Time Magazine – Michael Scherer
Sometimes you don’t need the secret memo, a Deep Throat source, or the combination to the safe to get the story. Sometimes it’s lying right there in front of you, a series of fragments ready to be pieced together.
Such is the case when it comes to John McCain’s general election strategy for defeating Barack Obama. For weeks now, the Arizona senator’s campaign has been laying its cards on the table, spelling out a strategy for November. Here’s a look at seven of their key strategies.
1. Paint Obama as a False Messiah
The big debut for this message came on the night of the Virginia and Maryland primaries. Mike Huckabee was still in the race, but the McCain campaign wanted to pivot towards the general election. So at an Alexandria Holiday Inn, McCain offered these words: “I do not seek the presidency on the presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need.” The code was not hard to break. McCain was calling out Obama as an unfulfilled prophet, built up on lofty rhetoric and personal charisma. McCain’s advisors have been hammering the theme ever since, privately speaking skeptically of Obama’s big crowds and “Yes We Can” ritual chants. “The lofty rhetoric,” said Steve Schmidt, McCain’s message man, on a recent flight. “It’s nonsense.” This will not let up. McCain’s campaign calculates that it must put a dent in Obama’s powerful aura to keep a Republican in the White House.
Read the OTHER SIX
The Time article indulges in false equivalence, claiming that Obama misquoted McCain’s statement about occupying Iraq for 100 years (he did not). We can expect a lot of that from journalists in coming months.
Both candidates are lying, they will tell us. That’s just politics, and voters are naive to expect the truth from anybody.
Interesting (and ongoing) discussion going on here about what rmwarnick elludes to: McCain constantly gets a pass with most of the traditional media.