A Memo To John McCain Supporters
Allahpundit is upset with David Gergen’s statement on “This Week” that McCain’s “Praise the One” ad is a dog whistle for racists.
David Gergen Hears The McCain Campaign Dog Whistle Loud and Clear
Via TPM:
Liss has more instructions for Jake Tapper on “how dog whistles work” (hope you’re taking notes, Taps).
Obama Must Be Careful About Responding To Racist Dog Whistles
That is the gist of an article by Michael Powell in today’s New York Times.
McCain Puts Out Another Ad Calling Obama “The Divine Obama”
I just watched the latest McCain attack ad. It starts out with the words “In 2008 the world will be blessed. They will call him ‘The One.’ Praise The One,” and goes on to mock “the Divine Obama” with over-the-top visual effects and by taking snippets of speeches out of context. You really have to see it to fully appreciate how much it degrades John McCain. It’s hard to describe in words how unbelievably scurrilous it is. It’s astonishing, that’s all I can say.
Chutzpah Takes On New Meaning
To paraphrase P.T. Barnum, no one will ever go broke underestimating the assertiveness of the press in this country. Watching the cringing, sycophantic way that CNN’s John King questioned John McCain about the fairness of McCain’s accusation that Obama had “played the race card” by saying that McCain was trying to scare voters against him because he didn’t look like all those other faces on the dollar bills, made me want to cringe. “Do you think that was fair?” “Yes, I think it was.” “Well, they say it isn’t.” “Well, we’ll let the voters decide.” Oh, okay. Thank you for helping Americans understand what’s going on with this controversy, Mr. King. I mean, if that’s all CNN thinks is required, then why didn’t they just pull any third-grader off the street to interview McCain and save King for something more challenging?
Fortunately, and to my enormous relief, there is one traditional media outlet that employs a minimum of one journalist who understands why it was beyond outrageous for the McCain campaign to claim that Sen. Obama was “playing the race card.” I say “a minimum of one” because it’s possible there is more than one such individual at this outlet — it’s an opinion blog called “The Board,” and it’s written by “the New York Times editorial board, a group of journalists with wide-ranging areas of expertise, whose primary responsibility is to write The Times’s editorials.” And whoever wrote this particular entry nailed the central point to the wall:
We know that operatives in modern-day presidential campaigns are supposed to say things that everyone knows are ridiculous — and to do it with a straight face.
Still, there was something surreal, and offensive, about today’s soundbite from the campaign of Senator John McCain.
The presumptive Republican nominee has embarked on a bare-knuckled barrage of negative advertising aimed at belittling Mr. Obama. The most recent ad compares the presumptive Democratic nominee for president to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton — suggesting to voters that he’s nothing more than a bubble-headed, publicity-seeking celebrity.
The ad gave us an uneasy feeling that the McCain campaign was starting up the same sort of racially tinged attack on Mr. Obama that Republican operatives ran against Harold Ford, a black candidate for Senate in Tennessee in 2006. That assault, too, began with videos juxtaposing Mr. Ford with young, white women.
Mr. Obama called Mr. McCain on the ploy, saying, quite rightly, that the Republicans are trying to scare voters by pointing out that he “doesn’t look like all those other Presidents on those dollar bills.’’
But Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s campaign manager, had a snappy answer. “Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck,” he said. “It’s divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.’’
The retort was, we must say, not only contemptible, but shrewd. It puts the sin for the racial attack not on those who made it, but on the victim of the attack.
McCain supporters are calling the NYT piece “repulsive,” but what’s really repulsive is playing on racist stereotypes and imagery to discredit a political opponent, and then accusing the target of the racism of “playing the race card” for pointing it out.
“Pulling the Race Card”
Erick Erickson (among many other right-wingers) is apoplectic over Obama’s response, here, to John McCain’s series of invective-filled, substance-free attacks on him.
How Repulsive Can McCain’s Ads Get?
How many stars are in the sky?
Here is one I didn’t know about until just now:
“What Happened, Cindy?”
John Amato has the Obama campaign’s latest ad, responding to John McCain’s two recent attack ads, here and here.
An Old New Meme
Lately, I’ve been noticing a new meme on the right in general, and in John McCain’s campaign rhetoric in particular, about Barack Obama. He’s not humble enough; he thinks he’s president already; he’s conceited; who does he think he is; he’s presumptuous; he’s arrogant; he’s…. uppity.
Dana Milbank and the Awesome Powers of Selective Quotation
Once again, we see how the responsible, professional journalists in the traditional media operate with respect to context and interpreting the meaning of a quote. Under the title “President Obama continues hectic victory tour,” Dana Milbank writes the following (emphasis mine):
Campaign Ad With a Sense of Humor
A very funny and cute Move On campaign ad for Obama:
A Stunningly Dishonest Campaign Ad
Here is John McCain’s campaign ad accusing Barack Obama of blowing off wounded American troops in Germany so he could go to the gym:
U.S. Army Disavows E-mail That Claimed Obama Snubbed Troops in Afghanistan
We already know how easy it is to start a smear campaign via e-mail. Here is another illustration of that fact, but beyond that, this account of an “Obama-snubbed-the-troops” narrative that was untrue from start to finish demonstrates that visual evidence like the much-reviled “campaign op” videos and photographs can actually help to expose a vicious lie. See the last paragraph of this quoted article from Military Times for what I’m talking about.
The Right’s Ahistorical Analysis of the Surge
Bob Herbert in his column today critiques the premise behind the media’s coverage of Barack Obama and John McCain: that the latter’s character and political history are known to all but Obama’s isn’t:
No Charitable Explanations on the Right
See Update at the end of this post.
Yesterday, Ed Morrissey picked up on a news item about Sen. Obama cancelling a planned visit to wounded American soldiers at two U.S. military bases in Germany. Noting that military personnel at the base did not know why the visit had been cancelled, Ed came up with his own explanation… er, make that explanations, plural, via multiple updates:
“We are at the edge of losing an historic opportunity”
Steve Clemons and Mustafa Barghouti analyze Barack Obama’s recent trip to Israel and speech in Berlin and the implications both present regarding his Middle East policy as president.
The Images The Right Does Not Want America To See
Al Rodgers at DailyKos has put together a tremendous collection of videos and pictures from Barack Obama’s visit to the Middle East.
Click on the first video and see the incredible reception Barack receives from the troops and staff members at the U.S. Embassy.
I’ve jacked one picture here, but click on the link and check out the whole thing.