RNC Rains on Obama’s Parade
The unwilling star of GOP efforts to undermine Obama's coronation? Hillary Clinton.
And some prominent Democrats like Illinois Senator Dick Durbin conceded that McCain “has had a 12-0 run in this basketball game.” Rep. John Dingell from the key swing state of Michigan fretted that Obama was losing the momentum. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was fuming, wondering to the press whether she had walked “into a time capsule” of primary-induced animosity.
None other than Don Fowler, former DNC Chief agreed:
“I have a lot of doubts that this convention is going to be as persuasive as it should be because they’ve got this damn thing with Hillary … I love Hillary. I was for her. But this is the worst political decision I could imagine. This is supposed to be an Obama celebration. You’re going to get the nomination of someone who came very close to winning and you’re going to get a lot of people in there cheering and hollering and some people booing.”
Even the usually cheery left blogosphere started fretting. They rounded up Howard Wolfson (who was vilified for going to work for the evil Fox News) to offer advice. Others wondered whether the Obama team is too presumptuous. (You think?) The Obamaphiles did seem to seethe resentment that the woman they discarded as VP had a following so strong and a presence so prominent that the entire national press corps could be consumed by her followers’ tales of frustration, anger and disappointment over The One.
With the matter of the roll call vote still up in the air (but probably not going to happen) the potential for more fireworks is very real. The bottom line: the picture of unity is now badly out of focus and the GOP is doing its best to make that apparent to anyone tuning in for the Convention. If Lanny Davis is considering a McCain vote, there are certainly other Democrats looking on who might be considering their options.
Even the New York Times seemed to concede the GOP was having success. A report explained:
But on the first day of the Democratic convention, it was clear to members of both parties that this year will break new ground, with each side planning to run full bore during the other party’s convention. Matt McDonald, a senior aide overseeing the Republican effort, said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the party’s success in inserting itself into the biggest week of the Obama campaign. “Any time we can get our side of the story out,” Mr. McDonald said, “that’s a good thing.”
And all this is possible, even the Grey Lady must concede, because the MSM has lost the news monopoly:
Mr. McDonald, the Republican aide, said part of the difference was the abundance of political news sites, which serve as prompts for cable news networks that reap ratings spikes from new political developments. “Because of the proliferation of news media, there’s more appetite for different viewpoints,” Mr. McDonald said at what the McCain campaign is calling its “Not Ready ‘08″ headquarters in Denver, which includes much of Mr. McCain’s war room staff from Virginia. “It’s not just everybody watching the main stage.”
The success of the GOP counterprogramming will been seen at week’s end when the polls will tell if Obama calmed fears about his readiness, corralled the Hillary voters and allayed his base’s concern that his campaign has lost its moxie.
For now, Republicans can congratulate themselves — and thank Hillary — for going toe-to-toe with Obama during a week that he was supposed to own.
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Jennifer Rubin is PJM's Washington, DC, editor. She also blogs at Commentary’s Contentions.
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26 Comments
1. David Thomson:I am glad that John McCain was a guest on the Jay Leno Show. One now hopes that within the next couple of day that he also visits ANWAR accompanied with Sarah Palin. This would be a golden opportunity to announce to the voters that drilling techniques have improved to the point where drilling can now be allowed in that so-called pristine area of the country.
Aug 26, 2008 - 2:28 am 2. goy:David, I’ve been there – right after Prudhoe Bay first came on line. Drilling techniques have never been an issue there. There isn’t anything there to be ‘pristine’. It’s wasteland. Literally. Nothing but miles and miles of nothing as far as the eye can see.
That said, it’d be a nice, cage-rattling break from the DNCBS to see McCain grab some air time with a broadcast from the middle of that nothingness – so (he and) everyone in the country could actually see what the place really looks like.
And then we could watch the price of crude drop another 20%.
Aug 26, 2008 - 5:20 am 3. Daria:David,
It would be fantastic if Senator McCain took your advice! It gives him an opportunity to shift his position, based on new facts and information, with the talented, GOP rising-star Palin giving him cover. It might also be a nice segue into naming her as VP, but I’ll take what I can get. I am so sick of the “pristine” ANWR nonsense!
And while I’ve resigned myself to voting McCain (putting some serious differences aside in favor of more important ones like national security), I will exhale (hopefully) after he announces his running mate. That will determine whether I actively volunteer for him in my local community or simply drag myself to the polls on Election Day.
Aug 26, 2008 - 6:27 am 4. The Real Issue:Senator McCain has no program. He voted 95% with the Bush Administration failed policies. That’s his experience and the American people will see the REAL ISSUES that have failed them…job eliminations…higher gasoline prices…higher interest rates…poor credit ratings…people cannot buy homes…people losing homes…high high school dropout rates “No Child Left Behind”…The Iraq government now wants a timeline after they have made their money off the oil prices and we paid for it…These are the Real Issues that will continue if you vote for McCain…and for all you sitting on the fence voters, get ready for the DRAFT with McCain.
Aug 26, 2008 - 6:33 am 5. John Samford:“get ready for the DRAFT with McCain.”
It’s NOT the Republicans that want the draft, but the Democrats;
“Draft registration in the USA was reinstated under President Carter in 1980, supposedly as part of the preparations for intervention by the USA in Afghanistan on the side of the Islamic fundamentalist warlords and mujahideen who were then fighting against the Soviet Union.”
From here;
http://hasbrouck.org/draft/
But wait! There’s more!
“In October 2004, the House of Representatives voted down a bill introduced by Rep. Rangel to immediately reinstate the draft. He has reintroduced the same bill in 2007, although this year it isn’t expected even to make it to the floor of the House.”
Rep. Rangel is a DEMOCRAT! I think you need to get your facts straight before you go blowing chunks everywhere.
Only nutbags like Rangel want a draft. Republicans don’t. That is because Republicans have better mental health then Others;
http://www.gallup.com/poll/102943/Republicans-Report-Much-Better-Mental-Health-Than-Others.aspx
It’s that mental heath thingie that causes you to blame PRESIDENT Bush for all these problems, most of which were created by a Democratic Congress.The Economy was great until the Democrats raised the minimum wage and upset the balance. Low unemployment, low interest rates, good earning and a high disposable income.
Those are all facts. If you get over your BDS and look them up,you’ll see that I’m, correct. Graph the economic indicators from 1999 to 2007 and watch what happens after the election in 2006. By May, things are not doing so good, by Nov, the wheels are coming off.
Meanwhile, back to what is important.
THERE HAVE BEEN NO MASS CASUALTY ATTACKS ON AMERICAN SOIL SINCE 9-11.
Did you watch Ted speak? I thought he looked pretty good for a man that was mostly dead a few days ago. I wonder if Mary Jo liked it?
The other Kennedy looks like he has put on some weight since the rape trial.
Aug 26, 2008 - 7:04 am 6. Boris:DO you think all those pro choice Hillary supporters are going to be voting a new Scalia to the supreme court?
Once the debates start and the issues get discussed, Obama should capture most of the Clinton camp and a lot of independents as well. Because, on the issues, the people agree with Obama.
Aug 26, 2008 - 7:26 am 7. J Michael:What scares so many REPUBLICAN legislators about the idea of John McCain being president?
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cfNPM3YQ9Y
Aug 26, 2008 - 7:27 am 8. jvon:I find it simply amazing that for years and years an article couldn’t be written about McCain without highlighting his differences with Bush and calling him a “maverick”, and now that he actually stands a chance of winning the Presidency, I keep hearing that he’s nothing but a mindless Bush loyalist.
This might work for people who haven’t been paying attention for the past eight years, I guess… but I think those people are already going to vote Democrat anyway.
Aug 26, 2008 - 7:32 am 9. Evil Pundit:Poor Obamatons, flailing about in desperation.
Aug 26, 2008 - 7:36 am 10. Michael:How can “the people” agree with Obama? Oh wait, he is always on all sides of all issues. I get it now. Thank you for the clarification.
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:05 am 11. wpb:Real Issue:
I am not a fan of McCain, but I’m just trying to follow your logic. The following is your list of “Real Issues” that Obama will solve:
– job eliminations (I assume you mean unemployment)
– higher gas prices (although gas has dropped $0.30/gallon in the last 30 days where I live)
– high interest rates
– poor credit ratings (wow! even I could use that!)
– people who can’t afford a home
– people who are losing their home
– high school drop out rates (I assume you mean they’re too high)
– “No Child Left Behind” (huh?)
– the Iraq govt’s request for a timeline for troop withdrawl (I think you meant to say this) and their excess profiteering off oil prices at our expense
– a military draft
Missing from the list: ending the Iraq War, free healthcare for everyone, slavery reparations, and ‘world peace’ (Miss Congeniality)
I don’t recommend drinking early in the morning, but I’ll admit it does help in trying comprehend what you wrote….please tell me exactly what the Obama plan is to solve these “real issues”. But please clean the spittle off your screen before replying.
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:07 am 12. goy:Lessee…
- …job eliminations…
Which? The media’s been lying about this using the “seasonally adjusted” game for years. The only job eliminations are being caused by illegal aliens doing jobs high school kids and welfare recipients don’t want to do. Bush’s tax cut policies have created jobs by giving people more money to spend and making it slightly less expensive to run a business. That’s why we have record corporate tax revenues today.
… higher gasoline prices …
Sorry bub. High oil prices are a function of demand, which has been steadily increasing due to economic growth in India and China, and no new supply, which Pelosi and Reid destroyed their own credibility by perpetuating. Bush’s decision to cancel the executive level drilling moratorium triggered a 20%+ drop in the price of crude.
…higher interest rates…
Biden, if anyone, has been responsible for increased cost of credit to the consumer (and higher credit card company profits). You think a prime rate of 5% and a fed discount rate of 2.25% are “high”!!? Those are more than 30% lower than they were a year ago. Looks like you’re the one who’s high.
… poor credit ratings …
You think BUSH is responsible for your credit rating now!???
… people cannot buy homes …
Really, where? Two newlyweds just bought a home right next door to us.
…people losing homes…
Only the ones who overextend themselves and assume someone else is going to pay their mortgage for them.
…high high school dropout rates…
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:08 am 13. Sandy Salt:Sorry, you can’t indoctrinate students with “social justice” programs 24/7 AND try to teach them math, science, logic, etc. Forcing accountability on the education cult running America’s schools (like Bill Ayers) is the only way to force them to go back to actually teaching.
Real Issue,
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:25 am 14. Self-hating boomer:Obama and the Democrats have nothing to offer this country that are going to address the crap that you want to lay at McCain’s feet. They took control of Congress and immediately ran the economy into the ground. We can look forward to higher taxes to pay for entitlement programs that will not solve any of the above stated issues, plus they are going to gift us even higher gas prices with their windfall tax on oil companies. These are the real issues. Do you really believe you can tax your way to prosperity? Please wake up and smell the coffee, Obama and the Democrats have nothing to offer and come on over to lower taxes and a re-ivogorated economy.
David and goy, I’ve also been to Prudhoe Bay, and I’ve also been to Saudi, and I completely concur. God has a way of putting oil in the most gawdawful places on earth. I don’t know which is gawdawfuller between the North Slope and the Magic Kingdom, but if I had to pick one, it would probably be the North Slope.
That’s bad.
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:33 am 15. rocketeer:The Real Issue – Hope and Change, Hope and Change. We keep hearing the mantra. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell us ignorant savages what kind of change we’re talking about? Anything specific would be really swell.
So far we’ve heard retreat from victory in Iraq, redistribute income from each according to their abilities to each according to their needs, windfall profits tax on the us energy industry to further decrease their productivity and raise our fuel prices, and “free” government health care, ala every other failed centralized health care program. I’m sure that I’m missing some of the other Obama gifts that are on the table for us, but you get my point.
I look forward to your list of specifics.
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:44 am 16. Gina:Michelle is a good speaker, but the content of her speech seemed very scripted, and probably written by a crack team of speech writers. I’m sure she rehearsed it for several days. The speech said all the right things, but was hardly recognizable from her unscripted words spoken over several years … like “America is a mean country’ … ‘In my adult life, I’ve never been proud to be an American until now” … and does not reflect her many years as the follower of Jeremiah Wright’s black liberation philosophy … which she also exposed her young daughters to for several years … hardly the typical American family that they’re now trying to package and sell to the Amerian people. Michele’s speech more accurately resembles an expedient attempt at damage control by way of an immediate severe, and not very believable magical massive makeover. Furthermore, Barack and Teddy, who would like you to believe they are above reproach, have been elevated to sacred cow status. Sorry about Ted Kennedy’s illness, but Mary Joe Kopechne’s life was snuffed out at age 29 … so, you might want to revisit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jo_Kopechne
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:17 am 17. goy:Excellent point Sandy. No one seems to want to recognize that the economy was growing steadily until – coincidentally – just after the 2006 elections. Another fact the media constantly lies about is the notion that “we’re in a recession” – trying to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy (which has actually worked to some extent) – and then it uses that straw man to beat Bush with.
If fact, up until the Dem-controlled Congress’ (non-)policies started to take hold, the trends in effect were forcing the federal budget into balance. Back in Jan ‘07, the trends pointed to a balance … right about now. But Congress managed to derail this with its inability to address the energy issue. By Aug ‘07 the balance point had shifted by a year. As Congress continued to bicker and fling partisan poo – instead of doing its job, and addressing the energy issue and the economy – those trends lines began to diverge. Increasing taxes will completely halt the nominal economic growth we’re still experiencing, and make all this much worse. And that’s exactly what Obama has promised to do. All for “fairness” don’t you know.
No wonder this Dem-controlled Congress has the absolute lowest approval rating – of ANY American institution in all of U.S. History!
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:36 am 18. JKB:Here is some nice research that shows where the candidates stand in relation to the center. McCain is considerably left of Bush while Obama and Clinton are about the same in their leftiness. McCain is also closer to the center.
http://voteview.ucsd.edu/Clinton_and_Obama.htm
Aug 26, 2008 - 10:12 am 19. John Samford:Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it looks like the Obama bin Biden ticket is already in trouble;
http://www.gallup.com/poll/109834/Gallup-Daily-Bounce-Obama-Post-Biden-Tracking.aspx
That funny sound you hear is the sound of all those Obamanics nails screeching on the porcelain as they spin ’round, ’round, ’round before going down, down, down the pipe.
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:25 pm 20. lee:While a single poll doesn’t mean anything, as I was pointing out to the Obamanics when the messiah was up 15 points in June, trend lines are important. This one doesn’t look good for the messiah. It seems America has decided to keep the change.
The majority of the Clinton supporters will vote for Obama, but in a race as tight as this, even a small percent of defection might tip the scale in Mccain’s favor.
Aug 26, 2008 - 2:28 pm 21. John Samford:I don’t think it will be close. The Media is pushing the close idea because that is where they make the most money. I’m looking at another Mondale type showing.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:05 pm 22. abbabel:Remember the MSM doesn’t make money. They are kept afloat by various Billionaires that think they can use their media connections to make more money by manipulating public opinion. So they are not going to come right out and say; this guy is a loser and doesn’t stand a snowballs chance in ‘ell of winning the election. He is a Marxist and a snake OIL salesman. A Chicago machine politician. Well, he is in the bigs now and nobody really gives a rats arse about Chicago, Socialism is dead and Marxism can be cured, with the right therapy and the proper drugs, while the market on Snake OIL is glutted. So the Obamessiah is up a creek without a paddle and has no way to change that.
If the MSM says that, they will biting the hand that feeds them and they won’t get fed anymore. So the MSM will lie thru their teeth and look for a scapegoat to sacrifice when the Obama bin Biden ticket dies an ugly death.
Say what you will about Billery, they are NOT stoooopid. They know Obama bin Biden is going down in flames and they are making sure they don’t get fingered as the scapegoat.
It has happened b4..it will happen again. Oboma won the Democratic primaries in spite being labeled lack of experience man.
McSame is playing the same card. He will get the same result.He will lose by a big margin.Mark my words.
Have you all ever wondered why a 47 yr old with limited experience has done so well thus far in spite the accusation of limited experience.
With all McSame acclaimed experience and age, he voted for the war in Iraq. An unnecessary war that has cost Americans thousands of life and billions of dollars.
My friends, the old age of Methuselah has nothing to do with the wisdom of Solomon. If America had listened to the wisdom of Obama instead of paying attention to the so called experience and old age of McSame and his likes USA will not have gotten itself into the mess in the first place.
Aug 27, 2008 - 1:20 am 23. goy:Wake up you all and smell the coffee. Obama is a leader whose time has come. Nothing can stop that. Nothing. Not the campaign of calumny as being waged by McSAME and his cohorts.
- Have you all ever wondered why a 47 yr old with limited experience has done so well thus far in spite the accusation of limited experience.
Heh. No. I, for one, have never wondered about that at all. Because the fact is that Obama hasn’t done “well” at anything. His one and only stint in an executive leadership position (Chairmanship of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge program) resulted in a dismal, mediocre failure. The tens of millions of dollars he disbursed: wasted. His credibility for trying to hide that fact: zero. Obama – millionaire – runs on a socialist, tax-increase platform that implies 30% of Americans are responsible for the social services of the entire country – yet his brother in Africa lives in abject squalor.
Obama has been propped up by the media in exactly the same way far-left Mondale was. Once the electorate gets a chance to see the truth of his lackluster / failed past, the expanse of his Marxist associations and the extent of his hypocrisy, he’ll be lucky if he does as well as Mondale did.
Aug 27, 2008 - 10:49 am 24. Believer:“If America had listened to the wisdom of Obama…” aababel 8/27 1:20am
You must remember that, with BO, the ‘wisdom’ changes with the audience.
Had he needed the votes of a different constiuency, his wise counsel would have been entirely different.
Aug 27, 2008 - 2:05 pm 25. Rex:The “elect me at all costs” promises of the Teleprompter Kid reminds me of the character Pedro in the high school comedy “Napolean Dynamite.”
Pedro’s thrilling promise that assured his victory —
“Vote for me, and all your dreams will come true.”
Pedro believed in change. He knew that the students in his high school were not realizing their dreams. Ergo, in a stroke of genius, Pedro decided to become the agent of change – by promising everything.
The difference is that change-agent Pedro didn’t go to Harvard – or need a Telepromter.
Aug 28, 2008 - 12:35 pm 26. John Samford:Abbabel;
“An unnecessary war that has cost Americans thousands of life and billions of dollars.”
Demonstrating a certain lack of knowledge about military affairs.
FACT: The Jihadists WANT WAR! That is how they get to heaven, which is more important to them then a new I-Pod or Prius. NO matter what America does, they will wage war against us, as they have been doing since 1979. Over 4700 attacks between 1980 and 200, by State Department count. None of those attacks were big enough to capture the attention of the USA or the MSM. Until 9-11.
FACT: Since 9-11 there have been NO mass casualty attacks on American Soil.
Conclusion; By giving the Jihadists a place to war against America, Iraq has played a major role in preventing mass casualty attacks here in the states.
That alone is worth the price of admission. When you consider that the thousands of terrs killed in Iraq could have created havoc here in the states, Iraq looks like a bargin.
Thousands of Soldiers died to save the lives of tens of thousands of civilians. Billions spent on Iraq, most of it here in the states instead of Trillions in damage.
That’s a bargin, the best you’ll ever have.
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt
26th president of US (1858 – 1919)
They still there? 21 days and counting
Aug 29, 2008 - 4:59 am