools who think they're smarter than Sarah Palin, among whom are a number of highly regarded conservative pundits.