Posted on 09/08/2008 5:55:59 AM PDT by 1curiousmind
I seldom post vantities, but have been frustrated by the lack of answer (at least that I've been able to find) to what has become Obama's last stand - trying to convince the country that McCain is Bush's political twin. If any group can debunk this myth with force and creativity it is the FR community. Please post ideas, facts, articles, and other related info here. I'll start it off with a few ideas.
2) Remember all the times when the news media lead with this type of line: "Today, Senator John McCain proved himself once again as a maverick refusing to go along with the Bush administration ....." I'm sure they could find dozen's of clips of Andrea Mitchell, Tom Brokaw, even Keith Olberman, stating this. I'd love to see a 30 second montage of these sound bites. If nothing else, one of those youtube videos.
The devil’s in the details ... How many times did Captain BS vote along party lines - I’ll bet Barry voted with Harry Reid more often than McCain voted with Bush. What does the record show? This might be the easy way to counter.
sorry doesn’t
Good point. But I wouldn’t worry too much about this line of attack. The rise in McCain’s poll numbers indicate that the public has already ‘discounted’ this known fact. The RATs are going to have to engage in a different line of attack to make a reversal (unfortunately since they have really nothing of substance to offer - they are now running out of ammo, considering this was going to be their main mantra).
Looking good at this point. “Full speed ahead, mates!”
Why is everyone so ashamed of voting for tax cuts? How did W vote that any conservative should be ashamed of?
That are keeping their powder dry, massing their troops , building their resources, all the while the enemy is giving up the positions and bringing their sycophants out into the opening for easy shots.
Why counter them? Bush isn't running for re-election. And he is not as unpopular as the MSM and the Dems have led themselves to believe.
Look back at what bills have actually passed the Senate and see that 90% of all bills sent to the Pres for signing were "naming a Post office", declaring a "National Bisquit Month", etc, etc. You'll see Obama "voted" for these important bills just like McCain!
Obama voted with Harry Reid 92% of the time. Those are real votes, not like the McCain comparison (Bush doesn’t vote).
However, I don’t know what the point is of “debunking” the 90% number. McCain is the one who said he voted with Bush 90% of the time. He said so when he was trying to say he wasn’t that liberal.
Since McCain said it, McCain is hardly going to “debunk” it.
That’s the whole problem - the charge is meaningless. Is it supposed to mean that McCain voted for bills that Bush eventually signed into law? Is this a bad thing by itself? It would be a more effective charge if the campaign specified which unpopular bills McCain supported. The best thing for the McCain camp would be simply to talk about the popular legislation that he voted for that eventually became law - especially those bills that Obama opposed.
The Constitution doesn't give the President a Senate vote.
The only way to derive statistics is to count the Senate legislation that the administration has expressed a definite view on, and to guess what the administration's stance would have been on the rest.
“And he is not as unpopular as the MSM and the Dems have led themselves to believe.”
___________
True. The reason for his low approval numbers is that conservatives have been so let down by him.
“The best thing for the McCain camp would be simply to talk about the popular legislation that he voted for that eventually became law - especially those bills that Obama opposed.”
_______________________
That’s the kind of thing that I had in mind. I’m sure that in the 50% where McCain “voted” with Bush (I understand that Bush doesn’t vote), there has to be a handful where a big majority of Americans would be on McCain’s side. Highlight those.
Since 2000 McCain has voted party line about 80% of the time. The average of GOP Senators is about 85%. Included in the 20% of the time McCain broke with the party are votes against the Highway Bill, Farm Bill and the Pill Bill.
George W. Bush does not have a vote in the US Senate.
President Bush may make suggestions to the legislative branch, and when legislation is voted on and passed, he may either sign it, or veto it. The veto option was rarely used by the Bush Administration until very recently (much to the dismay of the conservatives).
So it may be said, that Harry Reid has almost as good a record of “agreeing” with the RESULTS of the legislation that was passed, and certainly Ted Kennedy ended up on the “same page” as George Bush any number of times.
So much for “comity” and “reaching across the aisle”. The Democrats, when they were able, STILL spit in Bush’s face.
McCain won't do this but is where the problem is.
I read here yesterday that Obama voted with Ried 93% of the time, I was suprised it was so low.
It's backfiring on them. McCain/Palin are out talking about moving the country forward while Obama/Biden keep talking about "Bush, Bush, Bush." This only serves to make Obama's crowds think of Bush everytime they hear or think of Obama. Word association is a tricky game and Obama is driving people away with his "Bush, Bush, Bush" talk.
JMHO
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