Quote:
Originally Posted by Lleauaric~EW  I really am loathe to use sports analogies, but....
You used up your trick play, and had some momentum. But there is too much time on the clock and the core problems of your team are still there.
You cant sustain negative campaigning without it backfiring. Period. Its good for short quick bursts, but over a long period of time, it starts to define the purveyor. (Especially when over and over again he is being called straight up a liar, often to his face, on national television, by multiple people.)
Bush ran a fucking awesome, textbook campaign in 2000. It was perfect. They looked at the map, and surgically dissected it. They didn't have to really go that negative against Gore, because he allowed the Clinton negatives to become him, while drawing none of their benefit. Bush didnt really go negative in 2000, and people were voting FOR him.
2004 was different. An incumbent president barely fights off a VERY flawed candidate. Bush went very negative, BUT, they were always able to make it seem like it wasnt coming from them. They knew, they understood, that you cannot get your hands dirty in this stuff.
McCain? No, think MACBETH, scrubbing to remove the stain of blood from guilty hands. Out, out damned spot!
What McCain is doing now is UNSUSTAINABLE. It was designed to give a quick, massive boost and get Obama playing catch up for 45 days.
It failed. Obama has more money, a better grassroots, a stronger brand (republican brand is dog shit atm), and massive advantages on the issues.
What does McCain have? trick plays and big gambles.
Good luck. |
Gonna have to agree with that. McCain had a strong post convention bounce due to the Palin pick. They tried to extend the bounce as long as possible by going negative and throwing Obama on the defensive. It worked for a while, but the problem is it has now backfired. They pushed too hard and continually stuck to repeating discredited statements, flat out lies, and distractions (lipstick controversy), which seriously damaged their reformer image.
All week long McCain/Palin have been getting swatted by national media sources left and right for lying and distorting. McCain even got his ass owned on The View of all fucking places, and Palin's ABC interview really exposed a lot of her flaws as a candidate. Charlie Gibson really didn't let her get off scott free by waving away her previous controversial stances on global warming, bridge to nowhere, earmarks, etc. The convention excitement is wearing off and reality is starting to set in, as evidenced by the leveling off of the polls.
At least the 2004 Bush campaign had the good sense to let the super negative Swift Boat shit come from a 527 group that Bush could claim he had "no control" over. That was the perfect setup, and was quite brilliant. A draft dodger essentially painted a decorated Vietnam war hero as unpatriotic, perhaps treasonous, and Bush could claim all along he had nothing to do with it.
McCain/Palin on the other hand are completely stuck to the lies/hypocrisy/discredited statements that they have been pushing so hard since the convention. They made the mistake of spouting this crap themselves, versus letting the lackeys and shadow groups throw it out, and the stink has started to stick.
This gives the Obama campaign the perfect angle to legitimately go on the offensive (beginning yesterday) for at least a couple weeks or until the debates. Obama can now continue to push his issues image while simultaneously running attack ads on McCain/Palin's widely discredited statements, dishonorable tactics, and fake reformer image. Obama comes out of this looking better and he's now in position to turn the tables on McCain. Obama got an assist by the media this week for sure, but equally important was the fact McCain/Palin pushed too hard too fast, blowing their wad prematurely.
