Seriously, not at all smart. Barack Obama has personally gone on the offensive against Sarah Palin, according to Marc Ambinder. This isn’t an “Upconvert” its an attempt at a slam.
Well, how about Gov. Palin? She’s you know, an up and comer from Alaska. She - they’re starting to run an ad now saying she opposed the bridge to nowhere. Well now, let’s get the facts clear here. When she was mayor, she hired a Washington lobbyist to get earmarks - pork barrel spending - all the things that John McCain says is bad, she lobbied to get! And got a whole lot of it. When it came to the bridge to nowhere, she was for it until everybody started raising a fuss about it and she started running for governor and then suddenly she was against it!
You remember that? For it before you were against it? I mean you can’t just make stuff up. You can’t just recreate yourself. You can’t just reinvent yourself. The American people aren’t stupid.
No, they are not. Barack Obama requested $740 million in earmarks in his very brief Senate career. That number comes from none other than Barack Obama. (All, apparently, before this year, making the per day total even higher.) The left - or MSNBC - sigh, I know, I know - is trying to “nuance” that by braying that Alaska - meaning they blame Palin - asked for some $198 million last year. The “nuance here is that they claim it’s the per capita that counts.
Yeah, right.
You’re right, Mr. Obama, the American people are not stupid. The nuance will not matter. You look pretty ridiculous right now.
I saw this headline over at Memeorandum and thought that I might want to write about it. It turns out that McQ at QandO has already done a masterful job of translating the HuffnPuff rant by one Adam McKay. Oh, please do go over and read the whole thing. It is taking McKay and the left to school, big time.
For my part, I have been hitting on the left for its contemptible, malignant attacks on Sarah Palin and her children and have been predicting a massive backfire. McKay’s completely casual slurs on Palin show exactly why the left stands an admirable chance of “blowing it”, indeed. They have not a clue how they sound to average Americans.
There is a reason why there is a strict comment (and posting) standard here, folks. Too bad HuffnPuffPo isn’t smart enough to understand why there is a need for one sometimes. If you haven’t read McQ’s lesson yet, time to go to school.
Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, looks at John McCain’s apparent willingness to take on the media as a campaign strategy. He also hints that it is the right time for McCain to do so. The public mood sees the media playing favorites.
One of the clichés of American elections holds that getting into a fight with the folks who buy ink by the barrel or beam television pictures into voters’ living rooms may be emotionally satisfying but politically risky.
But among the more significant things that we learned at the Republican convention last week is that John McCain and Sarah Palin have decided that running against the news media will help them beat Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And, they are betting that although their frontal assault on the press might not go down so well in the Hamptons and in Hollywood, which are Democratic strongholds anyway, it will play in Peoria.
The harshest commentary about Alaska Gov. Palin came from East Coast columnists and commentators, including some Republicans, who saw her as insufficiently qualified by D.C. standards. The GOP is hoping to capitalize on resentment of those news media elites, particularly in the heartland.
Moreover there is a belief in the McCain campaign – one that seems to reflect the public’s perception — that the news media has been giving Sen. Obama much more coverage and more favorable coverage. A Rasmussen Poll this summer found 60% of voters said Sen. Obama was getting better treatment from the news media than Sen. McCain. Nearly half of voters — 49% — said reporters would help Sen. Obama while only 14% felt they would help Sen. McCain.
I’ve pointed to those facts and others like them recently. So, yeah, I agree that it is time to hit back at the media who has been trying relentlessly to drag Obama across the finish line. Will that strategy alone be enough for McCain. No, it will take a lot more. But it is not a bad start. It also appears to be bearing fruit. MSNBC has removed Matthews and Olbermann from the anchor chairs for political coverage.
The latest USA Today/Gallup poll shows a very significant swing of voters away from Obama and to McCain. Does it mean more than just a post convention bounce? Not yet. This is much too soon. But this has got to be causing fits in the Obama campaign.
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Convention has given John McCain and his party a significant boost, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken over the weekend shows, as running mate Sarah Palin helps close an “enthusiasm gap” that has dogged the GOP all year.
McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican’s biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before the convention opened in St. Paul. Then, he lagged by 7 percentage points.
Actually, the news is worse than that opening bit:
In the new poll, taken Friday through Sunday, McCain leads Obama by 54%-44% among those seen as most likely to vote. The survey of 1,022 adults, including 959 registered voters, has a margin of error of +/— 3 points for both samples.
Obviously, that is well outside the margin of error and is the really bad news for Obama. Again, I’m not a fan of snapshot polls, we’ll have to see if the trend holds. I’m guessing that there are going to be some interesting Obama campaign staff meetings today.
Politics | Gaius Monday, 8 September , 2008 | 
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