# The McCain Campaign Has Officially Godwinized the Election **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 26, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608 "2008-10-26T04:16:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/41 "2008-10-26T15:52:59Z")
> [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > who informed the world that the B was for Obama? So…they didn’t fire him over that? The ‘B’ actually stood for ‘BONUS’. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/42 "2008-10-26T15:56:09Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > I’m wondering about the man-hours, and therefore labor cost, it would have taken to weed through their Pennsylvania voter database and supposedly pull the email addresses of only the Jewish voters. They probably would have needed to cross-reference the names with an external list as, to my knowledge, people don’t give their religious affiliation when registering to vote. It seems this would have taken more than one person, which lends credence to the argument that this was not a rogue act. On the other hand, if this guy did all of this alone, in a clandestine manner, then he probably spent quite a bit of time with this when he should have been doing other things. How could it not have been noticed? > > I’m sorry. I just don’t buy that this was done in a vacuum. Indeed, it seems to me that this will get unnecessary legs because the McCain campaign seems to think that just getting rid of the sender will fix everything, what about other GOP members who should have noticed? From **Larry Mudd** ’s link: > [@](#): > > Casey added if McCain and his campaign do not repudiate, “People will conclude they condone them.” > > The e-mail has already led the state Republican Party to fire strategist Bryan Rudnick, who reportedly helped draft the e-mail but didn’t sign his name on it. > > The e-mail, however, was signed by Sandra Newman, a former state Supreme Court justice and chairwoman of state GOP’s Fair Elections Task Force. She has been one of the GOP’s most vocal critics of ACORN, consistently alleging the community-organizing group and Obama are trying to steal the election. > > Neither Casey nor Shapiro called for Newman to be fired, but each said she needs to answer questions about her involvement. > > “Anyone involved with this has a lot of explaining to do,” Casey said. “They have to be held accountable” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/43 "2008-10-26T16:12:43Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > … an organization of neurosurgeons to have the foggiest clue how to “fix” the health care system, except in their own self-interest. I want to commend my fellow Dopers for ignoring the opportunity to make tasteless and obvious “brain surgery” jokes. This reflects well on our good taste and probity. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/44 "2008-10-26T16:21:17Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Uh, you do realize that you’re talking about yourself as least as much as the OP? How’s that? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/45 "2008-10-26T16:25:36Z")
The criticism you applied to everyone else in the thread in post 24 can also be directed at you. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/46 "2008-10-26T16:38:43Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > I’m wondering about the man-hours, and therefore labor cost, it would have taken to weed through their Pennsylvania voter database and supposedly pull the email addresses of only the Jewish voters. They probably would have needed to cross-reference the names with an external list as, to my knowledge, people don’t give their religious affiliation when registering to vote. It seems this would have taken more than one person, which lends credence to the argument that this was not a rogue act. On the other hand, if this guy did all of this alone, in a clandestine manner, then he probably spent quite a bit of time with this when he should have been doing other things. How could it not have been noticed? > > I’m sorry. I just don’t buy that this was done in a vacuum. I would expect that the GOP’s PA voter database has fields for any number of demographic categories, certainly including religion. These demographics won’t be based on voter registration, but on data gathered while canvassing in both current and past campaigns. Pulling just the Jewish voters’ email addresses (which certainly aren’t on voter registration forms either) would be a very simple matter. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/47 "2008-10-26T16:54:13Z")
Look for a lot more of these “unauthorized” messages in the coming week and a half. the volunteers lose nothing when asked to put out this crap, and the paid personnel will be out of a job after the election anyway. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/48 "2008-10-26T20:19:42Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > The funniest was from the NeurosurgeryPAC, claiming that only the Republican candidate can fix America’s health care system. I cracked up; I’m not sure who the NeurosurgeryPAC is, but I don’t I would trust an organization of neurosurgeons to have the foggiest clue how to “fix” the health care system, except in their own self-interest. By pithing people, perhaps? Sorry, **Luci** –couldn’t resist. I won’t hold the McCain campaign accountable for this email but I do hold them accountable for the lack of discipline and recklessness of their various operatives. Who is minding their store? It seems like a free for all from my POV. When they’re not slinging mud at Obama, they’re cannibalizing their own party. It’s fun to watch, but I’m running out of popcorn. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/49 "2008-10-26T21:00:55Z")
Didn’t Palin say this during her debate with Biden? “Israel is our strongest and best ally in the Middle East. We have got to assure them that we will never allow a second Holocaust, despite, again, warnings from Iran and any other country that would seek to destroy Israel, that that is what they would like to see.” Doesn’t that count as Godwin’ing? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/50 "2008-10-26T21:16:13Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Didn’t Palin say this during her debate with Biden? > > “Israel is our strongest and best ally in the Middle East. We have got to assure them that we will never allow a second Holocaust, despite, again, warnings from Iran and any other country that would seek to destroy Israel, that that is what they would like to see.” > > Doesn’t that count as Godwin’ing? Don’t try to make sense of anything that idiot says. Between regurgitating faultily-memorized talking points and trying to coalesce the bits and pieces of ideological mumbo-jumbo that passes for facts in her mind, it all comes out a disjointed, poorly thought-out mess. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/51 "2008-10-26T23:30:25Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > it all comes out a disjointed, poorly thought-out mess Exactly. It’s like she has eaten several sets of refrigerator-magnet poetry, barfed them back up, and read aloud the result. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/52 "2008-10-26T23:40:21Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > The criticism you applied to everyone else in the thread in post 24 can also be directed at you. How’s that? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/53 "2008-10-26T23:47:02Z")
I wonder where/how the email addresses were obtained? I didn’t see a reference to that in the link. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/54 "2008-10-27T00:03:11Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > How’s that? > [@Rand Rover](#): > > your opinion about the GOP colors your perception of an event which in turn is then used as evidence for that opinion. You seriously don’t think this is true of you? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/55 "2008-10-27T00:53:55Z")
What, you think Narcissus gazed at his reflection and thought “Jeez. what an asshole!”? ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/56 "2008-10-27T01:22:45Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > You seriously don’t think this is true of you? Do you have any evidence to support your proposition? Go ahead and post links to all of the times that I’ve taken bizarre positions just to argue for the GOP in one of the countless anti-McCain/Palin threads. You won’t be able to find one. Usually I’m doing something like I did in this thread–pointing out weaknesses in people’s arguments etc. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/57 "2008-10-27T01:54:32Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > What, you think Narcissus gazed at his reflection and thought “Jeez. what an asshole!”? +10 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/58 "2008-10-27T01:56:12Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Usually I’m doing something like I did in this thread–pointing out weaknesses in people’s arguments etc. Huh. You enjoy pointing out weaknesses in people’s arguments, yet you’ve been able to maintain lurkerdom here since '99? Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/59 "2008-10-27T02:08:13Z")
**Rand Rover** wins this one. The guy claimed it was authorized and then declined to say who did the authorizing. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608/60 "2008-10-27T02:48:26Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Do you have any evidence to support your proposition? > > Go ahead and post links to all of the times that I’ve taken bizarre positions just to argue for the GOP in one of the countless anti-McCain/Palin threads. You won’t be able to find one. Usually I’m doing something like I did in this thread–pointing out weaknesses in people’s arguments etc. Sorry, the sun will burn out before we can collate all your bizarre partisan posts. I have better things to do with the rest of my life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mccain-campaign-has-officially-godwinized-the-election/469608.md?page=4)