Rick Davis does know his “smears” alright. Obama needs to hit back hard

[Joanne98]

By: John Amato on Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 PM - PDT Obama needs to become much more aggressive against the McCain campaign since they have begun a huge smear campaign against him. Saying “we’re above it” won’t work. Here’s Rick’s article called ‘The anatomy of a smear campaign‘ in the Boston Globe back in 2004:

All campaigns do extensive research into their opponent’s voting record and personal life. This so-called “oppo research” involves searching databases, combing through press clips, and asking questions of people who know (and preferably dislike) your opponent. It’s not hard to turn up something a candidate would rather not see on the front page of The Boston Globe.

It’s not necessary, however, for a smear to be true to be effective. The most effective smears are based on a kernel of truth and applied in a way that exploits a candidate’s political weakness.

Having run Senator John McCain’s campaign for president, I can recount a textbook example of a smear made against McCain in South Carolina during the 2000 presidential primary. We had just swept into the state from New Hampshire, where we had racked up a shocking, 19-point win over the heavily favored George W. Bush. What followed was a primary campaign that would make history for its negativity.

And here is what they did to try and stop the smears and how the failed:

We chose to address the attacks by trying to get the media to focus on the dishonesty of the allegations and to find out who was making them. We also pledged to raise the level of debate by refusing to run any further negative ads — a promise we kept, though it probably cost us the race. We never did find out who perpetrated these smears, but they worked: We lost South Carolina by a wide margin. Read the whole article.

Obama can’t let the media try to clean up the smears coming from McCain for him. Having Andrea argue with Davis isn’t enough. He has to hit back and hit back hard every time Davis and friends goes on the attack. It doesn’t have to get personal because McCain has given Obama plenty to work with. Produce an ad with McCain standing in an oil spill, (where he was supposed to go and do a photo op) list all the money he’s getting from big oil since he became the nominee, list the incredible profits that big oil just reported, then say something like:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/02/rick-davis-does-know-his-smears-alright-obama-needs-to-hit-back-hard/

[BlooInBloo]

1. He's better when he just posts videos than when he talks.

[Gabi Hayes]

2. looks like Dahmer, but more evil

these people are ineffably monstrous

[Imagevision]

3. Agreed! Obama needs to delegate his groups to contain Davis, otherwise

he;ll claim Nixon supports Paris, Britney, Charlton Heston attack ad...