McCain’s Two Front Plan To Nudge In On Obama Speech Airtime
There are increasingly strong signs now that Republican Presidential nominee-to-be Sen. John McCain plans to axe the longstanding political tradition that each political party steps out of the way when the other party’s candidate delivers his Presidential acceptance speech — and the signs are it will happen on two fronts:
1. McCain will be seen in an ad that will air around when Obama gives his speech speaking directly to Obama, looking into the camera.
2. We have predicted here that McCain would leak the name of his Vice Presidential pick right before or about the same time when Obama gives his speech in order to undercut media and an expected big national audience attention for Obama’s make-or-break speech. The Drudge Report now says the name could be leaked at 6 p.m and then confirmed at 8 p.m. The political intent is clear. When Drudge has a “scoop” sourced to a Democratic insider, it could be suspect; when it comes from the GOP side, it usually isn’t. The line line item seems like a way to tip the media off so they can start to focus on that story…tonight.
What’s happening? If the name is leaked so it steps on Obama’s speech, it’ll be one more step in a process political junkies love but saddens those who seek a more respectful form of politics: the shattering of previous aspects of inter-party respect and debate. The bar will be lowered once again.
An ad where the other candidate answers directly his opponent as the acceptance speech is being made has never been done. No matter how bloody the political combat, that was one rule of the game. And announcing a Veep pick — even by a leak which couches the whole thing in plausible official deniability — with the clear intent to interfere with the other party candidate’s media coverage has never been done. If it happens, it won’t be a real “leak.” It’s a release so it can be denied that it was done specifically to step on the speech.
Once one party does it, it’s a new accepted rule of the game. We’ll see more in coming years.
The goal is to win at any cost (not that there’s anything bad about that…). Meanwhile, some see John McCain as having shifted from McCain 2000 to McCain 2008 after having apparently learned some lessons well.
22 Responses to “McCain’s Two Front Plan To Nudge In On Obama Speech Airtime”
“saddens those who seek a more respectful form of politics”
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“saddens”? Speaking of picking words more carefully…
Trying to promote liberal feel-goodism is not going to save you in a pool of sharks.
Have we learned NOTHING of the GOP, if not in the Regan/Bush years then CERTAINLY in the bush/CHENEY years????
If you think mamby-pamby word games are going to save you, think again. Let me spell out the special gravity that the GOP and it's puppeteer BigOil stand to lose if they lose in the Fall: EVERYTHING.
BigOil knows Congress is chomping at the bit to sanction them and rein them in. It's ONLY PRAYER for continued global monopoly is to defeat the democratic candidate at all costs and insert another puppet to balance the power in DC so that it can at least survive an investigation. If you think for one minute that BigOil is going to go down in a gentlemanly fashion without pulling off the gloves….
You are more in fairy land than I ever believed.
Hillary Clinton's handling of Obama was like a soft, downy breeze compared to the hurricane that's coming. The only thing left to do is batten down the hatches and hope for the best, get out in November and vote for obama/ BIDEN no matter what twists and turns they throw our way..
Silhouette said: “… then CERTAINTLY in the bush/CHENEY years????”
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“CERTAINTLY”?… “bush/CHENEY”? Speaking of not taking more care with words…
Pointless Sil unless your trying to distance youself from your other identity… the Copy Editor
I'm not sure about the wisdom of releasing the name of McCain's veep choice tonight – unless it's a bad one. There's no way that announcement will take anything away from Obama's acceptance speech in front of 75,000 (and America) at Mile-High. It seems to me to almost guarantee it will be completely eclipsed by the speech, and may even come off as a wee bit of attention-desperate disorder. A Friday announcement make much more sense, since it will get real-time coverage, and at least partially take away some of the day's news cycle from Obama.
Edit: In line with attention-desperate disorder comes this gem from Sullivan – http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily…
Hmm. They can't seem to give tickets away for McCain's likely announcement.
Actually, I think McCain's moves will be seen by the media as poor taste and a bit desperate. Gallup's tracking poll has Obama up 6; two days ago McCain was up 2. Obama jumped 8 points in two days. And that was before Bill Clinton and Joe Biden spoke.
I think the McCain people are overly nervous about Obama's convention bounce and are looking to step on it in a panic.
Great post from Ezra Klein:
If the pick is Pawltany (sorry guys I admit spelling ain't my strong point), he gets completely buried by the Obama speech. He looks petty and inept.
Kerry did it in '04, for all the good it did him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/03/politics/camp…
Joe,
Where's the post about Obama's bump in the Gallup daily tracking poll?
McCain needs to take lessons from Steve Jobs about hype.
McCain: FAIL.
and the whole columns thing…maybe they haven't noticed but our capital is FILLED WITH THE FRIKKEN THINGS!!!!
That is, once you get past the cavity searches and no-photo police.
Joe only posts on polls that are bad news for Obama. Notice the one he posted yesterday spelling doom and destruction, while completely ignoring the Time/CNN poll showing good news for Obama in swing states.
The Democrats have time and again tried to take the high road and lost elections because of it. Think Kerry, Dukakis and Gore. The exception? Bill Clinton who did whatever it took to win. We can moan all we want about the regrettable partisan political environment , but as long as it keeps working, advisers like Karl Rove will keep doing it.
kritt,
The thing is, there is soooo much negative stuff they could say about Republicans without resorting to distortions or outright lies (aka, the Rove playbook). With so much ammunition, its disheartening to see such tepid attacks.
If the R's plan mischief for tonight then it will be entirely in keeping with the modus operandi they adopted many years ago and have grown so fond of. The D's will be wise this election season to expect the absolute least from them in terms of decent standards of conduct.
See,
JSpencer knows what time it is…
The only chance obama/BIDEN has is to go heavy, hard and fast for the McSame jugular. This will be twofold successful:
1. It will catch them off guard and expose their weaknesses
2. Most importantly it will make obama look strong and warlike, an image he REALLY needs to impress on the people to get a win this Fall.
No one is going to line up, when all is said and done and they're behind the curtain in the voting booth, behind a limp-wristed liberal who was afraid to take off his gloves for fear of not looking gentlemanly.
In time of war people don't go with passive, they go with Rambo.
Chris – You've got a point- all they have to do is stick to the record and it should be a cakewalk— uh never mind- bad choice of words!
On the subject of obama's image..
If I was advising him for a makeover I would suggest the following while he stumps for the Fall:
1. Ben Davis or equivalent shirt with just the bottoms of the cuffs rolled up.
2. Upper body bulk training ASAP
3. Work pants, clean and pressed
4. Bolo tie…yes…bolo tie..
5. Slight, ever so slight 5' O Clock shadow
The pantsuit look for a dude just ain't cutting it and his thin upper body makes him look too weak and frail. I cannot emphasize more how a man's-man look will save him from that fragile look…and the implications…
We need all the ammo we can get.
You realize his opponent is a crippled war vet, right?
Heh, relax Joe, et al. The Maverick still has some class, after all.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080828/ap_on_el_pr…
I said the other day that I'd be disappointed if McCain tried to rain on the parade tonight, and in fact that he should make a point of congratulating Obama and noting the historic nature of his candidacy. I guess his staff must be tracking my comments and taking my advice
Now, about that VP pick…
This game, speculating about whether McCain will announce his VP pick tonight or not, is a work of psychpathic genius. If he does it, then a few will tut-tut about the impropriety of it; if he waits then McCain can be seen as taking the “high road” and bucking Rove or some such nonsense.
Psychopathic genius if obviously fascinating to the easily duped media, especially as they treat the campaign as some kind of spectator sport, They don't ask the question whether the psychopathic genius minds who win campaigns are the best to be in charge of a government.
Silhouette, I guess an afro is out then?
If afros were the style I'd say yes, have one. Most black men today keep their hair trimmed short. You want him to appeal to as many as possible.
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“You realize his opponent is a crippled war vet, right? ~ Chris
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Exactly. McSame is a rough, tough and battle-worn veteran. That's the image Obama needs to try to compete with in time of war.
“McSame is a rough, tough and battle-worn veteran.”
McCain wouldn't be quite so 'battle-worn' if he'd paid more attention in his “How to Land an Airplane” classes.