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Dear Media

Submitted by Jon Henke on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 02:45
in

Dear Media (and bloggers, too),

The "Homes" story is stupid.  It is contrived.  It is political hand-waving.  They don't really believe what they're telling you.  Remember, in 2004, the Right thought it was fine to attack John Kerry's numerous homes, and the Left feigned outrage that anybody would think that was a legitimate campaign issue.

Campaigns play you for rubes.  Stop playing along. 

Some of you already know this, even if you can't resist joining the Kabuki Dance.

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Just to clarify...

Submitted by JayPe on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 02:56.

Jon, can you clarify your point here?

Are you saying that the Obama attack on McCain's houses is as phony as Bush's attacks on Kerry's houses? Or are you somehow trying to say that the attacks on Kerry were fine but the attacks on McCain are not?

The Left feigned outrage in 2004, now the Right's feigning outrage in 2008. If we are to accept this undignified way of electing a President (rather than a focus on the issues) then I think both sides should accept that what's good for the goose is also good for the gander...

Apologies

Submitted by Jon Henke on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 03:13.

I'm saying that the attacks in 2004 and 2008, while perhaps amusing in a fairly juvenile way, were contrived.  The people making those arguments did not genuinely believe in them.  Unfortunately, there are no Categorical Imperatives in politics.  Everybody just makes the argument that benefits them at any given moment. 

You can't stop people from seeking advantage like that, but the press can and should be a whole lot more skeptical.  There should be a penalty for launching attacks that you do not believe.  There should be a penalty for trying to have it both ways.

Thanks for pointing out my lack of clarity there.  I've modified my wording in the post slightly to make my meaning a bit more clear.

your new standard is hypocritical and silly

Submitted by mnmod on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 16:43.

but I get what you are saying.  For me the fair story is Mccains's not knowing how many houses he owns supports the narrative that he is extremely out of touch with working people  (includes defining rich as starting at the $5 million dollar income level and  believing people are not interested in working manual labor for $50 per hour) Of  the three, I will cut him some slack for the defintion of rich gaffe, as  there is the large category of wealthy ( i.e. $200,000- $5 million)  that is being ignored. 

Mccain should have had a developed a message knowing  that his enormous wealth would eventually get attention. Appearing more  humble and grateful about his many blessings would help show empathy for us poor people. 

Anyhow his abundance of homes highlights the real story which is how can he be expected to solve problems he doesn't understand (such as housing crisis or inability to save for kids college or retirement on a  teacher's salary.)

McCain Vs Romney

Submitted by JayPe on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 02:59.

Whats interesting is that its taken this long for McCain's wealth to come out. Romney was hammered in the primary for being wealthy (Huckabee's quip particularly comes to mind), but McCain has avoided it til now.

Is that because McCain married into money & Romney earnt it himself? Interesting if that is the case. Or is it just that the Obama machine has waited until now to release it, and they actually had it in their pockets all the time?

Obama's gone tactical and off message

Submitted by Ironman on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 06:42.

The Obama message was that he was going to bring "hope and change"--that he was different than other politicians.

Bad poll numbers have goaded him into playing the kinda petty "gotcha" game that destroys the brand in the eyes of the consumer.  Now he sounds like any other politician heaving mud.

And the geniuses there are stepping all over the VP announcement and the convention lead up with this.

You wonder if the campaign insiders there ever really believed the hype they were selling.

The Homes attacks demonstrates massive Republican Weakness.

Submitted by superdestroyer on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 07:02.

If the Republicans had demonsrates any level of competence from 2001 to 2007, the Democratic Party would not feel so free to talk about wives, homes, and text messaging.  But since McCain has no ability to talk about fiscal responsbility, about national security, or aout good government, we are left talking about half-brothers and homes.

When Karl Rove told the Reublicans that issues,policy, and performance were irrelevant to politics and that all elections and all governance could be based upon gimmciks, the Republicans believe him and acted like his stupid proposals were true.  Now that the election is all about gimmicks, everyone is realizing that Senator McCain is a very weak candidate and is unfit to be president.

 

What does that say about

Submitted by Keith_Indy on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 09:01.

What does that say about Obama and the Democrats, since they started the line of questioning about John McCain not knowing how many homes his wife owned?

McCain responds to attacks, with a legitimate line of questioning, i.e. Obama's link with Rezko.

Not saying it's the best use of resources, but McCain does seem to be rising in the polls, and Obama sinking.

All Obama has is a bumper sticker, Hope and Change.  No accomplishments.  No core vision of the US that he can articulate without pissing off segments of the population.

"Nothing to see here, move along"

Submitted by carltonyates on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 09:04.

41's checkout scanner played to the "out of touch" narrative that is politically deadly. The houses issue plays to the same narrative. This is not going away. It resonates and is very easy to understand. Political gold. Hiding behind being a POW and his wife's skirt on this isn't going to make it go away.

Local swing state media markets pick-up the narrative:

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/seven_houses_hows_i...

there's desperation-induced biased narrative

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 23:10.

... and then there is the least experienced and most extreme leftist nominee ever in barack hussein Obama, a man wholly unqualified to be President of the United States who completely blew it on Georgia, blew it on a simple question of when life begins, cannot even explain why he got a cut-rate deal in buying a plot of land from Rezko's wife, and continues to have horrible judgement in his friends and appointments. Another day, another ignorant Obama comment (latest gaffe is his stupid claim that China has better infrastructure than we do).

If that's all ya got ... "Ooh, he owns almost as many houses as John F'ing Kerry, how awful" ... well, its showing how weak your Obama hand is.

 

 

 

That's Just Rubbish

Submitted by texicali on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 08:59.

When you nominate a candidate who has such a thin resume, who cannot answer simple questions from a non threatening source on live TV all that's left is gimmicks....his entire campaign has seen the bottom fall out from beneath him, their pompous confidence has blown up in their faces, his numbers are falling so they throw something against the wall to see if it sticks...it's just one more example of "there is no there there" with Obama....they've stepped on their own biggest story the VP choice....talk about unfit and weak...

you should attend one of John's townhall meetings so you can see how weak and unfit he is to be President(sarcasm implied)....if that were truly the case Obama wouldn't keep declining those invitations.....after Obama's horrid performance with Rick Warren it's easy to see why he keeps dodging those invitations...

 

 

 

 

hammer hits nail!

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 00:31.

it's just one more example of "there is no there there" with Obama....they've stepped on their own biggest story the VP choice....talk about unfit and weak...

..after Obama's horrid performance with Rick Warren it's easy to see why he keeps dodging those invitations...

Pound it in.

EVERY SINGE DAY, we get another reason why Obama is unfit to be President, is to extreme to be President, lacks the experience and judgment to be President. His campaign was foolish to think they could slide on style instead of substance, foolish to think a cotton candy speech in Berlin made him Presidential, when it made him look like a pompous 'look at me I'm acting Presidential' airhead.

Any time an issue of substance comes up, Obama gets it wrong.

McCain demonstrates his weakness on the issues daily

Submitted by superdestroyer on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 09:27.

texicali

McCain is too stupid to realize that open borders and unlimited immigration make smaller government impossible and prevent the success of any conservative party.  McCain is too stupid to realize that open borders and unlimited immigration means that he does not really care about the security of the U.S.  McCain is too stupid to realize the unlmited immigration make public school places were children cannot be educated (of course open borders probably do not affect the elite private schools that McCain's children attend).  MCain is too stupid to realize the budget deficits are bad things and that the only solution is cutting spending.

I have seen  the McCain townhall's where is only answer about immigration is to call anyone who does not support oen borders, unlimited immigration, and amnesty aracist. 

At least Senator Obama and his advisors are smart enough to realize that open borders helps the Democartic Party and will create a huge demand for new government programs.  At least the Democartic party is smart enough to align the policy proposals and their actions with their campaign promises instead of being like the Republicans who promose smaller government while deliverying bigger government.

 

The $5M = Rich Meme is the Same as the 100 Years War Meme

Submitted by lagomorph on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 18:28.

To begin with, both were taken out of context and lopped off into little chewy soundbites.  McCain is fine with having troops in Iraq for as long as we've had troops in Japan, Germany and Korea, which is going on a really long, long, long time at the mo.  He's also fine with plucking any number, even the random number $5M, out of thin air because he also stated that he doesn't want to define rich since he wants anyone and everyone in America to be able to become rich, so why punish them when they get there?  And like the 100 Years War Meme, the "McCain is Rich, Elite, Out of Touch with the Common Man" will be spun into political gold for as long as it takes until Obama actually does or says something (such as tomorrow and all next week) to change the narrative. 

If we want to talk Common Man, let's get back to what Rick Warren said about Obama's $200K = Rich in Cali.  Due to the high cost of living, the high cost of homes, the high cost of fire, flood, mudslide and earthquake insurance, the high cost of state taxes and the fact that our government is causing Corporate Flight from the state with all its GreenNazi environmental controls, $200K is to Cali what $50K is to Indiana.  It's ok, but it's not major wealth.  Who's out of touch now? 

The interesting thing that very few are focusing on at this time is how alarmingly disarmingly charming The One used to be, with that million dollar smile that could lure even Republicans disgusted with the gross dumb-assitude of our party (prior to Drill Here Drill Now and the Republican Reformation, of course) into his corner.  Quite a few came back to the Republican reservation after the Reverend Wright fiasco, and quite a few more after the Berlin zeitgeist fiasco.  I don't think he's quite gotten the hang of going negative in a cool way yet.  Compared to his virginally optimistic phase, he's evolved into a smarmy, sneering, haughty, self-satisfied, condescending skeeviness where the fake Southern accent, the chin slightly tilted back, the tongue planted into the cheek, and the loud, almost-screaming tone of voice are undoubtedly going to fire up his home team, but may very well send the undecideds to demand their money back so they can donate it to John McCain.  I'll bet you a free $1000 hidden fundraising website ticket to Invesco Stadium on it.  Unless he names Hillary Clinton as his VP tomorrow, of course - then all bets are off!

typical Chicago politician

Submitted by Keith_Indy on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 15:36.

In other words, a typical Chicago politician...

he's evolved into a smarmy, sneering, haughty, self-satisfied, condescending skeeviness where the fake Southern accent, the chin slightly tilted back, the tongue planted into the cheek, and the loud, almost-screaming tone of voice are undoubtedly going to fire up his home team

Actually, it fits most typical politicians.  Most of the career politicians I've met had the skeeviness of a back lot used car salesman, willing to tell you and promise you anything to get you to BUY IT NOW.

I think the Style vs Substance message could hold weight if it were done in a creative manner.

We stopped hearing about some of Obama's hits

Submitted by Ironman on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 18:26.

Like the 10,000 people who died in that Kansas tornado.

Besides, there are a lot of smallish investors who own 7 or so houses for rental income. And a lot flip them between family members for tax and estate planning purposes.   And they are worth less than San Fran Nan and the folks who raised $8M for Barack over 48 hours