I mentioned yesterday how McCain’s decision to play the Ayers/Rezko card would open the door for the Keating Five ad that Obama has been sitting on for months. Lo and behold, the Obama campaign has launched the website KeatingEconomics.com. It comes complete with a 35-second teaster video that is supposedly to lead up to a 13 minute video documentery on the scandal that’ll on live at 12 pm eastern tomorrow (something tells me that they didn’t just whip this up overnight). I suspect that Obama will begin to hammer McCain on this throughout the day tomorrow as well as at the debate Tuesday. This move could cause significant trouble for McCain, if it gains traction, since it serves to refocus the country’s attention on the economic issues that McCain is trying to get past. It’s going to be a crazy 4 weeks, that’s for sure.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsI_0bV2CZo&[/youtube]
Here’s the accompanying Politico exclusive.
October 5th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Haha, Keating is nothing compared to Ayers!
Ayers, BAIPA, Khalidi, 2nd Amendment, here we come!!!!!
October 5th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Obama will be able to reassure voters much more easily than McCain, and he’ll be able to attack McCain much more effectively than McCain will be able to do, in spite of the fact that McCain has better material to attack with.
Add to that the media being 100% in the tank for Obama and I think McCain could be in trouble with this exchange. The only thing that can change that is if 527′s pick up the slack and do the job for McCain that he can’t or won’t do himself.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
That’s what you get when you don’t have any platform to speak of. When you have no solutions. When you have no vision. No intelligence. When you’re so desperate for attention you pick an idiot Hockey Mom from Alaska for your running mate in these important times for our country. Lie about Obama, get bit. I’m a very happy Democrat.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
2: No way. Fannie/Freddie, infanticide, and Ayers will do the trick quite nicely.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Great show by Sean Hannity tonight.
Obama and Radical Friends:
Part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_ze5pTGPBk
Part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiRfEWENn6s
Part 3 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdzyhy1Pvkk
Part 4 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSviGmxja7M
Part 5 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx3hLr70d9I
October 5th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Bill Kristol, who interviewed Sarah Palin earlier by phone, is reporting tonight:
And I guess we’ll soon know Obama’s call on whether he wants to bring Brickner and Muthee up – perhaps at his debate with McCain Tuesday night. Who said ensuing landslides can’t be interesting? Get yer popcorn…
October 5th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Well, it would be stupid for Obama not to bring this up…considering McCain’s past and what is going on right now. I doubt they put much money behind it though, sounds more like a one day act to drive Ayers off the cable news.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
I just read about Brickner and Muthee. I think Wright still takes the cake. Or it could be a wash.
Brickner/Muthee vs. Wright — cancel out
Keating 5 vs. Fannie/Freddie — cancel out
Unrepentant terrorist Ayers wanting to blow up the Pentagon and stomping on an American flag cancels out with nothing.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Obama’s response shows that the smears are getting to him. Maybe the right move, but it undermines his good-guy persona.
Also: Am I the only one that wants to win on issues, not smears?! I want a Republican in the White House, yeah, but I want one that got there with honor! If done well, we can totally win the economy debate. I don’t understand why McCain is shying away from that so much.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Will,
It is almost impossible to win on issues, due to the pro-Obama media.
Anybody: how can we hold the media accountable? Can we somehow sue them or bring them to court for their lies?
October 5th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Stephen F. Hayes: On Palin and Ayers and the Media
October 5th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
#8:
The Dem’s brought this up. If they really want to play guilt by association then I say Bring It On. McCain has Keating, Obama has Fannie/Freddie, Rezko, Wright, Ayers, ACORN, the list goes on and on. If this is what it takes to expose Obama as a radical corrupt, ultra-liberal, slime ball, then so be it.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I’ll be honest: I have a lot of trouble believing that Obama is the “radical corrupt, ultra-liberal, slime ball” you say he is (I’ll give you ultra-liberal). He’s a Democrat. That’s it. That’s why he shouldn’t be president. The Ayers and Rezko stuff is completely distracting, just as ridiculous as bringing up Keating Five.
It feels like everybody on this site believes America is a fundamentally conservative nation, and that’s why we’re here – a proposition I agree with. Yet at the same time everyone, including McCain, wants to hide their conservatism behind petty smears and personality conflicts between Obama and McCain. Don’t be hypocritical, and don’t act like a pansy as soon as you hear “the media.” Conservatism is stronger than this.
This is why I loved DaveG’s post right after this so much; we need a smart, efficient, logical conservative.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Will – I agree, but we also need more compelling policy ideas than McCain has offered so far. Or maybe it’s a matter of weaving it in to a new narrative that goes beyond just calling yourself “maverick” (what does that mean, anyway, that conservatism is bad?). Obama is right in a sense that McCain’s focus is “out of touch” with what people are looking for right now. No one cares about earmarks or the surge at this point, they want economic relief, and absent a serious program from either side, they will naturally side with the Democrats who have the edge right now.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
WiseGuy, I agree with Will — I want issues, also. You can always win with issues, because the voters are listening. Give them the credit they are due. They saw the Friday debate and the winking, folksiness and all the other nonsense, and every single poll still gives it to Biden in fairly significant terms (and Palin remains, in many voters’ mind, as unprepared as ever).
I am still open to McCain (but getting very tired very quickly with all his nonsense and vapid VP). If he really cares about his country, as he professes, he will quickly get on board with the number one crisis and present the voters with an economic plan. If he can’t talk issues, especially economic ones, then he doesn’t deserve to be president and Americans don’t deserve him.
Senator McCain, I am listening!!!!
October 5th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
13 – so you’re saying McCain reverts to smears over issues because of his own incompetence? There’s an idea I can get behind.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
14 – Thanks for listening. Let’s hold out hope. Man, didn’t you have such high hopes for McCain’s campaign at the beginning? What makes me the most angry is that he has such a distinguished career in the Senate and as a politician previous to this campaign, and I have so much respect for him at his best…but you’re right, recently he’s been acting like “he doesn’t deserve to president and Americans don’t deserve him.”
October 5th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
keating is nothing because democrats exonerated mccain, and no one cares
October 6th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Not incompetence, just lack of imagination. They thought McCain’s image would carry the day and that they didn’t really need to offer a set of new ideas to move the ball forward. Well, that was especially necessary after Bush, because people associated him with the standard Republican ideology even if he didn’t really represent it. Imagine for a second if someone like Gingrich or Ross Douhat was advising them and you’ll get what I’m looking for here.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Ayers is NOT distracting. Every American should know that Obama thinks that this man, who stomps on American flags and tried to blow up the Capitol, is a “moderate” (his own words). There are investigations concerning Ayers’ possible ghostwriting of Obama’s book. Mayor Daley said, “They’re friends. So what?”
Ayers is a bigger scandal than:
* Keating 5
* Monica Lewinsky
* Watergate
October 6th, 2008 at 1:44 am
I find it hard to believe the McCain camp hasn’t been preparing for the Keeting issue to arise since early in the campaign.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:50 am
So according to Obama it’s a “distraction” whenever his opponents level any sort of attack against him — it shows that they’re more interested in mud-slinging than talking about the issues. But it’s totally cool for him to make the same sort of attacks.
As for the Keating 5, that was ages ago. I’m not sure if Obama’s capable of coming up with a successful attack ad explaining that whole mess in 30 seconds. (The GOP has the same problem trying to blame the current financial situation on the Democrats.) But even so, it seems to me that McCain should just say that yes, he screwed up, but he’s been very candid about that fact and since the Keating 5 scandal he’s been Washington’s biggest advocate for campaign finance reform. He should recommend that Obama be just as frank about his own associations with folks like Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson.
maybe he should explain to voters why he’s taken in so much money from Fannie & Freddie
October 6th, 2008 at 1:58 am
#21: Heh… My last line there was meant to be deleted.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Very good news!
http://www.latimes.com/business/custom/admark/la-na-trailnra4-2008oct04,0,785465.story
NRA’s going to dump $40 million worth of ads in crucial states like Ohio, Florida, and Virginia.
They’ve already been doing it in Colorado and New Mexico. So that’s why Colorado has been shifting back to McCain!
October 6th, 2008 at 4:11 am
The war begins! I’m putting my money on the admiral, not the guy who has promised that he will pal around with snakes (Ahmadinjad, Chavez, etc.) after he is elected, like he did before he was elected (Ayers, Wright), and thinks they won’t come back to bite him.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:28 am
new mccain ad that plays obama’s own words about air raiding villages and killing civilians: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjEKRIBDv6Q
October 6th, 2008 at 6:35 am
I don’t understand why McCain is shying away from that so much.
…you don’t? How about his making the comment in the beginning of the race that econmy is not my strong point? Incredibly stupid comment to make, for a presidential candidte…one that cannot be expunged without a lot of blowback…
October 6th, 2008 at 6:56 am
26… I might be optimistic, but I’m hoping that McCain is a good poker player and is holding back fire until it can inflict the most damage
October 6th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Great, this means it’s going to be smear month until the end of the election. It’s disappointing at best.
McCain needs to go public and discuss the Keating 5 scandal in a very public interview. Very public. Discuss all the facts, do an on-air mea culpa, the whole nine yards. He needs to do this ASAP before Obama reframes the discussion without his input.
October 6th, 2008 at 8:52 am
McCain’s already had his mea culpa over the Keating scandal. It’s old news.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Has the McCain campaign responded with a website and ads detailing the Obama-Franklin Raines-Fannie Mae connection AND the Obama Wall Street, Hedge Fund, Goldman Sachs connections? If not, they should. There is A LOT there.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Ex-generals misled by pro-Obama video