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GOP To Continue Using Obama To Bash Down-Ticket Dems

It looks like the GOP plans to continue its efforts to damage down-ticket Dems by tying them to Barack Obama -- even though this strategy completely failed to defeat the Dem candidate who won a big upset victory in the Mississippi special election yesterday.

On a conference call with reporters today, NRCC chair Tom Cole confirmed that the party will continue using Obama to tar Dem House candidates, in much the way the GOP has historically used figures like Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi to do the same.

The NRCC and the local GOP candidate in Mississippi ran ads tying Travis Childers to Obama and even to Jeremiah Wright, but Childers won yesterday by a comfortable eight-point margin.

But Cole is undaunted by yesterday's results, calling the anti-Obama strategy a "useful tool" for hitting Dems in conservative areas: "I think reminding people that we have a very liberal, and I think very inexperienced Democratic nominee, and that your opponent is likely to be supporting that individual, is interesting."


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Oh, please God...let them keep this up.


The Change You Deserve

If you keep voting for Republicans . . .

You'll get exactly what you deserve!

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O goody goody goody goody goody -

It worked so goddamn well in Mississippi.


ROFLMAO!

Those old farts in the GOP are so clueless.

The only place they can try those ads in will have to be West Virginia.

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No kidding. It's hubris.

They've had the tiger by the tail for a few election cycles. Not any more.

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Looks like the people at the top of the party have the hubris.

But it could be that ordinary Americans have "shame" over the way some party bosses are behaving.

If the repubs have lost credibility and are using shameful tactics, well then maybe the voters are beginning to say, "Enough is enough!"

No more Shame! No more voting for shameful tactics!

tigger got tired of being pulled by his sore tail, and decided to have a snack.


I honestly can't think of a better way for them to spend their last remaining dollars.

If it continues to work for them as it did last night in Mississippi, then let them bring it on.

Seriously, they pulled ads with Obama, Wright, bitter, everything, and the got trounced.

BTW, the supers had better be paying attention. If the Wright controversy doesn't play in Mississippi, of all places, then it is a total dud.

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But Cole is undaunted by yesterday's results

The epitome of political excellence.

The strategy didn't work. And it didn't work in a big way. There was a higher than typical turnout among AA voters. It was an 8 point margin. A Democrat in a deeply red district just won.

But hey, let's just keep doing the same old thing and hoping the results somehow come out the way we want.

Keep on keepin' on, Republicans.

We'll be laughing all the way to the voting booth in November.

PS. Mr. Cole? I seriously doubt the average voter would be able to pick Nancy Pelosi out of a lineup, so you may want to rethink that strategy.

PSS: To all those politicans out there afraid to attach "Democrat" to their campaign advertising? Travis Childers included "Democrat" promininently. Hint, hint.

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Obviously this GOP campaign went over the heads of the "26%" - the only ones likely to fall for this crap anymore. I suggest they just use pictures next time - anyone who can read at more than a 3rd grade level isn't buying their tactics.

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"But Cole is undaunted by yesterday's results, calling the anti-Obama strategy a "useful tool"

Dude, Cole, I think you are the "useful tool."

Go ahead, tie the downticket dems to Obama, tie him to the smartest most charismatic Democrat around, you'll just be doing thier jobs for them.

Republicans are so F'n stupid.

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Boy - the pollster graph sure looks different since I was gone and the Intrade numbers have gotten pretty stunning, too.

{{{{big-ass smile}}}}

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Yes, there's a nice upward tail to Obama's line in the national pollster graph. Fickle polls...

Obama announces big endorsement @ 7pm.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/obama_campaign_touts_big_endor.php

My bet it's either John Edwards or Sen. Jim Webb.

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That would be interesting. How many "He's too late" blog posts and journalist columns will there be?

Edwards could make up for his tardiness by actively campaigning for Obama, I suspect, but I'm not sure how that will help. I was surprised at how little an effect Edwards had on the Kerry campaign.

It's psychological at this point. The White southern guy is backing Obama AND it kills whatever momentum, not that there was much, that HRC had after her win yesterday. ABC & CNN can't possible continue talking as if HRC is back it it when major people and orgs are coming out the day after her 'big' win. Though I'm sure they will try their damnedest.

It does work to soften the 'white, working demographic problem' even though there isn't one, if Edwards endorses. Which in itself it ridiculous, the multimillionaire who claims the just barely millionaire isn't in touch, and the megamillionaire endorsement fixes that? And they are ALL lawyers? Does anyone think this makes sense?

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It does work to soften the 'white, working demographic problem' even though there isn't one, if Edwards endorses. Which in itself it ridiculous, the multimillionaire who claims the just barely millionaire isn't in touch, and the megamillionaire endorsement fixes that? And they are ALL lawyers? Does anyone think this makes sense?

You'd rather have...I don't know...broke day laborers running the country? What exactly is your point here?

Personally, I'm glad that trained lawyers will be signing bills into law.

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If it's Edwards, he's got 18 pledged votes he can swing to Obama in addition to his own SD vote? Am I correct on that one?

What a bunch of Maroons!

I wholeheartedly endorse this strategy.

It's not exactly a stupid stratagem. It's kind of two-for-the-price-of-one attack. They get to smear local Democrats, and hit Obama at the same time. And it has a silver lining for Obama. As he goes increasingly negative he will be able to brand his negativity as an unfortunate but necessary response to their negativity. It's kind of a "he started it" approach like the one we all used as children. It's bogus of course, but don't knock it. It was pretty successful against Hillary.

It's stupid, really. The GOPers are basically doing the DCCC's job for them.

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if at first you dont succeed...

Rather "If you don't succeed the third time..." now.

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Well ... to be fair, what else have they got? The economy? Iraq? Ethical and effective government? In the "marketplace of ideas," they're selling melted turd-Popsicles.

That's Turdblossom Popsycles!

Yup, Stay the Course. That's what Dubya taught them.

You gotta wonder if there will be a reverse coat-tail effect: local Dem. candidates like Childers might start helping Obama in the general election.

Genius.

Actually, the GOP wingnutz don't realize that they're making Obama more familiar with the electorate, one of his supposed weaknesses spread around by the punditry.

The utter cluelessness of the GOP establishment to the full extent to which the ground has shifted beneath their feet is a wonderful thing for us. Unforutnately, many of Hillary's supporters are equally clueless when it comes their blindness to that shift. It's the one thing both groups have in common--the both think its still 1998.

Kieth has a Special Comment on Countdown Tonight:

http://thenewshole.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/14/1020413.aspx

No hints yet of what it is...

ooooh.

Dammit. I just moved and don't have cable for another week!

I am sure the internets will help you out with that tomorrow.

Obama really needs to watch the arrogance. From MSNBC:

Obama gloated a bit on the campaign trail in Michigan Wednesday. “Look, they (the Republicans) just lost yesterday in the heart of Mississippi…. this is a hardcore Republican seat. And they lost it by eight points."

The Republicans, he said, "did everything they could, you know they ran ads with my face on it, and they said, 'look at this former liberal,' his former pastor said offensive things, I mean they were trying to do every trick in the book to try to scare folks in Mississippi. And it didn't work.”

In turn, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee distributed one flier accusing Republican Davis of links to the Ku Klux Klan, which he heatedly denied.

Umm, by what stretch of the imagination is that gloating?

Really, gloating about the silliness of the RCC/GOP cannot be called gloating...

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actually, they didn't link him to the KKK. they just told the truth about davis wanting to honor the founder of the KKK by putting his statue in his town.

Its a distinction. I know, people like you don't do "nuance" well, but you should try. the facts matter.

The KKK mailer actually turned out to be true.

That doesn't seem like arrogance to me. Is he supposed to praise the opposition and kiss their asses?

Thanks, Cassandra. Are you going to be keeping this up all summer?

I can see it now...

Otto F, December 2011: "President Obama's got to be careful that he doesn't get too cocky now that we have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. It's just that kind of arrogance that could fire up the remaining Republicans so that they'll try and repeal universal health care."

OK. This is not "gloating". Or at least--this kind of "gloating" is not going to hurt him.

Super delegate Mike Morgan from O.K. JUST Endorsed!

Every time they try this and it fails, it just makes him that much stronger in the general.

This is amazing, it reminds me of albert einstein's definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. good luck, gop! NOT!

THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR BARACK!!

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In the words of their 'Great Leader': BRING IT ON!!!

"NRCC chair Tom Cole confirmed that the party will continue using Obama to tar Dem House candidates, in much the way the GOP has historically used figures like Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi to do the same."

To "tar" Dem House candidates? They didn't really use that word, did they?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...we can't get fooled again...

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Sooth be told, all the GOP has left is the 'Southern Strategy'.

This is a sad way for the party of Lincoln to die.

Well, if this Repug "strategy" fails, there's always the "Diebold Gambit." Are we any closer to paper trails for electronic voting? My sense is that we're not.

Note to GOP: quite a few people actually like Obama, including moderates.

I have the misfortune of living in Tom Cole's district. He hasn't done a damn thing for Oklahoma until he became head of the NRCC and started helping Democrats win elections....LOL.

The GOPpers will take every opportunity to link Obama to Democratic candidates for local office. Their tactic is the race card. The GOPpers have played the race card for the last 40 years and have world-class experience in developing code-words and code-images that mask racial bigotry.

Obama's face is a black face and linking the local Democratic candidate (as in Mississippi) to a black face is merely an appeal to race. The TV spots won't (and don't) rely on the name Obama. They rely on the picture of the black face presented as a backdrop for outrageously false or perjorative statements. (Obama is a Muslim; Obama supports Hamas; the local candidate is a Liberal.) The presentation of the image of a black man in a culture tolerant of racism is the equivalent of presenting an image of hooded clansmen burning a cross to an audience that finds racism abhorent.

Isn't the definition of insanity to try the same thing over and over again and to expect a different result? Still, go for it guys.

And then I look up like four posts and see somebody has my idea before I do. (no idea if that was an Einstein qoute)

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For this strategy to work, doesn't Obama need to be... you know... a liability? People like him. So, why is supporting him a problem?

That's right. It only works with people who really aren't inclined to vote for him at all. Those would be the hard core republicans and bigots. There is no hope with those people anyway.

There you go being all logical and reasonable.

Everyone knows there is no logic or reason in republican politics.

How could the Dems possibly respond to such a tactic? Tying Dems to Obama.... What possible retort is there?

How about tying the GOP candidate to Bush?
To Cheney?
To Gonzo?
To Delay?
To Brownie?
To Rumsfeld?
To Abramoff?
To Iraq?
To neocons?
To the budget deficit?
To the economy?
To incompetence?
To promises of "fiscal responsibility" which are broken in spectacular, almost pornographic fashion the minute they're in office?
To moral hypocrisy?
To environmental negligence?
To the K-street project?
To Larry Craig?
To Mark Foley?
To spying on Americans?
To Guantanamo?
To politicized government agencies?
To politicized intelligence?
To our dangerously overstretched military?
To our standing around the world?
To "So?"


Help me out here folks, I know this is just he tip of the iceberg....


To locking up American citizens without lawyer or trial?

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Personaly, I like the slogan "Let's fix all the stuff the Republicans broke- vote Democratic."
Kind of sums it all up...

I hope that all the voters that are susceptible to these tactics (the ones that believed the swift boat lies) are, uh, deceased(?) and the Millennial voters are taking charge of this campaign. God bless all you younger voters. Did you hear the WV voters that were interviewed? OMG please do something about this gene pool we have here in the U.S.!!!

Well, if the Republicans can see their way clear to continue using Obama to bash down-ticket Dems, the very least I can do is give up golf!

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The Republican'ts want to make sure we don't end up with another inexperienced president like Abe Lincoln or John Kennedy.

They are afraid Obama will eliminate the income tax on anyone making under $50,000 per year, and reduce taxes on Social Security Income and Veteran’s benefits.

The Republican’ts want to honor our soldiers by waving flags and wearing pins. Obama will give them time at home, VA hospitals and a fair opportunity to claim disability benefits.

They have got to scare everyone, things are going fine, who wants a scary change?

Too true Tina....hell if this is how they intend to help down tickets maybe I should send them a contribution.

Naaaah

Stupid is a stupid does.

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Abandoning tried and true tactics just because they don't actually work is a wussy Democratic strategy. All those "facts" and "poll numbers" and "election results" are for wimps.

Republicans don't fall for that! King George doesn't change his strategies in the face colossal failure and neither do his minions!

"I think reminding people that we have a very black Democratic nominee, and that your opponent is likely to be supporting that individual, is the kind of tactic that's always worked in the past with our racist base."

fixed.

It's hilarious to watch the Republicans press on with this strategy against all reason. I would be tickled pink to see them lose 30 seats in November.

Tom Cole has to be one of the most inept people in America, I'm surprised he didn't get tapped to run FEMA. In addition, he looks like what would happen if Tom Tancredo gained 100 pounds.

This is the best news of the day. As Ben Franklin would say....
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

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I have been wondering for some time why the Congressional Republicans have adopted an uniform obstructionist stance, and are sticking with Bush at every turn. I still don't understand why they stuck with him on S-CHIP. Not only does their position damage themselves it hurts Republican governors as well. Of course the Republican S-CHIP position is just of many similar follow Bush off the cliff stances. If the Republican leadership would have wanted to save their sorry asses they would have stopped the war a couple of years ago. Why are the Republican congressional leaders just a bunch of lemmings?

I live in a very red district. The Democrat is one of those expected to have a real shot at beating the lemming incumbent this year.

True insanity....doing the same thing over and over and NOT expecting different results, and doing it anyway.

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#1) Why isn't the Republican strategy working?

Is it because the voters just didn't believe that their Democratic Congressional candidates were really like Obama, or was it because they just don't have a problem with Obama?


#2) Are you sure it's not working?

Is the Republicans' primary objective to win the down-ticket races, or are they using the down-ticket races as an opportunity to bash Obama? (i.e. spend their Congressional candidates' money to run attack ads in support of McCain)

From "Head of State"

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/change-that-you-deserve.html


Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Change That You Deserve

From the Chicago Tribune:

The slogan unveiled this week by House Republicans - "Change you deserve" - is already a trademark used by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to market its antidepressant Effexor XR.

Black Screen.

Fade into:

Scene of a thin grey haired man standing in a green field. Behind him we can see the sun is rising.

"I got the change I deserved with GOP."

Cut to a small child, in a sun dress, who looks up at him and smiles.

"I was tired, listless. I had lost interest in my usual activities--creating false attacks, acting as if I had been unfairly attacked about issues created out of whole cloth, drawing specious historical parallels, fawning over ideologically bankrupt manufactured father figures. Sure, I sent emails claiming that Obama was a Muslim, but somehow...it had lost the spark, the enjoyment of everyday life."

Cut to a child who rides by on a bicycle, and throws a newspaper on the front porch.

"That's when I found GOP."

Cut to man rowing in a scull across a still river. He turns to the camera, smiles.

"In clinical studies, GOP has been found to increase aggressiveness in the absence of actual provocation in 8 out of 10 users. In most users, the desire to gleefully attack returns in 1 week. Full enthusiasm for invented ideas in two. "

Cut to image of porch swing.

"With GOP, my attention to minor distractions fully returned, until I was again building them into major accusations of flawed character. Once again, my intense focus on pins, buttons, sentences fragments and remote relationships as absolute indications of personal virtue and ability was at its peak. For an entire weekend, I could one again choose the right moment to accuse a candidate of treason without cause--when I was ready, when the time felt right".

Cut to a series of blurred images: long, stringy haired teens in torn jeans and ironic 80's t-shirts lounging by the Washington Monument; picture of John Kerry in a Swift Boat during Vietnam;
Eiffel Tower. Arugula on plate. During these images, rapid voiceover in female voice:

"GOP may cause monosyllabism, inability to consider two differing concepts at the same time, memory loss or inaccurate recall of recently and repeatedly presented intelligence information, focus on size of automobiles or koro, sequential nicknaming, hooting."

Cut back to man standing in field. American flag waving in the distance behind him, below a risen sun. A woman walks up beside him, puts her arm around him, and smiles.

Man:

"So get the change that you deserve. Talk to your Doctor about GOP. Soon, you'll be walking by the homeless on the street again and saying "Let them get a job!"

Or better yet--let them get GOP."

Woman smiles.

Fade.

Cite:

Head of State

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/change-that-you-deserve.html

Actually I am a has been Republican and it is those very despicable sorts of comments that drove me from the party. Amazing that Republicans can think that this sort of racist comments goes over with any self-respecting Republican. And just what has this crowd of Republicans done for their brand? Not one thing. The Bush cabal ahs made Republicans into the pariah of this election cycle. Amazing to note that if they had planned to make it impossible for all but a very few Republicans to win this next cycle, they could not have planned it better. Until Republicans say enough is enough, they will be out of congress and the White House for elections to come. Some of us Republicans have been in on far too many of those disgusting "anything goes against the Democrats" precinct meetings and it makes us nauseous. Let the Republicans keep this garbage up and they should learn to love being the minority party.

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The Republican have to change the subject from George W. Bush and, as usual, they choose the low road and gear up for another campaign season filled with hate and fear. This time they are playing the soft racism card. No wonder they are so despised.

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Here another GOP racist plays the "tar baby" race card. The party of Macaca fame has a brand problem and they can't figure it out. How blind of them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/14/gop-rep-uses-term-tar-bab_n_101793.html

knock yourself out, Mr Cole

that's a real nice anchor ya got there ...

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