I just commented somewhere, I think on Joan Walsh's blog, complaining about how Obama refuses to hit McCain on this character stuff. I partially retract because this is the sort of thing I want him to do, but doing it once and just in Georgia isn't enough.

John McCain was a POW.

I love it. Obama has got to step it up. The Dems will forgive him for acting like a regular politician during this campaign. As we know, the Independents will respond to the negative ads. McCain has been playing in the gutter too long. We need some heavy hitting from Obama now.

That is a weak ad. Sorry but it is. In fact, I think the McCain team's response to it might be more damaging for Barack than the ad is for McCain in the first place.

JOHN S MCCAIN III IS TOO OLD.

http://jsmccain.blogspot.com/

Not that I think Georgia will go for Obama, but this is harder hitting than I thought we would see. It's a start. Obama needs to hit hard, hit often, and hit everywhere.

I guess it was a "war" and not a capitalist invasion and occupation. I guess the North Vietnamese bombed Hollywood during the Academy Awards or something.

It's not like they were about to come over here.

In fact, I don't recall "war" being declared. And McSame was a shitty pilot, not a hero. He ought to have been billed for the numerous aircraft he destroyed. Not to mention the sailors and aviators he burned alive on the USS Forrestal with his rich-asshole-kid horseplay.

Bring up Ralph Reed and Jack Abramoff -- by the way, who remembers them? -- I'll raise you with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, Rev. Wright, Tony Rezko, the Univ. of Ill/Chicago records keeper -- it goes on. Obama has a real problem with this line of attack.

It's OK, but I think the message has to move away from the personal to the political: John McCain is a Republican who will largely continue (or worsen) the policies followed by the Republican Bush administration for the past 8 years. Republicans are the party of screw-the-little-guy and hold-onto-power-at-all-costs. Remember, in 2000, a lot of people thought about Bush, "well, he can't be that bad." See where that got us? Don't be fooled by a Republican again.

From the NY Times:

[Obama foreign policy advisor] Ms. [Susan] Rice, for instance, accused Mr. McCain of “dishonest and desperate attacks” and engaging in “Karl Rove say-anything, do-anything gutter politics” for questioning Mr. Obama’s credentials, patriotism and policies.

I'd love to see some ads with the scary-ass face of Karl Rove and a voice-over along the lines of: this is the man who conned millions of Americans into thinking George Bush was a reasonable man, a "compassionate conservative." Now he and his minions are trying to do the same thing for John McCain. Don't get fooled again.

McCain and the Repubs, unlike Obama, have been laying the ground for what Kovars calls the association game. Obama, Mr. Hope and Change, has not. Plus, the Repubs just play that game much more wholeheartedly.

Hey Barack: there was this little thing called the Iraq War debacle that McCain is associated with 100% and its really unpopular? Why the fuck don't you use the Iraq War nuke instead of the Abramoff (who?) BB gun? But don't pick Biden as VP because then your only option is BB gun.

Why wasn't Reed called to testify? He sure as hell was up to his eyeballs in the Abramoff con game and was even squeezing Abramoff and Norquist (another criminal) for more money. All three of those guys should be in chains.

BTW, I remember Jack Abramoff, and I think Americans should be reminded about who he is, his connections to Bush and how he represents the criminal depths to which the republican party sunk while in control of this country.

This also slams McCain's "maverick" BS, and that needs to be done at every turn.

What I see from people here is "Oh, noes - don't get McCain on associations - Obama's got worse!"

Obama has passing notice with people. McCain's threat of "Don't you dare or else I'll do it to you too!" is a shame - MCCAIN'S ALREADY DOING IT!

So instead of letting McCain do all of the attacking because you fear his counterattack, DO IT ANYWAY, because McCain's going to do it no matter what you do!

...as long as they ALWAYS run the last 5!

I want people to be saying "John McCain, more of the same" in their sleep while visions of him and Bush wave in their heads!

Reed is not only slimy, not only ethically compromised, but he also ran for lieutenant governor in 2006. He lost in the Republican primaries decisively, but he ran up his profile in the process. What's of interest is that he played up how much of a Georgia boy he was, how he went to the University of Georgia (where he was kicked off the newspaper for plagiarism), etc.

Georgia Democrats are generally for Obama. The racist voters who register Democrat are probably not going to hold out, and, if they do, they will do so by staying home, rather than voting for McCain. Georgia Republicans are a weak constituency. These two combine to give Obama a real shot in this state.

The risk is with the nativists population. The "neither" voters (not undecided, but fickle) who are not Republican or Democrat, respond to the lowest claims, the basest moves. Some of them might get "scandal to scandal, McCain is more of the same," but some portion of them might also say, "This foreigner is attacking a Georgia boy." That's the risk. Had the commercial been less precise, not actually named Reed, it would have had fewer risks, I thought.

There's a myth in our country that people don't like negative campaigning. They tell that to pollsters -- after all, it's not "nice" to like that sort of thing. But don't you believe it! People love negative campaigning, just as they love pro football and boxing. This is not a debate; it's a war! Come on, Obama! People don't want inspiration when it comes down to it -- they want a winner! Do you have it or don't you?

Of course, they're going to try to deck you with Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, flip-flops, whatever -- but other writers are correct to say that they'll do that anyway. Go for it! You might just get it -- maybe. But not if you continue the milquetoast way you're going about it now. Maybe you didn't think this is how it would be -- and I'm sure you think it's not how it should be -- but there it is. Get real.