by Mark Silva
TAMPA -- John McCain's campaign has played education professor and retired war-protest-bomber Bill Ayers against Barack Obama on the ground, at campaign rallies, on the air, in TV ads, and now on the phone - as part of the "robo-calls'' the Republican candidate's campaign is making in targeted states such as this one in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign.
At the liberal Talking Points Memo Webs-ite, they have assembled some of the McCain robo-attack calls, such as this one warning voters of Obama's relationship with Ayers - a University of Illinois at Chicago professor and erstwhile leader of the 1960s Weather Underground with whom Obama has served on civic boards in Chicago. Obama has condemned Ayers' Sixties' activities, events that took place when Obama was a child.
But now, the calls also warn, Obama and his Democratic allies want to give "civil rights to terrorist.'' That would be the right of habeus corpus for detainees at Guantanamo to take their cases to federal courts, which the U.S. Supreme Court has permitted. Obama supports it. McCain calls it one of the worst court rulings ever.
Some of the call-scripts, via Talking Points:
"You need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home, and killed Americans,'' a McCain robo-caller tells voters. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country."
"I'm calling on behalf of John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama and his Democrat allies in the Illinois Senate opposed a bill requiring doctors to care for babies born alive after surviving attempted abortions -- a position at odds even with John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama and his liberal Democrats are too extreme for America. Please vote -- vote for the candidates who share our values.''
"Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats got caught putting Hollywood above America. On the very day our elected leaders gathered in Washington to deal with the financial crisis, Barack Obama spent just 20 minutes with economic advisers, but hours at a celebrity Hollywood fundraiser. Where are the Democrats' priorities?"
"Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats aren't who you think they are. They say they want to keep us safe, but Barack Obama said the threat we face now from terrorism is nowhere near as dire as it was in the end of the Cold War. And congressional Democrats now want to give civil rights to terrorists."
Comments
That is really unfortunate, for our country and our democracy, that a former war hero would be so cavalier about our democratic ways. To simply mount a campaign of name-calling, character-assassinating and championing failed policies is to give America no hope, for her present or her future. That is the totality of Senator McCain's contribution to this years presidential campaign !! What a remarkable disappointment, almost as remarkable, as the disappointment of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney !!
Fortunately, America can do better and with the ticket of Senators Obama and Biden we have an opportunity to salvage America's reputation and her future. These two good Americans will serve America, unlike the Bush-McCain Republicans, who only served themselves and their cronies !! Come on, America, hop on board, to a brighter future and an administration, that will serve all of the people in America, not just the cult of Greed !! Vote for the Democratic ticket of Senator Obama and Senator Biden, they are the ticket to renewed faith in our great country and a better economy, for all !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | October 17, 2008 10:07 AM
The Dems really don't know how to respond to this type of tactic. If you respond "That's a lie", people who fall for negative attacks don't respond. And typically Dems negative attacks don't reach people on a core emotional level. You aren't going to see a "John McCain plans to throw you out of your house and give the money to the bank" ad.
Posted by: Karl | October 17, 2008 10:26 AM
McCain has been Doled and Gored by his staff. The man we are observing does not represent the noble warrior of the past. ...............
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/10/17/mccain-has-been-doled-and-gored/
Posted by: Ohg Rea Tone | October 17, 2008 10:43 AM
Glad I've got caller ID.
Posted by: Kenneth Janowski | October 17, 2008 10:55 AM
Winning dirty isn't what the country needs. Such a win does not provide a basis upon which to govern when you need all the people to support and wish you well.
Posted by: Frank | October 17, 2008 11:27 AM
Imagine McCain wants to warn us against Dems letting terrorists loose on our streets. We should just be ignorant in our bliss, like the media wants it.
Posted by: Tom | October 17, 2008 12:10 PM
Guess this one doesn't get my outrage meter into the red zone. At least they're being honest about being sleazy. Such ads aren't going to convince anyone that isn't already foaming at the mouth over the horror of an Obama presidency. Reasonable people recognize the slime for what it is and will count it against the McCain camp.
What they really need to work on is how to make it look like this crap is actually coming from the Obama camp. Two years ago people in the district Tammy Duckworth was running in got obnoxious calls that appeared to come from the Duckworth campaign. If you hung up immediately in frustration, you would assume that the calls came from Duckworth. If you waited to hear out the message, then you knew that it didn't come from Duckworth, but you had also then been exposed to the whole of the message sliming Duckworth. Brilliant strategy. That is, if decency doesn't matter to you, which it apparently doesn't to the Republicans.
Posted by: My Aunt Fanny | October 17, 2008 12:15 PM
Every one of these is very misleading and not true. It's sad the only chance they have is to lie their way into the office. Really speaks of the people involved in the campaign. I hope it doesn't work.
Posted by: MR FACE | October 17, 2008 12:29 PM
My Aunt Fanny,
Tammy Duckworth?....Didn't the RNC slime machine call her a CUT and RUN Democrat despite the fact she lost her legs fighting in a WAR for this country?
Posted by: justaskin | October 17, 2008 1:30 PM
justaskin,
Yeah, that was certainly one tack they threw at her. There wasn't/isn't much that the RNC slime machine considers out of bounds. Witness Max Cleland too.
I wish I could remember the gist of these calls that voters were getting. I just remember that the calls started off purporting to give information from/about Duckworth that voters would typically expect from a candidate's own campaign. These calls came several times a day, always at inconvenient times - dinnertime, bedtime, etc. Most people receiving the calls simply hung up in annoyance and assumed that the Duckworth campaign was harrassing them - not exactly the way to get people to vote for Duckworth, which was the point. But if you stayed on the line and listened to the whole spiel, it gradually and subtly shifted to misleading statements and outright lies, but still without saying that the call was actually against Duckworth, not from her. Sort of like blunders that you might expect an inexperienced candidate/campaign without proper campaign management to say for itself. It was only by the very end of the call that the smears got so bad that it was obvious who was actually behind the call, and by that time the listener had (hopefully for the GOP) already bought into much negative misinformation.
I hope I didn't give the impression that I approve such tactics. I did say they were brilliant, but in a very sick way.
Posted by: My Aunt Fanny | October 17, 2008 2:02 PM
The reason this wont go away is because Obama hasn't really addressed it. He puts up his strawman argument that he was eight when Ayers committed his acts. Fine. No one ever accused him of being complicit. If he held a campaign event in Charles Manson's cell, I would not suspect him of aiding Manson in his crimes. Rather, I would want to know what he is doing hanging out with Charles Manson.
What I want to know from Obama is if he knew of Ayers' background when he allowed him to hold a reception in his home. Obama's campaign issued a statement suggesting that he didn't, but the very fact that Obama used a buffer to convey this information makes me suspicious of it. I know that a state senate campaign has no where near the resources of his current campaign, but I find it difficult to believe no one on his campaign staff let him know Ayers' history before the reception. If he did know of his past, why would he choose to associate with him?
Finally, the arguments I see over this either claim the Ayers' relationship is irrelevant or determinative of why not to vote for Obama. It is neither. His character, which can undoubtedly be influenced by his associations, is at issue. Especially for a guy like Obama, who has really come out of no where. His past associations are one factor of many to take into account to judge his character, which is one factor of many to consider when determining if he can be president. Give it the weight it merits, no more, no less.
Posted by: Herbie H. | October 17, 2008 2:40 PM
If you look at all of Obama's connections.... they are ALL radical.
American's DO NOT WANT ANY PART OF IT and here is a new find for me today>
http://www.nextgenerationcorp.com/NextGenBlog/?p=68
Posted by: thank you mccain for phoning>here is my call to everyone | October 17, 2008 3:09 PM
While spending last week in Sarasota Florida on vacation, there were Obama negative campaign TV commercials slamming McCain every ten minutes on every channel I switched to. McCain's negative TV commercials, slamming Obama ran about every thirty minutes.
Posted by: Springfield | October 17, 2008 4:03 PM
This is why it is critical to stay focused on platforms and not let hype get to you.
It's either Obama or McCain and the platforms.
You either want a Socialist regime or a capitalistic society.
I'll take the old man yesiree.
Posted by: Lulu Zoe West | October 17, 2008 5:26 PM
FACE,
What part of the statement is untrue? "You need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home, and killed Americans,''
BO has worked closely with Bill Ayers. True
Bill Ayers was with an organization that performed all of the above acts. True
The abortions statement - True.
The time spent with Hollywood statement. True.
Every statement of fact is true. You can argue the conclusion statements such as: "And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country." But all of ths statement of facts are true.
Argue if it is a good campaign strategy, but the facts stated in the phone message are true.
Posted by: Terry | October 17, 2008 5:39 PM
You either want a Socialist regime or a capitalistic society.
I'll take the old man yesiree.
Posted by: Lulu Zoe West | October 17, 2008 5:26 PM
Yep, and If you want the Socialst Regime Vote for John Sidney McCain. He has vowed to nationalize every mortgage in the nation. He strongly supports the recent partial nationalization of the banks. He'll crush the power of the Capitalist banks and put the financial system firmly in the control of a wise paternalist government. Once the bank power is tamed, the rest of Industry will follow. His platfrom is clear. Capitalism has failed and he will replace the Capitalists with government Bureaucrats.
Vote Socialist. Vote McCain.
Posted by: Socialists for McCain | October 17, 2008 5:58 PM
As a teacher, this disappoints me on several levels. Obviously Mr. McCain did not learn about the "no name-calling" rule in Kindergarten. Guess the "no telling fibs about others" and the "be nice to others that are not like you" got tossed by the wayside during his many years in Congress. Ah heck, all those boys and girls up there in Washington are acting like some first day Kindergarteners....."That's mine!" greediness and tatte-taling beyond belief.....Oh well....another day in political paradise!
Posted by: Teacher | October 17, 2008 9:58 PM