This is the perfect pushback.
Undermine McSame at his supposed strength.
Anyone with half a pulse can see he's running a sleazy, dishonorable campaign.

I've gotta come out and say this. I love this aspect of Obama's campaign--the schoolmasterly disgust with bad behavior. I know it seems snooty. And my former-Hillaryite friends tend to hate this about Obama. But I just eat this stuff up. It's exactly what I want out of politicans. Hate the game.

Greg yes, yes and yes. It is all over the headlines and thus easy to defend and highlight. This isnt a desperate shot in the dark when even freaking Oreilly is cautioning Mccain. It is also jujitsu in the best sense. Rovian tactics have always been founed on going after the opponent's strength and whether we like it or no it works. In 2k Bush and Rove crippled Mccain by questioning his integrity. I seriously see much less risk than you do. This forces Mccain off message, shoves Palin out of the spotlight and puts Obama on the attack. The MSM thrives on the candidate on the assaultis always has and always will. The alternative is let it go and hope the MSM does its Job? Greg you seriously think that will work? To me that is a huge risk and tactical error that will lead to the strategic nightmare of Obama having to deal with a candidate that can say whatever he wants against the weak democrat.

Let's look at this campaign so far -

McLame started out trying to make a case that he should be handed the presidency because he is a POW.

Then along came Sarah. They both argued that she was qualified to be his running mate because they said so, she's a woman, and pbbbbththththththth!! to all of you.

Barack Obama: "The presidency is something you earn, it shouldn't be a cakewalk."

Now, who is asking to be president on the basis of set design and message massage?

McCain has not changed. He has always been a sleezy lowlife.

Look at how he treated his first wife.

Look at his behavior in the Keating Five corruption case.

Look at how has always surrounded himself with big time Federal lobbyists.

Look at how he has thrown violent temper tantrums at every fellow Senator who did not kiss his ass 24/7.

McCain is a classic passive aggressive type. He smears others while decrying such tactics, and never stops telling us about what a honorable person he is.

Only genuine scoundrels have to keep telling people how honorable they are.

McCain is behaving as a Sewer Rat now, because that is what he always has been.

You can put lipstick on Sewer Rat McCain, but he is still A Sewer Rat.

And since lalo doesn't like it, must be a good thing.

The TPM troll barometer.

The media and everyone are scratching their heads asking, "Why is John McCain doing this?" So have I and here is the answer. John McCain sold his soul to the devil to win this campaign. It explains everything.

Sarah Palin is living proof that in the Republican party greed always trumps values. Picking a woman as the spearhead of the assault on women's rights is ingeniously depraved. Way to go Carl Rove.

McCain has been described by the press for years and years as a pure-hearted and apolitical maverick who would never stoop to gutter political tactics.

I'm pretty sure we're done with that one. McCain's sleazy, dishonest campaign tactics have put that meme out of its misery.

McCain's campaign is clearly in desperate trouble. His message is all over the map, he has completely abandoned the experience argument, he's undercut his credibility and integrity by running a slimy, dishonest campaign, and his play to win over disenfranchised Hillary voters by picking Palin will, I think, prove to be one of the losingest political gambles in history. McCain may not realize it yet, but he is toast.

whereas obama has to call out mccain and palin on their lies, i don't think that will win him the election. almost every issue favors obama. the state of the economy favors obama. 8 yrs of republican incompetence favors obama. if he let's those things take a back seat to calling out mccain and making this election about character, then he is rolling the dice. clearly, the media and the public would always rather make elections about this kind of stuff, but i think it's a mistake for obama to go too far, because he'll never be able to get the media and the public to focus again on what the election should really be about.

Where is the ad campaign pointing out the flip-flopping, the lies and the naked ambition of the McCain campaign? Where is the 24/7 b-slapping the needs to occur before the public gets it?

One of the stupidest things that Obama did was to tell the 507's to back off. Did he somehow think the repubs would do the same? This is the thing that has bothered about Obama from the start, all this happy talk of bi-partisanship. You can't work with this crop of Repubs you can only run hard against them and make them feel it. Kerry learned this the hard way, as did Gore.

At least I thought they learned it.

Maybe it isn't too late, but they should defined McCain long before this.

For those who wondered about Joe Biden, the answer comes for the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Biden.html

The headline give me a good feeling for what's coming: Biden prepares for more prominent role in campaign

As this statement shows, I'm feeling a shift on the atmosphere...

Get ready!

Scary Palin is Clarence Thomas, dressed in frumpy, frozen tundra chic.

Greg,

If you're looking for the reason why the McCain camp has suddenly turned nasty during the last two weeks, I'd say it's a pretty good bet that hiring Tucker Eskew is to blame. For those of you who don't know this clown, he's the McCain said deserved a "special place in hell" for a whisper campaign in South Carolina that claimed his adopted daughter was actually fathered out of wedlock and that McCain was still mentally unfit due to his years as a POW. ABC's Jake Tapper does a nice job summarizing this shocking hire here.

My personal opinion is that hiring this guy is reason enough that McCain should be disqualified from the presidential race, if only for what that says about his desire to win by rewarding someone that - by his own admission - deeply hurt his family, or more importantly, his vulnerable daughter.

The timing of this line of attack is not accidental. Obama needed to have the media start turning, calling out lies, deceptions, etc. They needed to have some of McCain's old media allies start talking about what kind of disgrace his campaign has become and how it is not befitting the McCain "they knew".

These attacks on McCain's integrity and the integrity of his campaign may or may not backfire, but if Obama had launched these types of attacks before the media was "ready", they most definitely would have backfired.

The way I see it, this campaign has come down to one thing: change. Who will bring it and what will it mean? Obama must not lose that battle against McCain. If he does, this game is over.

Cultivated the growing media narrative around McCain's deceptions and his sleazy Rove campaign run by lobbyists and is not what most people think of as "change".

I am cautiously optimistic about the direction things are moving, just got to hope the media follows Obama's lead.

Obama, DNC and 3rd parties (like the Defenders of Wildlife, who ran this powerful ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCzca5ENIkw) need to keep hammering away, including the use of ads for two main reasons.

1. If Obama doesn't keep up the pressure, then McCain will drive the daily narrative by sliming the shit out of Obama - that's how we got to this juncture in the first place. A lot of cable news talk centers around attack ads, in fact for guys like Joe Scarborough, they're all that seem to matter. So even, if the campaign doesn't buy a lot of air time, it's good to release ads regularly just to keep the pressure on and to give the media an excuse to say that you're tough etc., For too long, Dems have allowed themselves to be portrayed as "weak" and that really hurts.

2. Fact is, many voters don't follow the news, or they only get it from shallow sources. These ads, especially well-made ones, are a critical way to reach these voters, even if it is just to define the opposition. Fuzzy ads with James Taylor guitar music telling people how you want "better jobs" doesn't cut it.

Obama, DNC and 3rd parties (like the Defenders of Wildlife, who ran this powerful ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCzca5ENIkw) need to keep hammering away, including the use of ads for two main reasons.

1. If Obama doesn't keep up the pressure, then McCain will drive the daily narrative by sliming the shit out of Obama - that's how we got to this juncture in the first place. A lot of cable news talk centers around attack ads, in fact for guys like Joe Scarborough, they're all that seem to matter. So even, if the campaign doesn't buy a lot of air time, it's good to release ads regularly just to keep the pressure on and to give the media an excuse to say that you're tough etc., For too long, Dems have allowed themselves to be portrayed as "weak" and that really hurts.

2. Fact is, many voters don't follow the news, or they only get it from shallow sources. These ads, especially well-made ones, are a critical way to reach these voters, even if it is just to define the opposition. Fuzzy ads with James Taylor guitar music telling people how you want "better jobs" doesn't cut it.

I've been among the panicked the past week . . . but I do have to wonder if Obama holding back and letting the media attack McCain was part of the strategy, so he doesn't come out as the initial bad guy.

Still, it does seem time for an ad taking McCain on as a serial liar . . . perhaps using some of those many media headlines that have been making that point for him.

I've been among the panicked the past week . . . but I do have to wonder if Obama holding back and letting the media attack McCain was part of the strategy, so he doesn't come out as the initial bad guy.

Still, it does seem time for an ad taking McCain on as a serial liar . . . perhaps using some of those many media headlines that have been making that point for him.

Monday we will see the blitzkrieg from the Obama campaign.

Anyone see John Fund and Jeneane Garofalo on Maher's "Real Time"? oh my fucking god.

(Salman Rushdie was there too but he had to take a cameo role to the American splendor before him. But he's on our side folks!)

It was like an episode of Jerry Springer with bitching ideologies on either side:

the Wall-Street-free-market-thug-head-cynical-blow-hard-smug-fuck

VERSUS

the-tattooed-free-thinkin'-nasty-smellin'- no-shit-takin'-uber-liberal.

It was sublime in the same way that scarification is painful but nonetheless indelible, undeniable and I suppose, in the eyes of the beholder.

Anyone see John Fund and Jeneane Garofalo on Maher's "Real Time"? oh my fucking god.

(Salman Rushdie was there too but he had to take a cameo role to the American splendor before him. But he's on our side folks!)

It was like an episode of Jerry Springer with bitching ideologies on either side:

the Wall-Street-free-market-thug-head-cynical-blow-hard-smug-fuck

VERSUS

the-tattooed-free-thinkin'-nasty-smellin'- no-shit-takin'-uber-liberal.

It was sublime in the same way that scarification is painful but nonetheless indelible, undeniable and I suppose, in the eyes of the beholder.

I agree that the worm may turn faster than expected. Also, one interesting element of that Newsweek poll featured...

"Overall, a majority of voters (52 percent) have a favorable opinion of Palin, even if they are not familiar with some of the details in her record. Fifty-seven percent of registered voters did not know that Palin opposes abortion even in instances of rape and incest. Sixty-nine percent did not know that she favors teaching creationism in public schools. Asked if Palin shares their view on abortion, 43 percent of white women said yes, 41 percent said no and 16 percent did not know."

This implies to me that the more they get to know Sarah Palin, the more some of this might fall-away. I'm convinced that the opposite is true of Obama.

Therefore, the more Obama is out there, the better for him, but the more Palin is in the wild, the worse for her and McCain (as he's hitched his wagon to her star). This is a good position for Obama, as long as he is aggressive in his campaigning.

but . . .how do we make sure that voters KNOW that side of Palin? Especially the opposition to abortion for rape/incest victims, which is completely over the top and I think would be rejected even by many voters who are otherwise not particularly pro-choice. One thing is to make sure WE are letting our friends, and friends' friends, and so on, know just how extreme she is on that issue. Because I don't see it coming from the press.

Taking the low road never wins. I think if Obama decides to go hugely negative, as it appears in the past 2 days he has, it is going to hurt him.

Jerry Springer 24/7- someone please change the channel

The truth is a great ally, and the truth always rises to the top.

Spokesman On McCain Strategy of Campaign Lies
From NBC's First Read ...

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said this to the Politico about the increased media scrutiny of the campaign's factual claims: "We're running a campaign to win. And we're not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it."
Basing a campaign for high office on a strategy of deliberate lies is not an issue of tactics. It calls into question the character of the candidate and his fitness for office.

I've been SAYING THIS FOR MONTHS they are targeting or grandparents our seniors, the one who go to bed after the 6:00 news , the ones who do not have computers, the ones who get out teeth and nail to vote, because they are also the one who march for the freedom to vote be they man or woman...And this shows that MSM have also failed them...I'm servering my country and noone is serving my grandmom and greatgrand while I'm away...Nor are they serving yours...IT'S A SAD DAY IN AMERICA
Let your grandparent and any grandparent know!

McCain, and Hillary, voted against the Barack Oilbama supported Bush-Cheney Energy Bill that that put $6 billion in the pocket of big oil.

It is Oilbama that = 4 more years of Bush-Cheney

"When does this line of attack on McCain's integrity and tactics start showing up in ads, as it did during the Dem primary? "

Eventually. In about eight to ten weeks tops (give or take a week or two). Some people feel betrayed because Obama promised to fight back against ultra right smears and lies. Some people feel that the money they contribute get pissed away in overly respectful, overly cautious, ads that barely touch all the deep divisions in American society. But I have read on these posts that I have never conducted a presidential campaign so what do I know. I guess I know that the Democratic consultants have lost the last two winnable elections and they sure look like they are throwing this one. What is it they know? Axelrod's experience with Presidential campaigns was losing with Edwards in 2004; Plouffe has no experience with any Presidential campaign to my knowledge. And Obama when he says he will fight is full of shit.

Ever since Super Tuesday, every single time we've worried that Obama wasn't fighting hard enough, he's bided his time, then come out and astonished everyone once again, as he came up with a response that handled the issue and forced his opponent into some different line of attack.

roo_P is right. Obama is playing chess. Can't wait to see what happens when he makes his next big move next week.

Politicians who lie to the public are engaging in a Betrayal of the Public Trust and it should be deemed unethical. Exposing John McCain’s Lies — Pass it on!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0xzsogzAk

Are we finally pulling back the Curtin on the Wizards?

Ground Zero is a Symbol of Republicans' failed policies, that after 7 years Ground Zero is still a hole, still zero! Nothing from nothing leaves nothing and that is not Change we can believe in!

The press is under a duress unlike any seen since the beginning of our nation. They have not figured it out. One side says they will lie or do whatever it takes to win, no matter what the mainstream press might say. That presents a very large challenge. How do they handle it?

Should that not be the story? That a political Party in this nation has created a propaganda system on its own so strong that it does not need or want the media or the press to report on their underhanded tactics or lies and will feel no consequences for doing so?

It is a crisis, not only for the Democratic Party but for the press. There must be some standard for holding our politicians to the truth. There must be consequences for deliberately lying to the public. However, at the moment, there is none.