Rich: The Essential TPM
At Talking Points Memo, the essential blog vigilantly pursuing the McCain revelations often ignored elsewhere, Josh Marshall accurately observes that the Republican candidate is “graded on a curve.”
I'll second that from Frank Rich's vacation return column today.
Keep up the yeoman work guyz!!!
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Thanks for bringing this excellent article to our attention, John! Please, everyone, take a moment to click on Frank Rich's name at the top of the article and send him a brief message letting him know that we appreciate his bringing attention to the MSM's unwillingness to cover McCain with the same scrutiny that they give to Obama.
August 17, 2008 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
So.....
now that Frank Rich gave Josh Marshall a cookie and dumped a turd on John McCain, we love him.
Rahr, rahr, rahr...!
Who exactly is Frank Rich and who is he writing this for?
Nevermind, rahr, rahr, rahr...
August 17, 2008 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't care who the guy is, he is making a valid point and lately I have felt grateful for the guys on Fox who took a stand for their 'fair and balanced news'. I don't care who they are if they will put the truth out their, if even they can't deny how warped things are, I appreciate that. Some of the most effective critics of John McCain are his republican colleagues and his constituents in Arizona (a majority of them apparently don't feel he would make a good president). I say promote and share anything that can help get more facts into circulation.
August 17, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lalo, do you want red or blue pom poms today?
Did you see this?
July's NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll found that three in four Americans believe McCain can "handle" the role of commander in chief, while only 19 percent said he "cannot," compared to a 50 percent to 42 percent split for Obama.
When asked which party is more capable of "dealing with the war on terrorism," 40 percent of respondents to the latest NBC/WSJ poll said Republican while 29 percent said Democrat. The parties had been effectively tied as recently as January of this year, and the 11-percentage-point gap is the largest since 2004, the last year these numbers shifted so dramatically and, not coincidentally, the last presidential election year.
In July of 2004, Gallup found that the public equally trusted the two nominees’ capacity to serve as commander in chief. Just before the election, Bush had opened up an eight-percentage-point lead, 65 percent to 57 percent, over Democratic nominee Sen. John F. Kerry — a gap just one-third as large as that separating the candidates today.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080817/pl_politico/12592;_ylt=Aq_jw2TkaWFA_g5D7UQfNm0Gw_IE
August 17, 2008 8:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Billy, if they are from you, I'd be honored to have both.
As for the truly terrifying statistics you quote, didn't we all agree going in, that:
- national security was not going to be an issue we were going to compete on?
- Obama is transformational political figure who will bring hope and change?
Point being that if we didn't mind him competing on other metrics then, why do we mind now? What happened?
If we want to let the Republicans make this election about terrorism again, we can. If we're scared that we can't even influence that, then we'd fly in the arms of ANYONE who has something bad to say about McCain.
Fine. My problem with all of this is that it feels like desperation.
And I certainly don't think the working class base somewhere in the armpit of America is reading Rich's column in the New York Times.
Conclusion: it's not by sucking up air and flexing arms on stage that Obama will win over McCain. It's by pounding on what led him to win the nomination.
Now, gimme those poms poms.
August 17, 2008 9:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Obama is transformational political figure who will bring hope and change"
The convention is looking to be a tribute to the Clintons and the showcasing of the same old party hacks. I mean Jay Rockefeller and Harry Reid? Hope? Change? Transformational? Coma inducing more like.
August 17, 2008 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please, bluebell. Convention is nothing more than free advertising on prime time TV. It's a group hug that gets a little bump in the poll. It has nothing to do with what happens in November, and I think Obama would be wise not to expect a giant leap out of it.
August 17, 2008 9:12 PM | Reply | Permalink