FIRST TOPIC OF THE NEW GD:P = How To Best Attack McCain!

[Bonobo]

-The Rovian way would be to attack his "strong points". Tear these down and he is finished.

What are his strong point? I would say two for the most part. "Personal Character" and "National Defense"

ON THE SUBJECT OF PERSONAL CHARACTER
-What can we go for? What's the dirt? Divorces, affairs, lies, hypocrisy (campaign money? lobbysits?)

ON THE SUBJECT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE
-Has Iraq weakened our National Defense? How? Are we really safer? Isn't our economic collapse also a National Security issue? Etc, etc.

LET'S BEGIN TO BRAINSTORM AND FLESH THIS SHIT OUT.

[galactical]

1. Obama or Clinton would mop the floor with McCain

during a debate.

I'm fairly confident that after the first debate, there is going to be a shift in voters away from mccain.
He's going to have to pander to the right too, so immigration discussion will put him in a bind.

[SoFlaJet]

2. first of all and I've been thinking about this for a while now

is WHY do we always have to pay the proper respect to John McCain for his service? Hear me out now, because I know we are better than the RW when it comes to common civility and all but remember what THEY did to John Kerry in 2004...end of story-fuck them. Never give him the respect or acknowledgement just like they never gave it to Kerry.

[Bonobo]

10. Well, yes, it's not that I disagree so much as that I see it as a potential "3rd rail".

There are weaknesses in McCain's service, for example:

-He was a bombadier. The man killed and killed and killed in large numbers. But never did he see the faces of those he killed. More than others, he had the blood of innocents on his hands. Hands which never had to get dirty.

-He does not have, as Wes Clark said, the correct perspective and experience as a military man to be relevant to the post of Commander-in-Chief.

-He was in the Vietnamese camp for what, 5 years of being tortured, right? At a bare minimun, the question must be asked whether or not this did anything to him mentally? Is he, in fact, stable enough mentally, to be trusted with the job? In light of the fact that there are quotes of him saying he hates gooks, as well as flashes of real anger... I think it could and should be brought up (by surrogates, of course.)

[SoFlaJet]

18. not even that Bono

just never preface a sentence with "and we all honor and respect Senator McCain for his service" don't DO that-they would NEVER

[sniffa]

19. He also crashed a number of planes

[tbyg52]

54. No, I don't think we should go there

Both for our own self-respect and because I think it would backfire.

[Road Scholar]

101. If we play "Raining McCain" to enough people..

should help Obama win easily.
Check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaP9eiWuX3s


:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[tbyg52]

111. Oh, I wish I could

Dialup, y'know. Still, glad to know it's out there.

[Joe Chi Minh]

78. There is an article on the Mail on Sunday website today, which suggests that, at best,

his torturing by the Viet Cong has led to deficient judgement on his part, in relatively stress-free times. How would the stresses of the presidency affect him, assuming the functioning of the voting machines could be subverted to the degree necessary for any Republican candidate to win.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=542277&in_page_id=1811

[treestar]

90. Can it be questioned whether this torture even happened?

If it did, wouldn't he be against torture of others?

What is the Asian-American population? They are not going to like his g-word remark.

[gateley]

25. Because we're better than they are.

Especially when it comes to honoring someone who has gone through so much in the service of our country.

[SoFlaJet]

33. I agree with that

but I don't think we should preface every argument with a compliment TO McCain gateley

[gateley]

41. Yeah, I saw that after I posted -- and it's right-on.

No need to swiftboat, just stop with the praise.

[Bonobo]

40. You think stooping to their "level" will stop me?

To take countries back, patriots are willing to kill. I don't give a fuck. The rulebook got thrown out 8 years ago in the year 2001, November.

They stole the country, rode it hard like the only horse at a Rodeo, and now we will take it back, like patriots.

And like a patriot, I will use whatever ammo I got. And I do not care what it does to the other side.

Obama, on the other hand, cannot take the low road.

We foot soldiers on the other hand are a different story. We got to do the heavy lifting imo.

[Flabbergasted]

86. I agree. There is too much at stake to take any "moral high road".

I would feel fine, if we were to destroy McCain in the pettiest of ways, if it were effective.

[treestar]

91. It's to the point where taking that line is suicidal

Besides, he is too willing for others to do that same sort of service for no good reason.

Just because a person was in the military doesn't mean they had pure and noble motives of "serving their country." Some go into it for their own aggrandizement. Some even go into it for the thrill of it.

[maximusveritas]

55. It's going to happen

There will undoubtedly be a controversy eventually about McCain's service. Obama needs to distance himself from that from the start and say he's focusing on the issues in this election, not Vietnam. He can also allude to the Kerry swiftboating and say we won't be doing what they did to us.

[treestar]

89. Exactly. Start questioning every aspect of it

The RW positively deservces that. It would hardly even be lowering to their level. It would be to teach them a lesson about Rovian tactics.

[Voice for Peace]

115. Someone told me that all he was doing was bombing government buildings

[DearAbby]

3. His strength as a WAR PRESIDENT

He is been making graffs lately, seeming to have to have Lieberman around to whisper in his ear. His age should be also made a point, but not so much to be seen as bashing.

[blogslut]

4. The War and the Republicans

I'm sure that will be the main focus of Senator Obama's campaign against McCain.

[TahitiNut]

5. "Maverick" = loose cannon, whack job, reckless cowboy

McCain was, and is, an insubordinate, reckless, irresponsible loose cannon. It's what got him in trouble at Annapolis, in the service, and ever since. The man lacks common sense and can't be trusted.

[Bonobo]

13. There ya go, "Manchurian McCain"!

[TahitiNut]

32. I wouldn't go that far, but he's clearly got a screw loose. No leash.

For McCain, the maxim "discretion is the better part of valor" has no meaning ... no purchase in his psyche. In a way, he's worse than Junior. McCain is subject to fits of pique and recklessness that probably know no limits. He's led a life (and career) of reckless acts followed by regrets and seems to be immune to learning from such episodes.

"Bomb bomb bomb ... bomb bomb Iran ..."

That was an emblematic moment.

[tbyg52]

58. Yep. There's *lots* of this stuff out there

and perfectly legitimate to use.

[H2O Man]

6. First nomination.

I like this.

Perhaps if we begin an informal look at the various issues, both domestic and international, and begin to prepare some outlines for grassroots LTTE, etc, for the next month, it can help settle the waves that non-democratic influences are attempting to create within our party.

[DearAbby]

12. Good to see you home H2Oman

:hug:

[skids]

7. See KO's segment on McAnger management

...and see mcangry.com. What needs to be done here is video mining -- going into C-SPAN archive footage and taking all the McCain floor footage and putting it out on YouTube in bite-sized chunks -- good or bad since the good stuff can be used to show he flipflops a lot. The way it is now, C-SPAN footage takes a long time to chug through -- occasionally days to get an archive session loaded into their servers so you can even watch it. It all has to be brought out where the blogosphere can access it easily.

[Bonobo]

81. Ok, now this is a true story about a mouthful of coffee and a keyboard...

Swear to god, I had a mouthful of coffee when I saw that hilariously funny clip on your sig. It ended badly.

How is that done and how cane I get that sig? Can you pleeease walk me through it? I neeeeeed that now.

[skids]

84. It's actually not a sig...

...just an image URL I pasted in, hosted at my photobucket account. I tried to compress the original before I uploaded it as much as I could, but it's still a little huge (8M) for use as a signature.

As for how to use it, just right-click on the image and select "copy url", and you should be able to then paste that into any comment.

[Bonobo]

88. It's so funny! Do you have a link?

[skids]

95. Link to that album...

http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c373/skids7682/pol/

[Bonobo]

103. Test...

"Your name...it's McCain!"

[Barack_America]

99. OMG that is BRILLIANT! DUzy for sure!

Brilliant I tell you!

And so appropriate, except there will be no redemption for McCain.

[mckeown1128]

8. Just call it the Bush/McCain/Lieberman(or whoever the vp will be) ticket n/t

[mudesi]

9. A picture is worth a thousand words

[WinkyDink]

70. THIS IS IT, right here. Period. End of story. I SWEAR I'm printing this out and stealth-dropping it.

Store dressing rooms and rest-rooms, bookstore shelves, shopping carts, bulletin boards, etc.

[musicblind]

11. I think we should give him respect. I respect him. It doesn't mean I think he should win. The point

is that we ARE better than the Republicans. Eventually that will pay off. We can beat this guy in an honorable way. We do not have to swiftboat him. I hope to gosh this forum doesn't turn into the kind of vile attacks it has during the primaries for the GE. Lets point out what is wrong with his policies. Like his plans to stay in Iraq for so long. Though admit that the 100 years was most likely in reference to bases similar to Korea. Is that what we want? Many many do not. We should bring up the issues, such as the way his health care plan is going to reward insurance companies for all of the awful things they have done to the American public. We still wont have health coverage for the poor. We can win this thing by taking the high ground. After 8 years of the dumbest president in the history of the Earth, this election has the potential to be a cake walk.

[Bonobo]

20. Obama must respect, yes. Meanwhile everyone else must rip him to quivering shreds of flesh. nt

[K Gardner]

28. I agree with this 100%. We do not have to stoop to their level.. as we have seen even

the other Democratic candidate do. We saw it, we rejected it, it is ugly.

We can beat him on the merits. I think this is what Obama will do.

[Warren Stupidity]

37. The point is that they are going to tear down our candidate 24/7

And McCain is going to pull the 'it's not me' stunt by distancing himself from the attacks. Obama should do the same, run an issue oriented campaign that goes after the obvious: eight years of corrupt incompetent misrule is enough and McCain represents more of the same. But the unofficial campaign - for example us - should and must go after McCain's media touted strong points. The media will be the echo chamber for the rovian smear machine, that is a given, it is up to us blogbarians to be the counter force to the False Noise Machine. We must be willing to 'go there'. There is too much at stake here to play holier than thou.

[Bonobo]

80. I would like to second that entire post. There will be no "mercy" shown from their side. None. nt

[WinkyDink]

71. I respect the POW that WAS him. NOW? This child-mocker? This war-monger? Not a chance. NO RESPECT.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

14. Forget Personal Character

People woke up after 8 years of Bush... Go for the real jugular - he is a WAR MONGER!
Also, hit him on economic policies - expose the truth of the real cost of war - the no bid contracts - the trillions borrowed and spent while our citizens lost homes, health care, jobs. Borrow and spend, borrow and spend ... corporate elitist candidate that supports W ... should be easy to defeat just by replaying clips of his W support.

[Swamp Rat]

22. I think going after his personal character is a great tactic, as many of his supporters WANT war.

McCain is a lame-brain stooge who will fuck up worse than Bushler.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

49. Did you forget about W's 19 percent approval rating

largely attributed to the continued support of his war? People don't want war...corporations do... more people vote than corporationalists.

[Swamp Rat]

57. My point is, to include a tactic, among many others, that will keep that 19% at home next November.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

64. LOL kewl lets just make it a larger landslide :) nt

[tbyg52]

63. >>more people vote than corporationalists.

Yeah, but guess who counts a lot of the votes....? :grr:

[NoBushSpokenHere]

65. NOW THAT is what scares me.........the vote eating machines nt

[Swamp Rat]

15. He's incompetent.

[Bonobo]

23. SwampRat, that one KILLED me! ROFLMAO!

And you bastard, I just had a hernia operation last week, so the laughing HURT SO GOOD!

[Swamp Rat]

56. Armer Schlucker!

:D

[DearAbby]

30. Awesome SwampRat...

:thumbsup:

[gateley]

34. You've outdone yourself on these, Swampy! TOO FUNNY! nt

[ecstatic]

16. This video is a must see: John McCain vs. John McCain

On DU: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x14640

Directly on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI&feature=related

[Swamp Rat]

36. Excellent video! ... it will be played over and over and over and over...

:D

Actually, I believe the GOP WANTS to lose in 2008 in order to let the Democrats clean up their mess. Then they will blame the Dems for everything in 2012.

[Solomon]

109. I think we should keep playing this one too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAzBxFaio1I&feature=related

[sniffa]

17. Attack his Foreign Policy experience

Keep pointing to the fact that Joe had to correct them. Keep playing that, as it makes him also seem senile.

Personal character - the actual story behind the NYT article: his lack of character dealing with lobbyists, not the sex inuendo.
Attack his wife's company.

[Bonobo]

26. I like that one. Senile, can't be trusted with the remote-control to the TV let alone The Button!

[sniffa]

46. Seriously, just repeated loops of that clip

It sells itself. It will be part of the subconscious that McCain is old, and maybe losing the zip off his fastball. He's not the orator Reagan was to cover for it.

[DearAbby]

39. That bothered me,.

and should be used. I don't believe he is mentally capable due to his age. That should be used..It can be addressed with his many flip-flops. And of course that incident of Lieberman having to correct him...

[WinkyDink]

72. If we make "national security" THE issue, how will McCain suffer?

[TwilightGardener]

98. That's a good Rove tactic--he really is no foreign policy genius, the way

the media paints him. There's just this assumption, and I think Obama can really chip away at it. He can bring up "rogue-state rollback" and other brilliant neocon ideas of McCain's recent past.

[gateley]

21. I like the way you think - and this is an exciting exercise!

Personal character is tough because of his POW history. I personally don't care about extra marital affairs, but it does seem to hold weight with many. I think if there is question as to his integrity regarding votes, lobbyists, etc., that would be the way to go. For example, the flap about his affair with the lobbyist -- focus on his pushing forth actions that were in her best interests and showing the RESULTS of those actions.

Same with National Defense. Sometimes I just wish someone would get up there with a Power Point presentation or a flip chart and lay it all out in black and white to cut through all the crap and simplify it.

No WMD in Iraq -- the initial report presented to Bushco
No Saddam ties to Al Q -- Pentagon confirmation
Bush's plans to invade BEFORE 9/11 occurred -- show the memos/reports of meetings with Blair
Humanitarian? List the other countries engaged in abuses about which we did nothing.
(God, this list could be endless)

Prove how we STARTED the violence in Iraq and served as a magnet to bring Al Q factions in.

Show pics of the coffins, faces of the fallen, make it real.

Show what we have lost in lives, lives of Iraqi citizens, money, world standing, and how it has affected our situation at home.

Let's keep focused on this, because regardless of who gets the Dem nom, it's McCain that we REALLY need to beat. Since there are undeniable negatives out there about both Clinton and Obama, we need to take, as you and Rove point out :7, McCain's perceived strengths and expose them as being baseless.

[Bonobo]

29. Also, we should go for the fracture point between him and the Fundies!

His lack of faith and religion, whenever possible, should be exploited.

[treestar]

105. Those extramaritals affairs ought to keep the right wingers home

Then of course, when where they ever consistent?

[taterguy]

116. You're correct today but you'll be wrong tomorrow

Because it won't be your birthday anymore

[4_Legs_Good]

24. I think McCain will implode himself just by being there...

Not that going after his strong points isn't a fine plan as well.

But you put him up there next to our nominee and people are going to only see *yesterday*, not "tomorrow", which either of our possible candidates will be.

David

[rucky]

27. The answer is YES! Full guns!

sooner than later.

[K Gardner]

31. K&R.. great idea, Bonobo.. no time like the present !

[ima_sinnic]

35. since what? 2/3? of the country is now against further involvement in Iraq,

his "100 years of war" should be hammered incessantly. The link between decaying infrastructure/lack of social services here at home and the stupendous waste of the Iraq invasion should be constantly drawn. The reminder that Iraq never did anything to warrant being attacked should be made constantly, and the needless horror and suffering we are inflicting there should be in front of viewers' faces 24/7: "with McCain, more of the same." Support for the invasion/occupaton has dwindled considerably. People don't feel good about it anymore. It is worse than useless, and they know it.

Also, repukes generally have fallen out of favor. He just needs to be portrayed as a typical run-of-the-mill old white repuke: devoid of ideas, not fresh and new like Obama, but stale and crusty like an old dinosaur. The party of old ideas that have never worked in the past and will certainly never work in the future.

[stevedeshazer]

38. It's clear that McCain and the Republicans are going to make national security their big issue

We have to leverage that against the unpopularity of the occupation of Iraq and the failure to capture or kill Bin Laden. How do we neutralize the 'fear card'?

Also, we must attack McCain and the Republicans in general for ruining the U.S. economy. Tie the Bush tax cuts to McCain, for he voted to do Bush's bidding time after time. There is plenty of middle class anger to exploit concerning the economy.

It seems to me that one way to counter McCain's military experience is to tar-and-feather him over the deplorable treatment of veterans and their families. That's a debating point McCain would surely lose against the Democratic nominee, regardless which one it is.

Those are a few of my thoughts.

[Bonobo]

44. You want to know how I think we neutralize the 'Fear Card'?

I think it neutralizes itself when there is a valid option of hope to be considered.

Nothing makes people feel more horrible and low and depressed than the idea that things are out of their control. Once people feel they cannot 'make a difference', their motivation drops precipitously -and in direct proportion to their lack of hope.

In playing the Fear Card, I think something people fail to notice is that Bush took away our power to feel like we are in control of what happens to us. Even though, outwardly, he was saying "I've got this under control. Don't worry, our military will take care of this and your lives will be unaffected and you don't have to sacrifice and you will have tax cuts and things will go on just like before"... What he really did to us was to take the power and influence from our hands.

In the old days, WW2, the people grew victory gardens, the children saved their scrap tinfoil, etc. All in an effort to win the war. The people were a part! They thought they were competing against the Germans and the japanese by saving those ridiculous little bits of tinfoil and wire!

So what Bush did was to take away our impact, our influence, our sense of being a part of something bigger.

That is what Obama will return to us if WE, ALL OF US, become part of this Obama movement. because Obama wants to be a conduit, a message, of that force -that inevitable kickback that will come from the nightmare of the last 8 years. And it will be one hell of a kickback, my friends.

[stevedeshazer]

60. Good point.

No one save military families have been asked to sacrifice anything.

Instead, we were told to go shopping.

Reengaging the American people from the ground up is clearly what is needed.

Cost of fuel at four bucks as gallon won't help the R's, too.

[gateley]

83. You have some EXCELLENT points, Steve -- nt

[george_maniakes]

42. Instead of attacking him, why not act like the leader America deserves.

I think the States deserves more than a leader pushing soundbyte, news-cycle politics.

[Bonobo]

45. I am not saying Obama should attack him. But he must be cut down to size before he does it to us.

Losing is no option this year.

[george_maniakes]

68. If by "cut down to size" you mean intelligent discourse on why some of mccains policies...

are wrong, great. But if you mean a continuation of the democratic primary battle, except exit obama/hillary enter mccain, well screw that. This primary battle is one of the stupidest things ive ever seen, two candidates from the same party, so close in ideology , both extremely intelligent , with great ideas for this country, throwing poop at each other like monkeys. Keep in mind im biased in that i believe its been part of clintons campaign strategy to have obama engage in this type of crap politics, but still, its just a great damn waste of time and effort.

[villager]

43. What's that!? Attacking *McCain* in GDP!? Hosanna!

Who woulda thought!? ;-)

[Bonobo]

47. I think

the Hillary Bosnia Trip was the shark-jumping moment that made me realize that we need to stop it already. If it's not over yet, surely our squabbling here won't affect things anyway, so we might as well concentrate on McCain.

[villager]

66. Indeed -- the Clinton/Obama feud has indeed "jumped the shark" here on DU!

:thumbsup:

[patrice]

48. I'd bet big money McSame was drunk during his interview after the SOTU.

Can't remember what channel I was watching, but I'm a child of the '60s. I was a cocktail waitress for several years and I taught seniors in highschool. The guy was either drunk or stoned on tv.

[BlueIdaho]

50. Just get him mad

This nutcase has a real "anger management" problem.

[lligrd]

51. Don't Forget The Economy That He Admits He Doesn't

understand. Yet, he thinks more tax cuts for the rich are the answer.

[KansasVoter]

52. Let him talk......

McCain will screw up on his own.

He will lose his temper a few times.

He will misspeak all the time.

He will attack Iran. He will NEVER leave Iraq. He is not the same person he was 1 year ago.

[patrice]

59. Welcome KansasVoter! Glad to see you!

:hi:

Do you visit the Kansas Forum here on DU?

[maximusveritas]

53. On character, point out his flip-flopping

He still tries to sell himself as a straight talker. All you have to do is show all the flip-flopping he's done since 2000 and you're set.

On national security, I would argue on both Iraq and Bin Laden. He supports a 100 year war in Iraq, but doesn't want to go into Pakistan to get Bin Laden.

[Vinca]

61. Two additional things we need to bring up again and again are

his love of trade agreements and outsourcing and his nonfix of the healthcare problem. He's promoting more health savings accounts. Just using the word "savings" in this economy evokes laughter.

[slinkerwink]

62. Definitely the lobbyists and the sex

and the Iraq situation, definitely, and his lack of knowledge about economic policies.

[gravity]

67. Let him attack himself

McCain is old, tired and as inspirational as a rock. He stumbles over his positions on Iraq which just makes it look like he doesn't know what he is talking about. Obama will walk all over him in the debates.

I really don't want to see Rovian tactics because it will make Obama look disingenuous. We just need to be firm on our positions, while calling the RW out for their bullshit.

[backscatter712]

69. Keep bringing up last week's Alzheimer's moments.

How can the guy who claims to be the strongest on foreign policy not know the difference between Sunni and Shi'a Islam?

How can he be so stupid as to suggest the Iranians are arming and training Al Qaeda? Given Iran's larely Shi'a and Al Qaeda is batshit-fundie Sunni, they hate each other!

You'd think the foreign policy and national security guru would know this and not have to have Joe Lieberman whisper a correction in his ear...

[WinkyDink]

74. Sorry, but brains have never gone over big with the electorate. It's STILL "The ECONOMY, Stupid".

Mocking an old man for his memory won't sell.

[EFerrari]

73. His temper. It's notorius Do we need a president that rages?

[TragedyandHope]

75. We should play up the Republicans historical distrust of McCain

The Presidential candidate McCain has completely changed his tune on a lot of issues in an effort to become an acceptable candidate for the Republican base. It seems that a lot of voters and right-wing media are only reluctantly supporting him simply as an anti-Dem rather than their favorite choice. We can call into question his true character and bring up their old doubts and dislike to erode the support of his own party. At the same time, we can associate him with all of Bush's negatives, while being careful to avoid any potentially positive association with Bush.


A huge issue has always been how to dissuade Republican voters from the mis-conception that Dems are big government and Repubs are small government. The Republicans are entrenched in the old Washington system and are guilty of criminal overspending, debt and really destroying the economy. Somehow, through smear campaigns and flag-waving they are still able to convince a huge number Americans to vote against their own interests.

We need to come up with really strong, sticky memes that will persuade them otherwise. Everyone will benefit from a better education system, equal opportunity, better healthcare, more jobs, a stronger economy, serious respect for the Constitution, US law and human rights, not to mention restoring the standing of our country in the world community.

The Republicans have a handful of issues (which are mostly prejudices, lies or just lip-service) that seem to grab voters at a gut level and convince them to vote against their own interests and welfare. We need to open voters eyes to this fact.

Things are rough these days, no one supporting either party would argue against that. The Republican playbook uses fear to convince people that things will get much worse without them. We have to convince people that we can all work together to make things tangibly better for everyone.

[Bonobo]

82. Really great points!

That would be a strategy that would serve the Democratic party for a long time. To lose that image and to paint the Repukes as the entrenched wasters of money.

Money for schools instead of Corporations is an idea that will resonate as people's school's become broker and broker. This is happening where I live and all across America. And as the dollar and home values shrink, it will get worse for local budgets.

We must show we are for real family values. Not them.

[me b zola]

76. We should take on his weakest & his "strongest" areas of "competency

First McCain's weakest--the economy. We are at a crucial time for our nations economic health. McCain has acknowledged that he doesn't know any thing about economics. Can we afford, particularly at this time, to choose a leader who has admitted incompetence on the issue of the economy? Remind people that McCain voted to continue bush*s tax cuts to the wealthy. I say remind the people that it was McCain that said that there are Americans who wouldn't pick lettuce for $50/hour--when all of us (migrants, immigrants & citizens) can't find a job to pay a living wage to save our souls. This will resonate.

Economy meets Iraq/Iran
What are McCain's ties to the defense industry? Does he stand to gain by continuing the disastrous occupation in Iraq? Does he have financial motivation to attack Iran? All of billions to the defense industry while our schools are crumbling, millions of people are without health care, tens of thousands of people are losing their homes.

Then to McCain's perceived strength--national security. Yeah, right. The guy who not once, but four times claimed that al qaeda(Sunni) was linked to Iran(Shia'). So which is it, McCain? Are you (and other supporters of the war, occupation, and further military actions)just blowing a lot of hot air up our skirts and misleaing the public, or do you just not have a clue--or both? McCain has unabashedly backed this disastrous war & occupation and is threatening Iran. People who were once close to McCain are now warning us that McCain has an even larger blood-lust than bush*.


Those are my initial thoughts. Go get him, Sen Obama!

[Bonobo]

79. You hit on an excellent point. His weakest AND strongest, I like it. In fact, they are linked.

Obama hinted at it in his 3rd of 3 speeches last week, the Iraq War/Economic woes connection.

To pretend that one can spend 3 Trillion dollars and somehow this doesn't affect the Economy is a pretense that we can no longer afford anymore. I can't imagine how they have pretended that it was ever othrwise to begin with.

[stevedeshazer]

96. Great points, zola

I had almost forgotten McCain's claim that Americans wouldn't pick lettuce for fifty bucks an hour. I sure as hell would!

Good post.

[ficus1]

77. "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Her father is Janet Reno."

McCain is a sack of wrinkled, old shit. A 527 could put McCain's words up in an ad and the media would be forced to cover it because it would create a heated conversation. The media love a controversy that gets personal. Should we elect a president who makes personal attacks against a teenage girl?

[gateley]

87. NO!

He did NOT say that -- did he????

[stevedeshazer]

97. Yes, he did

http://www.salon.com/news/1998/06/25newsb.html

[gateley]

106. Man -

I was going to alert on the poster until I read his/her entire post. (I guess the quotation marks should have been a clue.)

That's just ugly.

[treestar]

92. Did McBush actually say that?

If so, we need do nothing. McBush will say something equally stupid during the campaign - it will show his lack of judgment.

[NYDem Observer]

85. He is old and senile

As simple as it sounds his health issues will win us the election.

[Sulawesi]

93. Repsectfully, this is not a PRIMARY topic.

[Bonobo]

94. God forbid we should stop talking crap and eating ourselves...

[walldude]

112. Yeah that might prove productive...

god forbid we actually get anything done...

[harun]

114. This is a productivity free zone, and for a while it will stay that way, period. (n/t)

[Barack_America]

100. It's got to be character.

That is McCain's definite weakness vs. Barack. Polls show that voters nearly equally trust Obama and McCain (with Hillary running a distant third).

The Dems need to show the public who McCain is really in bed with and blow this "straight talk" myth right out of the water.

You want to fight the battle for Independent voters? Well, their main issue is "trust". That's why Obama took such a hit with them over this Wright flap.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

102. Going for Easter dinner. Great topic.

Will think on it as well. K & R

Happy Easter to all who observe the occasion.

[ColbertWatcher]

104. Accountability

First, we need to equate Bush with all his (and the GOP's) failures. Then equate More of the Same McCain™ with Bush. We won't have to make the GOP failure=McCain connection directly, everyone will unconsciously do that themselves.

Next, the biggest failure of the GOP is a lack of accountability.

We need to question everything about the GOP in terms of a lack of accountability by attacking their donor base: the privatization-industrial complex.

PERSONAL CHARACTER:

The biggest part of accountability is oversight.

Begin to question the GOP's:

1. Faith-based crap, for funneling all government money to Christian organizations, such as schools

2. their proprietary intellectual property laws, which prevent people from reviewing vote counting (for instance)

3. replacing non-partisan government employees with party-vetted insiders. Is this America, or the Nation of GOP?

After questions are asked, ask why no one is asking them. Where is the infrastructure to perform the oversight?

1. Why is tax-payer's monies going to private groups, such as the Faith-based ones who are allowed beyond the reach of accountability?

2. Why are private entities, whose intellectual property are given proprietary status beyond the reach of accountability, given so much control over important work and multi-million-dollar contracts?

3. Why are the people who are left in positions of oversight former insiders of the industries they are supposed hold accountable?


NATIONAL DEFENSE:

Once again, we can frame this in terms of accountability. For McCain, we use the Uniform Military Code of Justice, and use words from http://wikiality.com/Dr._Frank_Luntz#Words_That_Frank_Has_Discovered_to_Describe_Americans">this list (or, the section http://wikiality.com/Dr._Frank_Luntz#Words_That_Frank_Has_Discovered_to_Describe_Terrorists">below it)

That's all I can think of right now...

[eridani]

107. Go after the "straight talk" meme

Point out the lies, the inconsistency, all the lobbyist connections.

Associate him with Bush every single chance you get.

Go after his temper tantrums.

Go after his age indirectly, by pointing out how much smarter he was when he was younger. He wasn't too enthusiastic about the first Oil War in 1992, and definitely agreed with Bush the First that going to Baghdad was a really stupid idea.

[Barack_America]

108. Agreed.

:hi:

[ColbertWatcher]

110. I disagree, his strength is not "straight talk"...

...his strength is his "integrity".

That meme should be exposed as the myth that it truly is.

[theredpen]

113. Two words: Keating Five

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five

[Hell Hath No Fury]

117. Velcro him to GW...

on every issue possible, then repeat the following at every opportunity: "Do you want more of the same?" Also, if Obama is the nominee, push the notion that McCain represents the past, Obama the future.

Simple as that.