Joe the plumber implodes. What were they thinking?
The press snapback on the "Joe the plumber" ploy has been swift. Almost all the news outlets are going after McCain on this, but Politico probably has the harshest piece I've seen yet. (Really, read the first several paragraphs. It's scathing.)
But I think the underlying point is dead on. They found this amorphous thing floating around Drudge and right wing radio, decided to stake the campaign on it without doing any of the legwork, and now their candidate is a national joke.
And these guys want to run our foreign policy....
(PS. SNL tore McCain up tonight.)
But I think the underlying point is dead on. They found this amorphous thing floating around Drudge and right wing radio, decided to stake the campaign on it without doing any of the legwork, and now their candidate is a national joke.
And these guys want to run our foreign policy....
(PS. SNL tore McCain up tonight.)
posted by mikevotes at
9:37 PM
12 Comments:
From the linked Politico piece, it's clear that McCain's strategy is to just make things up, indeed to ignore all truths and incessantly repeat lies and smears in the hopes enough shit sticks.
He is a very small man who's base of support has now made up of the worst of the worst, most vile sub-class of conservatism.
By
-epm, at 10:08 PM
What's weird is, if you're trying to appeal to the middle, why drag up this guy being lionized by the right?
Is the world viewpoint of the campaign so skewed that they think "if only all of America could hear Limbaugh and Drudge we'd be winning?"
What sort of weird bubble are they operating?
Why do you spend so much time on the far right abortion position in the debate?
Are theyu really trying to run the 2004 campaign?
It just doesn't make any sense to me.
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mikevotes, at 10:13 PM
So you have a man who has lousy credit, no management skills, not even a plumber's licence - and the reason he can't buy a plumbing company is...taxes??
Uh-huh. And buying a plumbing company that is already doing business and employing people will...employ people?
None of it makes sense. I don't even think it is supposed to make sense. This is all "base appeal" material. Since the Democratic primaries ended, every single attempt by the McCain campaign to capture the centre/moderate/independent voters has failed miserably. The only things that have worked are the things that consolidated the base.
McCain's nomination itself was an attempt to win over the moderates and independents. If the GOP intended to go with a base election, they had better candidates to choose from.
Every day this looks more like the Bob Dole campaign than the day before.
Are they really trying to run the 2004 campaign?
I really believe so. That's why their loss will be so definitive. It will prove that Bush's second term was a big mistake, not some glorious vindication of their principles. The idea that McCain is not Bush's third term has been run up the proverbial flagpole, and only the base saluted.
Another clumsy stunt. And the media didn't lap it up, either. Chalk another one up to McCain's war on the media. It's pathetic.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 12:19 AM
McCain is Swiftboating himself.
Does Palin = Tom Eagleton, it seems like history is repeating.
By
matt, at 6:51 AM
Todd, I agree.
This is about base, like the abortion thing in the debate, the attacking on "tax and spend liberal."
But as we've discussed many times. GOP base loses this election.
So, the next question is, are they aiming for the "respectable loss?" Trying to get out the base to help Senate and Congressional candidates? (Or are they just completely insane?)
IT MAKES NO SENSE. Why are they campaigning in IOWA? It frustrates me because I just don't get the strategy.
.....
Matt, I may steal and quote that first line.
And, I don't know if Palin is Eagleton because her disqualifications aren't agreed on in the same way. However, she may cost as much.
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mikevotes, at 7:36 AM
If the road to the White House goes through Letterman.... then the road just ended for McCain. Letterman was polite, in his way, but relentless in not letting McCain off the hook with talking point responses.
David Gregory, et al, could learn a thing or two about journalism from this dufus comedian from Indiana.
By
-epm, at 8:17 AM
Remember, Letterman was the one who asked why McCain suspended his campaign rather than having his VP continue in his place.
By
mikevotes, at 8:33 AM
Mike wrote:
So, the next question is, are they aiming for the "respectable loss?"
I think they are trying to go out with an immense base rallying in order to hold the Party together when the inevitable loss occurs.
If the GOP has it's way, we are in for another barrage of hatred similar to what Clinton faced: an entire cottage industry devoted to slandering and fostering hatred of Obama.
To make that practical, however, the Republicans need to get the base into a frenzy. This isn't about winning anymore.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 8:50 AM
So, yeah. You see a different form of "respectable loss" scenario.
You see it as a post election strategy to undermine Obama.
Makes a lotta sense. I've been tossing around the theory that Obama's youth vote (if it shows up) could represent a huge Dem bloc for generations (like Roosevelt's Dems, or Reagan's Repubs.)
In order to stop that, the GOP will have to try and make them sorry or feel bad for voting for Obama, so they'll try to delegitimize his presidency far worse than Clinton's.
Because with the growing minority demographics in the decades ahead, the GOP can't afford to lose a generation of white kids.
Yeah, I'm thinking about that.
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mikevotes, at 8:56 AM
The GOP needs to get a different base. The one they have is ugly and hateful and is beginning to scare even normal conservatives. Whip up this base at your own political peril.
If Obama wins, and if he has a successful first term, I think we'll be talking about "Obama Republicans" in the future the way we talk about Reagan Democrats today. When normal conservative Americans realize, from their own experience, that Obama is not the Muslim, terrorist, sleeper-cell, anti-American, white hatin', black power radicle the GOP was telling them about, we may be looking at a generational shift in American political identity. This on top of the possible generational dynamics at play.
These "Obama Republicans" are not the Christianist radicles and xenophobes and anti-intellectuals that make up today's GOP base. So there's a one-two punch going on here (possible). One: these folks are turned off by Palin and here mob (and the dishonorable McCain ads). Two: They may find a President Obama to be someone they actually respect and agree with.
Just spit-ballin' here.
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-epm, at 9:11 AM
But, EPM, that base is loyal.
As for your second point, it all hinges on the perception of the presidency. Not the reality, but the perception, and at this point, I still see that as "to be determined."
I do think it will reduce some of the fear of a black president as people get used to it.
But I also think there will be some more mainstream "black man in the White House" humor once everyone's settled in a bit.
By
mikevotes, at 11:36 AM
Agreed.
By
-epm, at 11:59 AM
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