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[Keylime]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/obama_spare_me_the_phony_outra.php

Text of Obama's comments on the lipstick flap from just a bit ago.

Mmm mmm. I like it when my man gets all hot and bothered. I feel like his personality shines a bit more when he's on the offensive.

 

[chase]

I really don't understand how our media has become so shitty--I haven't seen anyone mention that she supported funding for that bridge. They're just blatantly lying and getting away scott free.

Exactly.

If the media would just do their job, not support any candidate but simply point out to the public when a candidate is lying, the Republican party would have to abandon everything its come to embrace and go back to actual Republican politics. Unfortunately "shrink government" doesn't resonate with people the way "Obama = pedo" does.

People can laugh it off, say "politics as usual" and whatnot. But how can we live in a democracy when we allow ourselves to be lied to --like this-- and just carry on like it's alright?

Of course every gov't lies to its public, but they shouldn't be able to get away with it when it's this obvious.

This is all ignoring that we're allowing the most powerful person in history to be chosen by people who can be fooled this easily and who think that the saying "lipstick on a pig" is more important than what it is said about. Does anyone, even the strongest Republican on here, think these people have the judgment to make this choice?

These people are, to judge from the RNC, against community service and higher education! This is the base of people that support you!

I'm not saying that McCain's education plan is laughable or something. I've always maintained that actual Republican ideas deserve debate. What does not deserve debate is the fact that their current political methodology is shameful and repugnant. Apparently the higher-ups don't themselves believe that they can win on the politics they proclaim to espouse. And what does that tell you?

 

[so_awes]

Some of you may have -- I'm assuming you guys have heard this, watching the news. I'm talking about John McCain's economic politics, I say, "This is more of the same, you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig."

And suddenly they say, "Oh, you must be talking about the governor of Alaska."

[Laughter from audience]

See it would be funny, it would be funny except -- of course the news media all decided that that was the lead story yesterday. They'd much rather have the story -- this is the McCain campaign -- would much rather have the story about phony and foolish diversions than about the future.

This happens every election cycle. Every four years. This is what we do. We've got an energy crisis. We have an education system that is not working for too many of our children and making us less competitive. We have an economy that is creating hardship for families all across America. We've got two wars going on, veterans coming home not being cared for -- and this is what they want to talk about! this is what they want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about.

You know who ends up losing at the end of the day? It's not the Democratic candidate, It's not the republican candidate. It's you, the American people. because then we go another year or another four years or another eight years without addressing the issues that matter to you. Enough.

I don't care what they say about me, but I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and swift-boat politics. Enough is enough.

quoted for Truth.

 

[BobTheFork]

"Drill Baby Drill"


oh god, the crowd is CHANTING it?!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA.

I really hate this fucking country sometimes.
Do you think these people are STUPID or just completely apathetic and don't give a shit what happens after they are dead.

 

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Palin is just regurgitating the same RNC acceptance speech over and over.

I TOLD THEM THNX BUT NO THNX TO THAT BRIDGE TO NOWHERE
I TOLD THEM THNX BUT NO THNX TO THAT BRIDGE TO NOWHERE
I TOLD THEM THNX BUT NO THNX TO THAT BRIDGE TO NOWHERE
I TOLD THEM THNX BUT NO THNX TO THAT BRIDGE TO NOWHERE

 

[tanod]

DNC should put up a Palin teleprompter watch ala the RNC's Biden gaffe watch.

 

[Zeliard]

Don't worry, Palin won't have a teleprompter at the debates. They can only keep her sequestered for so long before she is actually forced to try and speak intelligently on a subject, any subject, which she apparently isn't capable of doing.

 

[CharlieDigital]

David Frum (former Bush speechwriter) wrote an interesting article in the NYT: The Vanishing Republican Voter

Excellent article. Hope you guys head over and read it.

Conservatives need to stop denying reality. The stagnation of the incomes of middle-class Americans is a fact. And only by acknowledging facts can we respond effectively to the genuine difficulties of voters in the middle. We keep offering them cuts in their federal personal income taxes — even though two-thirds of Americans pay more in payroll taxes than in income taxes, and even though a majority of Americans now describe their federal income tax burden as reasonable.

Meanwhile, the argument over same-sex marriage has become worse than a distraction from the challenge of developing policies to ensure that as many children as possible grow up with both a father and a mother in the home. Over the past 30 years, governments have effectively worked to change attitudes about smoking, seat-belt use and teenage pregnancy. Changing attitudes about unmarried childbirth may prove more difficult. Yet it is a fact that the only way to escape poverty is to work consistently — and that even after welfare reform, low-skilled single parents work less consistently than the main breadwinner in a low-skilled dual-parent household.

Equality in itself never can be or should be a conservative goal. But inequality taken to extremes can overwhelm conservative ideals of self-reliance, limited government and national unity. It can delegitimize commerce and business and invite destructive protectionism and overregulation. Inequality, in short, is a conservative issue too.

The question for me is how he can sum up the divide so well, and yet he still sticks by this idea of "us versus them, Republicans versus Democrats". It's puzzling because he might as well come out and say "Democrats are better for America" and be over with it instead of dwelling on the issue of (R) vs. (D).

 

[saelz8]

Checkout Huffington Post's front page, haha!

 

[Zeliard]

Checkout Huffington Post's front page, haha!

Giving Drudge a taste of his own medicine, I see.

 

[Fragamemnon]

Honestly, with "vital center" style journos like Joe Klein calling McCain a sleazebag ( link ) and everyone calling McCain a liar, I think there's a point at which the McCain campaign has to start behaving like adults unless they want to be branded as a unserious, desparate, do-anything-to-win campaign by the media.

I don't think McCain is winning the media war at all right now. They tried to play the refs, it's not working, and instead of breaking off on their high stakes gamble they are doubling down on it. It's really dumb politics, but then again Steve Schmidt is not the brighest bulb in the batch either.

 

[Chiggs]

Checkout Huffington Post's front page, haha!

:lol

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Don't worry, Palin won't have a teleprompter at the debates. They can only keep her sequestered for so long before she is actually forced to try and speak intelligently on a subject, any subject, which she apparently isn't capable of doing.

I think it's telling that over a week later, they still can't write even ONE fresh zinger. You know even one new one would be front page news, but they can't even cobble it together.

 

[Guy Legend]

Biden is so much more knowledgeable on the issues, so I'm really looking forward the vp debate.

At the same time, I'm glad that the VP's only get one debate. There needs to be less attention on freakin Palin, and more on Obama and McCain. 3 debates between them is great and is going to be huge in setting the polls for the election.

 

[bob_arctor]

From TPM comments re: Obama's "lipstick" response:

I'll say it again, this was all a brilliant calculated strategy.

He HAD to know a lipstick comment would send the McCain campaign into an irate spiral of "sexist" blabbery.

He HAD to know the media would be wondering if he would apologize, and he HAD to know this would give him the opportunity to be the bigger man, criticize the media, AND talk about the real issues important to every American, regardless of party.

Abso-frickin-lutely awesome.

I saw this worked somewhat with Biden's comment on stem-cell. CNN had a panel talk about it and they pretty much had no choice than to reveal that only Palin rejects it.

 

[Particle Physicist]

Yeah, I was thinking something along those lines. As usual, I find myself agreeing with Josh Marshall.

do you have a link to that article? i want to share it with a few people.

 

[Lemonz]

Video of Obama responding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zAbeu3v3Wc

 

[-Kees-]

McCain spokesperson on MSNBC just said that Obama was also comparing McCain to a rotting fish.

Yep.

 

[Xisiqomelir]

From TPM comments re: Obama's "lipstick" response:




I saw this worked somewhat with Biden's comment on stem-cell. CNN had a panel talk about it and they pretty much had no choice than to reveal that only Palin rejects it.

Yeah. He has a fucking solid political instinct, compared to the GOP's baby tactics. In game terms he's like a level 3 thinker, always a million steps ahead and always with the counter-countermove ready to go. It's why I have faith

 

[so_awes]

do you think msm wants McCain to win? msm is controlled by big corporations and rich guys, so it'd be more beneficial if McCain wins the presidency.

 

[Barrett2]

Honestly, with "vital center" style journos like Joe Klein calling McCain a sleazebag ( link ) and everyone calling McCain a liar, I think there's a point at which the McCain campaign has to start behaving like adults unless they want to be branded as a unserious, desparate, do-anything-to-win campaign by the media.

I don't think McCain is winning the media war at all right now. They tried to play the refs, it's not working, and instead of breaking off on their high stakes gamble they are doubling down on it. It's really dumb politics, but then again Steve Schmidt is not the brighest bulb in the batch either.

I think this is a good point. Part of McCain's popularity has been his comfort with the media, never previously buying into the obnoxious 'evil librul media' narrative that a lot of conservatives spin to hide behind their decisions.

The fact that McCain is attempting to do such a drastic 180 and cling so hard to that narrative at this point seems so desperate.

 

[polyh3dron]

OK I just confirmed it.

Sarah Palin is a robot.

Also, good job to Obama for exploiting the GOP's Phony Outrage Strategy.

 

[scorcho]

do you think msm wants McCain to win? msm is controlled by big corporations and rich guys, so it'd be more beneficial if McCain wins the presidency.

no. next?

 

[ToyMachine228]

Obama's comments about the McCain camp trying to set the narrative with small talk and distractions away from the real issues the country faces were clutch.

 

[Cheebs]

From TPM comments re: Obama's "lipstick" response:




I saw this worked somewhat with Biden's comment on stem-cell. CNN had a panel talk about it and they pretty much had no choice than to reveal that only Palin rejects it.

He didn't know it I think. Why? He has been using the lipstick line in his stump speech for months now. It wasn't something he snuck in there to rile up the GOP.

 

[Tamanon]

Most of the campaign ads that Sen. John McCain began airing Sept. 1 are taking a glancing shot at Democrats in Congress -- often just a two-second jab at the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid.

This is not because the McCain campaign has suddenly decided the best strategy to defeat Sen. Barack Obama is to run against other top Democrats in Congress. It's because of a loophole in the public financing laws that allows McCain to evenly split the cost of his ads with the Republican Party so long as the ads make at least a passing reference to the rest of the party's ticket.

Evan Tracey of the Campaign Media Analysis Group and Tim Kay of National Cable Communications -- two top media analysts -- both said they've noticed a growth in this emerging type of ad, known as a hybrid.

"Pretty much every spot they've done has been a hybrid ad," Tracey said.

How do the ads save McCain money? Well, consider that McCain has $84 million to spend between now and Election Day -- that's the federal allotment of money he decided to take during the general election contest. While the Republican National Committee will devote much of its privately financing to field operations, microtargeting, and voter contact, McCain will spend most of his public funding on television ads. If McCain can split the cost of his ads 50-50 with the party, he is essentially able to stretch his public dollars twice as far.

LOOPHOLES! I AM SHOCKED!

 

[Fragamemnon]

I mentioned the "honeypot"-the notion of baiting Republicans into talking about issues where they are outside the mainstream by using strong language that they would pounce on-yesterday. The side effect to this is that the media then talks about the issue, and the GOP gets beat down by it.

Don't confuse it with this lipstick stuff though-this wasn't calculated at all, but one of those things that happens in political campaigns and the degree to which the candidates and their campaigns react tell a story about how strong they are and where they are placing their emphasis in terms of overall strategy. McCain's response was rash and jarbled, debunked by the press becuase it wasn't released with any real supporting evidence, and then Obama smashed right through the bullshit.

 

[Barrett2]

do you think msm wants McCain to win? msm is controlled by big corporations and rich guys, so it'd be more beneficial if McCain wins the presidency.

I think this rubric is no longer true. Maybe back a few decades ago when the Democratic party was more liberal this could have been true, but I think generally the system has become sophisticated enough to the point where "corporate America" in a general sense probably doesn't care who wins. Obviously individual companies have preferences, but I think its highly unlikely there is any coordinated effort whatsoever by companies to force their media outlets to sway elections. Obviously there is Fox News, etc., certain outlets which operate on a bias, but in general I don't think it is a valid way to look at the MSM.

 

[Cheebs]

McCain's personal press aid wrote a book a few years ago. Want to know what it was called?

That is really a real book written by a McCain staffer.:lol

 

[CharlieDigital]

do you think msm wants McCain to win? msm is controlled by big corporations and rich guys, so it'd be more beneficial if McCain wins the presidency.

Oddly enough, if you read Frum's article,

In fact, Fairfax’s Democratic preference is typical of upper America. In 2000, Al Gore beat George Bush, 56-39, among the 4 percent of voters who identified themselves as “upper class.” America’s wealthiest ZIP codes are a roll call of Democratic strongholds: Sagaponack, N.Y.; Aspen, Colo.; Marin County, Calif.; the near North Side of Chicago; Beacon Hill in Boston. (Palm Beach, at least, remains securely Republican.) There is a long list of reasons for this anti-Republican tilt among the affluent: social issues, the environment, an ever more internationalist elite’s distaste for the Republican Party’s assertive nationalism. Maybe the most important reason, however, can be reduced to the two words: “Robert Rubin.” By returning to the center on economic matters in the 1990s, the Democrats emancipated higher-income and socially moderate voters to vote with their values rather than with their pocketbooks.

It's interesting because it's part of the reason that it's so easy to paint Democrats as elitists, even though the Democratic liberal cause would most benefit the middle and lower class. It's almost as if the richest and most well educated people in the country are saying "Here, let us help you" and the poorest, least educated people in America are like, "No thanks! I want mah guns and mah church!" Meanwhile, the upper middle class still supports the Republicans because they have just enough money to overstep many of the issues facing middle class Americans, but not quite enough to appreciate the importance of various social issues like affordable healthcare and a good education. It's quite an interesting balance of forces at play.

Interestingly, Murdoch is on record as saying he'd prefer Obama to win because it would generate more sales for his newspapers.

 

[scorcho]

He didn't know it I think. Why? He has been using the lipstick line in his stump speech for months now. It wasn't something he snuck in there to rile up the GOP.

agreed. if this is a calculated strategy to bait then Obama's campaign is in worse shape than i thought.

 

[Cheebs]

agreed. if this is a calculated strategy to bait then Obama's campaign is in worse shape than i thought.

Exactly. He has had his stump speech memorized by heart, I doubt he even thought about it at all when he told the joke for the 1000000th time. It just so happened this was the first time after the GOP convention.

 

[BobTheFork]

McCain's personal press aid wrote a book a few years ago. Want to know what it was called?

That is really a real book written by a McCain staffer.:lol

Further proof that the best comedy can't be written.

 

[Keylime]

Exactly. He has had his stump speech memorized by heart, I doubt he even thought about it at all when he told the joke for the 1000000th time. It just so happened this was the first time after the GOP convention.

I'm not 100% sold that this wasn't a planned counter-punch by the Obama folks, as I haven't heard that line being used recently.

As smart as Obama is, you don't think he realized that delivering that line would draw comparisons to the lipstick on a pitbull joke Palin made?

Obama delivers line.
McCain camp says sexist.
Obama camp says STFU and points to McCain saying the same line.
Obama directly the next day uses the sexism nonsense to point out the media isn't focusing on what's right and the McCain camp is phony.

It all fit a little too well into Obama's hands to be completely unscripted.

Either the Obama camp is lightning quick with their turnarounds (quite possible) or it was a scripted counter-punch.

 

[Cheebs]

As smart as Obama is, you don't think he realized that delivering that line would draw comparisons to the lipstick on a pitbull joke Palin made?

No because he uses it at 99.9% of the events he does since the start of the gen election campaign in June. It isn't a new line for him at all so I don't see how it can be a move.

 

[harSon]

Why can't CNN bother to delve into the Palin 'rumors' that are actually true or report that a few details of some of the rumors are true?

 

[Fragamemnon]

Either the Obama camp is lightning quick with their turnarounds (quite possible) or it was a scripted counter-punch.

The Obama team is sort of following the script that they laid out at the convention when Obama said that the GOP would "make a big election about small things". The reponse by the Obama team is, for the most part, a simple instantiation of a overall response strategy to low-grade manufactured bullshit like this-to call it bullshit, shame the press indirectly for giving it any attention, and to bash McCain about it for not running a serious campaign (which Team Obama can do, since they have plenty of good issues that they can bash McCain with instead).

 

[Cheebs]

Why can't CNN bother to delve into the Palin 'rumors' that are actually true or report that a few details of some of the rumors are true?

LIPSTICKGATE. It's the only news today.

 

[polyh3dron]

I can't wait to see Palin get on that ABC interview only to begin regurgitating her RNC speech yet again when asked a question.

Q: Do you believe in the separation of Church and State?

A: I TOLD THEM THNX BUT NO THNX TO THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE

Q: What are your views on education?

A: The media is being unfair to me!!

 

[typhonsentra]

McCain's personal press aid wrote a book a few years ago. Want to know what it was called?

That is really a real book written by a McCain staffer.:lol

:lol Oh man, fantastic find.

 

[Cheebs]

Holy Shit ANOTHER new ad from Mccain. Saying Obama's attacks are lies and he is only attacking cause he is falling in the polls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK4oWay1VbE&eurl=http://thepage.time.com/

 

[yoopoo]

Why can't CNN bother to delve into the Palin 'rumors' that are actually true or report that a few details of some of the rumors are true?

They had an entire program just to do that last night @ 8...too bad no one watches CNN in prime time.

 

[harSon]

Holy Shit ANOTHER new ad from Mccain. Saying Obama's attacks are lies and he is only attacking cause he is falling in the polls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK4oWay1VbE&eurl=http://thepage.time.com/

I wish Democrats had these kind of balls :/

 

[-Kees-]

Holy Shit ANOTHER new ad from Mccain. Saying Obama's attacks are lies and he is only attacking cause he is falling in the polls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK4oWay1VbE&eurl=http://thepage.time.com/

That was the ad they showed before the McCain spokesperson earlier today on MSNBC. I'm in fucking disbelief over what's been coming from the McCain camp.

 

[SnakeXs]

I mostly lurk, especially since I was last banned oh, so long ago, but I must say you guys are fucking awesome.

Truly and honestly.

Thanks.

 

[kaching]

It all fit a little too well into Obama's hands to be completely unscripted.

Either the Obama camp is lightning quick with their turnarounds (quite possible) or it was a scripted counter-punch.

It's not like the McCain campaign has more than one or two very obvious plays at this point that would make their responses hard to predict or difficult to respond to on the fly...

 

[Funky Papa]

McCain's personal press aid wrote a book a few years ago. Want to know what it was called?

That is really a real book written by a McCain staffer.:lol

"Winning in the no-spin era by someone who knows the game"

You can't make this shit up.

 

[Revengeance]

What happened to the McCain that wanted to run an honorable campaign without mudslinging? He's unrecognizable.

 

[Xisiqomelir]

Holy Shit ANOTHER new ad from Mccain. Saying Obama's attacks are lies and he is only attacking cause he is falling in the polls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK4oWay1VbE&eurl=http://thepage.time.com/

It's really smooth how they quote the factcheck.org refutations of Trig'sRealMothergate, and then segue to Obama as though he was spreading the stories.

 

[PhatSaqs]

What attacks? :lol