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• Thursday, September 4, 2008 12:24 PM

  Election is in two months

  And now Democrats are waking to the fact that no negative narrative has been built around the McCain brand.

  Here's what we have right now.

  A population that believes 10-1 that the press has been unfair to Palin.

  A population that recently stated they've heard TOO much about Obama and not enough about McCain.

  A population, that before her speech last night, thinks Palin the VP candidate is as ready to be President as the Democratic Presidential candidate.

  A population that is saying the press is pro-Obama.

  And here we are whining about how the press is so pro-Republican, when people are saying the exact opposite, and whining about how it's so unfair that the Republicans get to attack and we don't.

  So, I guess the glee bloggers were posting about Bristol Palin being pregnant isn't an attack.

  Every side distorts and uses facts to their best advantage. Some are misleading, some outright laws.

  Examples.

  Palin is the Governor of the largest State. In terms of land mass, it's 47 in size in terms of population. But saying largest State seems more impressive.

  Obama claimed credit for a welfare reform bill in the State Senate he voted against.

  This type of spin is not only common, it's ubiquitous. Both sides do it, but for the most part people only recognize it when it's pointed out on the other side.

  Crying about the fairness of it all doesn't help. Asking for more personal attacks doesn't help, because certain personal attacks only hurt you.

  People claiming that Palin is an unfit mother thus unfit for the VP position only hurt themselves and provide a shield for legitimate criticism.

  Most of the talking points over the weekend were not legitimate. Questioning who is the actual mother of Trig is not a legitimate area. Calling a women bitch isn't either.

  Can this be turned around? Unlikely. Attacking Palin on the experience issue only highlights Obama's lack in the same area. Can McCain be painted as a dangerous reactionary? Not in two months, it takes that long just to plant the seeds, they will not sprout in time. Can the Obama campaign really drive up McCain's negative numbers? That's hard as well, because it drives up your negatives, and you need a narrative to make it work.

  It's like the wishful thinking that somehow Biden is just going to blow away Palin the the debate and thus Democrats will win. First, he won't. She's a better debater than he is. Yes, he'll have more facts at his command. That hasn't helped any of the other people she has faced. Second, it wouldn't matter. Quayle being actually destroyed in 1988 didn't exactly help the top of the ticket.

  Democrats elected a vulnerable candidate, and yes, Republicans are going to exploit that vulnerability. To top it all off, people are crying about attacks that have traditionally been fair game.

  If Obama is the change candidate how is it not fair to question what he has changed in the past? He has no executive experience, and he shouldn't try to invent one of running his campaign.

  Obviously, he was going to be attacked on the experience issue, and they should have had canned responses already mapped out. They didn't. And it's too late to lay much of the foundation needed to win a general election.

  But then again, we elected someone who has never had to run a real general election, so those mistakes are understandable.

  —Xanthro Read Xanthro's other letters
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