Previously, I wrote about the benefits of Obama in announcing that he'd probably keep Gates. there's a reason for that. We all know Chuck Hagel secretly admires Barack Obama. Everyone knows that Colin Powell is feeling torn between his long-time friend and this aspiring figure on the rise. Former Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcraft? Huh, who's that? These three men are all realists who represent a weakened wing of Republican foreign policy- the moderate one.
It has been a tough month of July for many of us. We saw some blurring of the clear contrasts betweeen Obama and the Republicans with regard to FISA. Yes, it was disappointing, and we have more work to do on that issue.
But for everyone who was disappointed then, the tables have now turned. Obama's whirlwind tour of the Middle East and of Europe has so far shown a candidate who thinks, looks, acts and speaks like a Commander-in-Chief should.
We have seen that President Obama would restore America's stature in the world. We have seen that President Obama would make the right choice on Iraq and Afghanistan. We have seen that President Obama would have the respect of our Allies in Europe, of Israel and Palestine, and of our "frenemies" in the Middle East.
By contrast, we have seen that Senator McCain continues to make clear his lack of knowledge of foreign affairs in an ever more frenetic effort to blunt the Presidential momentum of the Senator from Illinois.
In the new NBC/WSJ national poll, Obama is up 6, 47-41. MOE: 3.1.
But...
But Obama’s lead over McCain expands to 13 points when third-party candidates Ralph Nader and Bob Barr are added into the mix — with Obama at 48 percent, McCain at 35 percent, Nader at 5 percent and Barr at 2 percent
Well, well, looks like our SEKRIT ATHEIST SOCHULIST MOOSLEM candidate's ideas are much more in the American mainstream than the American President America Has Been Americanly Waiting For.™
Yet when it comes to the issues, however, a solid majority — 60% — said Obama’s approach “is in the mainstream of most Americans’ thinking” while 45% described McCain’s views as mainstream. More than four out of 10 said McCain’s views are “out of step” while just under three in 10 said the same about Obama.
With McCain today accusing Obama of not caring about genocide and his accusation that Obama would lose in Iraq in order to become President, it seems perhaps that the All-American Maverick is becoming more and more a member of the fringe in American politics and society.
Effectively unchanged from the last poll. Not sure if it fully captures the effect (if any) of Obama's visit abroad. Full text courtesy of WSJ.com is below:
This story caught by Mark Nickolas over at Political Base deserves a lot more attention than it has received. It turns out that not only is McCain getting killed by the traditional media, his advertising campaigns just aren't working, either. Voters seem to be immune to the appeals of an angry, befuddled septuagenarian looking to preside over Bush's 3rd term.
Last year, Barack Obama got me excited because he offered the promise of a meaningful change in the Mideast policy of the United States. Finally, there seemed to be a politician who could end the kow-towing to Israel that’s ruined the position of the United States in the world.
You can criticize John McCain for a great many things. Media relations hasn't been one of them -- up until now.
Over the last eight years, McCain has taken pains to cozy up to the media. It proved to be a devastatingly effective strategy, as a tidal wave of glowing news reports allowed a broke McCain campaign to neutralize and overcome the immense cash warchests of Romney and Giuliani.
This relationship was McCain's most potent weapon against Barack Obama -- and his best chance of victory in November.
This week, John McCain did the unthinkable -- he threw his media allies under the bus for short-term political gain. Remember this decision well, for it likely marked the end of any hope John McCain had of winning the 2008 election.
As for McCain, well, not so much. His attempts at creating hip new catchphrases ("My friends," "Bomb Iran," "Where is that marvelous ape?" etc.) have fallen flat.
But, in the interest of fairness, I wanted to reprise the poll about Obama's scent from Monday. Please, weigh in on McCain's, um, bouquet:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Barack Obama is not the only presidential candidate who will be front-and-center in Berlin this Thursday. Well, sort of.
In the latest effort to counter-program Obama’s tour of Europe and the Middle East, the Republican National Committee will air radio ads promoting John McCain’s candidacy in three different Berlins: Berlin, New Hampshire; Berlin, Pennsylvania; and Berlin, Wisconsin.
Why don't McCain's campaign people just give Obama his week, let their candidate rest up, and come up with some brilliant PR moves next week when Obama's settled back in at home? Every day reveals more desperation, whining and stupid "pay attention to me!" gimmicks. This can't be helping the undecideds move his way, can it?
A lot of attention has been devoted recently to McCain's gaffes. It seems weekly, a different surrogate is poking him in the back and quietly correcting him in his ear. I'm not a huge fan of making a big deal over gaffes. Candidates have virtually every waking word recorded and much of the time they are speaking extemporaneously on a wide range of subjects. As such there are bound to be the occasional mistake, misstatement, or gaffe. However, sometimes a gaffe is not just a gaffe. And sometimes by dismissing statements as gaffes the media misses the larger story.
The McCain campaign has been attacking Senator Obama's patriotism in various ways. Here's a new ad from the Republican National Committee attacking Barack Obama for voting against funding the troops in May 2007.
"There are few votes as important as funding our men and women in uniform. But when our military needed necessary resources, Barack Obama failed to stand up."
This is a diary about how to run a voter registration drive. Specifically, it’s about how I run the all-volunteer voter registration drive for the Travis County Democratic Party’s Coordinated Campaign. It is intended to help all of you set up your own voter registration efforts, whether it’s you and a friend on a street corner, or a group of eager individuals at a community event. Read it, print out the text, email the link, however you think it can help. The key is for everyone to start registering voters.
To conduct a voter registration drive, you need three things:
Volunteers
Locations
Supplies
I’m going to cover each of these three aspects below. In the coming weeks, my fellow voter registration all-star casperr and I will post a few more diaries to help you all get involved with voter registration.
This is good timing, because today marks a major milestone in our Austin Vote for Change efforts: tonight we will register our 1000th voter. More on that, too.
First Read is teasing an MSNBC poll that says the following:
Here's one result from the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that will be released tonight at 6:30 pm ET on Nightly News and MSNBC.com... With the news that Iraq's prime minister wants the US to set a timetable for withdrawal, 60% of registered voters believe it's a good idea for the US to set such a timetable, while 30% say it's a bad idea.
Desperate for any type of press coverage for his irrelevant campaign during Obama's world tour, John McCain is turning to sadder and sadder publicity stunts to get anyone to pay attention.
This may be the worst of them all. A buddy of mine sent me this, and hopefully the MSM picks up on it soon.
Working to focus attention on his campaign while Democratic rival Barack Obama soaks up non-stop coverage for his Middle East tour, Republican nominee John McCain announced that he would be staging a dangerous stunt to signal his commitment to protecting America, promising to stay awake past 11 pm, eastern standard time, in a live broadcast from the den of his Washington, DC home on Wednesday.
