McCain's Campaign
Contrary to his promises not to personally attack Barack Obama's character and his often stated position that he would never question Barack Obama's patriotism, John McCain has been running a campaign primarily based upon doing just that. He has adopted the tactics of smear and fear that were the essence of the Bush campaign against him in 2000 and against the Democrats in 2004. In my opinion it is even slimier than those campaigns.
The Obama campaign has started a web site to counteract these smears (See: Fight the Smears). On that site they take every false attack upon Obama and state the facts to contradict the smear.
This past week I received emails from John Kerry and Max Cleland, both of whom were made victims of false attacks in their last campaigns for president and Senator respectively. They are sponsoring another web site to fight the smears (See: Truth Fights Back).
The problem is that the McCain campaign attacks appeal to the basest emotions, primarily fear. These have taken a toll on Obama's support from those who are not as astute to know that these attacks are fraudulent. Obama has been taking the "high road" and the web sites mentioned above dealing with the facts, do not appeal to the emotions, and are therefor less effective.
On the TV networks there is only one commentator who has a strong pro Obama bent. Unlike the cast of characters on Fox News who promote the false attacks or make up new ones, Keith Olbermann on MSNBC deals with the facts. He does tend to go overboard but he doesn't make up stories. And he does manage to put lots of energy into his presentation, using some very direct language. It is the sort of presentation that makes an impression.
If you do not listen to Keith Olbermann (Countdown, MSNBC weeknights at 8:00PM and 10:00PM) I am including a link to 10 minutes of his broadcast from last night. I think it is worthwhile for you to listen to/watch the video clip to get an idea of the sort of things he does to refute McCain's claims.
Olbermann Clip
MSNBC has now taken a bold step. Beginning 9/8/08 Rachel Maddow of Air America Radio will begin a nightly telecast immediately following Olbermann's Countdown at 9:00PM. Maddow has been appearing on MSNBC mostly on Countdown and David Gregory's "Race for the White House" (MSNBC nightly 6:00PM dual broadcast on "The Rachel Maddow Show", Air America Radio nightly 6:00PM-9:00PM). She also has been used as a special guest on other MSNBC programs giving the "Liberal" point of view as a balance to conservatives such as Pat Buchanan. She will continue with her Air America program.
Of course, few of those with a Republican bent ever listen to Olbermann's telecast and the same will probably be true for Rachel Maddow's program. I know that Fox News is a station that gets a lot of play. For example, in the health club to which I used to belong, many of the TVs were tuned into Fox and I had to beg to change the channel to MSNBC. However, over the past several years, Olbermann has been building quite a following and has begun to beat Bill O'Reilly (Fox News, nightly 9:00PM) regularly in the ratings.
This nation is in crisis: two wars costing $10,000,000,000 (10 Billion Dollars) per month, a debt of $9,600,000,000,000 (9.6 Trillion dollars), a deficit close to or above $500,000,000,000 (500 Billion dollars) annually, a trade deficit of over $800,000,000,000 (800 Billion dollars) per year, a dollar that has lost about 35% value, inflation at 5+%, falling wages, rising unemployment, $4.00 per gallon gasoline, a shrinking middle class, al Qaeda and bin Laden still at large and a threat, the new Russian threat, the loss of support from our allies, Pakistan unstable, a banking crisis, falling real estate and stock market values, etc. etc.
We can not stand another four years of a militant neocon Bush foreign policy, corporatism and capitalism running wild, an economic policy that worships tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, an assault on the constitution and civil liberties of our citizenry, and a government that has been downsized to be ineffective, all of which McCain backs. Obama isn't perfect and the Democrats are not all that I would like. But McCain would be a disaster.
The Obama campaign has started a web site to counteract these smears (See: Fight the Smears). On that site they take every false attack upon Obama and state the facts to contradict the smear.
This past week I received emails from John Kerry and Max Cleland, both of whom were made victims of false attacks in their last campaigns for president and Senator respectively. They are sponsoring another web site to fight the smears (See: Truth Fights Back).
The problem is that the McCain campaign attacks appeal to the basest emotions, primarily fear. These have taken a toll on Obama's support from those who are not as astute to know that these attacks are fraudulent. Obama has been taking the "high road" and the web sites mentioned above dealing with the facts, do not appeal to the emotions, and are therefor less effective.
On the TV networks there is only one commentator who has a strong pro Obama bent. Unlike the cast of characters on Fox News who promote the false attacks or make up new ones, Keith Olbermann on MSNBC deals with the facts. He does tend to go overboard but he doesn't make up stories. And he does manage to put lots of energy into his presentation, using some very direct language. It is the sort of presentation that makes an impression.
If you do not listen to Keith Olbermann (Countdown, MSNBC weeknights at 8:00PM and 10:00PM) I am including a link to 10 minutes of his broadcast from last night. I think it is worthwhile for you to listen to/watch the video clip to get an idea of the sort of things he does to refute McCain's claims.
Olbermann Clip
MSNBC has now taken a bold step. Beginning 9/8/08 Rachel Maddow of Air America Radio will begin a nightly telecast immediately following Olbermann's Countdown at 9:00PM. Maddow has been appearing on MSNBC mostly on Countdown and David Gregory's "Race for the White House" (MSNBC nightly 6:00PM dual broadcast on "The Rachel Maddow Show", Air America Radio nightly 6:00PM-9:00PM). She also has been used as a special guest on other MSNBC programs giving the "Liberal" point of view as a balance to conservatives such as Pat Buchanan. She will continue with her Air America program.
Of course, few of those with a Republican bent ever listen to Olbermann's telecast and the same will probably be true for Rachel Maddow's program. I know that Fox News is a station that gets a lot of play. For example, in the health club to which I used to belong, many of the TVs were tuned into Fox and I had to beg to change the channel to MSNBC. However, over the past several years, Olbermann has been building quite a following and has begun to beat Bill O'Reilly (Fox News, nightly 9:00PM) regularly in the ratings.
This nation is in crisis: two wars costing $10,000,000,000 (10 Billion Dollars) per month, a debt of $9,600,000,000,000 (9.6 Trillion dollars), a deficit close to or above $500,000,000,000 (500 Billion dollars) annually, a trade deficit of over $800,000,000,000 (800 Billion dollars) per year, a dollar that has lost about 35% value, inflation at 5+%, falling wages, rising unemployment, $4.00 per gallon gasoline, a shrinking middle class, al Qaeda and bin Laden still at large and a threat, the new Russian threat, the loss of support from our allies, Pakistan unstable, a banking crisis, falling real estate and stock market values, etc. etc.
We can not stand another four years of a militant neocon Bush foreign policy, corporatism and capitalism running wild, an economic policy that worships tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, an assault on the constitution and civil liberties of our citizenry, and a government that has been downsized to be ineffective, all of which McCain backs. Obama isn't perfect and the Democrats are not all that I would like. But McCain would be a disaster.
--
Michael
My Blog: http://myweb-blog.blogspot.com
Michael
My Blog: http://myweb-blog.blogspot.com
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posted by Michael | 9:06 AM
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