Would it?

Kaine on the ticket has enough positives and negatives to make for a case for either way on him....

And yet, what would a Obama/Kaine ticket symbolize? The "Outsiders" of Washington, the "Young" against the "Old" (McCain)?

Excellent little piece.

http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/loca...y_and_par.html


Quote:
"We just got off a conference call with Camp McCain, defending their new ad comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. They said they thought the ad was legitimate because Obama is a big celebrity (which happens to be what John McCain was, too, when he came home from Vietnam and started to build his political career), and Britney and Paris were Number 2 and 3.

The problem: Anyone with even a vague sense of pop culture knows that Britney and Paris are yesterday's news. Paris and Britney don't even make the list any more. Instead, the top 10, in order: Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce Knowles, David Beckham, Johnny Depp, Jay-Z, The Police, JK Rowling, Brad Pitt.

So, they didn't pick other big celebrities, who were either men, or black, or married. What they picked was two sexually available white women. But it must have been a coincidence, because we know John McCain wants to run an elevated campaign focusing on the serious issues that America faces."

You know, that article has a fucking good point. I hate to use the "R" word because I used to despise liberals who threw it around like candy, but.....that ad was Racist.

If not intentional, then it's indirect. Besides, if they were gonna go that angle, why not try something like the "3 AM" little white girl ad that Hillary ran earlier this year?

I've gotta think that the McCain internal polling must be showing something that is making them desperate to "define" Obama the way they are. McCain who spent a career trying to be a decent guy is going to lose a great deal of respect from
undecided voters and moderate republicans if he continues down this Rovian road.

Clinton for VP drive folds, as hopes for dream ticket fade

WASHINGTON (AFP) - "Vote Both," a group dedicated to persuading Barack Obama to pick former foe Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate, is folding, as hopes of a "dream ticket" fade.

Organizers Adam Parkhomenko and Sam Arora said they were halting their campaign, based on indications that the presumptive Democratic nominee was looking elsewhere for a right-hand man, or woman.

"Because it seems that Senator Obama has made his decision to offer the slot on the ticket to another candidate, we believe that continuing to ask him to pick Hillary is no longer helpful to our party's chances of winning in November," they wrote in a website message to supporters.

The two former Clinton staffers concluded that reports that Obama had offered Clinton a prime-time speaking role on the second night of the party's convention in Denver next month meant she would not be his pick for number two.

Vice presidential nominees traditionally speak on the penultimate night of the four-day convention.

"We worked for Hillary for a combined 10 years, so we know how many of you may be feeling," they wrote.

"And to those who are hesitant to support Obama right now, we urge you to keep giving him the chance to earn your vote. We are confident he will."

When she wrapped up her historic bid to become America's first woman president in June, Clinton pleaded with supporters to transfer their affections to Obama, to break the Republican stranglehold on the White House.

But some fervent supporters said they would find it hard to back Obama after such a drawn-out and bitter fight.

The former first lady, who piled up votes among women and working-class voters especially, has already campaigned with Obama, and has said she plans to throw herself into the fight to elect him in battleground states.

Vice presidential speculation surrounding Obama, and his Republican rival John McCain, is peaking in the month-long run-up to the party conventions.

The Democratic spotlight has recently fallen on Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.

Meanwhile Republican Mitt Romney, rumored to be on McCain's shortlist, was quoted in the Washington Post as saying "I don't plan on being part of the ticket" -- hardly a cast-iron refusal to serve if selected.

Think of it this way. Mccain has been a US Senator for over two decades. Among the 100+ Senators that have been in office during that period, he is one of the most well known and publicized. Also, he has run for President twice before.

So, my question is: why isn't he waxing Obama in the polls?

McCain can thank Bush.

I just love how the media loves concentrating on why Obama isn't more ahead, and yet don't question why the media "golden boy" isn't ahead by a large margin, let alone ahead at all.


TIS

The current administration is like an albatross around McCain's neck. I almost feel bad for him (except not really).

Someone pointed out earlier that it might be a whole different world now if McCain had gotten the nomination in 2000 and run against Gore. Who knows what might have been?

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'.” ..."

Basically he is not a great campaigner. Can't stay on message, disorganized, and getting a little senile.

Neither candidate can get to 50% so far.

Early this morning my wife went to work out at our club and Barrack Obama was in the house doing his morning workout. She went completely nuts. When she got home she tld me, and I went there but he'd already left.

How cool!! I can imagine her suprise. I did hear that he works out daily though. As a matter of fact they had this ridiculous story (I am assuming it was for humor, but who knows) asking if Obama was too skinny to be President? Anyway, good for your wife. What a time not to have a camera (I assume), hu?

TIS

In my life I've met two celebrities: Hubert Humphrey and Sharon Stone. It is different seeing them up close.

Did she say if he was as tall or as skinny as he looks on TV?

You guys know I'm for Obama, but the McCain commercial with Paris Hilton is hysterical.

PB, can you post a link? I could find only news clips about the ad on youtube, not the ad itself.

Part of it is on Youtube. Click Here

Speaking of 'not great campaigner(s)'...

Here's a terrific collection of Obama's amazing gaffes over the past few months. My all time favorite is the '57 States' comment but all of them are pretty darned entertaining.

http://www.gop.com/BarackGaffes/

I would have have voted for JM in 2000. Gore had too much Clinton slime on him. I wanted JM to get the nomination, but now I feel his time has passed. GO BO - That's a great campaign slogan, don't you think?

And all this time I thought that it was Monica who had Clinton's slime all over her dress!

Notice how at times, he can almost be as bad at stuttering as ole Dubya.

Almost

Weird how you had the exact same opinion as mine.

I can't see how this ad campaign can help McCain. He's basically sending a message that Obama is a star and generates excitement while McCain is dull. The ad projects a vibrancy about Obama while MCain comes off as bitter and unhip. This accentuates the age gap, which I don't think is a good idea for McCain.

Ready to lead on Day One? Well, the American people will decide that.

Truth is negative ads work. Barack has slid in the polls (although McCain has not gone over 45%). Barack needs to get back on message, and make the debate about the economy, not about him.

I didn't see Clinton slime on Gore...if anything Gore tried to run away from Clinton, and got hammered for doing it. In retrospect given Clinton's recent behavior, Gore was probably right.

I think that Obama is trying to conserve resources and message until the Democratic Convention when he and the Party will unleash a storm of ads and campaigning against McCain - sort of a September surprise. Repeatedly, political pundits will state that independents are not paying much attention and won't until after the conventions. Obama may be hoping that McCain will punch himself out between now and then.

McCain's recent ads are meant to firm up his Republican base and distract people generally from negative economic news. One of them has a decidedly religious theme and is meant to remind some of the audience of the interpreted message of The Book of Revelation.

Good point Olivant. I was surprised to see that Obama was outspent by McCain given that Obama has far more resources.
Once this dust up about race and who said what first is out of the way and the conventions are held, Obama should be in a superior position to outspend McCain and close the deal in October.

In looking at why Obama is underperforming, given the wide lead he should have, I think most Americans still have their doubts, just as they did in 1980 when Reagan didn't really see a big shift to him until the final weekend of the campaign.

I read a good analysis about how Obama really cannot be pegged as anything. He's not fully black or white, he's not your typical Chicago Pol, he is not really from any region of the country, and the fact that he lived in Indonesia during many formative years has an effect on his mannerisms, his bearing and everything else, so in our eyes he is not a "typical American," and it probably gives people pause.

File this one under "Bill Clinton just can't let go." I'm really beginning to resent him for being such a sore loser.

Bill Clinton refuses to say Barack Obama is 'ready' for White House

BY MICHAEL McAULIFF
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Even after his wife has dropped out of the presidential race, Bill Clinton has had only tepid praise for Barack Obama.
WASHINGTON - Bill Clinton regrets some things he said - and didn't say - on the campaign trail. But there's one thing he still can't utter: Barack Obama is ready to be President.

"You can argue that nobody is ready to be President," the former President told ABC News.

"You can argue that even if you've been vice president for eight years, that no one can be fully ready for the pressures of the office," Clinton said Monday during a visit to Rwanda. That's probably not what Team Obama wanted to hear from the former commander in chief, whose role in Obama's election push and at the Democratic National Convention remains in flux.

Team Obama has said Clinton will be an asset, but so far he and the Illinois senator have spoken only once, by phone, since the primaries ended - a fact that has peeved some Obama supporters.

Bubba's backers concede his unwillingness to say his party's nominee is ready to sit in the Oval Office was a faux pas.

"The political answer is to just say, 'Yes,' period," said Democratic strategist Chris Lehane. "But as a former President, he has a special perspective on what it takes."

Clinton couldn't just say the political thing, Lehane added, because he's still smarting from Hillary Clinton's bitter defeat.

"This is someone whose spouse was on the ticket, a person he felt tremendously strong about, who he felt had the ability to become President," Lehane said.

Clinton and his wife argued in nearly every speech that she was ready tobe President on day one.

Bubba did praise some of the very same traits he ripped in the primaries - including Obama's ability to lead through inspiring words, which he trashed as empty rhetoric on the campaign trail.

"He clearly can inspire and motivate people and energize them, which is a very important part of being President," Clinton said. "And he's smart as a whip so there's nothing he can't learn."

Clinton repeatedly became a distraction for his wife's campaign, and many Obama supporters felt he and Hillary were racially insensitive.

In spite of Clinton's lackluster endorsement Monday, Team Obama will take it. "He and Sen. Clinton are tremendous assets," spokesman Bill Burton said.

Bubba said he wished he could have a few of his words back. "There are things that I wished I urged her to do, things I wished I said, things I wished I hadn't said," Clinton said. But he defended his record on race. "I am not a racist - I never made a racist comment and I didn't attack him personally," Clinton said.

Clinton, caught in numerous finger-wagging outbursts in the campaign, insisted he's not angry at Obama. "I think everybody's got a right to run for President who qualifies under the Constitution," Clinton said. "I'd be the last person to begrudge anybody their ambition."

Bill Clinton has always been a dick, but lately he's been a super dick.

As for people who vote for McCain because they fear Obama will make the Book of Revelations happen.....is it me, or is that just silly?

Now get on me for dissing religion. I'm not.

Consider this: If Obama was elected, and indeed he brings upon the Apocalypse, won't that prove to naysayers, agnostics, and atheists that God not only exists but the prophecies foretold in the Bible are true? I mean that's a good thing, isn't it?

Besides, you all want to go to Heaven, right? Why wait for suicide or natural death? You'll save yourselves the dying part and get a free trip to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Either way, its a win-win for you all.

Latest electoral vote prediction: Obama - 217; McCain - 189.

Also: the Paris Hilton response ad. It's not too bad. I think it may already be available on YouTube.

Whoa! I missed this whole Obama-Apocalypse thing. Who is saying that? All I heard was that nut case Dobson is asking people to pray for rain the night of Obama's acceptance speech.