Palin and Obama's "Tar Baby"

Bulletin: President Barack Hussein Obama makes dover of Mad Magazine!

Lee Atwater practiced "tar baby" politics. Willie Horton was Dukakis' "tar baby," and Atwater (along with a guy named Floyd Brown, who's still around) attached the "team" of Dukakis-Horton together. If I'd been king of the McCain Campaign, I would have suggested the same with the team of Obama-Wright. One problem: John McCain NEVER mentioned the name "Jeremiah Wright," and apparently forbade Sarah from doing so. I believe McCain only mentioned Bill Ayers' name once, perhaps twice.

The campaign gave Sarah a script to use on Obama-Ayers, and it was a pretty lame script ("paling around with terrorists"). They failed to portray Obama as a socialist who was proposing job-destroying (key term) tax policies. And on and on . . .

The result was that Obama, throughout the campaign, had very high "positives." At one point (with the lady in Wisconsin) McCain told us we "have nothing to fear from an Obama presidency." He should have added, "Heck, I may vote for him myself."

I'm not suggesting that McCain should have run a Darth Vader campaign, only that he should have established Barack Obama as a radical who would do great harm to individual Americans. As I've said before, I kept wondering "Exactly why is John McCain running for President? Does he really think it's important that the American people elect him rather than the other guy?"

As Pamela Geller put it recently in WND, Sarah Palin's "simplicity" is her strength rather than her weakness. For example, 18% of the people eligible for Medicare have "no health insurance." Make them sign up, and we significantly reduce the number of uninsured. Many of those people don't sign up because they don't want to pay the 90 bucks a month premium. Okay, find out what needs to been done to get them to pay it -- and then do what's necessary.

Those approaches may have some bad sides, but it's a lot better than what we're seeing now in Congress. If we PAID private insurance -- basic coverage -- for ALL the uninsured, it would cost less than the proposals now in front of Congress.

Sarah Palin will never be able to cite statistics on health care (from a TelePrompter) that come trippingly off the tongue of Hussein, but his statistics are all self-serving and ultimately bogus.

2012 Election: Palin Defeating Hussein

A significant majority of people who voted for Obama believe Sarah said, "I can see Russia from my house." As Debbie notes, Sarah never said any such thing. The sadsacks in the McCain Campaign, who ran everything, never counterattacked with ferocity, and thus "myths" were allowed to fester. I told someone today that I regard John McCain as an American hero, but I also regard him as a terrible presidential candidate.

Sarah will be a great candidate, particularly if she has people around her who are very talented and intensely loyal. Talent and loyalty translate into telling her the truth about what needs to be done to win. It also means anticipating what the enemy --- political and media -- will be doing next. To someone like John McCain, the MSM IS the media -- CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, the Times, and the Post. To me, they are the enemy that is out to do us (including SP) harm.

McCain and his senior staff were incredibly weak in terms of Internet politics, and volunteers, like the TeamSarah people played a much more important role than the McCain Campaign. The Hillary Supporters/NoBama group had more than 300 bloggers for McCain-Palin. We got zero help from the McCain Campaign, which may have been barely aware we existed.

At one point in the summer, John McCain went "across the aisle" to pat Barack Obama on the back and congratulate him on being the presumptive nominee. I thought at the time, "Barack Obama does not regard you as his esteemed 'colleague'; Barack Obama despises you and everything you stand for." Sadly, even after the campaign , McCain would be amazed to hear that. Sarah Palin, in contrast, knows a bunch of political dirtbags when she sees them.

Lee Atwater said of Michael Dukakis 20 years ago, "I'm going to make [convicted murderer and rapist] Willie Horton his running mate." I would have made Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers Obama's running mates.

McCain never wanted the name Wright mentioned. Naivete in the extreme.

Defeating Obama: Attack Relentlessly, Ferociously

The McCain Campaign could have used a graphic like the one below as a potent image to diminish the standing of Barack Obama. Unfortunately, McCain did no such thing. In fact, they let the Obama Campaign use Gov. Palin as a political pinata. That can't be allowed to happen again.

In the 2008 election, John McCain refused to "go negative" on his Senate colleague, Barack H. Obama. That was one decision, among many, that ensured McCain could not win the election. In fact, what happened was that the Obama Campaign relentlessly attacked . . . Sarah H. Palin, one of the most remarkable women ever to hold elective office in America.

The McCain staffers never figured out how to respond effectively to the smear campaign aginst Gov. Palin. They should have counter-attacked with ferocity. They didn't, and the fault for that lies mainly with John McCain.

Where did campaign manager David Axelrod and candidate Barack H. Obama learn how to conduct an all-out war against Sarah Palin? They probably learned the approach from what might seem an unlikely source, Republican strategies Lee Atwater. He was an expert in the use of images and symbols, something at which the Obama effort also excelled.

Consider how Atwater used the American flag as a powerful symbol in George H. W. Bush's 1988 campaign against Michael Dukakis. The following paragraphs are from John Brady's super biographty entitled Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater, a book I urge everyone to read.

Atwater associated Dukakis with Harvard University and highligted the Massachusetts governor's membership in the ACLU. He emphasized Dukakis' veto in 1977 of a bill passed by the Massachusetts legislature requiring teachers to lead students in the Pledge of Allegiance.

In the campaign, the American flag became a powerful symbol distinguishing Bush from Dukakis. The implication was that the former was for it -- while the latter's position was less certain.

As Brady says, "Bush stuck to Atwater's script, making the Pledge of Allegiance the centerpiece of his campaign. He recited the Pledge constantly, attended the 'First Annual Flag Festival' in Findlay, Ohio, [and] toured a flag factory in New Jersey. "

By October of 1988, Dukakis' once big lead in the public opinion polls had evaporated. Bush surged ahead and won big in November (54% to 46%).

What about Dukakis own efforts at symbolism? The governor had to demonstrate that he wasn't merely a liberal wimp.

"He visited a General Dynamics facility in Michigan and went for a spin in an M-1 tank. The helmet was too large. The grin on his face was sickly. 'Dukakis looked like he wanted to call for his mother,' said Sam Donaldson as the cameras whirred."

In fact, Atwater got a copy of the video of Dukakis riding around aimlessly in the tank. The Republican strategist used it as a commercial to demonstrate exactly how ridiculous the Massachusetts governor was. As part of his campaign of ridicule, Atlwater always mispronounced the governor's name, calling him Du-kay-kis.

As the 2008 campaign unfolded, I wished many times that I -- yes, me -- had been able to play the role of Lee Atwater for Gov. Palin. The McCain Campaign let a national role model, Sarah Palin, be tarred and feathered by Obama and his minions in the media and blogosphere. Lee Atwater never would have allowed it to happen -- and neither would I.

Sarah Palin: Images, Symbols, Attitudes

SIGN JOHN MCCAIN'S PETITION AGAINST THE CURRENT, BLOATED STIMULUS BILL. (Look below the Sarah Palin pictures.)

In the previous column, I talked about super-strategist Lee Atwater -- who engineered wins by Ronald Reagan in 1984 and George H.W. Bush in 1988. Atwater believed that issues and opinions were secondary with voters. What counted most were attitudes, ones based on emotional responses to candidates. He said that images (such as pictures and videos) and symbols were crucial in forming attitudes. Tomorrow, I'll be discussing images and symbols and how they can help Gov. Sarah Palin win the presidency in 2012. Consider the pictures below of Gov. Palin and what they say about her. She's NOT a frail woman. And she's a wife and mother, first, last, and always. She's a person of great character and strong values. Most of all, "she's one of us," which should be her campaign slogan. If you want to know what separates winners from losers in politics, I urge you to read a brilliant biography by John Brady: Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater.

Sign petition opposing stimulus bill - It's quick and easy

http://www.countryfirstpac.com/petition/economic.aspx

John McCain Sponsors Petition Protesting Bloated Stimulus Plan

http://purplepeoplevote.com/2009/02/03/john-mccain-sponsors-petition-protesting-bloated-stimulus-plan/

Senator McCain sent an email to supporters explaining his opposition to the current emergency economic stimulus package stating that…

Yesterday, the Senate began debate on an economic stimulus package that is intended to get our economy back on track and help Americans who are suffering through these difficult times. Unfortunately, the proposal on the table is big on the giveaways for the special interests and corporate high rollers, yet short on help for ordinary working Americans. I cannot and do not support the package on the table from the Democrats and the Obama Administration.

Our country does not need just another spending bill, particularly not one that will load future generations with the burden of massive debt. We need a short term stimulus bill that will directly help people, create jobs, and provide a jolt to our economy.

He further explains the myriad of problems with this bloated stimulus package and asks for people to sign a petition to voice their disapproval of this bill.

Sign Vote No On The Stimulus Package Petitionhttp://www.countryfirstpac.com/petition/economic.aspx

Obama, Palin, Atwater: Subconscious Politics

Picture of two former vice-presidential candidates and a one-term president: Palin, Liberman, and Obama. Choose the one who's a FUTURE President of the U.S.

"I want hip-hop Republicans. I want Frank Sinatra Republicans." (Michael Steele, new head of the Republican National Committee). Sarah Palin, with one foot in the hip-hop world and another in the Sinatra-era would nod in vigorous approval at Steele's statement.

Do the vast majority of Americans really understand what's going on in politics? No, they do not. That's the view held by Lee Atwater, the greatest political strategist of modern times -- yes, he was better than Karl Rove, better even that Obama's campaign guru, David Axelrod. He helped engineer Reagan's landslide reelection in 1984 and was George H. W. Bush's campaign manager in the winning effort against Dukakis in 1988.

This week on both of my blogs (http://draftpalin2012.blogspot.com/ and http:stevemaloneygop.blogspot.com) I'll be writing about Atwater's insights -- and suggesting how they're similar to Gov. Sarah Palin's approach to politics. The emphasis will be on the psychology of winning.

Regarding Atwater, he's the subject of perhaps the most intriguing political biography of recent decades. It's John Brady, Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater, Addison-Wesley, 1997 It's beautifully written and profound in substance. Brady, a journalist and a consultant to magazine publishers, is a former editor of Boston and Writer's Digest. He wrote The Craft of Interviewing, a classic how-to book for journalists, and The Craft of the Screenwriter.

The material below has several quotes from Brady's Atwater book. As you read the excerpts, consider the two most remarkable politics events of this decade: (1) Barack Obama's election as America's first African-American President; (2) Sarah Palin's victories in 2006 over incumbent Republican Governor (and former U.S. Senator) Frank Murkowski and then over popular former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles.

How did Obama and Palin accomplish these feats? You'll never find out from the MSM, which presents a simple-minded view of what happens in big-time electoral politics.

In fact, Palin and Obama, both master politicians, plugged into a powerful attitudinal current: a yearning for CHANGE. They both offered HOPE to people who had become so exasperated by politics-as-usual that they verged on the edge of hopelessness.

Lee Atwater died at a young age in 1991. However, as you'll see below, he would have understood why people like Barack Obama and Sarah Palin won. It had little to do with "issues" -- and even less to do with stated "opinions." It had everything to do with deeply held --and mainly emotional -- attitudes.

Brady describes Atwater's key insights this way: "[In life generally and politics specifically], It's not what happens to us that matters - it's how we interpret what happens to us. The interpretation establishes an attitude, which can then be catered to emotionally - [a form of] mental crowd control. When we want your opinion, we'll give it to you." (In other words, attitudes drive opinions -- not vice versa.)

In Atwater's words, "attitudes are deeply ingrained. You can't even necessarily verbalize them." Attitudes are so powerful that they override even what we believe are our opinions. They are deep within us -- visceral and largely subconscious.

Brady adds, "Before going negative on an opponent . . . he [Atwater] cultivated strong positive attitudes among the electorate. He used impressionistic images and symbols to depict his candidate in such a way that perception 'can't be busted up even with opinion changes on specific issues that my opponent might accomplish.'"

(By the way, Sarah Palin is even better at using images and symbols -- especially ones related to her husband and children -- than Obama. Everything Palin does reinforces her most powerful theme: "She's one of us." She's a mother, a wife, a middle-class woman whose life closely resembles ours. And, wonder of wonders, she's HONEST!)

Brady continues, ". The average voter was kind of slow, actually . . . ."The average voter could absorb only a limited amount of information about his candidate, Lee thought, and should never be bewildered with specifics

Brady goes on, "Lee realized that in order to get swing votes, [George H.W.] Bush had to tap voters' emotions instead of their brains. It was Lee's job [as a campaign guru] to find the specific example, the outrageous abuse, the easy-to-digest tale that made listeners feel - usually, repulsion - rather than think. Like the old carnival barker, he needed a hook to get them into the tent."

In future blog columns , I'll discuss more of Atwater's insights -- and how they can help a Sarah Palin get voters "into the tent."