And oh, ‘ow they danced, the li’l children of Stone ‘enge…:
Having rejected the possibility of a woman VP candidate because of the animus between Obama and Hillary, they are reduced to screeching that the Republicans are playing identity politics by their choice of a woman for VP, because she’s not the right kind of authentic woman. Having dismissed Palin as Mayor of “Wasilly,†the Obama campaign now complains that she’s not giving Obama his props for the important work of community organizing. Having trotted out Obama’s daughters, they find it difficult somehow to insist that because Palin’s not made her family invisible, they ought to be treated as (note the hunting metaphor) fair game.
According to a recent Zogby poll, the McCain campaign has seen a 15 point swing (I know, Zogby. Take it with a grain of salt) — much of it, I suspect, having to do with The One being exposed to those who aren’t de facto worshippers or Oprahfied new agers; and much of it having to do with realization on the part of many voters that for all the Democratic ticket’s talk about change, the real move for change and reform is likely to come from the GOP ticket.
As Ed Morrissey writes:
Obama is in a free-fall. McCain got to the heart of the question about Obama, and especially after the crisis in Georgia, he has voters wondering whether Obama is up to the task of running the presidency as his first executive job in politics. Even a strong VP pick may not help reverse that perception  and could make it worse by overshadowing the nominee. Democrats may not have been in a weaker position at convention time since 1984.
Is this overstating the case? Perhaps — and I caution those who believe the tide has turned on Obamalot to temper their triumphalism: Obama, as insubstantial as he is as an issues-driven candidate, is every bit as substantial when it comes to self-promotion, campaigning, and eloquence.
I think the Obama campaign, inasmuch as they were unable to control the now quite well publicized viciousness and pettiness of the party base (largely a product of their having been caught off guard by the Palin selection), has stumbled badly, and clearly it is the GOP who is energized and carrying momentum into the debate season.
Still, with the media as its ally, the Democrats will be able to chip away at Palin and attempt to tie McCain to Bush (a losing strategy, I believe, but then, I’m not being paid the big bucks) — all of which could, at any moment, cause the pendulum to reverse course.
For the GOP’s part, were I advising them (and I’m not), I’d send a team of forensic investigators in to pore over the CAC documents so that I’m prepared to counter any October surprise launched by Democrats with one that speaks directly to Obama’s only real (and largely unacknowledged) executive experience.
Likewise, I’d have prepared the true nature of Obama’s more dubious connections — well sourced and ready to be released.
So far, the McCain campaign has terribly outmaneuvered the Obama campaign. Obama himself is taking shots at Governor Palin, the vice presidential candidate, which — in addition to highlighting their similarities in terms of experience, and illustrating the upside down nature of the Democratic ticket — has allowed Senator McCain to appear above the fray, reaching out across the aisle to anyone willing to “fix” Washington (I suppose fiscal Democrats do exist), and showing himself to be someone willing to take on serious challenges, not merely perceived slights to a resume bullet point.
The next step is to make sure Governor Palin is ready for her debate with Joe Biden. And while yes, the progressive base and their media lapdogs have unwittingly put Palin in a position to succeed by so badly misjudging her appeal, she still has to perform well, extemporaneously, on the national stage.
Personally, I think she will. But even McCain’s masterstroke (petty complaints about bridge flip flops or budget questions are unlikely to stick to Palin) won’t be enough if the GOP doesn’t continue to press forward on offense — which, I believe, means laying claim to the “real change” platform, while never letting the American people forget that, on foreign policy issues, Obama is no where near ready to approach McCain’s level of experience or understanding.
I dunno, Jeff. It’s always been pretty obvious where Obama came from and who his puppeteers are. The Dems knew they didn’t have anybody but Hillary who had even a distant shot at winning and nobody was really too keen on “America’s ex-wife”, so they fell back on one of the most thoroughly corrupt (Democrat, but that’s redundant) political machines in the US to supply them with a “clean, well-spoken” sock-puppet to dazzle the plebs with. Oh, and make him black, so we can pull the black vote at like 98% (racist? who, me?).
Maybe I’m a cynic. And maybe I’m right.
If McCain was really being strategic, he would start attacking Obama on the education issue. Obama would respond with his fluff, and McCain could go: “Oh, really, from what base of experience did you draw those conclusions on education”. At that point, the Annenberg and Ayers stuff could start coming out of the woodwork…
Of course do that, McCain would have had to have done something like called education a 21st century civil right, and zinged the teachers unions in his nomination speech…
Oh Noes!
OODA Loops! They are not just a breakfast cereal.
Stirner, he’s going to get McCain on the education issue in the debates, upfront and personal, rather than let it be proxied by the press. And that’s the way he should do it, too.
Eleanor Clift was on NPR today, calling the idea that the Republican ticket could be dedicated to change “ludicrous.” Palin seems to have effected quite a bit of change in Alaska, though.
Obama declared her kids off limits. You are just making shit up, fool.
I’m thinking McCain’s speech laid the ground for re-positioning the Rev Wright stuff as well as Obama’s general divisiveness.
If announcing Palin was a broadside, then the RNC speech was bringing the ship around for another fusilade.
He shouldn’t tip his hand on the CAC stuff and give them time to fashion their response. He should keep it in reserve as the big stick.
Where the heck did THAT come from, Lisa?
Lisa –
He did, and it was a classy move.
Not enough listened, though. Maybe he could organise that community?
Dan,
You are probably right that the debates would be the best way to initiate the attack. However, the press is going to be necessary to validate the credibility of the Ayers connections. Creating the hubbub about the education issue seems to be necessary to make it not make it seem like McCain “swiftboating” but instead a salacious revelation, or something.
Shorter term, McCain also talked about job retraining in his speech. Given that that was one of the things Obama failed to make happen as a community activist, that might be a shorter term angle of attack.
how is Palin going to get ready for the debates?
bone grafts?
we are’nt going to elect a president that is only 5 feet tall.
Appearance is all.
The idea is that you let Obama react to the information, and there’s a good chance he shoots himself in the dick. THEN you let the press sort it out.
Having rejected the possibility of a woman VP candidate because of the animus between Obama and Hillary, they are reduced to screeching that the Republicans are playing identity politics by their choice of a woman for VP, because she’s not the right kind of authentic woman. Having dismissed Palin as Mayor of “Wasilly,†the Obama campaign now complains that she’s not giving Obama his props for the important work of community organizing. Having trotted out Obama’s daughters, they find it difficult somehow to insist that because Palin’s not made her family invisible, they ought to be treated as (note the hunting metaphor) fair game.
That is a lie. The Obama campaign has not pronounced Governor Palin’s children fair game. Senator Obama has said that her children are off limits.
She’s not as diminutive as Biden’s intellect, qf.
Obama declared her kids off limits.
Too bad that mob with the torches and pitchforks isn’t paying attention.
Let me know when Obama severs all ties with the DailyKos.
Who are “they” and “them,” Lisa? Did I say it was the campaign?
Shall Dan Collins simply forgo the use of pronouns?
“That is a lie. The Obama campaign has not pronounced Governor Palin’s children fair game. Senator Obama has said that her children are off limits.”
Tell the koskids and beagle blogger.
Having been Irishy immigrants, mostly, though, I can concede that my antecedents were somewhat vague.
You know, every time I think nishi has reached rock bottom, she plumbs depths of stupidity I never dreamed existed. National Geographic should do a documentary on that shit.
Putting aside that Palin is not running for President, the idea that her height would be a harder prejudice to overcome than her gender is a level of utter and absolute insanity that needs to be appreciated, I think.
You implied it, Dan. Don’t try to slither away from it now, suckah. You reference the Obama campaign then in the very next statement you say “they” who is “they” if not the Obama campaign? The Japanese Parliament? The cast of 90210?
Dan,
We are on the same page about the mechanics of letting the education issue play out, but i disagree that Ayers is the big stick. To me, Wright is the big stick, but Obama is behind the impenetrable shield of declarative Racism!
If/when the Ayers stuff comes out, then there is a solid pretext to start chasing down Rev. Wright, as yet another example of the radicalism of Obama. The public only knows the tip of the iceberg about that church, but by the end of the election every grandparent in America will probably know what “Black Liberation Theology” is.
Well, to be fair, Lisa, do you really think that the Obama campaign and Obama are always going to be saying the same things?
Nishi: “Appearance is all.”
Just ask the Eloi…
Lisa, I don’t mean the Obama campaign unless I specify the Obama campaign. I mean, as I meant at the beginning, the left. Take it or leave it.
Nah. It’s fun, if you have a low taste for taunting the mentally deficient.
nishi:
McCain is old.
Palin is short, and religious.
Wheeeeeeeeheheheheeee! ur stoopid!
There you go, nish, just cut&paste, and save the typing.
Regards,
Ric
Odd. I thought he was referring to…you know…those people.
You should correct that though Dan, on the real tip (“on the real tip” is ebonic for “seriously” for those of you who are white).
:-|
I’m white and I didn’t know that, Lisa.
The Sugar Hill Gang failed me miserably. Also, Pam Grier movies.
heh. Samantha Power could not be reached for comment…
There. Clarified, I hope, Lisa. Let me know if you find anything else untrue or liable to misinterpretation.
Lisa, I don’t mean the Obama campaign unless I specify the Obama campaign. I mean, as I meant at the beginning, the left. Take it or leave it.
Alright. The full post does make clear the “they” is the left.
Apologies. (sorry, bitchass)
I learned everything I know from watching Jim Kelly on Enter the Dragon. That dude was cool, man.
No biggie.
Ah, shit that was me.
>>To me, Wright is the big stick, but Obama is behind the impenetrable shield of declarative Racism!
Only if he’s portrayed as actively part of that. They’re already starting the seeds of doubt about O’s judgement [community organiser! bwahahaha] and it’ll be easy-peasy soon to ask a do-you-still-beat-your-wife question re: Wright, b/c either he believes it or he was duped the whole time.
Yeah, but Barack’s tall. You can’t beat that shit.
I mean, all the college-educated people who understand evolution and quantum theory? They vote based on height. Because they know.
To be fair, a lot of Dem politicians have been in line-ups.
…the McCain campaign has seen a 15 point swing…
I think the best metaphor for the campaign at this point is this Capoeira fight video titled “How not to show off.”
To be fair to nishi as much as she despises religion she has been fairly consistent on attacking O!’s church of racism/leftistpolitics and his membership in it for over 20 years. Oh wait……
The Sugar Hill Gang failed me miserably. Also, Pam Grier movies.
Ha!! You should at LEAST get yourself caught up to Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five or Africa Boombata, man.
And I love anything with Pam Grier as well. This is not Pam Grier or Tamara Dobson, but it is a must-have for those who appreciate the genre.
Will you ever look at Lieutenant Uhura the same again?!
how is Palin going to elect a president that is what the LAW is for. no man is equal under the law. this is just 5 feet tall. dwarfish. thus the bun, the heels.
also mccains spray tan is just the right’s farenheit 911. go ahead, let your teenage daughter be a platform heels contest! hahaha,
srsly pablow, the height thing is that the readership here is prolly the upper 10% in IQ and g of the republican electorate that is what the LAW is for. no man is equal under the law. this is the core social mores developed before any religions.
theocons only represent 1/5 of the individual as sovereign.
how i absolutely loathe them…..they are wrong. Those are completely blind not half the FLDS polygamy wives. pithed by lynching. and abortion and abortion and dont try to be very sovereign as such, a positive good candidate on what about supression of Goldberg’s book Liberal Fascism. it is funtional, an raise a lock for VP. The portion of others.
Those are now the blogverse. Far less all together! afer all, science just the republicans have a positive good for VP. The portion of the college educated elites, who believe in nanotech or cudlips either. dont try to impose your choice. but dont seem…..commanding i guess. look on science, dude, that scientists are your xian mores and you can’t fight biology.
Oh, I love Truck Turner, Lisa. One of my favorites of the genre.
This is not Pam Grier or Tamara Dobson, but it is a must-have for those who appreciate the genre.
OMG!
That’s almost as wrong as this. “You old heathen!”
Oh, I always had a thing for Uhuru.
John McCain has drawn a distinct difference between himself and his opponent and Obama has added to it with his actions now. Imagine, no you don’t have to imagine, it is real, Obama is using a phalanx of women to ride point for him to combat our Sarah’cuda. Is there anything more pathetic than a man hiding behind a woman’s skirts.
I’ve said this in other places, it is beyond my comprehension how any man can vote for Obama without leaving his manhood at the door. I cannot understand how any woman can vote for a man who could be charged to protect her as Commander-in-Chief who needs to hid behind her skirts. Double pathetic.
See for more details and links where I’ve made the same point.
http://pal2pal.com/BLOGEE/index.php?/site/gal_power_i_understand_do_you/
I denounce this:
““And I know that the temptation is to say, ‘You know what? …The guy hasn’t been there that long in Washington.,’ You know, ‘he’s got funny name,’ You know, ‘we’re not sure about him,’†Obama continued. “And that’s what the Republicans, when they say, ‘This isn’t about issues, it’s about personalities,’ what they’re really saying is, ‘We’re going to try to scare people about Barack. So we’re going to say that you know, maybe he’s got Muslim connections or we’re going to say that, you know, he hangs out with radicals or he’s not patriotic.’
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/05/guess-which-card-obama-pulled-out-of-the-deck-today/
“…we’re going to say that, you know, he hangs out with radicals…”
That’s a new twist preparing for the Kurtz article on the CAC and Ayers coming soon.
“or we’re going to say that, you know, he hangs out with radicals or he’s not patriotic.”
Which one of those is untrue?
This guy Obama is having to give himself so many innoculations against his actual past he’s gonna have track marks on his hippocampus soon.
I would say attending a racist church where the preacher screams “God damn America”, at which point the congregation jumps around clapping and laughing, for 20 years pretty much makes one not a patriot. IMHO.
Obama is stuck with McCain in his OODA Loop. Even if he breaks out for a time…McCain is loaded up with goodies. McCain said he would name names..well if you are good friends with a Dem that has sat in the Dem Senate Caucus…there might be a little nugget or two for McCain to let out whenever Bambi looks like he might break out of the Loop. If Palin can hold her own, Bambi won’t be able to break out of the Loop. It’s gonna be all guns on Sarah over the next few weeks…let’s pray she can withstand the onslaught.
Hmm, looks like we need to do some more digging into those Muslim connections. Thanks Barack!
Hahaha its the only card he has.
Nicely done, #42, but if you want to sell it you’re gonna have to lay off the shift key and eschew proper punctuation.
Well, since I generally consider Mr. Obama to be ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag who couldn’t tell the truth if he wanted to, Lisa m’dear, the idea that his campaign might say one thing to the public and another to the True Believers leaves me sorta like “uh, yeah. And?”
how is Palin going to get ready for the debates?
Like this Nishi
Obama is using a phalanx of women to ride point for him to combat our Sarah’cuda. Is there anything more pathetic than a man hiding behind a woman’s skirts.
He best be finding somebody with some balls to take on McCain for him.
One day when you’re running for county railroad commissioner, they’re going to hold up a picture of me and ask “do you know this man! Oh yes you do! Have you read what he wrote? Oh yes you have! A How-to Guide For Serial Killers! An article claiming All Russian Men Are Gay, published in Russia! He even implied that the great god-fearing former coach of the Nebraska Corhuskers, Tom Osborne, was a life-long faggot in a newspaper sports column!”
And how will you explain your radical associations then?
Railroad commissioner I thought was a state-level sort of gig. Not to nit-pick. That’s a Texas thing I think mostly anyway. Railroad commissioners are sort of like the KGB of Texas. Very shifty types what fuck a lot of things up but never get blamed.
Ric would know.
“Obama is using a phalanx of women to ride point for him to combat our Sarah’cuda. Is there anything more pathetic than a man hiding behind a woman’s skirts.”
I guess Jesse’s operation was a success.
Still, with the media as its ally, the Democrats will be able to chip away at Palin and attempt to tie McCain to Bush.
Is that the same media that has acted so disgracefully – and has been seen, I’d have to think, by many voters to have so acted – in its desperation to offset the electrification of the party by Palin?
With friends like that, who needs enemas?
What we have witnessed in the Obama campaign and their media cheerleaders over the last few days is akin to Joe Torre bragging that his Dodgers are every bit as good as, and probably even better than, the Sky Sox. When you feel you have to measure up to the other guy’s farm team you’re hard pressed to focus on the pennant race.
Obama is stuck with McCain in his OODA Loop. Even if he breaks out for a time…McCain is loaded up with goodies.
Seems like McCain and Palin are doing a basic Thach Weaveon Obama.
Working at night with matchsticks on the table, he [naval aviator John S. Thach] eventually came up with what he called “Beam Defense Position”, but what soon became known as the “Thach Weave”. It was executed either by two fighter aircraft side-by-side or (as illustrated) by two pairs of fighters flying together. When an enemy aircraft chose one fighter as his target (the “bait” fighter; his wingman being the “hook”), the two wingmen turned in towards each other. After crossing paths, and once their separation was great enough, they would then repeat the exercise, again turning in towards each other, bringing the enemy plane into the hook’s sights. A correctly-executed Thach Weave (assuming the bait was taken and followed) left little chance of escape to even the most maneuverable opponent.
Leave it to an old Navy aviator. John McCain, you magnificent bastard!
Heh, ‘feets. If Ms. Palin was a Texan, she’d be a Railroad Commissioner.
Note, a Texas Railroad Commissioner who could find a railroad without asking the natives would be an aberration, unless he or she had an outside interest. How much a barrel of oil is worth and where the bodies are buried at Exxon-Mobil is another question.
Texas doesn’t have a KGB. It has an SS instead, called “Rangers”. Do NOT think “Chuck Norris”. Think “a John McCain who’d never been tortured, at age 55.” The other way to think of it is “People Chuck Norris says ‘Sir!’ to”.
Regards,
Ric
Thanks, Ric. I was kinda talking out of my ass there. I’ve had railroad commissioner explained to me several times but it never seems to stick. It’s too abstract I guess.
Although that Railroad Commissioner who gave the speech at the RNC the other night was pretty impressive.
Michael Williams was his name, I think.
Leave it to an old Navy aviator. John McCain, you magnificent bastard!
I’ve been saying for awhile (or at least since the first “celebrity ad” hit and was followed by several hard hitting, if slightly sarcastic ads), that the McCain camp was running their campaign like a finely tuned military campaign. After all, when McCain came home from Hanoi, he went to the War College, so what he didn’t already know as a fighter pilot, he learned there, in particular the bigger picture of strategy and subsequent tactics. A parry from the left, a thrust from the right, an ambush from the rear, and a head-on assault from the front.
But I think I like your example better. :)
SBP, the Texas Railroad Commission is about as “abstract” as torches and pitchforks. The members are appointed by the Governor, and it’s pretty much a sinecure for them once appointed. After that they try hard, and usually successfully, to stay under the radar. It sounds like a golden opportunity for corruption, but historically it’s been no worse than a Good Ol’ Boy network, largely because (quite by accident) it ended up having the classic three-way check-and-balance system: the oil companies, the State Government, and the big landowners and lessors compete with one another but join hands to keep the Feds out to the maximum extent possible, and that keeps it on an even keel. Smaller landowners and the general citizenry benefit as a byproduct of the tension. It’s a political system, and therefore by definition imperfect, but it’s worked damned well for a long time.
Railroad Commissioner is a hard job, and people who stay in it for very long tend to be extremely impressive. I’d have to Google for the names (that’s the way they like it) but it isn’t at all surprising that one of them did well at a political convention. It’s what they do.
Regards,
ric
SBP, the Texas Railroad Commission is about as “abstract†as torches and pitchforks.
That was happyfeet with the abstract thingie, actually.
I know, SBP, but I wanted to make the comment anyway.
There are three railroad commissioners, and yes, Michael Williams is one, the Chairman, in fact. The current commissioners are a n–, a Meskin, and a bimbo, but follow the links under their names — these are not lightweights in any rational units of measure. People are especially likely to misunderestimate the bimbo, but there’s a lot of that going around these days. She’s the only one I’ve actually met.
Regards,
Ric
McCAIN, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!
Checkmate, O.
Thanks for playing.
I didn’t mean abstract in a judgmental way just in the I can never remember exactly what they do way.
Actually, Sarah bagged the last one a week ago on a hunting trip in Denver.
We can thank the Texas Railroad Commission as observed by Perez Alfonso; for the inspiration behind OPEC.
““Obama is using a phalanx of women to ride point for him to combat our Sarah’cuda. Is there anything more pathetic than a man hiding behind a woman’s skirts.â€Â“Obama is using a phalanx of women to ride point for him to combat our Sarah’cuda. Is there anything more pathetic than a man hiding behind a woman’s skirts.â€Â
– Or as Coulter put it today: “I’m really having fun watching the Left sending out an army of feminazi’s to hold up the glass ceiling.”
– Palin can also be thanked for finally completely ripping off the phony mask of the Feminists movement. The great lie that they represent women, when the only women they really represent is far Left fems that generally hate men. And now they will hate her for doing that.
– Of course as pathetic as that group is think of what the pussies on the Left that call themselves males must be like, kissing up to these ball busters.
– Very possibly Palin just pushed the faux womyns movement a step closer to extinction.
I cannot get the grin of my face over the Dems eating each other trying to get at Palin, pretty much entirely without success.
Oh SHIT!!! I am changing my name to La Wanda RIGHT NOW. That is fucking awesome, Spies.
Go to youtube and look up some of her stand-up, Lisa, she was brilliant. Fred Sanford absolutely loved and worshipped her in real life.
Shit, Redd Foxx, I mean. I have gotten drunk as fuck watching the Mountaineers auger in this afternoon.