 |
 |
   Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gnter Grass still thinks reunification was a bad idea.
 Forty years of writing from Taylor Branch, James Fallows, Katherine Boo, Marjorie Williams, Joshua Micah Marshall, and more.
 With help from Washington, the for-profit college industry is loading up millions of low-income students with debt they'll never pay off.
 The best recent memoir from republican Washington is a hoax. That should tell you something.
|
   |
|
|
October 31, 2008
STRETCHING THE MAP JUST A LITTLE MORE.... The notion of stretching the map was never about downplaying the significance of Ohio and Florida -- they remain the two biggest battlegrounds -- but it is about making the list of swing states longer than two. With that in mind, it's striking to see where the Obama campaign is investing resources now.
It's one thing to open offices and organize volunteers in these states, but we're talking about television advertising in the last four days of the campaign. Now, it's possible this ad buy is intended to psych McCain out. Or maybe the Obama campaign has already bought up every possible slot in all the other battleground states, and was looking for new ways to spend what's left of its ad budget. Either way, who would have thought in say, June, that Obama would air TV ads in Arizona, Georgia, and North Dakota in the campaign's closing days? Asked about Obama's new ad buy in Arizona, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds called it a "waste of his resources." Perhaps. But if it's foolish to "waste" money in Arizona, why did McCain and the RNC launch anti-Obama robocalls in the state this week? —Steve Benen 11:09 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (20)Comments
I'm thinking that Tucker Bounds is somewhat of a waste of resources. Posted by: grape_crush on October 31, 2008 at 11:12 AM | PERMALINKA brand new election, wherein Obama is Reagan and McCain is the Soviet Union. Posted by: TRNC on October 31, 2008 at 11:13 AM | PERMALINKI think the GOP spending money on McCain and Palin is an absolutely wonderful waste of resources. More money from the GOP to shore up McCain, please, please! Posted by: on October 31, 2008 at 11:17 AM | PERMALINKOne of my fundraising e-mails from the campaign said that they're going to be advertising in Montana, where McCain is now up by only 4 points. Posted by: Mnemosyne on October 31, 2008 at 11:17 AM | PERMALINKIt would be nice if next Wednesday all the Democratic consultants who've been using the "50 percent plus one" strategy, who caused Gore and kerry to lose their elections, and who have been telling Democrats for years that they need to "move to the center" would apologize to the country for inflicting the Bush administration upon it, announce that they were wrong and that they would be seeking useful employment in another field. Instead, I'm afraid that they will take over for the out-of-work Republicans as lobbyists for the financial industry, defense contractors and the oil corporations. Skakespeare was wrong. It's no the lawyers that need to be taken care of, it's the political consultants. Posted by: SteveT on October 31, 2008 at 11:21 AM | PERMALINKI think the GOP spending money on McCain and Palin is an absolutely wonderful waste of resources. Yeah, but wasting taxpayer dollars on the McCain-Palin campaign is wasteful spending at its worst!!! Posted by: Danp on October 31, 2008 at 11:36 AM | PERMALINKIt's fine for Obama to spend in AZ, particularly to "psych" McCain out, but I'd rather see him spend resources AND TIME to assure that Democratic challengers in Senate races in MN, GA, MS, NC, ME and other places are successful. New Dem faces in the Senate, replacing old Republican ones, would really help Obama achieve his agenda. Winning AZ is just vanity. Posted by: Mauimom on October 31, 2008 at 11:37 AM | PERMALINKMauimom: not necessarily. There are two opportunities for picking up house seats in AZ, including a chance to knock of John Shadegg, one of the most prominant conservative Repubs in the House, and AZ-1 (leaning Democratic), as well as two seats we picked up last election that will need to be defended. A strong Obama wave could pick us up 2 additional seats. Posted by: Norsecats on October 31, 2008 at 11:47 AM | PERMALINKIt would be nice if next Wednesday all the Democratic consultants who've been using the "50 percent plus one" strategy, who caused Gore and kerry to lose their elections, and who have been telling Democrats for years that they need to "move to the center" would apologize to the country for inflicting the Bush administration upon it, announce that they were wrong and that they would be seeking useful employment in another field. It would be nice. Unfortunately, Rahm Emanuel's apparently seeking useful employment as Obama's WH chief of staff. I hope Obama knows what he's doing there--am sure it's all about maintaining good relations with the DLC and having these folks pissing out of the tent, but Emanuel's a diva and not particularly trustworthy. New Dem faces in the Senate, replacing old Republican ones, would really help Obama achieve his agenda. Winning AZ is just vanity. From a Senate point of view it is--and I agree that the Senate's our priority--but Arizona's House delegation may go majority Democrat this year, and I imagine Obama can help with that. Posted by: shortstop on October 31, 2008 at 11:50 AM | PERMALINKThe best thing about an Obam win - Fewer "Tuckers" Obama buying TV ads in Arizona for the last 4 days of the campaign? This is very good news ... for John McCain! Because it's always good news for John McCain! Posted by: Dan M on October 31, 2008 at 11:57 AM | PERMALINKbut it is about making the list of swing states longer than two It's also about the future. Win or loose in these 'red' states this cylce, the Democrats now have organizations, donor lists, volunteer lists, boots on the ground. These are resources that can be tapped to help in the 2010 cycle and beyond. An organization that can support down ticket and local elections. The DLC run Democratic party badly neglected state party organizations (one of the reasons Dems lost so much ground in the congress despite having a popular President as a draw). Dean and Obama are finally correcting that mistake. All politics is local. Posted by: thorin-1 on October 31, 2008 at 12:01 PM | PERMALINKWhen I was little, I had a humongous crush on Tucker Fredrickson of the NY Giants: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker_Frederickson After that, I always loved the name Tucker, until all these creepy little Republican frat turds came along. As for Obama's money, I'd rather see him use it to support down-ticket races than run up the score with ads in places like Arizona. Re: Arizona - it's also about continuing the support of the Democratic base in the State. McCain's robo-calls have activated the Democrats even more. People are upset! Ads would reinforce their activities and really help down the ticket candidates. I have to say I'm pretty comfortable with the decisions the campaign has made regarding advertising. Perhaps Tucker should spend his time 'advising' the McCain campaign. And why do they react to every single little thing. That's part of the McCain's campaign problem. In addition to two lousy candidates of course. Posted by: lisaintexas on October 31, 2008 at 12:09 PM | PERMALINKRe: Arizona - it's also about continuing the support of the Democratic base in the State. McCain's robo-calls have activated the Democrats even more. People are upset! Ads would reinforce their activities and really help down the ticket candidates. I have to say I'm pretty comfortable with the decisions the campaign has made regarding advertising. Perhaps Tucker should spend his time 'advising' the McCain campaign. And why do they react to every single little thing. That's part of the McCain's campaign problem. In addition to two lousy candidates of course. Posted by: lisaintexas on October 31, 2008 at 12:09 PM | PERMALINKI hope Tucker has some job opportunities lined up outside of the political arena, because he obviously sucks as a political campaign spokema. Oh wait, forgot. In the republican dimension, failure is grounds for promotion. Posted by: citizen_pain on October 31, 2008 at 12:17 PM | PERMALINKAttack! Attack! Attack! We asked for it. The ads in Arizona are salvos into the heart of camp McCain. The old man is insulted and turning rabbies-red right now... Posted by: koreyel on October 31, 2008 at 12:41 PM | PERMALINKNow that it seems everyone is optimistic about Obama winning, I'm back to being pessimistic. Don't get cocky, there are still plenty of Republican nuts out there, plenty of people who think socialism = Comintern = real and imminent threat... The point is, a final push in the opponent's base of operations seems dumb to me because it is basically the same as what the Bush campaign did in 2000 under Rove's direction - Bush spent the last day or two before the election in California. Sure, Bush became president, but if he had spent those last couple days in Florida he might not have needed to take it to the Supreme Court. It would be nice. Unfortunately, Rahm Emanuel's apparently seeking useful employment as Obama's WH chief of staff. I hope Obama knows what he's doing there--am sure it's all about maintaining good relations with the DLC and having these folks pissing out of the tent, but Emanuel's a diva and not particularly trustworthy. Agreed. I saw this on the news this morning, and my gut reaction was that it was yet another example of good political judgment: get a DLC-er out of a position of personal authority, especially one whose replacement in Congress would be appointed by a Democratic governor. You might be right about it being a sop to centrism, though. Hope not. Posted by: Cyrus on October 31, 2008 at 1:40 PM | PERMALINKLEt's hear it for the electoral college! A candidate pushes his resources beyond the agreed upon 6 or so official battleground and he's accused of wasting time and money. I hate our goddamn system... Posted by: Brian on October 31, 2008 at 4:30 PM | PERMALINKThe Repubs thought it was sooooo funny that Gore lost his home state. I bet they wouldn't think it's so funny this time.... Posted by: Thlayli on October 31, 2008 at 4:49 PM | PERMALINK
November 2009
October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 |
|
|
    |
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
