Should Obama counter-punch McBush's desperate negative slime with more slime?

[usregimechange]

Or should he take the high road and focus on the economy? Gordon Liddy, Keating, Hagee ads? Or:

But Obama isn’t waiting to respond. His campaign is going up Monday on national cable stations with a scathing ad saying: “Three quarters of a million jobs lost this year. Our financial system in turmoil. And John McCain? Erratic in a crisis. Out of touch on the economy. No wonder his campaign wants to change the subject.

“Turn the page on the financial crisis by launching dishonorable, dishonest ‘assaults’ against Barack Obama. Struggling families can't turn the page on this economy, and we can't afford another president who is this out of touch.”

Then Obama says: “I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14283.html

[Kool Kitty]

1. It may be time to roll out something about the Keating Five.

And a little Todd Palin and the secessionists.

[MercutioATC]

9. I soooooo wanted him to do that in the first debate.

When McCain talked about putting people who cheated the system in jail, I just wanted Obama to say "I'll assume you're talking about people like Charles Keating, John?" ...and leave it at that. He wouldn't have had to say anything else, the media would have done the dirty work.

[Essene]

18. No. If Obama is to counter-punch, he waits a week... at least.

[Rosco T.]

2. It's not 'slime' if it's the truth....

punch hard in the face with every piece of filth McGrump as ever done.

Malone: You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun.
He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.
That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone! Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?

[Danger Mouse]

3. What constitutes slime?

[MadBadger]

4. This is the pefect time to stay above the fray and talk about the economy.

[Hutzpa]

5. Nope

he should just lay back and take it from the back, like previous Democtratic
Presidencial candidates, I hate these concern questioning and they REALLY get
on my last nerve.

:sarcasm:

[BlooInBloo]

6. He should do whatever he and his advisors come up with....

They've run such a fucking awesome campaign to this point, there's little *I* could add to it.

[iceman66]

7. Obama has pretty much stuck to the high road, and it seems to be working

save the slime for the 527's.

[Maccagirl]

8. All he has to do is speak the truth with clarity and calmness

and he has already done that as well any anyone I've ever seen. He won't wallow in the mud (nor does he have to) and he doesn't have to smile while being slandered and libeled-just be true to his nature.

[Arkana]

10. He's already outflanked McCain by framing everything he does

as a desperate gambit to refocus things away from the economy.

Obama's done what he needs to do on that front.

[gravity]

11. Defuse the negative ads, and then take the high road

The whole strategy is about controlling the political conversation.

Getting into dirty tactics will drive the political discourse into dirty tactics. Talking about the economy will drive the conversation to the economy, which is McCain's greatest weakness. The art is being able to counter your opponents attacks, while still maintaining control of the discourse.

[fearnobush]

12. Tie him in with Bush as Mr. McSwiftboater while slamming him too

No more Kerry or Dukakas please, this is why we lose. Going negative WORKS!!!!! The high road leads to the goodbye road. Obama has been so far above the fray and positive that any person leaning toward him will NOT see him as strong if he fails to counter attack or just - stay above the fray. Go back to 1992, Bush Clinton, Bush threw everything at him but Clinton threw it back twice as hard and won.

[truthisfreedom]

13. Yes, but only because McSlimy is so incredibly rich with slime to slime him with.

It's never-ending!

[MrsBrady]

14. it's not slime if it's TRUE n/t

[Phredicles]

15. Love Obama but would still like to see him deliver a good crotch punch.

[scarface2004]

16. just say 'what do you expect from the most hypocritical failed

reactionary unamerican cabal to come down the pike in a long time!' 'i m here to lay out future policies and all they want to do is spew partisan hacked talking points...good luck with that!'

[jeanpalmer]

17. The "Turn the page " metaphor

is really vague. I doubt Joe Six-Pack will know what he means.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

19. He's winning - you don't do negative attacks when you're that much ahead.

[vaberella]

20. Obama should respond to the dirty statements with a statement. Yet, he should attack on the issues

the American people don't want hate and negative messages. They want to know the issues and where the candidates stand and if they care about them. Obama needs to stick to the issues. This was how he handled the primaries and it worked. He needs to continue on the same path here.