This hasn’t been the best day for the campaigns of Democratic Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton or for Republican presumptive Presidential nominee Senator John McCain. The reason: all three are feeling political and media heat.
Just follow the links. To wit:
#1: Obama in a speech said that his great-uncle, Charlie Payne, was among those who liberated Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi concentration camp. It turns out the camp was liberated by the Soviets. The RNC pounced. Obama’s camp then explained that Obama’s relative had actually been in on the liberation of a different Nazi kill camp, Buchenwald. Details here. Also read the LA Times’ blog account, particularly their commentary at the end. Yours truly agrees totally with the Times on this one.
#2. Talk shows continue to discuss Senator Hillary Clinton’s comments about the 1968 RFK assassination and how it applies to this year. The flap is seemingly beginning to deflate — except for this super-blunt post by former Clinton White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers. Here’s her lead:
Hillary Clinton’s comments on Friday — invoking Bobby Kennedy’s assassination after the California primary in 1968 to shore up her argument that Democratic primaries are often unresolved in June — were bone-headed on two scores.
Read it all. Make sure you read it to the very end.
#3. Are storm clouds brewing for Senator John McCain? You can just see Obama and/or Clinton picking up this one via Crooks & Liars. The headline: Breaking: McCain Campaign General Co-Chair At Heart Of Foreclosure Crisis.
NOTE: TMV readers knew of the Gramm tie in way before MSNBC talked about the story today: Read THIS POST from April 5 by TMV columnist Shaun Mullen.
Put it altogether and what does it mean? (1) Not only is the primary season beginning earlier but you can see how in early 21st century America the actual general election campaign is beginning earlier. Labor Day Schmabor Day…the general election campaign is now underway. (2) Gaffes, outright dumb political statements, or sentences that can be twisted out of context now play a huge role in politics and if a candidate inadvertently provides one, it will be quickly exploited by the opposition in conjunction with lightning-fast new media response. (3) This is just the BEGINNING…so imagine what Campaign 2008 will be like when it really heats up and both parties aiming all of their fire and unloading their moneybag war chests on each other…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.