Desperate: McCain is Losing

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-15-2008
Desperate: McCain is Losing
18
Sat, 10-04-2008 - 8:41pm

Since he has nothing to say about his own plans and positions to sway the voter, he and his campaign are going to "get tough" and run attack ads on Obama re associations, etc.  He's given up on Michigan, dropping every day in the polls, made embarrassing, I would think, comments to the faithful that were taped.  And now that "straight talker maverick is just going to attack the other guy.  But he started that, I guess, when he saw the 200,000 that came out to see Obama in (gasp) Europe - you know, the Paris Hilton ad.  LOL.  How did that work out for you,  John?


I wonder if he knows that other than not being trusted by the majority of Americans to know much about the economy, which is the main issue, people really don't like just attack ads from either candidate.  Just talk about what you can do for us.



By Michael D. Shear

updated 1:22 p.m. ET, Sat., Oct. 4, 2008


WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat's judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said.


With just a month to go until Election Day, McCain's team has decided that its emphasis on the senator's biography as a war hero, experienced lawmaker and straight-talking maverick is insufficient to close a growing gap with Obama. The Arizonan's campaign is also eager to move the conversation away from the economy, an issue that strongly favors Obama and has helped him to a lead in many recent polls.


"We're going to get a little tougher," a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. "We've got to question this guy's associations. Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here," said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity.



Being so aggressive has risks for McCain if it angers swing voters, who often say they are looking for candidates who offer a positive message about what they will do. That could be especially true this year, when frustration with Washington politics is acute and a desire for specifics on how to fix the economy and fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is strong.


Robert Gibbs, a top Obama adviser, dismissed the new McCain strategy. "This isn't 1988," he said. "I don't think the country is going to be distracted by the trivial." He added that Obama will continue to focus on the economy, saying that Americans will remain concerned about the country's economic troubles even as the Wall Street crisis eases somewhat.

















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  Swing states are now a priority
Oct. 4: MSNBC's Chuck Todd takes a look at the latest polls in key battleground states as the presidential election heads into the final month.

MSNBC

'Just the beginning'
Moments after the House of Representatives approved a bailout package for Wall Street on Friday afternoon, the McCain campaign released a television ad that challenges Obama's honesty and asks, "Who is Barack Obama?" The ad alleges that "Senator Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes. Ninety-four times. He's not truthful on taxes." The charge that Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes has been called misleading by independent fact-checkers, who have noted that the majority of those votes were on nonbinding budget resolutions.


A senior campaign official called the ad "just the beginning" of commercials that will "strike the new tone" in the campaign's final days. The official said the "aggressive tone" will center on the question of "whether this guy is ready to be president."


McCain's only positive commercial, called "Original Mavericks," has largely been taken off the air, according to Evan Tracey of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ads.


Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's performance at Thursday night's debate embodied the new approach, as she used every opportunity to question Obama's honesty and fitness to serve as president. At one point she said, "Barack Obama voted against funding troops after promising that he would not do so."





Palin kept up the attack yesterday, saying in an interview on Fox News that Obama is "reckless" and that some of what he has said, "in my world, disqualifies someone from consideration as the next commander in chief."


McCain hinted Thursday that a change is imminent, perhaps as soon as next week's debate. Asked at a Colorado town hall, "When are you going to take the gloves off?" the candidate grinned and replied, "How about Tuesday night?"




 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-2008
Sun, 10-05-2008 - 11:31am

We went generic months ago - for almost everything but now my grocery bill is nearly exactly the same as it was a year ago - before generics!

Enough with character attacks - I sincerely doubt, after the prolonged primary, that there is anything more McCain can find on Obama that hasn't already been used. So lets just get on with what you plan to do! Why should we vote for you????

I think most Americans are smart enough to know that only desperate politicians sink into the gutter. If McCain really had anything negative to say about Obama he would have raised it months ago. Letting Palin make this old story claim today just makes her look more uninformed than ever.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2006
Sun, 10-05-2008 - 11:34am

You really should e-mail your suggestion to the Obama campaign.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-13-2008
Sun, 10-05-2008 - 12:16pm

There are people a whole lot smarter and more politically savvy than I am in the campaign... but it would make McCain look silly. Such a short message would stick in people's minds, and be called forth in their mind every time one of McCain's nasty commercials ran.


Full length fiction: worlds undone

"You have no power over my body..." ~ Anne Hutchinson

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-10-2008
Sun, 10-05-2008 - 12:54pm

OT.. I got this analogy from the Daily Kos.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-03-2008
Sun, 10-05-2008 - 12:56pm
Unfortunately, there are still people pea-brained and stupid enough to believe the attacks on Obama.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2008
Sun, 10-05-2008 - 1:36pm

((every single time we have to put gas in our cars we know how much more expensive it has gotten, every single time we have to go to the grocery store we know how much more expensive food has gotten, anytime someone applies for a loan and can't get one we know how the economy has tanked, everytime someone loses a job we know that the jobless rate is going up))

This is so true. Everytime I fill my tank I roll my eyes. I applied for a loan a few weeks ago that still has not been processed, and may never, so I am worse off than 8 years ago. But there are some that are not, and they will fight for status quo and vote Mccain.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-2008
Sun, 10-05-2008 - 1:46pm

In many ways I am better off than I was 8 years ago - because I got a degree, got a job, worked towards my masters, and got the corresponding raise. That said, economically I am not where I would be had the oil prices, and food prices, and housing prices, and energy prices not gone through the roof. I am better off in spite of Bush, but not where I should be BECAUSE of Bush.

Luckily I do not use credit - I operate on a cash only basis for the most part - but will in all probability never qualify for a loan now. My children will be paying for his mistakes for years. I have always been appalled at the number of people who were willing to vote for a man that had previously driven companies into the ground - now he has done it to the country! Wish I could say I didn't see it coming but I did - 8 years ago.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2007
Sun, 10-05-2008 - 1:52pm
I saw the funniest sticker.

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