Posted on 08/03/2008 12:00:56 PM PDT by Publius804
McCain Forgetting the First Rule of Fight Club
By Salena Zito
An old political adage says, "He who sets the debate wins the election."
If the presidential election was held tomorrow, it would be hello President Barack Obama because, so far, John McCain is handing him a victory.
McCain is better than the campaign he has run so far. Most people admit that McCain is an inspirational figure - even Obama has admitted that - so why isn't McCain telling voters where he wants to lead them?
Instead, his campaign is all about his opponent.
"He himself is reinforcing that this campaign is all about Obama," says Democratic strategist Mark Siegel. "His ads and his message are all negatives. The problem with that is, it is driving his own negatives up as well."
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
He has no choice but to define Obama since the Obama media cheer lead for him. And how come Obama poll numbers have tanked? Siegel your guy is a loser.
I agree Red, what makes me think this strategy is working is the way the libs are whining about it. The Emperor/Messiah has no clothes and McCain is pointing that out.
I disagree entirely. The McCain campaign is brilliantly foiling the Drive-By Media’s attempt to overwhelm them with their lickspittle adoration of The One.
They are taking the lead in defining BO. It is classic and effective. Everyone knows who John McCain is. Nobody knows who Barrrrack is, so they’re telling them.
All I hear from all sides is that McCain is running a terrible campaign, but he is tied in a time where he should be far behind. He is doing a great job in the past 10 days redefining his opponent. His positive campaign will begin at his convention where he will set the tone for the last 2 months.
Also, I like that they are using Obama’s own words to define him in these commercials. Kudos to the campaign for thier work.
I also think the McCain camp is doing a great job. They are turning the media adoration and huge crowds of Obama into a negative not a positive.
I think his ads are working as well, but I think he should be way out in front of Obama. If he would also run positive ads about himself as well as the negative ads about Obama, I believe his poll numbers would increase while Obama’s decrease.
They need to keep this up and portray Obama as the candidate of the liberal elites. The only change he will bring about is the change thats left in your pockets after his huge tax increases.
Instead, his campaign is all about his opponent.”]
McCain doesn’t have to be inspirational. Barry has committed so many errors that McCain may be able to simply shut up and become the default choice. Give the anointed one another three months and the only ones who’ll be voting dim in any significant numbers will be the hard core socialists and certain ethnic groups. Negative is gonna be real effective this time around.
This article is bs. McCain is using the time before the convention to define Obama as a celebrity without profile ,
a flip flopper and an arogant empty suit who is too afraid to debate. After the convention , McCain will have plenty
of time to tear Obama apart on issues after Obama’s character is destroy. His reference to 96 is right except
this time McCain is the Clinton doing the defining and Obama
is the Dole (where’s the outrage) , except Obama’s outrage is his race card he pulls out whenever it gets tough.
The McCain team is showing us that they have to courage and focus to raise an important question: Are we going to allow someone into the White House solely on the merits of image over substance? If that were to happen, what nature of danger would we be vulnerable if the chief executive were excused from scrutiny?
Most definitely!
That is the question that needs to be asked again and again. Is Obama capable? We all know the answer is NO! Can you imagine Obama sitting across the table from Vladamir Putin or Hugo Chavez? They’d eat him alive while he’d be telling them about the audacity of a hope. Obama is the quintessential candidate for a vapid decaying media driven age in American politics. He belongs on Lifetime tv not in the White House.
Facts are stubborn things.
Ronald Reagan
” so why isn’t McCain telling voters where he wants to lead them?”
Perhaps because if they knew where he wanted to lead them, they’d never follow. He’s made it this far because those voting for him don’t have a clue about his positions and votes.
McCain Supporters Farthest Off the Mark
http://www.cis.org/articles/2008/voter_release_08.html
John McCain has as much chance of winning in November 2008 as Bob Dole did in November 1996. McCain is about as Republican as Ted Kennedy and cares about no one but himself. McCain’s campaign so far is so uninspiring and amateurish that it makes the Dukakis campaign look brilliant. It’s going to be a Democratic landslide for Obama.
The full stadium for his nomination speech could work agianst him.
It’s a necessary strategy for McCain.
Negative political ads work. Ask Dukakis, Carter, Kerry. The GOP’s best chance of defeating Barry Hussein is to trot out his Trotskyite friends, his Communist mentor, his radical Leftist agenda, his egomania, etc.
There is an abundance of material that McCain should use without mercy to discredit the snow job that the msm is trying to pull on the electorate. So far, the only group that it’s succeeding with are the clueless university students, the dedicated Socialists, and Black racists.
yes, but the election is not tomorrow. McCain is running for the november election. Most people will not pay attention until after Labor Day. Let’s see what he does after then.
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