Zipline Conservative

McCain Game Plan:
1. Associations. William Ayers and Rezko, primarily. The campaign compares Obama’s association with Wright to a hypothetical Republican’s association with an abortion clinic bomber and wonders where the outrage is.

2. Obama’s record on crime. “Far outside the mainstream.”  Crime record — far outside the mainstram…issues like gang violence and crack/powder retroactivity (which even the Bush admin supports but is not popular)…  Are they skating close to the race line here? The McCain camp turns it around: since when is a black candidate given a free pass on these issues?

3. Tax issues — his votes to “raise” taxes 94 times, etc.

“We’re going to fight back against the false attacks and make clear who has the record of a principled, fearless reformer and who doesn’t,” says Mark Salter, McCain’s closest adviser.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/the_mccain_comeback_plan_taxes.php

“It’s at this point that you see the absolute beauty in the Obama campaign. First, they discredited McCain on the economy. To be fair, McCain had a helping hand in that. Second, you paint his chief economic advisor, Phil Gramm, as the architect of the financial mess we are in. Bonus points to Gramm for calling people “whiners.” Then, you show McCain’s campaign is run by nothing but lobbyists, who have a vested, corporate interest in his winning. Finally, you hit him with the Keating Five—with the brutal KeatingEconomics.com—showing how McCain, in a similar situation in the past, allowed himself to be influenced by a lobbyist at the cost of billions to Americans. That’s how you build a case. That’s how you take someone down. Conventional Wisdom has us thinking Obama went with Keating Five as a reaction to Ayers. Nah. I’ve been both a website developer, and a video editor in my days, and I can tell you, the KeatingEconomics.com site isn’t a reaction. It’s part of a plan.”

http://www.dailyshocker.com/riposte/