… from Senator McCain:
It’s a tough business. And though we are rivals, we should respect each other’s willingness to hazard it. Senator Obama is a man of unusual eloquence, who has performed the very worthy service of summoning to the political arena Americans who once wrongly thought it of little benefit to them. Senator Clinton has demonstrated great tenacity and courage; two qualities I have always esteemed. I count myself among their many admirers. Please join me, then, in a toast to my opponents and compatriots, Senators Clinton and Obama, and to the noisy, contentious, striving, beautiful country we hope to lead.
2 responses so far ↓
Greg // May 9, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I can see this is going to be a proxy war, as the two nominees try to keep out of the filth. McCain has Limbaugh and Fox. Who do you think Obama will use? Is there anyone on the Dems side who can get down into the sewer to fight Rush et al?
Ben // May 9, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Plenty.
The left-wing blogs — Kos, HuffPo, etc. Magazines — The Nation, TNR. Cable news networks — MSNBC, for sure. (Especially Keith Olbermann) Heck, establishment newspapers will — remember the New York Times putting a thinly-sourced article insinuating McCain had an affair (but never quite saying it outright) with two columns above the fold on page one?
Really, Fox, Limbaugh, and all those organs were developed as a response to all of the firepower there was on the left, in terms of framing issues. (Has it had much of an impact? Unsure. As P.J. O’Rourke put it, we went from George Bush getting 53% of the vote in 1988 when Bill Buckley was the whole show, as civil as he was, to George W. Bush needing a court decision to win in 2000, with all the support of talk radio and other right-wing media organs.)
***
The only thing that distinguishes this from previous campaigns is that McCain and Limbaugh types can’t stand each other — that makes it fun.
Leave a Comment