Chris Bowers Writes What I've Been Thinking...

...about Obama. Bowers (italics mine):

When John Kerry goes on a Sunday show and says that he's 'in awe' of John McCain's service, but feels free to undermine Wes Clark's, and the Obama campaign thinks of Kerry as their top surrogate, it's shameful. When John McCain's economic advisor calls America a nation of whiners, and we don't hear anything more about that in ads or anywhere else, it's shameful. When the Iraqi PM endorses Obama's call for withdrawal, and McCain still leads on the issue of Iraq by double-digits, it's shameful.

We all know that winning this election is not enough. It's just not. It's not even close. This is the most unpopular President we've ever had and our opponent is a crazy cancer-ridden dishonest madman. Our nominee should crush this guy. And if he doesn't, then next year, the Generals are going to come out and undermine Obama unless he pursues neoconservative policies, and he's not going to have set himself up for establishing civilian control of the military because he's continued the ridiculous tradition of criticism of our militaristic political system being off-limits....

If Obama wins, and I think he will, he will win like Jimmy Carter won. He'll win as an operational conservative, because that's what his campaign believes....

What's hard is standing up to powerful interests, starting with the Democratic consultant class which is begging everyone to worship McCain's military service and integrity. That is something the Obama campaign just isn't doing. It's never done it, that was always obvious. I hope they start, but I don't think they will.....I expect this article, if it's read at all, will be read inside the campaign with the same mixture of loathing and bitterness that characterizes all thin-skinned insiders who consider themselves liberal while acting like conservatives and resenting all feedback that does not comport with their message that they are running the most grassroots and inclusive campaign in history.

Let me be clear: Obama is vastly superior to McCain. Having said that, Obama's campaign is a mass movement, not a grassroots one, in that the communication--and decision-making--are unidirectional. I hope I'm wrong, but I think Obama is kidding himself if the movement to get him elected will continue after the election, having undercut the grassroots organizations that would naturally support him. That means he won't have a political base. This isn't far-fetched at all: the same exact thing has happened to Deval Patrick, governor of Massachusetts, who ran the same kind of 'change' campaign that Obama has. And now Patrick doesn't have a base of support.

Update: If you showed up from Orac's place, read this.

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This is the most unpopular President we've ever had and our opponent is a crazy cancer-ridden dishonest madman.

Alright, as a cancer surgeon, I found that bit about "cancer-ridden madman" to be a truly despicable rhetorical gambit, not to mention irrelevant. John McCain had melanoma. He's been treated for it, and he's cancer-free, as far as can be told. Bowers is a moron, and I'm really disappointed that you didn't notice how vile that part of his rant was.

I agree with Orac. Not only is "cancer-ridden" misleading in this case, it should never be used as an insult.

By funambulator (not verified) on 22 Aug 2008 #permalink

odds are a large portion of us will be 'cancer-ridden' (at least to the extent that McCain was when he had melonoma) at some point in our lives.

Agree with the comments above that calling McCain "cancer ridden" is a low blow and uncalled for. What does that have to do with your ability to lead? On the other hand, what Kerry did by undermining Wes Clark's comment when he answered Bob Shieffer's question as to whether "riding in a plane and being shot down" qualifies him to be president, was despicable. How dare John Kerry praise McCain while dismissing the man who gave so much to campaign for him? Obama and his team are very thin-skinned and for them to sweep Wes Clark aside was really stupid. Really stupid. They base their whole campaign on judgement but this shows they have very poor judgement.

Sufficiently advanced hope is indistinguishable from despair.

By Ctrl-Alt-Del (not verified) on 23 Aug 2008 #permalink