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.
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.