Defeating McCain/Palin in Three Easy Steps
Atrios
and others have expressed some concern about Sarah Palin, but she is
the Clarence Thomas of VP picks. There's no way she's the most
qualified candidate, but she generates a lot of media hype, which is
McCain's forté. Unlike better-known women of the GOP, Palin won't
upstage McCain or threaten his position as Decider in Chief.
People are worried about charges of sexism and unflattering images of Biden attacking a pretty young woman, but this is easily remedied. Sure, Biden isn't the most tightly controlled speaker, but now he's on the best-run, Democratic campaign in a generation and he'll have lots of help. Notice Biden dropped his favorite exclamation - literally! - in Springfield - from his convention vocabulary.
1. Ignore Sarah Palin
Don't attack Sarah Palin at all. 3rd party groups can go after her on corruption, but that's not too important. Since she isn't a large figure on the national scene, there isn't much of an image to tear down. Attacking her would give her more stature than ignoring her.Surrogates can describe her policy positions without attacking her personally. She's a classic conservative on virtually every issue. And we can all agree that her selection as VP is historic - it's about time Republicans crossed this barrier 24 years after Geraldine Ferraro was the Democratic VP candidate. Kudos to Sarah, and shame on the GOP for taking so long.
2. Pummel McCain
The only McCain/Palin meme coming from Democrats should be that her selection means Republicans don't really believe experience in DC is all that relevant. Everything else should be an assault on McCain's positions, his argument with himself, his temper, his bad decisions, his flawed policy proposals, and so on. Stop calling him a hero. Every sentence that begins "We honor John McCain's service" should end with "unfit to be President."
When Joe Biden debates Sarah Palin, he should be polite and respectful to her, and attack McCain like a rabid mongoose. He can do it. Look at his convention speech, which had elements of charm and grace, followed by serious, thoughtful denunciations of McMaverick.
3. Pummel the GOP
This is not just the leadership, which has been inept, corrupt, and cancerous all at once, but the policies and underlying philosophy. Obama started down this path in his acceptance speech, talking about owning the failure of the "ownership society." That should be a constant theme.
That's it. Don't create sympathy and legitimacy for Sarah Palin by attacking her, just focus on McCain.
People are worried about charges of sexism and unflattering images of Biden attacking a pretty young woman, but this is easily remedied. Sure, Biden isn't the most tightly controlled speaker, but now he's on the best-run, Democratic campaign in a generation and he'll have lots of help. Notice Biden dropped his favorite exclamation - literally! - in Springfield - from his convention vocabulary.
1. Ignore Sarah Palin
Don't attack Sarah Palin at all. 3rd party groups can go after her on corruption, but that's not too important. Since she isn't a large figure on the national scene, there isn't much of an image to tear down. Attacking her would give her more stature than ignoring her.Surrogates can describe her policy positions without attacking her personally. She's a classic conservative on virtually every issue. And we can all agree that her selection as VP is historic - it's about time Republicans crossed this barrier 24 years after Geraldine Ferraro was the Democratic VP candidate. Kudos to Sarah, and shame on the GOP for taking so long.
2. Pummel McCain
The only McCain/Palin meme coming from Democrats should be that her selection means Republicans don't really believe experience in DC is all that relevant. Everything else should be an assault on McCain's positions, his argument with himself, his temper, his bad decisions, his flawed policy proposals, and so on. Stop calling him a hero. Every sentence that begins "We honor John McCain's service" should end with "unfit to be President."
When Joe Biden debates Sarah Palin, he should be polite and respectful to her, and attack McCain like a rabid mongoose. He can do it. Look at his convention speech, which had elements of charm and grace, followed by serious, thoughtful denunciations of McMaverick.
3. Pummel the GOP
This is not just the leadership, which has been inept, corrupt, and cancerous all at once, but the policies and underlying philosophy. Obama started down this path in his acceptance speech, talking about owning the failure of the "ownership society." That should be a constant theme.
That's it. Don't create sympathy and legitimacy for Sarah Palin by attacking her, just focus on McCain.
