McCain defends web ad mocking Obama

Saturday 02nd August, 06:58 AM JST

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Madverts at 02:53 AM JST - 3rd August

"The annointed one must not be criticized."

Heh, comments like these further illustrate the Panic on the right.
SuperLib at 03:21 AM JST - 3rd August

The ad was pretty funny, but overall, yeah, I think McCain needs to stop attacking so much.
Betzee at 03:26 AM JST - 3rd August

Sailwind,

Agreed, and now the Democrats have given me a choice between the two and given me Obama who's resume you can fit on a postage stamp for the top job.

I don't think we can really blame the parties for the choices in front of us. They are the logical candidates given the criteria American voters use to make their choice. For some, it's the importance of talking about God. While a minority, the fact they may or may not turn out gives them an importance disproportionate to their numbers. More generally, many people do want to relate to candidates they way they do to celebrities. The emphasis on "family values," an ill-conceived response to the very real problem of an increasing number of children being raised in single-parent homes, introduced a certain type of morality which further limited the number of people who could run.

I trace the current dysfunctional campaigning back to 1988. In the spring of that year, VP GHWB was polling 40 points behind Michael Dukakis. It wasn't clear he would even win Texas, his adopted home state. Lee Atwater reversed his fortune; the campaign became about Willie Horton and pollution in Boston Harbor and Dukakis lost. That being said, I don't think patrician GHWB, who was caught in the shifting demographics of the Republican Party as it became a southern party, was a bad president (far better than his son).

The tale of both men offered cautionary lessons for those who came after. For Governors looking to move up, the lesson was "don't sign off on the parole of any lifer." Whether or not Michael Dukakis was personally culpable for Willie Horton's crimes, it proved devastating to his campaign. Old George only lasted a term himself and most attribute that to his flip-flopping on a tax increase. The lesson here was, it doesn't matter how much you add to the national debt as long as you can say at the end, "I didn't raise taxes."

I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing the campaign could be about the issues, as it was in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984 (I don't remember enough about 1968 to say anything.) But issues are difficult to present in our sound-bite driven celebrity-obsessed culture which makes the low road all the more inviting.
FawziBarhoum at 05:33 AM JST - 3rd August

Obama should mock songbird Vccain.
Sarge at 09:38 AM JST - 3rd August

sailwind - "Bush has been one of the worst presidents that America has had"

He has not.

"Obama... I really like the guy"

What do you like about him?
Betzee at 12:00 PM JST - 3rd August

"which will continue to be the leading light and hope of the world."

I don't think you will hear anybody on the campaign trail discussing this, but there's a lot of discussion beyond the scenes on how to manage America's impending relative decline. Both Clinton and then GWB, who each served eight-year terms during the post-Cold War period of undisputed US hegemony, ran up against the distinct limits of our ability to change the world.

For Clinton it was pursued more through economic means, first NAFTA and then getting China into the WTO. Passage of the former led to a mass migration of Mexicans, for whom off-farm jobs never materialized in their country, in search of such work here. And "free trade" with China has created a trade deficit of such a size that it has helped erode the value of the dollar.

GWB didn't fare much better, in fact a lot worse in my opinion, using a more militarized approach. While it's good violence has declined in Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom will not spearhead democracy throughout the region as originally envisioned by the war's neocon architects. Nor is freedom (in any sense recognizable to us) likely to take root in the Mesopotamian desert any time soon.

So the question becomes which candidate is best prepared to lead America into a new world order in which other powers are vying for ascendance...
SezWho2 at 06:11 PM JST - 3rd August

SuperLib,

I think McCain will stop attacking so much. I suspect these ads were primarily designed to give him a boost in the polls and achieve some sort of parity going into the conventions. That, I think, would be a good goal for him.

On the other hand, I can't say much for the methods which arguably have achieved it. I have no idea how a steady dose of this would play out and I doubt that the McCain campaign does either. So, after the conventions I would look to both candidates to run a fairly clean campaign. Can't say the same about their other supporters, however.
undecidedbout08 at 06:49 AM JST - 4th August

Since polls are so popular here maybe we should let Rasmussen have the last word:

"Sunday, August 03, 2008

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of the nation’s voters say they’ve seen news coverage of the McCain campaign commercial that includes images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and suggests that Barack Obama is a celebrity just like them. Of those, just 22% say the ad was racist while 63% say it was not.

However, Obama’s comment that his Republican opponent will try to scare people because Obama does not look like all the other presidents on dollar bills was seen as racist by 53%. Thirty-eight percent (38%) disagree. "
SezWho2 at 12:04 AM JST - 5th August

And broken down by race and by admitted prejudices, those percentages are what?
undecidedbout08 at 01:08 AM JST - 5th August

And broken down by race and by admitted prejudices, those percentages are what?

Why don't we start with yours...
SezWho2 at 01:07 PM JST - 5th August

undecidedbout08,

OK. I tend to be prejudiced against the advocacy of capitalism and democracy as the answers to the world's problems. I tend to be prejudiced against arguments to the effect that socialism is a great evil. I tend to be prejudiced against the notion that silence about race is the only thing that leads to a level playing field. And I tend to be prejudiced against arguments which have the ring of being mantric.

But that's really not the point, is it? My point was one of bias. Using your statistics and the numbers of people who identified as single-race whites in the US 2000 census, we have the following:

2000 Census white: 75%; non-white: 25%

McCain campaign ad non-racist: 63%; racist 22%

Obama comment racist: 53%; non-racist 38%

Setting aside that the chief criticism of the Hilton-Spears-Obama McCain campaign ad was not that it was racist but that it was disparaging to all three parties, the numbers above show that opinion could well be divided along racial lines. Unless you can show that it is not, your data is not particularly meaningful.
zurcronium at 02:45 PM JST - 6th August

So Paris Hilton has struck back at McCain in her own video now. Basically she calls McCain old and tired and compares him to Yoda from StarWars.

Check out the Yahoo front page for link to her video reply to the McCain attack advertisement.
zurcronium at 03:23 PM JST - 6th August

Hilton's parents know who McCain is as they donated to his failed campaign. They called McCain a dolt for running an ad about their daughter while the US economy goes down the tubes based on Republican policies over the last 8 years.

More people would probably vote for Paris Hilton than will vote for McCain. He has the napper crowd down solid but they may sleep through the voting day.
TheGoodGuyUSA at 03:25 PM JST - 6th August

Zucronium; Do you enjoy mocking a national war hero?

mcCain is an honest guy with an honest campaign. He has caught up with Barack Hussein Obama in the polls. Heck! he`ll soon have a healthy lead.
zurcronium at 03:35 PM JST - 6th August

Songbird McCain? He sang like a bird in captivity in Vietnam. Kerry is more the hero and Rove swiftboated him. Any fool can crash a plane. McCain did that five times.

Todays polls show Obama again ahead by 6%. Repubs are going to get routed in November and even they know it. The smarter ones.