Who Is Smearing Whom?
- 05.09.2008 - 8:30 AMThe McCain team released this in response to Barack Obama’s charge that he was “smeared” when John McCain noted that Hamas had endorsed Obama. The McCain team is not just calling foul, but picking up a bat and swinging back:
First, let us be clear about the nature of Senator Obama’s attack today: He used the words ‘losing his bearings’ intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain’s age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning.
We have all become familiar with Senator Obama’s new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is . . . .
The response, which is quite long and continues in this vein, is likely to please those conservatives who had begun to wonder whether the McCain team was prepared and willing really to go after Obama. However, there are two problems with the response, which became more evident in coverage today. First, it was much too long and not quotable in full by media reporters in most accounts. That deprived the McCain of a opportunity to get wide coverage of a punchy, easily understood retort.
The McCain team also chose first to focus on the “bearings” comment. This made the interchange about age, not about Hamas and Obama. And that shaped the coverage. Some would say that the McCain campaign is too concerned about slights to their own candidate and too prone to miss easy shots at their opponent.
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May 9th, 2008 at 8:40 AM
McCain and his people need to stay on message (and they’d better have a message!!) and on offense. They need to find creative ways to get their talking points straight to the American voter.
In recent years, we’ve seen and heard political ads, watched so-called debates, read or tossed political junk mail, and so on. I, for one, have become very inclined to ignore all this stuff from anybody because it’s so childish, vague, and false. Let’s see something new with real meat.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:28 AM
Good points, Jennifer: the counterpunch from McCain was necessary but well wide of the mark, and way too long. How hard would it have been to issue a brief comment along the lines of:
“Barack Obama may think he can rewrite the news, but it’s a well-publicized fact that Hamas endorsed him. Why don’t you ask Sen. Obama why he thinks the terrorists of Hamas, who seek the elimination of Israel, like him so much?”
May 9th, 2008 at 9:49 AM
McCain basically could have said:
The terrorists support Obama because they perceive that he would be weak against them.
By saying I was losing my bearings, Obama engaged in a form of prejudice, ageism. The American people and I would prefer that he respond to the issues, not my age.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:52 AM
Has the tin-eared and clueless Scott McClellan reemerged from obscurity to reprise his robotic role as chief sock puppet? Among its many other incompetencies, the Bush administration never mastered the knack of the clever reposte to criticism. That closed and smug circle found its self admiration proof against what anybody else was saying. That same sclerotic quality already shows in the McCain campaign.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:28 PM
Actually the Obama campaign never mentioned McCain’s age which only goes to show that the McCain people are sensitive, and rightly so, to the fact that John McCain is a really old man aspiring to a very tough job. Look at how much it has aged George W. Bush and he’s been phoning it in for seven years now while letting Dick Cheney do the heavy lifting.
May 10th, 2008 at 6:15 AM
thogg,
McCain is burly while Obama is girly. How do you explain that away?
May 11th, 2008 at 12:08 AM
Genius! Let’s remind everyone of how old McCain is in our “counter-attacks.” Who’s running his campaign? Mark Penn? Folks, make an honest woman out of Cindy McCain and stick to the issues, please.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:01 AM
nepat,
since when is insulting a candidate’s wife an issue? Idiot.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:53 PM
Steve -
Huh? No insult, my friend. Just referencing Cindy McCain’s recent comments in a Today Show interview where she insisted that her husband would not to any negative campaigning.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:09 AM
nepat,
you’d deny the nose on your face.
Obama doesn’t want to stick to the issues. That’s why he sticks to vapid sloganeering and negative campaigning.