Senator Barack Obama
David Axelrod, Campaign Strategist
Re: The Master Key to Unlock John McCain’s Campaign or
John McCain, Not The Man He Used To Be
Dear Senator Obama and Mr. Axelrod;
Your focus on their lobbyists is going in the right direction, but I think it lacks a couple key elements to make it extremely effective. Why not focus on only one lobbyist per ad. In that way you can show the actual and specific damage that lobbyist caused. I think it makes a more detailed compelling narrative that people can get their teeth into. A shopping list of obscure lobbyists doesn't really stir the soul.
I believe you need to tell a story that weaves a good tale for your ads and speeches. This story should make a personal and direct connection between the lobbyists and John McCain.
Perhaps your approach is a little too hygienic. With the right story line, you will leave the viewer or listener saying "I didn’t know that lobbyist and McCain had such a long checkered history together, as well as leaving the viewer waiting for the next chapter. I believe your attack on lobbyists should reveal the specific damage they individually caused and how it is connected with McCain. It is the details that make make someone respond to a narrative.
If you included the lobbyists name and their role in anti-middle class adventures such as bankruptcy, foreclosure, economic strife, health care, equal pay, and loss of retirement funds along with a name and face of the lobbyist with an historical connection with McCain you start to tell the tale of deprivation caused by specific people leading to enormous harm to the middle class.
When you say a key lobbyist was a bosom buddy of John McCain for 25 years you really put some flesh on the bones of the story. That is a very important detail to which people will relate. You could start by saying the following:
"I am going to tell you who John McCain really is by the friends he keeps and how they have tried to empower the corporations and the ultra rich like John McCain himself and put down the middle class and why his claim that he is the one that will bring change is laughable and simply an off the shelf Karl Rove tactic. That Tactic being, take your weakest point and call it your strongest point, and try not to laugh out loud or choke when you say it.
"There are so many Bush lobbyists surrounding McCain its shocking for him to call himself a force for change. But, I want to focus on just one lobbyist for now so you can get a good idea of how dangerous McCain and his lobbyist buddies really are. In fact, this lobbyist I am thinking about has caused more dollar loss to the American middle class than any other person in the history of this country.
This dear friend of John McCain joined at the hip for 25 long years has run rough shod on the American middle class. This man has called you "whiners" and "mental" regarding the recession and the house you lost in foreclosure or the 30% of the equity you lost in your house that was going to be your retirement money. You probably already know his name and I will tell you who it is with some more details of how dangerous and deceptive John McCain really is.
I will reveal his name the same time we take wrap off this 10 foot poster showing the "WHEEL of DECEPTION. Do you want to guess what his name is? Say it on the count of the count of three. One, Two, Three. PHIL GRAMM. That’s right."
This is one of the stories you need to tell. A 25 year friendship with the man most responsible for deregulating the banks, causing the foreclosure catastrophe and causing the price of energy to skyrocket is at the heart of this story. Also, the "whiner" and "mental recession" comments are low hanging fruit.
Gramm is not just some hired gun lobbyist; he is and was an important part of McCain’s life, even though JOHN McCAIN has pretended to banish Phil Gramm after his "whiner" remarks. They were and are still bosom buddies for 25 years. PHILL GRAMM was recently at an event in the front row where appeared. He appears to be shadowing the campaign.
For a good outline of Gramm's history see Mother Jones July/August by David Corn. http://www.motherjones.com/...
VISUAL IMAGERY
Imagine PHILL GRAMM is at the hub of a wagon wheel with various issues like radiating spokes of that wheel. Each issue shows that John McCain is not really for change and is just creating a cynical cartoon or illusionary image just to deceive the public to get elected... Each issue or spoke of the wheel reinforces the very same points you are trying to make now.
You can say forcefully that JOHN McCAIN is a full blown hypocrite. The tag line at the end of each ad should be
"John McCain, not the man he used to be"
or
"John McCain, not half the man he used to be".
SPOKES OF THE WHEEL OF DISASTER or WHEEL OF DECEPTION
Issue: Spoke One in the Wheel of Deception - JOHN McCAIN is disconnected from the people. (Could be Wheel of Disaster instead)
The proof is that his so-called former chief financial advisor and maybe still be the future Secretary of Treasury (also a good question to ask JOHN McCAIN in a debate) calls the millions losing their homes "whiners" about the economy and there is only "mental recession" because the fundamentals are good. Show his video saying it.
There are also the tens of millions who have lost 20% or 30% of equity in their most valuable possession. In the mean time JOHN McCAIN can’t even remember how many houses he has. (This is a perfect opportunity to bring back the 7 seven houses he can’t remember. That issue stuck with the people before. The mocking aspect was perfect.)
Issue: Spoke Two in the Wheel of Deception - Phil Graham, John McCain’s 25 year friend, caused the mortgage crises and the lowering the value of your house.
Phil Graham, John McCain’s bosom buddy for 25 years pushed harder than anyone to deregulate banks and let them run wild to pillage hard working Americans. He is the one most responsible for your house value to drop like a rock (don’t say plummet, sounds too high handed).
Mother Jones July/August by David Corn. http://www.motherjones.com/...
And in 1999, Gramm pushed through a historic banking deregulation bill that decimated Depression-era firewalls between commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, and securities firms—setting off a wave of merger mania.
Issue: Spoke Three in the Wheel of Deception – Phil Graham sneaks in a provision to exempt energy trading from regulatory oversight causing energy prices to rise. This happened on December 15, 2000, just two days after the Supreme Court made its decision on BUSH v. GORE when no one was looking.
This became known as the Enron Loophole and is one reason why energy costs have skyrocketed. So, JOHN McCAIN’s best friend is most responsible for causing the energy to go up and house values to go down. (It has a nice ring to it.)
Mother Jones July/August by David Corn. http://www.motherjones.com/...
For starters, the legislation contained a provision—lobbied for by Enron, a generous contributor to Gramm—that exempted energy trading from regulatory oversight, allowing Enron to run rampant, wreck the California electricity market, and cost consumers billions before it collapsed. (For Gramm, Enron was a family affair. Eight years earlier, his wife, Wendy Gramm, as cftc chairwoman, had pushed through a rule excluding Enron's energy futures contracts from government oversight.
In 2003, PHIL GRAMM left the Senate to take a highly lucrative job with Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS.
Issue: Spoke Four in the Wheel Of Disaster – John McCain is joined at the hip to Phil Graham one of the most influential Lobbyists ever and causing the greatest monetary loss to the American middle class than any other man in the history of the country.
There is nothing redeeming about Phil Graham or John McCain’s connection to him.
"Now He’s been mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary should McCain win. That's right: A guy who helped screw up the global financial system could end up in charge of US economic policy. Talk about a market failure." .... "And in 1999, Gramm pushed through a historic banking deregulation bill that decimated Depression-era firewalls between commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, and securities firms—setting off a wave of merger mania."
Mother Jones July/August by David Corn
Issue: Spoke Five in the Wheel Of Disaster – In 2003, PHIL GRAMM left the Senate to take a highly lucrative job with Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS.
Mother Jones July/August by David Corn. http://www.motherjones.com/...
In 2003, he left the Senate to take a highly lucrative job at ubs, Switzerland's largest bank, which had been able to acquire investment house PaineWebber due to his banking deregulation bill. He would soon be lobbying Congress, the Fed, and the Treasury Department for ubs on banking and mortgage matters.
Gramm's record as a reckless deregulator has not affected his rating as a Republican economic expert. Sen. John McCain has relied on him for policy advice, especially, according to the campaign, on housing matters. The two have been buddies ever since they served together in the House in the 1980s; in 1996, McCain chaired Gramm's flop of a presidential campaign. (Gramm spent $21 million and earned only 10 delegates during the gop primaries.)
I suggest having a 10 foot by 10 foot poster of the image put up when you give speeches of the WHEEL OF DISASTER or WHEEL OF DECEPTION as a visual link to what you are saying. Showing the PHIL GRAMM "WHINERS" video while discussing the WHEEL would an additional reinforcement. It should have PHIL GRAMM and JOHN McCAIN at the center like an old wagon wheel with spokes out to each issue. That way the lazy media has a "syllabus" and the people can have an image on which to fixate. Also, you can use the metaphor of the Wheel of Disaster rolling over average Americans going backwards into the past crushing the middle class and their and hopes and dreams of the future.
You could also do a "WHEEL" for his campaign manager and / or other lobbyists in JOHN McCAIN’s campaign, as other chapters in the saga of exposing McCain for what he really is.
I have included a short biography of myself and I will help you anyway and anywhere you want. I have plenty of time so I would gladly join your group to offer my advice in person. Everyone tells me to come and join you because I have remarkable and creative insight into political ads and demeanor.
At the risk of being redundant, I feel this ending tag line has more than one strong meaning.
"John McCain, not the man he used to be"
or
"John McCain, half the man he used to be".
I feel very strongly that Phil Gramm is a huge chinck in McCain's armor and all you need to do is to pick at it and pick at it ad naseum. This real proof, and it will penetrate with enough repitition. Thank you very much for your consideration of this matter.
Kindest Regards
P.S.
Some Suggestions:
(By the way, don’t say JOHN McCAIN is not a bad guy and just doesn’t get it. How can that be possible with a 25 year friendship with PHIL GRAMM? Also, don’t tilt your head when you answer a question. It looks pensive and weak. You’re your head straight eye to eye with questioner or camera and just pop out the answer. It will make you look strong. Don’t start an answer with e.g. " Well... Wolf.." Use only simple declarative sentences.
(The use or sarcasm and mocking is very very powerful and essential because it harkens back to 7th grade cliques and "cut battles". Those who can mock are in the in-crowd the winners and the popular people and get to be voted homecoming king. Those who are mocked are the losers and nerds. The republicans use this to show list trait to assume superiority. Once it catches it spreads like wildfire. This is one of the most important things you can do. "John McCain is not fit to President because ...." Say it over and over again. It will catch on.)
(Along with this, you need to make a statement at the beginning of each public presentation that JOHN McCAIN is not worthy to be president, with his appeasing of the ultra right wing, flip flopping on his major issues, his lying to the American people, his elite lobbyist point of view, his dangerously bad temper and his disconnection from the average citizen. Yes say it "John McCain is an appeaser a sellout and not fit to be President". It might even get him to go into a rage at the debates.)
(Also pronounce Taliban like someone from Iowa, like "a" in aspect not the "ou" in ought. It sounds foreign the current way you say it.)
(Every time you mention JOHN McCAIN or allude to him do it in a mocking way as if his pretension to be is fit to be President is ridiculous. It’s a very important point. Bring up his angry rage as legendary that the news media fails to mention thought they know all about it.)