OK, guys. McCain has the Rove crew working for him now. Whether or not Obama will learn how to deal with it remains to be seen. For now we just don’t know. We do know that McCain isn’t going to be allowed to have all that much to say about the contents of his own campaign any more, and I think this past week has shown he’s willing to allow this if it’s the price he has to pay to be elected. Let’s face it; you sell your soul to be elected, at least to and by Rove. Personally that’s not a deal I’d take, but then I don’t want to be president.
Now now, McCain really didn’t play the race card per se. Obama tried to get away with an oblique throw-away reference about how Team McCain will play the race card - a tactic intended to prevent it in the future I am sure - and McCain exploited the opportunity to accuse Obama of playing the card. As far as the game goes it was a stupid mistake for Obama to make and was well played by McCain. McCain had lost all control of the narrative and now he has Obama responding defensively. This counts as an Obama “gaffe” not a McCain one.
As far as the polls dipping with the “Celebrity ad” and hammering of “Is he ready?” yes, that is how McCain needs to do it if he is to have any chance at all. He needs to convince the middle that Obama is a media creation, a fad, and that they do not really know what he stands for. For his part Obama needs to get McCain’s mutual contradictions and bad judgements in the public’s focus in return.
Obama’s dip also timed with McCain’s drill and drill now mantra which makes for a great sound bite and while it is a false quick fix that really doesn’t do much, America likes false promises of salvation without having to do any work or sacrifice. McCain has learned that his more comprehensive energy policy, his Lexington project, is too detailed for sound bite consumption. And in reality McCain’s energy plan and Obama’s are not that far apart (and both have been presenting the bulk of them for well over a year) … both have some good ideas and some that are very similar and both include some stupid ones. But neither boils down to a good one liner like “Drill and drill now.” That’s helped McCain in the short term.
I think Obama’s one liner should be “the oil companies gave McCain $2 Million in donations and McCain wants to give the oil companies $4 billion in tax cuts; you do the math” and they should keep hammering away at that. It’s not a personal attack; it’s a policy attack. I think it’s a sure-fire winner. I just don’t how to get to them to suggest it. Maybe I should start a chain email.
Salon makes a good point about McCain’s overreaction to Obama’s comment (which I’d hardly even call a “gaffe”):
Are you kidding? The McCain campaign has been waiting for an opportunity to say this! I’m a bit surprised they used it this early, though. Unless they plan to re-use it several times. I wonder what they could find to hang it on again in the future.
Oh, it’s definitely not a McCain gaffe. But it was most certainly McCain playing the race card, by yelling and screaming and making a big deal of a comment that Obama had made in a speech, but hadn’t tried to play up in any way. (Usually Obama made the claim in reference to Republicans generally; this once he goofed and said McCain instead.)
AFAIAC, you can’t be playing the X card if you’re not trying to get word out about X. With X=race, Obama wasn’t. McCain was.
Oh, I agree. But that runs contra to Sam’s claim that the public was figuring out Obama’s too liberal for them.
Following up on ArchiveGuy’s post, let me quote Eugene Robinson from this morning’s WaPo, talking about McCain surrogate Lindsey Graham:
Today we see him ranting on stage in Sturgis SD stating he’s going “to win the war the right way, by winning it!” and also pimping his wife out for the cow chip queen contest, which has a talent competition involving bananas and toplessness. Yeppers, that oughta get them thar wimminfolk to vote fer him.
McCain clearly looked to be off his meds in the clip I saw on Countdown tonight.
Without giving too much respect to McCain, I think he was just overtired and fumbling over a few sentences - not significant. Frankly, in a beer filled park of bikers, he probably could have been reciting obscene versions of nursery rhymes and getting cheers. I doubt he knew that Miss Cow Chip was a topless babe definitely leaning toward the “exotic dancer” category, but I suspect Cindy was pretty much a babe when they first met, and she’s still fairly attractive in a skeletal, brittle sort of way. In any case, any older man praising his wife’s beauty in that crowd was going to get cheers. No harm, no foul.
Skeletal huh? Ouch 
I remember when she came out with guns blazing at Mrs.Obama’s “finally proud to be an American remark*” …Heh - she looks like she could get mean if John got out of line…which I hear he has done from time to time . I’m sure she was composed enough when rumors of an affair with a Lobbyist came flying at him. He did look tense that day back in February.
It’s amazing how suspiciously like Obama’s energy plan Paris Hilton’s energy plan looks. Except that, oddly enough, careful, environmentally sound offshore drilling doesn’t do a thing for near term gas prices.
You guys keep repeating that as if it’s undisputed truth, but it’s not. Part of the price of oil today is set by the futures price of oil (i.e. if oil will be worth more in the future, you want to be paid more for it today to give up the future value). The startup of drilling could send a signal to the market that supply won’t be as tight in the future, which could lower the futures price and therefore lower the price today. In otherwords, it lowers the ‘risk premium’ in current prices.
How big that effect would be is unclear, but it’s real. Ever notice how a threat to oil supplies changes the price now? Even though that oil wouldn’t possibly make it into the pipeline as gasoline for several years anyway?
So - what you’re trying to say is that Paris talks in her sleep? 
In this case, there’s no reason I can see to expect it wouldn’t be the truth.
True, but AFAICT, if the price is going to go down in 2017, and everybody is already pumping as much oil as they can now, then it should have zero effect.
Let’s say oil is selling for $120/barrel now, and I know it’ll drop to $100 in 2017. I’m going to try to sell every barrel I can now, rather than keep it off the market.
But since everyone’s already pumping as much oil out of the ground as they can, nobody’s going to up their production now in order to sell while the getting’s good, because nobody’s able to do so. So there’s no increase in supply now to pull today’s price down towards 2017 levels.
If there’s a flaw in that reasoning, corrections and criticisms are welcome.
What RTF said. 
ETA: And tagos, I suspect Obama has better taste. He’s certainly hotter!
I hope so too. But on the plus side it’s good that a viable, third party alternative to Grandpa Simpson has entered the race.
Just the other day Paris Hilton threw her hat in the ring. That’s hot!
Here’s a thought - Obama is on vacation now for a week. During that time McCain is going full throttle with negative ads. Hillary and Bill are getting back to back nights at the Convention and Bill runs the risk of upstaging whoever the VP candidate choice actually turns out to be (would even if it was Hillary).
Any one besides me expect Bill to make a “surprise” major appearance either alone or with his wife during this week giving a full throated endorsement of Obama prior to his Convention gig?
Seems like that’s one thing big enough to fill this week’s political space and to squeeze attention away from the negative ads of Team McCain. Until the next week (or as soon as Obama gets back on Friday) when the VP choice is unveiled and fills the room for the week lead up to the Convention.