The flailing McCain campaign: Joe, robocalls and socialism

by Jay McDonough

We're in the closing two weeks of the presidential campaign and John McCain seems to have settled on his strategy going forward to November 4th; building a narrative around an "everyman" (Joe the Plumber), a set of slimy robocalls and labelling Obama policies as "socialism".

The Joe the Plumber narrative doesn't seem to be working however.  Senator McCain first told the story (or what he claimed was the story - much of what the Senator said about Joe proved to be false) in the third presidential debate.  By the time the debate had ended, polling of viewers indicated they were already tired of the metaphor and a recent Suffolk University poll of Ohio and Missouri votersconfirms the narrative just isn't working:

While 68 percent of Ohio respondents said they recognized Joe the plumber, only 6 percent said that Joe's story will make them more likely to vote for McCain. An additional 4 percent said the tale made them more likely to vote for Obama; and 85 percent were not affected. In Missouri, where 80 percent had heard of the plumber, 8 percent said they were more likely to vote McCain, 3 percent more likely to vote Obama, and 86 percent said they were not affected by his story  (Link)

The McCain campaigns use of robocalls was an odd choice to begin with, given that robocalls were famously used against McCain by the Bush campaign in the 2000 Republcan primaries.  Those robocalls were particularly scurrilous and, for many voters, emblematic of the absolute nastiest of campaign tactics.  That John McCain would choose to employ the same slimy tactics so unfairly used against him in 2000 must strike most voters as the last cynical move of a campaign completely out of ideas.  There appears to be some resistance even within the McCain campaign over the use of robocalls.  Here's Sarah Palin (not exactly timid when it comes to using borderline campaign tactics) arguing against the use of robocalls yesterday:

“If I called all the shots, and if I could wave a magic wand,” Palin told her traveling press corps as she stood on the tarmac here, “I would be sitting at a kitchen table with more and more Americans, talking to them about our plan to get the economy back on track and winning the war and not having to rely on the old conventional ways of campaigning that includes those robocalls and includes spending so much money on the television ads that, I think, is kind of draining out there in terms of Americans’ attention span.” (Link)

The McCain campaign first began by calling Obama policies socialistic, later evolving to Obama being a socialist.  The true test of these tactics is whether they work; do voters believe the accusation, does it make sense to them, does it stick?   NBC's Chuck Todd explains why it's not working:

Has the McCain campaign made a fundamental mistake in attack politics -- don't charge your opponent with something that doesn't seem to pass the smell test beyond your base? This "socialist" charge is going to be hard for many middle-of-the-road voters to believe, particularly after Powell endorsed his candidacy. Saying Obama’s a "liberal," well there are facts to back that up. But the socialist charge feels like an over-reach, and it may be falling on deaf ears. Of course, with the government getting so involved with our financial markets right now and McCain wanting to use federal money to buy up bad mortgages, it's hard for McCain to back up his socialist charge since he wants a similar amount of government intervention.

Should Barack Obama be elected president on November 4th it will be because 1) he advocates traditional Democratic Party values and is unashamed about expressing them, 2) he lucked out and was able to run against a terrible candidate representing the Republican Party (who doubled down with a magnificently dumb choice of a running mate), and 3) Democrats, most Independents and many Republicans are absolutely incensed by the management and lack of accountability shown by Republicans for the last eight years.

And at this stage in the campaign, those Republicans that still try to sell Joe narratives, endorse slimy robocalls and hope voters fall for some tired old name calling are just barking at the moon.  The rest of us listen to the McCain campaign and it's supporters and can't help but be struck by their stubborness and unwillingness to cowboy up and take any responsiblity for the deep, deep mess they've gotten themselves into with their inept governance the last eight years.   

Comments

[EL]

Yes. But they still have the Rev. Wright to play all over the swing states. I think the McCain campaign to date will be remembered as the "honorable phase" of John McCain compared to what is coming.

[anderson]

It seems pretty ridiculous labeling Obama a "socialist" immediately after the Bush administration's efforts in nationalizing the banking industry and McCain's own baffling seat-of-the-pants call for the gummint buy up bad mortgages and readjust them to current market value.

The desperate ploy might even be called "asshat-ian"