Well, who is it? I am surprised that the brave, independent-thinking members of the Fourth Estate haven’t given full rein to the terrier instinct on this question. Obviously, someone inside the Obama campaign is out to sabotage The Chosen One’s credibility and, just as obviously, the journalistic profession speaks with a single voice when it comes to favoring The Obama over every other candidate. So where are the investigative reporters when we–or, rather, when they–need ‘em? Wouldn’t the cause of electing Obama come hell or high water be better served by suspending inquiries in to Todd Palin’s 1986 DUI citations and trying to ferret out the person or persons responsible for the disaster the Obama campaign has become?
Somebody has it in for Obama. What makes me say so? Well, there’s the matter of the gloves. Every few weeks now, Obama comes out and says “I’ve had enough of these nasty Republican smear tactics, the outrageous inquiries into my relationship with the admitted (and unrepentent) terrorist Bill Ayers or my 20-years as a congregant in the church of the anti-American wack-job Jeremiah Wright. From now on , I’m taking off the gloves and am going to run a tough (but high-minded) campaign.”
Is there a budget category for gloves over at Obama Central? 
Jake Tapper [oops: I had written "Jack"] at ABC reckoned Obama’s latest announcement about “taking off the gloves” was his 3rd or 4th and wondered whether we should henceforth think of this as The Isotoner Campaign.
This does not–not quite, not yet–qualify as a Dukakis Moment, but it is hovering in the neighborhood.
Evidence of Obama’s bare-knuckles blunders? The lipstick-on-a-pig gambit, for one: bad move, Mr. O! It doesn’t matter what you meant to say. Your acolytes took it as a reference to Governor Palin and you spent the next several days trying to explain your way out of a mess of pork.
The knuckles got barked that time. And then, just a day or two ago, you go and run a TV ad designed to show how out of touch John McCain is because he doesn’t use email. “Our economy wouldn’t survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats,” sniffed Dan Pfeiffer, an Obama spokesman. “It’s extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn’t know how to send an e-mail.”
Another bloomer! Leave aside the fact that Presidents, like other high-ranking government officials, don’t use email. As Jonah Goldberg pointed out, one reason McCain doesn’t use email is that he can’t. Jonah points to a Boston Globe story from 2000 which explains that “McCain’s severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain’s encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He’s an avid fan–Ted Williams is his hero–but he can’t raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.” (That story also quotes John Kerry on McCain: “I enjoy his company, John’s a funny guy. Most of the bad things you hear come from people he’s put on the spot.”) Criticizing McCain for not using a computer, Jonah notes, would be like criticizing “the blind governor of New York David Paterson [who] doesn’t know how to drive a car. After all, transportation issues are pretty important. How dare he serve as governor while being ignorant of what it’s like to navigate New York’s highways.”
Those knuckles are looking pretty torn up Mr. O. Another pair of gloves?
Besides, if it is actual technical savvy you’re interested in, McCain does pretty well. Jonah also points to a July 2008 interview The New York Times published on McCain. The relevant bit:
Q: What websites if any do you look at regularly?
Mr. McCain: Brooke and Mark [a McCain advisor and his Press Secretary] show me Drudge, obviously, everybody watches, for better or for worse, Drudge. Sometimes I look at Politico. Sometimes RealPolitics, sometimes.
(Mrs. McCain and Ms. Buchanan both interject: “Meagan’s blog!”)
Mr. McCain: Excuse me, Meagan’s blog. And we also look at the blogs from Michael and from you that may not be in the newspaper, that are just part of your blog.
Q: But do you go on line for yourself?
Mr. McCain: They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need – including going to my daughter’s blog first, before anything else.
Q: Do you use a blackberry or email?
Mr. McCain: No
Mark Salter: He uses a BlackBerry, just ours.
Mr. McCain: I use the Blackberry, but I don’t e-mail, I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail. I read e-mails all the time, but the communications that I have with my friends and staff are oral and done with my cell phone. I have the luxury of being in contact with them literally all the time. We now have a phone on the plane that is usable on the plane, so I just never really felt a need to do it. But I do – could I just say, really – I understand the impact of blogs on American politics today and political campaigns. I understand that. And I understand that something appears on one blog, can ricochet all around and get into the evening news, the front page of The New York Times. So, I do pay attention to the blogs. And I am not in any way unappreciative of the impact that they have on entire campaigns and world opinion.
Oh dear, O dear, O dear. The old septuagenarian’s not that out of touch, is he? And yet the Obama campaign lurches forward, foot placed firmly in its collective mouth. The damage, still being calculated, with be substantial. As Glenn Reynolds notes,
In a single not-very-compelling ad calling McCain a clueless geezer who can’t even send email, the Obama campaign managed to draw attention to his war injuries again, to show that it doesn’t even know that the 2000 McCain campaign actually pioneered the insurgent Web tactics that Obama used in the 2008 primary, and to produce an ad that seems tailor-made to alienate voters more than a few years older than Obama, all without providing any actual reason to, you know, vote for Obama. That’s a combination of cluelessness, sloppiness, and narcissism . . .
And that, mon brave, is only for starters.
Personally, I wonder if one or more operatives from the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy haven’t insinuated themselves into the Obama campaign. Maybe, just maybe, they have even taken over Obama’s brain. That would explain why, for example, he goes on national television and refers to his “Muslim faith.” Oops! A slip, to be sure, but is it a slip that a politically mature candidate would make on such an important occasion? The knuckles are really bleeding now. Whose fault is that?
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100 Comments
1. Pops in Vienna:Good article Roger but I have to wonder if there is a mole inside the McCain-Palin campaign as well. What genius thought it would be a good idea to have Palin get grilled by a contemptuous Charlie Gibson? It’s a miracle she came out of that as good as she did.
A few extra votes might have been picked up as a result of the interview but only because of Gibson’s behavior. If Palin had stumbled it would have returned the advantage to Obama.
Please McCain-Palin, just keep Sarah out there on the stump energizing the base. Don’t be tempted to appear on Oprah, the View, Ellen or some other Lefty show that only wants to destroy her.
Sep 13, 2008 - 7:24 am 2. Scott Somerville:Not a mole… it’s a Greek tragedy, complete with styrofoam columns. The ONE announced the moment the waters would begin to recede and from that instant on, the offended majesty of the gods (or God, but that would brand me some kind of right-wing theocon nutjob) has been on full display.
Sep 13, 2008 - 7:56 am 3. Terry:I must ask the obvious - if running this campaign is the “Executive experience” that Obama thinks qualifies him to be POTUS, his resume just got chucked.
Sure, things were going splendidly when he was the new guy on the scene, with plenty of prepared speeches, celebrity endorsements, a media willing to bend over for him, and money raining down from Heaven.
But now that he is in Palin’s shadow from the “newness” perspective, he has to respond to tougher questions or criticism from the McCain camp, and money is not coming in at the rate they had hoped for, he is proving himself very much prone to slipping up badly when under pressure.
I go back to the “pig in lipstick”, as silly as that whole discussion was. Either he was taking a nasty stab at Palin, or he wasn’t. Either way, his friendly audience was sharp enough to pick up on it right away, and it drove the news for days, even with MSM apologists coming out for him. Regardless of motive, it shows what we’re also seeing in this latest ad bashing McCain as an old man (goodbye, Florida vote) who can’t use email (goodbye, veterans vote): a severe lack of judgment.
Wasn’t that what Obama was running on? Find some new gloves, kid.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:04 am 4. mrkwong:The McCain campaign needs a ten-second spot from Meg Whitman - “Obama’s handlers and mouthpieces says John McCain doesn’t get the internet. I say he does. Who are you going to believe?”
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:05 am 5. RebeccaH:Well, it’s obvious to the left and so it should be obvious to the rest of us, that the Dark Lord Karl Rove is running Obama’s campaign.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:11 am 6. I Think It's Sullivan:[...] Who’s inside the Obama Campaign’s OODA loops, getting inside their heads? Well, who is it? I am surprised that the brave, independent-thinking members of the Fourth Estate haven’t given full rein to the terrier instinct on this question. Obviously, someone inside the Obama campaign is out to sabotage The Chosen One’s credibility and, just as obviously, the journalistic profession speaks with a single voice when it comes to favoring The Obama over every other candidate. So where are the investigative reporters when we–or, rather, when they–need ‘em? Wouldn’t the cause of electing Obama come hell or high water be better served by suspending inquiries in to Todd Palin’s 1986 DUI citations and trying to ferret out the person or persons responsible for the disaster the Obama campaign has become? Posted by Dan Collins @ 3:16 pm | Trackback Share This [...]
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:16 am 7. Retread:Karl Rove, you magnificent bastard!
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:16 am 8. Larry Sheldon:If they don’t fit, you must acquit.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:20 am 9. Yehudit:The Gibson interview is going to backfire on ABC bigtime, because they edited the video so heavily that her responses looked a lot worse than they are. A transcript is already up at Newsbusters. (I’m on the iPhone and can’t paste in a URL but its easy to find. Its also on talkradio Mark Levin’e site.) I am sure unedited video will come soon (how could ABC refuse to supply it without looking worse than they already do?) and the result will make Palin look good and give the MSM another black eye.
So maybe the McCain campaign has a mole inside ABC as well as the Obama campaign.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:21 am 10. stephen:I think if you want to find the mole you have to go to former Clinton staffers. She had the most experienced staff of the two. I imagine once Hillary’s run was over, many of her employees went to work for Obama. Obama has to understand that his underlings may not always have his own best interest at heart. I’m not saying he’s stupid, but he is definitely, um, inexperienced in making those types of executive decisions.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:21 am 11. PWT:Actually, the waters receding speech may go down as one of the most arrogant, ridiculous, preposterous political moves of all time.
An Obama loss and a decade of persistent global cooling like we may be seeing now will combine to make Obama a permanent laughing stock in the history of American presidential politics.
This makes Algore’s invention of the internet look like a child’s birthday party invitation.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:22 am 12. Edward Sisson:Roger, you ask (rhetorically) “Is there a budget category for gloves over at Obama Central?” Does anyone with Obama’s campaign not realize that a handsome, charismatic African-American, who is in a conflict with a white woman, ought not be raising the image of gloves? This is the worst possible image his campaign could use while trying to appeal to white women — millions of whom remember quite vividly the supportive reaction in the African-American community to the acquittal of O.J. Simpson. Major, major mistake.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:22 am 13. Cover Me, Porkins:CSS on the images, Pajamas. Add some padding; right now, this article looks amateurish. Support your content with quality design.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:22 am 14. wheatley:“CSS on the images, Pajamas. Add some padding; right now, this article looks amateurish. Support your content with quality design.”
Yeah . . . ’cause we all know that it’s better to look slick than to actually, you know, have content.
Puh-leeze.
There are a lot of us that look to the internet for information, not just to see pretty pictures and super-cool flash sites.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:31 am 15. jetski:I like it when lefty’s suddenly decide they’re going to fight. It gets the ass whuppin’ astarted.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:36 am 16. J:“he goes on national television and refers to his “Muslim faith.”
His exact words, as Charles Gibson might say.
“I think if you want to find the mole you have to go to former Clinton staffers”
As TIC as all of this is, I have to confess that’s actually plausible.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:36 am 17. joh:As much as they would like to believe it’s all a Rove conspiracy, I think like any good Greek tragedy, it’s hubris, on both the part of Senator Obama and, more tragically for all Americans, the old media.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:37 am 18. sammy small:Wise are they who do homage to Adrasteia, in Obama’s or NBC’s case, not so much.
So even though Obama’s gaff about his Muslim faith, er..Christian faith, was corrected by Stephanopolis, I understand he was raised as a Muslim as an infant. So doesn’t that make him an Apostate and condemned to (you know what) fate by other Muslims?
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:39 am 19. ElcubanitoKC:Pops in Vienna,
She can hold her own, she will do well, no matter where it is. She did an excellent job if you watch the better edited bits. She needs more press, and she should get it. The more press she gets, the crazier the Obamabots get.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:41 am 20. J D Everyman:McCain doesn’t use email? Obama & staff don’t use Google to dig out the news articles about McCain’s limited use of his arms for typing!
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:41 am 21. Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer:I didn’t do it…
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:43 am 22. Diggs:Fully capable of tripping himself up with his own arrogance and lack of common sense, Obama nonetheless now has the perfect excuse for why he lost the election.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:46 am 23. Self-hating boomer:Corollary to Occam’s razor: never attribute to nefariousness what can as easily be explained by incompetence. The One™ just isn’t that great.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:46 am 24. ZEITGEIST:[...] ROGER KIMBALL: Who is the mole in the Obama Campaign? [...]
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:47 am 25. J Verner:Obama makes for such a target rich environment.
I hope the McCain campaign makes a clever ad pointing out that for the first time in American political history, a candidate for a major party has mocked a decorated, disabled veteran for injuries sustained in service to the nation. Another first for team Obama.
Follow that up with a new 527 ad showing Obama’s links to communists (Davis, Ayers et. al.) who supported McCain’s NVA torturers. Remind people that while we know what McCain was doing in the 1980s, Obama won’t even release his transcripts from Columbia! Wonder why?
Show ads like that back to back in Michigan, Pa. Ohio Co. and Wa.
The One is Done.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:48 am 26. Ric Locke:Bah. There is no “mole”. It would be a waste of somebody’s time, possibly physically dangerous, and entirely redundant.
Obama and his advisors have absolutely no idea what moves anyone other than extreme left-of-center voters. They think they do; in fact, they have an extremely complex and detailed model, to which they refer constantly. Unfortunately for them, that model is not just defective, it is flatly wrong — and those of us on the right, including the McCain campaign, have a reasonably decent appreciation of it.
All that was really needed was a crack in the wall of the media’s presentations. Sarah Palin has served that purpose very nicely, thank you. McCain (and the right in general) have a valid if incomplete model, where Obama and Company are working from a complete but invalid playbook, and the result is better than having a “mole” because it doesn’t actually require associating with those people.
Regards,
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:51 am 27. politicjock:Ric
In running the sleaziest campaign since South Carolina in 2000 and standing by completely debunked lies on national television, it’s clear that John McCain would rather lose his integrity than lose an election.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:54 am 28. Formwiz:Roger, you mention an infiltrator from the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Operation Chaos, anyone?
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:55 am 29. Mister Snitch!:“Obviously, someone inside the Obama campaign is out to sabotage The Chosen One’s credibility”
You’ve ALMOST nailed it Roger. The ‘inside’ saboteur you’re looking for is, obviously, Hillary.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:56 am 30. Austin:Its pretty simple -
The military is an oral culture. Briefings are done orally with supporting collateral. Staff officers do the minutae. Problems are worked out socratically until a consensus is reached or the commander issues guidance. Very few senior officers spend time surfing the internet - they have too much to do.
Ditto for McCain.
He brought the oral culture of his military mileu to his Senate staff and Presidental campaign. He is a lot more effective if he can lead people by taking their info and giving guidance rather than spending time trolling for it.
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:59 am 31. vincenzo:Combine this McCain-email ad with Biden’s “Stand up, Chuck” idiocy, and it looks like a coordinated strategy of Team Obama to diss the seniors!
Bunch of amateurs…
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:05 am 32. nlcatter:Mccain can use the keyboard
its his shoulders not hands that were injured
and he can fish also
you FUCKING LIARS
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:05 am 33. Monika:You are all racists !!!
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:06 am 34. RJ:PWT said, “Actually, the waters receding speech may go down as one of the most arrogant, ridiculous, preposterous political moves of all time.”
You could be right, PWT. There is competition, however. Don’t forget this other little gem from Obama:
“My job is to be so persuasive that if there’s anybody left out there who is still not sure whether they will vote, or is still not clear who they will vote for, that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany … and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama”
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:13 am 35. RogerA:Obama is in a really hard spot, made even harder by his and his campaigns stupidity. He had to run left of Hillary to keep his moonbat base and then had to shift to the center to attract the undecideds. He can no longer run to the center because of the continuing campaign blunders, and to shore up his now wavering base he has to attack Sarah Palin who is running on the VP slot. That, in turn is only going to continue to alienate precisely the demograhic he has to have. He is now in a circle of self destruction. Proof? Look at the realclearpolitics state by state polling and look at the trends since the first of September–he’s losing his ass except in the hard blue states. AND his blunders are starting to rub off on congress–look at how the generic republican democrat approval ratings are closing. Almost within the MOE. Obama is left only with the moonbat base and the fellating MSM. Not a recipe for success.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:13 am 36. RogerA:And as proof of the moonbat base, I give you nlcatters elegant post upthread.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:15 am 37. Carol:Obama keeps using his campaign as proof of “exececutive experience”.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:18 am 38. Janemarie:But his campaign has been one of the most inept and pathetic ever in American history. The McCain campaign is running circles around Obama right now, and “The Messiah” does not even have a clue.
The more I think about the email ad the more stupid and ignorant I think it is. I doubt many executives, governors or successful people in other fields do much emailing themselves (unless they blog of course), especially for work-related issues. They have paid staff to do this. I read on another blog about security issues precluding George Bush from doing email himself, which makes sense to me.
I used to be in academic medicine, and there were some outstanding researchers and academicians who didn’t use computers; of course these are inthe older generation of scientists, but I wouldn’t presume to sneer at them because of their differing work habits. Many have been and continue to be hugely productive and successful.
I think the Obama camp is just profoundly immature and narcissistic (kinda like The One himself).
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:19 am 39. J Verner:“Mccain can use the keyboard
its his shoulders not hands that were injured
and he can fish also
you FUCKING LIARS”
Hey! The rapid response team from Camp Obama! Good work! And…um…wrong. They broke his finger in torture sessions. They also knocked his teeth out. Gonna mock that too?
It is curious that there appears to be a cone of silence surrounding the ad though. I haven’t noticed any official pronouncement. Is it still up?
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:19 am 40. James:C’mon - It’s Michelle Obama.
Don’t believe me? Then make the case against.
The case for: Did you watch her body language at the DNC convention? She dosen’t want this life.
What was more important than being at GZ with her husband? Those of you who are married - ask yourself this question - They’re a close couple, they love each other, and thier YOUNG children. You know he asked her to come. They had a fight about it, and she refused. I don’t care what else she wanted to do that day - she knew it was important to him.
“But Baby, McCain’s wife’ll be there…” he plead.
THe comments she drops.
The money she’ll now make as the wife of the most ‘famous black american in the world tm’. The secret service that she dosen’t want crawling up her families wazoo for the REST OF HER LIFE.
I watched her watch the spectacle in Denver (you did too) and all this stuff went through her head. I do not want that woman’s life.
I want my friends back,
I want to go back to MY church
I don’t want my two beautiful daughters to grow up with media in toe…
Most important: By going back home to Chicago, the wife of a Senator, she will be able to CHOOSE the level of celebrity that she wishes to engage in - how much, how often, and who with. Can she do that as first lady? Of course not.
Go ahead - try and argue against what I posit.
AS the Judge said, ” Well?… I’m waiting…”
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:20 am 41. David Jay:nlClatter:
So you are calling the Boston Globe ***** LIARS?
How quaint.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:26 am 42. blip:McCain says it himself… he doesn’t use email because he doesn’t “feel the need to”. He hasn’t learned about the internet, but he means to get around to it sometime.
My dad is a disabled vet from the Vietnam war. He uses email. He also is missing a leg, and he runs in spite of it. Stephen Hawking uses a compter… and he can scarecely move at all. Even my cousin with Spina Bifida uses a computer and sends me emails.
It’s deceptive to pretend that McCain’s technological illiteracy is a result of his POW experience. It’s not. Stop crying victim.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:27 am 43. Akatsukami:Ric Locke preety much has it nailed. There’s no “mole”, and no need for one.
Between a softening economy, Bush Derangement Syndrome, and the electoral and generational cycles, this was supposed to be the Year of the Yellow Dog: the Democrats could nominate anything, anything at all, and Americans would march lemming-like into the voting booth and helplessly pull the lever labelled “D”.
The netroots decided to take advantage of that and pushed Obama, an empty suit, with racists, hard leftists, and machine thugs competing to see who got to stick a hand up his ass and make his arms wave that day. The few adults left in the party were too old, too tired, and too discouraged to put up much of a fight. Besides, this was the Year of the Yellow Dog; let the kids have their moment of triumph.
Obama’s handlers weren’t running a campaign; they were conducting a triumphal march, to end in something between a coronation and an apotheosis. They didn’t have run a campaign; this was the Year of the Yellow Dog.
Then the netroots drove away Clinton’s supporters; they wanted spiky-haired bisexuals with nose rings and tattoos, not middle-aged working women; Obama Girls, not PUMAs. McCain chose Palin, re-energizing conservatives. Americans looked at Obama and decided that he was a bit too fulvous and too canine for their tastes.
Suddenly the Obamaniacs found they had to run an election campaign. And they didn’t know how; they weren’t supposed to need to know how; this was supposed to be the Year of the Yellow Dog.
The rest will be history.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:30 am 44. Dennis:To continue with the resume ‘nalogy: BHO’s recent mistakes are not, by themselves, that serious but are like misspelled words on a resume. One mistake - you wonder about the applicant’s attention to detail. Two - you start to doubt whether he REALLY wants the job. Three - hire someone else.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:30 am 45. Letalis Maximus, Esq.:The people who are out to sabotage the Obama campaign are, in my view, the same ones who sabotaged the Kerry campaign.
The Clintons.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:31 am 46. Joe America:So-called “neocons” such as you and your readers are just bizarre. This political pornography, and the pent up feelings of anger and inadequacy that seem to underlay all of this, would almost be humorous if it weren’t for the tragedy of 2000 - 2008 thanks to “neocons”. No, I’m not a liberal. I’m an independent person and a critical thinker seeing “the big picture”. I came to this site through Google News. What a sick little site this is! Have a good day everyone!
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:32 am 47. Kelly:He can use a cell phone but he can’t type an email? Right.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:32 am 48. Lana Dee:FANTASTIC and accurate~ I am so sick and tired of the tone of the programs labeled as “news” on the major networks. More and more I see biased opinion instead of news reporting. In particular, the presidential, vice-presidential race. While I feel it is great that “hard” questions are asked, they are only asked of the Republican candidates. And I take offense at the disrespect directed toward Sarah Palin. Everyone who listens at all knows that there are some major “dark”, unexplored areas in the life of Obama, but reporters never direct the questions needed to him. They are nauseating the American public! It is time for the reporters to leave their political leanings at home and begin REPORTING the news, instead of making it !
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:33 am 49. guess'd:Mmm, yesss… the OJ image, gloves half on.
Symbolic of someone taking them on and off continually.. that’s good.
Another way to graphically symbolize such a person might be the wearing of only one glove..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Michael_Jackson_1984.jpg
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:33 am 50. anonymous:Personally, I wonder if one or more operatives from the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy haven’t insinuated themselves into the Obama campaign.
The two most conspicuously obvious candidates being Joe “Rise from that wheelchar” Biden and Barack “I can’t belive he called her a pig” Obama.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:34 am 51. Papertiger:I read she had 30 or more debates (can’t remember the exact number) with the former Governor of Alaska.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:39 am 52. Mike Devx:nlcatter:
Sure, McCain can use a keyboard… for a short while, before the pain becomes too uncomfortable to continue.
If you had a bad knee, and walking on it for five minutes sent you into excruciating pain, would you take three half hour walks every day? Would you? I thought you would.
Idiot.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:40 am 53. ZRegime:Akatsu has pretty much nailed it. The Demmies, time and time again, cannot control their urge to nominate the extremist rather than the centrist. On the Reepub side — because we actually have, like, debates amongst ourselves and stuff? — the tensions that exist between the econos, the evangies, and the dee-feensers wind up being productive because there’s a recurring self-exam going on…which leads to more well-rounded, broader-appealing candidates. The Dems do no such thing. The extremists are always right, and they demand a near-Maoist adherence to their principles.
When will they ever learn? Will the Sixties Hippie Boomers have to expire before this changes?
The 60s are OVER. It’s like fifty years ago, almost. Get the freak past it!
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:53 am 54. Kelly:Steven Hawking has been completely immobilized for most of his life.
Yet he can use a computer.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:56 am 55. Forklift:Ric, your nice, succinct post points to the lineage being McGovern, Dukakis, Kerry and Obama.
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:59 am 56. Jack R:The mole is,in my opinion, the medias lack of reporting on facts about the McCain campaign.So many lobbyist,Karl Rove advising his campaign ,so many flip flops,and you want to talk about a mole.your the mole.
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:02 am 57. Sally:The mole is whoever came up with the idea that Obama should go to Berlin and give a speech to 200,000 Germans. The entire Victory in Europe tour was the beginning of the end for Obama’s campaign.
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:03 am 58. Andy Freeman:Let’s rewind to 2000. According to http://www.forbes.com/asap/2000/0529/053_print.html , “McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. “She’s a whiz on the keyboard, and I’m so laborious,” McCain admits.”
In other words, McCain does use e-mail but he has problems typing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/12/yes-mccain-can-use-electr_n_126130.html shows him thumbing various mobile devices and says that he uses them for e-mail, surfing, and watching videos.
Other articles have McCain reading blogs.
In other words, Obama’s actual charges are false.
I suppose that McCain hasn’t built a web site and probably doesn’t know the difference between Python and Django. Does Obama and is it relevant?
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:05 am 59. Slower Lower:“Hey! The rapid response team from Camp Obama! Good work! And…um…wrong. They broke his finger in torture sessions. They also knocked his teeth out. Gonna mock that too?”
They already did.
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:14 am 60. cimdave:Obama’s gloves
http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/files/2008/09/24847_rld.jpg
Palin’s gloves
http://images.lowes.com/product/053300/053300051821.jpg
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:21 am 61. J Verner:This “talking points memo” VIA Instapundit was copied from JOM blog comments. Please tell me that this is some kind of sick joke, because if this is really their gameplan for victory in November, we’re going to see a blowout bigger than Nixon/McGovern:
From Undercover Black Man Via Instapundit:
Karl Rove used to say: “You don’t attack an opponent’s weakness. You attack his strength. That’s how you win.” And McCain’s strength has always been his POW status… his tragic, heroic personal story. How could one possibly turn that strength against the man?
Well, one could lie and say that McCain collaborated with his Communist captors and sold his country out… as the Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain are doing.
Or one could gin up a whispering campaign about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or other lingering psychological effects of 5½ years of torture. But there’s no evidence that McCain is mentally ill.
Or one can stick with the facts as they are known: John McCain is physically disabled. He cannot comb his own hair.
To have McCain’s own supporters reminding everybody about this… well, that’s Karl Rove good. That’s Lee-Atwater-with-a-black-rapist- on-parole good.
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:29 am 62. chicago:does anyone really think that Obama has the intelligence to be president. all of these instances of lack of judgment, all the blunders, and the reactionary decisions.
there is no way in hell that someone like Obama should have the nuclear football. Obama does not have the judgment to lead this country at all.
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:33 am 63. Lord Haw Haw:Obama said he wouldn’t be on the season opener of SNL tonight if Houston got flooded by Hisacane Ike. Since Tina Fey (”bitches (like HRC)get things done!”) will open as Gov. Palin, let’s see if B.O. can resist breaking his word. The studio audience and viewers may find it funny, but it will be turned against him.
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:43 am 64. Neocon Hippie:Small correction: It’s Jake, not Jack Tapper.
Also, in the sentence “The knuckles got barked that time” I assume you mean “The knuckles got bared.”
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:49 am 65. Fausta’s Blog » Blog Archive » McCain can’t send an e-mail. Obama can’t google.:[...] UPDATE Roger’s asking, Who is the mole in the Obama campaign? [...]
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:54 am 66. hvs:We’re supposed to be worried that McCain isn’t tech savvy? Has anyone asked if Obama can fly an attack jet aircraft and land it on an aircraft carrier?
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:55 am 67. Yehudit:The CSS looks fine to me but I’m on Safari.
Sep 13, 2008 - 11:00 am 68. Hewett: An Army of Sarahs (10) | Jack’s Newswatch:[...] Update: “Heh”… [...]
Sep 13, 2008 - 11:06 am 69. srlucado:The mole on Obama’s staff is Obama.
He just doesn’t know it.
It’s becoming pretty obvious to the rest of us, though.
Scott
Sep 13, 2008 - 11:48 am 70. KarlE2:Oh, there is a mole alright. It is just to the right of his nose.
Ditto on Safari- the page looks fine.
Sep 13, 2008 - 11:52 am 71. Mwalimu Daudi:There is no mole. The Messiah and His followers in the MSM are born idiots.
After all - one mole can only damage what he or she can control. But one mole (or even dozens of them) cannot make the entire Obamanation endorse the idea of attacking an infant with Down Syndrome and a pregnant teenager. Or mocking McCain’s war injuries. Or comparing Governor Palin to a pig. Or smearing small-town citizens as embittered G*d-and-guns-clinging morons unable to follow their own best interests. Or trashing His own white grandmother. Or shrieking “Racism!” at the slightest criticism. Or threatening to bomb Pakistan for no apparent reason. Or stick to the idea that retreat and defeat in Iraq is the preferable strategy. Or obsessing over the price of arugula.
Sep 13, 2008 - 11:54 am 72. Gary Ogletree:David Axelrod is asking, “Who’s that little girl with the saxophone?” “Oh, that’s Lisa, she came over from the Hillary campaign.” “I thought I heard her chanting Sar-rah, Sar-rah, very softly.” “Oh, no, she has some great ideas, really making a contribution…”
Sep 13, 2008 - 12:07 pm 73. Sandra M:Terrific article, Mr. Kimball.
HOWEVER, the editor should have provided Obama’s equivalent Dukakis in a tank visual.
. Yesterday, I heard of an email whizzing around the web which showed Sarah leaning on a motorcyle vs. Obama riding his bike and wearing a helmet. He looked so frail, so “Urkle-ish” the geeky, big eared, nerd in a show I never watched but whose fame made his likeness difficult to avoid.
I googled Obama bicycle on Google Images and found it, but later that day there were the two on National Review Online. Aaaaaahhh! Made my day.
Sep 13, 2008 - 12:08 pm 74. Mickey:There is no mole in the Obama campaign out to sabotage “citizen of the world”. What has happened is he and his vile thugs, goons and other “useful idiots” have been exposed for what they are. We’ve seen this middle-aged, man-child use the tactics of a Stalin or Mussonlini in his bid for power.
We are seeing the moveon (we own the Democrat Party) puppets in the Democrat “leadership” taking their marching orders in a deliberate conspiracy. Their mission was to do everything possible to destroy the economy for the sake of power in the next election.
Some of us know who passes spending bills designed to throw the country into a depression and regulations that send corporations over seas!
Some of us know that when you tax small business out of business the jobs go with them. Some of us are faced with real choices and Socialism is not our choice.
Some of us are still wondering why a man that can NOT pass a security clearance would have made it into a presidential race in the first place.
A “mole”? No, it is the empty candidate, a fraud that gave a speech, after the teleprompter goes dead you have a pathetic, immature, inexperienced and as Bill Clinton said, the instincts of a street thug. As Biden said, the presidency doesn’t lend itself to on the job training. And as Hillary said… he made a speech. THE END!
Sep 13, 2008 - 12:32 pm 75. homeschooldad:The (young)surgeon that saved my life said he never uses email or surfs the web. He keeps busy in the OR or teaching future surgeons. His staff takes care of emails, prints articles he needs, etc.
I’m glad he spends his time in the operating room, and not proving his tech smarts.
That’s what executives/professionals do, they make the best use of their time.
Sep 13, 2008 - 12:46 pm 76. Snobobama:Obama reminds me of a disrespectful punk.
There is no “mole” but he seems to have a P’Ditty mentality.
The left media and Obama have been exposed and it has…what is it Rev Wright would have said? Seeing Obama at “Ground Zero” made me think of the Rev Wright Bill Ayers. Sorry, but you can NOT overcome this one.
Then we have Obama and hispunks insulting American women, families, children which here in this country means they have also insulted everyone!
Here are just a few other problems that stand out in my mind:
Women - both working, career mom and stay at home mothers
Women - married and unmarried with children
Women being called “trailer trash” and hooker-hoops.
Families with special needs children
Small towns were attached
People that turn to God were insulted
Hunters were insulted
People having a gun to protect themselves and family were attacked
Religious people were insulted
Non Ivy League Colleges were insulted
Hell, even Hillary Clinton was attacked and she’s one of their own! Bill Clinton accused of being a racist.
The idiot Congressional “leadership” made a huge mistake, shared by Obama, that prevented us from drilling for oil, build refineries, and as a result people are losing jobs and homes. He has been part of huge spending bills that have hurt the country.
To top things off, he was stupid enough to bring up experience and could only come up with “community organizer” which is a paid agitator. His lack of experience forced him to bring Biden. Now there’s a guy that nobody voted for when he ran for president and every stand he has taken was wrong! And of course, even Joe Biden says Obama should have chosen Hillary - you can’t make this stuff up!
At this rate, Obama will have no one left to lie to or support this pathetic “chosen one”, “we are the one we have been waiting for” fool.
Sep 13, 2008 - 12:46 pm 77. Sandra M:To: Terry:
I hope the media buyers from the McCain campaign read what you wrote and target specific local Florida markets. You’re right that Biden’s “stand up” to a paraplegic and Obama’s “McCain is old and doesn’t know how to email” ad won’t play well with those voters.
To: RJ:
The “oceans receding” and “a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany” all speak to something only HUMAN EVENTS has so far written about. Obama claims to be a Christian — just like most Americans. He is in fact a member of Oprah’s New Age Cult run by Eckhart Tolle. . There is video of Oprah referring to Obama as THE ONE. Obama gets put down at home by his wife and daughters if you saw that interview: “Daddy doesn’t know how to do anything but talk. Daddy snores and “is smelly in the morning.” and doesn’t pick up his socks and put away the butter. Whaaaaa. Whaaaaa.
I read about the Annenberg challenge, and the boarded-up housing projects he and Tony Rezko worked on (We need visuals targeted to the Black community and info on how Obama blew 49 million meant to help disadvantaged kids). That will keep Black voters home on election day.
I haven’t seen any blogging on the 2006 campaign in Kenya, where Obama campaigned for his half-brother Abongo and cousin Raila Odinga. Photos on Google. Odinga lost even though he’d been well-funded by the 15% Muslim community because he promised to institute Sharia Law. Odinga then rounded up 50 Black Christians in a Pentecostal church and burned them alive. Odinga perpetrated mass violence until apparently Obama started calling him during the New Hampshire campaign and told him to cool it. He could hurt Obama’s election chances. Then, Obama called Condaleeza Rice who forced the pro-American Kenyan government to “power-share” with this thug. Odinga, educated in East Germany, is now Prime Minister. And another pro-American African government will soon hit the dust.
Sep 13, 2008 - 12:50 pm 78. Blackdog:We’ve really been “Porked” with this guy.
Barack, step down and just go way! Even your supporters just want you to shut the hell up! Really, please, go on vacation or something.
Today’s statement was crazy! Who is doing Obama’s script? SHUT UP!
Sep 13, 2008 - 12:55 pm 79. Blackdog:Kelly:
Steven Hawking has been completely immobilized for most of his life.
Sep 13, 2008 - 1:03 pm 80. Joe:Yet he can use a computer.
_____________________
Dr. Hawking communicates with the aid of a speech synthesizer! This has nothing to do with using a keyboard.
Why would any politician use email? Haven’t we already learned that it’s desirable to avoid a paper trail, even for stuff completely above board?
That aside, to paraphase; never attribute to conspiracy that which can be explained by stupidity or utter incompetence (or, in this case, Obama.)
Sep 13, 2008 - 1:13 pm 81. Eileen:Beautiful article!!
Sep 13, 2008 - 1:15 pm 82. Berry:McCain is like my father-in-law who lost his leg in WWII but never let it stop him, he was a dock-builder and never let the fact that he had a wooden leg stop him from doing anything, and he didn’t talk about his war injuries, and he didn’t consider himself handicapped!
Go McCain/Palin! Obama is paving your way to the Whitehouse for you!
Obama: I’ll ‘respond with the truth’
I’ll point at the cripple and laugh at him. Yea, cause he can’t use a computer keyboard and has to have his wife type for him. HAHAha…
Ya’know the dude can’t even tie his own shoes or raise his arms high enough to comb his own hair. McCain is so OLD! HAHahaha…
Sep 13, 2008 - 1:30 pm 83. Real Woman:Obama might want to keep the gloves on so he doesn’t leave his DNA. Is this guy for real?
I see this whole thing as a distraction not to vet Mr. Obama. This guy has had 19 months of the media using his in memoirs rather than investigating his roots.
Just a little strange that the vultures went after Palin with the professionalism of a mugger. It’s been two weeks and we know more about the next VP than we ever knew about Obama.
How funny that after all the attacks it turns out that we like and respect the Governor. Some of us, me for example, grew up a Democrat. As Zell Miller said, I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.
I am a woman and I feel the exact same way. The new party isn’t my party and never will be again. I now consider myself an Independent that will vote for Sarah Palin because I would trust her with my children and country…I can NOT same the same about Obama and the Progressive/Socialist Party.
Then I read the statements from NOW or as it has become NOSW (National Organization for SOME WOMEN) as they not only supported attacks on women with children but joined the attack. This awoke a sleeping lion that until two weeks ago would not have roared at the abuse aimed at a woman.
Isn’t it odd that it took vile attacks on a woman to see what has happened to our politics, media and simple civility.
Barack: You take of your gloves and we’ll do the same.
Sep 13, 2008 - 1:44 pm 84. Locomotive Breath:I wonder if Ronald Reagan knew how to type a letter in triplicate? Which is a roughly equivalent skill.
Sep 13, 2008 - 1:50 pm 85. John D. Weems:McCain unable to use the internet? Oh, what will we do? By the way, I suspect Mr. “O” is unable to fly or even identify military aircraft, shoot a rifle, fire an air-to-air missle or relate to anything military and I believe national defense might be one of the more defining issues of our time!
Sep 13, 2008 - 2:33 pm 86. brucepall:Leadership by E-mail? It’s like a bad joke.
Sep 13, 2008 - 3:06 pm 87. MaudAm:Brucepall USMC Ret
Rather a president that can fly a fighter than one who can type!
Sep 13, 2008 - 3:15 pm 88. Do McC's war injuries prevent him from using a computer? (Scripting News):[...] the idiot right-wing bloggers have a new paranoid theory to cling to — maybe McCain can’t use a computer because of his war injuries. I have a different [...]
Sep 13, 2008 - 3:38 pm 89. Lili von Shtupp:Let’s see. Obama was a community organizer and can send an email. Great! He’ll make a wonderful secretary!
Unfortunately for us, he wants to be president. I think I’ll pass.
Sep 13, 2008 - 4:07 pm 90. hildegarde:Palin is the example of all the great women in my family. She holds the strong important views of God, country,and family that I was taught by generations of women. She espouses so much that is great in the USA. She brings renewed hope that our country can get back to its values and love of freedom that has always kept us strong and willing to fight for all things right.
Sep 13, 2008 - 4:13 pm 91. JeffreyW:I think the mole is that jocose, bald, chubby new guy. Kurt Grove
Sep 13, 2008 - 4:13 pm 92. chomp:That Obama “geezer ad” is so awful that McCain should start paying to play it in Florida.
Sep 13, 2008 - 6:01 pm 93. Yanni.Znaio:“I am John McCain, and Barack Obama approves this message”
Locomotive Breath:
I wonder if Ronald Reagan knew how to type a letter in triplicate? Which is a roughly equivalent skill.
Reagan wrote on legal pads– constantly.
Look up this book:
Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America
Between the time he was governor of California and he ran for President, he did five-minute syndicated radio addresses sponsored by GE.
Each brodcast took about two sides of a legal sheet. Reagan gave them to the secretaries to type up, and instructed them to destroy the originals. They wisely disregarded his instructions.
The authors of this book were researching in the Reagan Library and came across these original legal sheets. They are most fascinating because they reprinted them showing additions and deletions, which gives even more insights into RR’s thought processes. These addresses covered just about every domestic and foreign policy position RR took during his Presidency.
Sep 13, 2008 - 6:04 pm 94. Russ:AND LET US NOT FORGET:
When questioned about his lack of executive experience to be POTUS, Obama’s new standard response is to point to his skilled management of an 18-month-old campaign for President.
Like my buddy says, the only thing Obama (and Biden) has ever run is his mouth - and that’s nothing to be proud of.
The All Talk, No Class, Duo.
Sep 13, 2008 - 6:31 pm 95. Lorelei:I’ve wondered about moles in the ‘ground game.’ No, seriously. I’d be putting moles in there if it were me, and I’m not nearly as devious as Rove.
Sep 13, 2008 - 7:54 pm 96. Tom:The left is at it again. This time instead of the stupid internet issue they want to attack John McCains ability to govern this great country. The beleaguered Sarah Palins is given no relief with nearly constant criticism of her views on birth control. Specifically they rudely claim:
McCain: “McCain is showing signs of senility.” They justify this absurd claim by pointing to his age, health and the stretching of his message way too early in the campaign.
Palin: “She wants to tell you how to run your family.” They claim that abortion isn’t even the issue, rather that birth control products will no longer be covered by insurance in the McCain/Palin administration. McCain did the right thing when he voted against requiring insurance companies to cover birth control products if they covered Viagra or a similar products.
Do they have no shame?
Sep 13, 2008 - 8:32 pm 97. blogger » Blog Archive » Do McC’s war injuries prevent him from using a computer?:[...] the idiot right-wing bloggers have a new paranoid theory to cling to — maybe McCain can’t use a computer because of his war injuries. I have a [...]
Sep 14, 2008 - 7:51 am 98. Judy B:Mr. Obama appears to be a one trick pony and I have a couple of observations that bring me to that conclusion. My reservations about Mr Obama started at his senate race in Illinois. I watched a rather unremarkable candidate eliminate his opponent by exposing legally unavailable divorce papers embarrassing Mr Ryan enough that he pulled out of the race. That was telling. Instead of competing he took him out. Kind of like Tanya Harding breaking Nancy Carrigan’s knees. You’ve got to love those Chicago politics.
Sep 14, 2008 - 12:13 pm 99. mac from Texas:I noticed before they muzzled Michele that she made a comment about how her husband was at home and how he left his messes for others to clean up. Hmmmmm.
As I watched his coronation and his subsequent grandiose speeches followed by his gaffes and stuttering in the smaller venues I was reminded of my teaching days and my observations of the star athlete, the all around man on campus. I noticed that many times taken out of the context of athleticism, they fell flat in the classroom.
When his ’story’ came to light, I was reminded again of another politician coming from abandonment and a dysfunctional family. That kind of upbringing has a way of showing itself in people as adults. With that ‘other guy’ it showed up w/ the entire nation knowing about his sexual preferences w/ 21 year old girls and convincing a good part of the population that it was ok.
Mr. Obama is all about convincing us that he is more than he really is. He really has no accomplishments in anything in his thin resume. What were he results of his organizing in the community? How did he stand out while ‘teaching’ that course in law? What bills and/or laws did he work for and sponsor while in the Illinois state government? As far as we know all he did was vote present. The Emperor has no clothes. He was noticed and picked and pushed forward for some skills but he really does not possess any statesmanship. He won’t have a teleprompter and adoring crowds were he to meet w/ heads of state in not so friendly foreign countries. What then?
Now wait! In this article it tells me that John McCain can’t type due to his war injury and then in one of the responses, he is quoted as saying he is learning and I know I have seen him using a cell phone. So he can punch in phone numbers but not letters on a keyboard. Also, there are many pictures of him with one arm raised far above his head. I think it would be nice to concentrate on issues for a change. I’m probably not going to vote for someone because she can shoot a gun or because of slip of the tongue. Many people will base a vote on it, but they are really stupid to do so.
Sep 14, 2008 - 3:38 pm 100. Nine-of-Diamonds:“How did he stand out while ‘teaching’ that course in law?”
He did not stand out - in fact, his students recall that he obsessed over race, class, and gender issues while offering less of an emphasis on more important aspects of Constitutional Law. This, coupled with his lack of legal scholarship, indicates that despite substantial “innate intelligence” O is probably no more familiar with the law than many law students. He’s made horrific gaffes on the campaign trail about the Nuremberg tribunals and the role of the executive branch. (Of course, his supporters used mental gymnastics after the fact to make it seem like he knew what he was talking about).
Sep 20, 2008 - 8:26 am