Ungovernable?
| Tue Sep. 9, 2008 7:39 PM PDT
UNGOVERNABLE?....Via TPM, I see that the McCain campaign has pretty much decided to go all-in on the culture war front. Their latest ad, which Lee Atwater must be chuckling over from wherever he's warming his toes these days, basically says that Barack Obama wants to teach your five-year-old how to put on a condom. This is, the narrator warns ominously, "Wrong for your family."
Which it no doubt would be if it were true. It's not, of course, which certainly raises the pressing question of how Obama ought to respond to this kind of swill — since it's now plain that this is what the McCain campaign plans to spoon out for the next eight weeks. I don't know the answer to that, though, so instead I'll toss out another thought.
John McCain has obviously decided that he can't win a straight-up fight, so he's decided instead to wage a battle of character assassination, relentless lies, and culture war armageddon. So what happens on November 5th?
If McCain wins, he'll face a Democratic congress that's beyond furious. Losing is one thing, but after eight years of George Bush and Karl Rove, losing a vicious campaign like this one will cause Dems to go berserk. They won't even return McCain's phone calls, let alone work with him on legislation. It'll be four years of all-out war.
And what if Obama wins? The last time a Democrat won after a resurgence of the culture war right, we got eight years of madness, climaxing in an impeachment spectacle unlike anything we'd seen in a century. If it happens again, with the lunatic brigade newly empowered and shrieking for blood, Obama will be another Clinton and we'll be in for another eight years of near psychotic dementia.
Am I exaggerating? Sure. Am I exaggerating a lot? I don't think so. McCain, in his overwhelming desire for office, is unloosing forces that are likely to make the country only barely governable no matter who wins. This would be very bad juju at any time, but George Bush has so seriously weakened the country over the course of his administration that we don't have a lot of room for error left if we want to avoid losing the war on terror for good and turning America into a banana republic while we're at it. We need to start turning the ship around now.
McCain doesn't seem to care much about this anymore, but the rest of us ought to. Unfortunately, no one asked us. I'm afraid we have some rocky times ahead.
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Comments
Jerry, unless Obama responds, lots of dittoheads and maybe a few independents. I watched the damn ad a couple of times and wanted to take a shower. The visuals all but accuse Obama of being a secret child molester. It is beyond shameful.
This ad demands a really strong response. If I were Obama I would be really mad, and I would let people know just how mad I am.
The night of the first debate, Obama needs to pull a Joseph Welch to McCain's McCarthy: "Sir, have you no decency? Has your desire for the White House become such that you have let consultants prostitute you by emphasizing the base, irrelevant culture wars over issues such as economics and healthcare that genuinely affect the everyday lives of the American public?"
I'm not saying no one would believe it. I am saying I wonder what percentage of people will believe it. It's such a ridiculously stupid claim to make, I want to know how many of my fellow citizens will hear that claim, and be convinced by it.
It's the pessimist/Mencken in me.
Submitted by cleek (not verified) on Tue Sep. 9, 2008 7:52 PM PDT.
If McCain wins, he'll face a Democratic congress that's beyond furious
??? WTF ???
this will be, substantially, the same congress that has lifted its skirts for the owrst president in history, time and again.
they will bow down before the Mavericky Master, lest they be called rude names by the Maverick-worshipping press.
you are absolutely nuts if you think the Dems will fight McCain on anything, let alone go "berserk"
In Mencken's "boobocracy," I think that in fact many, many people will believe this ad.
That being said, if Obama wins, I'm not sure they'll be 8 years of Clinton-like problems. It's not like slick Willie didn't bring a lot of that upon himself, letting himself be the comeback kid over and over. Obama seems more mature than that.
McCain doesn't care a bit about the country, his protestations aside. He has become the people who defeated him in 2000.
And in the midst of all this, there's a pretty good chance that Sarah Palin will end up president, one way or another.
If we still have a country by then, that is.
I've never been so discouraged in my life. By putting Palin on the ticket, McCain has ratified the views of the rabid right: education is evil and a tool of the left; ergo, science is just a matter of opinion; the media is another elite, therefore discountable. Oh, yes, and we need to institutionalize Palin's exceedingly weird religious views. I get more than a little worried about someone who presumably believes in "The Rapture" having access to the nuclear codes. Do-it-yourself Armageddon, anyone?
And women who have the misfortune of being raped will just have to take (and rear) the consequences. Because life is so precious, you know.
The triumph of, what did they used to call it in more enlightened times? Oh, yes: Boobocracy.
1) The only people who'll believe a horseshit ad like that are already in the 28% club, and have been off Obama's radar for a long time. McCain's team seems to believe in Karl Rove's rally-the-base strategy. I think it was a loser in '06, and will be even more of a loser this year. (Which is partly my way of saying, this day's polls are strictly convention-inflated outliers. Obama's going to win handily)
2) And if Obama does, I see no reason to expect a repeat of the Clinton experience. Clinton was hobbled by being the first Dem president in a long time (the way Nixon was for the GOP), and for being elected in a minority vote. Obama will have over 50% (I'll say over 52%), much enhanced Congressional majorities, and the narrative that a Dem president is not a Halley's Comet-like occurrence. He'll have some of the deference -- from the country and press, if not the hard-cores -- that Reagan did when he swept in.
Also, if Obama refuses to get into the gutter -- as he has been doing -- and emerges triumphant, he discredits the sleaze tactics in a way Clinton never could. (Andf that Hillary would have half-legitimized by responding in kind)
IMO, McCain isn't concerned with losing. My cynical side tells me that he knows he can say anything, and twist everything. It will gain him some votes, and lose some others, but he isn't really worried about losing. Voting fraud, with machines that cannot be audited properly, is going to win for him. I hope I'm wrong, but his campaign is using tactics that even the MSM are beginning to call him on.
I don't see why McCain would care what Democrats think; he hasn't before and he doesn't now. All he cares about is scoring points and making Democrats crazy.
Besides - for the last 30 years there have been NO penalties for trashing the Democractic Party. Not from the Democrats, and certainly not from the press. It's past time for that to change, but it won't come from the 'centrists' or the inside the beltway Democrats. And it's not like the Democrats have a media machine on their side to echo their talking points.
The mistake, I think, is to take these attacks personally and respond personally. I'd frame a response as not about McCain having no shame, but rather McCain acting as part of a morally corrupt Republican Party bankrupt of ideas.
Don't just go after McCain in other words, go after him as just the front man for his party that shows why the McCain-Palin ticket can't and won't deliver on change. This is just more of the same they've been giving us for the last 8 years. Obama's "They must think you're stupid" talking point should be a good springboard for this.
Meanwhile, anyone want to do a viral video about "Good Touch - Bad Touch" showing McCain staring at Palin's butt and their frequent hugs? Painting McCain as a creepy old man is almost too easy.
The Republicans have consistently won elections, in spite of their corrupt policies, because they understand that politics IS a war. And in any war, you do and say what you must to win. It is all that matters.
I don't know how we can change this. And I don't suggest that we begin behaving like them. But, Democrats will always be the losing team until we understand these basic truths.
First, I hope Obama wins; I think McCain will.
I think the level of fury depends on who gets to lead the dems - if it is Harry Reid then he will make it so hot for McCain that the maverick will be wearing a sweater during the summer. If Pelosi and Dean spearhead the opposition, then we might have a chance.
That said, the Palin pick seems like it might save a couple Rethug senate seats, so there will be even less leverage for the dems. Then we'll lose some seats in 2010 b/c people will call congress on not being responsive to their needs (b/c they won't be able to be).
Vincent, this should not wait until the debates.
I *really* would like to see Obama buy ads to counter this. With him speaking directly to the camera, explaining why the ad is a lie and why this displays how McCain has surrendered all honor.
Please! Use my money for this. McCain is a gambler, but he is all in on this. Obama has more money and more guts - and has the moral position. I hope he calls McCain sorry ass bluff.
I never expected McCain to run an honorable campaign. But I will admit I am surprised at how decisively he has decided to run the dirtiest campaign since, I don't know, 1900?
At times like this I fall back on Lincoln and his "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether".
I don't think McCain can win this one--people are tired of repeated appeals to cowardice and ignorance--but if he does, the voters swayed by fear and his Desperate Governor running mate will get the brunt of the beating he and his party will lay down.
And if the day comes that a bank board in Macao starts dictating American fiscal policy, I don't think they could do it in a more reckless manner than whomever's minding the till now.
The last time a Democrat won after a resurgence of the culture war right, we got eight years of madness, climaxing in an impeachment spectacle unlike anything we'd seen in a century.Point taken, but given the specific circumstances that led to Clinton's impeachment, "resulting" might have been a better word choice.
The only way this shit will stop is if one of the old farts of the inside the beltway class calls him down on it.
This will not happen.
Being a POW (a Republican POW, that is) gives you carte blanche to say and do anything.
No shame, no accountability.
I'm beginning to wonder if this emphasis on states like Ohio and Pa makes any sense. Not that those aren't perfectly wonderful states, but it seems like the folks Obama is trying to court there are the great glob of idiots who will believe this kind of crap and gleefully circulate it among themselves. They are the same dolts who hang on every word that comes out of Sarah Palin's mouth.
Wouldn't it make more sense to set our sights on the republican business crowd? I realize that's also a tough sell, but it least we have fighting chance. Surely, with all the businesses failing or requiring bailouts, some of them are smart enough to see that their own interests have not been well served by Bush. And I KNOW they are smart enough not to believe this b.s. from McCain.
It's obvious that McCain views Obama with contempt. Also, McCain's pick of Palin isn't about governing, just getting McCain elected. We shouldn't be surprised by anything McCain does, because he will do anything to ensure he's elected. Running against someone he detests probably pisses him off, but also makes it easier to sling the lies and innuendo. This is where 527's would help. A relentless attack on his "honor," or concept of honor is called for.
So, basically, McCain is accusing Obama of being a pedophile for supporting a bill intended to teach kids about the dangers of STD's, teenage pregnancy, and child predators.
I keep thinking that a good response would prominently include the word "Bristol".
I don't think we will be in that much trouble if Obama is elected
Remember Clinton wasn't even elected with a majority- Obama will get at least 50%. Also- no one calls him "Slick Willie" and he doesn't have the famous Clenis. There just won't be that much red meat for the red meat crowd.
The GOP response to losing an election has been to make the country ungovernable for decades now. In 2000, there was an undercurrent that it would be better to let Bush win because the Dems would accept it and go home but God only knows what the GOP crazies might do. Remember the people chanting "get out of Cheney's house" outside the Naval Observatory weeks before Gore's term was over?
Something changed during the Reagan years. GOP'ers didn't like losing to Carter, but they accepted it. Since then, they seem to have lost the ability to regard any victory by the Dems as legitimate - it's a result of fraud, or trickery, or it's just wrong, dammit. Echoes of Kissinger's remark that just because the Chileans elected Allende didn't mean we had to let him keep power.
This is a problem that's a lot more basic than a biased media or an insider Village culture. I don't know how a democracy works when one of two major parties no longer accepts losing as a legitimate outcome. Given some of what we've seen over the last decade, maybe it has pretty much stopped working already.
I really hate to disagree. But I think in about 5 min, we will have ol' Hotair Harry sayin' that for the good of the country, we have to leave the vitriol of the campaign behind us, and start to govern (cave) with my good friend John McCain.
Some 527 needs to make an ad with a man speaking to a small audience of all men, the speaker looks like McCain but with his back to the camera, telling the joke that McCain told about Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno.
Don't think that midwestern Hillary supporters would appreciate that too much.
Soooo you're saying that it will take 5 months for elected Dems to get upset?
Thats not surprise in my voice, its cynicism. I hate what I'm feeling right now--what I've been feeling since '06. I wonder how many people can stand to continually vote for these people. I know I can't.
I know "Rome wasn't built in a day", but it wasn't built on such a festering pool of ineptitude either.
the role of the media, the Fourth Estate, is to act as a referee. For a long while now, it has avoided that responsibility, but the McCain campaign is forcing a re-think, at least among some journalists. How it will turn out, though, I don't know. Thank God for the internet and blogs, because otherwise we'd be screwed totally.
This ad already has aired. I saw it in St. Louis.
Look, I've seen some trash in my day, but this is the lowest piece of disgusting garbage ever, period.
John McCain has NO honor left. None.
This is the most disgraceful ad ever. No contest.
This also shows how it IS about the lies. We can't play the game on their terms, because our side is still decent - Republicans are indecent.
At least we know what we're up against. Now we know they'll stop at NOTHING. Nothing.
Now what?
This is why they called him McNasty. Aside from his POW experience, McCain really hasn't been a man of honor. Fight back! Bring up the fact that he graduated at the bottom of his Naval Academy class. Let's remind voters how John Mccain tossed his first wife and children aside like garbage so he could marry a millionaires daughter. Lets remind voters how he stuffed Charlie Keatings dirty bribe money into his pockets just before keatings Crooked S&L went under. Lets show McCain debating himself with his flip-flopping, before-and- after 2008 positions on the issues.
Of course, there is a still significant chance of an Obama blowout. If Obama blows out McCain, the GOP MAY decide to rebuild and move away from the politics of personal destruction and actually develop a policy platform again. Meanwhile, the new president, working with a sizable congressional majority, passes an undeniable progressive legislative platform.
Keep the faith, this is a realistic scenario.
instead of firing back ads, there's a simple solution for Obama: call a news conference and go ape-shit over the McCain campaign. It will get the attention of the press, it will get widely covered (I bet they'll love it), and it won't cost a dime.
For what it's worth, Mark Halperin was virtually frothing at the mouth tonight on Anderson Cooper, about the coverage the media is giving to the "lipstick on a pig" quote. He really landed into Cooper and said the people scheduling the shows' contents were to blame for giving this issue one moment of air time.
He and Gergen are clearly worried about the McCain ascendancy, but Halperin (like the MSNBC crew) was also really angry. McCain may have made a mistake by making the press the enemy at the convention.
Let us hope. Or pray. Or prey.
There is a -- perhaps -- apochrphal story which puts the bind that this add puts Obama into...
The story goes that LBJ told his campaign manager to put out an ad calling his opponent a "pig fucker". The manager, shocked by this said "I can't do that, it's not true!". Johnson answered, "I know, but I just want to hear him deny it!".
The problem, as blogged here and in many other places, is that repudiating a lie seems to reinforce it in the public mind. The press ought to be doing its job here, but of course that will not happen. In that case, how is one to deal with attacks of this sort?
Submitted by Keith M Ellis (not verified) on Tue Sep. 9, 2008 9:32 PM PDT.
"...unloosing..."
A small error, there. You probably intended either unleashing or let loose and accidentally combined the two into a neologism that literally means exactly the opposite of what you intended.
The vast majority of the electorate think that man was created "according to God's plan".
A near majority think that all creation (including Man) has happened within the last 10K years!
86% Of the US population think there is a God, only 70% think there is a Devil.
Hell is less popular than heaven by about 15%.
We have had 8 years of Bu$hco and the election seems to be a near tie.
Any questions, any answers?
If McCain wins, particularly if he does so using these tactics, this country will be tipped into a long decline. Rule of law is essential to a succesful democracy. Whatever the conservatives have done the last 8 years, including the way they grab power, is a clear declaration that they don't give a damn about morality and law. We are one election away from turning into Russia -- an Oligarchy.
If you are basically decent, how do you win against an opponent who is willing to cross all lines, willing to say or do anything to win?
This is where you need a referee with some semblance of honesty and an audience (voters) with some common sense. If McCain wins, it is more a reflection of the country's sad state than a reflection of McCain's lack of decency. There are millions of people who want to grab power by hook or crook; it is the responsibility of the democratic institutions, and ultimately the people, to separate the gem from garbage.
