Best Gaffe Ever
I can see why the Democrats are pouncing all over McCain's house gaffe. As Steve Benen put it earlier, it really is "manna from heaven" from a political perspective. The beauty of this particular gaffe is that it does work on several different fronts.
First, and most obviously, it underscores the economic message that the Democrats are trying to convey. We're in the middle of a major housing crisis and people are struggling to keep from losing their homes. The economy is the number one issue, and the Democrats are trying to paint McCain as being out-of-touch and unaware of the problem. Obama's sharpest ad over the last week was the one that played McCain's prior statements about the strength of the economy and asked: "How can he fix the economy if he doesn't even know it's broken." This gaffe plays beautifully into that theme.
Second, the gaffe badly damages the "everyman" image that all Republican presidential candidates, including McCain, try to convey. It's hard to imagine a more out of touch statement. Comedians will have a field day with it.
Third, it goes a long way toward neutralizing McCain's central attack theme: the "celebrity" charge. Who seems more like a "celebrity": Obama or the guy who has to ask his staff how many houses he owns? Maybe Paris Hilton can sympathize.
Fourth, the "can't remember" aspect of the gaffe--fairly or not--reinforces the age issue. Obama and his surrogates will likely shy away from that angle, but I guarantee you the late-night comedians won't.
Finally, the Republican response--trying to dredge up Tony Rezko--is pretty weak. Most Americans have no idea who Tony Rezko is and there's no proof at all that the Obama's did anything improper in their dealings with him (not to the mention the fact that McCain himself has a number of questionable past associations).
Over all, this is a fabulous gift to Obama and the Democrats and its timing couldn't be better. But for this gaffe, the political reporting today would likely have focused on concerns among Democrats about tightening poll numbers. Instead, every Democrat is gleefully on the offensive. Not only that, but with the convention coming up next week, the Democratic party will get a chance to ridicule McCain about this on national television over and over again.
Best. Gaffe. Ever.
UPDATE: I just about spit out my coffee when I read this retort from the McCain campaign:
First, and most obviously, it underscores the economic message that the Democrats are trying to convey. We're in the middle of a major housing crisis and people are struggling to keep from losing their homes. The economy is the number one issue, and the Democrats are trying to paint McCain as being out-of-touch and unaware of the problem. Obama's sharpest ad over the last week was the one that played McCain's prior statements about the strength of the economy and asked: "How can he fix the economy if he doesn't even know it's broken." This gaffe plays beautifully into that theme.
Second, the gaffe badly damages the "everyman" image that all Republican presidential candidates, including McCain, try to convey. It's hard to imagine a more out of touch statement. Comedians will have a field day with it.
Third, it goes a long way toward neutralizing McCain's central attack theme: the "celebrity" charge. Who seems more like a "celebrity": Obama or the guy who has to ask his staff how many houses he owns? Maybe Paris Hilton can sympathize.
Fourth, the "can't remember" aspect of the gaffe--fairly or not--reinforces the age issue. Obama and his surrogates will likely shy away from that angle, but I guarantee you the late-night comedians won't.
Finally, the Republican response--trying to dredge up Tony Rezko--is pretty weak. Most Americans have no idea who Tony Rezko is and there's no proof at all that the Obama's did anything improper in their dealings with him (not to the mention the fact that McCain himself has a number of questionable past associations).
Over all, this is a fabulous gift to Obama and the Democrats and its timing couldn't be better. But for this gaffe, the political reporting today would likely have focused on concerns among Democrats about tightening poll numbers. Instead, every Democrat is gleefully on the offensive. Not only that, but with the convention coming up next week, the Democratic party will get a chance to ridicule McCain about this on national television over and over again.
Best. Gaffe. Ever.
UPDATE: I just about spit out my coffee when I read this retort from the McCain campaign:
"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.I was wondering how long it would take them to mention that McCain was a POW. Answer: not long! John McCain: noun, verb, POW.
posted by A.L. at 1:00 PM
5 Comments:
The "prisoner of war" rebuttal for every argument is beginning to sound a lot like "a noun, a verb and 9/11."
The next thing Obama's campaign needs to do, is bring up the number of servants McCain needs to clean the toilets in those 8-10 houses.
You know Cindy isn't doing it.
I am impressed by your ability to articulate your observations so quickly. I think the same things you do, but I could never get such a well written blog post out so fast.
'how dare you impugn the economic credentials of John McCain, American War Hero! he was a POW!'
where is the relevance. were the North Vietnamese running economics seminars in the hanoi hilton or what?
grape_crush, in comments on a Time Magazine blog, embellished it as
"My friends, noun-verb-POW..."
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