Posted on 09/26/2008 10:51:22 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
For last night's debate Obama's handlers decided that in order for their man to try to elevate his stature and gain equal footing with John McCain in the eyes of the viewing public he should refer to his opponent as "John" whenever the opportunity arose. Not, "my opponent". Not, "Senator McCain". Simply, "John".
Quick freeper poll: Does anybody think this tactic worked?
It's my feeling that Obama wanted so hard to employ this tactic that he threw in a few too many, "I agree with John..." responses. In other words, Obama's desire to use the tactic (which he must have thought was a pretty clever idea) ended up making him look like a go-along follower, as he responded with several variations of, "John is right...".
It's good to see that the McCain campaign was quick to produce an ad making precisely that point.
I also find it telling that the Obama campaign figured that the "John" tactic was needed in the first place. Obviously, the campaign believes there is a "stature gap" that must be overcome.
I also wonder how many old Clinton hands are working with Obama on his debate tactics? Who can ever forget Clinton's use of the same kind of tactic when he wagged his finger at the TV camera and referred to the young, barely-out-of-high-school-intern, Monica Lewinsky, as "that woman" in order to try to elevate her stature so that people might be less inclined to view him, Clinton, as a "dirty old man"? Ironically, with the help of his allies in the Democrat "mainstream" press, the tactic mostly worked!
Good post. Thanks for your reply.
(And good tag line!)
I’m a stickler for propriety. So “Senator McCain” is what he should of use since this was a formal public setting.
Some minutes before that he called him "Joe".
According to Barney Frank, however, it is possible to BLOW your way to the top.
I hadn't noticed, so no, I don't think it worked. Was it supposed to get McCain 'rattled'? Well, he wasn't. The "talking over" trick didn't work out so well for Obambi either.
That's because McCain was speaking straight, while Obambi was reciting memorized lines.
I wonder if there are enough name gaffes to make a 30 second tape. "Joe, Tom, Jim, etc.", plus the "I have a bracelet too, it's from uh, er, ...." Would look pretty funny on UTube.
I wonder if this gimick will continue into the VP debates. Biden can call Gov Palin “Sarah” and she can call Senator Biden “Plugs”.
I hope you're right. We already need to do an exorcism in the House and Senate. I'm not sure our nation can deal with voodoo/jihad in the WH.
LMAO!
I think this:
Supporters of McCain will say it didn’t work.
Supporters of Obama will say it did.
The undecided didn’t really notice unless someone pointed it out.
Which is why it's called "subliminal suggestion".
....unless someone pointed it out.
Which makes the tactic no longer "subliminal" and helps ruin the intended effect.
Yes. It's like they are really saying, "WE are the ANOINTED. Look what WE are doing to HELP poor little you! Fall in line and appreciate it, and be the stupid stooges we take you for!"
I did compose it, but I remember stealing the original thought from a long lost post on another board. Thanks!
I just got around to this. Thanks for such a wonderful job of protecting our nation. :^)
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