Posted on 09/17/2008 6:32:02 AM PDT by icwhatudo
We saw one example early on. The "deer in the headlights" look spokespeople for the McCain camp would get when "troopergate" was discussed. They had no quick answer.... Let me correct that, early on they had no answer at all. The media and the left framed it nicely as a "messy custody battle" and "Palin tried to get her sisters ex fired-its abuse of power".
If James Carville was a republican, you can be sure the tasering of a child and the death threat against Palins father would be tossed out every time the matter was discussed. I can imagine him on Larry King saying.."Well I don't know about you Larrah, but if someone threatens to kill my father, you can be sure I'm gonna call his boss and let him know about it. I mean this is a man who carries a gun for goodness sake".
Alas no such response came from Republican talking heads. Some tried to argue that: "technically the key matter at hand is charges against Palin involving actions taken by the...blah blah blah... by this point Chris Mathews just cut you off. The key is a quick short response that reframes the argument to your benefit.
Eventually it did come out that the trooper in question tasered Palins nephew, but only because of the sensationalism of that information...not because it was a talking point early on by the McCain camp or GOP spokespeople. The death threat is still barely mentioned and if it ever is its always with the CNN caveat of "something the trooper denies". No quick shootback by a McCain guy of "he was found guilty of the death threat by a state trooper investigation"....they are too busy holding that morning show coffee mug and talking about how McCain is an agent of change..sigh.
Which brings me to how the campaign is dealing with the financial crisis. Pelosi is on TV claiming it was all the Republicans fault, that they have been in power for the last 8 years and you can't blame the democrats.
-----By the way, do you think someone in the campaign might want to mention the democrats have controlled both houses of congress for the last 2 years? Maybe point out gas and food prices and unemployment rates from when the Republicans were in power compared to today? But I digress...back to the financial crisis response or lack thereof--------
Before the day was out freepers were finding articles that devastated the democrats "clean hands" claim. Does the McCain camp not employ such people? Could they at least come to FreeRepublic and take advantage of all the free work we do? This was an article that talked about new oversight for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae all the way back in 2003. The article stated: ------------------------------- "Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.
''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed." ------------------------ What more do you want GOP talking heads? Here it is all giftwrapped for you! So what do we see on CNN this morning? Chris Dodd blaming the Republicans for not proposing new regulations and....get this....praising Barney Frank for his hard work to do so! Now this is an important point. Dodd is so far ahead of the "information battle" curve, he is already shielding Frank. Then comes Romney, not exactly the attack dog that Rudy is, but experienced on the economy and he starts talking about....sigh....how long McCain has been in office and therefore he is more experienced to deal with the economy.
I'm sure the Frank quote will "eventually" come out in some page 24a article next to a bra ad, just it will eventually be mentioned that the guy Palin fired has his own death threat issues (he threatened to kill his ex-wife). The problem is speed. Having a rapid response team like Obama. (They already had their talking points out this morning about a McCain $50,000 a plate fund raiser before Obamas $28,000 a plate event even had time to be covered)
We don't need fake dinosaur quotes, photoshopped bikini pics, and false claims of cuts in aid to win this battle....we need information. Quick, concise, framing the argument on our terms. Mathews does stop momentarily to gasp for air, be ready to jump in with a quick response. I know you can do it.
I agree that they do seem to be slow responding and hitting back with facts that could expose Obama on issues. Yesterday Rush went through an entire list of attacks based on issues where Obama and democrats in general would be sitting ducks.
They knock off the star power of Obama
They know what they are doing.
I saw Rick Santorum on H&C last night.
He was eating Colmes’ lunch on Obama’s experience.
You are ABSOLUTELY right, and seeing this happen all over again just makes me shake my head and sigh, like you.....
And all this misplaced high-road gentlemanliness from the Pubbies, when there are a dozen juicy issues out there that could be used to SINK the Dems, like Fannie Mae and her boyfriend. Leave issues like that alone, and before you know it, it will be YOU that will be branded as the cause of it all. Once again, it’s hard to believe just how slow on the uptake they all are—it’s almost as though they are pre-defeated by the MSM, and forced to play permanent defense, which means rolling over and whimpering// It all started out so well, too, with those one or two great nights of snarling, mocking attacks by Guiliani and Palin that increasingly seem to be things of the past, fondly remembered. And NOW it looks, ironically, that the charge of McCain being “just a continuation of Bush” is just that, since the hallmark of the Bush Administration was not bothering to either sell yourself, and not defending yourself against scurrilous charges, charges that the Dems know where to throw, to make them stick. THink of the “Bush is responsible for all of Katrina” demagoguery and you get the picture.
You’re darn right it needed to be said. First of all, the GOPer talking heads should absolutely nail the leftwing media types when they use the term “troopergate.” They should fire back: “Where’s the gate? WE know that Sarah stopped the bridge — but where’s the gate? And what’s the implication you’re trying to make?”
The sorry mess up in Alaska should be called “The Palin Witch Trial,” or, perhaps, “The French Connection” — or, if the media still is obsessed with gates, “Hollisgate.”
Wait about five minutes and go to getliberty.org. The cartoon there and the commentary accompanying it will blow you away!
It is still within the margin of error so they are doing well.
The only thing is they have to repeat and repeat what Fred Thompson said at the Convention.
‘Obama increasing taxes on small businesses will mean everyone will pay more for things and more people will lose jobs.’
and repeat and repeat it.
I agree, the talking heads group for McCain need to up their game and get the facts out there. It is rather frustrating. On a sidenote I wonder if McCains Campaign is sitting on their ad money for now because their rapid response ads have been off lately too. There is so much fodder for ads out there that I am shocked at the lack of response lately. The Obama campaign has retaken the discussion IMO, while the polls will still say close we should be going for blood and there is so much to go after. We can’t depend on a knockout blow during the debates.
McCain has an excellent spokesperson, Nancy Pfotenhauer. Whenever I see her, usually on Fox along with a Dem spokesperson, she does a very good job. She has the right personality, is always smiling, and does a very good job with the facts. Every time I’ve seen her she makes the Dems spokeperson look bad.
Yeah, where are all the conservative headhunters when you need them? ;<)
Attacking an individual citizen not running for office that is involved in legal proceedings can legally be a tricky thing for a political campaign.
That what we're here for.
Hey, did you know that that Trooper threatened that Palin's father would would “eat a f***ing bullet” if he hired an attorney to help his daughter in when she was divorcing the Trooper?
Pass it on.
LOL, Taking heads vs talking heads!
An edit button would be O so appreciated... :)
What the heck? Is it bring a dem to work day at CNN?
Now Rham Emmanuel is saying that “we’ve been trying to get fanny mae and freddie mac re-regulated for the last 6 years and the republicans have stopped us.
.....sigh
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.