The perils of Pinata Politics

July 28, 2008

Have you ever been to a child’s birthday party in which there’s a pinata? It’s a pretty straightforward exercise — the birthday boy/girl gets blindfolded, is handed a big stick, is spun around to cause minor disorientation, and is then encouraged to swing the stick wildly in every direction, in the hopes of hitting a target and getting a prize.

John McCain’s campaign has been operating under a similar framework for quite a while now. Under McCain’s version of Pinata Politics, the senator and his team swing wildly in every direction, hoping to hit Barack Obama. There’s no real consistency to the attacks, and there’s even less honesty and integrity backing up the attacks. But McCain appears to be blindfolded, allowing Karl Rove’s operation to spin him in circles.

There’s at least some evidence the party isn’t impressed.

One GOP strategist with close ties to McCain’s campaign said the new line of attack reflected the operation’s “schizophrenic” nature. He said that tendency was also on display last week, as McCain spoke at length about media coverage of Obama rather than sticking with his plan to focus on the economy.

“They couldn’t help themselves,” the strategist said, adding that the ad over the hospital visit is “churlish and unlike McCain, and hardly will resonate with the swing voters who are going to decide this election.” The strategist continued: “They’re doing it because the candidate, and the campaign, is not happy with where they are and they’re lashing out.”

If McCain hopes to win the election, the strategist added, “he needs to be a happy warrior.”

I think it’s a little late for that tack, isn’t it?

In fact, McCain is clearly the opposite of a “happy warrior” — he’s swinging for that pinata with reckless abandon, giving up the pretense that he has anything positive to offer at all. Slate’s John Dickerson last week labeled McCain the “Unhappy Warrior,” arguing that McCain is “attacking too much and indiscriminately. The barrage undermines his brand, takes time away from telling voters what he might do for them, and looks awfully old-timey in a year when voters want a new brand.”

Following up on a previous item, since McCain brought in Rove’s team to run the campaign operation, his brand of Pinata Politics have led him to take swings in all kinds of directions:

* McCain said Obama is responsible for high gas prices. (He’s not.)

* McCain said Obama blew off wounded troops to go to the gym. (He didn’t.)

* McCain said Obama wants to raise middle-class taxes. (He doesn’t.)

* McCain said Obama healthcare plan is socialized medicine. (It’s not.)

* McCain suggested Obama might be a “socialist.” (He’s not.)

* McCain said Obama was taking Maliki’s policy endorsement out of context. (He wasn’t.)

* McCain said Obama’s tax plan would hurt millions of small businesses. (It won’t.)

* McCain said Obama is deliberately ignoring the successes of U.S. troops in Iraq. (He’s not.)

* McCain said Obama actually might be treasonous. (He isn’t.)

And, of course, he’s attacked Obama’s integrity, honesty, character, and patriotism. Last week, the McCain campaign even hinted that Obama is weak on genocide.

“They’re doing it because the candidate, and the campaign, is not happy with where they are and they’re lashing out,” the Republican strategist said.

That may be true. And who knows, maybe voters will find all of this compelling.

But at this point, it seems like even Republicans are anxious to see McCain take the blindfold off — his tactics are making the rest of us dizzy, too.

Given the prevalence of Rove’s people in the McCain campaign, it would be interesting to see how many and which of these Rovian dirty tricks were used on McCain in 2000, and his responses to them.

  • Usually the child doesn’t repeatedly rack himself in the nuts. And I wouldn’t laugh when he did.

    the ad over the hospital visit is “churlish and unlike McCain

    I’ve been hearing that a lot of late. “Oh that’s not the real John. The real John is a nice, honorable man.” Combine with that the fact that every time a McSurrogate opens his mouth McCain leaps up (OK, stands up rather quickly) and screams “THAT’S NOT ME, I DIDN’T SAY THAT!”

    Uh, yeah. Will the real McCain please stand up? Preferably before the election.

    And WTF is a “happy warrior”?

  • McCain complained that Obama and those other noisy kids were always getting into his yard and trampling his grass.

    Frank Rich in the NYTimes on Sunday compared McCain to Mr. Wilson from ‘Dennis The Menace”. (An apt comparison, from a popular culture of a generation younger than McCain, and a generation older than the youngest American voters.)

  • Methinks this is pretty simple, Rove is looking for one of these attacks to stick, something with which to increase Obama’s negatives.

    Once found, they will hammer on this line until it reaches the point of no return, then try and find something else.

    An excellent way to lose an election.

  • I said months ago that McCain would debase himself to the point of evoking the piteousness one would feel seeing a Medal Of Honor medal in a pawnshop window.

    McCain’s grin is the new Nixon Flop Sweat.

  • John McCain is utterly incapable of being a “happy warrior” in the Hubert H. Humphrey mold, even if he wanted to be. Given the relentless stream of negative attacks on Obama, it’s very clear McCain doesn’t want to be one either.

  • Rove is looking for one of these attacks to stick — Coloradoblue

    There’s a cumulative affect as well. Raise enough questions, level enough false claims and people start thinking some of them have to be true. No one, not even a politician, could lie that much. (Could they?)

  • #2 TAIO: I’ve been hearing that a lot of late. “Oh that’s not the real John. The real John is a nice, honorable man.”

    Agreed, even from people like Chuck Hagel, when Chuck called McCain’s ad “inappropriate”, but “John McCain is better than that”.

    The question that should be asked is if McCain can’t stand up to Rove and run his own campaign, how will we run the country?

    Don’t hold your breath waiting to hear that question being asked though.

  • I know we all say we don’t like negative politics, but we always learn the same lesson, that it works. It works on low-information voters, who are notoriously hard to reach with elitist tactics like… using reason.

    The problem is that these wildly inaccurate swings of the bat actually hit their target, even when they’re totally bogus, hence the large number of people who actually believe Obama is a Muslim.

    I sure hope Obama has a rapid-response team out there 24-7, with calm, reasoned smackdowns on the McCain/Rove smears, and that the media let them be aired often. Otherwise we may be in for the same thing we got in 2000 and 2004; those elections shouldn’t have been close either, but they were, thanks to the same “pinata politics” we’re getting this year.

  • tAiO, I too find interesting the “this isn’t the John McCain I know.” Really? Because it was some years ago that Sen. Cochran and others were complaining about his profane tirades against fellow Senators. It sure seems to me that this angry, unhinger guy has been around quite a while.

    And WTF is a “happy warrior”?

    One that enjoys putting the knife in someone? Maybe McShame is a happy warrior after all. . .

  • conspiracy theory du jour:

    The REAL GOP, the non-McCain GOP, the base GOP, is ok with losing the white house this year. They want distance from the debacle of the past eight years, and they’d like to pass the blame over to the left, and start fresh in ’10. Chop off the toe to save the foot, so to speak. Rove is sabotaging McCain’s campaign justlike he did in 2000. Only problem is, nobody’s told any of this to McCain. They won’t complain if Rove’s “strategy” works, and make the best of this “bad” situation with more tax cuts & installing neocon SC Justices, but they won’t be thrilled about it either, because they’ll be blamed for even more, for even longer. McCain’s their unknowing sacrifical lamb, expiation to save the party, & Rove’s brandishing the cleaver. Discuss.

  • I think McCain’s wild swings at Obama really can’t work, despite the pessimism of some here. Something even low-information voters want is a certain gravitas from their president, a sense of calm leadership. Obama exudes this effortlessly, and no amount of carping by the Villagers can take it away from him. McCain’s attacks just end up making himself look old, mean and unhappy, and most of all, small. Think Vizzini vs. the calm and heroic Westley in The Princess Bride.

  • Rove is sabotaging McCain’s campaign justlike he did in 2000.

    An interesting idea, but implausible. An Obama DOJ could well put Karl Rove in prison. There’s plenty to charge him with. And counting on Junior to preemptively pardon him would be a hella risky thing for Rove; Rove isn’t part of Dubya’s class, and junior might hang him out to dry in a fit of pique.

  • I’m wondering, does anybody know what the right-wing blogosphere thinks about this campaign? I know I don’t have the stomach to wade into that viper’s nest – but has anybody else been perusing the Right Wing blogs?

    Do they generally like the attacks? Or are they still waffling on the dude? I’d reckon it’s an Obama hatefest 24/7 with precious little said about McCain. Is that accurate?

  • The problems with the Rovian strategy is that it might have worked from a position of parity or superiority but from a candidate lagging behind like McCain is it comes off as desperation and weakness. Nothing says “I got nuthin'” better than making an election a referendum on an upstart challenger who is obviously the more talented candidate. McCain has nothing to run on for himself and it’s obvious.

  • I think jimBOB has something of a point – McCain’s really got issues with personality, confidence, charisma, and image.

    There are some big strikes against Obama with some voters (let’s face it, race will be an issue, being a Democrat will be an issue, etc.) but he at least has some of that presidential gravitas. This may not make people vote for him, but it’s also an issue of not being a reason to vote for McCain.

  • Slappy: The REAL GOP, the non-McCain GOP, the base GOP, is ok with losing the white house this year.

    A Republican acquaintance told me just the other day that he was going to vote for Obama because he sees him as “another Jimmy Carter.” His dream is that, after four years of Obama, the country will be begging for another Ronald Reagan to lead us again.

    The whole exchange seriously creeped me out.

  • Barack Obama’s character was on highly publisized display last week during his overseas trip. Americans got a good look at what a leader of state can and should be like. His character is on display again this week by convening a sommet of economists. What has John McCain done. People are intensely interested in and concerned about the very serious problems facing the country. This time its not a theatrical concept being pushed by the Republicans and the right wing to scare the public. Our real problems are scarey enough…and they are seriously impacting normal people’s lives.

    This year I don’t think the gutter politics will work. Frankly, I’m not sure I even believe the polling data were being shown (if CBS can excise a candidates damaging answer to an interview question and insert a less problematic responce from another portion of the tape then I think everything coming from the news media should be viewed with a sceptical eye).

    What has John McCain offered? Nothing. Nothing. When he does make a policy statement or speaks on the real issues the result is a comedy of incomprehensible confusion. His negative attacks are about as attractive as his pallor and rotten teeth.

  • Also, Piñata Politics IS the Republican brand! For years, they’ve tossed up one “Hail Mary” pass after the other. It’s the only play in their book. And it’s worked well in the past because: 1] eventually something with zazz sticks to the other candidate, and 2] all that swinging and carpet bombing keeps the opponent in defense mode.

    So far, Obama’s been pretty good at letting others [and his website] field the barrage. I just hope the sheilds can hold.

  • A Republican acquaintance told me just the other day that he was going to vote for Obama because he sees him as “another Jimmy Carter.” His dream is that, after four years of Obama, the country will be begging for another Ronald Reagan to lead us again.

    I can tell you from personal experience that in late 1980 and early ’81, there were plenty of Democratic partisans who were just SURE that after four years of Reagan, in 1984 the country would be clamoring for a Democrat in the White House.

    But don’t tell your friend this. Let him vote for Obama.

  • I’m trying to characterize how each campaign sees itself in relationship to the other campaign.

    Obviously both Obama and McCain see themselves as the “top gun”, but their language choices are strikingly different, and I think in the end, Obama will win.

    The flap over the troop ad is helpful.

    Obama surrogates are using language like “McCain is better than that”, indicating a sympathetic parent/child relationship. McCain sounds more like the angry neighbor, and some have even suggested the Mr. Wilson persona of Dennis the Menace.

    This is a horrible place for McCain to be stuck in, Mr. Wilson would be the high water mark for McCain in how he talks about Obama.

    Some smart journalist will ask McCain to name something good about Obama, maybe something he has done to show that Obama is patriotic. Can he concede anything? Probably not.

  • “neilt said: Do they generally like the attacks? Or are they still waffling on the dude? I’d reckon it’s an Obama hatefest 24/7 with precious little said about McCain. Is that accurate?”

    That is exactly the case. It’s sad really, I think most of these conservative bloggers don’t pay attention to anything McCain says. They don’t need to. They’re too busy comparing Obama to H1tler for choosing to give a speech in front of the Berlin Victory Column.

  • One other problem with McCain’s troop attack:

    MSNBC just had McCain’s top “piece of work” surrogate come on to defend the ad. While she talked about how Obama didn’t support the troops, they show video of Obama shaking hands, laughing with troops!

    Oh well.

  • 13. On July 28th, 2008 at 12:10 pm, jimBOB said:
    Rove is sabotaging McCain’s campaign justlike he did in 2000.

    An interesting idea, but implausible. An Obama DOJ could well put Karl Rove in prison. There’s plenty to charge him with. And counting on Junior to preemptively pardon him would be a hella risky thing for Rove; Rove isn’t part of Dubya’s class, and junior might hang him out to dry in a fit of pique.
    _______________

    Unless Rove already has assurances he’ll be pardoned. Furthermore, Rove has more value to the GOP than Bush does now, just as the GOP has more value to Bush now than Rove does. It’s kind of a Mexican standoff, but if Bush expects a lot of post-Administration speaking engagements, with lickspittles rewriting history to make his agenda as full and robust as his stuffed “mission accomplished” codpiece, he’ll have to play some ball, too. Promise to pardon Rove, Rove sabotages the McCain campaign, and it’ll be that much easier to pass the sins of W’s Administration off on Obama’s, whereas a McCain term will be the same as a third Bush term, and his status as the worst president evah will be a certainty.

    I’d like to think I’d never be the kind of scumbag Bush is, but if I were in his shoes, and had his temperament, and were given that option, that’s what I’d do.

  • Yes, but the media prints it as truth because McCain said so…they don’t even bother to check the statements out for truth, just continue to report what McCain says as if that’s the way it is.

    Just like when Bush smiled at the debates and said Kerry liked to exaggerate when he stated that Bush said he wasn’t that interested in finding OBL…a blatant lie and the proof was on video…but the video wasn’t available right then so he gets by with it.

    McCain realizes he can lie at will without consequences. The MSM knows very well the truth about why Obama didn’t ‘publicly’ visit some wounded vets denied by the Pentagon. They know the use of cameras was never on the table. Still they say nothing. How does that rate on the positive or negative media scale when the truth is overlooked and the lie is allowed to flourish??

  • Slappy

    I think you are underestimating Bush’s sense of entitlement. He’ll expect the GOP and its ultra-rich donor class to do for him (starting with a presidential library fit for a pharaoh). Rove is part of the help. I’d not be at all surprised if Junior doesn’t give him a pardon.

    And it’s too clever by half to imagine that the GOP would intentionally throw the election. There’s WAY too much patronage at stake, and lots of people all the way up and down the line who face legal jeopardy, most of whom aren’t anywhere near big enough fish to even think about a presidential pardon. Make no mistake, they need to win, bad. But the smarter ones are figuring out it ain’t gonna happen.

  • ” the ad over the hospital visit… hardly will resonate with the swing voters…

    Really? Swing voters? The people who are too slow to have figured out who to vote for? They’re more suggestible than Bib Fortuna. Wave a Jedi mind trick in front of a swing voter and he’ll believe Obama put the soldiers in the hospital.

  • McCain needs to be bitch slapped back to reality. He is turning into a joke, a liar and a fool.

  • The color is Orange @2 said:“…I’ve been hearing that a lot of late. “Oh that’s not the real John. The real John is a nice, honorable man.” …

    And we hear the opposite a lot as well – usually from the Right-wing-nuts – : “Obama is all talk and pretend, but he’s really a Muslim in disguise, really, it’s true, it’s been on (Fox) TV, and Rush told me so”

    Which results in what RacerX said @ 9:… The problem is that these wildly inaccurate swings of the bat actually hit their target, even when they’re totally bogus, hence the large number of people who actually believe Obama is a Muslim.

  • Since Obama was visiting Germany, ad McCain tried to trump him by visiting a German shop in Ohio, I’ll quote another famous German; Otto Von Bismarck…

    “People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, or before an election”

    Doesn’t that pretty much describe the McCain campaign? Not to mention, the entire Bush administration.

    Here’s another famous politician from yesteryear; Joseph Stalin who once proclaimed:

    “It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”

    Next time the McCain camp starts throwing around accusations of Obama acting like Hitler and/or Stalin, they may think first about what happened in Florida in the year 2000. In other words: Republicans use fascist and communist tactics.

    I also agree with Grumpy in not trusting swing voters, or so called ‘undecided’ voters. If you are still not convinced who to vote for by now, you should stay home, because you’re more apt to vote for McCain which would be a shame because of all the lies.

  • McCain is a sleazeball, just like Bush and Rove, et al. He will do and say anything to win the election. McCain is an old man who can’t remember what he said last. He should crawl back under the rock he came from, he is a real piece of shit!!

  • “Rove is part of the help. I’d not be at all surprised if Junior doesn’t give him a pardon.”

    He can’t afford NOT to give him a pardon. Rove knows too much and knows how to publicize
    it–in spades.

  • These are all standard Rove techniques, familiar from past campaigns. What is odd is how utterly farcical they have become.

    Take, for example, McCain’s infamous “celebrity” ad. This uses the standard Rove trick of making a strength into a weakness: Obama is a rock star, make that look bad.

    But comparing Obama to two white, blond, female, empty-headed, uneducated, lazy, out-of-control, inarticulate, young publicity hounds? Not even on the same planet. McCain is a lot closer to Bozo the Clown, especially in age and facial expressions.

    The ad also features Obama speaking to huge, adoring crowds in Berlin. Does the McCain campaign really want to remind everyone of Obama’s picture-perfect European tour? And doesn’t it realize that Americans really love celebrities?

    The Rove machine used to generate terror and destruction. Now it just seems lame. What happened?

  • I am afraid, very afraid, that these negative attack ads will find their mark. I can’t bear the thought of another eight years of a neocon presidency, but these smear tactics have worked before (Swift Boat Veterans for Truth) and they could work again. What is seriously upsetting is that the average American does not take time to read the news or become acquainted with the issues; therefore, they are much more likely to succumb to false information, such as Obama is a Muslim. The God/guns crowd is very much a voting presence. I took the time to read the blogs on McCain’s website – and they are so vituperative and hateful. I just hope we all have what it takes to propel Obama into the White House for what I know will lead to tremendous successes for our country and its citizens.

  • Don’t fool yourselves. Hate politics works. “Going negative” is wildly successful. KKKarl Rove’s gang has a very good shot at pulling it off again. Latest polls show McCain GAINING in the “battleground” states – based on these negative ads?

    My father is a life-long Democrat, but I know he will vote for McCain. The sad fact is he is scared to death of any non-white, but especially Blacks, and would vote for a bucket of vomit before he voted for a Black man – the negative ads help him justify what he knows in his heart is wrong, but it has to be rationalized somehow.

    Never never underestimate ignorance, laziness and bigotry, especially supported by hate TV and radio.

    … and very definition of the word “conservative” includes “…resistant to change…”

    Make sure you get out, and get your friends out to vote!

  • I think Obama has done an excellent job in counter-punching the McCain ads. He has turned it around on Gramps and made him look like a fool, so I hope republicans stay the course.
    One commentator on MSNBC put it best. He said, “When you put the ads side-by-side it makes Obama look like the adult and McCain child-like.

  • “the negative ads help him justify what he knows in his heart is wrong”
    Sad, may be all McCain needs to keep the country Bushian.

  • Most of the time, if you are dumb you don’t know it. So I think some enlightenment is needed:

    You are a dummy (“Low Information” voter), i’ll just list a few, if:

    1. You don’t fact check (as in both candidates veterans issue record, you will be scarily surprised)

    2. You think Obama is a Muslim

    3. You think Obama “Blew Off” wounded soldier because of a denied photo opp

    4. Your tax will be lower with McCain (or if he even has a economic “get well” plan)

    5. You think McCain represents “Change” for this country

    See the trend here???????????

    Don’t be a dummy- check the facts; don’t believe the media, research the issues for yourself!!!!!!

  • The all- important swing voters are “swing” because they wish
    to imply that they’re still studiously researching the comparative
    difference between the two candidates. What is there really to
    compare? You’ll have to guess for whom I’m voting. hipo

  • Many of you have probably seen Steve Beren’s article on the Huffington post labeling McCain’s campaign “Pinata Politics”. If not, its a good read and made me question why there is no rebuttal from our camp for the list of offensive swipes McCain has taken. Where is the DNC for example? Axelrod? etc? Then I realized that rather than ask these questions to my fellow canvassers, I needed to be asking these questions of the campaign itself. So here it is – just my opinion:
    As a seasoned politico (snark) I remember the most important rule learned in the 1992 campaign ‘silly season’ was “Hit back, Hit harder, Return to the issues”. The last two presidential elections have woefully ignored this rule, and heartbreakingly lost to the most corrupt regime in our nation’s history (but that subject is for another blog). It’s simple, really. Out here in the heartland, people want to vote for someone who will stand up for them. So they assume that if a candidate doesn’t stand up for him(her)self, then a) the accusation must be true, or b) if (s)he won’t stand up to fight this lie, (s)he won’t stand up for me.

    It will be no surprise to many of you that most people don’t pay attention to the politics of America the way we do. Not many will hear the quote from McCain advisor Rick Davis that “McCain doesn’t speak for the campaign” – but most will certainly hear the “Paris” ad through free media supplied to McCain by the MSM. So the following is what I want to see for our campaign response.

    Steve Behen has graciously written the script for us should we choose to accept it. I want to see McCain blind-folded wildy swinging a bat at the pinata while the baritone voice reads the list. I want the MSM to salivate over the “hit” on McCain. I want the 24/7 free media to analize the ad adnauseum. Politics ain’t beanbag, folks.

    Hit back, Hit harder, Return to the issues. Until then, the silence is deafening.

    Thanks for reading. Obama 08

  • McCAIN HAS GONE TO FAR WITH HIS WILD AND UNTRUE STATEMENTS AGAINST OBAMA. HE’S LET THE CARL ROVE’S SPIN MASTERS MAKE A COMPLETE ASS OF HIM. I,FOR ONE,HAD REALLY CONSIDERED VOTING FOR McCAIN,BUT AFTER ALL THE NEGATIVE AND FALSE STATEMENTS AND ADS,I WILL NOT VOTE FOR HIM. I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ALL THIS GARBAGE,I WANT EVERY DISCUSSION TO BE ABOUT THE HUGE PROBLEMS THIS NATION FACES NOW AND THE FUTURE.I WANT REAL AND WORKING SOLUTIONS BROUGHT FORTH FOR THESE PROBLEMS. I’M SICK OF McCAIN AND HIS JUVENILE MINDED CAMPAIGN.

  • I am relieved that someone finally revealed the evils that out of context statements out of context and cheap shot slogans tend to hide the truth. More details should be reported and repeated again and again so that eventually, even the blind hard right republicans may get the message.

  • WHY FOOL OURSELVES?

    There isn’t going to be an election. Or if there is, it will be nullified when Bush declares martial law. Look for another false flag terrorist attack to justify Bush’s lockdown, he won’t CALL it martial law but that’s what it will be. Just for the duration of the emergency of course, which will make Bush Commandant for Life. Watch and see it unfold before your eyes.

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