How do you feel about the way McCain's smears have been answered lately?

[bluegreen aura]

I guess after Kerry I thought that there would be a quick response team in full force. I remember how Clinton was always right there with a surrogate striking back at misrepresentations, etc. The man who asked Obama yesterday about how he was gonna come back at McCain said the word 'lies' when Obama had used less inflammatory language and then finally conceded that they were, in fact, LIES. But what is all the reluctance to tell it like it is? I mean, if someone was lying about me, I would be shouting it from the rooftops. I don't think dissing Johnny's computer illiteracy is quite the way we want to go here...

[tom_paine]

1. Better every day. K & R.

:patriot: :toast:

[calimary]

2. Embarrassed. I can't believe how anemic our "response" is.

DAMMIT!!!

DAMMIT, Barack! What the hell is WITH you??? Did you learn NOTHING from the 2004 campaign? Did the swiftboating of John Kerry and his idiotic, flaccid, too-little-too-late, "it's the dignity, stupid" response teach you NOTHING?

Clearly the answer, at least to me, is yes.

The American people DO NOT respond to "let's take the high road." This society, which loves its shoot-'em-ups and freeway car chases and slasher movies and World Wrestling Federation doesn't do "high road."

Until our candidates get that through their thick skulls, we will not succeed.

I wish TO GOD it were different. But I want to win. And whether we like it or not, whether it offends our delicate sensibilities or our consciences or not, it works. Negative campaigning, attack ads, dirty tricks - WORK. When you use them, you WIN.

And I want to do what works. Because I want to do what WINS.

Go ahead and flame me. Tell me that lowers us to the bad guys' level and makes us just like they are.

Well, fine then. Guilty as charged. I actually DO want to be just like they are.

'Cause you know what they are?

They're winners.

They do this shit and they win. And we lose. And we remain out of power. And we remain unable to set the agenda or reverse any of the damage or momentum toward losing everything we really do cherish (and what many of us during the 60's and 70's fought, protested, agitated, marched, and worked our asses off to accomplish to help our country move forward). And as of NOW, we would also remain unable to address any of the crimes or excesses or Constitutional violations committed by the bush/cheney regime (that you can bet your ass will be deep-sixed and permanently "disappeared" if another republi-CON administration takes power in January. All they'll do is destroy the evidence, lock up what they can't destroy, and then start changing the narrative for the sake of rewriting history. john mcsame won't seek justice from bush/cheney because john mcsame doesn't recognize any need to do so in the first place.

So we will be set back even farther.

WE need to start winning. And we need to do WHATEVER IT TAKES. Morality and ethics be DAMNED.

Sorry, but that's how I feel.

[bluegreen aura]

5. Actually, I admire Obama for his desire to keep the high ground

My issue is that when someone tells lies about YOU and is dishonest about what they have done, it is perfectly appropriate to call them out for it. In fact, if you don't do so, people will assume that the statements must be true or else you would have denied them! But going into the dirt to do so? Totally unnecessary!

I just want Obama to get PISSED OFF at their smears!

[alsame]

3. Obama is doing the right thing. Notice that the media is now

referring to McCain and Palin's lies as lies. They will continue to dig themselves into a hole and then Obama will hit hard. And our 527s will be brutal.

[calimary]

4. I hope this means more media will notice and start making a difference.

What I worry about is that by the time he rolls his sleeves up, the impression will have been set in concrete and the concrete itself will have set.

"I dunno ... I just like him/her."

THAT is POWERFULLY hard to beat. That's when it's gone viral - into somebody's "gut." When they think that, they're back to voting for a guy they think would be fun to go have a beer with. I fear with Palin, we may already be there.

You know that quote - I think it's from Mark Twain - about how a rumor can go around the world while the truth is still putting its pants on? My point exactly.

I hope to GOD the 527s are ready to go. But I have yet to see anything. Not ANYTHING.

[bluegreen aura]

6. I think there is one about the aerial hunting...

It says it's not affiliated with Obama and the Dems, but don't they all?

[alsame]

7. I'm in NY, so I don't see much of anything either. However, the

print media, at least, seem to have awoken to the fact that McBush and Palin are lying through their teeth about almost everything. I'm really hoping this spreads far and wide - and I'm praying that Obama calls McCain out during the debates.

I agree, the likability factor is a big problem among those who are unaware of issues and vote with the gut. But people don't like liars, especially when their lies are designed to make things worse.

[lunatica]

8. When dealing with Rovian strategy

One must never fall for it and react. Obama probably refuses to get on the defensive which is what Rove wants. He has talked about the lipstick and he actually showed how funny he can be but it wasn't the type of reaction that Rove wants. Rove wants either to be ignored while his smears gain traction or to force everyone into being defensive. Obama and Biden aren't taking the bait. What would it accomplish to counterattack in the same vein? Laugh at the ridiculous questions and then proceed to make your policy points. Keep banging away about the economy, the growing disparity between the haves and the rest of us.

Biden's reaction to the crazed Palin propaganda is to say she hasn't said anything he can refute or debate. That he doesn'y know where she stands on the issues because she hasn't spoken about them.

My point is that they aren't letting the Republicans define them. That's probably making Rove a little pissy since he's been so good about manipulating elections up to now. Obama and Biden refuse to be manipulated. So they don't get much of a bump, but then who would with the three ring circus that Palin is. Not even McCain is getting much of a bump out of it.

And remember, there are literally millions of people who use cell phones only who aren't being polled. It's like the iceberg. The polls are only reflecting the part of the electorate that the pollsters can reach. A small and growing smaller sampling of Americans.

[bluegreen aura]

10. Yeah, but they should still bring up the Bridge to Nowhere, for God's sake!

I mean, it was a LIE that Palin used over and over and do you remember hearing Obama or Biden railing against such hubris? That was how it was allowed to continue for a damn week!

I have heard that about the cell phones but I wonder if that is still true. I thought they had started contacting people on their cells. Also, older people tend to have landlines and vote more, don't they? Oh well, that makes me feel better, to think that perhaps these polls are way off!

[lunatica]

11. Why bring up what everyone already knows

They're being smart not to be part of the explosive reactionary response to Sarah Palin. Let others go into a tizzy and Obama and Biden have refused to be a part of the wild reaction. Steer clear of anything that appears to attack her family or her religion. Rove would love to have the Obama camp jump all over Palin and look like a bunch of misogynists attacking a poor little woman. They've refused to do that. Even Hillary has gone no further than saying "No McCain and Palin" "No way". The very fact they tried desperately to make the lipstick on a pig analogy into a sexist insult shows how badly they want Obama and Biden to say something like that. Everyone with any ability to think knows exactly what's going on. Palin is the big distraction, the Hail Mary desperation play to dominate what everyone is talking about and she's truly nothing more than a tool to be used by the brains who've been pulling Bush's puppet strings all along. They went far into the wilderness to find someone corrupt enough and greedy and dumb enough to happily do their bidding. It doesn't take much to figure it out. The information dissemination on the internet through the blogs is becoming too strong for Rovian tricks. They may get McCain to be President but it won't be through honesty. And that's the only way they'll win. By stealing the election again.

If they do that then we'll have to go from there. It may be a very long fight, but I have no doubt there will be a fight.

[MiniMe]

9. When the press starts fact checking them, you are doing something right

The press never would have fact checked the bridge to nowhere or if Palin had been in Iraq or not 4 years ago.