What happened to "new politics"?

Question

Over a year ago, I listened to Barack Obama say that he'd never run a negative campaign or practice dirty politics. I thought to myself, "That's great. I'd love to see that; but I don't think he'll win that way." Apparently, at some point, he must have come to that same realization.

John McCain was asked by Pastor Rick Warren what makes a person rich, and he jokingly replied, "Well, how about five million a year?" The whole room got the joke and laughed right along. It seemed that the pundits didn't, because they latched onto it like a giant Indian bat.

And just a few minutes ago, I watched Obama intentionally misunderstand the comment, using it as a centerpiece of his acceptance speech. He also claimed that McCain had called the United States a nation of whiners, obviously referencing Phil Gramm's statement of a few months ago. What he failed to mention is that McCain immediately distanced himself from Gramm and his statement. He certainly never repeated or endorsed it.

I get that politics are politics, and it doesn't surprise me at all that Obama's gone negative. But how can he claim to still be the poster boy for a new kind of politics when he practices these kind of Rovian tactics?

More importantly, how can his supporters stand for it?

Answer 1

You were wrong and naive a year ago. Too bad you didn't read one of my posts about this subject then though it probably wouldn't have made a difference. Afterall I didn't have a cool song to back up my facts and I'm proud to say I never echoed the right wing talking points

The whole idea that Obama is radical change has never been based on anything substantial only beautiful but empty rhetoric. He's a mainstream Democrat who from his very first race played dirty and continued to do so ever since

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZnlKC5vp...

I greatly prefer Obama over McCain but no he's not big change but a professional politician who'll stop at nothing to win

Answer 2

You seem to forget Mr. McCain's heart-felt pledge to forego negative ads.  Did you complain about the half dozen negative ads that have come out in the past two weeks?

Let me guess, you'll take the typical Neocon line of claiming the McCain smears are "factual".

I haven't seen any negative ads from Obama.  I think he SHOULD slam McCain.

Answer 3

I don't know what McCain said, but these are very minor points if any of his comments were mischaracterized.  I think Obama did a great job describing his vision of America and comparing it to the Bush/McCain view.  Everything he said was totally accurate.

I think Obama overdid complimenting McCain for his service, patriotism, love of country, etc.  McCain abanoned his first wife when she was disfigured in an accident, and most likely cheated on his 2nd wife with a lobbyist.  There are allegations that his revealing of state secrets while a prisoner of war was done voluntary and not under torture.  McCain allowed Bush to assassinate his and his wife's character in 2000 without response.  This man used to be a "maverick" on some issues, now he has abandoned that and gone far right.  This is a man of little character.  He is currently running a very negative campaign because he can't defend his positions and can't win on the issues.  He better not continue the negative campaign against Obama or the Democrats will start talking about all this stuff.

I would suggest that you listen to the speeches at the RNC next week.  See how many times Obama's middle name is mentioned.  See how much time is spent discussing Obama's charisma, "celebrity", or supposed "lack of experience".  See how much time the Republicans talk about actual issues and compare their positions against Obama's and explain logically why their positions are better.  They can't justify their positions and won't discuss them.  The only actual views they will talk about will be wedge issues like abortion and same s*x marriage, important issues, but minor compared to everything else going on.  You will also hear Guiliani. who completely mismanaged everything leading up to 9/11 (and if he hadn't screwed up there would have been fewer civilian deaths and a lot less than 343 deaths in the FDNY), mention 9/11 about 20 times.

Answer 4

i have a feeling most of obama supporters

dont particularly care how he wins

as long as he wins

victory at any cost

integrity out the window

the new democratic party

say anything    do anything   to win

shows you how shallow obama is

Answer 5

I agree.  

Obama is doing what every other politician before him has done:  make a c**p-load of promises that he can NOT keep.  On one had, he compliments McCain, calling him patriotic, but then criticizing him.

I just switched the t.v. channel from his speech, to King of Queens, out of frustration.