The Trash Talk Express
- From: trudogg <independent@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:39:42 -0400
Once upon a time, John McCain merited his reputation as a maverick
politician, a "truth teller." Reporters fought to get on his campaign
bus, "the straight talk express," because they expected to hear the
Arizona Senator spew uncensored opinions on a variety of subjects.
Alas, those days are over. Three months from the presidential
election, McCain has decided his only hope of besting Barack Obama is
to wage a negative campaign. Get on board the trash talk express.
Polls consistently indicate voters are focused on five issues: the
economy, energy prices, Iraq, healthcare, and terrorism. The same
surveys show Senator McCain - mired in dogmatic conservatism and
fatally associated with President Bush - has a big problem: with the
possible exception of terrorism, Americans judge the Arizona Senator
as less able to deal with these problems; they see Obama as a better
fit for these troubled times.
McCain is desperate. Less than one hundred days before the
presidential election, he has decided his only chance to win is to go
negative, to attack his opponent at every opportunity. These assaults
have occurred in McCain speeches, campaign advertisements and
"independent expenditure" ads. Broadly speaking, these commercials
have had three themes: Obama is a flip-flopper, negative, and
determined to "lose" the war in Iraq.
The flip-flopper ad began running on July 23rd, sponsored by "Let
Freedom Ring." It's similar to a McCain web ad, words, that focuses on
Obama's apparent reversal on public financing for his campaign. The
"Let Freedom Ring" ad also accuses Obama of reversing his position on
Iraq and handguns.
These ads misstate Obama's position on public financing, handguns, and
Iraq. And they blithely ignore a larger truth: it's Senator McCain who
has made the largest number of policy reversals. It's McCain who
deserves opprobrium for changing his position to further his political
fortunes; as two of many examples, McCain once argued against Bush's
tax cuts for the rich, now he supports them; McCain once supported
affirmative action, now he's against it.
In speeches and commercials, McCain accuses Obama of offering no
positive solutions to America's problems. A McCain web ad labels the
Illinois Senator Doctor No stating he is against of-shore drilling, a
gas-tax holiday, and unconditional support for new nuclear power
plants. The ad goes further and falsely states that Obama is against
"innovation" and "the electric car." McCain's campaign lies by
suggesting that Obama has offered no solutions to America's energy
problems. (The RNC has run a similar ad.)
This tack both misstates Obama's position and overstates the reality
of McCain's. Obama has a detailed position on energy that emphasizes a
omnibus national initiative to reduce America's dependence on fossil
fuels. McCain has no strategic perspective, but instead offers voters
a handful of gimmicks: a gas tax holiday that probably wouldn't reduce
gas prices; the promise of new nuclear plants that would take decades
to deploy and produce electricity at the same cost as that produced
from wind farms, which are far easier to build; and drilling
off-shore, a strategy that would take more than a decade to produce
uncertain results. (After McCain reversed his position on offshore
drilling, his campaign received more than $1 million in contributions
from oil executives.)
On July 25th, McCain broadened his "Dr. No" theme, slamming Obama for
his alleged audacity of hopelessness. McCain argued the Illinois
Senator has no positive ideas about energy and the economy, and lacks
a strategy to "win" the war in Iraq. On July 22nd, McCain told a New
Hampshire crowd, "It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in
order to win a political campaign." This scurrilous charge was
followed by another negative TV ad where McCain accused Obama of
voting against funding for the troops and of neglecting to visit
wounded soldiers in order to go to the gym, comments repudiated by
Washington Post.
As we consider John McCain's recent advertisements and public
statements, what's clear is that with less than 100 days before the
presidential election, the Republican nominee has decided he holds a
losing hand. Carrying President Bush as a millstone around his neck,
and with policy positions that are out-of-step with the attitudes of
ordinary Americans, McCain has grown desperate and made yet another
flip-flop: he's abandoned his pledge to wage a positive campaign.
Now boarding, on track 2008, John McCain's trash talk express.
Bob Burnett
--
http://gssites.com/bbg/index.html
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