On a few occasions over the past couple of weeks, I have mentioned an initiative with respect to going on the attack against John McCain. With that, I have created a Google Group called "Know Your McCain" and we are looking to gather information (old and new), create viral videos, write blog posts and use social networking to spread the message about how dangerous John McCain is.
You can look for diaries with the tag "Know Your McCain", and some diaries will have the "Know Your McCain" in the title as well. If you are interested in joining the Google Group or helping out with the Facebook group, please send me an email (address is in my profile).
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It is one thing to be passing around information in the progressive blogosphere about McCain (both past and present), as well as using Digg to rate up posts – both of which are excellent. However, in order to really move beyond this echo chamber and reach more people, we should be thinking of how to reach others.
"Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people "cling" to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans?"
Um... yes, please.
You giant bluffer.
What do you have in a "yes" this fall?
May I have a large order of "yes" and a side of fries?
Brian, you pose an excellent question. It's on-point. And the answer is:
Months ago I saw a former member of some boy band on the Jimmy Kimmel show. He told a story about how he had a back and forth on-stage rivalry with one of the other band members.
Most nights they would trade insults but at one show he decided not to fight back. The other guy kept throwing out more outrageous and wild insults trying to get a response. Pretty soon the audience started booing the guy throwing unprovoked insults.
That sounds a lot like Obama's strategy for dealing with ugly attacks. When Alan Keys and Hillary Clinton started going negative it ended up hurting them far more than it hurt Obama because he refuses to act in the same ugly manner.
The media are being so unfair to John McCain. I mean if I owned seven or 12 homes, I would have a hard time keeping track of them. For example, I don't know how many pencils I own. Or toothbrushes. I must have some lying around in a suitcase. Do you know how many computer accounts you own?
I assume once you get to the $100M level, homes kind of become like that. You buy one here sell one there, walk away from one when you get tired of it. Why don't the media ask McCain something he can keep track of. Like how many jets he owns. At his level of affluence, he can be expected to keep track of that. How many Ferragamo shoes does he own? No, that would be nitpicking. How many sets of golf clubs? Come on, be reasonable.
How many croquet mallets does he own? Racing stallions? Are pets disposable too? How many dogs does he own?
And while we are it, let us ask Cindy McCain how many sisters she has. You can understand misplacing a condo or two but perhaps even rich folk would know how many siblings they have. I would think.
WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission has freed Republican presidential candidate John McCain from a public matching fund program that would have limited his spending in the primaries.
Recruits are still needed for next week's blogathon on Katrina, Rita, New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi, and other areas devastated by these storms--which impacted an area nearly as large as the state of Minnesota.
We must never forget, nor must we allow others to forget, what happened in 2005--and how New Orleans has been neglected and her people given the shaft since then.
I outlined some of my criticism of the Obama press strategy yesterday, and with McCain making a huge blunder, the Obama camp senses a huge opening. And like a lion catching a zebra, it looks like Obama is poised to go for the jugular.
But then there was another interview – this is yesterday, same day – where somebody asked John McCain, how many houses do you have? And he said, I'm not sure. I'll have to check with my staff. [Audience laughs.]
True quote. I'm not sure. I'll have to check with my staff. So they asked his staff, and he said, at least four. At least four. Now, think about that.
And by the way, the answer is John McCain has seven homes.
As we all know by now, McCain's really stepped in it with this nonsense about not knowing how many houses he has.
I mean, he might really not know, but what he was hoping to do with his non-answer was obfuscate the reality that he's kept and pampered by simply refusing to be the first one to put a number on it.
But could his flippancy be indicative of more than just not wanting to admit he collects houses like crazy old ladies collect stray cats? Isn't it really a sign that a McCain administration would bring us another four years of "I don't recall" governance? I mean, I know the play worked for Reagan, Bush I, and the Pretzeldent too. But haven't we had about enough of Republican "leaders" who can never recall a damn thing about anything they do? Puh-lease.
Anyway, in addition to laughing your ass off at how ridiculous McCain is, you should also take a moment to thank Brave New Films for sparking this latest round of questions for Mr. Furious. They did a lot of legwork and research that they put into a video about some of the vast real estate holdings McCain just can't seem to remember, and it's looking like that was what set off the questions that led McCain to stuff his $500 loafers in his mouth:
The McCain camp's response has been equally predictable: Obama's not exactly destitute himself. And that's true. But not being able to answer the question "how many houses do you own?" without having staff look it up is not in the same league as having made some money. Let's fact it, it's not in the same league as 99.9% of the planet. And this from the guy who just suggested that it took $5 million a year to be considered "rich," and had an auditorium full of his would-be evangelical base literally laugh in his face for it.
Good to see it's finally getting some attention, because it didn't when the same subject came up four months ago. And doubly delicious that it really got legs when McCain phumphered his way through a non-answer on a question that reg'lar Amur-kins have sooooo much trouble with themselves, "How many houses ya got?"
I think America deserves an answer, to borrow a phrase too often annoyingly parroted by the other side any time they can gin up something as dumb as what a candidate drinks at breakfast. Only this time, we really do deserve an answer. We have disclosure laws for candidates in this country for a reason. And given that the best his staff could come up with was, "at least four," I think it's fairly clear they don't want to give us that answer. It ought to be an question he's asked everywhere he goes, and frankly, I don't know why anyone would want to hear anything else from him until he answers it straight up. People ought to remind him of the fact that if he's hemming and hawing on a pretty damned basic question, they're never going to be able to believe him on anything else.
So why not remind him that it's time to answer the question whenever and wherever you see him? Maybe just with something as simple as what another blogger well known to you all once suggested: holding up your own house keys and jangling them at him next time he shows his face in public?
I think the message is abundantly clear -- the campaign wants us to hammer McCain on his ultra-rich life style. Why not do so through the magic of viral email fun? If it's true stuff and sourced, it's another way to spread the truth about McCain. And I think the most important narrative that could best fit this genre would be the multiple data points that add up to one fab-U-lous life for the McCains.
So, here are the three easy steps for joining the email wars!
I don't know if this qualifies as substantive enough to diary about, but I just thought I'd share some anti-Obama sentiments I've been hearing from some very nice women. I frequent a forum on a website for women who are trying to conceive. I'd noticed over the last couple of months that these are some of the most caring and compassionate women you could hope to come across. Everyone is always there for each other with supportive comments, helpful tips and real empathy for the pain of infertility and loss. You get a real sense of sisterhood and community with these women.
I got inspiration from one of the comment that I found on politicalwire about super rich confused McCain not remembering how many houses he owns. I modified it to this new version of "There are some things that money can't buy" ad.
$100 for a makeover to look young
$520 for black leather Ferragamo Italian shoes
$28,500 in campaign donations from Hess Oil executives after changing mind to allow oil drilling
$50,000 for speechwriter who can attack 'hope'
$58,000 per year of taxpayers money in disability payments
Now that the presidential debates have been finalized, it might be worthwhile to remind the moderators (Lehrer, Brokaw, Schieffer) that they need to do a little bit more than toss up conservative softballs like Rick Warren. (Indeed, thinking back on the Faith Forum, Warren looked a whole lot more like an overweight softball pitcher, beer in hand, gently leaning forward to underhand those babies McCain's way, than he did like a serious interviewer.)
I thought it might be useful to look back at Tim Russert's series of one-on-one interviews conducted with the candidates in the pre-primary season.
What will you drink to toast the end of the Bush era? Will it be something to honor the 43rd President, or are you just looking forward to 44? Will it be something from Texas, which Bush calls home, or Connecticut, where he was really raised? Maybe a nice French champagne, a bit of a poke in his eye? Or do you prefer Italian prosecco, since they supported the "War on Terror"? Whatever it is, get ready to lift a glass and toast the end of an era that America will never forget.
This diary is brought to you by my own site, 2 Bottles per Day, and Wine Blogging Wednesday, a cooperative venture of the wine blogging community. Wine bloggers, meet political bloggers. Political bloggers, meet the wine people. And please come back to see the results of the first WBW Special Release, when the world's wine bloggers review their choice for January 20, 2009.
Wine Bloggers around the country and around the world will post their choices on Wednesday, September 3, during the Republican National Convention. I will post a compendium of them here, but hope you will visit all the sites to see what everybody was drinking.
Confronted with his own ridiculous statement about not knowing how many houses he owns, John McCain resorted today to what every pampered elitist Republican does when faced with his own Washington, D.C. arrogance: he whined a lot, and tried to blame his opponent.
Republicans never take personal responsibility, after all. Not McCain's hero, George W. Bush, and certainly not McCain himself.
As I said in comments elsewhere about Duh-I-Forget-How-Many-Houses-I-Own-Gate, the Obama ad puts McCain in a real spot. Either:
1) He's too goddamned old, forgetful and / or stupid to be President.
OR
2) He's an pampered, out-of-touch elitist ass who's lying in order to avoid looking like an pampered, out-of-touch elitist ass.
But it has to be at least one of the above. Perhaps some combination.
"Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people "cling" to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans?
"The reality is that Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes and opposition to producing more energy here at home as gas prices skyrocket show he’s completely out of touch with the concerns of average Americans." --McCain spokesman Brian Rogers
Hmm. $4 million? John McCain said just the other day that's not "rich." So yeah, let's have that debate.
Question one: How many damn houses do you have, Grumpy?
