Matt Yglesias Totally Nails It

Matt Yglesias reminds me why I will never be smart enough to be a lefty - by running on his biography and family history of military service, McCain is covertly appealing to the racists and sexists uncomfortable with the idea of a black or female President.

Great point!  But how can we achieve Compliant Campaigning?  I suspect lefties (other than Jane Hamsher) would take umbrage if McCain were to appear in blackface on odd-numbered days, so let's just insist that henceforth McCain appear in public with a paper bag over his head.

I'm pretty sure that will prevent media-saturated voters from figuring out that McCain is a white guy.

Karl of Team Protein is suitably disdainful as well.

PILING ON:  I also love this from Matt:

Relatedly, I think it was Matt Stoller who pointed out recently that the candidate with the more impressive military record lost in 1992 and 1996 and 2000 and 2004 so there's reason to doubt that McCain's genuinely impressive military record will serve as an ace in the hole for his campaign.

A nation at peace, a nation at war - I wonder if that will make a difference?

Comments

[cathyf]

McCain is going to campaign in blackface and in drag on odd-numbered days.

(C'mon, I know it's hard to get the mindset, but you have to try!)

[clarice]

White Protestant men can prove their dcommitment to end sexism and racism by never running for office again. That of course goes for both parties.

[PeterUK]

This really puts a damper on Michael Jackson's political aspirations.

[LindaK]

Ah, the new paradigm, post-racial candidate and his surrogates have been reduced to their real strategy -- play the race card. However, the new post-racial environment for public discourse may also liberate the public to engage post-politically correct discourse. In this environment, the arrogant, unqualified BO may find it tough to field a national election campaign on such a flimsy and hypocritical platform.

[Sara]

Only someone who knows nothing about military service could think Kerry's service is impressive or more impressive than flying jet fighters.

And I didn't even know Gore served until I Googled him just now and read this at Wiki:

After basic training at Fort Dix, Gore was assigned as a military journalist writing for The Army Flier, the base newspaper at Fort Rucker. With seven months remaining in his enlistment, Gore was shipped to Vietnam, arriving on January 2, 1971. He served with the 20th Engineer Brigade in Bien Hoa.

Gore said in 1988 that his experience in Vietnam:

"...didn't change my conclusions about the war being a terrible mistake, but it struck me that opponents to the war, including myself, really did not take into account the fact that there were an awful lot of South Vietnamese who desperately wanted to hang on to what they called freedom. Coming face to face with those sentiments expressed by people who did the laundry and ran the restaurants and worked in the fields was something I was naively unprepared for."

I'm not impressed, but then that's just me.

[centralcal]

I think that the moonbat crowd needs to be careful how far they take this utter nonsense.

At some point they risk creating a backlash from ALL groups not designated as "black."

Or, are they TRYING to alienate a majority of the populace?

[Danube of Thought]

Are we supposed to simply concede that Gore's service was more impressive that Bush's? I certainly don't.

[Danube of Thought]

And quick, somebody find that wonderful Howard Dean quote from 2004.

[GMax]

Dribbling Ygelsias like a basketball, where is the sport in that?

[Porchlight]

To Gore's credit, he never tried to run on his record (probably for good reason). Yglesias is a tool.

DoT, here's the Dean:

"The real issue is this," Dean said in March 2004, when endorsing formal rival Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., "Who would you rather have in charge of the defense of the United States of America, a group of people who never served a day overseas in their life, or a guy who served his country honorably and has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star on the battlefields of Vietnam?"

[Uncle BigBad]

You may remember that in the 2004 race, the threshold requirement for democrat candidacy was, not only military service, but service in combat. Treason in 1971 not disqualifying.

I hope some GOP 527 will shove that down dims throats.

[bgates]

I suppose it's entirely possible that Matt Yglesias does something worthwhile when he's not writing.

South Vietnamese who desperately wanted to hang on to what they called freedom - that line makes it difficult to say anything equally charitable about Al Gore.

[BumperStickerist]

fwiw, back when Matt was just 'Matt' running his own blog, he had a post that talked about his grandfather's military service and how he, Matt, knew nothing of his grandfather's time there.

Five minutes after purchasing my subscription to Google I had found Young Master Yglesias's grandfather's records and the pertinent data related to the type of service, ten minutes later I'd posted that information to the Matt's the-current blog.

Which is to say that Matt can be a bit intellectually incurious at times.

[SteveMG]

Yes, Yglesias, you've zeroed in on it: by not playing the race card or discussing racial issues but instead playing up his biography, McCain is playing the race card.

Apparently, if McCain does anything except concede the election to Obama, he's playing racial politics.

What a waste of a computer.

[DebinNC]

Michelle Speaks, but does she make sense?

Michelle Obama said she has seen how the bar for her husband has been consistently raised this year, and how he has met each of the challenges.

“The irony is that’s what’s going on for regular folks in this country,” she said. “The truth of the American experience today for many regular folks is that folks are trying to reach a bar that just keeps moving.”

But, Obama said she still believes her husband is the underdog in the race.

“We are gonna need Pennsylvania,” she said. “Because in this ever-shifting, moving bar, Barack Obama will always be the underdog. No matter how much money he raises, no matter how many wins he pulls together, no matter how many delegates he accumulates; he is still the underdog. It’s the way it works.”

[da5id]

exshually, those campaign pictures of the "young" mccain are a kind of baiting, but it isnt racebaiting...its youthbaiting.

wont help much when the candidates are live on stage though.
contrast and compare.

[narciso]

And that's not nearly as bad as the threat slamming Richard Cohen, for slamming "Human
Smoke" the political pornographer's version of WW 2

[MayBee]

nishi- is that you?

[Ranger]

I think the real unspoken comparison is still in the pipeline right now. When McCain points out that he refused preferential treatment to be released as a POW because of who his father was. Compare that to Obama admiting that he didn't care if he got preferential treatment in his life based on who his father was.

[Neo]

Reporting for Duty

[RichatUF]

DebinNC-

“The irony is that’s what’s going on for regular folks in this country,” she said.

Wha? Cause so many "regular folks" have gone to Harvard Law School, get million dollar book advances (and a 6 figure salary pretend job at a hospital), and running for president. Criticism of B♥O is now "raising the bar" to keep him down-geeze-can this thing get any goofier.

[Ranger]

this ever-shifting, moving bar

Yes, now the bar is up to telling the truth and not pandering to this audiance or that. Soon it will be raised to what he actually thinks about significant issues.

[Porchlight]

I think the real unspoken comparison is still in the pipeline right now. When McCain points out that he refused preferential treatment to be released as a POW because of who his father was.

A commenter pointed this out in the Yglesias thread, but instead of comparing McCain to Obama in terms of preferential treatment, he compared him to the sheltered, provincial, never been west of the Hudson, well-connected, NYC-private-school-and-Harvard-educated Yglesias himself. It was pretty amusing.

[Thomas Collins]

Yglesias states that:

"McCain's putting together an identity politics counter-narrative steeped in nostalgia."

Yglesias has it half correct. McCain is putting forward an identity politics counter-narrative. What the Yglesias's of the world will never grasp is that honor, constancy, patriotism and courage are inherently forward looking, not backward looking virtues. Any nation running short of these virtues is destined for the scrap heap of history.

[PeterUK]

“The irony is that’s what’s going on for regular folks in this country,” she said. “The truth of the American experience today for many regular folks is that folks are trying to reach a bar that just keeps moving.”

Somewhat like the Olympics - why is she worried? White men can't jump.

[Rick Ballard]

Juliette, "Baldilocks" has a great "rest of the story" up on the Kenyan airlift which brought Obama Sr. and hundreds of others here to complete their educations.

It makes a nice break from the hokum.

[Danube of Thought]

Michelle finally figures it out. It's The Man, see, and folks like her and her hub ain't never gonna make it.

[baldilocks]

Thanks, Rick.

[RichatUF]

DoT-

B♥O will find the man-someday...

[Rick Ballard]

You're welcome, Juliette - I also got a kick out of your piece on your dad's part in the adventure.

[clarice]

Baldilocks, I really enjoyed your story, too.

[Neo]

Bob Dole's 1996 campaign, the last time the GOP thought having an old man talk fondly about long-past suffering was a good way to win elections.

Bob Dole used to joke that he .. "served in the military, sustained a head wound, then went into politics"

[GlitterSorry]

There are some new blog sites. Google came out and said it has documents, but the document type is just html. Michelle obama blog or something where making and not paying until your in the White House is wanted. Eveyone gets to pay, not just Obama cause he just deserves everything cause it's just that way. The bar won't go higher and we can all have fun!!!! Michelle Obama blog where everyone loves her like the first lady she is, ya, let's start one!!!!

The government service problem. Who paid more for what they got for free. Obama and his tax leach pals who have no term limits and won't allow others to serve so they can keep their free work or McCain who got tortured by the enemy. I don't know how much torturing she did or how much Obama did, but there is really no difference, American's had to pay for perceived debts to people they never knew or had anything to do with; so, maybe Obama should account to America for himself, his wife and his group; church, job, etc. I guess we're all the same.

[Neo]

To me, though, one primary issue in a McCain-Obama race is going to be how successful McCain can be at obscuring his enormous hostility to America's public sector retirement infrastructure. McCain's record, and that of his key economic advisors, is pretty clear -- these are people who want to gut Social Security and Medicare in order to clear budgetary space for an agenda of low taxes and many wars.

I think Matt has lost it here.

I strongly suggest that the Democrats try this line, but beware that having any discussion of Social Security opens up the discussion as to why the Democrats, Hiliary and Obama included, have managed to do nothing to help shore up Social Security while the clock keeps ticking till the day Social Security shows up as a line item on the federal budget near the end of the next 8 years, when incoming revenues are outstripped by expenditures.

[Rick Ballard]

Folks - read this and tell me that Team Red Witch is still in the game.

[Danube of Thought]

Baldilocks--I loved your story on the airlifts, and confess I had never heard of that program before reading it. Apart from the individuals named in your piece, has anyone kept track of all the students who came, and where each of them is now?

[narciso]

Local fishwrap update; one gets tired of just one type of fish barreling idiocy; one
has to branch out. McClatchy's latest dispatch, has what a surprise. Maliki's gambit failed. Not surprisingly they missed
the success of the 'surge' and for good measure; thought "Second Fallujah' was a waste too. They could only get Gen. Odom,
on the record. The man who was 'torn a new one' in the description of his directorship by Bamford in his previous NSA expose
"BodyGuard of Lies" or some such thing. Odom has turned virulent against Iraq; a critique of imperialism; however, back in
the more significant engagement in Kosovo; he was all set to run the 10th Mtn division through Hungary regardless of the cost.

[centralcal]

Beautiful story, Baldilocks. And, if that is you on the right, at the end of the post - well, wow - you are very beautiful on your exterior as well as your interior!

[Danube of Thought]

McCain's statement about the mortgage crisis is about as close to a conservative approach to a problem as I have seen him advocate. Good for him.

"In our effort to help deserving homeowners, no assistance should be given to speculators. Any assistance for borrowers should be focused solely on homeowners, not people who bought houses for speculative purposes, to rent or as second homes."

So far so good. But it seems to me that unless "to rent or as second homes" is intended simply to clarify what he means by "speculative purposes," it's going to be a tough policy to implement.

I come out thinking he'd probably support some kind of assistance for people who are underwater on the mortgage for their principal residence. But why?

[baldilocks]

:::blush::: Thanks.

Danube: has anyone kept track of all the students who came, and where each of them is now

I'm try to see if I can get my father to help me find out. He's a bit on the cantankerous side.

[Barney Frank]

tell me that Team Red Witch is still in the game

Barack is a fickle young lad. You never know when he might inexplicably decide to take a bath with his toaster or suddenly come over all depressed on a park bench somewhere.

[clarice]

Rick, I don't get where she thought she'd be going on that. She's broke by all accounts and she's not running against McCain yet..

[Danube of Thought]

Her demise appears to be coming a bit too quickly for my taste. I want it to be very slow and very painful, with permanent repercussions. I want her own party to declare her damned and anathema, and to cast her into the outer darkness, with the Devil (that would be Bubba).

[Ann]

Powerline has a link to Karl Rove's interview with Gentleman's Quarterly where Rove assesses Barack Obama. Karl personally knows Obama and it is not flattering:

Karl Rove doesn't like what he sees

[DebinNC]

I want her own party to declare her damned and anathema, and to cast her into the outer darkness, with the Devil (that would be Bubba).

LOL

Rick, I don't get where she thought she'd be going on that. She's broke by all accounts and she's not running against McCain yet..

Rocky must be seen fighting someone, and it can't be Obambi.

[pagar]

The loser in 2004 had the more impressive military service record?
I understand there were Americans who thought Benedict Arnold had an impressive military record until he decided to sellout America. John Kerry's sellout makes Benedict Arnold look like an amateur. Selling out one's country negates any previous military record, IMO

[kim]

Question for Rove: Should Libby be pardoned? Answer: Just not gonna answer that. Just not. Just not.

End of interview. Read the whole thing, it is great.
====================

[narciso]

Lord Rove, has a sense of humor after all; he must in order to tolerate G.Q. Their previous columns including rounding every body Giuliani ever ticked off; wondering whether Rommney was actually human, at least
one 'beatification' of Lt. Comdr Swift, the
Gitmo defense attorney, who doesn't like Quirin, so that's that. More than one
'personal offering' to Obama. Why do you risk it, Karl, you've forgotten more than
they'll ever know?

[Danube of Thought]

In the meantime, and almost overnight, Rove has become far and away the most interesting and insightful political commentator anywhere on television. No wonder he pulled it off so well in 2000 and 2004.

And brother, do I love this:

"ABC News' George Stephanopoulos Reports: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and former President Bill Clinton are making very direct arguments to Democratic superdelegates, starkly insisting Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., cannot win a general election against presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

"Sources with direct knowledge of the conversation between Sen. Clinton and Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., prior to the Governor's endorsement of Obama say she told him flatly, 'He cannot win, Bill. He cannot win.'"

Wonder how he likes Hillary's chances.

[clarice]

Let's help Soros fill this position--pass this on to our friends:

OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE SEEKS TRANSPARENCY PROGRAM DIRECTOR

The Open Society Institute, a philanthropic foundation founded by
George Soros that works to promote democratic governance, is seeking to
hire a program director for its work on transparency in the U.S.
(Secrecy News has received funding from OSI.)

The OSI transparency program "will use a combination of grantmaking
strategies and programmatic initiatives to ensure transparency and
effective oversight of government and to protect the integrity of
government institutions."

A description of the Program Director position and the desired skills
and qualifications may be found here:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2008/04/osi.pdf