When McCain is forced to say "I'm not Bush" it means Obama has won.

[Bread and Circus]

The way psychology works people don't fully internalize negation statements like that. When they hear "I'm not Bush" that gets truncated and internalized to "I'm Bush". In study after study of heuristic thinking and memory, people don't respond to the operant word "not". This is a framing argument that Obama has won. What's even sweeter is that Obama used McCain's own words co-opting Bush's policies in their "90%" ad today. There's nothing more effective than using people's own words against them to reinforce the frame you want the voters to adopt.

[louis-t]

1. I keep hearing how that was McCreepy's high point.

I think it was snarky and mean. It was irrelevant.

[BridgeTheGap]

2. He may have stood up to Bush on a few things, but like Obama says

on the really big issues of the economy and war, McSame is in lockstep with Bush. He's actually worse on the war mongering. He proved once again last night that he has no answer for this.

[progdonkey]

3. "Don't Think of an Elephant!"

Just the title of Lakoff's book is a perfect example of the same thing.

I honestly haven't really thought about Bush since maybe March--even the absolute hatred has subsided because he's just kind of... irrelevant, now. During the debates, I don't really think of Bush--I think of Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin. That is, until McCain says, "Don't think of Bush!"

[DeepBlueDem]

4. McCain, "Im not Bush"=Nixon, "Im not a crook"

[ContinentalOp]

5. Great point! "I am not a crook" etc. -nt-