Hillary is going to Florida on Monday, a fact which was in any case reported right here on our humble blog...

I dunno.  This blog seems kinda, uh, uppity to me.

And while Obama is playing it smart, it is up to us to keep the media focused on her inexperience, the hypocrisy of McCain's primary attacks on Obama, and the fact she hasn't been vetted.

I liked Obama's response to Republican complaints about unfair vetting, "I've been doing this for 19 months, she's been doing this for what, four days now?" (paraphrase)

Meanwhile, as long as we're openly giving the Obama campaign advice (which our opposition is going to read regardless), let it be known that I prefer the "TIMES strategy" to the "POLITICO strategy."

Better to prepare for battle, should it come, then presume we can stay above the fray (also, conveniently, the path of least resistance). Kerry figured he'd stay above the fray, and look what happened. I've contributed as much as possible to the Obama campaign in the hopes that he'd actually use my money to FIGHT, not "sit back and wait".

I think all three are at work, and a good idea. Obama should ignore her, and focus on McCain. Surrogates should point out Palin's extreme, anti-woman policies. And Palin's celebrity ought to be used to diminish McCain rather than Obama. Getting drug into a fight with Palin is what her pick was meant to do, so I love the irony of having her diminish McCain. As unqualified as she is - she's more energizing than McCain.

All this ignores the fact that Palin is disappearing to shore up on foreign policy, etc. in Alaska. I might make some reference to "Alaska First" and a "lack of confidence" demonstrated by McCain, or merely let her disappear.

I love it that they are siccing surrogates on her. John McLame is the most boring off-key candidate ever. She's the only thing they've got to generate any interest at all.

So it may be best to keep turning it back to McLame - I don't know. The media now has it as a race between Obama and Palin, which is weird.

Goddamn the Repugs throw things off -

I didn't hear too many attacks on Biden at the GOP convention. They focused everything on Obama. Obama should do the same. Target McCain and mostly ignore Palin. You hit Palin for free simply by reiterating her policy agreement with McCain.

I think keeping the focus on McCain is the smarter startegy - especially after his horrible speech last night. Why give Palin more media oxygen and attention than necessary? Attack the weak link at the top of the ticket.

I agree. Ignore her until she makes an inevitable gaffe. Then pounce. Meanwhile, Woodward is coming out with a new book that slams Bush. It's time to attack the president and in effect tie McCain to him.

http://pufferfish.typepad.com/

Anyone have an idea why they are sending her all the way back to Alaska for her policy cram sessions? Chuck Todd reported that she will spend an entire week there, supposedly in part to see off her son who is leaving for Iraq. But it seems peculiar to me-why wouldn't they keep her on the trail making photo ops and prepared speeches here and there while also doing the prep work? Is it an attempt to keep her from any reporters? Why hole up in AK?

Forget Palin, the real race is between Obama and McCain. Actually its between McCain and McCain. McCain the "maverick" versus McCain the GOP loyalist. He says he puts country first, but since he has been nominated, he has only put the GOP first.

McCain vs. McCain on the Environment...

http://www.greenpieceblog.com/2008/09/mccain-vs-mccain-on-environment.html

Obama is smart to keep talking about policy, and pointing out that McCain-Palin don't want to talk about policies.

Hammer on that every day: What are you going to do about health care, jobs, housing, environment, global warming...

I would avoid the Palin psycho-drama and culture wars. (And ultimately, I think people will get tired of her and her divisiveness)

I think the media will vet Palin fine. If she avoids interviews, that will be discussed and create bad press. Pols don't do interviews because they like it, but because they need to. A defensive crouch by Palin is impossible for the losing team.

Finally, I do like the idea of using Palin as a way to insult McCain. Anything that makes him upset is good, since he lashes out and makes himself look bad. The housign gaffe needling was a case in point: 2 weeks of angry McCain reacts to mockery.

When attacking McCain on policy issues, refer to the "McCain/Palin ticket." I have no fear that Obama and Biden will stay on the issues now that the Repubs went all the way through their convention without seriously addressing the housing crisis, health insurance, education, etc.

You send surrogates out to make the case that Obama is better than McCain not that Obama is better than Palin. The latter would be utterly stupid. You choose surrogates who have appeal or connection to the audience you are trying to reach. It's not so hard to understand.

"why not push the idea that she is upstaging the candidate." If she IS upstaging the candidate then won;t everyone notice. Isn't that the definition of upstaging. Most likely they are going to send Palin in to the deep red states to rally the troops. I'd be surprised if it was otherwise.

She gas yet to open herself up to the press. If she does not then the inquiries will continue. The press hate nothing more than a cipher. If she does then she will have to answer substantive questions: Does she believe burning fossil fuels causes global warming; didn;t she support the bridge to nowhere; why did she hire a lobbyist to win earmarks; should the US only fund overseas family planning programs if they are abstinence only; Does she think the trooper should be fired? Why won;t she testify? Does she believe local politicians should ban books from public libraries; What policies of George Bush does she disagree with; where does she stand of John McCain's old position in comprehensive immigration reform? And on and on.

If she has legitimate and convincing answers on all those questions then fine. If not the press will keep at it. Obama doesn't and shouldn't have to do a thing, except to point out the lameness, falseness, or irrelevance of her inevitable attacks. It will be easy enough turning the attacks against her in a substantive way.

Palin is not done yet. She will be McCain's pit bull, spouting out Coulter-esque attacks as she gleefully licks her lipstick for the cameras, and the media will eat it up.

Obama's disdainful "I've been called worse on the basketball court" attitude is the correct response.

One more thing: Palin's VIEWS are the big problem with her. She's a bit like George Bush, a folsky package on ugly fanatical inhumane policies. The GOP wants us to focus on the package, not on the substance. I would also make a point of mentioning her views on global warming, abortion, and so forth. Only 10% of Americans agree with her about no abortion in the case of rape or incest. 90% won't like it when they hear that, if they hear that.

ps. A nice jab I missed from Obama's response. Lowkey, but well served:

"I assume that she wants to be treated the same way that guys want to be treated which means that their records are under scrutiny. I've been through this for 19 months. She's been through it, what for 4 days so far?"

Sarah Palin is yesterday's news. The Obama campaign is right to let them do with her what they will or can or dare and run against John McSame who, as luck would have it, has decided to make this a race about change

When the other guy wants to play on your home field, you don't say "no thanks let's go to your house"

Remember this election is about CHANGE. The task at hand McCain/Palin = Bush/Cheney

Yesterday's presser set the tone.

'Palin? She works for McCain. Why go after a surrogate when it's the guy at the top who's a problem?'

And let Palin's media relations fester. You know the MSM is gonna be pissy that they don't get to talk to her, so they may want to push that meme a bit...

'Well, we're not sure of Ms. Palin's position on that, you'll have to ask her.'

Oh, wait. You can't...'

Palin's image as a reformer/female pioneer cannot be allowed to take hold.

The family needs to be off limits, but other than that, it's time to cut her down to size. Voters and media need to be pounded with reminders of Troopergate, her past support of Ted Stevens, her eagernness to suckle from the teat of the pork-barrel, her tax increases and deficit spending in Wasilla and of course her extreme positions on issues like sex education, choice, etc.

Also, the media and the voters need to be reminded that a week and counting after her selection, she has been unwilling to take questions from voters or the media about major issues like health care, the Middle East, the environment, etc. Let's see what she has to say about SCHIP, No Child Left Behind, what is victory in Iraq, etc.

I actually think the Dems, or even TPM should set up one of those cheesy clocks to mark the time that has passed since Palin actually took questions from the press. Pressure needs to be applied

Greg and all,

Palin will be a boon for Republican turnout.

But apparently the Republicans plan to sequester her for the time being. Let them. Keep her out of the news as much as possible.

The only thing to do is have as many Democratic women visible as much as possible.

Obama has surprised me at every turn, and I feel his "sit back and wait" is the right thing to do with this Palin phenomenon.

"Real McCain on Genius" Union Web Ad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6xR-_fvUOY

(loses steam near the ned, but a good effort)

"Real McCain on Genius" Union Web Ad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6xR-_fvUOY

(loses steam near the end, but a good effort)

I think that the Obama campaign has it mostly right here, in that hitting her hard in any direct way might backfire. But it's also pretty dangerous to expect the media to do its job, which pretty much would be conceding the process of defining her to the Rethuglicans.

Here's what I would do. Attack her indirectly, by going after McCain with a vengeance, ie, What does it say about McCain that he picks a wingnut neophyte for his number 2 slot? Clearly he's pandering, incompetent, thinks women are stupid, etc. I really wish the Dems had been demolishing McCain from the start, instead of indulging in this ridiculous "my friend" rhetoric.

But this approach has the benefit of airing out all of Palin's dirty laundry (troopergate, wingnuttery, utter cluelessness), while still framing it as an attack on McCain, who's the real target. As for Palin, they should lay off her, but in a way that suggests that she's not one of the grownups and doesn't belong at the party. Really, the Dems should be making McCain/Palin, and the rest of the Republicans, objects of absolute contempt. For ideas how, you just have to see Wednesday night's daily show...

I think surrogates should always comment on how republicans seem like they would rather have her at the top of the ticket.

Oilbama needsd to stress that he is the one who voted for his buddy Dick Cheney's Big Oil Energy Bill and that McCain voted against it. He needs to stress that he is a much bigger lightweight empty suit than Sarah Palin. He needs to stress that he is the one that is friends with Racists like Rev Wright, Terrorists like William Ayers, and Slumlords like Rezco. He needa to point out that while facing a true American Military hero he did not serve in the Armed Forces and has a bitchy wife that was not proud of America until people started fawning all over her cult leader husband.

Somebody get out the big ass tranquilizer gun and the rhino darts and put DemBillC out of his misery for awhile, please.

mccainPALIN 2008!!!

She really has taken over the ticket in terms of publicity and attention. They've put all their eggs in one basket-case.

Dems should start calling it the Palin/McCain ticket and see how Mr. P.O.W. reacts.

I do not know of one election in Americna history where the VEEP "won" the someone the Presidency. I seriously believe we need to calm the f down. Palin is not going to make the difference Nov 4th. It will be turnout, Obama doing the job on Mccain in debates ad money which given the state of the of polls from places like Montanta, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Neveda, Arizona (yeh even there) and North Carolina Mccain will be on D spending vast resources to protect red territory. Obama can ignore Palin and will. If Mccain says why are you ignoring Palin! Easy reply "she isnt running for President you are". if MSM brings it up the same tact. This isnt complicated or nuanced it is simple and easy stick to what has worked. All this Palin strategic BS is a waste of time. She is a media darling with many different angles to look at and in the inevitable circle of interest, wow etc there will be the reality check moment and even if that doesnt happen Mccain is te nominee and no amount of moose burger buffets will change that. Beat up Mccain, 90%, 90%, same, same, same, ignore the soap opera and keep on message which is exactly what Obama has done time and time again and the results speak for themselves.

No one needs to attack Sarah Palin, and Obama should continue to walk past her and go after McCain. McCain is the guy running for president, and the Obama campaign needs to point that out repeatedly. Raising questions about her fitness to lead if something were to happen to McCain are counterproductive. I imagine many on the far right would be more than happy to see McCain keel over his first day in office so their right-wing extremist darling could be installed as president.

Sarah Palin attacks herself every time she opens her mouth. I know her grinning, snotty sarcasm appeals to Republicans, but the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as Republican currently stands at around 27%. That's hardly a winning majority. I believe the rest of America is already learning to dislike her.

Obama doesn't have to do a thing to Palin.

The McCain camp is sequestering her from the press.

This will incite the press and they will push for avails.

Whether they get them or not, it will put Palin in a negative light.

She will either be seen as 1) afraid of the press or 2) will come off as inexperienced.

The media hysteria about her family problems has been a blessing for the Republicans since it has eclipsed her questionable record and her dangerous ideas. There was some fact checking of her speech but not a great deal in the rush to proclaim her a star. The Obama campaign needs to run ads bringing out her record (she raised taxes, even on business, and mismanaged her town, was the Queen of pork) and even more on her ideas, which should be threatening to women, Clinton backers, Jews, and independents who don't want to return to the culture wars. Her lack of experience should not hide the fact that she does have a record to run on and it is frightening. The alternative is to buy into the media narrative that she was not a mistake after all since she is such a big star.

The Obama campaign needs to treat Palin as the non-entity she is - ignore her. Today, on another front the timidity of the Obama campaign came through again. CNN showed a portion of a Biden speech. He started off with a long eulegy about how great McCain was, how wonderful a friend he is, how heroic he is. Then as he shifted to discussing McCain's positions, CNN stopped covering the speech. The net effect was the Democratic VP candidate praising the GOP candidate, and not even mentioning the Democratic candidate. That is a great way to get McCain elected as Presidential mentor to Palin as President. Disgusting.

Above all else, anyone campaigning for Obama needs to talk about Obama. Any mention of anyone in the GOP has to be negative or condescending.

For the most part, Palin is a Bush clone. She will be used to speak to the conservative faithful. It should be fairly easy to find video clips of Bush speaking the same lines as Palin, assuming she ever stops repeating her acceptance speech. Show a video of Palin, then show Bush spouting the same thoughts. This does not attack Palin at all, but identifies Palin, and by extension McCain, with Bush.

McCain is working hard to isolate himself from Bush. The more people see the ties between the two, the better for Obama.

The dangerous thing about Palin is that her sarcastic belittling of Obama is what gets played every time she is on TV. And lies repeated over and over would get people to start to wonder.

Maybe community service isn't really a big deal. Forget that it actually helped poor people get jobs and stay in their homes and feed their kids.

Maybe Obama writes good books, but no legislation. Forget that he wrote bills to improve lives for veterans, de-nuclearizing the ex-Soviet states, and ethics reform and transparency in the Senate.

Maybe Obama really cares about civil rights of terrorists. Forget that the bills were dealing with civil right for you and me too.

Someone should do a "Shame on You, Sara Palin" to inocuate TV viewers from gullably eating up her lies.

Surrogates can't do it, since the media doesn't pay them enough attention.

It has to come from Biden. Preferrably after laying out the case that Palin holds various extremist views on free speech, abortion, and the Iraq war.

And someone needs to pounce Palin for not answering trooper-gate depos.

"What is she trying to hide?"

And she is not answering questions from the press? Not ready?

What is she trying to hide? If she is not ready to answer questions from a few reporters, is she ready to lead this country?

And then the AIP angle. She used to think it's good to break Alaska from the union. What has changed? Someone needs to ask? Why isn't the union good enough for her?

PS. If a pitbull bites you, what do you do?

I agree that there may have been abuse of power BUT the ex-brother-in-law seems also to be a relatively ABUSIVE individual, which kind of gives Palin a Joan-of-Arc halo.

The other thing that I'm frankly enjoying is that the inexperienced Democrat who never should have become the presidential candidate in the first place is now being riddled with the same problems Hillary Clinton faced with him. Compared to Palin, he now becomes the "Washington insider". She's newer, fresher and more evocative of change.
She's pushing his nose in the dirt he did to women in general by not selecting Clinton as his running mate. Karmic return or divine retribution or simply the ironic twists and turns of a campaign, of life.

While I know that dealing with Palin is an extremely tricky matter, I am not sure staying largely mute is a good strategy. Like it or not, Palin is a national star now. I believe the Obama campaign should consider the following:

- Seize the rhetoric of sexism from the McCain campaign, charging that protecting Palin from legitimate media scrutiny is sexism.

- Obama should avoid taking on Palin but definitely deploy surrogates --- not just female but male surrogates (certainly Joe Biden but also figures like Howard Dean and Harry Reid and yes, Nancy Pelosi) to raise legitimate questions and criticisms about Palin's problematic record as a reformer. Bottom-line is: they have to puncture the myth of Palin the reformist/ maverick just as they have been doing with McCain.

- I am not sure if the Obama campaign should come down hard on Palin's lack of foreign policy credentials. She is now learning hard. And the Obama campaign certainly doesn't want to set a low bar for her. She might surprise everyone at the national debate just as she did at the convention.