Race, Wedge Issues Fall Flat For GOP

[ProSense]

Thomas B. Edsall

Race, Wedge Issues Fall Flat For GOP

October 16, 2008 12:49 PM

Assaults on Obama from the right have been unrelenting, including charges that he "pals around with terrorists"; that he is a lockstep liberal bound by the orthodoxies of the left; that his party caused the economic crisis by requiring banks to give subprime mortgages to "unqualified minorities"; that he is a closet Muslim or Muslim sympathizer who will sell out Israel; that he would accept defeat in Iraq in order to court the antiwar vote; and so forth.

One of the toughest punches was thrown by McCain running mate Sarah Palin when she told a crowd in Clearwater, Florida: "This (Obama) is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America... I'm afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country."

"When Palin squints her eyes, tells her supporters Obama 'pals around with terrorists,' calls him 'exotic' and invites us to wonder with her who he really is, it's that code all over again. It's a rhetorical rifle shot (revealing) a malignant mindset - us vs. them - and anyone who says otherwise is a damn liar," wrote Joe Cutbirth, ABC News commentator and adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia University.

Obama says of himself: "I'm not making an argument that the resistance is simply racial. It's more just that I'm different in all kinds of ways. I'm different even for black people... If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn't vote for me, right? Because the way I'm portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal."

In another year, the onslaught Obama has been subject to might have brought down a Democratic nominee - as Willie Horton and the Swift Boat Veterans helped to bring down Michael Dukakis and John Kerry.

But this year, not only has Obama weathered the conservative bombardment, but Republican tactics are bouncing back against John McCain.

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There are a host of reasons for this failure. These include the collapse of the Republican brand; widespread hostility to President Bush; and above all, the emergence of the economy as an issue trumping all others. The current economic crisis is interpreted by many voters as a refutation of conservative laissez-faire ideology and of the deregulatory policies that such ideology spawned. These emerging convictions on the part of what may be a majority of voters are reinforced by a loss of faith in the GOP as a competent assessor and manager of risk; by continued doubts about the legitimacy of the invasion of Iraq; and by widespread repudiation of the Republican legacy of corruption (Abramoff, DeLay, Ney, Mark Foley, etc) in Washington.

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[opihimoimoi]

1. That Sucking Sound ya hear is the HOOK taking The GOP OFF THE STAGE

The DIFFERENCE will be a BREATH of FRESH AIR for the NATION.....

Obama will clean them GOPs Clock.....McNasty will be the first to go....

[ProSense]

2. This year was the perfect storm. n/t

[opihimoimoi]

3. The Perfect GOP DEFEAT.....They will try to evade, to minimize, to weather the storm.

to survive.....

But, their flaws have been revealed....will they be able to resurrect the Facade??? I canardly think so....too much damage to their Brand name...too much evi dence of evilness and corruption...

[Arugula Latte]

4. It's so much fun to watch these GOP pricks go slack jawed over the failure of their dirty tricks.

The Fox News/hate radio lies and smears and innuendos always worked in the past, but they ain't workin' now.

[ProSense]

5. Fox Noise is a joke. Obama won their focus group and snap poll. n/t