All it took to set off a full 24 hours of cable news hysteria was one quote that the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank attributed to Barack Obama – secondhand, unsourced, out of context, and eventually widely disputed. Nice work, everybody …
High-res version at Veracifier.com.
And what was the logic of choosing Britney and Paris again? Yet more ..
TPM Reader YF shares his thoughts …
I think the whole “McCain’s going negative” snit is a really defensive and weak position for the Obama camp. Sure- mention that McCain went negative, contrary to all his stated values- “All it take is a little dip in the polls for John McCain to cast aside his values.” But it seems to me there is very simple way to turn this around on McCain, and be on the offensive: “How bad does John McCain want to avoid talking about real issues? He’s running ads with Britney and Paris. Is that what American’s are concerned about?
Britney and Paris? Do you want to know how we are going to right the ship of our economy? Or do you want to hear about Britney and Paris? Want to talk about how we are going to extract our troops from Iraq? Or do you want to hear about Britney and Paris?” Just pound away at this. This is what John McCain wants to talk about.
Point out how frivolous it is to even spend any time developing this ad when there are so many important issues to address. Bitching about it being unfair or over some imaginary line that Karl Rove can’t even see is going to get them nowhere.
John McCain gets full swing into his campaign’s new “Country First” slogan with a country music concert tonight. That and the day’s other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.
The group of former lobbyists* running the McCain campaign includes a guy who has lobbied extensively for the softening of U.S. sanctions against Cuba — a stance at odds with McCain’s own publicly stated position on the issue.
TPM Election Central reports the details.
*Ed. Note: “Former” only in the sense that they were lobbyists before the campaign and will be again afterwards, unless McCain wins, in which case they may pass through the revolving door into government for a while before resuming their lobbying practices.
John McCain has a big ego. And if there’s one thing John McCain prizes it’s the high regard many prestige Washington reporters hold him in. Or did. People like Joe Klein, who now says he was wrong to think McCain was an “honorable man.” Now he has a new post about McCain with the word “scum” in the title. Klein’s out in the lead on this. But he’s not the only one-time McCain fan thinking the same thing. And you’re already starting to see some editorials in regional dailies calling him sleazy and a liar. So given McCain’s temper, when can we get some questions posed to him about that?
Ron Fournier officially appointed AP Washington bureau chief.
ABCNews is now running a handline that reads: “Obama Camp Admits Playing Race Card”
Let’s see how this works. McCain runs his Britney/Paris ad on the alleged but improbable basis that they’re the #2 and #3 celebs in the world, according to Rick Davis. McCain camp seizes on Obama statement that Obama has made multiple times before, accuses him of playing “race card”. Now McCain repeats Race Card, Race Card, Race Card a hundred times.
McCain has made the strategic decision that he can only win the election on the basis of Obama as friend of terrorists, unpatriotic suspicious outsider and radical, black guy who’s really more a flashy showbiz star (call it playing the Diddy card) than someone with the heft to be president. He’s probably right. That’s his only chance. And it may work.