McCain's message problem
An AP writer makes an interesting point,
I hadn't thought about it, but, yeah. His inability to give traditional speeches does leave his messaging up to his crowds' interpretations of the whims of the news cycle.
He can start on economics, but one question on veteran's benefits, or one bungled answer, and suddenly his day's top line is not where the campaign intended.
(Of course, there is the broader question of how "open" these events are. The questions are somewhat controlled by the campaign's audience screening.)
McCain's "townhall" format "make(s) it nearly impossible for McCain to focus attention on a daily message."
I hadn't thought about it, but, yeah. His inability to give traditional speeches does leave his messaging up to his crowds' interpretations of the whims of the news cycle.
He can start on economics, but one question on veteran's benefits, or one bungled answer, and suddenly his day's top line is not where the campaign intended.
(Of course, there is the broader question of how "open" these events are. The questions are somewhat controlled by the campaign's audience screening.)
posted by mikevotes at
6:42 AM
4 Comments:
These events are mostly staged. There was one two weeks ago near here, carried on the local public radio affiliate. The invitation list was exclusively Republicans, and out of hundreds of the "general public" waiting outside to get the two dozen available seats, the reporter noted that "some screening seemed to happen". The "general public" attendants were seated in the rear where it was unlikely they would be called upon to ask questions.
In videos I've seen of other "town hall events", the people with the microphones seem to know exactly where to go ahead of time and the questioners seem to know in which order they will be selected.
Nothing about this is particularly underhanded, but it seems like a pretty controlled situation that the campaign seems able to manipulate into whatever issues they want to cover.
The real issue, IMHO, is that the campaign is adrift and simply has no "daily message".
By
Todd Dugdale , at 2:10 PM
Agreed. Most of these are fairly controlled, but I don't think they're planting questions. (They might be pre-selecting the questioners, though, I haven't watched enough of them to know.)
I don't know if that the campaign doesn't have an intended message. The problem might be that after so many years of talk show darling, McCain just isn't really capable of driving one message as he's so used to just talking to Chris Matthews about what's hot that day.
By
mikevotes, at 3:45 PM
but I don't think they're planting questions
It would trivial to do so if they wished, though.
"The senator is especially looking forward to questions on X an Y, and we hope you can accommodate him on that."
The point is that this a lame excuse. If they want to frame a certain issue, the faithful would certainly oblige them and probably giggle with glee over the opportunity. The campaign has an "intended message", but there's no consistent focus and the surrogates are un-coordinated with the "intended message".
The real "intended message" is that he's the anti-Obama, and he's been dancing around that by trying to appear to be a nice, friendly guy. The country has seen enough of him in the past to know what he is and isn't, however.
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Todd Dugdale , at 4:34 PM
I don't know. I get your point, but the off the cuff seems to end up making McCain rephrase over and over and those rephrasings often become news because they're either one side or the other of what he's been saying.
And if the day is on economics, and McCain ansers one of the wquestions saying he wants to stay in Iraq for 50 years.....
By
mikevotes, at 5:08 PM
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