Conservative blogger outlines GOP attack plan for Obama

Michael Roston
Published: Wednesday February 20, 2008

Barack Obama appears to be riding high after winning his ninth and tenth primary contests in a row on Tuesday night in Wisconsin and Hawaii. And while Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign may be struggling to knock the Illinois senator off stride, all indications show that Republican political strategists are gearing up for their own attacks on the candidate if he sustains his momentum.

In a blog post at the National Review Online, reporter Jim Geraghty asked the question, “Once you take away Barack Obama’s likeability… what’s left?”

Geraghty argued in the Tuesday post that Obama is highly vulnerable to a set of criticisms that can only be made by Republicans, and that once they are deployed, they will reverberate with voters around the country and end the idea that Obama is untouchable.

John McCain can point out that Obama wanted to make it a felony if your gun is stolen from your residence and used in a crime, if the government determines you did not “securely store” the weapon. Hillary Clinton can’t.

John McCain can point out how Obama opposes a ban on partial birth abortion ban, and who voted against a bill that would require medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. Hillary Clinton can’t.

John McCain can point out how Obama was the only state senator to oppose a law that prohibited early prison release for sex offenders. For some reason, Hillary Clinton hasn’t.

John McCain can point out that Barack Obama has been rated the most liberal lawmaker in the U.S. Senate by National Journal. Hillary Clinton can’t.

As Geraghty goes on to explain, “In other words, the only information most Americans have encountered regarding Obama so far has been gushing press coverage, and ineffective attacks on him from Hillary from the left. Conservatives have not, by and large, focused their ire on Obama… mostly because he ain’t her.”

Senator McCain himself seemed ready to contrast his candidacy with that of Senator Obama in his victory speech on Tuesday night after winning the Wisconsin primary.
“I’m not the youngest candidate. But I am the most experienced,” he said. “I know what our military can do, what it can do better, and what it should not do. I know how Congress works, and how to make it work for the country and not just the re-election of its members. I know how the world works.”
Republican activists also played up the experience theme.
“In November, American voters won’t have to decide between a candidate with no experience and a candidate who is untrustworthy,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan in a statement after Obama’s victory. “I am confident Americans will choose the most qualified candidate to take on the big issues our nation faces, and that candidate is not Barack Obama.”
McCain’s wife Cindy also took a shot at Obama’s wife Michelle on Tuesday, highlighting her remark that “for the first time in my adult lifetime I am really proud of my country.”
“I am proud of my country,” McCain’s wife said Tuesday in Wisconsin. “I don’t know about you? If you heard those words earlier, I am very proud of my country.”

IN OTHER WORDS:

-McCain and the Republicans will have a much more difficult time competing on the field of “experience” with Hillary – which is one reason they’re desperate to get Barack the nomination.
-Imagine the power of a campaign built on the notion that a black man wants to take your guns away. The NRA probably already has their TV and radio commercials in the can.
-The early release of sex offenders issue is probably an interpretation of a procedural vote – but it won’t matter to the hysterical paranoid voters out there. And tying anything to sexuality where a black man is involved is pure dyn-o-mite. Remember how McCain lost the 2000 nomination largely because Karl Rove planted the meme he’d fathered a black child? I rest my case.

The RNC already has their script ready: voters get to choose between an inexperienced candidate or one who is not trustworthy. Hillary can stand on the trust ground and beat the shit out of the Republicans. Barack, on the other hand, cannot change the fact that he has no relevant experience. That’s why the Republicans so desperately want Obama to be nominated.

And check out Mrs. McCain – already strapping on her Gladiator Girl armor to go up against Michelle. Imagine how different that would play if it were Bill Clinton she had to try to tackle. No contest there. Most women don’t like women like Cindy McCain – or Michelle Obama for that matter. Too hard. Too brittle. Too much anger seething under that tempered smile and direct gaze. Bill Clinton has been losing his temper a bit, but NEVER with the voters, only with the press. He’s still one of the most erudite and charming humans on the planet and if Hillary gets the nomination, he’ll shine again on the campaign trail.

But, woe is me. The stupid, stupid Democrats are going to blow the whole deal if they don’t get a grip. I wish I were a religious person so I could pray like hell that the Super Delegates will shut the f*** up and keep their powder dry for the convention. The idiots are going to destroy their own party if they don’t SHUT UP. It’s only February for pity’s sake – why are they jumping on board this far in advance of a nomination? That just means that when the media gets around to ‘Deaning’ Obama, they’ll have to play defense or turn the ENTIRE PARTY into Kerry-ist “flip-floppers.” Can’t you just hear it? “They were for Obama before they were against him, tee hee.”

The Republicans are playing the Dems like a cheap fiddle. Obama will be subjected to the tactics used on all three of our last nominees: he’ll be portrayed as a bigger liar than Gore, crazier than Dean, and weaker than Kerry. Clinton would be immune to these challenges because they’re OLD NEWS.

As far as I can tell, the Obama fans only have one primary objection to Clinton and that is that 40-some percent of voters – many of them Democrats – have publicly vowed to never vote for her under any circumstances. And yet, from what I’ve read, 60 – 70% of the American electorate has consistently stated for more than a year that they will vote for the Democrat for president, no matter what. But we are supposed to believe that really means ‘no matter what except for Clinton.’ I’m not buying that.

I have a headache.