On Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 9:57 AM, Tom Wolper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There's a school of thought that a lot of peers of McCain have become > truly disappointed by the campaign the GOP has chosen to run and they > believe McCain personally is better than that. If Dave is of that > school, you could see the interview as holding McCain to the standard > of the man he knew. That's opposed to the school which says the noble > McCain is a sham and an illusion put out by an amoral opportunist. > > We like to believe our party system is symmetrical - if two competing > candidates switch parties overnight, the campaigns would look the same > except for the names on the campaign literature. So every > transgression is shrugged off as "both sides do it" or if one side > goes over the top, the other side should respond in the same way. From > what I observe, I don't believe the system is symmetrical today. The > Republicans run there campaigns according to a different playbook than > Democrats and each side will have to bring positive results and be > accountable to the party, the donors, and the voters. The Obama > campaign made a conscious decision not to match the sleaze of the > McCain campaign and if Obama wins that choice is justified.
I think you are exactly right about the source of Dave's irritation with McCain - Dave expected more from him during this campaign, and I think that was basically the thread underlying his line of questioning. I just wanted to slip in a quick promo for the Frontline election episode that came out last week. I think most people will find it fair and insightful. I don't disagree with the rest of what you write, but I think it is fair to add that Obama had the advantage this cycle that the relatively high road also played to his tactical and strategic strengths. A big chunk of the US electorate was always going to have less tolerance for outrageously negative campaigning under the picture of the first serious black candidate for President, so a super-sleazy campaign by Obama had much less upside. And Obama's appeal has been based on being a different kind of Democrat - a different kind of politician, which would be undercut by going super sleazy. McCain did have some of that second factor going for him too originally, but in order to get the nomination, and then try to re-energize his base, he had (or thought he had) to go hard right, and hard negative. As he started to fade in the polls he thought the only way he could get back in it was to go even more negative to win. I expect him to get even more negative before this is over. And he may yet be proven right, and the negativity may start having an effect. But if he looses, he will have to live with the lingering thought that if he had just had the courage of his convictions, and waged a more issue oriented campaign, he not only would have done less harm to the political process and his own reputation, but might actually have won. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Like TV only smarter. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
