Jealousy Thy Name is McCain: The GOP and the Punditrocracy are livid over Obama turning his world tour, which was supposed to expose his bumbling inexperience as he committed an endless string of gaffes, into a victory jaunt, the images sent back to America showing a confident and relaxed Obama at home and presidential on the world stage. As anyone who has studied Ronald Reagan’s campaigns knows, the successful image is often more important than what was said in the speeches, especially to those with the TV sound muted or who only catch a part of the news, as so many Americans do. Obama, I think intentionally, wanted to show himself as ‘The President,’ getting white America comfortable with the idea of a black man as their leader, and in that he has succeeded beyond expectations. Another aspect is the palpable tinge of jealously displayed by the McCainiacs – they well know that their withered and dull candidate couldn’t attract an adoring crowd of that size overseas and it preys on them to no end. The McCain campaign was out-played and outclassed on this one, as Globetrotter Obama vanquished the amateurish McCain team in their home court.
A Campaign Metaphor? Barack Obama goes to Berlin, Germany, and is greeted by over 200,000 cheering Germans waving US flags; John McCain goes to the German Village neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, and chows down on bratwurst and cream puffs. (Did Ron Fournier of the AP pick up the tab?) Isn’t this pretty much the prevailing zeitgeist of both campaigns: Obama’s large and in charge and McCain’s left sitting there forlornly chewing on a sausage?
Speaking of the Out-of-Touch Punditrocracy: Following Obama’s spectacular Berlin appearance, many of the cable news pundits oddly obsessed, as did NBC’s Brian “Broadcast Newshawk” Williams, on Obama admitting that McCain’s ‘surge’ in Iraq had been right and Obama had been wrong. Obama wouldn’t play their game and correctly attributed the current less violent conditions in Iraq to many factors, so they pouted that he was evading the question. As Eric Alterman at Media Matters wrote the other day, “Why is the surge being reported as an undeniable success when it still has not accomplished most of the things it was promised to do and has likely accomplished nothing that will last once its unsustainable numbers are drawn down?” But that’s the kind of question that our infatuated Big Media somehow never gets around to asking McCain. Gee, it’s a good thing we have a liberal media – imagine what they would do to Obama if they were really McCain sympathizers at heart?
The Tattlesnake – Cup ‘O Joe Info, LIV Knocks, McCain Blown By Cox and More Edition
Coffee Politics, For What It’s Worth: Carl’s sister works in a Starbuck’s located near an Obama campaign office and a McCain campaign office. Every weekday morning for many months the Dems and Republicos have crowded the shop for their AM caffeine buzz and the occasional regulatory muffin. Over time, she’s gotten to know who works where and the McCainiacs are definitely in defeat mode – depressed, surly, downcast — “Limit the damage” is a phrase she hears often from the Republican camp. Meanwhile, the sunny Obamanians are upbeat, funny, and wish the election were being held tomorrow. Not surprisingly, the Dems have more women and minorities working in the office; the Republicans tend to be older white men, just like their candidate. The McCainers are also less likely to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when ordering than the Dems. If worker attitude is any gauge, Obama will win in a landslide. BTW, in case you wondered: The Republicans order lattes twice as often as the Democrats. Latte-drinking Republicans? Another GOP smear bites the dust.
– ‘Low information voters’ is the latest knobby Big Media euphemism for identifying the slack-jawed morons out there. Last month it was the ludicrous ‘lunch pail workers’ who haven’t existed for thirty years. What’s next – ‘Paleo-Americans’?
– Dumbest, But Most Truthful, Quote From a Member of the BM on McCain’s Bus: “Covering McCain is a blast. He genuinely likes reporters: He’ll joke with us about our drinking habits, playfully request our cell phones in the middle of a call and tell some unsuspecting editor or parent that the phone’s owner has just been hauled off to rehab, and engage in gleefully sarcastic banter about both our colleagues and his. The campaign’s atmosphere of hectic improvisation—its freewheeling ‘what-the-fuck-ness’—is entirely absent from the more disciplined outfits he’s run against.”
– Ana Marie Cox, “Running Wild,” Radar Magazine, July/August 2008.
Oh, wonderful, another aging frat boy who wants to be president – “Hey, your kid’s just been carted off to rehab, Mom! Haw, haw, haw!” Yeah, what a scream. Cox – ahem — used to be funny when she babbled on at Wonkette; now she’s just trivial and annoying but, then, she’s working for Time Mag these days, so she’s in appropriate company. If you want to know a good lube for an anal probe, Ana Marie’s your go-to gal – come to think of it, that’s really the role she plays covering McCain’s campaign – keeping the dildo greased for her ‘lovable’ old coot’s victims – AKA the American public.
– I’m copping this from Media Matters just because I think it’s funny, well-written, and puts the subtle yet creepy corporate media bias toward John “Flipper” McCain into proper perspective. It was written and posted to Eric Alterman’s Altercation by Robert Hawks of Carpentersville, Illinois:
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