For me, this election just became very personal, and very serious.

[Edubb]

For the last several months, I have enjoyed this election. I’ve enjoyed writing about McCain’s many shortcomings. I’ve enjoyed the jokes and the satire. I have laughed at Letterman’s barbs about McCain’s age. I have appreciated Colbert’s skillful mockery of the Republican primaries. I have sat comfortable in my home, sure that either Obama or Clinton would slaughter McCain in November. That’s gone now.

Last night, I watched the same comedy shows, and the jokes aren’t funny. CNN is pissing me off. And the political blogs–ordinarily a haven for disenfranchised and marginalized Americans–have wet their pants over Palin, and are so scared of her, they advocate ignoring her completely. Take the high road. It worked for Kerry…

Truth be told: Palin swift-boated Obama. She launched a mean-spirited list of every Republican lie that’s been told about Obama since he first appeared on the national stage in 2004. She’s a willing puppet in the GOP’s evil character assassination machine. To fight this, we can not take “the high road.” Obama must unleash hell on this woman. Obama must unleash the Clinton smear machine. He must take no prisoners. This woman must be squashed. Hard. Squashed and burned beyond recognition. If, after this election is over, she is still standing, then we have not done our job.

Palin’s a religious kook, a creationist, against sex education, and willing to join an Alaskan political party that advocates secession from the US. She’s on CNN now, at a rally, repeating her speech from Wednesday night. Some stupid line about McCain “using his career for change.” ”McCain doesn’t run with the Washington herd.” She has nothing. She’s an empty, souless animal.

Bloggers compare her to Nixon. Nixon was ugly, and a bad liar. Palin brings the disgusting, evil GOP agenda in a cute Tina Fey package. That’s infinitely more dangerous than Nixon. We must get our hands very, very dirty.

Gore took the high road. The GOP crushed him. Kerry had double the ammunition against Bush, and still lost. Send Obama the memo. It’s time to get dirty. Filthy.

[kurth_]

1. Yep, quit bringing a knife to a gunfight

And if they whine about Dems bringing a gun, well, fuck them.

[Serial Mom]

2. IMO, the gop did not crush Gore - he won and as far a Kerry -

just a couple weeks ago it came out how Ohio election was stolen from Dems also!

[justiceischeap]

3. I take exception to your argument, you are wrong on one MAJOR point!

Do not EVER compare imPalin to Tina Fey again! Tina Fey is way hotter and she is way smarter and just don't do that again!!!!!!!

;)

[Stern21]

4. Man, I have mixed emotions on this.

I'm afraid the paradigm for election rhetoric has been set and I hate it.

It's like a boxing match with no referee in which one fighter plays by the rules and the other is constantly punching below the belt.

[stuntcat]

5. She. Is. Asking. For. It.

Democrats are to nice.. what with the morals and all.. but Palin is a monster, she canNOT make it to the whitehouse.

[MGKrebs]

19. I would be careful about thinking of her as a monster.

That de-humanizes her, and that is dangerous. At that point, morality is irrelevant and we don't want to go there. She is a human being; one we disagree with very strongly, but she is a human being.

[Bubbha Jo]

23. But the kicker is that those holy roller types

don't want to admit to acting human, because humans are full of original sin. Following/believing in their Bible makes some inhumane toward others too. They were told whole bunches of natural humans are evil or secondary to them. They usually are 100% hypocrites because their actions (simply being human) don't match their word (scripture based). The two don't compute.

They are mentally ill really but can manage their own lives so don't need help like those with physically damaged minds. What they do though is impact negatively on the rest of us (keeping females secondary for centuries; banning gay marriage now, etc.) Their "illness" (rules in old obsolete texts) harms the lives of others. I suspect fundamentalism will be classified as a mental illness in a few decades. We have another category to add:

Physically ill
Mentally Ill
Societally Ill

They damage society daily.

[MGKrebs]

29. Even so, we are the same species.

If YOU get to pick and choose who is worthy of human-ness, I would consider you as much of a threat to society as most of "them".

Who is next on your list?

[stuntcat]

28. (humans..)

(Considering the full-on Earth-Rape and Mass-Extinction my species is causing, my opinion of humans is actually lower than monsters :P I should have just called her an evil dummy.)

[MrModerate]

6. The voters who buy into Palin's bullshit are already lost to us . . .

We need to continue to impress those who think with their brains and not their anuses. We cannot rely on the moron-American vote.

Right now Palin is a mini-fascist. Let's not make her any bigger than she is.

There is no more a culture war under way than there is a genuine war on terror. The 'Licans have, in desperation, tried to revive the culture wars, but they aren't going to play this time (IMO).

The pants-peeing going on right now is just a symptom of how degraded media has become. While there is substantial danger to rational discourse because of this degradation, we can take some comfort from the fact that the next shiny thing to come along will snatch their attention away from Palin-as-Obama-Killer.

Ignore her? No. Start spraying gouts of bile? No. Stay on message -- that this intolerable situation must change? YES.

[redqueen]

7. Agreed. I like having a very clear contrast in as many ways as possible.

I know there's lots of disagreement on this... but honestly I just don't see any other way forward than to move UP out of the sewer and not let the republicans drag us down to their level.

[MrModerate]

10. And it's not that we're angels . . .

It's that down in the muck is 'Licans home ground. Why not fight on *our* ground, which is inherently stronger?

[Thrill]

8. If Obama and Biden don't tear this woman down. They will lose

they can't just ignore someone who is throwing the type of shit she is throwing

[Labors of Hercules]

9. It is not necessary to get dirty, just ruthless.

They cannot be afraid to beat the living shit out of her, but they can do it and still stay squeaky clean.

Fuck sexist, this woman is a 100% bitch, and she needs to be taken DOWN!!!! :grr:

[MrModerate]

12. There's a great Biden clip up right now that proves the campaign gets it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=955Y3NJTRIE

[Inuca]

17. Super clip! n/t

[quiet.american]

20. Joe gets it. This was a fantastic response to the trash Palin thinks is gold. nt

[quiet.american]

21. How about putting that clip in its own thread. It really deserves it! nt

[Hekate]

30. Joe Biden is terrific. Did you notice the crowd? Big, enthused, & mostly white...

I mention ethnicity because McCain and Palin think that's their constituency -- but I think the subset of white people that will go for Gidget and Geezer is a lot smaller than those will will turn out for Obama and Biden.

Joe Biden doesn't need to get dirty --he's got a very sharp tongue and rapier wit. Barack Obama is as cool as they come and never seems to lose that cool.

Now, as to their surrogates--I do hope they have a few surrogates who are up for mud-wrestling. :evilgrin:

Hekate

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Let the doberman surrogates do it (Carville, Rendell, etc.).

The past elections used the PACs/527s to smear, not so much the candidates. This year, the 527s are highly regulated and the Dems have so far been repsonding tit for tat against those. That's why they are using their VP candidate to bait because their 527s have been generally neutered, and other than the RW-biased media, they have nothing else.

Case in point, when Carville described the Wasilla City Hall as looking "like a bait shop in Southern Louisiana" - that type of dismissive strategy is what digs at them the most. Enough of that kind of stuff, and we might be treated to a Caribou Barbie blurt out of "sambo" again.

[CitizenPatriot]

16. I agree totally

from having way too much knowledge of how they operate first-hand, they hate being shamed and dismissed in that condescending tone. it does drive them to REVEAL themselves. I support this tactic 100%, with a vengeance and a bloody kick at the end.

That said, I also agree that we don't need to go low like they are. I mean, we don't need to LIE like they do. The truth is plenty enough -- and it is that very truth that needs to get out there. Getting it out there in that dismissive, we got this beat, you're an idiot if you believe this smear kind of tone is very effective.

Yes, the issues are on our side-- they always are. The problem is, many people never hear the finer points. They hear their accusations and then, the next day, our rebuttal buried on page 4. They sure as heck didn't like that picture of the Wasilla mayoral office...and I dig that:-) It was the truth, it spoke volumes, it was symbolic, it got across the message our usual 4 paragraphs of analysis of the facts couldn't have.

GOBAMA/BIDEN

[Beausoleil]

22. To paraphrase Adlai Stephenson

Since they lie so much about Democrats, we might as well tell the truth about them.

[Booster]

13. I thought they lowered the bar for Bush almost to the ground, but

now the bar is actually on the ground for Palin. We should never, ever again allow incurious, unintelligent, "regular" people be elected for our highest offices. From now on we should demand, and I mean demand, brilliance. I don't want to have a beer with these people; I want them to be so damn intelligent that they wouldn't even want to talk to me because I'm just so stupid. Ok, so maybe that's over the top a little, but you get what I mean.

[pleah]

14. There is so much on these two, we really don't have to get dirty.

All we have to do is put the truth out there. AND, keep it out there. They have cut their own throats. We just have to use it against them.

[samuraiguppy]

15. we can't affford

to take the high road against these religious nuts.

seriously, why do they have so many kiddies? palin 5 and mccain 7 that is 12 kiddies for 2 families. don't they consider the planet?

disgusting.

[Hekate]

31. McCain has adopted three of them, just to be accurate.

Wife #1 had two sons from her first marriage, and he adopted them. Then wife #2 (Cindy) brought home a baby from Mother Theresa's orphanage, a girl with a cleft palate who was not going to get the care she needed to live anything approaching a normal life, and they adopted her. She's very dark, and that's the one Rove smeared him on in 2000, spreading rumors that he had fathered a black child on the side.

So the McCains aren't as prolific as all that.

The Palins, however, think the world as we know it is coming to an end soon, so your concerns about the fate of the planet are irrelevant to them.

Hekate

[tbyg52]

18. Hey, Edubb!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[RememberWellstone]

24. I'm feeling depressed

All I've heard for 2 days is Palin...WTF? Is she using voodoo or witchcraft? I have 2 in-office friends who were solid for Obama both of them have jumped ship. No real reasons except they just love Palin...I have no idea on how to persuade them since I was so head over heels with Hillary and moved to Obama.

I feel like it's the election night of 2000 all over again.:shrug:

[Samantha]

25. If you want to fight dirty (and I second your thoughts) there's an

easy way to do it. (Okay, I will get slaughtered for this, but I think it will work).

Republicans always try to win elections, especially Presidential ones, by dividing Dems against Dems. We saw that actively in play again this year when they tried to drive a wedge between the Hillary supporters and those of Obama. McCain openly participated.

To the Democrats' ire, the Republicans always play the religion card, implying All Democrats Are Sinners," (a Jeb Bush quote) among other evil things.

Why not divide the Republican party by playing religious group against religious group? This could easily be accomplished this year and would work great in the South by simply amplifying what we know about Sarah Palin's church. Southern Baptists are very fearful of the Church of God worshipers, associated with the Pentecostal umbrella. I know this because I was raised as a child in the South by Southern Baptists, and I remember vividly the fearful whispers about these churches. Many think those who speak in tongues while attending church are possessed by the Devil. Okay, read that sentence again and think about it. I have heard that statement made many times while growing up in the South. I don't condone it, I don't believe it, but I do see how if one group of people think it is okay to blend religion with politics, why don't Dems step up to the plate and force this perception to backfire in the Republicans' faces?

Many of the people I know in the South do not use computers. They will never learn what we have learned about Palin's church because they never resort to the Internet. Find a way to BROADCAST the recent video the church made and publicize the speaking in tongues to the Southern Baptists in States like Tennessee, AND THEY WILL STAY HOME THIS ELECTION. Guaranteed.

Split the Republican religious base, and you have a serious threat to any success McCain might think is within his reach.

Fight fire with fire, even if you have to ask the Devil to help you do it.:) You can always repent afterward!

[MadMaddie]

26. It is all about strategy! And usually an organization or a

movement falls apart from the inside.

I think if the news got out about which churches received the faith based money * was distributing I think that would be the beginning of the end.

Religion should have never been mixed with the state and now we will have to disengage the two one way or another.

[philly_bob]

27. Maybe it's not Republican bare-knuckle tactics, maybe they cheated in 00 & 04

And by coarsening our tactics ("Don't bring a knife to a gunfight") we're soiling our beds.

Meanwhile, I have doubts that we've fixed the election system...