Kudos to Krugman for being brave enough to state the truth. However, what Krugman’s comes close to saying (click link below for his article) but avoids mentioning explicitly in this article is that the Republicans/Tea Partiers are so devious that they are propagating arguments that they themselves know are plain distortions of the truth and blatant lies. They are just doing it for political gain (which Krugman refers to politely as “they just want some numbers and charts to wave at the people and the press”), and they don’t give a damn that they are destroying their country in the process (Read how over here). To top it all, these traitors who are sucking the life out of the economy and the country, talk about American exceptionalism. Talk about exceptional betrayal!

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/opinion/17krugman.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage

Tea Party Expose Krugman NY Times, The War on Logic

This article refers to Friedman's article in NY Times - Reading this article by Friedman on how Anderson Cooper had a coup by busting the claims of the tea party leaders and the GOP that President Obama was spending $200 mil per day for his India trip, one thing that strikes me is how hesitant all these journalists/media people are to reveal the truth. Friedman talks about how the elected reps and right-wing rabble rousers are quoting wrong facts because they did not bother to check the information from apparently 'unknown' and now proved incorrect sources. That is the biggest grandstand since the time the republicans said that they went into Iraq because they assumed the intelligence on WMD to be true. Oh common, are you really smarter than a fifth grader? Even neaderthals like the tea party leaders will know that there is a big difference between 2 and $200 million. If nothing their campaign funding battles would make them aware of what a big amount $200 million is. The talk about using half the navy or whatever is also too ridiculous to explain it by an innocent 'oh, I did not bother to check'.

I think it's time to take the sugar coating out of the coverage on the tea party and show them for vile venomous vipers that they are. There are two kinds of people in this country now, people who know that the lies about Obama's trip expenses were deliberately propogated just to further vilify the president's image, and is just a continuation of the campaign of deception that started after Obama's election, and the other type of people are the people who actually believe it. It is obvious that Cooper and Friedman both know that the lies were deliberately spread by the people mentioned but they are afraid to spell it out in case they get sued or something of that sort. But if they don't have the 'cojones' for that then please don't talk about exemplary journalism. Cooper did a great job by revealing the truth, but if they cannot go all the way and state that it has to be a deliberate distortion then we will do it for them. These lies and deceptions won't cut it anymore for the tea party, for the tsunami of truth will sweep you far away by 2012. Watch the ground under your feet, for it's going to be yanked away from under you very soon.

Tea Party Expose, US Politics Michele Bachmann, Obama trip to India, Obama $200 million, Tea Party Lies

This post outlines a broad strategy that the Obama administration and democrats should use to counter the non-stop campaign of misinformation and mud-slinging from the opposition and win back people’s mind and hearts. The statements outlined in the strategy need not be delivered by the president themselves (though some can) but is meant to form the crux of the content of a communications team that monitors the current discussions in the press and streets an delivers an immediate and forceful response. It is a 24-hour news cycle out there and we cannot let all headlines and airwaves be dominated by the opposition who keep twisting and distorting all policies and actions and brain washing the general public. It is important to have a 24x7 communications room that calls out the half-truths and deception that is constantly being generated by the other side, because if people throw enough mud then some of it will stick and will continue to make the picture more murky. A lot of people out there are plain misinformed and manipulated and it is very important that the veil of deception thrown by the opposition be lifted and the truth be uncovered.

Election Strategy, US Politics Democrats 2010, Democrats Election Strategy, Democrats Campaign strategy, Obama strategy, Obama Truth, Obama policies

This is a real response to a comment on my blog from a tea party loyalist (read original comment below)

Dear 'Palindrone',

It is kind of amusing to know that you are being pitying me for being clueless and at the same time displaying ‘cluelessness’ of gargantuan proportions. You parrot a lot of ‘Palindrones’ in your comment, like “The Tea Party is about returning power to the people’, ‘We’ve become a land of entitlement’ and ‘tax and spend policy of the government’ etc. etc. without even attempting to answer the simple question ‘What would the party do going forward?”, “How will that revive the economy and bring deficits down”? and most importantly if you tea partiers got riled up by the stimulus (but trillion dollar deficits by Bush are fine with you apparently as you guys didn’t froth at the mouth when that happened) then kindly explain how would you have got the economy out of the devastating tailspin it was in and pulled it out from the vicious cycle caused by the state of panic and loss of confidence, which were threatening to freeze the economy and cause further debilitating losses to the common man. You brainwashed buttheads don’t acknowledge the fact that since the stimulus was passed the economy has come out of a seeming bottomless recession and the stock market has grown by more than 50% in one year after the stimulus. You would shudder to know what would have happened without sane heads in the government who didn’t fall for the politico crap of ‘deficits’, from people already had nagging apprehensions as soon as Obama was elected and jumped at the first criticism that was offered by opportunists such as Palin (common, she had better ideas to revive the economy than the crack team established by the govt?). You soaked in everything these unscrupulous scavengers were saying because you wanted to believe everything they said in the back of your mind and kind of made it into a self-fulfilling prophecy. The stimulus package was extremely well thought out, to revive the crucial financial economy (and continue the damage prevention that Bush started with TARP, a $800 billion package) and also provide more jobs by rebuilding the national infrastructure (sorely needed too). You clueless morons painted that package as a bailout (thanks to the nobel laureate economist Palin) when it was just partly a continuation of Bush’s TARP for financial firms (that part of the stimulus plan that is) and was extremely necessary to keep the nascent recovery alive. Take an economics 101 class if you can’t get it even now. Also, you cannot dispute the fact that the economic growth has been higher since the package and the stock market (which was in the danger of going below 6000 at that point) has recovered strongly. Obviously, it is easy to point out that unemployment hasn’t gone down much and the economy is not roaring but think about how disaster was averted due to the stimulus and how bad things would be without it.

Also, regarding the ‘sick of spending’, ’No more tax and spend’ and the ‘down with deficit’ slogans that your party is shouting from the rooftops, where was this anger when Bush added more than trillion to the deficit with the wars and other bills. Let me give you a quote from your ‘favorite paper’ (you would do good to read this paper and knock some sense into yourself) about the medicare prescription program that was passed the Bush team. “Calculations by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and other independent fiscal experts show that the $1.1 trillion cost over the next 10 years of the Medicare prescription drug program, which the Republican-controlled Congress adopted in 2003, by itself would add more to the deficit than the combined costs of the bailout, the stimulus and the health care law.” Read about it here. Where was your anger when the Clinton surplus was wiped away and replaced with a trillion plus deficit? That itself shows that the very foundation of your party is based on hypocrisy and opportunism. When there was no other issue to beat down the Obama administration the tea party leaders started working up the crowds about how their country is getting bankrupted by Obama, and boy did you suckers fall for it or what. Did ya wonder brains know that Obama hasn’t raised any taxes so far and has actually provided a payroll tax cut to 95% of the working people? Get your head out of the sand and try to look at the other side of the story for a change instead of falling for every load of horse hooey that the tea party/gop leaders hand down to you.

Regarding the healthcare it would also be good for you morons to realize that we are actually reducing the deficit with this plan and the national cost of not adopting some of reform would be higher, as the insurance costs were spiraling every year. It is a fair debate as to which provisions could have been modified and what should be added/deleted but I don’t remember this explosion of disgust when Mitt Romney passed this plan for Massachusetts. You two-faced hypocrites are accusing Obama of being a socialist for passing a plan that was created by a Republican and no Tea Party leader will admit to that fact when asked. The fact is that something had to be done about healthcare, as the insurance costs were going through the roof, and this was a commendable effort where the deficit from healthcare was being reduced and the number of uninsured decreasing at the same time. There is no perfect plan for this and if you all have a better suggestion then you would have given it by now instead of just bashing a genuine effort.

The list of your deception and misleading attacks can go on and on but the bottom line is this, the Obama administration has been trying from the very first day to get the country out of the economic funk, and they have tried many innovative and commendable programs like ‘cash for clunkers’, and ‘tax break for first-time home buyers’ etc. that actually helped to a certain extent. The tea party (parties rather) on the other hand have nothing to offer in terms of concrete policies or alternatives and all they do is froth at the mouth and denounce every genuine attempt by the Obama admin.  Oh btw, the Obama admin also gets this simple fact that the economy has to grow first before the deficits can come down anyway, and just clamping down monetarily is not going to do that and will only raise the deficits further. So there!

Tea Party Expose, US Politics Palindrone, Tea party response, Obama tax cut, stimulus truth, Medicare prescription drug program

Talk about being misguided .. it's amazing how the human mind can so easily be swayed and controlled by somebody's words and starts treating everything they say as the gospel. The Tea Party is about returning the power to the people apparently and has not put forward even one practical proposal for the current economic situation (especially when it was at its worst point since 2008-2009). All they've been doing is demonizing and deceiving the public by shamelessly distorting the proposals of people who have been sincerely trying to do fix the situation and do good for the country. I will not elaborate on these points here,  but watch out for my next posts where I refute these parroted 'Palindrones' and shine some light on the plain truth that is as clear as dsylight if you open the blinds of your brain.

"You poor misguided person. I realy try to see the liberal's point of view, but you my friend are way out in left field. 

The Tea Party is about returning power to the working people. Not the liberal media who misleads the nation with foolish information, not the rich (republican & democratic), not those who choose not to work and depend in the government to provide them with every solution to their bad decisions, not the illegals who expect to be given more rights than Americans and certainly not to the lazy, crooked politicians whose only concern is how to stay in office.

The country is in a mess, jobs are shipped out of country (other than farm products & weapons, we have nothing anyone wants), social security is going broke, we've become the land of entitlement where it doesn't seem feasible to work, and there are NO leaders in the government capable of steering America out of this pending doom that awaits.

If you don't agree with any of that, you must be one of those who gets by on government handouts in one form or another and your pretty happy with President Obama, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid. Keep one thing in mind, when this "gravy train" you're riding goes over the cliff its heading for, whose going to provide your house, car, food, medical care & cell phone? Its one thing to be a parasite, but when you suck the life out of your host, you die also!

If you actually have a job that's not dependant on the government, you are welcome to give any and all your money to the entitlment class & elitists fed by the tax & spend policy. The Tea Party is embraced by working Americans who are sick & tired of working hard and being over-taxed to fund the gravy train.

If you like the tax & spend policy, then you pay for them (if you actually have a non-government funded job)!"

US Politics Palindrone, Blog Comments, Tea Party Parrot

This is by far the most sincere blog comment I got and I wanted to share it with you all. I appreciate the writer's decency and conciliatory approach. I do agree on being too vitriolic (been probably drinking some 'tea' myself) but there are a few points I want to respond on and I will get back to this person soon and will share my response here. I'd love to hear your comments on what is an appropriate response. The biggest 'stand out' here is that this person is just pointing to the different beliefs of conservatives and liberals but my anger is not about the beliefs, it is about the slimy and sneaky politics being played by the tea party/conservative leaders who are brainwashing the conservatives by disgusting lies and insinuations (and destroying our economy and spreading hatred in the process). I am by no means completely liberal but I do care about principles and justice and will not tolerate those being sledgehammered by unscrupulous slimeballs. 

"You would be more effective if you would change the tone of your blog. Two things stand out: one, the crude and sarcastic language which screams "college leftist," and two, the violent imagry of your words. 

If you state your opinions without all the over-the-top ad hominem attacks, you might be able to change some minds. But as long as you are so hostile to working class folks worried about the country (yes I do mean the tea party) anyone looking for "the other side" reads a few words of your blog and sighs, "More ad hominem attacks... more Allinsky-ite 'isolate and ridicule'" and then surfs on to the next biog.

If you truly love your country, as I do, realize that we are not your enemies, we are not stupid, and we are not out to "get" your president. We have conservative, traditional beliefs, and you do not. That is why we do not have one-party rule in the U.S. Different ideas keep politcal discourse vigorous and guard against totalitarian attitudes.

That is no reason for the "hit...harder" style of language and vitriol. I could be your neighbor; you would probably like me if we met at a social event. But people like me, who surf politcal sites often, will not stay around long enough to soak up any of your ideas because of your "rabid dog" syle of writing.

I hope you reconsider the venom and think seriously about what I have said. You are putting up walls instead of building bridges, and in these dangerous times we cannot afford to treat each other as enemies."

US Politics Allinsky

It validates your faith is mankind when you see that there are some people who have their head in the right place and have a thinking brain inside their head. I don’t have to add a lot of supplementary info about the rotten scheme of the tea party to string along gullible suckers who’ll fall for their dirty lies and have no qualms about destroying our country in the process. Just read this article and I hope if there is a tea party or gop supporter reading this then he/she had better hammer every word into their misguided brain, for this is GOD’s OWN TRUTH!

I’m glad that there are people who are standing up against the force and fury of the so called ‘sons of the soil’ (sobs actually) who have relentlessly ground any opposition into the dust. Well, this anti tea party movement is going to become a lot more stronger as there are more and more people on whom realization is dawning and who are hitting back. Watch out tea ‘party animals’ for there is a category 5 'party pooper' storm brewing in the horizon …

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/building-a-nation-of-know-nothings

US Politics

Yo, Cramy ... didn't expect this from you of all persons ... somebody who does (or should be) following the administration's financial policies know that Obama has been saying right from the beginning that there is no silver bullet to fix the economy and the stimulus will provide some help but it will be a long and painful road to recovery. How can you get into the gutter of distorting and destroying the government's attempts like the toxic Tea Party traitors. The Tea Party and many of the 'victims' of their brainwashing (some who have commented below who should probably be allowed to park in handicapped spaces) are the people who have been hacking down all serious attempts by the government to boost the economy by talking down the economy and scaring the (easily malleable) people by keeping on beating the drum of 'rising deficits' and socialist takeover of the country. Would have been amusing to watch an army of morons any other time, but when they intentionally destroy the economy and country (knowing very well that whatever the president is trying is what they would have done anyway) they have to be branded traitors ... I sure hope you show better sense than them. Any of the references about Biden and Obama you're making are about their comments on the role that the Stimulus has played in coming out of the crisis in 08-09 (and you better admit that too). Never did they say that they do not need to do anything else and that the economy will take off on its own. They're trying every day, and like the housing tax rebate they have been coming up with innovative schemes to try to propel the economy .. unfortunately doesn't help if the republicans massacre every measure by using their devious distortions to characterize every measure as a socialist apocalypse. I agree that targeting pay on wall street was a mistake ... though most of the geniuses who were protesting against the stimulus (gop/tea partiers mainly) were the ones complaining about executive pay and when the President decided to give in to them they characterized that as Socialism. These tea sippers had better watch out though ... if they think their movement is passionate and demanding change, they should turn their heads around and see the hurricane of hordes of justice seekers who'll be ripping the masks off each and every one of the traitors.

US Politics Jim Cramer article

I never thought there'll be day when I'll praise the pompous and arrogant governor of New Jersey, but I was blown away by the brutal honesty and guts of Christie when he voiced his views on the WTC Mosque. Well, he still hedged a little, by talking about upholding the sensitivities of the Sep 11th families but at the same time he was braver than most politicians by stating his mind on the topic and condemning politicians from both parties for making this issue a political 'football. He clearly stated what many people in Democratic and Republican parties are afraid to say .. that it is outrageous to paint all of Islam with the brush of terrorism. He clearly stated that this issue is being politicized out of proportion and he warns that we should follow policies to being people together and not drive them away from each other.

What he did not state was that his colleagues are not just 'politicizing' the issue, they are injecting venom into the air and the minds of the malleable (read stupid) american voter by spreading canards like 'terrorist connections' of the chief priest of the mosque. The New York Post, which is probably the most obnoxious and disgusting right wing rag out there, has headlines like 'Hamas Big Backs Mosque'. Talk about manipulation by insinuation. Of the effing course the Hamas guys would back the mosque. They would back a mosque being built in the moon if that is ever planned. That is no way means the people building the mosque here are in any way connected to Hamas. The NY Post knows that, like itself, the average American voter is such a dimwit that they would not be able to use 'complicated' reasoning like 'If Hamas backs the mosque then it does not mean the mosque leaders are backing hamas' (whew ... I wish they had taught rocket science in the 8th grade).

Well, try as you may, earthworms, you are not going to shake the movement for progress and justice in politics, and every hot you make is going to boomerang and hit you back harder! As promised in this site, I will give you recourse for action ... so email letters@nypost.com or call 1-800-940-7678 to the past pansies a piece of your mind (though they may not know what a mind is)!

US Politics, WTC Mosque Chris Christie Mosque, WTC Mosque

Kudos to the Democrats and the Obama team. For once, they did what they should be doing every day. Hit back hard at the republicans and tea partiers, and give them a dose of the same medicine that they made the democrats/Obama drink every day since he took office. I remember seeing an article in the Washington Post about how the Obama team hit back at Barton because they want to get political mileage out of it and help them in November. OMG ... eff the ucking course they were extracting every bit of political mileage out of it. Why the heck would they not? There is a bi...iig difference between the mileage the extracted and the slimy tactics of the gop/teeps (short for tea partiers) though ... Barton made a real comment about 'shakedown' and that comment did reflect his views (and probably many big business fans in the gop), though he was foreced to apologize later. In fact Rush 'out on a limb' baugh is trying to slime the $20 billion fund as a sinister ploy by the Obama admin to distribute money to ACORN .... boy, I tell ya, with a base like the one the GOP/Tea Party has, you can make them buy anything ... just suggest it long enough and they get hypnotized into believing it (because they want to ..). Almost makes me wonder if we should have a minimum IQ as a criteria for citizenship of this country. But I wouldn't fault the brainwashed as much as the washer-boys .. if Limbaugh is intentionally misleading his listeners into believing something that even he knows is untrue, and endangering the livelihood and financial status of millions of households in the gulf region in the process, then he is a slimy rodent and should be made to crawl back into his hole. 

What the GOP/Teeps do, which is reprehensible, is that they intentionally twist and manipulate the other side's words to extract a convenient meaning which has as much to do with the truth as Iraq had to do with 9/11. So, the health reform becomes equivalent to 'death panels' and 'regulation' becomes equivalent to government takeover of corporations. They keep brainwashing the clueless hide heads with devious intentions and try to demonize the opposition even when they are doing their best for the country, because their only interest is in winning the next election (the country be damned!). 

Well, if blogs like mine crop up everywhere then 'hitting back harder' will become the norm of the Democrats too and it wont take too long for them to turn the tables on the traitorous tea party. Watch put for more tips on how to 'hit back harder'.

Tea Party Expose, US Politics Barton, Shakedown, BP Oil Spill

Continuing from my earlier article, I've added the link for Krugman's follow-up article below. As he mentions, people who are opposing the stimulus and revival plans for the economy are putting our future at stake. Whether you are opposing because you're bone-headed (read 90% of tea party/gop followers), or should I say jelly-brained cause it can be molded in two seconds by any tea party klutz railing against Obama, or because you are a scheming traitor (read 90% of the GOP/Tea Party leadership), there are no two ways about it - YOU ARE DESTROYING THE VERY ECONOMIC FABRIC OF OUR COUNTRY - Al Qaeda couldn't have done any better than you tea party folks are doing. Try to listen to what the other side is saying for a change (try to take off the prejudice tinted lenses for a change and for god's sake try to broaden that weany little mind of yours and READ the article below).  

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/opinion/21krugman.html?ref=paulkrugman

If you cannot make sense of this article then you have two freaking options

1) Either let the people who have been spent months and months studying the causes of the crisis and breaking their backs to fix the situation do their work, and support the superlative and selfless Obama effort to revive our economy and our country

2) or provide an intelligent alternative to fix the economy (and fruckin back it up with numbers). Do not just sit there like a sick dog spewing froth from your mouth, and parroting your demented and crooked leaders.

Tea Party Expose, US Politics

I know it’s not easy to knock sense into the gop faithful and the tea sipping party ‘animals’, though they seem to fall for convenient balderdash faster than oil can spill out of the deepwater horizon. But we believe in a little bit of ‘empathy’ and would like to give them a chance at redemption. Here’s hoping the dense brains of the gop/tea party faithfuls can comprehend plain English, and looking forward to the amazement of an intelligent response to this very informative article from Paul Krugman of the NY Times which puts the whole deficit debate in very simple language (simple enough for our ape-brain friends to understand). I hope this makes them realize how the tea party traitors are betraying our country and destroying it economically.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/opinion/18krugman.html?ref=paulkrugman

Tea Party Expose, US Politics

More evidence of the deliberate deception was on display during the healthcare bill. It was clear as day that the insurance premiums were going through the roof and becoming unaffordable for a lot of people. There was no doubt that some kind of reform was necessary and that something had to be done to put a brake on the premium increases and also include as many non-covered people as possible. Instead of agreeing that reform is required, and trying to help the Obama administration come up with the right plan, the tea party/repubs plainly refused to speak to him. They may as well have said ‘screw you and screw our country’, for that is exactly what they were doing. When they were required to do their bit as representatives of the people, they ignored their duty and played gutter politics again, and started poisoning people’s mind again. They fed them trash about death panels and government choosing doctors, and the ape-brain tea party folks just lapped everything up (what will they not fall for). It was an extremely well thought out plan, and actually managed to increase coverage and reduce the country's deficit! Truth be told though, it’s not just the persuasive powers of the tea-party leaders that makes them fall for all kind of hooey (death panels, for god’s sake!). They had serious doubts and prejudice against the current president right from the beginning and the 24-hour mud-slinging operations from the likes of Haughty Hannity led to the deepening of their doubts and some of the mud stuck. However, part of it was because they really wanted to believe all the muck they heard and so they convinced themselves that it’s the truth. Otherwise, anybody with half a pea brain in their head would know that Palin knows as much about Healthcare as we know about Moose hunting ,and the criticism she was trying to cook up (don’t kill grandma!) were a laugh riot, and dirty politics motivated by her sheer ambition to get to the presidential nomination. That is the dirty psychological warfare that the right-wing keeps playing … keep telling people over and over again that (a blatant lie) is the truth and after some time some people will start believing it’s the truth. So, keep saying that the president is socialist and is making government take over our life, and the tea party foot soldiers will fall over themselves to believe it. Heck, Obama is as much a socialist as Mitt Romney, if you compare their health plans. Oops, try bringing that comparison up with the Palins and Becks of the world, and you'll see them roll over and play dead. Their job is to shred every action that Obama takes into pieces, so that they can feed the shreds to their loyal followers who wag their tails at them. Doesn't matter if the action that Obama is trying to take is vital for our country's economy and security, and to the survival of many Americans. Politics comes before country ... maybe they should make that the slogan of the tea party. I do repeat, however, that the blame is not with the majority of the tea party followers or republicans (aka the 'brainwashed'), it mainly lies with the ones who are intentionally misleading these guys (i.e. the 'brainwashers', who'll do exactly the same things as Obama when they're in office, as those actions are necessary and make sense) and playing with our country's future.

What everybody should not forget though is that in the name of political opportunism they were destroying our country, and hence they (the brainwashers) deserve to be branded the dirtiest of ‘traitors’.

Tea Party Expose, US Politics

Cause anybody with half a brain would know that you cannot risk a 'spiral of death' by not shoring up the Greek government and the financial system in the country. Obviously, the 'bailout' should come with many strings attached, and a stringent plan for austerity and repayment. True to form though, there are morons in every corner of the world and Germany is no exception. The ignoramuses who are protesting Germany's support to bail out Greece do not realize that if that is not done then they will have the fallout come and bite a big chunk out of their backsides. Well, to their credit at least they are protesting about their government saving somebody elses's ass (in their opinion), but or very own tea party poops protested our own government saving our own asses and even founded their joke of a movement on that event. One day for sure, the morons who became part of the movement for that reason and bought all the hooey about 'government taking over our lives' will hang their head in shame (like a lot of the Iraq war defenders did when they saw 'the light'). I wish we had the luxury to wait till then, but I'm afraid we are not as moronic as our tea party friends .... keep tuned in on how the tea party will get the rug pulled out from under their feet and will get DECIMATED.

Tea Party Expose, US Politics Greece Bailout

There was one point in Yesterday’s debate (besides others) for which the democratic strategy team and Barack Obama deserve accolades of the highest kind. One area where the democrats always used to bend down in the face of republican shrewdness was in projecting themselves as supporters and true friends of our troops and military, especially when it came to the Iraq war.  The republicans made support for the war synonymous with patriotic sentiment and painting anybody speaking against the Iraq war or calling for withdrawal as unpatriotic, weak, cowardly, defeatist and accused them of murdering the honor of the country and disrespecting the soldiers who laid their lives for the country. Even John Kerry and his campaign team could not come up with a equal response even once and ended up slipping into the republican’s trap whenever they tried to talk sense into people and tell them that it was a mistake to go for this war.

John McCain shamelessly tried using the same tactic again when he talked about getting a bracelet from a fallen soldier’s mother (I’m not disputing that he did) and used that as a emotional hammer to justify support for the war and implying that anybody who called for withdrawal was dishonoring the soldiers who gave up their life in the war. I think it is indeed sad that the parents and relatives of some brave soldiers who gave up their lives for the country, even after facing such a monumental loss in their lives, do not still fathom the enormity of war, the devastation it causes to so many innocent people on both sides and how going to war to is a decision of last resort under extreme circumstances which was not the case for this war. Instead of being be hit with the bitter reality that their loved one laid down their life bravely completing the mission of the commander-in-chief (and his cronies) who deceived them and the nation into this war, which had nothing to do with 9/11 or any immediate threat like they were told. Instead of realizing that despicable minds and horrible judgment were responsible for this tragic loss they get into the mindset trap of  ‘We should complete the mission my loved one was fighting for’ and anybody who calls the war a mistake is insulting my loved one’s sacrifice.

Navigating a political minefield of this kind, that the republicans set up, required great tact and a brilliant mind. You can’t say that you respect the soldiers’ sacrifice but still think this war is a mistake. You can’t say that the brave soldiers were misled into an unnecessary war because you would be implying that soldier was fighting in vain. You can scream till you’re blue in the face that you are actually supporting the troops when you’re calling for a withdrawal, because all the war did was to place Americans outside of our secure borders (after going through all that effort to secure our borders after 9/11!) so that Al-Qaeda could get some easy target practice and not even have to bother think of ways to get into our country, for Bush made it easy for them and brought the targets out but you still will not able to outfox the republicans and make a winning argument of that. Kerry and his team didn’t even come close to figuring out a way out of this political maze (Kerry had the authority to speak on this topic as he was a veteran but he miraculously managed to make being a veteran a liability for him), let along come up with a good counter-argument.

Any ordinary candidate would be fumbling for a response after McCain, following a brilliant Rovian script, came up with the bracelet tale and cleverly turned it into an appeal to American patriotic sentiment to win renewed support for his Iraq stance. To be prepared for such an approach from McCain in itself speaks volumes for the Obama campaign’s preparedness. But what was just sublime about Obama’s response how he started it, though the rest of the response and the delivery was exceptional too. He started off by giving an equal and forceful response to the bracelet example by stating that he received a bracelet too and that soldier’s mother also asked a promise from him that no other mother would have to go through what she’s going through. That took the wind out of McCain’s emotional drama and created an equally emotional and compelling appeal for ending the war. The quality of that response and such a magnificent ‘tit for tat’ back and forth is unique in modern debating history. Obama then followed that with another magnificient truth that would connect with and appeal to every man and woman. He said that ‘no solider’s death is ever in vain’ and the simplicity, beauty and truth in that statement would have to be acknowledged by every person watching the debate. He then made the perfect finish by tying McCain’s example to the very fact that it makes it even more important for the president to have good judgement especially when it comes to going to war because that is such an enormous step.

After that response I could almost feel the body blow that Rove must have felt and the wind coming out of the republican campaign’s most resilient manipulative play, of using bluster and exploiting americans’ patriotic sentiment to generate support for the Iraq war and war measures/laws and denounce everybody speaking against the war or any legislation regarding the war as traitors. Even though the number of people supporting the Iraq war has fallen since the 2004 election it is still a very important topic and it was still crucial for Obama to come up with a compelling argument putting forth his view which he did unimaginably well. Hats off to Obamaand his campaign team.

P.S: Further Kudos to Obama for not getting rattled by McCain’s shockingly rude behaviour on stage. If I was the moderator I would put the debate to a stop after observing such condescending behavior and despicable actions like ignoring a person and looking askance when that person is talking to him as if the person does not exist or does not matter. Again that kind of unspeakably lowly behavior is unparalleled in the US debate history.

During every election all passionate voters get into frequent bouts of armchair quarterbacking and will wax eloquent about what their candidate is doing wrong and what exactly their candidate should do to win the election. The campaigns of the candidates do get a lot of email and calls from such voters and they also keep track of the campaign’s successes and missteps from TV shows and papers. For the most part though, a campaign will use the current polls as the barometer of their success or failure and a very small portion of the valuable feedback from the average American voter (and more importantly the ‘battle ground’ average American voter) makes it through to them. 

Such feedback can be pretty valuable as it is such voters that watch the daily working of both the campaigns, and follow a good portion of their speeches, attacks, counter-attacks and talking points. How such a voter perceives each of their steps and what impact their ads are having on such a voter can be very valuable for the campaigns. The campaigns might trying to cull such tactical feedback (if they’re smart) from the voters but it is not something that is very easy in spite of the information age and they might be getting drowned in a lot of conflicting feedback. Also, every body and their uncle will claim to have the magic formula for victory and will be very vocal about offering advise on what the campaign should do. I belong to that segment of the vocal population too and (like them) I believe I have developed a crystal clear insight on what the democratic campaigns have been doing wrong in the past two elections (including this one) and I have listed out detailed steps (see below) , both strategic and tactical, that the democratic campaign should take to outfox the republicans, turn the tables on each of their attacks, and easily grab the momentum back from them. I do feel that I have a hand on the pulse of the average American (especially the battleground) voter, and hence that makes me suitably qualified to give advise on how to make an impact on them.

I strongly believe if the Obama campaign learns from the mistakes made in 2004 and adopts a revamped strategy comprising of the key components listed below then this election could indeed be a 'slam dunk' (with all due respect Georgie - I mean Tenet of course) for Obama. This might make Rove put on his thinking cap again instead of pressing 'replay' on the 2004 tape (which is what he's doing now).

Hit Back Hard – Smartly 

The democrats have always feared the famed republican attack machine, which is indeed very impressive (though almost always follows their ‘web of deception’ policy), and most of the time end up with an inadequate response and just playing into their hands. What the democrats don’t realize is that these attacks are actually god’s gifts for the democrats. John Kerry just needed to do one thing to win the 2004 election and that opportunity was dropped in his lap by the republicans. In response to the swift-boating attacks he should have announced that he is going to give his response on national television (so that enough votes see it, hopefully close to the election date). In that response speech all he had to do as stand straight like a ramrod and in a tough tone deliver a knockout punch to the republicans, with words to the following effect.

“My fellow Americans, I have been following over the past couple of weeks a despicable web of deception being weaved by the campaign and friends of George W Bush. I decided that I cannot stay quiet any longer because one thing I cannot and will not tolerate is somebody attacking my patriotism and service to our beloved country. I have fought for my country selflessly and with a lot of dedication because I love my country and whenever our country is in trouble I will be the first person the frontlines. It is downright shameful that people will stoop low enough to attack, disrespect and malign our veterans, whether it is me or my friend Max Cleland or any other veteran for that matter, for the sole selfish purpose of winning elections. Our veterans have fought bravely for our country, have shed blood, and have selflessly offered their life to our nation when our nation needed it the most. I, for one, will not stand by quietly when somebody ridicules the service of those very veterans, and especially when such statements come from people who have never worn the uniform and have tried every trick in the book to wiggle out of fighting for our country and risking their life.”

Something to that effect, maybe leading that speech to an ending note of “I will be as determined to defend our nation this time around too and I assure all Americans that I will launch a manhunt of unprecedented proportions to find the terrorists who dared attack our nation.” (you get the idea). I can almost guarantee you that the election would have been in Kerry’s pocket if he had given such a speech. Ten minutes and the election would have been won! So simple, and the people who are supposed to know the voters’ brains inside out couldn’t figure this out? The Kerry campaign got away pretty lightly considering their costly incompetence and the disservice they did to the nation.

Again, the reason why it was critical to give the response has to do with the perception of the candidate and how he relates himself/herself to the average American voter, and in this case especially the ‘battleground’ American voter. Especially for Kerry, this was a golden opportunity to shatter his image of a weak, waffling, French poodle (that the republicans smartly cultivated) and show some toughness and bluster that the battleground voter likes to see in their candidates.

 It is crucial that the Obama campaign understands this very well because the republicans are still sticking to the same strategy as 2004, because it is still working! (boy, they must be laughing their pants off). The republicans are really good at tarnishing the image of a candidate (using blatant deception most of the times) and diminishing the credibility of the candidate in the voters’ eyes. They are doing the same thing to Obama that they did with Kerry (remember the waffling French poodle) and Obama is dangerously close to having the image that republicans are painting of him stick to him forever (or at least till the election).

The sad part is that these attacks are actually gifts for the republicans as I mentioned before, and almost every one of them can be made to turn around like a boomerang and knock them out. For example, as I wrote in this post hitting back the right way, and at the right time, is all it takes to turn the tables on the republican attacks and make the attacks work against the republicans themselves. Another example of an unjustified republican attack is the one that the McCain campaign came up with recently accusing Obama of ‘Not being a leader during the financial crisis and not taking a stand’. Again, all Obama has to do is stand straight like a ramrod, and ina sincere and tough tone flood all the mediums (and make a public appearance on TV as this is an important issue) with his response, which should be something to the effect of:

“The McCain campaign has once again taking the low road and playing the politics of deception by deliberately distorting the truth. It is sad that they are willing to stoop so low to win an election and have taken to lying blatantly to win votes.  Now, let me tell you the truth on the financial crisis that we witnessed recently and is still by no means done with. Much before the crisis came to this stage I was one of the few advocating improving the regulation of the wall street companies as they were definitely not doing a good job of regulating themselves and were putting a lot of people’s money and the economy at risk. Now the whole financial world is coming around to that same conclusion and have recently announced that the wall street investment will be converted to commercial banks and will be subject to more regulation.

I have been right on the economy long before John McCain figured out what was wrong with it. In fact, the truth is that John McCain and the republican party was completely flummoxed by the recent crisis, caught unawares, at a loss for solutions, and have been flip-flopping on their statements every day. This past Monday, when the crisis was in full swing, John McCain said regulation is not the answer, and on Wednesday he flip-flopped and agreed that more regulation was indeed required. On Monday, he said that the government should not help AIG and interfere in free markets, and on Wednesday he changed his tune yet again. The truth is that McCain is clueless on the economy and on how to handle the financial crisis, and he is casting blatantly false allegations on his opponent to divert people from the truth and cover up his woefully inadequate and clueless response to the financial crisis.”

Again, words to that effect, with a nice head and tail, concluding with the democratic record on the economy and highlighting how his economic policies will help the average American and the economy. That is all it takes to blunt the republicans attacks and make them work against the republicans themselves. The risk of not responding to the attacks is that some of the mud that the republicans are throwing will stick on Obama’s image (hey, we know that many voters are gullible enough to fall for these deceptions). That is what the republicans are trying here again, to paint a negative image of Obama as somebody who does not have any leadership qualities and is clueless on the economy.

In conclusion, it is critical that the Obama campaign wakes up now, and open up a 24 hour communication room whose one important duty would be to pro-actively monitor republican attacks, plan monstrous responses to republican attacks, and turn the  republican attack machine against the republicans themselves. It is very important to understand the mindset of the battleground voter, who likes to see a little of himself/herself in the presidential candidate and when they see somebody who cannot defend himself, even against unjustified attacks, they perceive him to be weak, under-confident, lacking leadership or guilty as charged. Such an image, especially during a time of war, can be political suicide and the democrats need to work right away on building the image of their candidate (and also at chipping away the image of their opponent(s).

That was just one aspect, albeit the most important one, of the multi-pronged revamped campaign strategy that I’m advocating. The rest of the points that I have in mind, that should form a part of the complete Obama campaign strategy, are listed below. I will elaborate on each one of these points listed below in the coming days.

Do not zig while they zag

While the republicans were pounding Obama as usual he decided to attack back. Great. What exactly did he attack them with? While they were pounding him about the ‘Lipstick’ comment and Oil Drilling, he chose to send out an attack ad saying that McCain is out of touch (can’t type email) and that his term will be Bush’s third term. Huh? Firstly, that attack is stale and most importantly you have to attack back on the same topic. You cannot avoid a response to an attack and hope that it’ll go away. It makes you appear real chicken and that does not go down well with the battleground voter. More recently while McCain was bashing Obama about 'not taking a stand during the financial crisis' and 'not providing leadership' Obama decided to attack back by talking about McCain's social security program and economic policies. If you want to win, remember this very important rule - hit back on the topic of their attack FIRST and then talk about something else. Check out this article where I've given one example of how to take their attacks head on and turn their attack machine on themselves.

Do Not Blame Bush/McCain for Everything

Your attack strategy should go beyond "this problem is due to the failed policies of Bush/McCain". Look, we understand Bush is unpopular and you would like to keep on tying McCain to Bush. Got it. Now, let's move on. Over the past few years even democratic voters are getting tired of listening to empty critisicms and not anything more substantive (the critisicms are important mind you, but they have to be more substantive too). Recently when the financial world was crumbling Obama went on his usual 'tape' of "The failed policies of Bush/McCain are responsible for this mess". Firstly, it makes you sound like a typical politician because this statement has been repeated by every democratic offocie holder on earth for everything (if it gets too hot in summer then it's Bush policies on global warming). In fact, it behooves you to speak positively once in a while, especially when the other side has really done a good job, because it makes you look like you are an objective and magnanimous person and not the typical scheming politican. It rasies your image in the voters' mind, especially the battleground voter. If Bush did a good job with Gustav then tell the voter that "even though the Bush government totally mismanaged the Katrina aftermath they did a good job on planning for Gustav and I congratulate them for it". That way when you hit hard on the issues which need hard hitting people will listen to you intently and will believe you.

The Iraq war, 9/11 and security are still very important

You can never ignore security as a campaign issue, especially during the time of war. Add a little bit of bluster to your persona (Mr. Obama) and tell the nation how your judgement proved right on the Iraq war and how our brave soliders and their families paid such a big price due to one horribly wrong decision by the president. Get ANGRY (don't explode though) and tell the nation that the pieces of dirt who attacked us on 9/11 are still out there and whether it is important for Bush and McCain or not it will be one of his missions' during his presidency to hunt down the rats who killed Americans on American soil (a little bit of bluster is NECESSARY considering the voters you are targeting and very importantly will go some way towards taking that 'tough on security' mantle off the republicans which is very important). Do not ignore security and focus just on the economy as a campaign issue. Remember, the Iraq war still generates very strong passions amongst voters and you got to remind them that you were right and McCain is still wrong on it. Hit the republicans back HARD with the very security stick that they consider to be their sole domain.

Splash on some Americana and bond with small town Americans

Go for a training course if you have to, for god’s sake, and learn to relate and bond with the battleground votes which means that you should add a little bit of ‘Americana’ to your personality and delivery style. Heck (yeah, use that too) talk about football, talk about how great our country is (they like to hear that – America is exceptional!) and you’d like to keep it that way. Talk about one of your biggest priorities being hunting down Bin Laden and dragging him out of his rat hole to the States and teach him and his comrades the consequences of attacking America (bluster helps with these folks … yeah for that matter use ‘folks’ too). Tell them it’s obviously not a priority for Bush and McCain but you cannot rest in peace till we get the guys who killed 3000 americans … you get the idea. Now go for it, cowboy.

Fight Nationally.

Don’t just fight local in the battleground statesIt is a mistake to think the rest of the country doesn’t need to see/hear the campaigns you are fighting in the battleground states. Some of the issue though present conflicting interest in different states and those can be left alone, but is important that you build your image nationally as that is crucial for a presidential campaign and provides the synergy you need.

Wrest the initiative on the attacks.

Show the other side for what they are. Remember, you got to chip away on the other side’s image the same way they’re chipping at yours. 

Read my article on how to hit back at Palin and McCain. Click here to read my latest post on the final republican attack assault on Obama and how to turn it to Obama's advantage.

Election Strategy, US Politics Obama 2008, Obama election, Obama presidential election, Obama campaign strategy

US Politics, Election Strategy

US Politics, Election Strategy

US Politics, Election Strategy

I can't believe that the Obama campaign's comeback after Palin's Peak and some nasty attacks by Republicans consisted of the same recycled stale news that McCain is out of touch and is a Bush redux. Common guys, if you can't do better than that then admit it and resign and let somebody else do a capable job for the first time in a democratic campaign after JFK (and I certainly don't mean Kerry). I'll give you a quick rundown of what you should be doing.

Whenever the McCain campaign comes out with an attack ad (or verbal attack) HIT BACK with a HUGE RESPONSE which should just floor them. For example, I've outlined in my previous post how you should have responded to the 'Lipstick Ad' (Post link - http://www.hitbackharder.com/blogengine.net/post/2008/09/10/Why-isnt-the-Obama-campaign-hitting-back-harder-on-the-Lipstick-on-a-pig-comment.aspx). The response to the 'Sex Education' attack should have been equally forceful with the idea that the tables should be turned on their intention to use the attack to create a negative image of Obama as a person, make him lose his credibility and attack his very character to show him as person who is no way eligible to be president. These attacks are god's gifts to to the democrats and provide an effortless way to undermine the credibility of McCain and show their campaign (and their candidate by association) as scheming, immoral and knowingly manipulating the American voter's minds to get elected.

As I wrote in the lipstick post the monstrous response to every attack should include words like 'The McCain campaign has knowingly twisted Senator's Obama's words (and/or votes) and has adopted a lowly road to this campaign of trying blatantly cheap and dirty tricks to get elected.' The same approach can be used for the Sex education attack.  It is completely obvious from the law that Senator Obama voted for that this law can by no means be called sex education and is a very well-intentioned measure to prevent our children from getting abused and make our children aware of the predators that are around'. There is no room for doubt for any person who has read this law, so this clearly shows that once more the McCain campaign has adopted the disgusting tactic of spreading blantant lies about Senator Obama to malign him and create a nagative image of him amongst the voters. They have compromised their principles so far thay they don't even think twice about knocking down laws that protect our children fr0om the horrors of abuse.' ... I'm sure you get the idea and can take it up from here.

It is extremely critical that the response is given back immediately after an attack and should be so huge that it should flood every communications medium and should not only drown their attack but should show them in extremely poor light for adopting such underhanded and lowly campaign tactics. Any delay in responding or more importantly (which is what is happening) NOT RESPONDING seriously endangers the image of the candidate under attack (Senator Obama) which is very difficult to reverse once it sticks (like it happenned with John Kerry .. .very difficult to shake off the image of a waffling weak french poodle). Also, I'm surprised that the All American campaign teams cannot be insightful enough to figure out how an ordinary american average joe from the mainlands (the 'battlegrounds' which the Obama campaign is supposed to be focusing on) thinks. They respect a guy who stands up for himself and defends himself from unjustified attacks and would likely think of a guy to who keeps quiet under attacks as weak (or guilty as charged). That is one image you cannot afford to have for your candidate especially in a time of war when national security is always in the background of voters' minds. I haven;t spent all my time in America but it's amazing that I can feel the pulse of a regular American much more easily that the Obama campaign folks. There's very little time for you guys to change tack and I implore not to reject any advice outright and come up with a forceful campaign which gives due importance to the importance of image building in a campaign.

 More to follow .. there's so much so add on the winning campaign strategy. 

Election Strategy

 I am glad that all our effort of like-minded people who want Obama to hit back harder is paying off. This article gives us hope - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26667449.

Way to go Obama. Show that you are not a scaredy cat, that you can stand straight and defend yourself strongly against blatantly false and demeaning allegations.

US Politics

US Politics