Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[ice grillin you]

in fact ill take it one step further and ask where is the evidence mccain can run ANYTHING

[rjs246]

Up until this point Demon had been making very reasonable statements about why he would vote for McCain. The latest post, I'm afraid, has brought that to a screeching halt. In the face of everything that's happening all he says is "Well, I think Obama would be worse."

If you're going to vote Republican no matter what, just say so and be done with it.

[ice grillin you]

seriously

and theres nothing even wrong with that.....i can say theres certain issues that i believe in that make me easily admit that i would never ever vote republican

[rjs246]

Of course there's nothing wrong with being a republican or voting republican. There is something wrong with not being able to defend his position, especially since he had done an excellent job of it to this point.

[Seabiscuit36]

the whole Teleprompter thing bags me up, yeah he excels at it where as bush and Mccain suck?  Top of his class at Harvard to bottom of his class at the Naval Academy

[rjs246]

Exactly. Not only, is Obama good on the teleprompter, while McCain and Bush are late-night-talk-show-jokes awful, but he is exceptionally intelligent. A trait that neither Bush nor McCain have displayed with any regularity. McCain clearly has more going on upstairs than Bush, but to let his campaign be run like this (lies, Palin, suspending the campaign, reversing field on economic regulation, Palin) means that he isn't smart enough to know that a little dignity would serve him better than whatever it is that he's doing right now.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be $50 richer come November 5.

[rjs246]

By the way, I'm not picking on Demon. At some point I'd like to share 12 beers in real life with the dude, his post just reminds me of all the people I know who fall in line to vote for 'their' party and really don't have any idea why.

I feel that if you can't justify voting FOR someone, but rather feel the need to vote AGAINST someone, then you probably shouldn't vote or should find an independent candidate to support. This was exactly my dilemma in '04 and I didn't vote because of it.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I feel I can't bitch and moan about the system and then not vote.

[rjs246]

I wasn't bitching about the system then. In fact, I wasn't paying much attention outside of absentmindedly hoping that Bush would get blown out of the water. But more importantly, if you aren't being represented by the system why would you vote? Was I going to get an absentee Virginia ballot and cast a vote for Ron Paul? The dude is crazy and at the time I wouldn't have bothered. Now I would consider (and am considering) voting for a third party, but I think not voting can be just as important as voting if you truly believe than the candidates don't represent you enough to warrant your support.

[Diomedes]

If you're going to vote Republican no matter what, just say so and be done with it.

This sounds familiar.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Right, well we all know you're in the tank for McCain, Mr. registered Republican.

[Diomedes]

I get a lot of smiles from the disgust my old lady has for me on that point. 

"My Republican husband," she calls me with horror. 

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I'll vote for Obama if you vote for McCain.

[Cerevant]

Public speaking is relevant to leadership, but is not key.  And it is not why Obama was successful in the primaries, and it is not why he is successful now.

Obama Listens.  There was a great article in Time about Obama that talked about how he surrounds himself with experts and he listens to them.  He seeks out dissenting opinions and factors them into his decision making process.  But make no mistake - he is in charge of his campaign.

Obama Organizes.  There is one and only one reason Obama beat Hillary in the primaries: Caucuses.  He organized hundreds of supporters to educate thousands on how to manage and win in a caucus.  There was a lot of discussion about how Obama's people took control of the leadership and procedural positions in the caucus process, which effectively controlled the discussion and ultimately the outcome of those caucuses.

Further, he learned the lessons of the Howard Dean campaign and built a record-breaking fund raising machine.  It is much easier to accomplish what you set out to do if you have the cash to do it.

Obama takes the time to understand the rules of the game.  See: caucuses, fundraising.  He makes decisions which are sometimes against conventional wisdom when they fit into his overalll strategy.

Obama gets foreign policy.  How many times has he been derided for his foreign policy statements, then BushCo ends up doing exactly what he said they should do?

I think we can learn a lot about these candidates from how they have run their campaigns.  During the course of this campaign, McCain has completely abandoned his brand - from straight talk to no talk.  He is being told what to say instead of coming up with his own message - and it shows in his constant stream of conflicting and confusing statements.  He's been bullied by his party instead of taking charge of it.

As much respect as I have for Al Gore, this is exactly what happened during his campaign.  And it is the reason he lost - and the reason why he deserved to lose.  Future political campaigns will dissect and analyze what ads/statements/debate talking points "worked" and what didn't, so it can be repeated in future campaigns.  What they are missing is how dependent these tactics are on the leadership behind them.