Can McCain make Obama=Kerry?
In a memo released Friday, McCain Campaign Senior Adviser Steve Schmidt paints Barack Obama as a flip-flopper to end a week that started with the campaign using some of it’s strongest language to date to cast the Democrat as weak on terror and believer in a “September 10th mentality.”
“As we scrutinize Barack Obama’s words, it is increasingly difficult for those of us with the responsibility of following this year’s election closely to discern what Obama truly believes at his core on the issues of great importance to the American people,” Schmidt writes in the memo-as-press release sent to reporters this morning. (Full Memo after jump)
Feeling a little bit of deja vu?
Schmidt, of course, was one of the key strategists for the Bush-Cheney 2004 messaging team that successfully depicted John Kerry as a flip-flopper who put America’s security at risk. Can that strategy work again?
For his part, Obama has been making it a bit easy of late. Seeking to exploit Obama’s evolution on issues as he shifts into general election mode–when most candidates turn towards the center on issues to attract moderates and independents–the McCain campaign uses yesterday’s flip by Obama on public financing, as a jumping off point to delve into other recent Obama policy shifts on NAFTA, Jerusalem and energy.
(In all fairness, we should note that McCain is also guilty of some election year moves to the right on offshore oil drilling, immigration and the Bush tax cuts–that Democrats are attempting to use to chip away at the McCain-as-straight talking maverick image the Arizona Republican has crafted for years.)
While the McCain campaign has been hammering Obama for months on his lack of foreign policy experience–one of his greatest vulnerabilities–the flip-flop narrative is a newer phenomenon.
McCain recently got into the mix himself for the first time at a June 6 press conference when asked about Obama’s backtrack on an “undivided” Jerusalem.
“I can’t react to every comment that Senator Obama makes because it will probably change,” McCain told reporters, before also slamming his opponent for his rhetorical dance on negotiating with Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Obama is new to the national stage and has yet to firm up a narrative/image outside of “change” but will the flip-flop/words vs. actions label stick to the second straight Democratic nominee? Conversely, McCain has taken years to build up his reputation as an independent who will pave a middle path to achieve consensus, even sticking his finger in the eye of President Bush a few times, begging the question: can Democrats significantly damage his maverick label and succeed in casting him as Bush’s third term?
The campaigns will be throwing every attack they have at one another during the next couple months to see what will stick for the general election. We shall see what works.
Memo after the jump….
To: Interested Parties
From: Steve Schmidt, McCain 2008 Senior Advisor
Date: June 20, 2008
Re: Words Matter
Barack Obama’s rapid ascent to the Democratic presidential nomination is nothing short of remarkable and historic. Much of this rise can be traced to the power of Barack Obama’s spoken and written words. As Barack Obama said during the primaries, “Don’t tell me words don’t matter.”
Because of his rapid ascent and the relative lack of record from which the American people can judge, the words that Barack Obama uses deserve a level of scrutiny befitting the importance that he places on them. But when examined closely, more often than not these words are empty of any meaning in the light of his record and reality.
As we scrutinize Barack Obama’s words, it is increasingly difficult for those of us with the responsibility of following this year’s election closely to discern what Obama truly believes at his core on the issues of great importance to the American people.
Obama’s Words On Public Financing: Just yesterday, Barack Obama reversed his position on accepting general election public financing. This change in position comes after nearly two years of speaking to and signing his name to his commitment to the public financing system.
In June 2006, Barack Obama said quite clearly, “I strongly support public financing”:
OBAMA: “Well, I strongly support public financing. And I know [Senator] Dick [Durbin] does too. He’s going to have some things to say about it because when we were having - as you’ll recall - the major debates around lobbying reform, one of the things that Dick, I think, properly pointed out was that you can change the rules on lobbying here in Washington, but if we’re still getting financed primarily from individual contributions, that those with the most money are still going to have the most influence.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Constituents Breakfast, 6/29/06)
In November 2007, Barack Obama signed his name to his commitment to accept public financing as his party’s general election nominee:
QUESTION: “If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?” OBAMA: “Yes. I have been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests.” (Sen. Barack Obama, “Presidential Candidate Questionnaire,” Midwest Democracy Network, www.commoncause.org, 11/27/07)
In February 2008, Barack Obama said that he would meet and “sit down with John McCain” to discuss and negotiate public financing were he to be his party’s nominee:
NBC’S TIM RUSSERT: “So you may opt out of public financing. You may break your word.” Obama: “What I - what I have said is, at the point where I’m the nominee, at the point where it’s appropriate, I will sit down with John McCain and make sure that we have a system that works for everybody.” (Democratic Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 2/26/0 
Yet, in the end, Barack Obama’s words were empty and he decided to break his pledge to accept public financing in the general election.
Obama’s Words On Running A Different Type Of Campaign: The McCain campaign has made a good faith effort to reach out to Barack Obama offering to go Iraq together and hold 10 joint town hall meetings. These offers came after Barack Obama pledged to meet “anywhere, anytime”:
OBAMA: “I am happy to have a debate with John McCain and George Bush about foreign policy. If John McCain wants to meet me anywhere, anytime, to have a debate about our respective policies in Iraq, Iran, the Middle East or around the world, that is a conversation I am happy to have. Because I believe that there is no separation between John McCain and George Bush when it comes to our Middle East policy and I think their policy has failed.” (Barack Obama, Media Availability, Watertown, SD, 5/16/0
However, Barack Obama has rejected each and every offer to raise the dialogue in this campaign. As the St. Petersburg Times wrote today, Barack Obama’s words come down to “cynical political calculations,” not the new politics he promised:
“Avoiding town hall meetings and rejecting public campaign financing may be predictable strategies for minimizing one of McCain’s greatest strengths and exploiting one of his key weaknesses. But they pull Obama down into the cynical political calculations he pledged to rise above.” (Editorial, “Obama’s Big Words Ring Hollow,” St. Petersburg Times, 6/20/0
Obama’s Words On The 2005 Energy Bill: As part of his standard stump speech, Barack Obama criticizes the Bush-Cheney energy policy. However, not spoken is the fact that he voted for the Bush-Cheney energy policy in 2005.
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama has criticized the Bush-Cheney energy bill:
OBAMA: “When Bush assigned Cheney to create energy policy, he met with the environmental groups once, the renewable energy groups once, he met with the oil and gas companies 40 times. Washington has become so dominated by the powerful, by the well-connected, that the voices of the American people are no longer heard.” (Barack Obama, Remarks, Detroit, MI, 6/16/0
This is good rhetoric but it does not match the record. The energy policy that he assails for being a Bush-Cheney creation for the benefit of the oil companies is the very same energy policy he voted for in the 2005 Energy Bill. Again, Barack Obama’s words on energy are empty and actually contrary to his own public record.
Obama’s Words On Trade: Barack Obama claims that he believes in free trade. However, a headline in the Detroit Free Press captures the internal conflict of Barack Obama’s words - “Obama Tries to Have it Both Ways on Free Trade Issue.” Barack Obama says, “I believe in free trade” but “then he reverted to the anti-trade rhetoric of the primaries.” We all recall Obama adviser Austin Goolsbee dismissing his candidate’s own rhetoric as primary politics. In light of this, Barack Obama’s words on the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deserve even greater scrutiny.
During the primaries, Barack Obama pledged to unilaterally renegotiate NAFTA:
NBC’S TIM RUSSERT: “A simple question. Will you as president say to Canada and Mexico, this [NAFTA] has not worked for us, we are out?” OBAMA: “I will make sure that we renegotiate in the same way that Senator Clinton talked about, and I think actually Senator Clinton’s answer on this one is right. I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labor and environmental standards that are enforced.” (Sen. Barack Obama, MSNBC Democrat Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 2/26/0
However, in the general election, Barack Obama is backing off these words which were pretty clear. Now, Barack Obama says his words are not to be believed if they are “overheated and amplified.”
“In an interview with Fortune to be featured in the magazine’s upcoming issue, the presumptive Democratic nominee backed off his harshest attacks on the free trade agreement and indicated he didn’t want to unilaterally reopen negotiations on NAFTA. ‘Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified,’ he conceded, after I reminded him that he had called NAFTA ‘devastating’ and ‘a big mistake,’ despite nonpartisan studies concluding that the trade zone has had a mild, positive effect on the U.S. economy.” (Nina Easton, “Obama: NAFTA Not So Bad After All,” Fortune, 6/18/0
Obama’s Words On His Tax Hikes: Barack Obama has made tax increases a centerpiece of his economic agenda. However, when asked by CNBC’s John Harwood if he would be willing to hold off on raising taxes if he thought they might harm the economy, Barack Obama said:
OBAMA: “Some of those, you could possibly defer. But I think the basic principle of restoring fairness to our economy and encouraging bottom-up economic growth is important.” (CNBC, 6/9/0
This is a tacit acknowledgment that his tax increases would hurt the economy and American workers. Likewise, Barack Obama consistently attacks John McCain for favoring “tax breaks to corporations.” Yet, he recently told The Wall Street Journal that he too was considering cutting corporate taxes. Just last month, Barack Obama called corporate tax cuts “the exact wrong prescription for America.” On one day, Barack Obama took two positions on one issue, again leaving observers and voters unsure of what he really believes.
Obama’s Words On Iraq: Throughout the primaries, Barack Obama has been determined to withdraw from Iraq regardless of the consequences or the facts on the ground. This week, Barack Obama talked with the Iraqi Foreign Minister. According to The Washington Post, the Foreign Minister left the conversation “reassured” and thinking “that Mr. Obama might not differ all that much from Mr. McCain.”
The ABC News headline captures this perplexing issue clearly: “Obama and Iraqi Foreign Minister have Different Memories of their Conversation.” In our foreign policy, we cannot afford a president whose public words are discounted by allies and enemies alike.
Obama’s Words On Jerusalem: For weeks, debate has swirled around Barack Obama’s use of the word “undivided” in his speech before the Annual AIPAC Policy Conference. In the end, the American people are left with a confused position that is constantly being reinterpreted by advisors because “undivided” was nothing more than an empty word with great symbolism but no weight.
Before the Annual AIPAC Policy Conference, Barack Obama clearly said that Jerusalem should be the “undivided” capital of Israel. Barack Obama and his advisers knew what this word would mean to his audience.
OBAMA: “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At The Annual AIPAC Policy Conference, Arlington, VA, 6/4/0
Yet, only a day later, Barack Obama said the future of Jerusalem would have to be negotiated by Israel and the Palestinians. Barack Obama was no longer prepared to say that Jerusalem should be undivided.
CNN’S CANDY CROWLEY: “I want to ask you about something you said in AIPAC yesterday. You said that Jerusalem must remain undivided. Do Palestinians have no claim to Jerusalem in the future?” OBAMA: “Well, obviously, it’s going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues.” (CNN’s “The Situation Room,” 6/5/0
Obama can’t even keep his stories straight..I think the CHANGE he refers to is his positions
Kerry? Why bother?
The man is the preincarnation of Jimmy Carter.
How anyone can vote for this guy is a mystery to me. Those people back in Iowa must be rueing the day they voted for him and started this big mess. Our country will be in a very dangerous situation should he win this election.
This should be a heads up to all Americans everywhere in the country. Stop being so gulable and look at this guy a little more closely. He is not what we need. This is not change we can believe in becuase we have no idea what that change is and neither does he.
OPEN YOUR EYES!!!!
Since McCain is the flip flopper on taxes, on off-shore drilling to name a few, wouldn’t it be easier for Obama to make McCain = Kerry?
Oh please.
McCain has changed his positions on dozens of issues when the wind changed or his advisers told him to. Maybe he doesn’t remember them from day to day. 2004 politics aren’t going to work today. Millions of people have invested - financially - in Obama and will continue to do so until election day. It’s not so easy for labels and slander to change the minds of people who’ve put down $100 or more. Projection of his own flip-flopping onto others is just more of the same Bush/Cheney psychosis and America’s not buying it. Literally.
how about mccain’s flip flop on torture?
that alone should disqualify him from being president.
does mccain have any core values?
he was tortured, for god’s sake. proof has come out that detainees (innocent ones) were tortured at guantanamo. and mccain still thinks america doesn’t need to ban torture?
mccain is a transparent fake that will flip flop on the starkest right/wrong issue in his desperate bid to become president.
A very eye-opening, if not very surprising article. Some of these things I knew, some were new to me. It all goes to show, though, that Obama is absolutely not prepared to be the President of the Greatest Nation on Earth because he will turn us into a second-rate world power.
I suppose McCain’s “flip flop” on torture is of no consequence huh?
yawn.
What you mean to say is:
McCain=Bush
ok this is the same movie i seen years ago and i know how it ended l think the American public is going to opt for an alternative ending as well.
Yawn… Fox News.
Flip-flopping is hardly something McCain should bring up. It’s almost comical that they’re trying that tactic. It won’t work. American’s are sick of anything remotely connected with the last 8 years.
The best part about Republicans is most never use the internet to actually read this stuff. Yeah that’s right.
….much different scenerio now…….perhaps McCain will end up the Kerry….
Fair and Balanced manipulation of quotes.
Not sure how useful it will be to make Obama=Kerry considering how many millions of Americans now wish to God they’d voted for Kerry instead.
Great job iof slamming the Democrats.
Thank God Fox News defends the GOP Platofrm!
Obama>McCain
“it’s strongest language” !!!! The word you are looking for is “its” (no apostrophe). It’s means “it is.” Shame on you.
This is a really slippery slope for McCain. He has changed his position on many, many issues since 2000. If he gets into a flip flop battle, he will lose.
McCain FTL ‘08. Obama FTW ‘08 because he knows what that means and John McCain doesn’t.
Howdy Rightwing Nutjobs: Obama has opted out of public financing because the American people (and corporations) are showering him with dough. Tons and Tons and TONS of it.
McCain better tread carefully in the use of the “flip-flopper” label, as he has changed positions on a whole host of issues over the past eight years. He’s one of the biggest floppers in Congress. He has changed positions on: Roe v. Wade, Bush’s Tax Cuts, Campaign Finance Reform, Torture, and Ethanol-based fuels, just to name a few off the top of my head.
Obama never unconditionally promised to opt into public financing; on the contrary, he has signaled for months that he intended to opt out. I hardly see that as a flip-flop, particularly given McCain’s propensity to change positions depending on which way the political wind is blowing. I don’t think McCain can be trusted to stand his ground on anything and I’m disappointed. One of the things that always appealed to me about “Straight-talk McCain” was his principled stance on a number of issues. He appears now to have sold out on those issues for the sake of getting elected.
Love this article! I wish it had come out on Monday a.m. so it would get maximum coverage. It truly boggles the mind that Obama has made it this far with no noteworthy credentials or experience. Considering the problems we, as a nation, are facing today, his nomination is ludicrous! John McCain needs to get through to those who still have an open mind.
I don’t think so. Mc Cain can’t begin to say flip flop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c
Can Obama make McCain=Mussolini or worse yet Cheney?
Pre-election politics is a zero sum game, in which if you stick to your principles, you’ll get beaten up and if you change them, you’ll get beaten up again. Ultimately what matters is that you’re believable, people will follow you if you change your position. This means going beyond the flip-flopping vs. hard-headed arguments and starting a debate with the public on what the right policy should be. Otherwise, everything will just look like a campaign promise when you get into office and realize that it’s much easier to choose a position than to deliver on it.
It’s not gonna work, they have to come up with something better, Obama’s campaign will jump on this and say that the tactic is a Bush tactic and label Senator McCain as president Bush, and as someone using fear as a political tactic and it could really backfire on McCain because people will now think of this gimmick as a Republican party rhetoric just so that they can get back into power. If I were the McCain campaign I would steer clear of using any of Bush’s tactics from past elections, it just aint gonna work this time, the democrats have learned from it and they are waiting with their arsenal of attack. I would keep touting Obama on visting Iraq and inexperience and also label the Democrats as one’s who are driving the price of oil up because of their belief that the energy crisis is going to save the planet from global warming.
If I were the dems I would counter and say that we need to find alternate energy, but they really need to convince the American people that drilling for more oil isn’t going to solve the current economic crisis, but it could back fire on the Dems big time, because American’s are getting tired of Bi-partisan politics.
People are saying that the Dems are going to win congress big again this year, I do not think that this will be the case, the Dems have been in power for almost 2 years and still nothing has been done in congress. I am betting them to lose tons of seats to republicans also I bet there will be more independents that will win this time around. People are just so tired. So in all sense of the word to the next President please back up your word when you say you are going to change the country, cause at this current rate, if you are elected to be president, either Obama or McCain, you will be out of office in 4 years, people wont be fooled if change doesn’t happen, and happen at a really fast rate.
McCain knows well he will not be able to beat Obama on policy. If this is all McCain has, its not going to be pretty in November, my friends. Hypocrisy is tough to sell. I know the ‘folks’ aren’t the brightest bulbs on the tree, but show me a negative reaction to the Public Finance change from Obama. He’s not spending tax payer money for his campaign, that really sounds like a good thing to me and the ‘folks.’
Kerry was too nice. Bush won 2004 base on lie. Do you undersdant that ? I think Americans are sick of it. expirence expirence expirence, it is nonsens. Look at Cheney he has been in DC for over what 30 + years. Cheney just suck.
Ah yeah, check McCain’s stand on anything and you’ll see he jumps back and forth all the time. In fact I would argue that he is the perfect example of a flip-flopper. He even switched positions on his own immigration bill.
wait, i thought obama was carter.
Both John McCain and Barack Obama are full of poop. I wish people would start voting 3rd party. Positive changes will not be made in this country until we get both Republicans and Democrats out of the White House. The dollar is quickly becoming obsolete in the World market and it is not all George Bush’s fault.
I feel as if I am in a non stop dream that is getting crazier by the minute. When campaigning first began, I thought that I could live with McCain based on what his beliefs and policies were in the beginning. And now, as we get closer to November, McCain is changing just about everything that he professed and was ready to fight for. It seems as though he has flip flopped several times a week of late. In this dream of mine, however, the main stream media portrays Obama as the flip flopper, aggressively and repeatedly, as if being paid or threatened to do so. Anyone with any sense can certainly tell that the main stream media today is extremely slanted, extremely UNbalanced, not only to the point of being disgusting, it is so crazy it is quite comical, like a never ending skit and the players never stop to say “hey, were just kidding, we’re really not this stupid”
I am scared to death for myself, for my children, and for my children’s children the the world we live in is being destroyed, not so much by terrorists, as by our very own government and the big business that tends to have an enormous stranglehold on that government.
MCBUSH 08!!
Yet more lies from the lips of Obama. He wants to buy the office of the presidency with money from his followers, foreign countries, friends like Nation of Islam. He’s really an egotistical and arrogant person. He already has a seal similar to the gret seal of the United States President. What next? will his followers be saluting him, kissing his rear, washing his feet, swearing on his book “Dreams From My Father” that they will honor, worship and obey him and never question him? This election is the most scary election the United States has had in my lifetime (and I voted for JFK). Future generations are being placed at risk for a very different and difficult American if Obama is elected. He will change America for the worse for all time.
Obama is showing more backbone than any other politician in years. He has the guts to be open to change, including strategies. I am proud of him for eschewing public funding AND for showing Americans that every one of us counts, including every small amount of donation which we may be able to make towards his campaign. McCain and the GOP don’t like it when someone doesn’t play by their rules. They will whine and moan and point fingers at Obama, but We, The People, know better. We know we count with him and we will be voting him in as our next President!
It’s ironic that a man who has flip flopped or caved on abortion, torture, and the religious right would try to tag his opponent for the same problem.
Look in the mirror, Mr. Maverick. Your maverick days are surely over !
Interesting take when the candidates both want to be about change. I still don’t see why being stubborn and refusing to re-think and change what you believe is a positive thing. Sometimes you have to change what you thought before.
MCCAIN doesnt have to make him equal Kerry , he is already much worse .. the only thing the makeovers for Barak and Michelle are lacking are the OPRAH SHOW before and afters … you know who plucked her eyebrows .. who did his debate with McCain changes … etc etc
and the only change we will get if he is elected is “who plucked the American peoples pocketbook until it was featherless ” so to speak “
It will be a landslide victory for Obama. McCain does not have anything unique to bring to the table. He is Republican driven and will answer to and be subservient to the party, and that is one thing our country will not tolerate, is another repeat of what the republican party gave us for the past eight years. McCain is a war hero, and a military man, and just like Eisenhower, will take orders from the party.
I’ll ask McCain the same question as I would ask Bush (the other Tough guy on Terror). Where is bin Laden and why is he not caputured dead or alive? And where is you plan to “Accomplish the Mission”? Nothing else matters! Domestic issues will resolve themselves with Constitutionally applied Plans under good Presidential Leadership as history has shown us. Something McCain fails to show us here. We only have a list by McCain/Sr. Advisor defining Barack Obama using the Rove Book, President for Dummies. The only thing we have seen from McCain since February is a List of campaign advisors and supporters that he had to fire or disavow or throw under the wheels of the Double Talk Express. President Bush is at the top of the List, that is a disgrace. You can’t make yourself look good trying to make someonelse look bad.
FoxNews is a big joke.
I get it. When Obama changes his mind about taking extra money when he doesn’t need it (has a LOT of campaign funds already) that’s flip-flopping.
When McCain changes his mind (seems like every few days) about immigration reform, it’s merely ‘adjusting his stance’. Yeah, that holds a lot of water.
I also was unaware that public campaign financing was a ‘core’ issue. If it is, how about we ask MaCain about his doings in February - since the committee is having trouble meeting in order to decide if it was legal?
Obama ‘considering cutting corporate taxes’ and actually saying he would do it are two different things, btw. It pays to pay attention to the details, you know.
I think you must really like old Johnny, or you would have been more impartial.
Obama is the worst kind of politician. He lies to your face while smiling all the way to the White House. How anyone can believe a word he says is beyond me.
Mr Steve Schmidt,
Your efforts, and your colleagues efforts resulted in continuation of Bush and JOKER cheney’s policies. May be you people should have been ashamed of yourselves by now and should retire from active jobs in guilt. You went on and on making your talk boring. Give us a big break OK…!
No! Obama, is already worse, at least Kerry tried to think. Obama is a bundle of hopes for the Anti Bush at all cost crowd, nothing more nothing less.
As for McCain, why should he paint Obama as anything, that would make him a hypocrite. He can’t even paint himself as he really is, a liberal wannabe.
http://www.fightagainstmccain.com/
Wow, that wasn’t the least bit slanted toward REPUBLICAN John McCain.
Do you really think anyone is going to listen to anything fox has to say. Since when did Obama flip on NAFTA. Do you think Obama is stupid enough to play John McCain’s game. How about both of them use the 85 million and that’s it. No outside help, no games or scams. The truth is, the media had no problem bashing Hillary and Obama but John McCain has been given a free pass. Mister pro National Security thinks V. Putin is the President of Germany, and Al qaeda gets training in Iran. If you want to see a flip flopper just go to You Tube and type in J. McCain. God help us if we get a president that jumps around on stage singing, Bomb bomb bomb, Bomb bomb Iran. If Obama was doing that fox would have had it playing all over the world. Maybe if John Boy had a few people from his family in Iraq getting blown to pieces, we can all join in the laugh together. He cares so much for the soldiers of America that he wouldn’t even provide them with extra money for school. McCain’s whole campaign was full of lobbyists and he has the nerve to try to make Obama look bad because some guy he knew got a loan from Countrywide. Yeah, Ok. If John McCain becomes president I’m moving to Switzerland. Four years of John McCain and their won’t be much left of this country anyway.
Since McCain=Dole, it doesn’t really matter.
[...] news has this article on a memo released by a McCain adviser Steve Schmidt who held a similar role in Bush - Cheney 2004 [...]
McCain accusing someone of Flip Flopping his HILLARYOUS. (correct no I)
McCain shifts on just about everything he suppose to stand for.
Look at his stance on Offshore Drilling????
This is nothing but a diversion for people to pay more attention to then the issues McCain is known for flip flopping, especially with the Drilling. LMAO.
Come on media, surely you can do better than this?
Oh that is right. This is home of the media that finds it okay to stir the pot falsely about Obama.
Not once, not twice, but in continued fashion. My bad.
Amazing this was published without the author knowing emoticons were on… hello credibility!
Obama doen’t equal Kerry. IT’S WORST!
Can McCain make Obama=Kerry? He doesn’t have to…it already does! It already has. The people need to wake up! Obama is nothing but a used car salesman…who will say and do anything he can to twist people for a vote. He has no real change, he is the same old political rhetoric that through his audacity tries to replace the Presidential Seal of the United States with the Seal of Obama! So much for the Audacity of Hope!
McCain… is going to hammer OBAMA on flip flopping?
Are you kidding me? Bring it on.
Let’s see–McCain’s flip flopped on Bush’s tax cuts, drilling on the coasts, and on whether Rummy was Teh Awesome DoD secretary. And that’s just what’s come to mind.
You really wanna go there, Gramps?
So why only a brief mention of McCain’s flip flops on MAJOR issues? How about mentioning that the Obama campaign tried to make a deal with McCain not to use 527 organizations and PAC funding, but couldn’t meet an agreement. Therefore, no public financing. Amazing that detail wasn’t mentioned. Man Fox News, I’ve lost a ton of respect. Fair and Balanced? Or Fight for the Right?
What a joke. You say Obama has yet to firm up a narrative or image besides “change.” If your readers want to know his narrative, they should read the two books he wrote, or any of his library of policy speeches, rather than reading your misleading column.
It’s pretty clear that the character issue is coming back to bite poor McCain. The more folks find out what McCain has done: How he had numerous affairs on his first wife [normally court martial offenses] so he could gold dig himself into Arizona politics; how he left thousands of Arizonan retirees struggling to afford cat food for dinner after using his office to protect Lincoln Saving and Loans; his numerous flip flops on issues central to the problems we’re seeing today - for example the “Enron loophole”.
Good riddens to bad Republicans John McCain.
First off McCain is no George Bush!!! If the Truth be known, as I see it is, McCain is more like Kerry than anyone!!! just with a different SPIN, they were both in Vietnam and they both brought their own camera’s and (crew’s probably) that is just plain ego-fed narcissists pigs I don’t believe a THING McCain says or does !!! I voted for GW and I will forever be sorry for that one, but between who was running at the time I took a chance and I believe that was worst mistake I have made in awhile.
But this time around I truly believe That Myself as well as, The Citizens of America are a little more savvy, and a lot more up to speed on what’s really going on!!! I have heard nothing but lies,lies, & more lies and I am very tired off it!!! It is Refreshing to see A Much Different Look and a lot clearer and to the point, way to handle America and our Neighbors… I am looking forward to A New Look!!!
The Question should be “When will Obama make McCain his =Kerry?
McCain calling Obama a flip-flopper, talk about the pot calling the kettle black; unbelievable!
Obama is an accident waiting to happen. I don’t care how much money he raises. I won’t vote for him. I don’t know anybody who thinks he’ll make a good president. I predict it will be McCain by the widest margin in American history. Obama is going to lose by a landslide.
It is “the economy stupid” this election year. The Republicans don’t stand a chance—and I usually vote Republican.
McCain better realize that the public doesn’t care about “flip flops”, or much about Iraq and lack of experience, either. Obama is pressing the right buttons. “Change” when the economy is going down the drain is the right mantra. They better beat Obama on that or there’s no hope for a Republican victory.
The answer is no. McCain can’t afford to make these allegations without exposing his own. Let’s not forget that McCain tried to pull out of the campaign finance system, but was unable to do so because of allegations stemming from a 4 million dollar loan he took out using his campaign contributors’ information as collateral.
While I agree with the content of this article, I have to wonder at a journalist who doesn’t know what NAFTA stands for.
We are not listening to your Mc Cain propaganda FOX. Smear away unfortunately for you and the Mc War gang we will trounce you this year because our country cannot afford even a minute more of anything that looks like the retarded George W. bush years.
Nope, Mccain has already labelled himself as the flip flop by his actions.
No.
You lost me at “the campaign using some of it’s strongest language to date.” If you can’t be bothered to proof-read even the first sentence of your post, I won’t bother to read it.
Great article, finally the press is making light of what Obama is really like. Obama should get more experience under his belt before he runs for a powerful position is he not ready for. This country cannot afford to have someone who flip flops on every issue, he stands for nothing.
To be fair McCain has flip-flopped, too…Ha ha… You mean like voting against his own anti-torture bill or voting for offshore drilling and against offshore drilling twice each over the past eight years.
McCain is an elitist. The man ditched his crippled wife to marry an heiress who could finance his ambitions. You can’t get much more elitist than that.
What concerns me though is that no one is the press corps is willing to raise the very important and serious question of McCain’s mental instability. I am really concerned that his frequent switches of position when pressured, combined with his seeming inability reflect the fragmented personality of a man who had to survive years of torture. I personally don’t believe that he received a 100% disability status because of his arms limited overhead motion. I believe the Navy had other information that made them decide he McCain would never be able to hold the position of Admiral. That information is sealed in his psychiatric files. If McCain was not fit to serve in the US Navy, why is he suddenly fit to serve as commander-in-chief? We need answer to these questions ASAP.
“the campaign using some of it’s strongest language to date to cast the Democrat as weak on terror”
Is it “it’s” or “its”?
Way to put an obvious mechanics mistake across the internet and represent Fox News in the highest intellectual light. Learn how to write.
I found this article to be rather interesting because obama has shown some clear cases of “flip-flopping” recently. However, I think several of these mistakes were just miscues, such as the interpretation of the word “undivided”. How many supporters of John McCain can honestly say that he hasn’t had some miscues, the brilliant orator that he clearly is? Also, I believe that Barack has a right to criticize the outcome of the 2005 cheney energy bill, even if he voted for it at the time. From all that I have ever heard about the bill, it has helped, but not enough. Obama certainly has the right to say that the response on this issue has not been sufficient, keeping in mind the starkly different energy landscape that has developed since 2005. I think that this article was a good source of information (minus the partisan spin), however, I would like to a similar article devoted to the flip flops McCain has recently made (as alluded to in paragraph 5/6 in this article).
“Can McCain make Obama=Kerry?” I should it would be easier. Kerry was a war vet with a long history of political service - ie, political experience. Obama is a green, Harvard liberal with zero experience working on foreign policy with views even further to the extreme left than Kerry’s super leftism (Kerry supported Nafta yes? Obama: no.)
But 4 years ago was a long time ago. The news and polls are telling us that a majority of people want a non-Bush in the white house - no matter what that person’s experience, credentials - or even policy! Ha. I think the number 1 message coming from the McCain camp should be the truth: Obama is an extreme-left liberal with zero common ground with the ideas and philosophies of the right nor any record of working across the aisle.
Here’s the logic: if Americans are sick of Bush because they feel he was an extreme-right, hostile Republican that the press paints him as, and people are enthusiastically responding favorably to the idea of “post partisanship” - show the truth: just because Obama uses the word post-partisan doesn’t dispel the fact that he has a record of service and a record of statements that place him even further left than Al Gore and John Kerry.
And that’s definitely not what Americans want: to swing from one side of the pendulum to the other (even further!). But many don’t see past Obama’s creative language painting himself as a mender and not a divider. A lover not a fighter. That he is “post partisan.” The facts don’t back that up. And this should be team McCain’s primary message that all other messages are linked to.
McCain’s problem is Obama=Bobby Kennedy.
Sterling Greenwood
Aspen Free Press
this Steve Schmidt guy is just a stonehead stupid thief, needs to be slapped…