I concur

w/ Jim Pharo.

Rovian tactics, for whatever reasons, seem to "work" remarkably well.

So adopt them. Taking the high road yields four years of wound-licking and post-defeat self-examination.

That, more or less, is the theme of my last book, but Obama, his campaign and many of his supporters think they are better off by rising above it. They're not John Kerry-like about attacks -- they're much better at aggressively engaging these sorts of attacks and mocking and dismissing them -- but they think they're better off not engaging in these attacks themselves.

I was wondering if there is a chance you could interview the great journalists, none of them connected with the MSM by the way, who are covering the election fraud movement? Those people would include Greg Palast, Bob Fitrakis, Mark Crispin Miller, Robert Hayes Philips and Robert Kennedy Jr. If you're skeptical of their claims, then you could use this opportunity to grill them. If you find their claims persuasive, then you have a whole new set of problems to worry about.

Sincerely,

Philip Shropshire

http://www.threeriversonline.com

They are really saying uppity ni**er. When they say elite, they are saying uppity ni**er. When they say aloof they are really saying uppity ni**ger. Whatever words they are saying or writing, they really did not mean that; they meant to say uppity ni**er.

Glenn, everything you say here is true.

Obama, his campaign and many of his supporters think they are better off by rising above it. They're not John Kerry-like about attacks -- they're much better at aggressively engaging these sorts of attacks and mocking and dismissing them -- but they think they're better off not engaging in these attacks themselves.

And not only that, but I agree w/ it. 8')

OTOH, even though Obama has shown himself to be marginally superior at responding - the Press are who they are, and the Public reacts to the drivel in the same fashion as usual.

So we'll see how it plays out. I've seen this movie before, I'm afraid.

Glenn,

You nail it, as usual. Clearly, these guys (and girls) all run in the same circles, go to the same parties, munch on the same cocktail weenies, and believe all the crap they're fed by the right-wing noise machine. These people are AUTOMOTONS, plain and simple: Rove and Co. programs them with talking points and they obediently spew what they're told. Even when studies show that the press has been far more negative in their reporting on Obama, the obedient corporate press (the OCP) ignores the evidence, swallows hard, and continues to spew lies and distortions as if facts don't even exist ... and in they're world, they don't.

The Beltway Press talk among themselves everyday, finding comfort in reinforcing one another with their stupid repetition of Republican talking point. Most of them haven't had an original thought, have no analytical skills, and have no idea how stupid they are. But they serve themselves well, kowtow to the Right because they are terrified of being called Liberals and keep their owners happy.

The likes of Jonathan Chait and David Ignatius and Gloria Borger haven't had an original thought in years. they are totally unaware of the term "critical faculty" and they are at best lazy stenographers.

The M$M's amplification of Republican talking points is too consistent to be anything other than a conscious editorial decision by the management of these major media conglomerates.

Since the Republicans have no platform to run on, these ad hominem attacks serve to keep the Dems on defense, with Democratic surrogates having to waste time defending against nonsensical charges of "being too French" or "too presumptuous," which only serves to keep the meme alive.

Democrats would do better attacking the corporate media whores' intelligence and integrity for parroting ridiculous GOP talking points. Publicly embarassing them for their credulity would be a much better strategy than trying to rebut idiotic accusations.

The most inane part of it all is ...

Actually, the most inane thing is that these newspapers are losing readers and money at a record rate, and fretting about the challenges posed by online competition, and yet they still treat their readers with such contempt.

Seriously, the whole 8 years of the Bush Administration's crimes is the greatest story never told. And yet the media still won't touch it.

Why? Because the big media businesses in Teh USA are part of the global corporatocracy, and the dudes who run that game are happy to lose money hand over fist as long as they can hold on to power.

Now, you might think that these fools should exit stage right ASAP, having bogged themselves down in Iraq and brought the US economy to the point of collapse. But you haven't been paying attention to their bottom line: the richest of the rich have grown even more obscenely rich at an historic rate ever since Bush was elected (actually it started under Clinton, but that's another story). Why should they quit now?

McCain's campaign can be summed up with one word: "NONSENSE". It doesn't matter if it's true or not, it doesn't even need to make sense. This is pure political theatre for the masses who watch Nascar and MTV.

I know an awful lot of people who voted for Bush in 2004 and quickly regretted it, but defended their decision by saying they "just could not vote for that awful John Kerry." Hopefully they have all learned their lesson, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Obama's ad that came out yesterday evening does in more ways than one call McCain a liar. So I wouldn't say that Obama is taking this all that lightly. His ad also says that McCain is resorting to the politics of the past, aka, Rove/Bush.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/30/barack-hits-back-ad-says_n_115960.html

dcutler has it right: it's lee atwater returning from the dead ("you can't just run around screaming nigger nigger nigger!"). now our pundits are stuck between a rock and a hard place. they don't want to be seen as racists, nor do they want to be seen as accepting one of 'those people' moving into the house down the block (or 1600 pennsylvania) but they just can't help noticing that obama's... you know... one ... of those.