Posted on 10/06/2012 7:50:57 AM PDT by ken5050
You nailed it. Four years ago, Biden and Bill Clinton spoke of the facade, “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”...”This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.”
Obama cannot win a debate on substance. He needs a “you’re no Jack Kennedy moment.”
Sarah Palin recently issued a warning that the Obama team is “not going to go down without swinging. They’re going to pull something.” Axelrod may pull the stunt he used when he first hit the political stage 1984 as Paul Simon’s communication director, and within weeks, co-campaign manager (wiki).
(no link)
SEN. PAUL SIMON: LOSING TAUGHT HIM TO FIGHT BACK
Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) - Sunday, December 13, 1987
Author: Andrew Cassel Knight-Ridder News Service
CHICAGO — Illinois television viewers could not have been more surprised if they had just seen Mr. Rogers spank a child. There on their screens was courtly, mild Paul Simon, wagging his finger at his opponent and calling him a liar.
It was Oct. 18, 1984, and the second televised debate between Simon and the man he was trying to unseat, Republican Sen. Charles Percy, had just begun. Tossing aside a question about the CIA’s activities in Nicaragua, his baritone voice rising in volume, Simon let fly: “Chuck Percy, you have put on the air a TV ad, a sleazy TV ad that is crude, intentionally distorts my stand on the deficit, and you know it intentionally distorts that stand. You have in fact lied to the people of the state of Illinois.”
It would have been strong stuff coming from most politicians; coming from Simon, it was a shocker. In 28 years in Illinois politics, he had become known as the state Boy Scout, principled, high-minded and slow to disparage opponents. The son of a Lutheran minister, he had a personal style that made him well liked even by many of those who gagged on his New Deal-style liberalism. “I want to win,” he told the audience that night, “but not so badly I’ll lie to the people of Illinois.”
(snip)
Even so, the dukes-up posture didn’t come naturally. Simon’s aggressive opening was carefully rehearsed, and he spent hours practice-sparring with staffers, trying to anticipate all of Percy’s moves. Remembers aide Vicki Otten, “Anyone who knew him could see a little bit of squirming in the chair when he had to attack Percy.”
The verbal assault shook people’s image of Simon. The 200 people watching the debate live were nonplused: “Half the room started applauding, and half booed
because he wasn’t playing by the rules,” Ms. Otten said. A private poll taken immediately afterward showed Simon down by 11 points.
Still, said Axelrod , “It was cathartic. Sort of like those ‘Rocky’ movies, where Stallone pushes the bad guy off him.” His advisers decided to abandon the rough stuff for the remainder of the race. “In the simplest possible way, we put Paul Simon in front of a camera and we had him discuss his political principles,” Axelrod said. Simon dug in, working harder and demanding the same of his staff.
“Something clicked in those last three weeks,” Axelrod recalled. “He became a flawless candidate — he knew exactly what he wanted to say, and he projected the image of a man who was sure-footed and reliable.” That image, which carried him into the Senate by 90,000 votes, is the one he is banking on this year to capture the biggest prize of all. It showed up in the first Democratic debate in July when he told voters that “if you want a candidate slickly packaged like some new soft drink, I’m not your man.”
(snip)
Setting the stage:
Obama ad says Romney lied about tax cut plan
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/obama-adviser-axelrod-calls-on-media-to-attack-romney/
Obama Adviser Axelrod Calls on Media to Attack Romney
EXCERPT
“And so today, as the day after, I think the question for you [the media], for the American people is really one of character and whether or not a candidacy that’s so fundamentally rooted in hiding the truth and the facts from the American people and deception is the basis of trust on which you assign the presidency to a person.
“So that is what we are going to focus on moving forward. We‘re going to hold Governor Romney accountable for the things that he said last night and we’re going to make him justify those claims – as I hope you will make him justify those claims.
“Because we need an an honest and a genuine and realistic plan to move forward and not a bunch of lines designed to get you through a debate.”
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