okay, okay, but i just couldn't resist this picture. the title is "republican" and you gotta love it....javaSpot the Republican
by smintheus
Mon Aug 04, 2008 at 09:05:23 AM PDT
John McCain's attack ads were a topic of the Sunday blab fests. They were a study in contrasts between McCain's surrogates and honest folk. Here are two such, first from Meet The Press:
MR. BROKAW: Senator Lieberman, let me just share with you and with our audience as well what Senator McCain had to say earlier about the tone of the campaign.
(Videotape, April 14, 2008):
SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): This will be a respectful campaign. Americans want a respectful campaign.
They're tired of the attacks. They're tired of the impugning people's character and integrity. They want a respectful campaign, and, and I, and I am of the firm belief that they'll get it and that they can get it if the American people demand it and reject a lot of this negative stuff that goes on.
(End videotape)
MR. BROKAW: And just this past week you said to the Palm Beach Post, "There's a problem in Washington. That problem is partisanship, grown people going to Washington acting like children having a mud fight." Do you think running a campaign ad in which you feature Britney Spears and Paris Hilton with Barack Obama is respectful?
SEN. LIEBERMAN: I do.
Lieberman also conceded that of course McCain's strategy is to make Obama seem scary:
I want to say just a word about the, the racial question here. And I, I speak personally. In the first place, the McCain campaign is, to use Barack Obama's words, raising the question 'Is he a risky guy?'.
Lieberman then went on to explain that in this instance it's a good kind of scare-mongering. By contrast, here is David Gergen on This Week rebutting Jake Tapper, who had asserted that "McCain hasn't done" any racial attacks. Emphasis is by Gergen:
Gergen: I think that Donna's got a point here. Everybody knows he's black, but there has been a very intentional effort to paint him as somebody outside the mainstream - other. He's not one of us.
Stephanopoulos: Mostly below the radar screen.
Gergen: It's below the radar screen. I think the McCain campaign has been scrupulous about not directly saying it. But it's the subtext of this campaign. Everybody knows it. And when they send...there are certain kinds of signals. As a native of the south, I can tell you when you see the Charlton Heston ad, the "One", that's code for "He's uppity. He oughta stay in his place." You know, we...everybody gets that who's from, you know, a southern background, we all understand that. When McCain comes out and starts talking about affirmative action, "I'm against quotas," we get what that's about. We understand where that's coming from.
George Will: He was asked!
Gergen: I understand that, but I'm just telling you that gets across. And so it's not unfair for him to sort of bring up the fact, "Hey everybody knows I'm black. Let me talk about it."
Since everybody's still talking about McCain's attack ads, one more time just for the sake of emphasis: It was John McCain's own attack ad from June that put Obama's face on the 100 dollar bill. And yet, somehow, while refusing to mention this basic fact the traditional media has helped to convince half of the country that Obama was being racist simply by referring in passing to McCain's obnoxious ad.
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(Photo: Todd Selby) |
This week, Madison Square Garden will be filled with out-of-town Republicans—many of whom will look the part. But last week, the people walking by were mostly New Yorkers, with some New Jerseyites racing to catch a train. Who votes which way?
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