Obama-Biden Had Better Wake Up and Get Out the Heavy Artillery

Perhaps there is a grand strategy on the part of the Obama-Biden management team to tell the truth about Sarah Palin. If there is I hope it works because the present efforts to expose McCain and Sarah Palin are not working.

The simple fact that Palin has a unfavorable rating of 27%, Palin's Popularity Rises is clear evidence that the message is not getting through:

The first-term Alaska governor's favorability rating is also higher than the veteran Delaware senator's -- Palin's is 57 percent favorable, 27 percent unfavorable, while Biden's is 51 percent favorable, 28 percent unfavorable.

Palin's rating has improved since the Republican convention last week; it was 38 percent favorable, 21 percent unfavorable just after she was introduced.

We can take comfort that in the past week her unfavorable rating climber from 21% to 27%, but face it - among mere mortals any politician who smiles at the camera is destined for at least a  35% unfavorable rating.

Palin is vehemently anti-choice. She is tied into the good-old-boy pork barrel lottery.  Look at her support for the Bridge-To-Nowhere, which she only opposed when she realized it was dead on arrival and made her look foolish. That combined with her ongoing support of policies that have brought economic ruin to millions of families ought to push her into the negative 40 range.

Meantime Obama-Biden plug along with two accurate but milquetoast ads noting the link between McCain and George W. Bush and questioning the so-called 'maverick' status of McCain and Palin.

They need to re-work those ads Republican style. That means male voices used for horror films and female voices dripping with sarcasm. The Republicans know how to run these ads - when the viewer has digested the sixty seconds there is no question that the attacked Presidential candidate is unfit to lead.

The beauty of all this is that the Democrats, unlike the Republicans, need only tell the truth:

McCain got us into Iraq.

McCain spent us into bankruptcy, chaos and inflation.

McCain-Palin support fiscal poilices to fleece the middle class.

McCain-Palin are anti-choice.

McCain-Palin are good old boys connected as much as George Bush to oil interests.

McCain-Palin "leadership" amounts to earmarks in the billions, endless wars, and loss of liberty.

Comments

[anon]

When are you going to realize that you are out of touch with the American people? Palin is the far left worse enemy because she does represent what most women believe. The more you attack her the more her support will grow. So have it...

[John]

The blogsphere intially was thrilled with the inexperienced Palin....but she might just be a master stroke by the McCain campaign. It is getting scary out there!

If the Democrats can't win this election (an economy in shambles, two quagmires in Asia), and 8 years of assault on the constitution, then when can they win?

Obama is already out-flanked on the VP selection and doesn't seem to have any ability or will to fight. If he doesn't want to be president, why the hell did he bother running?

[marius]

"The beauty of all this is that the Democrats...need only tell the truth..."

And they damn well better start doing it soon.

[RhymesWithClergy]

I hope Joe Biden is studying tapes of the Gore-Bush debates. Judged by today's Talking Heads, one well-timed catch phrase ("fuzzy math!") trumps expertise and cogent argument any day.

Wow, Paul, you're not nervous now too, are you? This is even better than I expected. To suddenly see the left running around like a dog chasing its own tail is great fun. I'm sure Obama will find a way to handle Palin, but shouldn't the real concern be for the left and the Dems that they are having to find a way to deal with a VP NOMINEE? I find it fascinating that Obama is the one that is trying to take Palin down and has to devote a large portion of his time talking about her and not McCain, or his own message for that matter.

[Henry Dubb]

Hmm, maybe the problem is Obama - Biden.

Biden voted for the Iraq War.

Biden voted for the Bankruptcy Bill.

Obama voted for the Cheney Energy Bill.

Obama voted for the FISA Bill.

Obama and Biden voted for Patriot Act 2.

Obama wants to extent the Bush tax cuts to the rich.

[John]

Conservative David Brooks summarizes Paul's case here:

http://democurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2008/09/david-brooks-reveals-man-behind-curtain.html

Even Fox News' Chris Wallace gets McCain campaign manager Rick Davis to admit the above list of points.

http://democurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2008/09/mccain-and-bush-same-just-different.html

[Katrina]

Palin is definitely a Princess Diana. Even libral feminists like me are facinated by her and her family. Horrified and facinated at the same time. I think Obama and Biden are trying to figure out a good strategy. The more you bash her the better she looks to independents and the radical right. Leaving her alone gives her credibility and the opportunity to appear on more and more magazine covers. Canada and Spain are looking pretty good to me.

[buckyblue]

I believe we are way too passive in how we campaign. The only thing the electorate seems to hear is smear, smear, smear. we've got plenty to smear them with, lets do it. Biden shouldn't play nice at the debate. I don't think Palin will wilt anyway, but blast away. This is for the presidency for christ's sake. We have to face the facts that the republicans have just been better at campaigning and making the democrats look like wusses. When I was growing up the dems were the party of the unions and ordinary guy. We need to take that back, the fact that the republicans have been able to convince the ordinary guy to vote against his best interest in the last generation is testament to how passive the dems have become. We need to take it back.

[germantown_kid]

Please Mayor Smoglin, keep attacking Vice-President Palin. It will increase her popular vote and electoral vote numbers. Most Americans know not to trust any candidates with hair plugs. Biden believes--really believes that Enzyte makes his doo-hickey grow longer.

[Brian]

Henry Dubb is correct.

Every factor in this election favors Obama. Why isn't he up by 15?

Because the public is far to the left and he is not offering policies that represent fundamental change.

One issue is illustrative: the public favors single payer to solve the health insurance crisis. Obama doesn't support it. He's for HMOs, just like McCain.
You can go on and on down the line on issue after issue whether it be free trade, increasing the war budget, fighting the phony terror war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, nuclear power, FISA, etc. If the public doesn't see a fundamental difference then it just makes it that much easier to decide their vote based on what they elites want, personal qualities.

[Katrian]

http://faithfulprogressive.blogspot.com/2008/09/anne-kilkenny-sarah-palin-e-mail.html

Here is some heavy artillery. Enjoy

[Tim]

The problem lately is that Obama-Biden find themselves on the defensive constantly, and they put themselves there. Just today there was the controversy about Obama using the "Lipstick on a Pig" phrase to describe the McCain-Palin campaign. Immediately the McCain boys jumped on it, saying Obama was calling Sarah a pig. Obama's campaign, taking the defensive stance, denied and tried to nuance. What they should have done is said "DAMN RIGHT! She was a pig at the trough of Federal earmarks for years until it became unpopular!" Instead they crouch on the ropes with their gloves up by their ears.

A month or so ago, Obama said "I don't look like the presidents you see on the dollar bills." McCain cried "Race Card!" and Obama spent valuable airspace trying to say he wasn't referring to race, when everyone knew that was part of it. He should have said "DAMN RIGHT! This country has had problems with race and bigotry since its founding, and the McCain campaign will try to use that, they will try to use my name BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA to scare the bejesus out of you! Damn straight I'm talking about race and prejudice, and it's about time we stand up to it and say 'no more'!" But instead, Obama crouched by the ropes and let McCain pummel him.

Maybe Barack doesn't really have what it takes.