Mark Halperin explains what Obama does NOT understand about being swiftboated!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on March 31, 2008 - 11:59pm.
Rapid Response

Hello Everyone:

Here is the CNN transcript from Sunday, March 30 which stood out to me where Mark Halperin of Time Magazine briefly explained how that Barack Obama does NOT understanding how powerful that Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, and the Neocon GOP attack machine are which will negatively define him as a candidate to the entire country IF he is the nominee:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0803/30/twip.01.html

THIS WEEK IN POLITICS

Recounting the Week's Political Events

Aired March 30, 2008 - 13:00 ET

MARK HALPERIN, "TIME" MAGAZINE: "I just get supplicate. Look, the attacks are going to come and that's the nature of the environment in which our political media world exists. I call it, I had a book called "The Freak Show" and they're going to come after Obama and Clinton. There is a difference between Obama and Clinton. The Clinton camp says that the freak show attacks is going to come as they came at Dukakis, as they came at Gore, as they came in Kerry and Clinton has been through this and know how to do it. And that winning in the freak show environment is makes her and her ability to win a stronger candidate.

Obama wrote in the book and has talked and said, look, I know they're going to come with tough attacks and I will fight back, but his camp's view is that this is a different election. This is not a tactical election or election about small things, but the election about the war, this is an election about the economy; and Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge can do what they'll do, but that's not where the discussion is going to be.

Now, if you are a Democrat, you kind of choose between the two candidates, I think one important consideration of electability is what matters to you is which of those two schools of thought is right, particularly, because as Bill points out, John McCain is not likely to engage in a lot of the stuff himself, but believe me, he has got people working for him, and with him who will engage in it, and again, I think if you are a Democrat, a superdelegate or a voter, you have to say, which school of thought about this election is right, the Obama school or the Clinton school?"

I like how that Mark Halperin sets this up as a choice for Democratic primary voters as far as electability is concerned because that definitely makes it a no-brainer of a choice for Hillary Clinton in my opinion!

Here is the book that Mark Halperin was referring to that he co-wrote with John F. Harris titled "The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008" where they explain very well what Obama does NOT understand about the other side, "The Freak Show," and the ability of the Neocon GOP attack machine to negatively define him as a candidate in 2008 just like how they did to John Kerry in 2004 IF he is the nominee:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301030_pf.html

The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008
Chapter 1: The Way to Lose

By Mark Halperin and John F. Harris
Tuesday, October 3, 2006; 6:08 PM

"The bottom line was that the Bush campaign and its allies did a better job than the Kerry campaign and its allies in using the Freak Show -- its magnification of the personal and negative -- to define the opposing candidate. But the story as told in this chapter is a tactical one. What is more important for the next presidential election is the strategic reality that the Freak Show does not affect both parties equally.

The dynamic in 2008 will be the same as it was in 2004. There are structural issues in politics and media that now favor Republicans over Democrats. Freak Show politics will represent only a moderate threat to Republicans and give them a major advantage as they try to define the opposition on unfavorable terms. On the other side, Freak Show politics offers virtually no advantages for Democrats, but will again present a huge threat to any politician hoping to keep control of the narrative of his -- or her -- life story..."

I articulated further about that book in this post:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/8841

ANALYSIS: A great Washington Post article about how the media affects Democrats!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on October 5, 2006 - 2:03pm.

Barack Obama, many Democrats, and most pundits in the mainstream media clearly do NOT understand how powerful that Rush Limbaugh and the huge extreme right wing Neocon GOP talk radio media empire is that he leads:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13578

ANALYSIS: Why Rush Limbaugh is so powerful & what many media pundits do not get!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on October 10, 2007 - 1:47am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14337

Obama showed in the Jan. 5 debate that he does NOT understand enemy attacks!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on January 7, 2008 - 4:32am.

IF Barack Obama is nominated (hopefully he will NOT be), then Rush Limbaugh and the Neocon GOP attack machine will tear him apart in the general election over Jeremiah Wright and over many other issues which I have credibly documented:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/15047

ANALYSIS: It will be hard for Obama to run away from Jeremiah Wright's comments!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on March 18, 2008 - 9:19am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14603

DOCUMENTATION: Issues that will come back to hurt Obama IF he is nominated!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on February 4, 2008 - 9:07am.

That definitely also includes Michelle Obama as well as Barack Obama:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14987

Neocon GOP rapid response is heavily pounding away at Michelle Obama statements!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on March 11, 2008 - 9:39am.

Please forward this information on so that more Democratic primary voters will understand that Barack Obama will NOT be electable in the general election IF he is the nominee short of getting some kind of a very lucky break that happens in his favor!

IF nominated, Obama not understanding what the other side will do to him in the general election means that history will probably repeat itself where he will get swiftboated in 2008 just like how John Kerry got swiftboated in 2004!

Mitch Dworkin

http://www.securingamerica.com/

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/10756
StopIranWar.com: "War is not the answer"
Submitted by Wes Clark on February 21, 2007 - 11:40am.

http://www.securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7191
Listen to Gen. Wes Clark fight for Dems on Sean Hannity's radio program: An excellent example for all of us to follow and what we all need to be doing to help fight back against extreme right wing Neocon smear propaganda!

» Mitch Dworkin's blog | login or register to post comments

James Carville bluntly explained the other side to Jamal Simmons

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on April 1, 2008 - 12:37am.

This valuable lesson which James Carville gave to Jamal Simmons about how powerful that the GOP attack machine is from the other side is very important for ALL Democrats to fully understand:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0803/30/le.01.html

CNN LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER

Interview With Senators Bill Nelson, Mel Martinez

Aired March 30, 2008 - 11:00 ET

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: "Joining us now to talk about the Clinton/Obama contest and the implications for a prolonged primary fight, two guests, Democratic strategist James Carville, who's a Clinton supporter, and Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons is an Obama supporter. Guys, thanks for coming in...

CARVILLE: You know, I don't think this campaign has been particularly negative. I've probably said the most negative thing in the whole campaign. I think this campaign is, by and large, and particularly these candidates, have sort of conducted themselves affably. But if somehow or another, Senator Obama's campaign thinks that if they get this nomination, that somehow the Hillary attack machine is something, they're crazy.

I know these guys on her Republican side. And I know Charlie Black. I know Rick Davis. They don't care what The New York Times thinks. They don't care what Keith Olbermann thinks. They don't care.

They're going to go out -- this is powder puff stuff compared to the stuff that we're going to see in the general. And as opposed to just this constant whine of how negative the Clinton campaign is and everything, better be getting ready for a whole different ball game, because these guys are not concerned about this kind of stuff.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: A fair point, Jamal.

SIMMONS: Sure.

BLITZER: If Barack Obama can't take the heat from Hillary Clinton and James Carville and their allies, it's going to get a whole lot worse once -- if he gets the nomination...

CARVILLE: But I can understand -- if they -- let me -- I can take them around to right-wing world. These people don't care. They're not intimidated. And they're not interested -- and I think this campaign has by and large been relatively civil. I think it has by and large been way within the parameter of a hard-fought campaign.

What sort of concerns me, and I have said it every juncture, by the way, and Jamal knows this, that if Senator Obama is a nominee, that I would be the first in line to support him. I am just concerned, from what I see coming out of that campaign, that they're not quite aware of what they're getting ready to get hit with..."

Obama needs to understand the main point brought up in this CNN

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on April 1, 2008 - 12:43am.

documentary about responding quickly and fighting back against enemy attacks to negatively define you as a candidate!

Campbell Brown did an excellent job with this documentary in my opinion and she gave Democrats a very fair warning of what will happen to them if they do not understand this point:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0711/28/se.02.html

CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL

Campaign Killers: Why Do Negative Ads Work?

Aired November 28, 2007 - 23:00 ET

"(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I served with John Kerry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam.

CAMPBELL BROWN, HOST (voice-over): It was a minor ad buy in just seven inexpensive media markets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swift boat. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Swift boat.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That swift boat...

BROWN: But it became the dominant news story of the 2004 campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry lied.

BROWN: The attack didn't come from a campaign but rather a group of Vietnam vets attacking the candidate who had billed himself as a war hero.

STEPHANIE CUTTER, KERRY '04 COMMUNICATIONS DIR.: When I first saw the ads, I thought, this is crazy. There's no way that these accusations are going to hold up.

BROWN: Stephanie Cutter was John Kerry's communications director.

CUTTER: The old rule of crisis communications is that you don't respond to an attack, otherwise you elevate it.

BROWN: It took two weeks for Kerry to speak out.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), 2004 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're not telling the truth. They're a front for a Bush campaign.

BROWN: But by then the damage was done. CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: People figured, well, if he's not answering the ads, the charges, they must be true.

BROWN: What was especially troubling to some was that Naval records and eyewitness accounts by other sailors contradicted just about every claim the swift boat vets made. But it didn't seem to matter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ad was misleading.

BROWN: John Gere (ph) is a political scientist from Vanderbilt University.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The real problem with the swift boat ad isn't the content of the ad, per se, it's the fact -- the attention the news media gave it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They served their country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It actually got more attention than the Iraq War. That strikes me as a problem because the Iraq War was the big issue in 2004. Swift boat wasn't.

BROWN: Yet the swift boat ad may well have been the lethal blow to Kerry's campaign. The attack has even added a new term to the political lexicon, swift-boating a candidate. It also demonstrated the power of independent groups, the damage they can do while allowing the candidate they support to claim innocence...

BROWN: Experts say Dukakis ignored the basic rules of campaign combat. When attacked, attack back. Don't let them turn a positive, for example, his environmental record, into a negative. And always, always remember any picture can come back to haunt you. Tried and true strategies that have been used for centuries...

BROWN: Fast forward now to 2004, when technology once again changed the battlefield.

JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you have any question about what John Kerry's made of --

BROWN: Swift Boat's power was magnified by the nonstop play it got on the Internet, blogs and 24-hour cable news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- for that injury.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry lied to get his bronze star. I know. I was there. I saw what happened.

BROWN: There was plenty of evidence to contradict the ad, but it didn't matter. The charges seemed to stick.

MCKINNON: I knew it was going to have a huge impact, and the only surprise was that the Kerry campaign didn't respond quicker.

STEPHANIE CUTTER, KERRY CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: In retrospect, we probably should have had him respond earlier. And there was much debate about that in the campaign.

BROWN: Stephanie Cutter, Kerry's communications director --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Navy documented John Kerry's heroism --

BROWN: Says the campaign did put out a response to the attack.

VANESSA KERRY, KERRY-EDWARDS 2004: Which wound do you want to see? Which scar do you need to see to prove --

BROWN: But that they underestimated the power of the new media environment.

CUTTER: We didn't understand at that point the power of right wing blogs, how that seeps over to Fox News, gets covered by the mainstream media, and seeps out into the general public. By the time you're responding to an attack like that, the damage is already done.

DUKAKIS: When something like that happens, you've got to put responsibility for it squarely in the lap of your opponent.

We go through these cycles over and over again.

BROWN: From the man who made his share of mistakes, some words of advice for surviving the attacks to come.

DUKAKIS: Any candidate who is running for the presidency of the United States, particularly on the Democratic side, has got to expect them. They're going to be coming. They already are...

BROWN: With the 2008 presidential election now less than a year away, there are more viral attack videos being uploaded every day. Search Youtube, and you can find Rudy Giuliani dressed in drag and John Edwards combing his hair.

Campaigns, though, are fighting back. For example, Hillary Clinton now has an entire website dedicated to rapid responses to issues and attacks that come out of nowhere..."

More credible documentation about Obama's lack of electability:

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on April 1, 2008 - 12:46am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14337

Obama showed in the Jan. 5 debate that he does NOT understand enemy attacks!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on January 7, 2008 - 4:32am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14284

Obama predicts a landslide win in 11/08 when evidence shows he is NOT electable!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on January 2, 2008 - 6:34am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14201

ANALYSIS: What about Kerrey's, Shaheen's, and Penn's alleged attacks on Obama?

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on December 21, 2007 - 7:40pm.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13894