Monday Campaign Funnies

This AP story about “St. McCain” tells us…

McCain, who still has not won over many conservatives, made clear he planned a broader campaign than those waged by President George W. Bush when he faces either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate in the November election.

The Arizona senator said he would go after votes of blacks and Hispanics, two traditionally strong Democratic blocs, as well as independents and young voters who have been attracted to the Democratic campaigns this year.

(I know that’s a link to a freeper site, but I’m having a little trouble finding the original news story again, so…)

I will admit that McCain has proven to be somewhat intelligent on immigration policy, thus helping him slightly with Hispanics, but I believe that support will erode in the general election against Barack Obama (and by the way, this poses some interesting information about McCain’s “Hispanic outreach director”…I don’t know if I’m linking to another freeper site or not here, but that’s OK – I’ll get the story here anyway I can).

And as far as African Americans are concerned, it can’t be good when you’re repeatedly booed and interrupted as McCain was last Friday when he frequently apologized for once opposing the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a federal holiday (truth be told, though, I think this snub by McCain and the other former GOP nominees in the presidential campaign, except for Tom Tancredo – Tom Tancredo! – of the NAACP candidates forum last year speaks louder than McCain’s words commemorating Dr. King).

And if I were McCain, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for those independent voters based on this, and this doesn’t bode particularly well for McCain and the youth vote as well.

Oh well, if all else fails, at least McCain can Clap Louder! on the war (and it sounds like he needs help raising money too).

So Mark Penn is now out (??) of the Hillary Clinton campaign because he negotiated with Colombia on a trade pact that she opposed, as we know. Well, did you also know that, according to this story of President George W. Milhous Bush having yet another hissy fit with Congress over the bill in question…

Penn is also CEO of Burson-Marsteller, a public-relations giant which was working for the government of Colombia. Colombia fired the firm after Penn said his meeting with the (that country’s) ambassador (to the U.S.) had been a mistake.

So Penn basically ruins the Hillary Clinton for President campaign through some fundamental mismanagement (campaign themes, expenses, keeping underlings “on message” including self – then again, maybe he was right except that the “message” was so awful…you call it), and after all of that, his firm STILL loses the Colombia contract.

What an asshat (and by the way, Prof. Marcus picked up on the "Mark Penn not really being out" thing earlier here).

Speaking of morons (tying back to Penn, of course), I probably wouldn’t give Philadelphia Daily News columnist Gar Joseph the time of day, except for the fact that he has stirred yet another supposed controversy around Barack Obama (full disclosure; part of me wants to either blog about music or sports or just bag this altogether for awhile when I read “stories” that are this stupid – and Joke Line gets a big raspberry also)…

…does the campaign poster (pictured)…remind you of a totalitarian cult?

Wait, don't answer that.

The Soviet-style heroic Obama, the use of a single word "Hope," do make the SEPTA bus shelter posters a bit reminiscent of George Orwell's "1984."

Its more direct antecedent is John Carpenter's 1988 paranoid totalitarian fantasy flick, "They Live." Replace the word "Hope" with "Obey" on that Obama poster and tell us what you think.

…

"There is something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messianism," Joe Klein of Time magazine has observed.

I don’t know – I think there’s something to be said for simple, direct messages concerning presidents and candidates, don’t you?