archives

Good roundup from dday at Digby's place about the Obama campaign's plan to push back against this year's Swift Boat book. Unlike the Kerry campaign, Obama is hitting back immediately and demanding equal time:

Obama advisers say that whenever they hear that Corsi has been booked for an appearance on a network program, they are quickly contacting the program's producers to rebut the book's charges in phone conversations and giving them a whole run-down of past Corsi quotes that are controversial.

Obama aides also vow to insist that the producers allow them to have on a campaign surrogate to attack the charges, and are expecting to recruit more campaign surrogates, well plied with talking points, to push back against the book.

It really shouldn't be hard to discredit a conservaloon who claims that "President Bush is pursuing a globalist agenda to create a North American Union, effectively erasing our borders with both Mexico and Canada" (Human Events).

Has someone been reading Paul Waldman? Here's Obama's statement yesterday on the 73-year anniversary of Social Security (barackobama.com):

The Bush privatization plan that Senator McCain now embraces would tell millions of elderly Americans that they're on their own, putting them at risk of falling into poverty. That's not what this country is about.

It's time to reclaim the idea that in this country, we're all in it together. That is America's very promise — and Social Security's very guarantee. And it requires a President who will change the ways of Washington, protect the people's interests, and bring Americans together to meet the great challenges of our time. That is exactly the sort of leadership I intend to offer.

Fred Clark at slacktivist, your source for all things Left Behind, reports on McCain's clumsy attempt to woo Rapture-ready evangelicals:

The point of the ad — the entire and only point of the ad — is to suggest that Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, may be the Antichrist warned against in the pages of Left Behind. Take that message away and you're left with nonsense. Without the Barack Obama = Nicolae Carpathia subtext, the ad would consist only of something like "he's a famous leader ... but is he ready to lead?" Hunh?

Sadly for McCain, the Left Behind authors aren't playing along:

"I've gotten a lot of questions the last few weeks asking if Obama is the Antichrist," says novelist Jenkins. "I tell everyone that I don't think the Antichrist will come out of politics, especially American politics."

All McCain's left with is a broken dog whistle.