This elections is about change v. more of the same.
Simply place all GOP messaging into this simple equal equation and you have an answer to all the crap they throw at voters:
The negative B.S. McCain & Co. used this past week = more of the same, i.e., the 2004 election and the swift boaters.
What are the GOP's campaign tactics designed to do? Distract the American people from the fact that the GOP has failed: failed policies and failed leadership. They can't govern and the proof is in the past eight years. The B.S. they are campaigning on is a distraction from their record, because their record is one of failure.
Period. End of story.
The only concern I have is one of volume. Will the GOP simply yell louder and drown out Obama? Obama's message in responding to the GOP crap is good, but it could be "louder".
It's that time again when the GOP rolls out the latest edition of the Twilight Zone, and what a sweet irony this Twilight Zone will be for the Republican Party.
You all remember our hero from the last episode — John Kerry, in reality a decorated war hero and committed public servant, but one step into the GOP Twilight Zone and presto he becomes the weak-kneed, yellow-bellied, snowboarding fagg@^ with the french-quaffed pompadour who flips and flops like a fish out of water. That one was just hilarious.
Now, at first you may think, who is Bob Barr and why. Bob Barr is running for President on the Libertarian Party Ticket. Some have you may have had already maxed it in your donations to the Obama Campaign and should donate to Bob Barr here.
A genius part of the Bush Campaign in 2000 and 2004 is that they encouraged Republican fundraisers to donate money to the Nader Campaign because Nader was likely to snatch crucial votes from Al Gore and John Kerry. Note Nader's vote total in 2000 in New Hampshire and Florida would have changed the results in both states.
There were months of intense campaigning... 'Fahrenheit 9/11' came out. Then there were was the Vote for Change Tour. Grassroot soldiers for the democracy spread out and gave one last effort to clinch last minute undecideds. Long before Barack Obama, John Kerry was the candidate for Change.
We watched anxiously followed the returns on the night of November 2, 2004. The signs didn't look good all day, but we watched, on the chance that things might break for us. We stayed up until early morning until there was no more hope left: George W. Bush was reelected. Somehow it was a stunning blow, even if you expected it.
There was the conundrum over potential extra votes in Ohio, but that didn’t go anywhere. It was decided. We had to deal with Bush for president for four more years. 2009 sounded forever away. We still couldn’t process that he got reelected.
As I browsed through the list posted today on TPM about staffing additions to team Obama, I grew curious about the last name listed; African American Vote Director: Rick Wade
While other Kossaks are pondering the deep inner meaning of the Solis-Doyle hire, I wanted to take a good look at the person who will more than likely be coordinating GOTV efforts in African-American communities.
Has anyone wondered whether McCain may be trying to get back at the Republicans for all of those years they rejected McCain? Maybe this is his year to really stick it to the Republicans and allow the Dems to sweep in November. Why else would John McCain be doing such a poor job in campaigning for President? Why else would he continue to stick his foot in his mouth and embarrass his party? If you do not believe me, there is evidence. I now provide you with my clear and convincing case on how McCain is secretly trying to throw the Presidential election to help Obama and the Dems win big in the Fall.
Reading through John McCain’s Health Care proposals it is obvious that not only does he not have a plan but he purposely ignores the real issues facing millions of Americans. So let’s go though McCain’s proposals and see exactly what they are;
A "Call to Action"
John McCain believes we can and must provide access to health care for every American. He has proposed a comprehensive vision for achieving that. For too long, our nation's leaders have talked about reforming health care. Now is the time to act.
Ok Sidney, thanks! Let’s act (like you give a rat’s ass about health care).
In Part 1 of this diary, published yesterday, the following candidates were eliminated: Joe Biden, Bill Bradley, Sherrod Brown, Wes Clark, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Tim Kaine, Janet Napolitano, Kathleen Sebelius, Mark Warner and Jim Webb.
It would appear that none of these candidates have much support on Daily Kos to actually become president. My argument is that since we aren't that enthusiastic about these candidates becoming president, we should not be advocating for them as vice-presidents.
The remaining candidates are John Edwards, Russ Feingold, Al Gore and Bill Richardson.
Lou Cannon had a very interesting op/ed in the Washington Post yesterday about the dynamics of the GOP primary race in 1976, where Ronald Reagan challenged President Ford, possibly leading to Ford's defeat, and laying the groundwork for his own nomination/election 4 years later, and the parallels that race has to the 2008 Democratic nomination primary race.
It's an inexact comparison for a number of reasons, but there are two major points on which this year's Obama/Clinton race eerily recall those circumstances. Since I haven't seen this article diaried (I'm not a fan of the DKos search feature), I thought I'd toss it out there for your perusal.
Barack Obama is going to clean John McCain's clock:
This one is a little bit light on the John McCain content because..well, because Barack's speech was so damn good yesterday. But you get a little taste of the difference...Barack's like a fresh hot pizza from the best pizza place in New York...and John McCain is the cardboard box it was delivered in.
Since this is a short diary, I'm also including a couple more videos, including one of Lanny Davis conceding that Barack Obama has won a majority of delegates and that it's over.
The Back and Forth has been going on for quite some time now. We yell at each other, call each other names, question each other's intelligence and sanity... On the surface this looks like fervent supporters of opposing candidates sniping at each other. Which it is. I think, however, that the rabbit hole goes a touch deeper than just that. I'm not providing a laundry list of offensive comments, but I do want to explore what these two sides appear to represent, based on the arguments I've seen.
Feminism v/s Civil Rights
Working Class v/s Middle Class
Democratic Candidate v/s Democratic Candidate
McCain's biggest strength heading into the general election is the narrative that exists of him. That narrative is that he's a straight talker and he has foreign policy expertise. There's a commonly held belief that he's the guy you want in charge of the military and in charge of keeping the country safe. If you don't follow politics closely (or if you follow it on Fox) and national security is the most important issue to you, John McCain is the guy you're going to pull the level for in the voting booth in November. The irony is this narrative is laughably false.
I would like to think that I could uncover some brilliant piece of information about John McCain by myself, but even if I did, I would have only one small set of information.
What I thought about doing here was making a call for good, solid information about what John McCain actually has done in office. He sets himself as a paragon of political virtue, but if you look deeper, the illusion frays. However, he has engineered, through a generation's worth of news coverage, a more admirable image than he deserves.
McCain's best friend right now is the media memory hole. The popular ignorance of his actions is what keeps his image nice and sparkly. Part of what keeps us ignorant is that we don't see the big picture. We get bits and pieces. We need more, and more together.
This is my first diary here, so please just let me know in a comment if I commit an egregious faux pas. (For instance, I don't know what the "appropriate" tags to use are.)
Obama. Hillary. Reverand Wright. Bosniagate. Back and forth, we in the Democratic party have continued fighting amongst ourselves while McCain and the rest of the GOP watches appreciatively from the sidelines. Don't kid yourself -- whatever attacks we use, the McCain campaign takes note, and we'll be sure to see them resurface as soon as we have a definite nominee.
Hillary and her supporters continue to level a barrage of attacks against Obama and his supporters, criticizing everything from his experience to his moral judgment. Obama supporters waste no time returning fire on Hillary and her supporters, telling her to withdraw, criticizing her claims of experience, and mocking her various public relations disasters. (Obama himself has responded as well, albeit generally with less vitriol than his supporters, I will admit.)
I am about as strong and as enthusiastic an Obama supporter as there is. Not only do I hope he wins the Democratic nomination I am doing everything in my power now to help get him elected.
But if Hillary wins the democratic nomination I will vote for her.
