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McCain Campaign Negativity Officially Now Hits New Low

October 4th, 2008
By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

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As of today, not only are the gloves off, but so is any semblance that the McCain campaign is one that can end in a White House that unites the country and deals with opponents in a way other than polarizing demonization with this statement by Republican Vice Presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin.

Readers can go to the link themselves since we don’t like to advertise this kind of political rhetoric on this site and would react the same way if the same thing had been said about John McCain Republican.

We’ve run several posts now about reports that the McCain campaign has decided to go negative in a new way. Palin’s attack is essentially a mega centimeter away from being a new form of McCarthyism. Can it work? Perhaps.

But there will be some independent voters who will cast very quick protest votes against the McCain-Palin ticket for this kind of rhetoric, and perhaps cast protest votes right down the line against the GOP. Some voters have wanted to MOVE AWAY from this kind of politics. It does show a kind of change: a descent to even sleazier depths of the politics of personal demonization that so many independent voters already decry.

UPDATE: Mark Halperin adds:

Her remarks come in response to a New York Times story on Obama’s relationship with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers.

McCain campaign and RNC distribute her words by email to reporters.

And the New York Times does not find that Obama was a close bud. Here’s the link and a key quote:

More recently, conservative critics who accuse Mr. Obama of a stealth radical agenda have asserted that he has misleadingly minimized his relationship with Mr. Ayers, whom the candidate has dismissed as “a guy who lives in my neighborhood” and “somebody who worked on education issues in Chicago that I know.”

A review of records of the schools project and interviews with a dozen people who know both men, suggest that Mr. Obama, 47, has played down his contacts with Mr. Ayers, 63. But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called “somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.”

Obama campaign aides said the Ayers relationship had been greatly exaggerated by opponents to smear the candidate.

“The suggestion that Ayers was a political adviser to Obama or someone who shaped his political views is patently false,” said Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman. Mr. LaBolt said the men first met in 1995 through the education project, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, and have encountered each other occasionally in public life or in the neighborhood. He said they have not spoken by phone or exchanged e-mail messages since Mr. Obama began serving in the United States Senate in January 2005 and last met more than a year ago when they bumped into each other on the street in Hyde Park.

See the comments above on the likely reaction of some independent voters to this kind of political tactic.

More blog reaction to Palin’s comments is HERE.

UPDATE II: Marc Ambinder has some interesting thoughts on this. He suggests the McCain campaign is trying to short-circuit Obama’s credibiliity ASAP due to Obama’s strong attack on McCain’s argument that he is a tax cutter.

One worry for Republicans is that McCain has already gone too negative too quickly; you never pull out the strongest punches against your opponent until the very end; it’s hard to get tougher than the kindergarten ad… or over-the-top statements about Obama not being fit to lead.

And, in an earlier post, he has this to say about Palin’s attack:

It’s that Obama “is not a man who sees America as you and I do.” This is the message that opponents of Obama began with: he’s not one of us. He’s culturally foreign. He doesn’t share your values. He’s dangerous. It worked a little bit in the summer when there was nothing else to pay attention to. The McCain campaign hopes that it will somehow get those voters who’ve crossed the river of Obama-doubt to jump back across to the other side.



This entry was posted on Saturday, October 4th, 2008 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Newsweek Blogitics, Negative Campaigning, Demonization, Sarah Palin, John McCain, Barack Obama, 2008 Elections, Democrats, Republicans, Politics. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Viewing 35 Comments

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    "Readers can go to the link themselves since we don’t like to advertise this kind of political rhetoric on this site"

    I don't understand your policy. If the candidates are saying this, surely it's relevant. Better to debunk it, or criticize it , than ignore it. You can be fair without ignoring something.
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    This coming from the Governor of Alaska who is a strong supporter of a group who wants Alaska to secede and break up the US....
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    This isn't surprising nor am I saddened by it. This is American politics. And we're human. If something feels like it may be slipping away, we unsheathe the claws and start scratching hard.

    The McCain Campaign may be too late for this line of attack to work on the targeted group. The Obama-Ayers Affair has been out there for awhile and McCain has said little to nothing about it. The first McCain-Obama debate seems have diffused much of the "Obama's scary" and not presidential talk.
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    We've quoted lots of peppery things before. Where did I say that we now have a blanket policy. The world wont' fall apart if on this post we don't help spread sleazy political quotes. The whole point of inflammatory statements is to get media and blog coverage. On this post people can expend a tiny bit of energy and click on it themselves. Unfortunately, I predict this is just the beginning of what will be one of the most negative final four weeks of a campaign in american political history. And if it works, look for other candidates in both parties to draw a lesson from it and do the same thing in future races...as our bar goes lower and lower and lower as to what American voters will enable and reward.
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    They're building up to "you know what"; starting small with the terrorist BS and Reverend Wright, building up to...

    Anyway...

    The Obama campaign is like a flower just starting to bloom. The McCain campaign is loading their sprayers with herbicide.

    Obama needs a plan, a solid plan. And he needs one FAST.
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    Quite frankly, I hope that Obama hits McCain back on his own association in the past - Charles Keating. McCain was demonstrably tied to the last great financial disaster in this country - the Savings and Loan debacle, and thought the fundamentals of our economy were sound during the middle of this one.

    It doesn't take much to tie the two together and point out how disastrous a McCain presidency would be to our economy.

    At the same time, I hope Obama doesn't really go here. I'd love for the American people to prove that we're above buying into McCain's sleaze. The far right will cheer him on, of course, but so long as moderates and independents see this new "McSleaze" for who he is, then Obama should be fine.
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    Since McCain has zero chance of winning, who cares what his campaign tactics are. Instead of posting endless and pointless entries about Sarah Palin, poll results, or McCain's incomptent campaign, maybe people should start talking about what will happen after Senator Obama is elected.

    What is more important, the idiotic campaign strategy of an incompetent candidate who has zero chance of winning or who will be the Sec. of Treasury in the Obama Administration.

    Maybe netroots should try to demonstrate that they are different from the wingnuts and start talking about what should be expected of the upcoming Obama Administration instead of talking about pointless campaign tactics and trying to spin the errors of Senator Obama.
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    John McNasty McCain is just out of touch. For the first time in years you can't win an election by BS. The voters want FACTS not negitive untrue facts. Ayers was around when 40 years ago? Obama now hangs out with terrorists more BS. This is the only thing McCain and Rove no. It is not working this time. The are lost in time
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    Sil, I commend you for your restraint, lol! Anyway, anyone who claims they didn't see this sort of thing coming is either (a) oblivious, or; (b) dishonest. The only difference is that this time the McCain campaign isn't trying to blow smoke ahead of time with some kind of excuse (e.g, Obama didn't agree to town hall meetings; Obama didn't travel overseas enough; the media was mean to Palin, etc.). Like it mattered.

    Anyway, I have to assume that the Obama campaign has known for some time the attacks were coming. Thus I assume they're prepared for them. It would surprise me greatly if they aren't. But if they aren't, they have no one to blame but themselves. Silly season is over. Vicious season is now upon us. We should all feel so proud... not.
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