McHypocrite - McCain's 2000 Concession Speech & Campaign Manager's Comments Re The Perfect Smear

[Median Democrat]

I have to say that John McCain is approaching George W. Bush in terms of hypocrisy as a human being. Of course, Big Media never connects the dots, or else the American people might be repulsed at John McCain's hypocrisy and willingness to embrace the people and methods that led to smears suggesting that his adopted daughter was actually his illegitimate child who was black. Yet, this is exactly what McCain has done. This is actually frightening in the sense that if McCain is willing to so blatantly contradict himself with respect to the basic principles regarding how his campaign would be run, it makes you wonder whether there are any limits to what he will do to win the Presidency.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800EFD91730F933A15751C0A9669C8B63

/snip

I'm going to fight with every ounce of strength I have, but I'm going to keep fighting clean, I'm going to keep fighting fair, and I'm going to keep fighting the battle of ideas.

And my friends, we are going to win.

I will not take the low road to the highest office in this land.

I want the presidency in the best way, not the worst way.

The American people deserve to be treated with respect by those who seek to lead the nation. And I promise you, you will have my respect until my last day on earth. The greatest blessing of my life was to have been born an American, and I will never dishonor the nation I love by letting myself -- I will never dishonor the nation I love or myself by letting ambition overcome principle. Never. Never. Never.

My friends, I say to you I am a uniter, not a divider. I don't just say it, I live it. I'm a real reformer. I'm a real reformer. I don't just say it, I live it. And I'm a fighter for this country, and I don't just say it, I live it.

As this campaign moves forward, a clear choice will be offered, a choice between my optimistic and welcoming conservatism and the negative message of fear. Between Ronald Reagan's vision of inclusion and the defeatist tactics of exclusion so cherished by those who would shut the doors to our party and surrender America's future to Speaker Gephardt and President Al Gore. A choice between a record of reform and an empty slogan of reform. A choice between experience and pretense.

/snip

In 2004, McCain's current campaign manager and campaign manager for McCain's 2000 campaign discussed the smear campaign against McCain that was masterminded by Karl Rove:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/

/snip

Every presidential campaign has its share of hard-ball political tactics, but nothing is more discomforting than a smear campaign. The deeply personal, usually anonymous allegations that make up a smear campaign are aimed at a candidate's most precious asset: his reputation. The reason this blackest of the dark arts is likely to continue is simple: It often works.

The premise of any smear campaign rests on a central truth of politics: Most of us will vote for a candidate we like and respect, even if we don't agree with him on every issue. But if you can cripple a voter's basic trust in a candidate, you can probably turn his vote. The idea is to find some piece of personal information that is tawdry enough to raise doubts, repelling a candidate's natural supporters.

All campaigns do extensive research into their opponent's voting record and personal life. This so-called "oppo research" involves searching databases, combing through press clips, and asking questions of people who know (and preferably dislike) your opponent. It's not hard to turn up something a candidate would rather not see on the front page of The Boston Globe.

It's not necessary, however, for a smear to be true to be effective. The most effective smears are based on a kernel of truth and applied in a way that exploits a candidate's political weakness.

Having run Senator John McCain's campaign for president, I can recount a textbook example of a smear made against McCain in South Carolina during the 2000 presidential primary. We had just swept into the state from New Hampshire, where we had racked up a shocking, 19-point win over the heavily favored George W. Bush. What followed was a primary campaign that would make history for its negativity.

* * *

It didn't take much research to turn up a seemingly innocuous fact about the McCains: John and his wife, Cindy, have an adopted daughter named Bridget. Cindy found Bridget at Mother Theresa's orphanage in Bangladesh, brought her to the United States for medical treatment, and the family ultimately adopted her. Bridget has dark skin.

Anonymous opponents used "push polling" to suggest that McCain's Bangladeshi born daughter was his own, illegitimate black child. In push polling, a voter gets a call, ostensibly from a polling company, asking which candidate the voter supports. In this case, if the "pollster" determined that the person was a McCain supporter, he made statements designed to create doubt about the senator.

Thus, the "pollsters" asked McCain supporters if they would be more or less likely to vote for McCain if they knew he had fathered an illegitimate child who was black. In the conservative, race-conscious South, that's not a minor charge. We had no idea who made the phone calls, who paid for them, or how many calls were made. Effective and anonymous: the perfect smear campaign.

/snip

Other stories have confirmed that John McCain knew that Karl Rove was behind the smears, and that McCain's aggressive, if not angry denunciation of these attacks, took John McCain off message as he tried to confront these smears head on. Apparently, JOhn McCain and Rick Davis learned Karl Rove's lessons well.

[yourout]

1. I am sure starting in September there will be a shit load of push polls about Barak being a muslim..

or some other blatent lie.

Republicans if nothing else are consistant......Cheat and lie, Cheat and lie, Cheat and lie.

[Median Democrat]

2. McCain Said There "Is A Special Place In Hell For The Rumormongers" In 2000

The 2008 General Election shows that McCain is more than willing to associate with those whom he said has "a special place in hell" reserved for them due to their actions in the 2000 GOP primaries. This article in the Nation discussion John McCain's willingness to embrace those who attacked him and his family. I am sure the GOP will get this spun as a strength in that John McCai was willing to swallow his ego, and deal with those he had so strongly condemned.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080128/banks

/snip

Rove invented a uniquely injurious fiction for his operatives to circulate via a phony poll. Voters were asked, "Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain...if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?" This was no random slur. McCain was at the time campaigning with his dark-skinned daughter, Bridget, adopted from Bangladesh.

It worked. Owing largely to the Rove-orchestrated whispering campaign, Bush prevailed in South Carolina and secured the Republican nomination. The rest is history--specifically the tragic and blighted history of our young century. It worked in another way as well. Too shaken to defend himself, McCain emerged from the bruising episode less maverick reformer and more Manchurian candidate.

The former crusader against the Republican establishment has since turned into a Bush-hugging, business-as-usual politician who has backed down from many positions that set him apart from conventional conservatives. Before, McCain supported the separation of church and state; now he wants a Christian in the White House. The confederate flag, which he once considered an offensive symbol, no longer troubles him. And he has come to believe that tax cuts are a good idea.

I don't want to say that McCain sold his soul to the devil, since I believe that religious metaphors have no place in politics. But consider this: shortly after losing the 2000 election, McCain told an interviewer that there must be "a special place in hell" reserved for the rumormongers. "

[Median Democrat]

3. Kick? Anyone Surprised This Gets No Play In Big Media?

The sad thing is that folks on DU kind of expect this to get no play, yet we all critique Obama's media strategy despite our awareness that Big Media not only neglects to do its job, but that it is totally biased against the Democrats.

The question is how Democrats respond to this adversity? Do we blame our candidate or do we work harder, give more, and get out and volunteer, particularly in red states?

If this were Obama who essentially laid out his plans for a smeer campaign 4 years ago, then followed through, we would be hearing this non-stop. However, no such luck with respect to McCain.