The "maverick" and the art of tut-tut politics
Having already logged nearly 27 years as a Washington politician, John McCain is clearly a master of the game. When it comes time to dish the dirt, he keeps his hands clean as he tut-tuts about the incivility of our politics. He looks
The "maverick" and the art of tut-tut politics
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
Having already logged nearly 27 years as a Washington politician, John McCain is clearly a master of the game. When it comes time to dish the dirt, he keeps his hands clean as he tut-tuts about the incivility of our politics. He looks good doing it – the Washington press generally loves it when he’s in pious mode on the high road – and, meanwhile, he gets to reap the rewards of the dirt being dished. Why pilot your own Swift Boat when it’s so much more attractive to condemn those who do it for you?
Case in point: His artful dance with North Carolina Republican leaders, who have fashioned a low-road, anti-Obama advertisement that is slated to air on statewide TV next Monday.
By the way, you’ll be seeing his choreography a lot during the months to come. It’s really a win-win for the presumptive Republican nominee; various GOP locals and conservative freelancers will chuck the muck at Obama - they're already doing it - and McCain will take the opportunity to tut-tut while the message circulates to the masses.
The North Carolina ad is officially aimed at the dueling Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Beth Perdue and Richard Moore, both of whom have endorsed Obama, but it’s actually a deft piece of guilt by association that ties Perdue, Moore – and, most importantly, Obama – to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s now-famous declaration of "God damn America."
Apparently, it’s never too early to play the jingoism/fear card. From the text: "For 20 years, Barack Obama sat in his pew, listening to his pastor… (Cue video clip of Wright’s cuss phrase)...Now Beth Perdue and Richard Moore endorse Barack Obama. They should know better. He’s just too extreme for North Carolina."
In response, McCain has played the tut-tut card. He sent a letter to the North Carolina GOP, and it says in part, "The television advertisement you are planning to air degrades our civics and distracts us from the very real differences we have with the Democrats. In the strongest terms, I implore you to not run this advertisement. This ad does not live up to the very high standards we should hold ourselves to in this campaign...we need not engage in political tactics that only seek to divide the American people. Once again, it is imperative that you withdraw this offensive advertisement."
But, as McCain well knows, it makes no difference whether state party leaders ultimately change their minds and shelve their plans to air it on TV. Who needs TV…when you already have YouTube? The ad is already out there, spreading the insinuation that Obama is an un-American weirdo who worshipped with a weirdo who scares white people.
The ad itself has been in the news since Wednesday, in part because the McCain people made sure that his letter of protest went public (along with an obligatory letter of protest from the Republican National Committee), thereby drawing press coverage. A classic example of how it works: the Raleigh News & Observer covered the story, with emphasis on McCain’s scripted indignation. Then it asked its online readers, "Should the state Republican party run a TV ad about Jeremiah Wright?" – and to help readers weigh the matter, it posted the YouTube link to the ad itself…which gave the state GOP exactly what it wanted, mass exposure of its message.
Meanwhile, yesterday, McCain was still tut-tutting, this time in remarks at a public event: "In the case of this North Carolina ad, all I can do is publicly state that is not in keeping with the tradition of the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan, and I will bring every pressure to bear that I can to stop it."
He knows full well that the toothpaste is already out of the YouTube on this one. But even if we take his indignant words and pious promises at face value, they do not measure up to real action. If he really intended to “bring every pressure to bear,” he could do a number of things:
He could declare that, unless the North Carolina GOP obeys his wishes, he will not set foot in North Carolina between now and November.
And that he will refuse to campaign for North Carolina Republican congressional candidates.
And that he will refuse to appear at any North Carolina GOP fundraisers.
But, of course, he has vowed nothing of the sort. Which is yet another reason why maverick requires quotation marks.
This is a preview of things to come. When Obama gets the nomination (yes, I said "when"), the reverend Wright stuff is going to go into constant airplay. We're going to hear about his middle name, how he is not slobberingly patriotic, how he supposedly "threw his grandmother under the bus" (an actual quote from a poster on this board), about how he's a secret Muslim (never mind that we're also being told that he's a radical Christian, the point is that he's "un-American"), how he's an "elitist" who is disdainful of the common person (even though he is from a far less privileged background than McCain), he didn't put his hand on his heart during the national anthem and that he doesn't wear a flag pin when he's sleeping. Get ready for another five months of this stuff, nonstop all the way to November. Watch how hardened people become over these flimsy attacks. We're going to see people behaving as if Obama wants to impose Sharia on our country.— p-diddy- Yeah, it is not an ad up to McCain's standards. I wonder what Obama's and Dick's reaction will be when the ads start about McCain's age....wait, haven't they already started? And what reality is it when a candidate vows not to campaign in a state....who would he be hurting. Would he hurt the state, or his own campaign? To me there is absolutely no sense in that comment from Dick. Further about Obama, anyone find it interesting he threw his white grandmother under the bus in his speech on race, but never mentioned his paternal grandfather, who remarked about his father's marriage to his mother that he was against it because he "didn't want the Obama name sullied by white blood". That is a direct quote from his book. McCain may be an angry guy, and he may tut-tut ads such as this in North Carolina...but at least we know who he is.— tom - wilmington, de
- It's this kind of ad that reminds you how sleazy the republicans really are. They will stop at nothing to stay in power(It's funny how good Ms Clinton is at this as well). They know that a lot of Americans are easily scared. It's been working for that idiot in the WH now for 7+ years. The facts are none of these candidates are "unamerican". Seems the actual issues don't even matter. Just make stuff up. It's a lot easier than working with the facts. The republicans know Mccain can't win unless they smear the democratic candidates. McCain wants to continue the Iraq war for decades to come. He wants to continue the upper-class tax cuts. The average American are not in favor of these facts. So, the republican leadership has to deflect attention from these facts. Only time will tell how stupid or easily scared the average American voter is. If there ever was a time for a change in course, now is the time. If you want things to continue the way they are, vote for McCain. If you don't, vote for the democrat. It's just that simple.— James TL
- It will not be easy nominating -- much less electing -- a black person as president in what is largely a racist country. Today, however, it's tacky to be overtly racist, so opponents have to find ways around it. Like saying that you don't think most people in your state are ready to vote for an African American. Or that they don't wear a flag pin in their lapel. Or something their pastor said. As to McCain and his age, I'd much rather see the campaigns battle it out on the significant issues, because the Repblicans would go down, and of course that's another reason why we'll get a steady dose of Muslims and madrassas. So, the Democrats have to suck it up and fight back, hard -- hit McCain on his age, his temper, his flip-flopping, his sucking up to agents of intolerance, the failure of his wife to make her tax return public, the Keating gang, every damn nasty thing we can find. Then let's see what happens.— Djoko Pritza
- Sadly mud slinging is an American tradition that goes back to John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Toss in Old Hickory to boot who was rummored to be married to a former lady of the night. What stuns is how badly Obombers brand has been trashed in just 3 months. He did not have the political sense to keep distance from Rev Write, he did not have the sense to stay away from the Weather Underground, he did not have the sense to distance himself from Retzko. In sound bite politics the best defense is common sense. Stay away from the fringe and you will be better off. Sadly the swiftboating the Donkey Party is giving him is a cake walk when the real competition comes. Perhaps he can go back to teaching at law school. One thing for sure he isn't going to be elected President.— vc bear
- Thanks for proving my point, vc bear.— p-diddy
- I JUST WANT TO SAY, THANK YOU PHILADELPHIA, FOR STANDING BY HILLARY CLINTON. IT WAS THE MORALLY RIGHT THING TO DO. SUBSTANCE SHOULD ALWAYS WIN OVER FLASH. Hillary has solutions and she is so anxious to show this country what we really CAN become when turned in the right direction and a leader with an enthusiastic vision for everyone. THANKS PHILADELPHIA! THANKS GOV. RENDALL! THANK YOU MR. NUTTER! THANK YOU MAYOR RAVENTHAL!— MostQualified-Is-Best-Choice
- Most-Qualified-Is-Obama, Most Philadelphians voted for Obama. You need to be posting on the Carlisle Gazette message board. I'd like to thank Hillary for authorizing the Iraq invasion. Way to come up big for us when it mattered!— p-diddy
- No, but Hillary took enough votes away from Barack to hurt him. I really would have liked to see that winning edge to be closer to 8 than 10. Apparently, Obama's campaign didn't forward any "street money". Some insiders claim that only a very small portion of SM goes into ward leaders pockets. Most of it goes for genuine expenses like buying lunch for (outside of) polling place workers & gas money for drivers taking people to polls. That's why they came up short (I didn't even see someone pushing Obama votes at my polling place in NE Philly). The Obama campaign WON'T make that mistake again (when they win the nomination) for the GE.— yobill626
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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