Sen. John McCain's top campaign aides convened a conference call today to complain of being called "liars." They pressed the media to scrutinize specific elements of Sen. Barack Obama's record.It's clear that the McCain campaign has basically decided on using the Bush playbook for handling the press. But I think the campaign made one critical error. The whole bully/lie/clamp-up method of handling reporters works swimmingly if you're already in power. Not so much if you're still trying to get power. It's fine to appoint unqualified hacks to office, especially if you're in your second term. Not so much when you're still running for your first.
But the call was so rife with simple, often inexplicable misstatements of fact that it may have had the opposite effect: to deepen the perception, dangerous to McCain, that he and his aides have little regard for factual accuracy.
The errors in McCain strategist Steve Schmidt's charges against Obama and Sen. Joe BidenSarah Palin when -- in each case -- the truth would have been damaging enough
The McCain folks have really pushed the envelope on this press-manipulation thing, which ultimately, I think, will prove to be a costly mistake. First, as I said, these dudes aren't in power yet. But second, and most importantly, anyone who's ever gone to public school knows that even the meekest, most bespectacled, nerdiest kid has a breaking point. Ditto for the White House. Even the most cowardly stenographers have a little "I ain't no punk" in them. And this is exactly the sort of thing that triggers that impulse:
Schmidt also complained of Obama backers' attacks on McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
"As soon as Gov. Palin was nominated, one of ... Obama's chief campaign surrogates, [Florida Rep.] Robert Wexler, went out and accused her of being a Nazi sympathizer," Schmidt said. "Where is the outrage to that aspersion on the part of some of the biggest newspapers in the country?"
But Wexler didn't call Palin a Nazi sympathizer. He called former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan a Nazi sympathizer, and attacked Palin for allegedly having endorsed him.
To paraphrase Kevin Hart from 40 Year Old Virgin, you throwing a lot of false charges at me, so I'm goin take em as disrespect. Watch your mouth. And help me with my "Obama's an effete Chablis-sipper" narrative. I'm on deadline son!
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Looks like the PANIC is real. Man these bozos look fucking lost.
Looks like the PANIC is real.
"Panic" is exactly the right word for it. They're flailing wildly, lashing out at anybody they can, trying to change the subject to something, anything other than the current economic crisis.
They've brought out Rezko, to no avail. They've brought out Ayers, to no avail. It's only a matter of time before they get desperate enough to use the one card they've got left up their sleeve...
WTF?!!!
Huh...the earlier part of my post somehow got deleted and I'm left with "WTF?!".
I was referring to Fred's post. Seriously, WTF?!!
Some random good news - two different polls, SUSA and ABC, showed Obama leading by 6 in VA.
The errors in McCain strategist Steve Schmidt's charges against Obama and Sen. Joe BidenSarah Palin when -- in each case -- the truth would have been damaging enough.
Actually, for most of them, truth wasn't damaging at all. Is it really damaging that McCain's son used to work for a bank that issues credit cards, or that Obama help a campaign event in Bill Ayers's house thirteen years ago?
McCain is going to crack at the debates. It will be live in front of the nation and he is going to have a Michael Richards-esque breakdown. It's coming.
Hey, I thought the Michael Richards/Sandra Bernhardt thread was closed.
I think the issue with Ayers is that the media hasn't done any investigating at all, they've taken Obama's characterization at face value and dropped it....in my humble opinion of McCain maybe possibly having a relationship with a lobbyist that there isn't evidence to prove it existed and that a few of his own people thought it gave a bad appearance but there isn't any evidence of any impropriety was worth a front page New York Times "investigation" that the depth of ties that Obama has with an unrepentent domestic terrorist would be worthy of some investigation as well.
The media is definitely in the tank for Obama, it is blatantly obvious. However, bashing the media isn't going to help McCain at this stage because they're going to continue their attacks on him and their glowing reviews of all things Obama. He gains very little overall.
Not sure if i agree that the media has not done any investigating on this. here is just one example:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8630.html
obama's local newspaper, the chicago tribune, has numerous archived articles on ayers and his relationship with obama.
I agree that McCain has lost a ton of his high ground, especially with the press. They loved him when he referred to his party as the evil empire and he was taking on Bush, but it seems like his campaign is acting like a cross between Rove and Clinton.
I have problems with Politico bringing Wexler into this since he was clearly in the wrong. He did put forth a falsehood in saying Palin endorsed Buchanan; from what I have read, she endorsed Forbes. Also, he didn't flat out say she was a nazi sympathizer, but he clearly was calling her a "nazi sympathizer" sympathizer. That might fall into the catagory of a distinction without a difference.
A few thoughts
1. The McCain campaign is flailing around like Sonny Liston in the first fight before Ali/Clay-- the Obama campaign has clearly gotten into their head (which I suggested/predicted in the Uppity Thread). I expect someone (Axelrod? Bruton?) to finally tell the McCain folks to grow a pair.
2. The McCain campaign is flailing around because their campaign has functionally married a stripper in picking Palin (as opposed to dull but economically knowledgable Romney). They had 2 weeks of fun-- but the stripper's baggage is starting to show (no foreign policy curiosity, all kinds of ethical flags, etc.). Palin not having a press conference is like not having your parents meet your wife (it suggests you have something to hide). And folks, things won't get better with Palin on the ticket for McCain. McCain has (by analogy) had two weeks of stripper sex-- now he starts to discover his finances and respect from his friends are (by analogy) going down (e.g. conservative intellectuals like Sully, Frum are calling him out; the press are laughing at his ads). Now her baggage will sink him (sort of like picking up herpes from a stripper).
3. BTW, my apologies to strippers out there. But Romney was the better pick as VP.
the mccain campaign's biggest problem is its candidates: neither actually knows what he or she is talking about most of the time. they live entirely in a world of right-wing slogans.
the lack of message discipline is pretty astonishing: obama's rope-a-dope has left him looking...presidential, while mccain looks like the caricature of the howard dean scream all the time.
Lemar,
the stripper analogy is hilarious
THC,
you didn't post the funniest part of this story - the Obama Campaign's response.
Obama camp response:
Number of probing stories the NY Times has written over the course of the campaign about Barack Obama, his life, his religion, his childhood, his politics, his time in the state senate, his time in the U.S. Senate, his family, his religion, his friends, his fundraising and all other manner of associations: more than 40
Number of stories the NY Times has written over the course of the campaign about the last major financial regulatory crisis, resulting in a huge bailout, and which John McCain was centrally involved in with his political godfather Charles Keating: 0
rikyrah:
Thanks for the shout-out. I "test drove" the analogy in the past week-- and my friends loved it.
And, now that the "Keating card" has finally been played, expect the McCain campaign to stroke out by next week.
TNC:
The analogy is yours if you want it. Comedy gold like this will get you some cable face time on Olbermann or Maddow.
rikyrah:
(sorry, typed in the wrong name in the previous post-- Lemar)
Thanks for the shout-out. I "test drove" the analogy in the past week-- and my friends loved it.
And, now that the "Keating card" has finally been played, expect the McCain campaign to stroke out by next week.
TNC:
The analogy is yours if you want it. Comedy gold like this will get you some cable face time on Olbermann or Maddow.
Yeah, Lemar, that's exactly what the Obama camp needs. Not saying I don't find the anaology humorous, but Obama does not need anybody comparing the selection of Palin with a man marrying a stripper. I also don't know about calling your own analogy "comedy gold."
Schmidt said. "Where is the outrage?"
TMQ-like, I'm writing "Game Over" in my campaign notebook. When the McCain campaign is stealing lines from Dole '96, it's all done.
As an aside, does anyone else remember the absolutely hilarious Dole impersonations that Norm McDonald did for Conan O'brien back in the day? I still chuckle at the phrase "I'm Troll Dole, you stay off my bridge."
Lib, the Chicago Tribune was quite thorough on Rezko and Ayers. I will grant the NYTimes came out of their diddled front page story looking very bad--like many, I assumed this was the first shoe, and their failure to secure a second shoe they weren't afraid to print made them look like fools. (And if they'd stuck to lobbyists without the hint of a rumor of infidelity to take all the heat, they might have had a story.)
Where would we be if McCain had chosen Romney? Too hard to say--for one thing, I'm not sure he's actually a genius on economics, especially when the strategic goal is to identify with the little people, not to maximize profit by laying them off. And the economic half of the base would be mildly enthused while the social conservatives cast him off for his faith, so I'm not sure it'd be enough.
At least Obama and Biden have Dodd, who is getting out in front with an alternate plan Dems can rally around. It's striking (hat tip to Hilzoy) how even those econ people with nothing bad to say about the plan, also don't really have much good to say about it.
Also @ Lib: John McCain's press are the ones who broke into their "Bring Back Mac!" chant on catching a brief glimpse of their former buddy, not something any of the other candidates can boast of. For most of this campaign McCain had stellarly good press--gaffes were forgiven because the press had heard him talk all day and put it in context, or just liked him enough to cut him a break. When Hillary dispatched her press on a Hillary-less plane (for a Saturday Night Live appearance) I mused that she was going to try and trade her press for McCain's much friendlier group.
Marc posed the question why McCain would choose to go to war with the press 2 months before the election, and I haven't seen it answered. Go to war with the press 2 weeks out, and by the time the factcheckers are having their day the election's over. Cut all press access (the national media were notoriously grumpy with Obama for doing tons of local press but few scraps for the big dogs on the campaign plane) and they start to get mad. Lie repeatedly and pretty much dare the press to call you out on it and, as with Tuzla, they just might. The media is finally realizing that John McCain is just not that into them, with predictable results.
Stacy
I realize the stripper analogy isn't suitable for everyone. I thought about comparing the Palin selection to the marrying the bad boy/crazy woman thread from a few weeks ago. I decided against it because the Palin pick was so wacky, I used the stripper because the pick has the same shock value/wackiness (whereas plenty of people marry the bad boy/crazy woman).
And I agree, Bill Burton or David Axelrod aren't the guys to use this analogy. Bloggers like TMC can do this though. If Sullivan had a comments section, maybe I would have posted there.
If the times were not so dark--or this were Italy-- these shenanigans would make great comedy.
As someone recently said, you just can't make this stuff up!
I'm still shaking my head in disgust at The Jed Report's two clocks:
One for McCain and how long it's been since he's given a press conference: 40
and, of course, one for James.Dobson.In.A.Dress
it's been 24 days since the ineptitude known as Sarah Palin was thrust upon this country. and, she's STILL not faced an actual PRESS CONFERENCE.
the double standard is so glaring, it's blinding.
I think there's a personal angle to this. For years, YEARS, John McCain was the press' best buddy. They had lots of access, freewheeling talks with him on the back of the Straight Talk Express. They had barbecues. They had the best of him, and he was in a good mood. I'll bet he's fun to be around when he's in a good mood.
Then everything changed. That woman came into his life, and he no longer wants to have a beer with them. In fact, he's not even returning calls. What's up with that shit? The damn traitor, I've been his friend since forever, and he cuts me off just because of some woman?
Marc posed the question why McCain would choose to go to war with the press 2 months before the election, and I haven't seen it answered
I have a few ideas, not saying they are valid, but might get to the campaign's thinking. One, maybe he thinks the national media is in the tank for Obama and figures he has nothing to lose. Secondly, GHW Bush had some problems in 88 with the base and his on air spat with Dan Rather seemed to work in his favor, maybe McCain feels he has nothing to lose by attacking the NYTimes.
I also read a couple elections ago that campaigns are increasingly avoiding contact with the national press and focus their message with local television appearances in key states. Locals love to promote an exclusive with a candidate and tend to ask more softball questions.
Another article explained how when Obama and McCain were broker and less popular a year ago, they coddled the press because they needed the free exposure. Once both got the money flowing and the numbers up, they started cutting off the press.
John McCain has had the benefit of fellatial press coverage for his entire career. A few bumps recently don't really change that fact. Maybe he should have thought harder before moving to an all-lies, all the time format for his doomed and stupid campaign.
Repiglicans have a well-deserved vicious ass-kicking coming to them and I'm looking forward to Election Night with a savage glee I can barely contain. By midnight I hope every Repiglican - every Dumbya-loving, torture-supporting scumbag in the country - is drunk and cryong and soiling itself.
The Age Of Stupid will end that night and I'll be rubbing it in on every forum I can find.
So the candidates are preparing for the debates:
Has anyone seen Billy Dee anywhere?New York Times to Steve Schmidt (on the latest article):
"In your face, bi-otch!"