Kevin Drum's right -- this here ad is pretty delicious:
And to its credit, while everything in here has been stripped of context in a way that produces a misleading gestalt, it's all perfectly accurate.
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Surprisingly Liberal
30 Jan 2008 03:25 pm
Comments (19)
What's incredibly ironic is that the right's loathing of McCain is far less likely to produce a President Romney than it is to produce a President Clinton II.
Not THAT is "delicious".
McCain has the GOP nomination locked down at this point. Now, as he is about to enter general election mode, his enemies portray him as:
-Someone who is against tax cuts for the rich, and is fiscally responsible.
-Someone with a reasonable immigration policy (unless you are an arch-conservative).
-Someone who is strongly committed to bipartisan politics.
Yes, this ad is devastating to John McCain.
What's incredibly ironic is that the right's loathing of McCain is far less likely to produce a President Romney than it is to produce a President Clinton II.
Not THAT is "delicious".
Yeah. We'll see about that. I suspect that after the primary is over, conservative Republicans will swallow hard and vote for McCain to avoid at all costs a Clinton presidency.
What I think is very interesting about this is that it can absolutely go the other way. Issue issue issue John McCain? No, Hillary Clinton.
And this is why I don't think Hillary can beat John McCain in a general election. McCain negates everything Hillary has been running on so far. Experience? McCain was in the Hanoi Hilton when Hillary was graduating from college. Change? How about a so-called "maverick" vs. a political dynasty. The war? Virtually the same beliefs. As Obama pointed out, McCain even beats Hillary on torture. And at the end of the day, people just like McCain a whole lot more than they like Hillary.
I'm glad Obama is starting to point this out, because I think Democrats have become incredibly complacent thinking they're going to waltz into the White House. Not gonna happen.
All I see in that freeze-frame above are two war-mongering corporate-whore politicians who are two peas in a pod, and who will both damage the fabric of the U.S. immeasurably (like Gush and Bore!), except I'd vote for McCain.
OK, end of Obamabot satire.
If the powers that made that ad really don't want a McCain presidency, they may well have shot themselves in the foot if he gets the nomination.
This is also a convenient reminder to Hillary supporters that she represents the dafault boogeyman in the right's collective id.
There is no electability argument for Hillary.
I don't think Hillary can beat John McCain in a general election.
I admit, I despise Clinton, but I promise she'd crush McCain. The GOP base hates him. Some will come out to vote against Clinton, but enough will stay home. Independents think they love McCain, but that will change when they see his "Bomb bomb Iran" and "100 years in Iraq" videos. Sure, Clinton is way too militarist for me; but compared to McCain, she's the Mahatma Gandhi.
George Packers recently spoke to Ed Rollins, Reagan’s chief political strategist and a pioneer of what he calls "opposition research" to undermine opposing candidates on the campaign trail. Rollins sees Hillary as an easy target. And many believe that if Hillary wins the nomination she will unite the Republican Party. Packer wrties:
"First, [Rollins] laid out a general approach to the subject. 'You have to understand, there are two kinds of issues: emotional issues and intellectual issues,' he said. 'What you try and do is vilify those people on an emotional level and watch them explain intellectually. You want to make them explain why, if someone raped their wife, they wouldn’t want him executed.' Hillary Clinton, with her cerebral hectoring, is a good target for such an attack. 'You always want to take Democrats places they can’t go away from,' Rollins said. (Words to make the blood of any veteran of the Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry, or Gore campaign run cold.)'The Democratic Party is still a liberal, anti-war party that has learned nothing from its time in the wilderness. I would take Charlie Rangel's tax package and wrap it around Hillary’s neck. You can’t let her become a centrist. She's going to have a master strategist in her husband if he stays behind the scenes. I'm not someone who doesn’t think she can win.'"
Gary Sugar-
I respect the idea that GOPers aren't excited about McCain, but I really think they hate Hillary far more than they are lukewarm on McCain. I think they'll hold their nose if it means voting against Hillary. And of course, one Osama video or terrorist attack later and suddenly McCain's bloodthirsty rhetoric plays pretty well.
I don't know. Now that it's McCain, I think Hillary would be trouble in a general election. I'm not an Obamaphile, but am becoming increasingly convinced that he's got a much better shot against McCain than Hillary.
"conservative Republicans will swallow hard and vote for McCain to avoid at all costs a Clinton presidency."
Doesn't that depend on Clinton winning the nomination? But assuming that, I think you're right. Conservative Republicans are far more likely to sit home or vote for Obama in a Obama-McCain matchup. But if it is Clinton vs. McCain, they're almost certain to vote for McCain no matter how much they personally dislike him.
Obviously this ad is intended to get republicans to vote for Romney or Huckabee in the primaries-it won't get played in the general. But it would be kind of ingenious if it was-it's an attack ad that, on the one hand, highlights McCain's independent cred, and, on the other, reminds Hillary haters how much they hate Hillary, all the while posing as a spot against McCain. It induces a gut check-you see hillary's face and McCain's face, and literally are forced to decide which one you think is worse. As unpopular as McCain may be, he doesn't inspire the visceral hatred that Clinton does, and this ad forces people to come to grips with that.
Also, you should check this out-it's straight out of Conservative La La Land: http://www.citizensunited.org/ They've got Hillary: The Movie.
Obama should start running this ad as well.
Also, from here:
http://www.citizensunited.org/blog/?entryid=5948990 -this is crazy, but it says this:
Citizens United was founded in 1988 by Bossie associate Floyd Brown. Brown orchestrated a television ad that year that publicized the story of Willie Horton, a convicted African-American murderer allowed to go on weekend furloughs from a Massachusetts prison during the administration of Democratic governor Michael S. Dukakis. During one of those furloughs, Horton raped a Maryland woman and tortured her fiancée. The Horton ads are widely considered to have had a decisive role in Dukakis' defeat in the presidential election that year.
Neither Bossie nor Citizens United is known to be currently associated with any presidential candidate.
Posted by David N. Bossie
I mean, they're like, proud of the Willie Horton ads.
For those 'conservatives' who have been drinking the KoolAid from the beginning it seems better that the Repubs crash and burn in '08 so that they can be in sole possession of the party.
From the outside it seems weird I know. But they consider the 'NorthEast' and 'Rockefeller Republicans' their most desperate enemies.
Any comparison to the Islamic concept of what to do to 'apostates' is welcome.
Question: Does that ad hint that John McCain is MORE liberal than Hilary Clinton?
Perhaps there are a lot of closet GOP HRC supporters.
Brilliant voiceover work--I love the strangled cry of "no!", as if she's barely holding her utter shock in check--
Comments closed February 13, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
What's especially awesome is that changing a few words here or there ("amnesty" for one), along with the general tone of voice and imagery, this could be an ad for McCain targeting independents in the general.
Posted by mk | January 30, 2008 3:38 PM