The Worst Campaign Ever?
Matt Yglesias writes:
I’ve been a little bit surprised by the number of liberals who’ve been eager to proclaim John McCain’s 2008 campaign to be the most vile and dishonorable thing they’ve ever witnessed. It struck me as less vile and dishonorable than the other presidential campaigns (2004, 2000, 1996) that I remember.
Mind you, Matt thinks the McCain campaign was vile and dishonorable — just less so than most Republican presidential campaigns. This is in contrast to a number McCain critics who enthusiastically supported George W. Bush in 2000 after Karl Rove’s stridently negative South Carolina primary campaign.
This is in contrast to a number McCain critics who enthusiastically supported George W. Bush in 2000 after Karl Rove’s stridently negative South Carolina primary campaign.
i’m a little confused as to what you’re getting at here reihan. could you clarify?
— razib · Nov 4, 11:03 PM · #
Unclear to me as well. How anyone can say this was ‘the worst campaign ever’ with a straight face is beyond me. McCain didn’t even use the strongest card he had because of a (legitimate) fear that it would increase racial tensions.
— rab · Nov 4, 11:07 PM · #
I agree with razib that Reihan’s meaning is unclear.
— rab · Nov 4, 11:10 PM · #
I think maybe Reihan is talking about Steve Schmidt, who McCain hired to outnigger the opposition in this election, after he and his family got “niggered” by Bush/Rove in 2000.
— matoko_chan · Nov 4, 11:39 PM · #
Look, the GOP should have known all along that they were going to get smeared as racists whether or not they even mentioned that, oh, Senator Obama gave $53,770 to Rev. Wright’s church in 2005-2007. The only question was whether they would hold their tongue about Obama’s history of pervasive black liberationist radicalism and wind up smeared losers or explain to the public exactly who Obama is and have a fighting shot at being smeared winners.
McCain chose to be a smeared loser.
— Steve Sailer · Nov 5, 01:56 AM · #
Well, sure. Bush’s trick in SC in 2000 wins “dirtiest ever” for me. And I don’t think McCain’s been so incredibly dirty as people make it sound — but I’ve been a little disgusted by the attacks on his campaigning and character in particular because frankly he didn’t really do much that Hillary Clinton didn’t do or suggest, and the same people who want to tell me how evil the McCain campaign was don’t seem to want to say the same about the junior Senator from New York.
— Sanjay · Nov 5, 02:22 AM · #
Sanjay….Schmidt is the tool that smeared McCain with robocalls in 2000 about the McCains bangladeshi adopted daughter being John McCain’s mixed race love child. McCain then HIRED Schmidt to run his campaign and Schmidt WROTE and VETTED Palins “palling around with terrorists” line.
McCain channelling George Wallace—
“As god is my witness, I’ll never be outniggered again.”
— matoko_chan · Nov 5, 02:41 AM · #