TPM Reader MN …
Tell them to stop. They have to stop saying that McCain is just “more of the same”!
I’m a marketer, and it’s through those eyes, to some degree, that I view politics. In marketing, you won’t sell anything if say your new product is just as good as it was — you say it’s better and improved. So, in politics, in the sort of inverse marketing that one does on one’s opponents, you don’t say your opponent (McCain) is the same as the earlier product (Bush): you say he’s worse.
This is a serious issue, and a huge lost opportunity for the Democrats. The damage done by Bush has been, to some degree, mitigated by the fact that when he began his first term after the Clinton administration, the country was in very good shape. But when Democrats say that McCain will be “more of the same failed policies” they’re wrong: it’ll be much worse, because he’d be starting in a deep dark hole that has been dug by Bush. More of the same actually means seriously … dangerously … inferior.
Beyond that, saying “more of the same” has no bite at all. It’s all gums. Saying, “John McCain will make things worse” means something tangible. Plus, it has the benefit of being, as you have observed, eminently true. McCain wants to do what Bush has done, but more so.
If you want something to focus on, think about this. McCain is surrounded by, given his ideas by, the hardest core neoconservatives in Washington. These are the folks who now think of Bush was a sell-out, a softie. And add to that McCain has a history of key decisions during outburts of extreme anger. Not a reassuring combination.
