Random Ramblings

 At the Democratic National Convention Tonight:

“That’s not change, that’s more of the same.”

-Joe Biden’s mantra while listing McCain’s policies, explaining how similar they are to the Bush administration’s and the Republican’s policies of the last eight years.  Continually getting more of the crowd to shout the response phrase, “that’s more of the same.”  Sounded like a church reading a little bit.

It seems like McCain is putting out a new attack ad every day…and now he is.  McCain intends to put out a new attack ad for everyday of the Democratic National Convention.  But each of these attack ads has a little bit of Hillary thrown in, whether from an ad she used in the primary or a rogue Hillary supporter gone McCain.

Three important points to note about these ads:

1) How long will it take before these attack ads backfire as they did for Hillary in the primaries?  Of course, the general election voters are different from the leftist Democratic primary voters, but in reality, the election is all about the moderates or independent voters yet to make up their minds.  Most of the population has already decided who they are going to vote for, and it is this small percentage of undecided voters who will decide the election.  I think McCain’s attack ads mostly appeal to those who are already going to vote for him, and thus will not help him that much come November.  And the continued negative ads seem likely to turn off those undecided voters.

2) It’s clear that the McCain ads are trying to turn this election into an Obama- not Obama vote.  McCain is trying to scare the population into voting for him because, as his logic goes, if Obama gets elected, the world will go to hell or worse.  This plan of action simply shows that McCain has nothing to offer of appeal to the American people since he votes along with Bush 95% of the time.  In 2000, McCain may have been the Maverick everyone was talking about.  But the 2008 McCain has moved to the right, in line with the failed foreign and economic policies of the Bush administration.  The only way for McCain to keep up his Maverick image is to keep the media focused on Obama’s so-called negative qualities or the in-fighting between the Clinton’s and Obama.  McCain does not air these ads very often on television; he puts them online, puts them on TV a few times, and then lets the 24 hour news networks talk about them all day long instead of focusing on the issues.  The question is when will the media stop giving in to these ploys and start focusing on McCain’s views on the real issues.

3) Lastly, these most recent ads are clearly an attempt by the McCain campaign to divide the Clinton and Obama camps and to try to get more Hillary supporters to vote for McCain.  If Hillary stands up to these ads, talks about how phony they are, and gives McCain a good lashing, she can squash these ads in the dust.  She can talk about the tension that has existed between the Clinton and Obama camps because there is no denying it (to do so would simply create more tension), but once acknowledged, she should talk about the similar views Hillary and Obama and the whole party have on the issues and how the party must unite.  Most importantly, she should mention what would happen in a McCain presidency, especially with respect to the Supreme Court and abortion rights.

-Andy

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