The Bottom Line on Health Care

by: iowademocrat

Sat Aug 29, 2009 at 16:39:20 PM CDT

What is the best way to deal with McCain's attacks?

by: desmoinesdem

Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 09:00:00 AM CDT

It's a simple message: we expected more from McCain than misleading gimmicks.

The Obama campaign has taken this approach a step further by launching a new website: lowroadexpress.com. You can watch Obama's tv commercial that portrays McCain as practicing the politics of the past and clinging to failed policies. You can read newspaper editorials criticizing McCain's tactics. The main message of the site is this:

Welcome to the Low Road Express.

John McCain used to stand for "straight talk." Not anymore.
These days John McCain doesn't seem to stand for anything but negative attacks and false charges against Barack Obama. This isn't the John McCain we used to know.

I see the point of hitting McCain on his supposed strength as a straight talker, and I see the point of working the refs in the media by calling out McCain for his negative campaigning.

However, I wonder whether going after McCain's campaign tactics should be the main thrust of the Democratic response.

I agree with David Mizner, who wrote yesterday, "Good populist rhetoric, and linking McCain to corporate greed, is the way to beat not only McCain's drilling nonsense, but the Brittany-Spears smear campaign."

Mizner linked to a great statement from the Obama campaign regarding the record quarterly profit reported by Exxon Mobil:

Perhaps the only thing more outrageous than Exxon Mobil making record profits while Americans are paying record prices at the pump is the fact that Senator McCain has proposed giving them an additional $1.2 billion tax break. While Senator McCain's plan has succeeded in helping his campaign raise over $1 million from oil and gas company executives and employees just last month, it won't lower gas prices or end our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. Instead of an energy policy that reads like an oil-company wish list, it's time to create a new American energy economy by investing in alternative energy, creating millions of new jobs, increasing fuel efficiency standards, and ending the tyranny of oil once and for all.

Now the focus is on McCain as a typical corrupt Republican who takes money from corporate executives and supports big tax breaks for profitable companies.

That seems more damaging than saying he runs mean television commercials.

You might think, of course desmoinesdem wants Obama to talk more about Republicans being bought and paid for by powerful corporations--she was an Edwards supporter!

Well, longtime Obama backer Dansac is concerned that McCain's attack ads are working and would like to see Obama go on offense:

Get scrappy Obama, no more worrying about "looking Presidential."  The high road is for suckers and we thought you knew this.  Winning is really quite simple:

"John McCain is Bush's 3rd Term" and "John McCain is Completely Out of Touch and Knows Nothing about the Economy"

Repeat it over and over.  Not just Obama, but a coordinated surrogate strategy with really tough talking points.  Call his ads "pathetic" and what you'd expect from someone "who has nothing to offer but a 3rd Bush term and knows nothing about the economy."

Frame HIM instead of allowing yourself to be framed.  Because don't be fooled Obama folks or Kossacks, that's what's starting to happen.  

Victory may still be ours, but a landslide is increasingly unlikely and victory will be tougher to achieve.  We have a very small window, a VERY small window to start pushing back aggressively.  And accusing McCain of taking the "low road" won't do it.  We need to get in the muck and define him.

Offense.  It's what's for dinner.

About that window: the election is less than 100 days away, and fladem has persuasively argued that most recent presidential elections have been won or lost in the summer, not the fall.

What do you think is the right approach for Obama? Chiding McCain for using the politics of the past? Accusing McCain of doing the oil companies' bidding? Branding McCain as Bush's third term?

MoveOn holding anti-war rallies, Wednesday, May 2

by: desmoinesdem

Tue May 01, 2007 at 12:58:12 PM CDT

If you don't live in central Iowa, this message contains a link you can click to search for protests near your zipcode:

Dear MoveOn member,
Congress is about to send an important bill to the White House-it would require the president to start bringing our troops home from Iraq this year. President Bush has said repeatedly he's going to veto it. It's outrageous. Most Americans support a timeline and he's standing in the way.

This will be a pivotal moment on Iraq-it's not clear what Congress or the president will do after the veto. We need to make clear that President Bush is really vetoing the will of the American people. And we need to tell Congress to hold firm.

There are already more than 200 rallies planned and it's really important to turn out in big numbers to get our message across. There is one right near you in Des Moines. Can you make it tomorrow?

Here are the details:
Outside the Downtown Library
Wednesday, May 2 2007, 5:00 PM
RSVP: http://pol.moveon.or...

If this event doesn't work for you, click below to search for another rally near you:

http://pol.moveon.or...

Four years ago today, President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. Now there is a plan on the table that will finally start bringing our troops home-but the president is going to veto it. By doing so, he's vetoing the will of the people.

Congress has two options on how to respond-they can either cave to the president's pressure or stand strong and demand accountability from him on Iraq. Members of Congress are going to be gauging public reaction in the next few days to decide which path they'll follow.

There's also a fun twist to these rallies: We'll be using noisemakers to demonstrate that President Bush and Congress cannot ignore us any longer-our voices must be heard.

As Senator Feingold recently wrote:

By carrying out his veto threat, the President will mark yet another sad day in the history of this war. But that veto should be seen as a rallying cry for the vast majority of Americans who believe that the time has come to again stand up, and stand together, with one voice, and demand a policy that makes sense-one that puts our country and our national security first. A policy that makes America safer, not weaker.2

Now is the time to take a strong stand against the president's reckless policy in Iraq. Together, we'll show the media and Congress that we won't stand for another blank check for the president on the war. Can you join us?

Click below to search for a rally near you.

http://pol.moveon.or...

Thanks for all you do,

-Nita, Anna, Matt, Justin and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
  Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

Sources

1. "GOP's Base Helps Keep Unity on Iraq," Washington Post, April 30, 2007
http://www.moveon.or...

2. An Important Step to Ending the War in Iraq, Progressive Patriots
http://www.moveon.or...