9 posts tagged “campaign”
Recent comments by Charles R. Black Jr., a key advisor to Senator John McCain have sparked a firestorm that is being fanned by the Senator Barack Obama’s camp. Mr. Black merely stated that a terrorist attack during the campaign would strengthen Senator McCain’s presidential bid. The real question in this campaign is what idiot picks these advisors?
This year seems to be plagued with crazy remarks from crazy advisors, supporters, friends, and family members that completely undermine the candidacy of the person they are trying to support. Where are all of these people coming from and how can they be stopped.
I do have to wonder, in light of what I have seen throughout this year if any of the serious candidates for president (Senator’s McCain, Obama, and Clinton) have shown themselves unable to fulfill the office of president simply because they have no ability to appoint the right people, discern which people are good or outright stupid advisors, and control the crazy people that are otherwise involved in their lives.
If the campaigns of these three people are any indicator of what a presidency will look like, I certainly will pass.
A huge part of a presidency finds it’s foundations in whom the president surrounds himself or herself with and appoints to major positions that have influence over the entire planet. The people around the three serious candidates that we had been left with (now two) are amateurish (to put it politely).
The mistakes and stupidity seen this year are not old Washington politics they are best classified as armature Washington stupidity.
Once again, I assert that clearly non e of the aforementioned candidates is ready to be president for the next four years and we need a better candidate from somewhere.
Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are to begin campaigning together. The question is will this be a good thing for each one of them and for us who have to watch the whole thing. I am not sure it is the best thing for any of us.
First let’s look at how this is bad for Senator Obama. Having Senator Clinton on his side probably will greatly help him gain some support with female voters and add a strong counterattacking voice that will counter the strong attacks of Senator McCain’s camp.
The problem is that there is another part of the package that comes with a Hillary Clinton; former president Bill Clinton. Each candidate has their strange sideline person that in trying to help them just makes him or her look bad. There is a certain Mr. Wright for Senator Obama, Cindy McCain for Senator John McCain, and there is Bill Clinton for Senator Hillary Clinton.
Senator Obama has finally gotten past his and the memories are gradually dying and the effort by the McCain camp and particularly Senator McCain’s wife Cindy McCain to make Michelle Obama Mr. Wright’s replacement is failing.
Is the Obama camp sure it is ready to take on the burden of Senator Clinton’s anchor and husband Bill Clinton. After all they are married and he loves to get passionate about whatever he is supporting politically. The problem that has surfaced over the past few months is that he gets passionately stupid. Why would a candidate volunteer for more obstacles to overcome?
Next let’s look at how this is bad for Senator Clinton. She spent months tearing down the credentials of Senator Obama and convincing the entire planet that he would be one of the worst choices for president of the United States there has ever been. Her campaigning to the contrary confirms the suspicion that she is all rhetoric and she doesn’t mean half of what she says.
The fact is, that if an Obama presidency has half of the problems she stated it may have, it would be better for her political career to have distanced herself from him during the rest of this race and just announce that she is supporting her party’s candidate because she has to. This means if he is elected and all evil breaks loose, she can run four years from now as the “I told you so” candidate and possibly be the better choice for her party.
Finally let’s look at how this is bad for us. Clearly the campaign is going to get ugly. The McCain camp is starting off with a similar campaign mindset that Senator Clinton had; if you keep attacking Senator Obama he will crack (although this seems like the obvious right direction to go with the slight leads Obama has in many polls, it just failed for Senator Clinton). What is going to happen once the Clinton family are on the other side of this manner of campaign. The mud slinging war to end all wars and we have to endure it all. Smear tactics, attacks on family members, rude and often misleading adds, racial divisiveness from both sides, childishness, and on and on.
The worst problem with all of this will be the lack of genuine conversation about real issues and solutions to compare. We will be simply voting for who fights better, not who is the better candidate.
This is a two sided coin. Good in some ways and bad in some grave other ways
Senator John McCain and his advisors finally picked a subject to attack Senator Barack Obama with that actually helps his campaign. Until now the topics Senator McCain’s camp has been addressing seem to only be targeted at getting approval from those who are already his strongest supporters already.
Senator McCain went before small business owners and said flat out that Senator Obama is bad for business. As Senator Obama is speaking of tax breaks for the general population and increasing taxes on businesses (the latest example is big oil) Senator McCain is speaking to the businesses saying: “Hey! This means more taxes for you and less profit!”
This serves to make all of the rhetoric about how to fix he economy look a lot different to American business owners.
Another smart benefit that Senator McCain gets from this ploy, is that while Senator Obama has been a campaign contribution machine that has been getting millions of dollars from lots of small contribution s from lots of donors this starts massaging the large donors that are largely untapped by the Obama campaign. This says, “I am the candidate that will give you return on your investment in me” to the business owners.
This appears to finally be the real start to Senator McCain’s serious campaigning as much of the rest of what has transpired from his camp over the past few months seemed to be just killing time until real campaigning started.
There is however, another side to this coin. There is the risk of appearing to be the “Same Old Washington” candidate who steals from the poor to buy support from the rich.
Senator Obama responded to Senator McCain’s accusations by discussing things like three-hundred billion dollar tax breaks and loopholes for big corporations and the wealthiest Americans to start to show this as the nest wave of media we will be hearing.
I have to admit, that while I agree that we need businesses to stay open or there is no economy, I do have to wonder if it is not rewarding businesses and the rich while hanging the general population out to dry in the hopes of saving the economy. Maybe, something in between the rhetoric of the two camps is much more realistic.
As I have repeatedly stated that I am not a big fan of either of these candidates much in terms of becoming our commander and chief. The thing is, if I am going to end up casting my vote for the lesser evil, for lack of a better choice, I would like to know that there was a good campaign that dealt with real issues. Like the ref before a boxing match I want to see a good clean fight. I do not just want one candidate to just pummel the other one in the media and at the ballot boxes.
This is finally a good and sensible start to Senator McCain’s campaign against Senator Obama although it is very risky and may backfire. I think it is also good that actual issues for right now have come to the surface for discussion.
I hope to hear more about different sides of the issues (including both candidates’ strange voting records that seem to contradict their campaign rhetoric) and less about the candidate’s friends and distant acquaintances.
Maybe the real campaign has finally has begun at last.
What is going on in the presidential race? Democratic Senator Barack Obama went at republican Senator John McCain with both guns blazing in discussing the economy and I began to think: “Finally, we will get to the real issues.”
Boy oh boy was I mistaken. I was all ready for Senator McCain (who is now known for being weak on matters of the economy at the worst time ever for that to be the case) to get with his advisors and start devising strong solutions for our economic woes. Then I pictured this huge back and forth campaigning where two different plans that would both make some sense would be brought before the American people and we would all be thinking; “Wow, what great candidates.”
This however, was not what happened. Senator McCain went back to that absolutely stupid “Gas Tax Holiday” idiocy that helped us all understand economy was not his strength. Then Senator Hillary Clinton supported it also and some of the cooties of being economically illiterate seemed to get on her and her campaign.
I thought; “That’s it? All of those campaign strategists and speechwriters and whoever else in his political entourage and that is it?”
But, no it was not. Then he went back to this town hall meeting idea. I admit it is a pretty cool idea, but seriously, one candidate is just going to dictate how another candidate is going to campaign for the entire summer and this other candidate is expected to just agree and go along with this? (Is this one of those places where people on the internet us the letters “LOL?”
I personally believe that both candidates that are left from the two major parties have these gaping holes in their qualifications for president (particularly saying lots of things that neither of their voting records support), but if this is the best Senator McCain can come up with against a person with a gift for speaking and a charisma that attracts so many, Senator McCain will be reduced to a straw man for Senator Obama to knock over.
If there are any advisors to Senator McCain reading this, please gather some experts on the economy and draw up something substantial that will appeal to the public. Then spend some time educating Senator McCain on this plan. Once that is done release him on the public with these fresh new ideas and a solution to a real problem in the here and now. That will make him a solid candidate and definitely make the race more interesting.
I suppose Senator McCain may have such plans and be keeping them hidden is his grand plan to unleash this weapon of mass destruction on Senator Obama during these town hall meetings, but let’s face it, that is not going to happen. An I am not sure if it were to happen that the results would be what Senator McCain expects. I remember a debate between the Republicans that was televised on CNN that had an approval meter that was on the screen the whole time. The relevant fact here is that almost every time Senator McCain spoke the meter shot down. That went double when he got excited or agitated.
I think to win, Senator McCain better come up with more than the stuff he has put out there so far.
If Senator McCain does not retool his message, this will be one of those really boring elections where one candidate just sinks fast as soon as the votes start to be cast. Today I was aghast at his lack of anything to say and found his whole message just plain boring.
Former president, Bill Clinton has again made himself the laughingstock of this year’s political campaign. This time by publicly throwing around words like; “scumbag,” “sleazy,” and “slimy” in describing former New York Times writer and current Vanity Fair writer Todd Purdum who happens to be married to the former press spokesperson of his administration. This was done in response to a Vanity Fair article that stated many negative comments about the former president.
The first thing that crossed my mind in hearing his rant was the type of comments that were made by Republicans at the end of his administration to describe him.
As with all press related to presidents and presidential candidates for the past several years, I am not sure that I agree with all of the negatives I hear and take them with a grain of salt, but I find myself worried when press comes out saying that the former president had done something shady and he denies it.
My mind cannot help but remember how convincing he was when he made the, “I did not have sex with that woman speech.” I am sure we all remember how that turned out.
This tirade is just one more foolish outburst of several that have distracted from his poor wife is trying to do. She is a strong candidate (not my personal favorite, but a strong candidate none the less) and the biggest thorn in her side has been defending the random nonsense that emanates from her husband when he tries to help (and of course that hilarious nap he took behind the African American speaker during a speech on Martin Luther King Day).
Now, as the last of the primaries are winding down, the effects of his “helping’ his wife are coming clear. With the probability that the nominee from the Democratic Party will be Senator Barack Obama, the biggest reason anyone can give for why he may not or in some views should not try to persuade Senator Hillary Clinton to run as vice-presidential candidate on the ticket is the presence of her husband and supporter, former president Bill Clinton. He is seen as a political anchor of sorts that randomly drops and slows the progress of those he supports.
As president he did some good and some bad, but over the past few years he has focused on building a legacy that will have history remember him as an all around good guy who made a few mistakes.
How does this man in a matter of months reduce himself to a political outbreak monkey who poisons those he supports? I have mixed emotions about the content of the Vanity Fair article and the absence of names from those accusing him. The issue is that with the amount of negative pressure, threats, and the fear that some have that people have mysteriously disappeared around the Clintons and their dealings, I am not sure it is wise politically or for ones safety to give ones name to such accusations, true or not.
Regardless of the reason, the poised, confident, and seemingly friendly guy who ran for president successfully has been replaced by the political dead weight that is his current reputation and may turn out to be a huge part of his legacy from now on. History was just starting to remember him as a hero that any Democrat running for anything would be glad to have publicly support him or her. I wonder if he can get back on that track or if he is now forever marked as the mark of death to a campaign?
Last week’s comments, made by Senator Hillary Clinton, about the assignation of Robert F. Kennedy were at the least extremely careless. I have listened to several days of commentary about this topic and this strange statement and have come to the only logical conclusion: Freudian Slip.
For those not familiar with the term “Freudian Slip,” the term is used most commonly to refer to a slip of the tongue that reveals an unconscious desire, fear, or belief. An example:
Let’s say a person was afraid of being laid off. That person gets a really strong cup of coffee and wants to tell another person the coffee is so strong that he feels wired. But, instead the man says: “This coffee is so strong I feel fired.” This was in the man’s unconscious thoughts, but not what he was trying to communicate. Yet it slipped into the communication of the man and accidentally gave the other people around a clue as to what he was thinking.
Now, back to what Senator Clinton recently stated. The implication that how late it was in the race when Robert Kennedy was assassinated somehow demonstrates that a continued run by Senator Hillary Clinton is a stupid thing to say by any standard and clearly demonstrates the exact opposite.
The real untruth here, is the idea that as much behind the scenes discussion has taken place about keeping Senator Obama safe and the many death threats he has received, somehow Senator Clinton would now like us to believe that there has never been any discussion of what happens if he were to be assassinated.
Let’s face it, at this point, the only real hope Senator Clinton has is some terrible mishap or tragedy in the Obama camp. We are talking something much worse than what church he attends, but something that makes him look like the absolute worst candidate ever or something more terrible in nature. It is late in the game, the candidates have been campaigning endlessly, the campaigns have been tough on each other, they are extremely tired, and things are looking really bad for Senator Clinton.
Even if dismissed as a terrible thing to be thinking about, it must have come up at some point. I am also sure that as things get more desperate and the Senator gets more tired, the mind will do some strange things. (Not to mention the amount of pictures I have seen recently where Senator Clinton has beer or liquor in her hands)
I do not believe the people who say this was some kind of malicious attack on Senator Obama or some passive aggressive ploy, but I do believe that there is more here than just an honest mistake.
I think the desperate hope of winning this race and the hopelessness of it all at this point simply made her make a “Freudian” mistake that should indicate to her and her closest friends that it is time to slow down a bit and “get a grip.”
It’s like when a person, who would not do so normally, is so desperate to win something that he or she cheats when the other person is not paying attention. Others the thought crosses their mind and they catch themselves and don’t do it. The perfect place for a Freudian Slip to make the person accidentally use the word “cheat” in a sentence.
An honest mistake that indicates a person is in a dangerous state of mind! That is what I see.
The odds against Senator Hillary Clinton are moving from highly unlikely, past impossible, to just stupid. Her advisors are divided, some now saying she should drop out (so she might have a future in politics beyond this race) and some saying to keep on fighting to the bitter end (sort of the captain going down with the sinking ship).
It looks as if the battered Senator, Barack Obama, will be victorious after all in his bid to get the nod of the Democrats. He has the lead in the popular vote (even though Senator Clinton keeps claiming the votes of the states he didn’t run in and one of which he wasn’t even on the ballot give her the lead). The problem is that the price has been heavy in terms of his electability. The man who once was seen as the candidate to unify the country is now the face of the division of the party (thanks to Senator Clinton’s insistence on going down with the ship) and is the face of the racial divide still existing in the country (thanks to a certain Mr. Wright).
These candidates have beaten each other so badly that a presidential race that should have been easily won by the Democrats due to the unpopularity of the current Republican white house is now a pretty even fight between the Democrats and the Republicans.
I personally think the parties need to go or at least revamp their value systems and stands, but why go through so much effort to defeat yourselves?
The truth is that much of the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of Senator Hillary Clinton and her party’s inability to stop her when she is single-handedly destroying the party she claims to be building. If Senator Clinton is the face of anything it is the face of stubborn, selfish people who will do anything not to lose.
When will these two stop this nonsense? It seems that Senator Obama has moved on to campaigning against Senator McCain and that Senator McCain is campaigning against Senator Obama, but the truth is Senator Clinton is attacking both and her party is loosing in the end.
I am not sure what people are telling her to continue that have disguised themselves as good advisors, but they are definitely not loyal to her party or to her. These people clearly feel this is the one big shot or they would be thinking about her getting the mark of being the person who ruined what should have been the easiest election ever.
Senator Clinton should stop now. As an obviously selfish person, she should do it to preserve her legacy, her future in politics, and to avoid passing the mark of “crazy person” on to her daughter (who in public speaking seems to be the most sensible politically and otherwise in the family). I believe these reasons should be her real reasons for leaving the race along with the facts that she keeps destroying her party’s chances at winning and the faith of the people in her party at all.
But, it is a free country. That means each individual has the right to look stupid in the public eye for all of us to watch in amazement.
Senator John McCain is in Florida again attacking Senator Barack Obama’s statements about negotiating with “enemy” dictators and governments. This time it is about having talks with the Castro family. Does Senator McCain not want to get elected?
I understand that in Florida there is a large Cuban population many of which do not like the Castro family (I am no fan of the Castro family myself) but he has again set himself up. I ask you, what is the Senator Obama camp going to say?
- Same old Washington.
- Four more years of the failed Bush ideology.
- We have been at this silence with the Cuban government for several decades and it hasn’t worked yet. Senator McCain just wants to continue failed policies.
- All of the above.
I personally think that Senator McCain is not good at campaigning at all. Many of the things he says make sense, but his worst enemy seems to be himself. It is as if he never gets past the word campaign to the word strategy.
I am thoroughly amazed at his inability to move himself forward in this race while the Democrats are fully engaged in destroying each other. He simply makes himself an easy target every time he is in the public eye.
Then he has gone to celebrate Cuban Independence Day. I would say that he might have waited until about the time race relations began to come up again as he has just begun to overcome the stigma he had amongst African Americans as the face of opposition to celebrating Martin Luther King Day as a holiday.
If you have not yet heard of this issue, rest assured it will be coming as soon as all of the commotion in the Democratic Party subsides. In 1983 Senator McCain voted against and spoke out against the Martin Luther King holiday. The only reasoning he has given for this was being a young senator (not young in age however, he was almost 50 at the time), his state of Arizona didn’t have a large African American Population (I’m not touching that one), and he was fresh out of the military (are there few African Americans there also).
As soon as race comes up, particularly up against Senator Obama, this will come up. If you were paying attention on Martin Luther King Day this year, you may remember seeing Senator McCain trying to explain this to a group at what appeared to be some kind of rally only to get booed. His only way to defend himself against the coming attacks from the Democrats I fit is in fact Senator Obama he ends up facing is to bring up that Wright person (if you are new to my blog I refuse to call him reverend as that is a show of respect I am not willing to afford this person), and that can only end with the whole he is a racist argument.
It seems to me that with all of the fighting amongst the democrats and the division building within their party he should have a pretty easy time. The truth is nobody seems to be stopping him from setting himself up. He is starting to look like a double agent that is trying to get a democrat in office. Sort of a Kamikaze suicide bomber thrown at the Republican Party that will destroy the party and himself at the same time.
There must be someone in his campaign that can see this and stop him from making these grave errors in judgment? I suppose with so many people jumping ship from his campaign staff, that person may not yet be in place, but he had better get that person there soon.
If you watch, listen to, or read the commentaries on the primaries taking place every couple of weeks, the news has drifted into a public battle of race, age, and gender. I have been struck by the amount of news that basically states that Senator Hillary Clinton is winning over middle class, whites (the exact words that the media seems to be comfortable using), older “white” voters and is campaigning to win over women. The other side of the coin is that Senator Barack Obama is winning over African-American voters (in the media known as “black voters”) and new, young voters.
This race may not be what has split the party, but no matter how you think it got there, I think it is safe to say that, the party is split and it is being made obvious to the whole planet.
The last few days of news has brought lots of stories and discussion about the possibility that events of this primary season are negatively affecting the party as a whole. Some say that the events of the last few months are not negatively affecting the party. Again, that may or may not be the case, but the party has a huge negative point at this minute: The party is divided.
I have been befuddled by how comfortable the media has been in reducing the campaigns to the group that seems to vote for the candidates. Now we can all think of Sen. Clinton as the candidate of middleclass “white males” and “older white” voters while Sen. Obama as the candidate of African Americans and new voters. But, in thinking about it, although these facts are uncomfortable, they are true and this is news.
The problem is not the reporting, the problem is that the Democrats are comfortable with this as a whole. It does not matter if the party split yesterday, over this primary season, or ten years ago, it is still split and the gap between the different factions is growing.
The problem has the potential to move from a large crack in the party to a completely broken party in the near future.
If Sen. Obama wins, the middleclass white males will feel disenfranchised and may not be in as much of a hurry to vote for him simply because he is a Democrat.
If Sen. Clinton wins, by the overturning of the popular vote by superdelegates, or by getting the states that Sen. Obama did not campaign in to count, a large part of the African American community will feel cheated by the candidate that represents middleclass, “white” America. Has the party not thought through how overriding the popular vote of the people or including the votes of states that the first African American candidate did not campaign in (in accordance with instructions from the party) would speak to the African American populous.
In polls the voters have made it clear that if their respective candidate did not win, they may vote for a Republican, Independent, or at the least no longer affiliate themselves with the Democrats.
Both middleclass “white” and the “black” voters are major demographics that have been the base of the party for the past few years. One of these groups is likely to be alienated in the next few months. Then what? How about the young voters that are voting for the first time? Alienate them and you have succeeded in alienating the future!
I suppose the party has counted on being to get the two candidates coming together after some sort of solution is reached and running together as presidential and vice-presidential candidates. This would be the case normally, but this current unusually prolonged primary season and the nature of the “firsts” represented in the candidates, has allowed more time for voters to get their heart set on their candidate and to foster more dislike for the opponent.
The end of the party seems to be coming faster than the end of the primaries. If I were a Democrat (and not a complete independent) I would think that this has to stop now, because this one presidency is not worth risking the destruction of the party. As an independent that thinks the party system is broken, I think if the one party explodes in front of the entire planet it will force the government and the country as a whole to look at revamping the party system.
