Barack Obama launched his presidential campaign and appealed for voters to rise above partisan division, embrace a politics of hope and believe in “change.”
However, just as Barack predicted, day after day, the McCain /Palin ticket continues to rack up exaggerations, insults, attacks, and lies in attempts to avoid issues. During this year’s Republican convention there was an onslaught of false statements, snide remarks and one-liner put-downs aimed directly at Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The McCain/Palin duo is embracing the Rove-playbook. We are witnessing the same old political hogwash of Bush, Cheney and Rove, only this time thinly disguised with the label “mavericks.”
Many Obama supporters are looking for Barack to fight back. Their frustrations have them wishing for a rock‘em, sock‘em, knock down, drag out fight, but they are not going to get it. Barack Obama will not lose his cool. Barack Obama will not be slinging traditional political dirt back and forth. He will continue to campaign, as planned, he will stay on message and keep his promise, and he will remain the only candidate of change. Obama will take the high road; a road that Republicans don’t even know exists.
Just as Obama masterfully won the democratic nomination, I trust that Barack Obama and his team have the strategy to secure 270, or more, electoral votes and win back the White House. So hang tight, volunteer, get out the vote, donate what you can. Barack has this one covered.
The BackChannel Blog 
Morning peeps. UB I realize that you wrote this a few days ago and some things have changed since you wrote it. I do think Obama has decided he has to “fight back” against the lies and smears of the McCain campaign. That being said I think you are right, Obama has his plan in place and will end up prevailing. Another thing we keep forgetting is the massive amounts of new voters who have yet to be included in the polling data.
Time for work, but wanted to say, Obama has surprised and please us before. I’m praying that he and Axelrod are going to deliver the goods again!
Palin’s bubble: Will it bulge or bust?
Obama wants the spotlight off her and back to the top of the ticket
“I hesitate to speculate too much right now because I believe this political environment is artificial. And it won’t last.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26676452/
Chuck Todd is very astute. I wish I wasn’t so invested this year. I could enjoy the “Risk” like he is. Its definitely a Presidential race for the books!
GO AXELROD! GO OBAMA!
7:44 p.m.: Final score: Obama wins the day
By Politico Staff
Obama’s team showed some new energy today, releasing a series of hard-hitting ads that question McCain’s credentials as a change agent. And as the press gives McCain’s recent spots a harder look, there’s been a steady trickle of critical, fact-checking stories that will catch up with the Republican ticket over the long run. Obama-Biden still has work to do if it wants to regain a controlling role in the campaign, but the elements of a new strategy started to become clear today.
McCain had a somewhat harder day, taking a beating from his questioners on “The View,” of all places. Sarah Palin continued to hold up under Charlie Gibson’s questioning, but at this point you have to start wondering: when is McCain-Palin going to unveil its second act? While Palin-driven rallies coupled with negative advertising worked for this week, it won’t carry the campaign through November.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13181.html
Yeah, Brian I have been watching the news, and winced a bit thinking of this post.
However, I think you will see Obama stay on the higher ground as best he can….it depends on what he is faced with and timing. If the timing works in Obama’s favor the debates will be a great place to call McCain – face to face – on all the blatant lies in his ads.
It’s raining here…….rain out day
Burrito’s right about Obama maintaining his cool. McCain is acting recklessly and shamelessly; our country is in trouble on a lot of fronts. Most Americans know this. Palin is a sideshow.
Read most of Andrew Sullivan’s thread yesterday (about McCain’s tactics actually evincing desperation and the energy and purpose readers find at local Obama campaign offices).
If McCain wants to lose his head, fine, but don’t count Obama out. The polls and results have varied over the primary season.
And please make sure that each of you is working on registering voters — particularly young ones — because registration deadlines are about 3 weeks out in many states. And working with GOTV: knock on some doors and call people.
Even a day or two makes a big difference.
http://www.andrewsullivan.com
Out for a bike ride this morning. Going through the local park they were having the annual neighborhood pancake breakfast. I noticed an Obama yard sign. Someone had set up a card table and was registering voters and signing up volunteers for Obama.
Now that’s what I call a campaign organization.
Sra Burrito is spot on. It’s important for Obama to talk about his vision for the country. Biden can handle the crap. I love how he shakes his head, smiles, and says how disappointed in the McCain campaign for spreading lies.
Rick Davis has said this a campaign about personalities, not issues, and he’s doing a masterful job with that theme. Someone needs to remind everybody that’s how we wound up with George W. Bush.
Well……Charlie may just have handed us a great sound bite!
Palin: Okay! Okay! I Didn’t Quite Say “Thanks, But No Thanks,” Alright?
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/palin_okay_okay_i_didnt_quite.php
In the newest installment of Charlie Gibson’s interview with Sarah Palin, airing tonight, she was pressed to explain her frequent claim that she said “thanks, but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere,” and appeared to concede that, well, she hadn’t quite said that…
LOVE THIS SENTENCE ;0)
The problem is her and McCain’s latter-day effort to portray her as having been some kind of Joan of Arc of pork-slayers.
McCain’s lead in the daily gallup has now dropped to 2 points. I think we can now saw the bounce is over.
BTW no one has noticed I change the blog’s header pic to something more autumnal in feel. You try to keep a nice a place for people and does anyone notice, does anyone care?
Ok, that’s my jewish mother routine for the day.
ooooooo…..How Lovely you little Jewish Motha you!
re: the header – Hey I noticed it, and actually had that very thought….” that looks nice ”
Should have said so … : )
My second baby turns 18 today ! …..he’s a Obama supporter ….. he recently said to me that he was glad I found these political blogs, because he remembers when I was in full support of Hillary, and didn’t even want to listen to Obama.
“out of the mouths of babes”
He’s lucky to have such a smart and open mother. What are you getting him for the big 18?
oh! Happy Birthday. A big day for both of you!
Woodward: McCain Privately Pessimistic About Iraq in 2007
By Michael D. Shear
Sen. John McCain talks often about giving “straight talk” to the American people about the real situation in Iraq.
He brags about having been one of the few Republicans willing to openly criticize President Bush’s strategy in the years leading up to the surge. And he promises that, if elected, he will hold weekly war briefings and be upfront about how the war is going.
And yet, a new book by The Post’s Bob Woodward suggests that McCain has not always been as forthcoming with the public as he has pledged to be.
Woodward’s latest book about the Iraq war, “The War Within,” portrays McCain as offering a rosy assessment to the public about the surge’s progress while privately telling U.S. officials he thought the country was on the brink of losing the war
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/13/woodward_mccain_privately_pess.html
Thats pretty important. When does that book come out?
Brian, The 270 Obama needs is to get Hillary and/or Bill SOUTH of I-270 to get some help there. They say that area could determine Ohio.
Flag-gate still flying:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/12/flags-are-real-story-behind-them-grabs/
Obama to be in Golden, CO Tuesday:
http://colorado.barackobama.com/page/content/cohome
Golden, home of Coors beer, is also the home of one of Colorado’s oldest institutions of higher learning: the Colorado School of Mines. Small college. Smart crowd.
Note, none of the cities Obama will be visiting on this trip are particularly blue. Mostly red. Interesting strategy.
to answer the birthday gift Q….. He asked for a checking account and a credit card of his own. The real gift is a laptop….he told me it counts for birthday and graduation …lol….
he must have gotten that explanation from his Dad….who didn’t think I would ever know the price.
Sra Burrito,
Happy birthday to your baby. In his honor:
“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. ”
— Mark Twain
Awe…. I like that….. I’m going to share that with my Hubby, he’ll really relate to it.
Thanks.
🙂
Sra Burrito,
When your son gets a little older, he’ll relate to it too. God knows I did 🙂
Nice gift UB, what do I get if I call you mommy?
In Office, Palin Hired Friends and Hit Critics
This is a must read!
Ok, the whole lipstick on a pig thing looks like it has played out. But what of the right calling Palin a “maverick?” Is this not worse? Check out the dictionary definition for maverick:
Southwestern U.S. an unbranded calf, cow, or steer, esp. an unbranded calf that is separated from its mother.
Are they calling Palin a cow?
If they aren’t dnd, I certainly will. WHAT A COW!
Brian,
that’s pretty god damn scary, no?
pretty damn scary, yes!
From the NYT link Brian posted:
“Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. ”
Now just who does that remind you of? 😉
Well dnd I wouldn’t be the first person to call her Bush in lipstick.
good evening, folks. just wanted to say hi, and, another thing, I have utter (or is it udder, considering the cow reference) disdain for Palin and anyone who would support her has no heart, no brain, and no soul. She, like her asinine counterparts, cannot even properly pronounce Iraq and nuclear. and she bombed with Charlie Gibson.
Hey colleen, how you been, good to see you.
DND and colleen,
Nuculer, 22 million in the red for that poor little town, God told her to do it…..I mean, GW in Skirts and “Lipstick”
Hi Brian and all, I am doing well, although health problems had me cranky and, so, self-imposed isolated for awhile, but I’m starting to perk again, and I’ve missed you guys like crazy!!! nuculur and eye-rack, drives my crazy!!
heard someone comment after being inundated with Sarah and Cindy, gee, I miss Laura already…
I read that Article. I know we are not infallible, but there has GOT to be a way to trounse them. I mean, I have never seen such evil as in what has happened to the Republican Party.
And Both Bush and Palin have made a serious bad name for Chrisitans……..I mean, how can she think she is doing God’s work…..Not even in her wildest dreams.
David Horsey Cartoon
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/viewbydate.asp?id=1821
And another one!
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/viewbydate.asp?id=1818
here is an interesting take on McSame’s tax cuts.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26689925
there is nothing it seems that the mccain crowd won’t lie about.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a1J0tfV3XJYs&refer=politics
Jonah Golberg says John McCain probably can’t use a computer because he was a POW.
this is more stupid than I once believed.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/13/im-with-stupid/
here is john cole’s take on this Bull shit that Goldberg is trying to float by us.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=11294
Doots,
Think of the positive side. Because McCain can’t use a computer, he can’t be reading the goofy blogs 😉
Brutal
You gotta keep up UB I posted that last night! But it worth seeing again! 🙂
when I see the slaughter of those wolves – I see in them what I see in my dogs, decedents of wolves = LIFE
I can’t keep up….lol…try as I will……
did you post the Planned Parent one also?
No hadn’t seen that one, glad you posted the link, the ad is right on.
lol….yep I am sure there are many more to come….
btw: there’s a show on MSnbc right now which is following along the lines of that NYT article you posted about Palin.
Op-Ed Columnist
Bering Straight Talk
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: September 13, 2008
The racial component to this brand of politics was undisguised in St. Paul. Americans saw a virtually all-white audience yuk it up when Giuliani ridiculed Barack Obama’s “only in America” success as an affirmative-action fairy tale — and when he and Palin mocked Obama’s history as a community organizer in Chicago. Neither party has had so few black delegates (1.5 percent) in the 40 years since the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies started keeping a record.
Obama is conspicuously silent on Sarah Palin
Obama has some practice with this. In May, late in his primary battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton, he abruptly stopped paying her much attention. Clinton continued to campaign as if she were locked in a fight with Obama; Obama campaigned as if his only opponent was McCain. He began appearing in states that were important in the general election, ignoring the remaining primaries under the assumption that they didn’t matter.
His strategy worked.
This time around, though, his supporters, anguished over his disappearing lead in the polls, say they’d like to see Obama show more fight.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-campaign14-2008sep14,0,6672184.story
wow it’s getting late……
have a nice night sleeping beauties.
Luckily for us UB we’re not part of the campaign and can rip into her like a monkey on a cupcake!
About two hours after Palin’s speech Saturday, hundreds of people protesting the policies of Palin lined a busy Anchorage street, waving signs and chanting “Obama!”
In addition to Obama supporters, the protesters included those who don’t agree with Palin’s positions against abortion, her support for the Iraq war and other issues. One woman held a sign that read, “I’m Bail’in on Palin!” Another said, “Pro Woman, Anti-Palin.” Another read, “What About Healthcare?”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080914/ap_on_el_pr/palin
Group With Swift Boat Alumni Readies Ads Attacking Obama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/13/AR2008091302270.html?hpid=topnews
Sarah Palin’s mayoral duties were limited, even for small to mid-sized municipalities: from Washington Post:
“But a visit to this former mining supply post 40 miles north of Anchorage shows the extent to which Palin’s mayoralty was also defined by what it did not include. The universe of the mayor of Wasilla is sharply circumscribed even by the standards of small towns, which limited Palin’s exposure to issues such as health care, social services, the environment and education.
Firefighting and schools, two of the main elements of local governance, are handled by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the regional government for a huge swath of central Alaska. The state has jurisdiction over social services and environmental regulations such as stormwater management for building projects.
With so many government services in the state subsidized by oil revenue, and with no need to provide for local schools, Wasilla has also made do with a very low property tax rate ….”
WaPost: As Mayor of Wasilla, Palin Cut Own Duties, Left Trail of Bad Blood
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/13/AR2008091302596_4.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008091302649&s_pos=
This is an empire which is on the one hand the most powerful empire that ever existed; on the other hand an empire that is crumbling – an empire that has no future … because the rest of the world is alienated and simply because this empire is top-heavy with military commitments, with bases around the world, with the exhaustion of its own resources at home.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/09/20089814415795791.html
Alaska Women Reject Palin’ Rally is HUGE!
So, if you’ve been doing the math… Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin’s rally that got all the national media coverage!
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/
(photos Included)
Sra Burrito,
The photos with the Alaska Women Reject Palin rally are great. I really loved the one with the sign that said: “Uppity women unite!”
Sra Burrito,
The Howard Zinn interview is sobering. Some similar issues related to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Yes , it was nice to read an educated opinion…..that differs with delusion.
(Karo – sorry about the Buckeyes.),
The race is heating up….I particularly like the new Obama ads (just Obama talking) I feel they project integrity and I think they will be welcomed as a “refreshing change.”
Hillary is visiting today, I may go. I broke my telephoto lens, so I am really bummed, but if I go I will reports back best I can.
Have a wonderful day.
Enjoy the rally!
Obama Raised a Record $66 Million in August
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/obama-raised-a-record-66-million-in-august/
here is a group of cartoons that might be related to the current topics.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/215/gallery/52046.html
New Thread
McCaskill/Firoina cat fight on This Week. Immediately following that, Greenspan talking about the financial crisis.
Great irony having Greenspan talk of the failures in the financial arena, and Firoina, a failed, reviled chief of HP, that was booted by the board.
I really can’t figure out why McCain has a failure like Fiorina speaking for him.