Last updated on August 11th, 2014 at 12:00 am
Ignoring all signs that their negative campaign against Barack Obama is backfiring, John McCain and the Republican Party continue to try to label their opponent as a terrorist by using robocalls in swing states like Virginia, Maine, Florida, Missouri, and North Carolina. There is also a direct mail piece from the Republican Party in Virginia that links Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden.
The robocall accuses Obama of working closely with a domestic terrorist, “Hello. I’m calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayres, whose organization bombed the U.S. capitol, the Pentagon, a judge’s home and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country.”
While the back envelope of the Virginia GOP’s direct mail piece sends this message:
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TPM reported on two other robocalls in Virginia that tried to drum up fear about Obama. One of them insinuated that Obama isn’t who we think he is, “Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats aren’t who you think they are. They say they want to keep us safe, but Barack Obama said the threat we face now from terrorism is nowhere near as dire as it was in the end of the Cold War. And Congressional Democrats now want to give civil rights to terrorists.”
It is a sign of McCain’s standing that they aren’t using these dirty tactics in blue states or swing states. His campaign has fallen so far behind that he has to smear Obama in red states that George W. Bush carried in 2004. McCain is playing dirty in Florida, Virginia, Missouri, and North Carolina. Bush carried three of these four states by wide margins four years ago. Republicans don’t get it. The same campaign that worked in 2000 and 2004 won’t work this year. Terrorism is no longer the top issue on the minds of voters.
These smears are hurting the Republican Party. Voters don’t want to hear them. They don’t care about Bill Ayers. They care about the economy. Each of these attacks pushes more Independents and some Republicans away from McCain, and the backlash from these tactics can lead to a rout on Election Day. It looks like the Republican plan for the final phase of these campaign is to sling enough mud and hope something sticks. This a sad, deplorable, last gasp strategy from McCain and the GOP.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
