McCain’s "Fiercer Strategy" (Saturday, October 04, 2008)

DISCLAIMER: this blog is mine & mine alone. Thou shalt not blame family nor friends nor employer for what you may read here.

As I stated in my first politically-oriented rant, I'd forewarn if a blog post is potentially abrasive to some, or generally slanted one way or the other. This may be one of those, so read on if you wish.

I'd like to take an excerpt from the first part of an article on the Washington Post website. The full article is here.

Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat's judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said.

With just a month to go until Election Day, McCain's team has decided that its emphasis on the senator's biography as a war hero, experienced lawmaker and straight-talking maverick is insufficient to close a growing gap with Obama. The Arizonan's campaign is also eager to move the conversation away from the economy, an issue that strongly favors Obama and has helped him to a lead in many recent polls.

"We're going to get a little tougher," a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. "We've got to question this guy's associations. Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here," said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Being so aggressive has risks for McCain if it angers swing voters, who often say they are looking for candidates who offer a positive message about what they will do. That could be especially true this year, when frustration with Washington politics is acute and a desire for specifics on how to fix the economy and fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is strong.

Robert Gibbs, a top Obama adviser, dismissed the new McCain strategy. "This isn't 1988," he said. "I don't think the country is going to be distracted by the trivial." He added that Obama will continue to focus on the economy, saying that Americans will remain concerned about the country's economic troubles even as the Wall Street crisis eases somewhat.

Moments after the House of Representatives approved a bailout package for Wall Street on Friday afternoon, the McCain campaign released a television ad that challenges Obama's honesty and asks, "Who is Barack Obama?" The ad alleges that "Senator Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes. Ninety-four times. He's not truthful on taxes." The charge that Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes has been called misleading by independent fact-checkers, who have noted that the majority of those votes were on nonbinding budget resolutions.

A senior campaign official called the ad "just the beginning" of commercials that will "strike the new tone" in the campaign's final days. The official said the "aggressive tone" will center on the question of "whether this guy is ready to be president."

McCain's only positive commercial, called "Original Mavericks," has largely been taken off the air, according to Evan Tracey of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ads.

OK, so we've seen a shift in the tactics of the McCain campaign, and will see more if it in the days to come. It's not what I would call a positive shift. I've never been one to call names to further my cause in a verbal dispute. I've never been one to try & twist facts verifiable via an unbiased third party to my favor. I kinda see that as bullying, underhanded, and a tactic of the weak & desperate. So the fact that McCain is now resorting to what I consider juvenile, unsophisticated tactics leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

What's more, McCain is "eager to move the conversation away from the economy". There are a number of hot-button topics in the presidential campaign this year: the war in Iraq, spending & focus on renewable/alternate energy, abortion, same-sex marriage, to some degree gun control, and of course, the economy. But from where I sit, only one of these topics touches every American, every single day - the last one. I venture to guess that every American has an opinion one way or the other on each of these topics, but only one has a marked, quantifiable impact on each of us, as individuals, as families, and as a collective whole, all the time.

The state of the economy impacts our ability to borrow money as individuals, small business owners, and corporate titans. The ability (or lack thereof) to procure financing may cause some businesses to cut services, cut payrolls, and maybe buckle under & fail totally. The economy impacts the interest rates we pay on credit cards, mortgages, and car loans. The economic impact hits us when we go to the grocery store and the gas pump.

I know many people have friends or loved ones serving in Iraq. Many Americans are gun owners, and love their guns like their children, and feel an attachment to their firearms, the feeling of security they bring, or their freedom/right to own a gun. A large number of people work in the oil industry, and may very well fear for their jobs & livelihoods due to expansion into or increased researched investment & in renewable energy sources. For these people, the aforementioned issues may be just as important as the economy. But not every citizen is directly affected by these issues as we are the economic state of our union.

So, the McCain campaign wants to "change the subject", and get away from the one topic that bears weight on every single person in this country. Rich, poor (less rich than poor obviously), gay, straight, gun owner, Prius driver, CEO of Lehman Brothers or Exxon, home owner, apartment renter, proprietor of the local hardware store - we all have a stake in the state of the economy. So why does the McCain campaign want to get away from the topic? Does Johnny Boy not have a plan or framework to help get the economy back on track? Does Maverick not have a track record of voting on economic bills or supporting positive economic initiatives to be proud of, tout, or cite?

As in a football game or political campaign - or any competition really - you accentuate your strengths, and try to mask your weaknesses. The fact that McCain wants to leave this subject behind speaks volumes to me. Right now, the economy is in the most dire straits of my lifetime, and frankly is the single most important topic of debate between Obama & McCain. If McCain is trying to shift the focus away from the economy, that doesn't make a good impression on me, nor should it on other voters. What's more, McCain is now going to "take the gloves off", and start questioning Obama's experience (again), his readiness to lead? If these are the focii of the McCain campaign, and if you believe that competitors play to their strengths, then John McCain's strength is bullying, and questioning his opponent's experience & fitness to lead. And this makes McCain a more viable candidate? This begs the question: Does John McCain have nothing better to run on? Apparently not.

I'd also like to point out that the statements made by the Republican's latest ad against Obama are quite misleading. This is nothing new in political campaigns: each side probes for chinks in the other's armor, or looks for loopholes to exploit (kinda like holes in the tax code for big businesses & mega-wealthy). When an independent fact-checker calls the ball on the validity of claims made in McCain's ad, it should make you think. Trying to be objective, McCain isn't lying about Obama's voting record exactly, he's just omitting a very important fact or two. If you know me, and if you've read my past blog entries, you'll know that honesty is very important to me, and in that vein, omission of fact can be just as bad as out & out lying in my book. Subjectively, McCain is lying. I cannot fucking stand liars, and as someone that tends to resent bullies, I dislike McCain even more than I did yesterday.

As someone who enjoys a good debate, enjoys studies of strategy & tactics, I also have to question the wisdom of McCain going back on the offensive & attacking Obama's experience, and readiness to lead. Need I point out the fact that McCain is running w/Sarah Palin? Her political experience consists of being the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska for six years, and being governor of that state since 2006. If McCain keels over, she assumes the title of POTUS. During a recent interview, she had to be provided a definition of the Bush Doctrine by the interviewer. And McCain questions Obama's lack of foreign policy experience? I'm not even gonna get into this, the target is waaaay too easy, and there are too many points to make, my brain is overwhelmed w/the possibilities.

Well, my brain is drained. It was a long week at work. The declination of the bailout plan on Monday (and the subsequent 777 point drop in the stock market), the approval of the revamped bailout yesterday, and the bullshit political wrangling by McCain has resulted in total energy suckage. I can only hope that those Americans of legal voting age have registered to vote. Those that are undecided, or "swing voters", I hope you research both candidates thoroughly, and choose carefully. I hope that the Obama supporters come out en force on election day, and do what we can until then to support our candidate of choice. And I hope that we as a country don't elect John McCain, and rue the decision made on November 4 for another four years, if not longer...

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly ()

DISCLAIMER: this blog is mine & mine alone. Thou shalt not blame family nor friends nor employer for what you may read here.

The Good: steak on the grill, Stella Artois beer, and late summer Florida weather. What a great way to spend the afternoon!

The Bad: I read an article in the St. Pete Times predicting that by early '09, our nation will be saddled with a $10 trillion debt. Yes, a 10,000 billion dollar debt. We have the $500 billion loan bailout of the financial SNAFU (a conservative estimate), $600 billion for the Pentagon's budget, $650 billion appropriation for the Iraq war, a $407 billion budget deficit when the budget year ends this month.

The Ugly: what the are people thinking when they go out in public? During my errands about town today I saw some of the most heinous attire ever: really fat dudes in stained wife-beaters, bra-less women in garish sun dresses, and the various array of t-shirt w/rebel flags, and the like. I'm not even gonna get into the mullets I spotted. Bloody hell, what happened to common sense?!

I was gonna go off on a political rant, but have lost my most valuable references. Had some great eye-opening factoids about McCain & Palin, but alas, won't go there w/out the sources to cite. I was thinking about the whole concept of blogging, and that is one of my great weaknesses (among many) - not citing sources. A good friend of mine posts a blog entry daily. He addresses interesting topics, he writes well, and he cites he sources or resources when appropriate. He includes links to websites, Wikis, articles of supporting facts, etc. whenever he can. IMO that give his posts more credibility, and makes them something more than a random spate of opinion or stream of conscience, which is where most of my blog posts lie. So I guess that should be a goal of mine - to better document my facts & cite resources. I guess I'll try to improve in that area going forward.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm tired. And life's been good enough to me lately that I don't have so much pent-up vitriol to dispose of. I'm not quite buzzed enough to go off on some wild tangent, and as it's a beautiful night here in the Tampa Bay area, I think it's best spent out on the porch w/the dogs enjoying the breeze. Take care, think critically, think for yourselves, and remember "if you can't be a good example, you'll have to serve as a horrible warning".

Lose Your House, Lose Your Vote: Michigan Republicans plan to foreclose African American voters (Friday, September 12, 2008)

From Michigan Messenger

The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP's effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.

"We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses," party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed.

State election rules allow parties to assign "election challengers" to polls to monitor the election. In addition to observing the poll workers, these volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they "have a good reason to believe" that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a "true resident of the city or township."

The Michigan Republicans' planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being "true residents."

One expert questioned the legality of the tactic.

"You can't challenge people without a factual basis for doing so," said J. Gerald Hebert, a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington D.C.-based public-interest law firm. "I don't think a foreclosure notice is sufficient basis for a challenge, because people often remain in their homes after foreclosure begins and sometimes are able to negotiate and refinance."

As for the practice of challenging the right to vote of foreclosed property owners, Hebert called it, "mean-spirited."

GOP ties to state's largest foreclosure law firm

The Macomb GOP's plans are another indication of how John McCain's campaign stands to benefit from the burgeoning number of foreclosures in the state. McCain's regional headquarters are housed in the office building of foreclosure specialists Trott & Trott. The firm's founder, David A. Trott, has raised between $100,000 and $250,000 for the Republican nominee.

The Macomb County party's plans to challenge voters who have defaulted on their house payments is likely to disproportionately affect African-Americans who are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. More than 60 percent of all sub-prime loans — the most likely kind of loan to go into default — were made to African-Americans in Michigan, according to a report issued last year by the state's Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

Challenges to would-be voters

Statewide, the Republican Party is gearing up for a comprehensive voter challenge campaign, according to Denise Graves, party chair for Republicans in Genessee County, which encompasses Flint. The party is creating a spreadsheet of election challenger volunteers and expects to coordinate a training with the regional McCain campaign, Graves said in an interview with Michigan Messenger.

Whether the Republicans will challenge voters with foreclosed homes elsewhere in the state is not known.

Kelly Harrigan, deputy director of the GOP's voter programs, confirmed that she is coordinating the group's "election integrity" program. Harrigan said the effort includes putting in place a legal team, as well as training election challengers. She said the challenges to voters were procedural rather than personal. She referred inquiries about the vote challenge program to communications director Bill Nowling who promised information but did not return calls.

Party chairman Carabelli said that the Republican Party is training election challengers to "make sure that [voters] are who they say who they are."

When asked for further details on how Republicans are compiling challenge lists, he said, "I would rather not tell you all the things we are doing."

Vote suppression: Not an isolated effort

Carabelli is not the only Republican Party official to suggest the targeting of foreclosed voters. In Ohio, Doug Preisse, director of elections in Franklin County (around the city of Columbus) and the chair of the local GOP, told The Columbus Dispatch that he has not ruled out challenging voters before the election due to foreclosure-related address issues.

Hebert, the voting-rights lawyer, sees a connection between Priesse's remarks and Carabelli's plans.

"At a minimum what you are seeing is a fairly comprehensive effort by the Republican Party, a systematic broad-based effort to put up obstacles for people to vote," he said. "Nobody is contending that these people are not legally registered to vote.

"When you are comprehensively challenging people to vote," Hebert went on, "your goals are two-fold: One is you are trying to knock people out from casting ballots; the other is to create a slowdown that will discourage others," who see a long line and realize they can't afford to stay and wait.

Challenging all voters registered to foreclosed homes could disrupt some polling places, especially in the Detroit metropolitan area. According to the real estate Web site RealtyTrac, one in every 176 households in Wayne County, metropolitan Detroit, received a foreclosure filing during the month of July. In Macomb County, the figure was one household in every 285, meaning that 1,834 homeowners received the bad news in just one month. The Macomb County foreclosure rate puts it in the top three percent of all U.S. counties in the number of distressed homeowners.

Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Kent and Genessee counties were — in that order — the counties with the most homeowners facing foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac. As of July, there were more than 62,000 foreclosure filings in the entire state.

Joe Rozell, director of elections for Oakland County in suburban Detroit, acknowledged that challenges such as those described by Carabelli are allowed by law but said they have the potential to create long lines and disrupt the voting process. With 890,000 potential voters closely divided between Democratic and Republican, Oakland County is a key swing county of this swing state.

According to voter challenge directives handed down by Republican Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, voter challenges need only be "based on information obtained through a reliable source or means."

"But poll workers are not allowed to ask the reason" for the challenges, Rozell said. In other words, Republican vote challengers are free to use foreclosure lists as a basis for disqualifying otherwise eligible voters.

David Lagstein, head organizer with the Michigan Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), described the plans of the Macomb GOP as "crazy."

"You would think they would think, 'This is going to look too heartless,'" said Lagstein, whose group has registered 200,000 new voters statewide this year and also runs a foreclosure avoidance program. "The Republican-led state Senate has not moved on the anti-predatory lending bill for over a year and yet [Republicans] have time to prey on those who have fallen victim to foreclosure to suppress the vote."

The only thing I can say: isn't this fucking special? I'm not surprised, but totally appalled. Whatever happened to the concept of "one man, one vote"? Black, white, rich, poor, man, woman, gay, straight - as long as you're over 18 & not a felon, you're supposed to be able to vote. Guess that tenet has gone out the window too. This is an example of the morals & integrity, the sense of fairness & equality of the party that so many want to put into power? Excuse me, I think I just threw up in my mouth...