"This election is not about issues"

[Rigs11]

This is getting too good.talk about a screwup

Obama Chides McCain Camp Over Claim Election Is ‘Not About Issues’
by FOXNews.com
Wednesday, September 3, 2008


Barack Obama is taking exception to the claim by John McCain’s campaign manager that the presidential election is “not about issues,” telling voters in Ohio Wednesday that the comment shows the GOP would rather engage him on personality than policy.

“Well, you know, I guess I don’t blame them because if you don’t have any issues to run on I guess you want it all to be on personality,” Obama said in New Philadelphia, Ohio. “And if you’ve got George Bush’s track record and John McCain voting 90 percent of the time in agreement with George Bush then you probably don’t want to talk about the issues either.”

Rick Davis made the remarks to editors at The Washington Post, which published them Tuesday.

“This election is not about issues,” Davis said. “This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.”

Davis accused Obama of “misdirection” Wednesday in his attempts to criticize him for the comment.

“One of the points I made is that not only are issues of economics and trade and foreign policy and education and others very important to voters, but it is the composite of all that stuff, how the candidates … feel about those things and also their views on leadership and character and their values that will be the conglomerate of what makes the final decision for most voters,” he said on a conference call.

Obama is expected to use Davis’ Post quote as an example of how the McCain campaign is attacking him as a “celebrity” as a way to distract voters from issues. The campaign could hammer this theme in the coming days, potentially with TV ads.

“We appreciate Senator McCain’s campaign manager finally admitting that his campaign is not in fact about the issues the American people care about, which is exactly the kind of cynical old politics people are ready to change,” Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said in a statement. “Senator Obama will continue to make this election about the big issues.”

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09...-about-issues/

[peacepipe]

It's the only platform they can really run on,if any. They can't run on the economy or the iraq war. All Obama has to do is stay on topic with the economy & he'll win.

[Rigs11]

What an idiotic thing to say. Any thoughts righties?

[Rohirrim]

I guarantee you the reason the McCain camp is releasing this talking point is because they intend to go real dirty and they're just setting it up. This is classic Rove: Accuse the other guy of doing the thing you intend to do first. The next point they'll release is, "We wanted to go with the issues, but the other guy wouldn't do that, so we have no choice blah, blah, blah."

feel about those things and also their views on leadership and character and their values that will be the conglomerate of what makes the final decision for most voters
This is Rove-code for, "We're about to smear this bastard."

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Barack Obama is taking exception to the claim by John McCain’s campaign manager that the presidential election is “not about issues,” telling voters in Ohio Wednesday that the comment shows the GOP would rather engage him on personality than policy.

“Well, you know, I guess I don’t blame them because if you don’t have any issues to run on I guess you want it all to be on personality,” Obama said in New Philadelphia, Ohio. “And if you’ve got George Bush’s track record and John McCain voting 90 percent of the time in agreement with George Bush then you probably don’t want to talk about the issues either.”

Hammer, nail, head.