The pathetic ignoramuses who wag their tails when they see their fave Foxy News' maniac and will swallow any deception from the anchors ("wink wink nudge nudge, we know there are no death panels in this plan, but hey we'll say whatever it takes to get these beef-brains worked up and start screaming for that socialist's head"). The guys, like shitty Hannity have been at it from day one like to obliterate Obama, with no limits to the extent of manipulations and poker faced lies, cause he's 'liberal' and 'socialist' as per their twisted minds and they have to get rid of him. They'll say and do anything and keep blaming him for everything (similar to what the Democrats used to do with Bush but compared to the extreme measures and level of sliminess of the right-wingers that was a lovefest). With the economy in such a shape and people worried, the people who were originally against or skeptical of Obama, kept getting more and more brainwashed by these mealy-mouthed foxes, and got sucked into the vortex of dangerous deceptions.

I experienced some of that anger when one of my doctors' kept ranting and raving about the Sotomayor confirmation hearings and about Obama's empathy statement (the law is the law .... where does the heart come in?) and not taking eyes off the f-news screen while trying to do a procedure on me. It was apparent that the fuks news guys had hatched a typically dirt-minded plot to keep stoking the fires of their viewers till they start rampaging the streets and create a loud enough hue-and-cry to start a movement against the socialists who are 'destroying the country'.

So they decided to take it out on the healthcare issue (it could be cornball farming for all they care) because that is the best issue to hit back hard at the President. Well, the jokes on you mister (but nobody's laughing) as all you end up doing with your lump-headed tantrums is ensuring that you continue paying a higher health insurance premiums and continue to have healthcare costs add to the deficits. So, enjoy it all you can, because at the end of it all, you will not be smiling either.

And another small note for the smug right-wing bull-heads who are stewing in their hatred and trying to drown their opponents in their rivers of rage, one small word of advise, give it up already, for the people on the other side are not push-overs like in the bush-rove era. This time, you bundle-brains try something that is unjustified and not right, we'll turn that roars into squeaks. Burst as many veins as you can, we are not going away and don't you are raise your voices cause we will scream louder than you. We are not going to rest till every one of you cavemen sees sense and we will keep hammering it into you slowly but surely.

For people who agree, all I can suggest, even if it seems like we're borrowing a page from their books, is to shove yoursleves and all like-minded people to townhalls and scream back louder. Show them that we will never bend, and we will not deviate from the path of justice come what may.  We now have that unshakeable faith that comes from knowing without doubt what it right and what is wrong.

OK, the purpose of the blog is clear but one goal that needs to be highlighted is that this blog is not just to vent out and talk about stuff. This blog will also provide means for action ... i.e. means for getting our point across to the people and institutions who matter. I will also solicit suggestions from readers as to the best means of action to make our voices heard and get our point across loud and clear ... even if it involves a screaming match at townhalls. The right-wing propaganda machine is getting dirtier, slimier and more unscupulous by the minute but this time they will realize that the other side is not going to take things lying down and will 'hit back harder' ... .

The real issue hidden inside the Robert Gates Jr. fiasco in Cambridge is not something too many people want to talk about. In fact, President Obama, who very bravely waded into this issue and as usual called right on the issue had to bow down before political pressures and hushed it up. I agree that it was wrong of Gates to get all worked up and refuse to show his the ID initially, but after he showed the two forms of ID there was no reason for the officer to arrest him. The  police officer did what a lot of people in power do … flaunt it cause he could and abused it. He arrested Gates just to get back at him because he was mad at Gates for showing attitude and not respecting him. I don’t blame the officer for getting mad either, but people in power or with power have to realize that they cannot use it for personal means, and the consequences for doing so should be severe. Oh BTW, just chuck the whole freaking race thing out of the window, for this issue had nothing to do with race. 

Just imagine a situation where you are going at 10 miles/hour over the limit. An officer stops you to give you a ticket, and you get a little worked up and ask the officer why is he ticketing him for only 10 mph over the limit. The officer says ‘but you were over the limit’ and you retort back with something like (depending on how bad a day you’re having) ‘What the heck officer, going 10 mph over is a standard practice and if that’s the case then you should be ticketing everybody else too’. How would you feel if the officer arrests you for ‘resisting a ticket’ or whatever applicable law can be cooked up by the officer (let me not get into what trouble an immigrant can get into for speaking like that). There would still be a section of people saying that the driver had to no right to speak to a police officer in that tone and disrespect him, as our officers are our heroes and they spend their days and nights defending our freedom. In my opinion, you have every right to speak to an officer like you would to any other person in an equivalent situation not involving people of authority. It’s all good and deserving to call them heroes and keep highlighting the tough job that our police does to keep us safe, but at the end of the day that is the job they have chosen and no matter how tough and dangerous your job you do not earn the right to abuse power for personal gains.

OK, all this is obviously my viewpoint, based on the 'facts' I've read, but one strange aspect of this case is the actual lack of facts. Why haven't newspapers and channels gone into the details of when Gates showd the IDs (if at all) and why did Crowley arrest him. Somebody is obviously suppressing the facts and I have a feeling that somebody is not Gates.   

What our dear countrymen have to realize and I will gladly hammer into their brains, one by one, if required, is that abuse of power will not be tolerated and injustice of any sort will not be tolerated. Kudos to Gates and Obama for bringing this incident into focus. But bigger abuses of power have happened and keep happening, from the student strip search for ibuprofen at the lower end of the totem pole to the manipulation of facts and initiation of the Iraq war at the higher end. The worst part about abuses like the ibuprofen search or an erroneous 'terrorism' arrest are the pointed refusal to give an apology. I will get into that in a separate topic though and the decency to apologize for a wrong deed is another thing that might need to be sledge-hammered into the brains of people from ‘swaggersville’.

Finally, the key point of this blog is not to tolerate injustice and 'do something about it' aka 'take action!'. I welcome suggestions on how to 'take action' and whom to contact to make our opinions and voices heard on this case and no matter what it takes, get to the root of the matter.

OK, enough is enough. The world will not take the right-wing trash lying down any more. Froth at the mouth all you can but we’ve had enough of cold-blooded dictatorial mindsets and you’ll either have to get a heart (and a brain) or go back in time and live with them. OF COURSE Empathy is required in every human being and even though it might exclude you militant right-wingers it does include judges. The role of law, by the way, is not only to punish a criminal but ALSO to make the wrong-doer realize his mistake and the purpose of jail is also to try to reform the criminal and try to make him fit for society again. A ruthless person as a judge will be a nightmare to society and without any empathy a kid might actually be hauled away by police for throwing a ball in a condo premises (it's against the law to play ball in a residential area except in specified areas in my state) because the 'law is the law'. The reason why we have a human for a judge (and not a robot) is because the person will use his head and heart to come to the right conclusion. A tourist from England driving on the wrong side of the road in the US might either be prosecuted for reckless driving and endangerment of life or a judge with empathy would understand that it was a one off incident due to force of habit and let him off with a simple driving ticket for driving on the wrong side of the road. There is NO freaking 'the law is the law' for MOST cases and if you have a heart then you will be able to distinguish the good from the bad and arrive at the right decision. Kudos to Obama for having the guts to state this aloud. But let me advise the fox news crowd (including watchers) who have been frothing at the mouth since Obama became president and are having seizures at the Sotomayor nomination (hey, I'm not a very big fan of all her decisions) ... this time we will not take it lying down .. you will have the mother of all wars (of words!) ... and we will HIT BACK HARDER than we get!!

One point I would like to make right away, in case people are confusing me for the perennial Iran bashers like the right-wing foreign policy types like Cheney and the neocons.. I am not in their camp by far. But one thing I cannot tolerate, and that one of the main purposes of this bolg, is injustice. After the speech by Khameini and the hardening attitudes of the Iranian govt along with their brutal actions one thing forsure is that they are wiling to go to any length to smother the voice of protest. What the world needs to do is scream at them so hard that they'll be blown away by the backlash. Do not just expect world leaders to do the verbal lashing here. They are bound by their diplomatic and strategic boundaries. What the ordinary citizen of the world needs to do is show them that they can make their impact felt, even in the remotest corners of the world. Gather out on streets like the brave protesters in Iran and surround the Iranian enbassies all over the world with (legal) protests. Do not buy Iranian goods and push our government to ban visas for Iranian diplomats. Push your own governments to ban the import of Iranian oil. Some of these actions may affect the oridnary (and innocent) citizens which makes it a tough decision but we have to hit the Iranian government where it hurts. I'm sure you get rhe idea by now so feel free to contribute your own. The point here is that injustice will not be tolerated, anywher in the world, and Neda's sacrifice will not go in vain. If the Iranian government and the majlisi want to play tough then let's show them how it feels to be on the receiving end.

We've all been celebrating President Obama's victory abd lcosely following his frenetic effort at implementing his ideas and promises. I took a well deserved break, as one of the many bllogers who fought for him relentlessly when he was running for office. Of course, I've had the usual reasons of 'too busy at work' and everything else that people perennially short of time complain about but as I said before, the presidential election is not the only purpose for this blog and the scope of my goals for this blog stretch much further and much more global. So, I'm back to writing after a hiatus and, of couse, being in the US my focus wil very much be on US politics but will strecth outward much like Preseident Obama is spreading the wings of his thought. Here's to our continuing attempt to make a diffeernce through words and thought....

Indians, and especially Mumbaiites are very angry. They are seething and grinding their teeth and want to hit back hard at the terrorists and their perceived supporters and take strong measures to attack the ‘sources’ and 'supporters' of terrorism. This is very similar an atmosphere to what existed after 9/11 in the US and in fact many parallels are being drawn to the two attacks and the Nov 26 incident is being called as India’s 9/11. Like the US, India has the sympathy of the world and the entire world is behind India in trying to get the terrorists to justice.

What the US did later, that many sensible people at that time tried to restrain and reverse, was to fan the flames of hatred and instead of using the opportunity to get to the roots of terrorism they started a neanderthal revenge cycle and started hitting back at anybody whom they thought would not be in alignment with US interests. The worst part was how the government managed to brainwash a gullible public and embedded hatred in their mind for a big portion of the earth by characterising those countries as against the US and responsible for 9/11. A typical US resident of the heartlands who would not be able to point out Afghanistan from Armenia was deceived into thinking that the common man in a big swath of the earth (and anybody looking like them) hated them and that they hated the freedom that Americans enjoyed and that was the reason why they were attacked. Their minds were twisted for evil benefits into thinking that Saddam Hussein was in cahoots with Bin Laden and that his country should be attacked to take revenge for 9/11. These actions were taken by the very taken by the very government whose elected officals were chosen for the offices because they should think with a more balanced insight, be calm under difficult situations, and do what is right and just for the country and the world, and not be swept away into rage and fervour like any ordinary citizen. It was deception and betrayal of the highest order and sadly many Americans still think that going to war with Iraq was the right thing.

What the Americans did not do was focus on why things came to such a head and why there was so much hatred in the world, albeit by fringe elements always. They did not analyze in a rational manner as to what was the history behind the Al Qaeda movement and the reasons for their enmity with the US. In fact anybody who tried to discuss that or said anything about the ‘roots’ of terrorism was branded a traitor and a left-wing radical pacifier. I hope and pray that the Indian government and the Indian citizens have realized from the aftermath of 9/11 that uniting all the citizens of the country and forcefully chastising any biased, prejudiced or ‘spur of the moment rage’ actions of citizens against each other is critical. Also critical is disseminating information in a way that does not translate in any way as pointing a finger at a religion or community and strongly criticizing any such innuendo from the press, media or individual. Let’s unequivocally make this a fight for the right against the wrong and not allow it to be cast in any other light.

The best thing about Obama winning, besides the obvious reasons that have been discussed at length, is how the entire republican party, the complete McCain campaign, and your average arrogant, swaggering and fanatic right-winger, like the ones you see in certain Fox News shows, contributed to the victory by waging an (uncharacteristically) stupid campaign against Obama and bringing up such blatantly contrived issues to try to beat Obama that it was almost hilarious.

 

There are many people (and issues, not to mention the candidate and his campaign’s competency) that ‘deserve’ credit for Obama’s victory but the one person I take most pleasure in pointing out and who set the course for the disastrous McCain campaign was none other than our ‘beloved’ Sean Hannity. He would probably still be kicking himself for that he, with his characteristic pompous look and arrogant smirk, announced a stunning revelation about Obama and his supposed ‘connection’ with ‘terrorist’ Bill Ayers. He proudly bandied the pretty predictable ‘Rovian’ strategy of manipulating information and decimating a candidate’s image by misleading information. Hannity could not control his joy at having dug up an issue that he imagined would rival the ‘swift boating’ and ‘weak on security French poodle’ sledgehammers that rove threw at Kerry. Little did he realize that the issue he brought up was informative at best but mostly hilarious to most people. I’m amazed that the veteran gop guys started jumping on that bandwagon like it was the gravy train and ran (sprinted) with the Ayers story as their leading attack. At least Rove had enough brains to know that if you want to ignite some ‘right wing foreign-policy fanaticism’ in people (2004 Bush voters mainly) then at least try to bring up a ‘foreign’ terrorist angle. The brain-dead Bush voters of 2004 don’t view domestic terrorists the same as a ‘Arabic Islamic Terrorist Rat’. The latter will ignite nativist flames of passion and hatred but somebody like Timothy McVeigh (or Bill Ayers) would ignite faint memories of an oridinary American ‘criminal’.

 Of course, another underestimation that the GOP guys did was in assuming the Obama campaign to be the same as Kerry campaign which was the most clueless campaign ever. They didn’t realize that Axelrod and Plouffe had enough smarts to learn from the 2004 disaster and did not make the same mistake of playing dead when the other person attacks. Their responses to every attack attempt was brilliant and effective. Not to overlook their efforts or Obama’s brilliant efforts it still gives me some sweet solace to know that one factor in Obama’s victory was one person who least wanted him to become president – Sean Hannity.

Obama supporters are confident but cautious, as they should be. The Obama campaign deserves kudos, for every step along the way, but also for not letting any sort of complacency or over-confidence creep in. This is indeed a very crucial time and the McCain campaign all along, as I wrote in my earlier article, seemed to holding back their knock-out punch till the end as that will leave too little time to respond effectively.

 

A little bit of history is important here. John Kerry was also ahead in the polls, though not by such big margins as Obama, which actually was incredulous considering his disastrous lack of response to the swift-boat campaign. One event that happened at the end, that many believe might have made a small but crucial last-minute difference, was the release of the Bin Laden tape a day before the election. The tape ridiculed Bush for his response to the 9/11 attacks and by indirect inference the American people assumed that the terrorists must have released the tape to help Kerry.

The possible impact to both campaigns was clear even to a layman, but the mind-numbingly moronic Kerry Campaign again decided to play dead and not give any response hoping that the American people wont read too much into the tape (as they did with the swift-boat campaign). Now, you can have a campaign message built around ‘hope’ but your campaign strategy shouldn’t consist of just ‘hope’. You got to take action and get a clear message out to people. The Obama campaign has been outstanding in that respect anf I hope they continue to do so if the equivalent of the Bin Laden tape comes up.

 

Like I wrote in the article about John Kerry’s missed slam dunk opportunity, the tape was another golden opportunity in disguise. It’s not often that you get to display bluster, which is very important to win over the key swing voters. All Kerry had to say in response to the tape was something like

 

“We got the news that a coward hiding in a rat-hole has sent a missive, with the hysterically misguided notion that the American people would actually pay attention to the horse waste that he spews and would let that impact the election in any way. I would like to make one thing clear to the deranged barbarian who made the biggest mistake of his life by attacking us on 9/11 “No matter what the outcome of the election will be, we will not rest till we drag you out of your cave and make you pay for every drop of American blood that you spilled. If I were you I would not waste time making any more of these tapes filled with hate speech and would try to run and hide though even that will prove futile for we will hunt you down like the skunk that you are. “ ….

That's all Kerry needed to win the election in 2004.

 I hope the Obama campaign has their plan of action and an effective response ready for any such last minute ‘rabbit out of the hat’ events.

I didn’t manage to catch up on my writing till now and I’m surprised that, inspite of a few weeks gap,  nothing has occured during these past few weeks that made me unduly concerned. The McCain campaign does not seem to have any of the guile, agility or the pure decepetive Rovian brilliance. But mark my words, they’ll keep trying to come up with a knock-out punch in these last days and it’s pretty clear that they will stick to their ‘scare’ tactics as it’s too late to come up with a new campaign strategy.

Most of what I wrote in my previous article came true but I think it is partly the McCain campaign’s stupidity in not being very innovative in their attacks and partly Obama’s fortune that the Economic crisis has continued it’s headline-hogging, panic inducing free-fall which made the ‘character’ attacks against Obama seem irrelevant and a distraction at best.  If it was a time when the American people were enjoying the fruits of a booming economy like 2004 then some of the mud thrown by the McCain campaign would have stuck and national security would have been a higher concern.  Nationalism would also have been a bigger factor but with their minds numbed with fear by the economic situation the ‘fear factor’ about Obama that the McCain campaign is trying to generate has no effect.

Here’s my take on McCain’s last ditch efforts which I talked about before but I’ll elaborate in this and coming articles. I stil think it is very important that the Obama campaign not get even a wee bit complacent as last impressions matter as much as the first, especially in an election (remember Kerry again).

1)      Hello again, James Wright. Sorry to keep you waiting so long but we had to wait till the right moment to bring you in.

2)      Hello again, Bin Laden. If you can hear us (we certainly didn’t try very hard to find ya) then do come up with a tape again, like you did in 2004. It’ll guarantee you four more years of safety as we will not bother to attack you in Pakistan as that country is our strong ‘ally’ (any country with a nuclear bomb is, which is why many countries are trying to get one).

3)      Finally, sweet revenge on the economy, let’s drop a bomb on how Obama and the dem congress is responsible for the state of the economy (hey, we are the masters of the deception campaign).

Let us not forget this important fact. The debates will fade from memory a week after they are over and the economy might get pushed back a little bit from the forefront if the stock market stabilizes a bit and if we get better news on the credit markets front. What will take over soon is the slime from the rampaging and boldly open gang warfare type warfare between the campaigns, as I'd mentioned before in this article. The Obama campaign must make a list of all possible attack operations from the Republicans who are oiling up their muck-slinging machines and declaring proudly that they will decimate Obama's image and character. I willl list the topics/area the attacks can cover and in my next post I will come up with my opinion on how they should counter-attack and respond hard to these attacks. My overall master strategy still remains the guiding force but tough responses should be prepared and tactical steps need to be taken swiftly and effectively whenever an operation is launched from the other side.

1) The usual attack on security policies and highlighting Obama's vote against the troops funcding. The Sep 11 ads again and how Obama will be soft on terrorism with scary images of another doomsday attack that can happen in the continental US if Obama is in office. Attempts will be made to link this security issue with the economy and the attacks will highlight that if another attack happens during this economically vulnerable period then that will be the death blow to the economy.

2) James Wright will come up again; Michelle Obama will come up again and photos of Obama in Kenyan dresses + images of Indonesian towns where Obama grew up will be shown. The goal (and the closing lines) will be to convince voters that Obama is not one of us 'Joe Sixpack' Americans but he is pretty much a foreigner (from terrorist lands) and is not patriotic enough to be president of the United States. He will not consider American interests with the same zeal that a real American would.

I will add more soon but please feel free to add your own thoughts on what the possible attacks might be, from the republican side, and how the Obama campaign should respond.

Obama supporters are celebrating the new polls which show him taking a lead nationally and in quite a few battleground states. But this a crucial time and they must make sure that complacency and resulting inaction doesn’t creep in.

John Kerry was leading in some polls (though not by this wide a margin) too around this time in 2004 and they decided that they would play it safe and fight a ‘positive’ campaign, avoid attacking (or even defend attacks strongly) and just ignore the republican attacks completely. Obviously, that didn’t help and the sad part is that those attacks actually had given him a golden opportunity to seal the deal but his campaign were just blind to that opportunity.  

Some republicans are still a bit cocky, remembering 2004, and they strongly believe that they can still turn this election around and decimate Obama with their vaunted attack machine. So, make no mistake about it, the republicans are arming the battle stations right now and will come out with a blistering ‘shock and awe’ attack operation soon. They might make  some small incursions while the debates are still going on, as those will be the focus of the headlines till they last. The "Obama is pals with terrorists" attack is just the beginning of a blistering "nuclear" attack wave.

The economic crisis threw a huge spanner in the works for Rove and the McCain campaign for it made them lose momentum on the attacks and distracted the voters’ attention. Starting with the convention they have been doing what they do best, which is to pummel the opponent by whatever means possible including outright lies, deception and manipulation of information and paint the other person as the most extreme wacko left wing liberal this side of the milky way, who is trying to get elected so that he can down wine and cheese (and arugula) with hollywood stars. 

I think the republicans are right to pursue that strategy and just replay the tapes of 2004 because it is implausibly obvious that the democrats still don’t have an answer to their attacks and all they still (!) manage in response is to either say “Oh, we wont pay attention to those mean republicans as their attacks are beneath our response” or the more battle-ready vocal wing will come up with “let us attack back and let us again (and again and again) remind voters that McCain is out of touch, and that his term will be four more years of the Bush and let’s show some photos of him and Bush together”.  Let me give it to you campaign folks straight if you are still dense enough not to get it – “these ads just don’t cut it anymore”.

I looked at the recent ad “attacking” McCain on the economy and they are a mind-numbing repetition of the same “McCain is out of touch” attack that I talked about above and also discussed in detail when a similar rehash of it came out in early September. Any message loses its value when repeated over and over. You got to take a new tack on the attacks. I would receommend trying a new approach and as I detailed in this article earlier, I would try to brand McCain (and Palin) as a ‘flip-flopper’ who just cannot decide if our economy is in trouble or not and when the truth is finally hammered into him he cannot decide what to do get the economy out of trouble. The ad should end with “Clueless and Indecisive on America’s biggest financial crisis. We cannot take a risk with John McCain.” Or something of that sort. The idea is to paint the image of McCain, on a more deeper character level that just saying he’s “out of touch”, as a person who is unfit to be president both on a character level and also on an experience level.

I’ve detailed the overall master strategy in this article, which advocates pre-emptive strikes and strong counter-attacks when they start their bombardment, but obviously our attacks have to be relevant and fresh and have to connect to the voters. I’ve also advocated a few more high-level tactics in my master strategy, especially to appeal to battleground voters, like “hitting them from further from the right than they are” (you gotta scream louder about patriotism and American exceptionalism) on certain topics like destroying Laden and his band of terrorists and on outsourcing of jobs. Another crucial aspect is that you've got to hit back hard on the topic of attack. Do not just counter it by saying "they are saying that to distract voters from the economy" like you did with the recent "Obama is pals with terrorists" attack. Hit back hard on how they are manipulating the information, how deceptive they are, and defend yourself so strongly that you turn the tables. DO NOT try to avoid or change the topic of attack.

One thing that many networks were wagging about after the first debate was how many times Obama said "John is right" or statements to that effect. The concern was that if he agreed with John too many times then it would appear that he and John McCain agree on almost everything and that John McCain has the right agenda for the election (or whatever was the concern..please feel free to leave a comment about your concerns). They said a debate is to show the differences between the two candidates and how you try to punch holes in the other side's policies and stands.

 I think it was another brilliant move by Obama (actually might not have been pre-planned for that matter), and one that I suggested earlier in my original 'master strategy article'  it is a big mistake to criticize Bush and McCain for everything under the sun. The democratic campaign strategy and public speeches for the past few years were limited to one line "This problem was caused due to the policies of  Bush (and later McCain too)". It had become so repetitive and stale that "the dog ate my homework" became "I did not do my homework due to the wrong policies of Bush and McCain". If you repeat the same lines and the same attack strategy over and over again you tend to lose credibility (which the democrats did as they were perceived not to have any new ideas and all they did was criticize Bush) and the attack rationale tends to wear off and might even boomerang back at you.

The only way you can make your attacks effective is by agreeing with your opponent a few times. After agreeing on a few minor points you gain credibility and the voters' conviction when you disagree strongly on other policies and they will believe you a lot more. Especially when you are smart and agree on statements whic buttress your own policy (like Obama did when he agreed with the torture of prisoners policy of McCain). It will also make you look like an objective, fair and magnanimous person in the voters' eyes and not like typical politician who blindly criticizes everything his opponent says.

For example, going back to the master strategy article I mentioned that one of the things Obama can appreciate Bush and company for is to say they have done a good job of preparing for Gustav and I'm glad they did not repeat the management disaster of Katrina. This makes him look genuine and at the same time reminds people of Katrina. Now, two days later if he turns around and blasts Bush for the economy or for being weak on terrorism (yup, try hitting them from the right) by not catching Bin Laden yet, people will give more credibility to his attacks.

Add this site to Technorati favorites if you like the article(s).  

There was one point in Yesterday’s debate (besides others) for which the democratic strategy team and Barack Obama deserve accolades of the highest kind. One area where the democrats always used to bend down in the face of republican shrewdness was in projecting themselves as supporters and true friends of our troops and military, especially when it came to the Iraq war.  The republicans made support for the war synonymous with patriotic sentiment and painting anybody speaking against the Iraq war or calling for withdrawal as unpatriotic, weak, cowardly, defeatist and accused them of murdering the honor of the country and disrespecting the soldiers who laid their lives for the country. Even John Kerry and his campaign team could not come up with a equal response even once and ended up slipping into the republican’s trap whenever they tried to talk sense into people and tell them that it was a mistake to go for this war.

John McCain shamelessly tried using the same tactic again when he talked about getting a bracelet from a fallen soldier’s mother (I’m not disputing that he did) and used that as a emotional hammer to justify support for the war and implying that anybody who called for withdrawal was dishonoring the soldiers who gave up their life in the war. I think it is indeed sad that the parents and relatives of some brave soldiers who gave up their lives for the country, even after facing such a monumental loss in their lives, do not still fathom the enormity of war, the devastation it causes to so many innocent people on both sides and how going to war to is a decision of last resort under extreme circumstances which was not the case for this war. Instead of being be hit with the bitter reality that their loved one laid down their life bravely completing the mission of the commander-in-chief (and his cronies) who deceived them and the nation into this war, which had nothing to do with 9/11 or any immediate threat like they were told. Instead of realizing that despicable minds and horrible judgment were responsible for this tragic loss they get into the mindset trap of  ‘We should complete the mission my loved one was fighting for’ and anybody who calls the war a mistake is insulting my loved one’s sacrifice.

Navigating a political minefield of this kind, that the republicans set up, required great tact and a brilliant mind. You can’t say that you respect the soldiers’ sacrifice but still think this war is a mistake. You can’t say that the brave soldiers were misled into an unnecessary war because you would be implying that soldier was fighting in vain. You can scream till you’re blue in the face that you are actually supporting the troops when you’re calling for a withdrawal, because all the war did was to place Americans outside of our secure borders (after going through all that effort to secure our borders after 9/11!) so that Al-Qaeda could get some easy target practice and not even have to bother think of ways to get into our country, for Bush made it easy for them and brought the targets out but you still will not able to outfox the republicans and make a winning argument of that. Kerry and his team didn’t even come close to figuring out a way out of this political maze (Kerry had the authority to speak on this topic as he was a veteran but he miraculously managed to make being a veteran a liability for him), let along come up with a good counter-argument.

Any ordinary candidate would be fumbling for a response after McCain, following a brilliant Rovian script, came up with the bracelet tale and cleverly turned it into an appeal to American patriotic sentiment to win renewed support for his Iraq stance. To be prepared for such an approach from McCain in itself speaks volumes for the Obama campaign’s preparedness. But what was just sublime about Obama’s response how he started it, though the rest of the response and the delivery was exceptional too. He started off by giving an equal and forceful response to the bracelet example by stating that he received a bracelet too and that soldier’s mother also asked a promise from him that no other mother would have to go through what she’s going through. That took the wind out of McCain’s emotional drama and created an equally emotional and compelling appeal for ending the war. The quality of that response and such a magnificent ‘tit for tat’ back and forth is unique in modern debating history. Obama then followed that with another magnificient truth that would connect with and appeal to every man and woman. He said that ‘no solider’s death is ever in vain’ and the simplicity, beauty and truth in that statement would have to be acknowledged by every person watching the debate. He then made the perfect finish by tying McCain’s example to the very fact that it makes it even more important for the president to have good judgement especially when it comes to going to war because that is such an enormous step.

After that response I could almost feel the body blow that Rove must have felt and the wind coming out of the republican campaign’s most resilient manipulative play, of using bluster and exploiting americans’ patriotic sentiment to generate support for the Iraq war and war measures/laws and denounce everybody speaking against the war or any legislation regarding the war as traitors. Even though the number of people supporting the Iraq war has fallen since the 2004 election it is still a very important topic and it was still crucial for Obama to come up with a compelling argument putting forth his view which he did unimaginably well. Hats off to Obamaand his campaign team.

P.S: Further Kudos to Obama for not getting rattled by McCain’s shockingly rude behaviour on stage. If I was the moderator I would put the debate to a stop after observing such condescending behavior and despicable actions like ignoring a person and looking askance when that person is talking to him as if the person does not exist or does not matter. Again that kind of unspeakably lowly behavior is unparalleled in the US debate history.

Add this site to Technorati favorites if you like the article(s).  

During every election all passionate voters get into frequent bouts of armchair quarterbacking and will wax eloquent about what their candidate is doing wrong and what exactly their candidate should do to win the election. The campaigns of the candidates do get a lot of email and calls from such voters and they also keep track of the campaign’s successes and missteps from TV shows and papers. For the most part though, a campaign will use the current polls as the barometer of their success or failure and a very small portion of the valuable feedback from the average American voter (and more importantly the ‘battle ground’ average American voter) makes it through to them. 

Such feedback can be pretty valuable as it is such voters that watch the daily working of both the campaigns, and follow a good portion of their speeches, attacks, counter-attacks and talking points. How such a voter perceives each of their steps and what impact their ads are having on such a voter can be very valuable for the campaigns. The campaigns might trying to cull such tactical feedback (if they’re smart) from the voters but it is not something that is very easy in spite of the information age and they might be getting drowned in a lot of conflicting feedback. Also, every body and their uncle will claim to have the magic formula for victory and will be very vocal about offering advise on what the campaign should do. I belong to that segment of the vocal population too and (like them) I believe I have developed a crystal clear insight on what the democratic campaigns have been doing wrong in the past two elections (including this one) and I have listed out detailed steps (see below) , both strategic and tactical, that the democratic campaign should take to outfox the republicans, turn the tables on each of their attacks, and easily grab the momentum back from them. I do feel that I have a hand on the pulse of the average American (especially the battleground) voter, and hence that makes me suitably qualified to give advise on how to make an impact on them.

I strongly believe if the Obama campaign learns from the mistakes made in 2004 and adopts a revamped strategy comprising of the key components listed below then this election could indeed be a 'slam dunk' (with all due respect Georgie - I mean Tenet of course) for Obama. This might make Rove put on his thinking cap again instead of pressing 'replay' on the 2004 tape (which is what he's doing now).

Hit Back Hard – Smartly 

The democrats have always feared the famed republican attack machine, which is indeed very impressive (though almost always follows their ‘web of deception’ policy), and most of the time end up with an inadequate response and just playing into their hands. What the democrats don’t realize is that these attacks are actually god’s gifts for the democrats. John Kerry just needed to do one thing to win the 2004 election and that opportunity was dropped in his lap by the republicans. In response to the swift-boating attacks he should have announced that he is going to give his response on national television (so that enough votes see it, hopefully close to the election date). In that response speech all he had to do as stand straight like a ramrod and in a tough tone deliver a knockout punch to the republicans, with words to the following effect.

“My fellow Americans, I have been following over the past couple of weeks a despicable web of deception being weaved by the campaign and friends of George W Bush. I decided that I cannot stay quiet any longer because one thing I cannot and will not tolerate is somebody attacking my patriotism and service to our beloved country. I have fought for my country selflessly and with a lot of dedication because I love my country and whenever our country is in trouble I will be the first person the frontlines. It is downright shameful that people will stoop low enough to attack, disrespect and malign our veterans, whether it is me or my friend Max Cleland or any other veteran for that matter, for the sole selfish purpose of winning elections. Our veterans have fought bravely for our country, have shed blood, and have selflessly offered their life to our nation when our nation needed it the most. I, for one, will not stand by quietly when somebody ridicules the service of those very veterans, and especially when such statements come from people who have never worn the uniform and have tried every trick in the book to wiggle out of fighting for our country and risking their life.”

Something to that effect, maybe leading that speech to an ending note of “I will be as determined to defend our nation this time around too and I assure all Americans that I will launch a manhunt of unprecedented proportions to find the terrorists who dared attack our nation.” (you get the idea). I can almost guarantee you that the election would have been in Kerry’s pocket if he had given such a speech. Ten minutes and the election would have been won! So simple, and the people who are supposed to know the voters’ brains inside out couldn’t figure this out? The Kerry campaign got away pretty lightly considering their costly incompetence and the disservice they did to the nation.

Again, the reason why it was critical to give the response has to do with the perception of the candidate and how he relates himself/herself to the average American voter, and in this case especially the ‘battleground’ American voter. Especially for Kerry, this was a golden opportunity to shatter his image of a weak, waffling, French poodle (that the republicans smartly cultivated) and show some toughness and bluster that the battleground voter likes to see in their candidates.

 It is crucial that the Obama campaign understands this very well because the republicans are still sticking to the same strategy as 2004, because it is still working! (boy, they must be laughing their pants off). The republicans are really good at tarnishing the image of a candidate (using blatant deception most of the times) and diminishing the credibility of the candidate in the voters’ eyes. They are doing the same thing to Obama that they did with Kerry (remember the waffling French poodle) and Obama is dangerously close to having the image that republicans are painting of him stick to him forever (or at least till the election).

The sad part is that these attacks are actually gifts for the republicans as I mentioned before, and almost every one of them can be made to turn around like a boomerang and knock them out. For example, as I wrote in this post hitting back the right way, and at the right time, is all it takes to turn the tables on the republican attacks and make the attacks work against the republicans themselves. Another example of an unjustified republican attack is the one that the McCain campaign came up with recently accusing Obama of ‘Not being a leader during the financial crisis and not taking a stand’. Again, all Obama has to do is stand straight like a ramrod, and ina sincere and tough tone flood all the mediums (and make a public appearance on TV as this is an important issue) with his response, which should be something to the effect of:

“The McCain campaign has once again taking the low road and playing the politics of deception by deliberately distorting the truth. It is sad that they are willing to stoop so low to win an election and have taken to lying blatantly to win votes.  Now, let me tell you the truth on the financial crisis that we witnessed recently and is still by no means done with. Much before the crisis came to this stage I was one of the few advocating improving the regulation of the wall street companies as they were definitely not doing a good job of regulating themselves and were putting a lot of people’s money and the economy at risk. Now the whole financial world is coming around to that same conclusion and have recently announced that the wall street investment will be converted to commercial banks and will be subject to more regulation.

I have been right on the economy long before John McCain figured out what was wrong with it. In fact, the truth is that John McCain and the republican party was completely flummoxed by the recent crisis, caught unawares, at a loss for solutions, and have been flip-flopping on their statements every day. This past Monday, when the crisis was in full swing, John McCain said regulation is not the answer, and on Wednesday he flip-flopped and agreed that more regulation was indeed required. On Monday, he said that the government should not help AIG and interfere in free markets, and on Wednesday he changed his tune yet again. The truth is that McCain is clueless on the economy and on how to handle the financial crisis, and he is casting blatantly false allegations on his opponent to divert people from the truth and cover up his woefully inadequate and clueless response to the financial crisis.”

Again, words to that effect, with a nice head and tail, concluding with the democratic record on the economy and highlighting how his economic policies will help the average American and the economy. That is all it takes to blunt the republicans attacks and make them work against the republicans themselves. The risk of not responding to the attacks is that some of the mud that the republicans are throwing will stick on Obama’s image (hey, we know that many voters are gullible enough to fall for these deceptions). That is what the republicans are trying here again, to paint a negative image of Obama as somebody who does not have any leadership qualities and is clueless on the economy.

In conclusion, it is critical that the Obama campaign wakes up now, and open up a 24 hour communication room whose one important duty would be to pro-actively monitor republican attacks, plan monstrous responses to republican attacks, and turn the  republican attack machine against the republicans themselves. It is very important to understand the mindset of the battleground voter, who likes to see a little of himself/herself in the presidential candidate and when they see somebody who cannot defend himself, even against unjustified attacks, they perceive him to be weak, under-confident, lacking leadership or guilty as charged. Such an image, especially during a time of war, can be political suicide and the democrats need to work right away on building the image of their candidate (and also at chipping away the image of their opponent(s).

That was just one aspect, albeit the most important one, of the multi-pronged revamped campaign strategy that I’m advocating. The rest of the points that I have in mind, that should form a part of the complete Obama campaign strategy, are listed below. I will elaborate on each one of these points listed below in the coming days.

Do not zig while they zag
While the republicans were pounding Obama as usual he decided to attack back. Great. What exactly did he attack them with? While they were pounding him about the ‘Lipstick’ comment and Oil Drilling, he chose to send out an attack ad saying that McCain is out of touch (can’t type email) and that his term will be Bush’s third term. Huh? Firstly, that attack is stale and most importantly you have to attack back on the same topic. You cannot avoid a response to an attack and hope that it’ll go away. It makes you appear real chicken and that does not go down well with the battleground voter. More recently while McCain was bashing Obama about 'not taking a stand during the financial crisis' and 'not providing leadership' Obama decided to attack back by talking about McCain's social security program and economic policies. If you want to win, remember this very important rule - hit back on the topic of their attack FIRST and then talk about something else. Check out this article where I've given one example of how to take their attacks head on and turn their attack machine on themselves.

Do Not Blame Bush/McCain for Everything

Your attack strategy should go beyond "this problem is due to the failed policies of Bush/McCain". Look, we understand Bush is unpopular and you would like to keep on tying McCain to Bush. Got it. Now, let's move on. Over the past few years even democratic voters are getting tired of listening to empty critisicms and not anything more substantive (the critisicms are important mind you, but they have to be more substantive too). Recently when the financial world was crumbling Obama went on his usual 'tape' of "The failed policies of Bush/McCain are responsible for this mess". Firstly, it makes you sound like a typical politician because this statement has been repeated by every democratic offocie holder on earth for everything (if it gets too hot in summer then it's Bush policies on global warming). In fact, it behooves you to speak positively once in a while, especially when the other side has really done a good job, because it makes you look like you are an objective and magnanimous person and not the typical scheming politican. It rasies your image in the voters' mind, especially the battleground voter. If Bush did a good job with Gustav then tell the voter that "even though the Bush government totally mismanaged the Katrina aftermath they did a good job on planning for Gustav and I congratulate them for it". That way when you hit hard on the issues which need hard hitting people will listen to you intently and will believe you.

The Iraq war, 9/11 and security are still very important

You can never ignore security as a campaign issue, especially during the time of war. Add a little bit of bluster to your persona (Mr. Obama) and tell the nation how your judgement proved right on the Iraq war and how our brave soliders and their families paid such a big price due to one horribly wrong decision by the president. Get ANGRY (don't explode though) and tell the nation that the pieces of dirt who attacked us on 9/11 are still out there and whether it is important for Bush and McCain or not it will be one of his missions' during his presidency to hunt down the rats who killed Americans on American soil (a little bit of bluster is NECESSARY considering the voters you are targeting and very importantly will go some way towards taking that 'tough on security' mantle off the republicans which is very important). Do not ignore security and focus just on the economy as a campaign issue. Remember, the Iraq war still generates very strong passions amongst voters and you got to remind them that you were right and McCain is still wrong on it. Hit the republicans back HARD with the very security stick that they consider to be their sole domain.

Splash on some Americana and bond with small town Americans

Go for a training course if you have to, for god’s sake, and learn to relate and bond with the battleground votes which means that you should add a little bit of ‘Americana’ to your personality and delivery style. Heck (yeah, use that too) talk about football, talk about how great our country is (they like to hear that – America is exceptional!) and you’d like to keep it that way. Talk about one of your biggest priorities being hunting down Bin Laden and dragging him out of his rat hole to the States and teach him and his comrades the consequences of attacking America (bluster helps with these folks … yeah for that matter use ‘folks’ too). Tell them it’s obviously not a priority for Bush and McCain but you cannot rest in peace till we get the guys who killed 3000 americans … you get the idea. Now go for it, cowboy.

Fight Nationally. Don’t just fight local in the battleground statesIt is a mistake to think the rest of the country doesn’t need to see/hear the campaigns you are fighting in the battleground states. Some of the issue though present conflicting interest in different states and those can be left alone, but is important that you build your image nationally as that is crucial for a presidential campaign and provides the synergy you need.

Wrest the initiative on the attacks.

Show the other side for what they are. Remember, you got to chip away on the other side’s image the same way they’re chipping at yours. Read my article on how to hit back at Palin and McCain.Click here to read my latest post on the final republican attack assault on Obama and how to turn it to Obama's advantage.

Digg this article if you like it or click on the icon below if it shows the digg count.

Add this site to Technorati favorites if you like the article(s).  

 

The Democrats should not be afraid of hitting back against Sarah Palin. Inspite of the dissapointing experience with the Clinton die-hards I believe women will see through the Republican party's deception and their opportunistic conversion as the party for women. But they have to display some smarts in hitting back which they have rarely shown in the recent past. Here are a few tips for that ad.

1) Make it a joint attack on both Sarah and McCain as that will be less easy to counter as sexist and take both names in the same breath. Use women as far as possible to in these ads to talk about Palin. Yup, believe me, the Republicans will try to hit  back hard on the attack and paint it as sexist and disrespectful for women and unfortunately some women in the category of the Clinton die-hards will fall for it. But the damage can be minimized and reversed with an effective counter counter-attack which shows their deception and manipulation by displaying the attack as a sexist one. The campaign can still come out positive for the dems as if done right it will diminish the GOP pair's image in more eyes that the ad/GOP counter-attack will do the reverse. It will also cut their wings and stop the rocketing rise in their popularity due to the Palin effect.

2) Brand both of them as flip floppers and clueless on the economy (boy, that will be sweet revenge for 2004). As my friend Maureen Dowd mentioned in her article there are a few examples to showcase that. Examples - "Sarah Palin was for the bridge to nowwhere before she was against. She was for earmarks before she was against. For McCain, on Monday he says that the Economy is good and on Wednesay he says it is in a crisis, on Monday he opposes AIG bailout and on Wednesday he supports it. In fact it makes us think that McCain and Palin still don't understand what's wrong with the economy and how to fix it. They seem to be deperately clutching at straws and trying to figure out what to say and do next. In contrast, Senator Obama has been prescient about the economic problems and has long said that more effective regulation is need to fix this problem. The Bush administration is now following Senator's Obama's advise."

3) Brand both of them as unscrupulous manipulators who are running a campaing a deception and will say and do anything to get elected. Sarah Palin said on the 7th anniversary of 9/11 that "the troops are there to defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced from the death of thousands of Americans" trying to play the same innuendo tricks of the Bush administration to link Iraq and 9/11 again. After all these years of unnecessary destruction in Iraq and home she is still trying to continue the misinformation campaign of the Bush adminsitration and she is speaking equally callously about wars with Iran and Russia. McCain still hasn't ever admitted that the Iraq war was based on manipulated intelligence and horrible judgement, instead he continues to manipulate the reason the for going to Iraq (hello, for your kind info we did not find any weapons) while the criminals who destrroyed on 9/11 still run loose.

The main idea is to diminish the image of the two before the advent of Palin creates a permanent sheen for their ticket. The Republicans are deftly doing that and are making Obama look weak, clueless and inconsistent. The other main point is that the Obama campaign should never treat the Iraq war as a non-issue at this stage and should continue aggressive talks on democrats being able to secure the nation better, the the right judgements and go after the real terrorists who are still loose. They got to raise the hubris levels on national security and attack the McCain camp as not being serious about terminating the terrorists who dare to hit the USofA. Tell the voters that I (Obama) will make it the highest priority to hunt down the animals who will be made to realize the consequences of hitting America (in short, say words that the battleground voters love to hear and snatch the hubris card from the republicans).

Obama finally popped his head out of the sand a week ago and said that he will adopt a 'sharper tone' but then they hit back with this stale old rehash of 'McCain will be third term of Bush' campaign. I hope the dems realize that hitting back hard and counter-attacking/defending the republican attacks is not an option and will make the difference this time too. As I mentioned before it does not help if they counter-attack on a unrelated topic. It is extremeley important to hit back on each one of their attacks and shred the credibility of their attacks, if they want to prevent some of the mud from sticking on to Obama's image each time.

Going through the article in this link - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/12/us/politics/12obama.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=sharper%20tone&st=cse&oref=slogin - a couple of points come to my mind.

1) Plouffe thinks that starting to attack too early is not a good approach. He thinks it is best to start attacking a bit later in the game going into the debates. That strategy is sounding a little like Rudy's startegy to me, where he though he can start later in the game and start from Florida. Plouffe has done a great job in the primaries but he didn't have to deal with such a mean unscupulous attack machine as the republicans have. What he doesn't realize is that once Obama's image has been distorted by these attacks and a negative perception is created in the voters' mind it will be too late if the Obama tries to attack back at that stage. That appears like a loser hitting back.

2) The Obama campaign is too struck with the 'big picture' (like many ultra-cerebral democratic campaigns) of the campaign strategy and and things like forming a coherent message or attack campaign highlighting the top-level aspects of the campaign like 'Change' and 'Economy'. This leads it to ignore the very important tactical moves like hitting back hard at unjustified and untrue attacks from republicans which cause immense damage to Senator Obama's image.

3) The Obama campaign seems to think that it should bother responding to some attacks from the McCain campaign if they think it hasn't received widespread coverage in the interior/local papers in the competitive states. what it doesn't realize is that even if a handful of voters (well, a few thousand maybe) buy into every attack in the key states then it might prove to be pretty costly and also the beating will wear the sheen off the candidate and the sum of the attacks may add up to be a lot more than the individual parts.

The solution for all the three weaknesses pointed above is the same. Every small attack should be countered with the same gigantic force ,especially if it is one of the fabricated and falsified attack as that makes it easier to hit back on the other campaign's character. The reverse attack should come immediately after the commencement of the republican attack and should be very forceful. It should highlight the intentional deceptions/manipulations in the attack (there always is some from the republican side so that should be easy) and should be made out to reflect negatively on the character of the candidates behind the attacks. A strong forceful counter-attack ensures that the allegations don't stick to the candidate for long and wont create a permamnt stain on the candidate's image.

Read the other posts in the blog to get specific details on the counter-attacks.

Along the lines of my previous posts, the Obama campaign probably has the easiest of tasks ever, because the Republican campaign is exposing itself more and more clearly as a complete deception machine with absolutely rock-bottom standards and no ethics. All the Obama campaign needs to do is start pulling a thread from their shirt and let it roll. It makes it all the more important that the Obama campaign not waste any time in hitting back because a good portion of the American population actually buys all the muck that the McCain campaign dishes out (as they did with the Bush campaign in 2004).

Another missed opportunity to highlight the above fact is not exposing the constant effort by the republican campaign to appeal to the 'woman vote' by conjuring up imaginary attacks on the poor VP and using every low trick possible to appeal to the sentiments. See this related article in the New York Times. 

Now, we have to credit the american woman voter with some sense (even the Hillary Die-Hards who frankly should be sued by the Obama campaign for accusing him of being sexist, without any basis whatsoever) and that they will see through the McCain deceptions if they are forecefully made aware of it. The Obama campaign should run an ad campaign which tells the women

1) That it has always been the democratic party that's been the true friend of women and even in this election are fighting for equal pay and expanded health insurance for women.

2) Both Obama and Biden both have a record of caring deeply for women's issues, and have passed laws like the equal pay legislation that Obama co-sponsored and the dometic violence act that Biden authored. They are fighting for expanded health insurance for women and to expand children's coverage benefits.

3) McCain/Palin have never cared for women's issues and they are using deception and blatant lies to portray Obama/Biden as anti-women. They are twisting even innocent comments by Obama on McCain's economic policies as 'sexist' comments. They are misrepresenting words used by Obama and Biden in different contexts as words used against Palin. They are evem misrepresenting Obama's vote to prevent our children from the horrors of sexual abuse as 'Obama voted to teach children sex before they read'

I'm sure the campaign folks can fill in the rest. These ads have to be shown reapeatedly immediately after any such move by the McCain cmapaign, AND in all startegic places where we have 'impressionable' minds that have a history of falling for republican deceptions (read battleground states).

I can't believe that the Obama campaign's comeback after Palin's Peak and some nasty attacks by Republicans consisted of the same recycled stale news that McCain is out of touch and is a Bush redux. Common guys, if you can't do better than that then admit it and resign and let somebody else do a capable job for the first time in a democratic campaign after JFK (and I certainly don't mean Kerry). I'll give you a quick rundown of what you should be doing.

Whenever the McCain campaign comes out with an attack ad (or verbal attack) HIT BACK with a HUGE RESPONSE which should just floor them. For example, I've outlined in my previous post how you should have responded to the 'Lipstick Ad' (Post link - http://www.hitbackharder.com/blogengine.net/post/2008/09/10/Why-isnt-the-Obama-campaign-hitting-back-harder-on-the-Lipstick-on-a-pig-comment.aspx). The response to the 'Sex Education' attack should have been equally forceful with the idea that the tables should be turned on their intention to use the attack to create a negative image of Obama as a person, make him lose his credibility and attack his very character to show him as person who is no way eligible to be president. These attacks are god's gifts to to the democrats and provide an effortless way to undermine the credibility of McCain and show their campaign (and their candidate by association) as scheming, immoral and knowingly manipulating the American voter's minds to get elected.

As I wrote in the lipstick post the monstrous response to every attack should include words like 'The McCain campaign has knowingly twisted Senator's Obama's words (and/or votes) and has adopted a lowly road to this campaign of trying blatantly cheap and dirty tricks to get elected.' The same approach can be used for the Sex education attack.  It is completely obvious from the law that Senator Obama voted for that this law can by no means be called sex education and is a very well-intentioned measure to prevent our children from getting abused and make our children aware of the predators that are around'. There is no room for doubt for any person who has read this law, so this clearly shows that once more the McCain campaign has adopted the disgusting tactic of spreading blantant lies about Senator Obama to malign him and create a nagative image of him amongst the voters. They have compromised their principles so far thay they don't even think twice about knocking down laws that protect our children fr0om the horrors of abuse.' ... I'm sure you get the idea and can take it up from here.

It is extremely critical that the response is given back immediately after an attack and should be so huge that it should flood every communications medium and should not only drown their attack but should show them in extremely poor light for adopting such underhanded and lowly campaign tactics. Any delay in responding or more importantly (which is what is happening) NOT RESPONDING seriously endangers the image of the candidate under attack (Senator Obama) which is very difficult to reverse once it sticks (like it happenned with John Kerry .. .very difficult to shake off the image of a waffling weak french poodle). Also, I'm surprised that the All American campaign teams cannot be insightful enough to figure out how an ordinary american average joe from the mainlands (the 'battlegrounds' which the Obama campaign is supposed to be focusing on) thinks. They respect a guy who stands up for himself and defends himself from unjustified attacks and would likely think of a guy to who keeps quiet under attacks as weak (or guilty as charged). That is one image you cannot afford to have for your candidate especially in a time of war when national security is always in the background of voters' minds. I haven;t spent all my time in America but it's amazing that I can feel the pulse of a regular American much more easily that the Obama campaign folks. There's very little time for you guys to change tack and I implore not to reject any advice outright and come up with a forceful campaign which gives due importance to the importance of image building in a campaign.

 More to follow .. there's so much so add on the winning campaign strategy. 

 I am glad that all our effort of like-minded people who want Obama to hit back harder is paying off. This article gives us hope - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26667449.

Way to go Obama. Show that you are not a scaredy cat, that you can stand straight and defend yourself strongly against blatantly false and demeaning allegations.

I saw Obama respond pretty well but it still seemed like he was being too polite and nice about it. The Obama campaign still has it's face buried in sand and is playing right into the hands of the republicans with it's 'Let's copy Kerry's campaign strategy to the T' campaign strategy. Hit back HARD for god's sake and use this as an opportunity to show how the McCain campaign is knowingly mischaracterizing his comments and show clearly to the American public how low a road the candiates and the McCain campaign are taking to get elected. How about this as a rebuttal "There was no room for doubt from Mr. Obama's statements that he was very obviously talking about the economic policies of McCain in the same sentence that he talks about applying "lipstick to a pig" which referred of course to applying "lipstick" to Mr. McCain's economic policies. The fact that there is absolutely no way the sentence can be attributed as a remark against Gov Palin or a sexist remark under any stretch of imagination makes it obvious that the McCain campaign is knowingly mischaracterizing Senator Obama's statement and is taking a shockingly low road for the campaign. We credit the American people with a lot more sense than the McCain campaign does and we request that the American public and the media speak out strongly against using such lowly and cheap tricks as part of an election campaigns"

You get the idea. There's a lot more you can build up on that text above. This was their golden opportunity to turn the tables faster than they can say 'Lipstick on a pig'. Every attack from the feared GOP can be turned back just as easily and in fact can be used as ammuntion against themselves, if only the democratic startegists were a wee bit more brighter than the Mooses from Gov Palin's state.  Repeat after me "Hit back harder than you get"!! If any of the readers agree or have any inputs for the Obama campaign please write down your thoughts as they might help them (they certainly need all the help they can).

The chorus is growing and I hope Obama is listening. Schumer said it on Aug 7, 2008 (quoted in politico.com - http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0808/Schumer_Hit_back_harder.html) when the McCain campaign came out with the 'Paris and Britney Ad'. This was the Obama campaigns response - "Obama's campaign responded to McCain's barrage by accusing him in television ads and press releases of taking the "low road," while casting Obama as above such attacks on his opponent's character." Oh my bama, how many times will we do a Kerry-redux? Kerry took the high road while they were gleefully chucking muck at him and he kept bowing and all but saying 'I'm too hoity toity to respond to such un-gentlemanly behaviour'. What was going through the key voter's mind though was "how can any veteran of honor take such allegations against his service without strongly hitting back and defending his sefless and heroic contributions to the nation. What is wrong with the man?" The idea here is that a candidate should act and react like any normal person should.

First of all, we are fighting an election in USA where straight talk is still revered and a man who can hold his ground and fight for himself is respected. Secondly this is (and was in Kerry's time) a time of war. People definitely don't want to see any shades of wimpiness in their candidate and a man who can't defend himself against baseless attacks certainly is not fit to defend the country. There is only one way to win this election and that is HIT BACK HARDER than you get.

Tomorrow I will expand further on how the Obama campaign can hit back harder. 

If they haven't realized till now that their messed-up minds were the reason for their baseless phobia and paranoia about the imagined sexist bias against Clinton, then it's time to hammer the message into their brains. Nobody really cared whether Clinton is a woman or a man (after so many years of seeing her in politics thoughts about gender don't occur to most people when they see her), it's her policies and actions (hint hint... Iraq War) and scheming duplicity about her actions on the war which made most people hate her. She deserved to lose for that alone .. and please don't keep bashing Obama for trying to innocently lighten up the atmosphere in that debate by saying 'You're likeable enough' (may not be excellent choice of words but very very innocuos and if you can't see it that way then please go for a brain scan). I'll be fair and say it was equally wrong for Obama's supporters to call the Clintons racist but again the Clintons did try to raise pointless parallels between black people running for presidents.

So it all comes down to this and nothing else ... when it mattered the most, Hillary showed awful judgement and she did not accept it even when it was clear that her decision was wrong, just for the sake of her personal political benefit.  If she can be so small-minded as to think of her personal political gain when lives are being lost by the thousands then there is no further explanation required as to why she does not deserve to be president (so just stop it already).

P.S: On this topic and on almost everything, you are the best Maureen Dowd.

We will not forget! This issue still needs to make or break this election as this issue represents the fundamental barometer of a persons' judgement and mindset, which is the main criteria for selecting a president. We cannot let neanderthals run the country again especially after seeing the harm they can do to the entire world with one horrible (criminal) decision.

I have to admit that the final push for the site came from the right wing conspiracy which led to the Iraq war, which is probably the basis for a lot of liberal blogging out there and is a kind of cliched reason, but it wasn't just the war itself; it was more the events which followed the war, culminating in the 2004 election campaign by Republicans (and the wimpy response by Democrats) which finally made me kick through my lethargy and think seriously about getting this site out. It still took a long time coming after that but I knew I had to get this out before the 2008 election, as I always regretted not airing my views about how Kerry's campaign should be run as I believe that might have helped him.

I knew the American mainstream does not like to see a wimpy president (the clever gop campaign made Kerry look like one and he obliged by playing the scaredy cat), especially during a time of war, and Kerry had to hit back harder at them. I had the lines that I was sure would electrify the public and make him come out stronger from the swiftboating and host of other attacks (it's no use repeating those lines now but the clever GOP is using some of those for Mccain this time).  Well, this time I will make sure I will air my views and I hope that some of the Obama campaign folks manage to somehow read this and it somehow helps them, at the very least in not repeating the mistakes of the last election. Whenever the republicans attack the democratic candidate, try to diminishing his/her image, paint him/her in a negative light or throws false allegations at him/her, you have no choice but to hit back harder or else you run a real risk of a permamnt/irreversable damage to your image (remember the waffling french poodle) ... but you have to be real smart about to how to hit back harder and use their own words and attacks like a boomerang which comes back to give them a big blow. 

It's not tough at all but it is a shame that democratic strategists haven't shown that kind of smarts (and I'm not talking just about negative attacks here) and basic intuitive understanding of how a regular American (or a regular human being for that matter) thinks and how to build the image and credibility of a person so that it resonates with the common man's feelings. 

This blog does have a higher purpose though which I will pursue after the 2008 elections. Right now it is critical that we all focus our energies on this important task. Till then the main purpose of this site will be to devise an unbetable campaign strategy for the democrats and laying out in detail how to hit back harder at the republicans so cleverly that every one of their moves goes against themselves and they will be left scrambling for ideas .

Have fun reading and do drop a comment with your thoughts.