What McShame still cannot see is that the independents and moderates he needs to win, but pushed away with the pick of Palin, WANT income redistribution.

The more he screams about Obama wants to spread the wealth, the more votes Obama gets from everybody who's seen their wealth go to Cindy McCain and her buddies on Wall Street.

And the more McShame and Failin call Obama "socialist," the more Americans start thinking "socialist" sounds like a pretty good thing to be.

This is the sort of stuff that you read about and say "Geez, how ridiculous!" And then it has its insidious effects. Here's hoping the Obama campaign has figured out how to push back on this insanity.

Oh, snap! Oh, snap! It's the October surprise! Obama is screwed now!

Yikes. Is this supposed to "energize" his base, convert independents, or what? Weak stuff.

Man, they're really grasping at this point.

This audio is supposed to be a bombshell? More like a wet firecracker if you ask me.

Lol...Wow...the republicans are really desperate.

What I don't get is, if you are Joe the Undecided Voter, and you weren't swayed by all the Reverend Wright/Bill Ayers/secret Muslim/celebrity/elitist/spread the wealth/Joe Biden crisis/bad bowling score smears, then why would this, of all things, have any interest to you?

Good fucking grief, the McCain campaign really has nothing, do they.

I don't see this as just about "socialism". Look at the context of what Obama was talking about regarding redistribution of wealth. I think he's trying to not only talk about "socialism", but by bringing civil rights into it, I think he's trying to make Obama look like he wants to reparations for slavery.

Maybe that's jaded, but sorry...this is McCain we're talking about. Not only will he try to jazz up the base about this, but also try to get rural whites to think, "you know, maybe this Obama cat is only out for blacks."

Sorry, but that's my take. I think the later works more than the former on the "stupid vote". That's just me, but again...this is McCain and the GOP we're talking about.

At this late stage of th game, just who the fuck is McCain going to impress with his grandstanding on frivolous issues like this?

The Republicans' insistence that this is some sort of smoking gun would be more compelling if they hadn't trotted out different "smoking gun" every week since the election started.

This will go over voters heads thus all Obama has to do is KISS.

Say that Obama is actually arguing the conservative side that there should not be judicial activism.

With so many creationist idiots on the Rethug side, it's not surprising they've adopted good old creationist quote-mining as a tactic.

Unfortunately, for McCain the Redistribution argument only plays with the base of the republican party. Indies and Undecideds won't be swayed by redistribution of wealth.

At this point in the game, is anyone except the base even paying attention to what the McCain camp says? The majority of people realize he's running a strictly negative campaign, and they know he's a liar. So, do they pay any attention at all? Isn't he the candidate who cried wolf too many times?

Is this really how McSlime wants to go down? F-ing Drudge? Hahaha, hilarious.

Am I alone, or does anybody else think it is surpassingly odd that McCain is trying to whip up his base 8 days out? This is not a base election. He needs to win more than the base, and he needs to win them now.

Who is handling McCain's campaign anyway?

Obama's legal guy (Sunstein's) response is far too legalistic for most people to understand. This could be a potent line of attack for McCain. Obama (and/or surrogates) need to be very crisp and concise on this:

1) By "redistributive change" he means ensuring basic fairness for the poor and middle class through a minimum wage, right to organize unions, and a fairer tax code.

2) Wealth has been redistributed upwards for the last eight years. We need to reverse it back to where we were in the 1990s.

2) As the interview shows, he respects the Founding Fathers view of the Constitution and does not believe we should count on judges legislating from the bench.

The winger readers even at Politico.com are spewing this.

Drudge, I knew, would be pissing his pants over this and he dutifully is screaming the false headline as he wets himself:

"2001 OBAMA: TRAGEDY THAT 'REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH' NOT PURSUED BY SUPREME COURT "

He can be sued for that.

One point I don't see raised here is that there's an implicit racism embedded in these attacks. The real accusation isn't socialism per se. It's taking money from "hard-working" Americans and giving it to unspecified "undeserving" people. The coded message couldn't be more obvious. This has nothing to do with socialism. It's a reprise of Reagan's "welfare queen" campaign.

Totally OT - couldn't be further from the topic -

There is the most amazing aerial battle going on over the north side of Taos - Huge hawk - huge. And the famous Taos crows are attacking it in mid air -

My sister-in-law is a staunch Republican, and she doesn't know who she is voting for yet. She doesn't believe ANYTHING in the press. She misses Tim Russert, because he was the only newsperson she trusted. I miss him too.

The point, however, is that practically no one is buying this crap. Even staunch repubs.

Tena:

This is why I love New Mexico.

Where else can you watch crows attack a hawk, find an already-shed snake skin in your back yard, watch prairie dog love, and eat green chile every day.

One word: WOW! :)

Nice try. Any objective listener knows exactly what Obama meant. And McCain is exactly right. The only question is whether there are any objective people left who are willing to switch their vote.

Obama sees everything, and I mean everything, through the lense of promoting black at the expense of whites. That is his history in a nutshell. He will intentionally reignite racial hatred like this country has not seen in a very long time.

Funny, I heard the word sycophant used by of all people, Mark Levin, to describe people so desperate to win that they would distort the truth in any way to to do it.

I've read this quote many times over and have yet to come away with the fact that Obama was referring to redistribution of anything monetary at all. I think he's talking more about the redistribution of rights and civil liberties to those who had been denied them before the civil rights movement.

So am I a comedian because I used the word "funny" in this post?

Or am I a stark raving lunitic because I agreed with the way that Mark Levin used a word?

I just saw Obama's whole speech on FOX news, the only cable station showing it completely.

JUST BRILLIANT!!!

Is the phrase "redistribution of wealth" even something that registers with people as scary anymore? Seems like it would be a lot more effective in a time of prosperity, when more people could be manipulating into resentment that parasites and peons would be grasping after their hard-earned money. In a grim economic time like this, in my humble opinion, redistributing wealth sounds pretty goddamn appealing.

They're proceeding on the presupposition that the word "redistribute" and its variants are approximately as worrisome as "terrorist." I don't know anyone who would be susceptible to that, who wasn't already susceptible to their other panicky claims about Obama's supposed un-American-ness.

You know how they came up with this right?

Seeking to paint Obama as a socialist, they used the internets and googled "obama redistributive" and came up with this quote to which Dough "McCain-invented-the-Blackberry" Holtz-Eakin then proclaim "Aha! see he does use the word redistributive proving he is a socialist. We got him just where we want him now!".

Idiots they are all.

Can someone explain to me why in a country where the top 10% of Americans own 71% of all private wealth, and where the richest 1% own more than the bottom 90%, the idea of redistributing it would be scary?

I know, he didn't even say it, but even if he did - are people really so clueless as to understand that redistribution would *help* them?

I have many right-wing acquaintances, unfortunately.
This "socialism" boogeyman really has them running around like the ninnies they are. As to the "socialistic" programs we have (entitlements as we all refer to them) like Social Security and Medicare, they're okay with those...not REALLY socialistic says one, they paid into them.
To some degree it does get down to the glee with which they wear the mark of McCain; they ask if they are their brother's keeper (but not out loud). They haven't figured out that there is more than a moral angle here (THAT has no appeal,) but rather one in which the health of the part is dependent on the health of the whole. We are interdependent.
Should those more able to pay a larger chunk of tax because they own and earn more than most? Heavens, yes. It's just. Simple as that.
To hear these hysterics talk, you'd think Obama is asking each us to let an indigent family move in to our homes.
Which always makes me wonder how such folks accumulate so much, they are more stupid than dirt.

All of this talk about redistribution and socialism is just an example of wingnuts using other words to say what they can't say out loud:

"Obama wants to take money away from hard working whites and give it to poor, lazy niggers."

Seriously, that's really the message they're trying to convey. It's 2008 - nobody cares about socialism or communism taking over these days. And it's clear that all Obama is talking about is tweaking the progressive income tax system that has been in place in our nation for 100 years+. Heck, most polls show that a plurality of American voters don't have a problem with allowing the Bush tax cuts for the top 5% to expire on scheduled. But if you make it sound like Obama's going to give all of your tax dollars to the crack 'ho on the corner - using code works like "socialism" and "wealth redistribution" and symbols like "Joe the plumber" (ie - working class white guy) - they think they can scare up enough racism and fear to push some votes in McCain's direction. It's Reagan's "Cadillac driving welfare mom" redux.

And the ACORN attacks are just conservatives saying that, "those same poor, lazy niggers are going to help Obama steal the election!"

Pretty low. But when you've got nothing, I guess that's where you have to go.

More of the Same from John McCain!

Why does he think this will work any better than "palling w/terrorists", or "Joe-the-Plumber", or (slight bit of daylight between him and the slanderers) the "he's an Indonesian!"?

He's attempting to divide the country on specious lies.

As W. ruined the Bush name, so McCain seems to want to do with his.

More of the Same from John McCain!

Now, it's true that Obama was describing redistribution as a worthy goal.

Well, I don't see why Greg assumes this means financial "redistributive change?" The context of the discussion was voting and other civil rights issues. When you are not allowed to vote that is a redistribution of a legal right.

McCain at a McCain/Palin rally in Ohio today:

"That is what change means for Barack the Redistributor: It means taking your money and giving it to someone else."

Golly. Anyone have a copy of the Secret Republican Codebook handy? Since he and Sarah aren't exactly drawing the creme de la creme of upper crust society at these rallies, and particularly given that he's throwing this one in Ohio, I can't quite understand what it is he's saying here.

Who, exactly, is the "you" he thinks Barack will be taking money from, and who are the "someone else's" he thinks Obama wants to give their money to? Does the answer have an "N" in it John?

This is the kind of thing that works like magic on the wingnuts. When measured against the standard monosyllabic rubbish of the right (see O'Reilly and/or Hannity) it's essentially a very nuanced and thoughtful discussion requiring something more than a 5 second attention span (remember, Barack was both a state senator AND a law professor at the time of the interview - he certainly wouldn't take so academic a style now that he's a full-time politician). I'm betting the McCain camp is certain that "redistributive change" is the only phrase that their audience will hear (although it's likely that some sort of a definition of the phrase will have to be provided for the Palin crowd so they can tie it in with the socialist thing.) You can hear Limbaugh now screaming that it’s the smoking gun proving an age old plot launched in Indonesia when Obama was 11 to take away every white man’s hard earned dollar of savings (should any be left) and hand it over to some America-hating Afrrican.

Does anyone think that the Swift Boat crowd misunderstood the actual meaning of Obama’s words and really believes that this is 2008’s “October Surprise”?