I hope those rotten republican bastards do pay a heavy price! Would do my heart a world of good to see these mindless, childish assholes get slapped down a few notches.

Obama’s Response Ad Reflects Lessons of 2004

DENVER, Aug. 26 — Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign and its allies, mindful of the lessons of the Swift boat attacks of 2004, have begun an aggressive, multi-pronged attack on an advertisement running in swing states that seeks to link the Democratic presidential candidate to former domestic terrorist William Ayers.

With threats of legal action, boycotts and a response ad launched quietly to avoid publicity, the Obama campaign has put conservative donors and television stations on notice that 2008 will not be 2004, when Sen. John F. Kerry, the Democratic nominee, waited weeks to respond to attacks on his Vietnam War record and ultimately did so ineffectively. Christian Pinkston, a spokesman for the American Issues Project, which is airing the anti-Obama ad, called the response intimidation and harassment.

Obama campaign lawyer Robert F. Bauer replied: “If someone rides up to a convenience store with a sawed-off shotgun and a prior record, I’m not intimidating anybody by calling the cops. . . . If this [Republican] campaign is going to be run in McCarthyite fashion by lawbreakers in an illegal way, they are going to pay a price.”

Per TPM Election Central:

As a TPM commenter stated:

ohiomeister: “I’m glad they are sinking their million dollars into this ad. It’s totally ineffective. One viewing of the MoveOn.org ads with Iraq veteran amputees would totally undercut this message. Those ads have emotion. This ad just has three soldiers saying the surge worked. Even if voters believe them and agree, so what? I think the conclusion then is great, now let’s bring the troops home.”

I’m not too worried with this lame attempt by a 527. But as other posters said, this is a prelude, a coming together, for the gearing up of bigger hits.

It’s a damn shame these republican freaks can’t win a race on their own merits, their own positives. There just aren’t any.

In case you needed to be reminded of McCain’s truly shitty voting record regarding his lack of troop support, VETERANS FOR COMMON SENSE have the facts.

So, if you plan to vote for McCain because you think he treats out troops better, then you are a fool.

Mr. Robinson does an excellent job at alleviating the fear of evil republican swiftboating of the democratic presidential nominee - whomever it may be.

William Greider, of The Nation, pens:

The Clintons play dirty when they feel threatened. But we knew that, didn’t we?

The recent roughing-up of Barack Obama was in the trademark style of the Clinton years in the White House. High-minded and self-important on the surface, smarmily duplicitous underneath, meanwhile jabbing hard to the groin area. They are a slippery pair and come as a package. The nation is at fair risk of getting them back in the White House for four more years. The thought makes me queasy.
[...]

Evidently, many of the mainstream party faithful want the Clinton team as their presidential nominee. It’s their choice, of course. But does the rest of the country really deserve this?

I am not going to defend the Clintons here but I have to ask; Mr. Greider, where the hell have you been? Are you unaware of the treatment John McCain got in the 2000 elections? How about the swiftboating of John Kerry in 2004?

The Clintons took (and still are taking) a lot of flak over the way-overblown Monica Lewinsky scandal. If they seem a little edgy, who the hell could blame them?

I don’t like the negativity, the swiftboating, the dirty tactics that has come to be American politicking. But it’s very disingenuous to point fingers only in the Clinton’s direction.

“We’ve all become familiar with the ways the Republican noise machine transmits lurid bits of misinformation and tendentious attacks from the conservative fringe into the heart of American political discourse, the process by which a slightly misdelivered joke by John Kerry attracts the ire of Rush Limbaugh and ends up on the front page of the New York Times.”

The New Right-Wing Smear Machine

On February 27, 2001, two members of the American Gold Star Mothers, an organization of women who’ve lost sons or daughters in combat, dropped by the temporary basement offices of the new junior senator from New York, Hillary Clinton. They didn’t have an appointment, and the office, which had been up and running for barely a month, was a bit discombobulated. The two women wanted to talk to the senator about a bill pending in the Senate that would provide annuities for the parents of those killed, but they were told that Clinton wasn’t in the office and that the relevant staff members were otherwise engaged. The organization later submitted a formal request in writing for a meeting, which Clinton granted, meeting and posing for pictures with four members of the group.

But the story doesn’t end there. In May of that year, the right-wing website NewsMax, a clearinghouse for innuendo and rumor, ran a short item with the headline “Hillary Snubs Gold Star Mothers.” Reporting via hearsay–a comment relayed to someone who then recounted it to the column’s author–the article claimed that Clinton and her staff “simply refused” to meet with the Gold Star Mothers, making hers the “only office” in the Senate that snubbed the group.

At first the item didn’t attract much attention, but it quickly morphed into an e-mail that started ricocheting across the Internet. “Bet this never hits the TV news!” began one version. “According to NewsMax.com there was only one politician in DC who refused to meet with these ladies. Can you guess which politician that might be?… None other than the Queen herself–the Hildebeast, Hillary Clinton.”

The article goes on to state that, even with pleas from the Gold Star Mothers website that the allegations were fabrications and untruths, the emails and smears continue to circulate to this day.

I see nothing new here. The people involved in this behavior are the underbelly of our society. They are uneducated. They are bigoted. They are diseased. And, unfortunately, there is no humane way to dissect them from our society.

Multitudes of Americans, for multitudes of reasons, are annually held back from their right to vote. These idiots get bussed in! In my area anyways, they vigorously decry the “welfare state”, but THEY are the ones standing in line at the local grocery with some form of government handout clutched tightly in their hands. The hypocrisy is astounding!

Nope. Nothing new here!