Wednesday’s campaign round-up

Bob Schieffer: I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down.

Wesley Clark: Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be President.

Bob Schieffer: Really?!

Me: Yes Bob. Really. Can we have a different moderator please?

I’ll continue to point out for the hand-wringers who get upset whenever they see mcCain ahead of Obama that in all the important states where McCain leads, he’s practically within the margin of error or just outside it, margins of 5% or less. In states Bush carried by double-digits. The ones he’s ahead in by more than that, no Democrat is going to carry every anyway.

All of which means that a solid campaign over the next 88 days can put Obama ahead in nearly all those states.

And as Zeitgeist pointed out so accurately, all we need is what Kerry carried in 2004, plus Virginia and Iowa. All else is gravy.

Although the good news is, Charles Gibson of ABC has been kicked out after that primary Obama-smear-job (or “debate”). Good riddance.

I agree with Ohioan. Ifill is really not a very good debate moderator, and she is a reflexive purveyor of conventional wisdom. I would prefer someone who would be challenging on substantive issues.

Obama’s strategy in the primaries was to hang back and let people get to know him while slowly gaining ground, pulling ahead only in the final days. It’s a little more difficult now since he started the campaign ahead, but he’s following roughly the same strategy. The registration numbers and polls in traditionally Red states look very encouraging. He needs to be tough while sticking to the high road though, a painful contortion. Let’s hope McCain crashes a few more Sturgis-type events. Too bad there’s no Spring Break before the election.

FreeProton said: “he’s a Fighter-Jet-Ridin’ Hanoi-Hilton-Survivin’ Straight-Talkin’ Wife-To-Nude-Beauty-Pageant-Sellin’ Maverick, so shut yer trap and vote.

I smell what you’re cookin’

Just saw #9. Man, would I ever like to have Birch Bayh as VP. Evan doesn’t much appreciate references to his Populist old man, which seems like a character deficiency. I’d sure be proud of him.

When McCain poses his rhetorical question about Senator Obama‘s readiness to lead by saying, “Is he ready to lead?”, the answer is obvious. Senator Obama has already been leading for several months. Both McCain and Bush are following Obama’s foreign policy recommendations on Afghanistan and Iraq. So if McCain and Bush are already following the leader, then, obviously, Obama is the leader. Q.E.D.

” Evan Bayh told the Indianapolis Star that Obama has not asked him to be on the Democratic ticket. Asked if he will be asked at some point, Bayh said, “I have no idea. You’d have to ask him.”

If you look closely, that statement is not as definitive as it first appears.

The latest Pew Forum poll shows a lot of Americans believing that they’re hearing too much about Obama in this campaign, and want to hear more about McCain

That’s what happens when both campaigns focus on Obama.

Someone did a search of the campaign websites and found that “Obama” was the most common word on both his own site and McCain’s.

TR nailed it, and I hope Obama caught this and uses it as well as he has used other things about McCain this week.

Btw, to use a baseball analogy, a really great pitcher who has four good pitches will, sometimes, in the early innings, not use one or two of them, or use them only as ‘waste pitches.’ So, when the game gets important in the sixth or seventh inning, the batter comes up saying ‘Okay, he doesn’t have his curve ball today’ (which does happen) ‘ all I have to look for is the fastball.’ Before he realizes it, three straight curve balls and ‘Strike 3, take your seat.’

Obama is a great pitcher.

Hey now, Jim @ #23, don’t be dissin’ Al like that! He was overcautious and over-managed during 2000, but look at the change he has made since then! I somehow doubt that Evan Bayh is capable of as much. Remember, all along, Gore had his environmental passion– recall the time that Bush Sr. referred to him as “Ozone Man,” saying that the country would be “up to [its] neck in spotted owls, but with no jobs for [American citizens].” Gore took bad advice from the Shrum/Brazile faction, and muted his own strong beliefs, but did not give up on them. His re-emergence with An Inconvenient Truth indicated that he is not just another cardboard politician . . . unlike Evan Bayh, who has yet to demonstrate leadership or vision on, well, anything. He is the good-looking son of a well-liked political figure, and that has been enough to fuel his political career, but– please, G-d, please– don’t let him near the national ticket. Evan Bayh is no Al Gore!!!!

Gwen Ifill’s questions to Cheney four years ago:

1. Vice President Cheney, there have been new developments in Iraq, especially having to do with the administration’s handling. Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, gave a speech in which he said that we have never had enough troops on the ground, or we’ve never had enough troops on the ground. Donald Rumsfeld said he has not seen any hard evidence of a link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Was this approved—of a report that you requested that you received a week ago that showed there was no connection between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein?

2. Tonight we mentioned Afghanistan. We believe that Osama bin Laden is hiding perhaps in a cave somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistan border. If you get a second term, what is your plan to capture him and then to neutralize those who have sprung up to replace him?

3. When the president says that Senator Kerry is emboldening enemies and you say that we could get hit again if voters make the wrong choice in November, are you saying that it would be a dangerous thing to have John Kerry as president?

4. Mr. Vice President, in June of 2000 when you were still CEO of Halliburton, you said that U.S. businesses should be allowed to do business with Iran because, quote, “Unilateral sanctions almost never work.” After four years as vice president now, and with Iran having been declared by your administration as part of the “axis of evil,” do you still believe that we should lift sanctions on Iran?

5. Mr. Vice President, the Census Bureau ranked Cleveland as the biggest poor city in the country, 31 percent jobless rate. You two gentlemen are pretty well off. You did well for yourselves in the private sector. What can you tell the people of Cleveland, or people of cities like Cleveland, that your administration will do to better their lives?

6. I want to read something you said four years ago at this very setting: “Freedom means freedom for everybody.” You said it again recently when you were asked about legalizing same-sex unions. And you used your family’s experience as a context for your remarks. Can you describe then your administration’s support for a constitutional ban on same-sex unions?

7. President Bush has derided John Kerry for putting a trial lawyer on the ticket. You yourself have said that lawsuits are partly to blame for higher medical costs. Are you willing to say that John Edwards, sitting here, has been part of the problem?

8. I want to talk to you about AIDS, and not about AIDS in China or Africa, but AIDS right here in this country, where black women between the ages of 25 and 44 are 13 times more likely to die of the disease than their counterparts. What should the government’s role be in helping to end the growth of this epidemic?

9. Without mentioning them by name at all, explain to us why you are different from your opponent.

10. Whichever one of you is elected in November—you mentioned those three electoral votes in Wyoming and how critical they’ve turned out to be. But what they’re a sign of also is that you’re going to inherit a very deeply divided electorate, economically, politically, you name it. How will you set out, Mr. Vice President, in a way that you weren’t able to in these past four years, to bridge that divide?

In the spirit of producing light-hearted and comical ads which the GOP seems suddenly so fond of, I have a suggestion for Obama’s olympic ad budget. Produce dozens of 15 second spots with a common theme – an angry old McCain look-alike attempting various olympic events. Grabbing his heart 5 seconds after the starting gun for the 100 meter dash. Doing a belly flop off the diving platform. Dropping the shot put on his foot. Completing a 5′ long jump head-first into the sand. Attempting a pole vault using a walking cane. Dead lifting a bar with no weights and dropping his Depends in the process. Etc, etc, etc. End each one with a different person laughing so hard they must gasp out the words “McCain – nice try but no thanks”.

Debate #1: Friday, September 26, at the University of Mississippi, moderated by Jim Lehrer Bill Moyers

VP Debate: Thursday, October 2, at Washington University in St. Louis, moderated by Gwen Ifill Rachel Maddow

Debate #2: Tuesday, October 7, at Belmont University in Nashville, moderated by Tom Brokaw Phil Donahue

Debate #3: Wednesday, October 15, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, moderated by Bob Schieffer Bill Maher

Fixed.

Bob Schieffer Bill Maher

Just testing

* The latest Pew Forum poll shows a lot of Americans believing that they’re hearing too much about Obama in this campaign, and want to hear more about McCain. — CB

Funny this should come up just today. Because just a couple of hors ago, my husband and I were discussing the way the two candidates are treated in the media. I was bitchin’ about the NYT article about the donors to Obama and pointing out where and how it was skewed.

So he mentioned watching Lehrer’s program the other day. He said Obama’s representative (Pena?) talked about Obama’s energy policy. “Quite detailed, and I don’t remember everything but it was very interesting” my husband said. “And then McCain’s representative (that Nancy photo-nauer or whatever) talked … about Obama’s energy policy and what was wrong with it. Not a word about McCain’s policy, though I’d have liked to hear something about it. And that ninny (interviewer) never stopped her, never asked what McCain’s plan was, nothing”

Smile. Due to this election, my husband is learning to be as critical of *presentation* as he is of the content. There’s never been anything wrong with his critical thinking but, being an American born-and-bred, he always assumed that he could trust at least *some* of the media. That may have been true in the past but it’s true no longer.