Maybe we will see or hear something about this from Joe Biden tonight. I certainly hope so.
The McCain campaign has hired the Bush 2004 team, and they are at it again. Following the Rove game plan of challenging and slandering the Democratic opponent on the very issue(s) on which the GOP is most vulnerable. In 2000, Gore was charged with being a phony, while Bush posed as the guy next door, even as he claimed to be a "compassionate conservative" on his phony "ranch". Other than Tucker Carlson's interview and an early piece by Gail Sheehy, there were few media notices of what was going on. In 2004, Kerry was more or less charged with treason, and neither he nor Edwards ever mentioned the term "draft dodger" in connection with Bush or Cheney. And despite the evidence from Richard Clarke's book and Michael Moore's film, they failed even to try to challenge the Bush-Cheney failures to prevent the terrorist attacks of 9-11-2001.
Now, Obama is an "elitist" who cannot connect with blue collar Democrats or "Reagan Democrats". We hear that every day, even as we hear that McCain's strong suit is foreign policy.
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In 2000, Gore had a golden opportunity in the debates when asked if Governor Bush was qualified to be President. All he had to do was quote McCain--"he's not ready for prime time". And he could have mentioned that he had served in Vietnam, while Bush was AWOL. Or Lieberman could have mentioned that. We never heard about that or that the only reason Bush had become governor of Texas or anything other than an obnoxious drunk was his family ties. We never heard anything about how the governorship of Texas is a largely cermonial position, but that to the extent that it isn't, such as the veto power, Bush vetoed the Patients' Bill of Rights and opposed CHIPS.
Meanwhile, the media kept repeating the "compassionate conservative" business, and Bush got away with the "Uniter, not a Divider" claim.
In 2004, the hapless Kerry-Edwards campaign repeated the Gore mistakes. We never heard about how Bush and Cheney had opposed the 9-11 Commission and resisted it once it was established. Meanwhile, the "liberal media" continued to suggest that Bush-Cheney were perceived as being stronger on the "War on Terror". I practically kicked in my tv screen every time Kerry and Edwards used that term, as they never challenged the idea of a "war on terror".
Even now, the media are playing along on that score, recently observing that the Bush administration claims the right to detain "enemy combatants" until the "war on terror" is over. Would it really be too risky for the Democrats to educate the American people that some problems, like terrorism, cannot be solved, only managed? Israel is the perfect example.
So now it's Barack and Michelle, a self-made man and a self-made woman, are "elitist". We hear it every day, along with the business of how Barack cannot connect with blue collar Democrats, etc. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, based on primary results from a few states where lower class whites voted for Hillary over Obama. If Hillary had won the nomination, would the media be suggesting that she could not connect with black voters since the overwhelming majority of them voted for Obama?
McCain is the son and grandson of high-ranking military officers; he did poorly as a student. And Wes Clark was right about his military experience. Romney, the likely GOP VP nominee, is the son of a governor and CEO of a major corporation.
We hear every day that the public trusts McCain more on foreign policy. I've only heard Joe Klein wonder aloud why the press allows McCain blunder after blunder on serious matters of substance on foreign policy.
McCain's campaign is running ads showing Hillary's criticisms of Barack; why aren't we seeing Democratic ads or media coverage of McCain's foreign policy blunders or his 2000 criticisms of Bush on issues like abortion and tax cuts?
It's bad enough that the Obama campaign calls attention to McCain's alleged heroism and service every time they mention him. Why can't they go on to say that he does not know what the hell he is talking about and that if he had his way, we'd still be fighting in Vietnam?
I'm not suggesting that the Democrats start bashing the media, only that the GOP is again framing issues successfully and the media are playing along.