Governor Palin claimed on both Saturday and Sunday that Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and that he doesn't see the United States the same way that Americans see it -- in other words, he is un-American. Here's the link to a couple of her speeches about this:
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=10034385&ch=4226716&src=news
Look for "Palin renews Obama Attack" and "Palin criticizes Obama's terrorist connection"
What is at issue is Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers, who founded Weather Underground, a violent group during the Vietnam era. Both Obama and Ayers are from Chicago, and in the early 1990's, Bill Ayers held a meet-the-candidate event for Obama in his living room.
This is a new and vicious strategy on the part of the McCain campaign. According to Palin, "The heels are on, the gloves are off."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081005/ap_on_el_pr/palin_recharged;_ylt=AnGDgBcacQFb1CGyeKZTNwmyFz4D
The Associated Press, however, released an analysis yesterday, saying that, "No evidence shows they were "pals" or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career."
These attacks made by Palin have been criticized as being racially tinged. This is plausible, and I think the reason why is well described by the AP: "The fact is that when racism creeps into the discussion, it serves a purpose for McCain. As the fallout from Wright's sermons showed earlier this year, forcing Obama to abandon issues to talk about race leads to unresolved arguments about America's promise to treat all people equally."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081005/ap_on_el_pr/palin_s_words_analysis;_ylt=ArKvWt0X4oc2zLxwGWLXJ9th24cA
How big of an issue will race be in the next month? Are people taking Sarah Palin's accusations seriously or not?
One thing is sure: not all conservatives are happy to see this turn of events by the McCain campaign. Some believe it is entirely appropriate to judge a candidate by his past associations like this; others claim it's an exaggeration and that McCain appears desparate by doing this. He is at least hoping that it will help him to secure the win before the end of the general election season.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14324.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I've mentioned the attack tactics of both campaigns before, and how ugly the result will become. Sitting in East of Chicago, I saw about 7 attack ads in 45 minutes... both sides were contradictory, irritating, and completely negative. The negative ads, as we discussed in class, act as either preaching to the choir or turning people off to the campaign all together. Independents are rarely swayed in 30 seconds, so why do politicians even try with ads? All they're doing is energizes the base which already have their vote, so why not just stick to ads discussing why they're so awesome, rather than why the other guy isn't fit to lead?
I couldn't agree more. At this point, we know that Obama is "inexperienced" and McCain represents the "same old politics of Washington". All candidates are doing with these ads is meeting negative campaign expectations we all have. What they should be doing instead is in-form us about what they are planning on doing if elected. It seems like the only way to get real information is through the Debates, and that is just sad. With all the technology available to can-didates we should be getting bombarded with information, not accusations.
Post a Comment