“If you want clues to how this year’s presidential election will be fought, look no further than this past week’s Meet the Press on NBC, where the GOP telegraphed its aggressive messaging offensive and Democrats, as usual, sought to play at the smug intersection of fairness and above-the-fray.”
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“It was what Republicans do best—character-assassination politics, not unlike the attacks that Democrats allowed to define Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004.
Sure, Republicans will attempt on some level to engage Obama on the issues, but there is little for them to work with there, given the advantages Democrats enjoy on the economy, health care and on Iraq. McCain will try to challenge Obama on national security and the war on terrorism. And his campaign will make daily attacks on Obama’s experience and preparedness to lead.”
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“Republicans will make Obama’s character a central issue in this election, every day, on every news show and repeated by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly, The New York Post, the Washington Times editorial page, until Election Day. It will be relentless. And it will be tiring. And swaths of the public will begin to believe it.”
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This is what we’ll hear. Think for yourself. Do not believe everything you hear.
Emphasis mine.
4 comments
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June 29, 2008 at 7:41 pm
renaissanceguy
I concur about not believing everything you hear, but that cuts both ways.
I don’t appreciate it when anyone suggests that such political strategies are the sole domain of the Republican Party. MoveOn, anyone?
As long as there have been politicians, they have done whatever they thought they had to in order to gain or hold on to power. And political party has nothing to do with it.
I’ve been a close observer of presidential elections, and other elections, and I can tell you that the candidate’s character and qualifications have always come up, as they should.
What I would prefer the media focus on is the truth or non-truth of the various claims and counter-claims. That’s all that matters.
Does Obama have enough experience? That’s certainly debatable.
Is he prepared to lead the country? That’s also debatable.
I don’t understand what’s so wrong about asking those questions. He wants to be the President of the United States, for Heaven’s sake, so he ought to be willing to prove that he is ready to do the job. Don’t you think?
June 29, 2008 at 9:30 pm
helenl
If the Democrat’s nominate him, I’ll vote for him. I like him.
July 1, 2008 at 2:09 am
renaissanceguy
“I like him.”
Then make him the chairman of the hospitality committee. Liking somebody doesn’t mean that they would make a good President of the United States.
As far as liking goes, I would probably like him too, if I knew him personally. But I could never vote for him for President with a clear conscience. At the very least he should have been a governor for one term or a senator for more than one term. (And a real senator–not one who has spent most of his term campaigning.) Then, of course, he would have to have policy positions that would be good for the country, which he mostly doesn’t.
July 1, 2008 at 11:20 am
helenl
I still say, attack policy not character.