AP On McCain: We're Loven It!
Yesterday we flagged the AP's Jennifer Loven's 'analysis' piece flogging the McCain/RNC spin on Obama's run to the center. Well, as every crack communication operation knows, message repetition is the key to success. And so today we have another 'analysis' piece, this time by the AP's Steven Hurst. And it's practically the same piece. Hurst and Loven actually both use the identical quote from RNC spinmeister Alex Conant.
Says Conant: ""There appears to be no issue that Barack Obama is not willing to reverse himself on for the sake of political expedience."
The identical quote appears in both pieces. If the pieces weren't bylined I think I might have assumed one was a rewrite of the other. But they actually appear to be two completely original articles, just mouthing the identical McCain/RNC line.
It seems like we might have a case of persistent Solomonism at the AP, even though the master himself is now two jobs on. This is really going to bear watching.
--Josh Marshall
Election Central Saturday Roundup
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are set to do a round of big-money fundraisers this coming week for Obama's campaign and the DNC. That and other political news in today's Election Central Saturday Roundup.
--Eric Kleefeld
Research
For a few new projects we're going to be working on, we're looking for some good freelance researchers/writers. So if you're a freelancer or have a job that allows you to do some freelancing, and you've ever been interested in working with TPM, send us an email with the subject headline "TPM Research," with an introduction and resume.
To be clear, this not for a full-time job (though it could lead to one) and at the moment it's not for a specific project. But we'd like to have people's names on file to reach out to to help on particular stories.
--Josh Marshall
Paying Attention?
When I read Jennifer Loven's AP piece on Obama, which I flagged in the post below, it made my eyes bleed so bad I hardly knew where to start in cataloguing the awfulness. But TPM Reader CO points out a good place to start.
We've seen many examples over the last couple days of reporters egregiously lapping up the McCain camp's nonsensical spin about Obama flip-flopping on Iraq. But some reporters can get spun so thoroughly that they actually retrospectively rearrange the facts of the campaign to accommodate the McCain camp's spin. Change the facts to suit the spin, as it were.
So here you have Jennifer Loven, a veteran journalist with one of the plum spots in the profession writing this sentence (emphasis added) ...
His problem is that his change in emphasis to flexibility from a hard-nosed end-the-war stance -- including his recent position that withdrawing combat troops could take as long as 16 months -- will now be heard loud and clear by an anti-war camp that may have ignored it before.
Sort of depends on the meaning of 'recent' because I think I've heard the 16 months line for some time. And, sure enough, from October 2007 ...
There is no military solution in Iraq, and there never was. I will begin to remove our troops from Iraq immediately. I will remove one or two brigades a month, and get all of our combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months.
If I'm not mistaken he has said this numerous times since.
Please. There's always, repositioning by both sides gearing up for the general. So let's note those. And I guess there's no stopping gullible reporters from getting jonesed up by each sides' spinners to find subtle shifts where there aren't any. But let's not get so bamboozled that we actually start making stuff up. Okay?
--Josh Marshall
Major Endorsement
Associated Press officially endorses McCain.
(ed.note: Well, pretty much.)
Late Update: Some recent fun AP-McCain moments (during the courtship phase) ...
McCain's moderators, the AP's Ron Fournier and Liz Sidoti, greeted McCain with a box of Dunkin' Donuts. "We spend quite a bit of time with you on the back of the Straight Talk Express asking you questions, and what we've decided to do today was invite everyone else along on the ride," Sidoti explained. "We even brought you your favorite treat."McCain opened the offering. "Oh, yes, with sprinkles!" he said.
Sidoti passed him a cup. "A little coffee with a little cream and a little sugar," she said.
--Josh Marshall
Happy Fourth
While the barbeques are getting underway and the fireworks are being prepared, a Happy 4th of July from TPM. Organize and vote. Do it for your country.
--Josh Marshall
Au Contraire ...
Says TPM Reader BH ...
I agree with the points of your "Please, please, reporters with brains" entry, but I think you might need to be included in the group of reporters/bloggers/etc. that is following the McCain script. As usual, there will basically be two responses to this story - both favorable to McCain. The first will be the hoards of dutiful reporters parroting whatever interpretation McCain feeds them. The second will be the righteously indignant Obama defenders with all their nuanced facts decrying his innocence. So, what we get is a strong and offensive position versus a correct, but overly cerebral and defensive argument. Strategy versus tactics? Come on - the wingnuts must laugh their asses off every time they see this script play out.Why cede the offensive position? The offensive rebuttal is to first completely ignore the way McCain framed the position and then just flip it around - "why does McCain so desperately want to convince the public that his Iraq policy is just like Obama's?" Because the public long ago figured out that he was stuck carrying Bush's turd and McCain damn well knows his campaign is swirling the drain along with it. What's more to be said than "John McCain would LOVE to convince the public that he and Obama don't differ in their Iraq policy - why is that? Because McCain and Bush got us into this Iraq nightmare and the public knows that Obama will get us out." Repeat after me - McCain and Bush got us into this Iraq nightmare and Obama will get us out. Repeat. Repeat.
--Josh Marshall
Jesse Helms Dead at 86
The conservative firebrand who represented North Carolina in the Senate for five terms until his retirement in 2003 passed away early this morning.
More here.
--David Kurtz
Election Central July 4th Roundup
Leading Republicans begin to worry that the McCain campaign is struggling to figure out how to "define" Obama. That and other political news of the day in today's Election Central July 4th Roundup.
--Greg Sargent
Please, Please, Reporters with Brains
I spent most of today in bed with some kind of nasty cold. So I only caught up on any news this evening. And I must confess to being little short of astounded by the avalanche of press BS I'm reading on Barack Obama's position on Iraq.
The McCain camp seems to have a lot of reporters eating out of its hands since many journalists don't appear to grasp the basic distinction between strategy and tactics. I've even had normally sensible journalist colleagues forwarding me RNC press releases like they're passing on the revealed truth. McCain's campaign actually put out a statement claiming that Obama "has now adopted John McCain's position that we cannot risk the progress we have made in Iraq by beginning to withdraw our troops immediately without concern for conditions on the ground."
I've watched this campaign unfold pretty closely. And I've listened to Obama's position on Iraq. He's been very clear through this year and last on the distinction between strategy and tactics. Presidents set the strategy -- which in this context means the goal or the policy. And if the policy is a military one, a President will consult closely with his military advisors on the tactics used to execute the policy.
This is an elementary distinction the current occupant in the White House has continually tried to confuse by claiming that his policies are driven and constrained by the advice he's given by his commanders on the ground. There's nothing odd or contradictory about Obama saying that he'll change the policy to one of withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq with a specific timetable but that he will consult with his military advisors about how best to execute that policy.
For the McCain campaign to put out a memo to reporters claiming that Obama has adopted McCain's policy only shows that his advisors believe that a sizable percentage of the political press is made up of incorrigible morons. And it's hard to disagree with the judgment.
The simple truth is that this campaign offers a very clear cut choice on Iraq. One candidate believes that the US occupation of Iraq is the solution; the other thinks it's the problem. John McCain supports the permanent deployment of US troops in Iraq. That is why his hundred years remark isn't some gotcha line. It's a clear statement of his policy. Obama supports a deliberate and orderly withdrawal of US forces from Iraq. It's a completely different view of America's role in the world and future in the Middle East. Reporters who can't grasp what Obama is saying seem simply to have been permanently befuddled by George W. Bush's game-playing over delegating policy to commanders.
--Josh Marshall
Obama Addresses Supporters on FISA
Confronted with growing dissension on his own website from supporters opposed to his reversal on FISA, Obama is forced to address the issue directly in an online statement.
In case you missed it, take a look at TPM's timeline on Obama's position on the issue.
--David Kurtz
TPMtv: Golden Fleece Award: BMW Direct
The late Sen. William Proxmire saved his Golden Fleece Award for federal government boondoggles but he might have made an exception for GOP direct mail firm BMW Direct -- which takes obscure Republican candidates and turns them into money-making machines for itself ...
High-res version at Veracifier.com.
--Ben Craw
Here We Go
Obama, perhaps ill-advisedly, said today he will "continue to refine" his proposed policies for troop withdrawals from Iraq. Ill-advised because you might expect that nuance to be seen as opening the door to backtracking on his withdrawal plans.
Sure enough, overheated coverage of his remarks has followed this afternoon.
Obama has just finished a second press availability to clarify his initial remarks.
We'll have the video shortly.
Late Update: As promised:
Later Update: The McCain campaign issued the following statement late today:
"Today, Barack Obama reversed that position proving once again that his words do not matter. He has now adopted John McCain's position that we cannot risk the progress we have made in Iraq by beginning to withdraw our troops immediately without concern for conditions on the ground. There is nothing wrong with changing your mind when the facts on the ground dictate it. Indeed, the facts have changed because of the success of the surge that John McCain advocated for years and Barack Obama opposed in a position that put politics ahead of country."Now that Barack Obama has changed course and proven his past positions to be just empty words, we would like to congratulate him for accepting John McCain's principled stand on this critical national security issue. If he had visited Iraq sooner or actually had a one-on-one meeting with General Petraeus, he would have changed his position long ago."
--David Kurtz
Slow Motion Recession
Dean Baker: "Total private sector job gains in the Bush years may fall below 3 million by November. The annual average for the Clinton years was 2.6 million."
--David Kurtz
Lazy Bums
There's no question Barack Obama has shifted his position on FISA. But I'm hearing more and more that Obama has clearly shifted his position on Iraq. I've been a bit under the weather the last few days. So maybe I've missed something. But can anyone show me any evidence that this is really true? I know the McCain campaign is saying it? And I know bleating, game-playing neocons are saying it. But now that I'm seeing network talking heads saying it, can I see some evidence beyond the fact that the idea is getting pitched by the McCain campaign? Many thanks ...
--Josh Marshall
Pop a Brew ...
The Fourth can't come soon enough, says TPM Reader JP ...
Before we all torpedo the best candidate we have had in 30+ years over this FISA thing, be aware of the two facts: (1) there is a long-established government contractor immunity doctrine in American law & what the telecoms did after 9-11 in obeying government demands for compliance is right in stride with that doctrine, and (2) in any event, the federal government is likely required to indemnify the telcos for any judgment or settlement they'd have to pay. Is this really the make-or-break litmus-test the netroots is clamoring for? No way. Is this just another example of liberals eating their own? You betcha. Pop open a brew, chill out, enjoy the 4th and then get back to the task of electing this guy president.
--Josh Marshall
Obama's Great FISA Flip-Flop
We've got what he said then -- and what he's saying now -- all laid out at TPM Election Central.
--David Kurtz
Rudy, Too!
The whole China-Cuba drilling for oil offshore Florida myth jumps the shark: Rudy Giuliani has signed on, too.
--David Kurtz
Today's Must Read
McCain supporters working hard to get around McCain-Feingold spending caps, with a little help from the Republican Governors Association.
--David Kurtz
FISA Revolt
Supporters urging Barack Obama to change his position and oppose the pending FISA bill are now the biggest group on his website.
--David Kurtz
Election Central Morning Roundup
Obama may shorten the Democratic National Convention by a day. That and the day's other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.
--David Kurtz
Hmmm
Do I just have issues, or does this ad (which Google is currently running on some of our pages) contain an element of cognitive dissonance?
--Josh Marshall
Campaign Fleecee: We're Loving It!!!
Over the last couple days we've been telling you about this DC outfit called BMW Direct. They are a direct mail shop. And from what we can tell they have a two-tiered business model.
First, they've got a few bonafide Republican elected officials who they raise money for by the normal rules of direct mail fundraising business. But then they've got a bunch of potemkin candidates for whom they raise insane gobs of money, almost all of which they keep for themselves.
Good work if you can get it.
The biggest moneymaker in this latter category -- though there's some competition -- seems 
to be Deborah Honeycutt (R-GA) who's running in the 13th district of Georgia. In 2006 Honeycutt lost to incumbent David Scott (D-GA) by an impressive 38 points. And since in this cycle her campaign has managed to spend only a measly $16,695 in Georgia, you might figure for round two against Scott, Honeycutt is just dialing it in.
But quite the contrary.
Look at her FEC filings and you find that Honeycutt is one of the biggest players in the 2008 cycle. With the help of BMW Direct she's managed to raise an astounding $1.7 million.
To give you some perspective, high-profile netroots-backed Darcy Burner raised only $1.37 million over the same period -- and that's a very impressive total.
So where's all the money going? Well, of that $1.7 million, $1.5 million went to BMW Direct and various affiliated companies. So we've been wanting to find out how happy Honeycutt was with BMW Direct raising insane amounts of money for her around the contrary which she gets virtually none of.
Well, it turns out they're pretty psyched.
Andrew Tilghman got a hold of Honeycutt's volunteer campaign manager Michael Murphy who says, "We've been very pleased with them. BMW Direct has been able to help us raise resources and tap into a thirst in the country for the principles and platforms that she stands on."
How about Honeycutt's campaign getting next to none of the money raised for them? "I just work with the resources we have ... All I can say is we've been very pleased with BMW Direct."
--Josh Marshall
Due D'ohligence
Part me is hoping, trying to find some argument that explains why Washington Post didn't muff this Obama home loan story as badly as they seem to have.
But I think I'm destined to be disappointed.
--Josh Marshall
Pays To Do Your Homework
Obama's Axelrod administers a gentle smackdown to CNN's John Roberts ...
--Josh Marshall
Starting from Scratch?
I think we've now got the tell on the ouster of Rick Davis at the McCain campaign.
It's not just that Davis is being replaced by Steve Schmidt as campaign manager. They are reportedly also scrapping their system of 11 largely autonomous regional managers to run the campaign, an approach to running a national campaign that I do not believe has ever been tried before.
That sounds a lot like they're scrapping the whole operation and starting again from square one, thus squandering the huge advantage they got by sealing up the nomination months in advance of the Democrats.
No doubt, they'll talk about retooling and logical evolutions. But this sounds much more like scrapping the whole org chart and starting from scratch.
Late Update: The Trib discusses what appears to be another key part of this. The McCain hands getting their walking papers to make room for Rove's crew to take over.
--Josh Marshall
Brian Beutler Shot, Recovering in Hospital
We have some scary, awful news to report; but happily a story that appears set to have a happy ending.
Brian Beutler, a friend of ours here and known to many of you for his progressive blogging and journalism, was shot early this morning in Washington, DC, in what appears to have been a botched mugging. The wounds were serious. But surgery was successful and he's now recovering in a DC hospital. He's expected to make a full recovery. Greg Sargent has the story.
--Josh Marshall
TPMtv: Am Not Not An Expert!
Did John McCain say he didn't know much about economics or not? In today's episode of TPMtv, we go to the tape ...
High-res version at Veracifier.com.
--Josh Marshall
Keystone Spies
Via Jeff Stein, who catches this marvel of U.S.-Iraqi ineptitude, from today's David Ignatius column:
[T]he Iranians had recently captured several dissident Iranian operatives who had been recruited by U.S. military officers inside Iraq and then sent into Iran. The Iranians, whose intelligence network inside Iraq is pervasive, surveilled the meeting, then followed the agents across the border and seized them.
--David Kurtz
Shake Up in McCain Camp
The Politico is reporting that chief McCainster Rick Davis is being kicked up stairs and replaced by Steve Schmidt as the guy in charge of day-to-day operations -- i.e., the campaign manager. There's a lot of unclarity, even in the article, about just what's up. So we'll be bringing you more shortly.
--Josh Marshall
Up Escalator May Be Broken
While working on his new book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, Steven Greenhouse interviewed hundreds of workers across America.
Yesterday at TPMCafe, he gave us a taste. At the plastic factory where Kathy Saumier worked in upstate New York four of the 190 employees had fingers amputated over a 13-month period. "I got tired of being treated like dirt," she said.
Today he digs into the plight of the young college graduate-- A warning: The up-escalator may be broken.
--David Kurtz
Blue Bayou
Fugitive hedge fund manager who faked his suicide surrenders to authorities in Massachusetts.
--David Kurtz
Today's Must Read
Here's another reason all the fraud and abuse involving the U.S. in Iraq is slow to emerge: the DOJ has a 10-year backlog of whistleblower cases.
--David Kurtz
Election Central Morning Roundup
CQ now rates Rep. Vito Fossella's Staten Island seat as a probable Democratic pickup. That and the morning's other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.
--David Kurtz
Oy. Word to the wise. If you're a high profile officeholder running for reelection, don't let your webmasters post links on your site to gay-themed (as in making fun of gays) fratboy youtube videos.
More in a moment.
--Josh Marshall
Liars ...
Storied CIA vet Milt Bearden ...
The administration's claims of having "saved thousands of Americans" can be dismissed out of hand because credible evidence has never been offered -- not even an authoritative leak of any major terrorist operation interdicted based on information gathered from these interrogations in the past seven years. All the public gets is repeated references to Jose Padilla, the Lakawanna Six, the Liberty Seven and the Library Tower operation in Los Angeles. If those slapstick episodes are the true character of the threat, then maybe we'll be okay after all.When challenged on the lack of a game-changing example of a derailed operation, administration officials usually say that the need to protect sources and methods prevents revealing just how enhanced interrogation techniques have saved so many thousands of Americans. But it is irresponsible for any administration not to tell a credible story that would convince critics at home and abroad that this torture has served some useful purpose.
Read the rest of Bearden's article here in the Washington Independent.
--Josh Marshall
Getting His Ticket Punched
I'd missed Lanny Davis. He just showed up on Fox to be outraged about Wes Clark.
--Josh Marshall
Leave McCain Alone!
McCain says Jim Webb should stop criticizing him too -- says Obama's behind it.
--Josh Marshall
TPMtv: Wes Clark Hyperventorama!
In today's episode of TPMtv, the very best of MSM hyperventilation about Wes Clark's non-demeaning comments about John McCain ...
High-res version at Veracifier.com.
--Josh Marshall
Easy Money
Last night I told you about BMW Direct, the DC political consultancy that appears to split their time between fundraising for actual GOP elected officeholders, who are mainly white, and raising money for what appear to be phantom candidates, who also seem to be disproportionately African-American, that never gets spent on the candidates' races but rather gets plowed back into BMW Direct. Now it turns out that a few months ago, Roll Call (sub. req.) found them operating a similar scheme with some called Freedom's Defense Fund.
Since 2004, BMW has raised $1.1 million for Freedom's Defense Fund. But, perhaps explaining why Freedom is so down on its luck these days, a mere $50,000 was actually given to candidates -- which is after all, the main point of a PAC.
--Josh Marshall
One More Time
Sometimes when I keep on an issue like the Clark/McCain brouhaha, readers will write in and say things like, "It's a losing issue." "Drop it." "It isn't helping Obama." And so forth. But that's not our issue. I leave it to the campaigns to manage the press cycle. We have a different set of priorities. And in this case I want to come back to Clark's comments because I've heard from a number of people saying that it's clear Clark was denigrating McCain's service or heroism because he referred not to his time as a POW or as someone who endured torture, but rather as someone who got "shot down." By pointing to this specifically Clark was denigrating McCain's service or more specifically his skills as a pilot.
But that doesn't make any sense if you're one of the people who've actually watched the interview because the words are actually chosen by Bob Schieffer, host of Face the Nation.
Clark is in midst of arguing that McCain has never been in a position of executive authority in wartime. And then they have this back and forth ...
As you can see, Schieffer says 'getting shot down' as one of McCain's qualifications and Clark says he doesn't think that's a qualification for being president.
Now, do I think this analysis of what was actually said is going to change the popular impression of what happened at this point? Not really. The conventional wisdom has already congealed. But as long as we're on the durable and ascertainable ground of what was actually said, I don't think there's really any question. Clark's point was unassailable. And to say he was attacking McCain's service -- as opposed to saying it didn't necessarily make him the better candidate for president -- is clearly not the case.
--Josh Marshall
Today's Must Read
The latest tax avoidance trick to emerge from the UBS scandal: Smuggle diamonds in your tube of toothpaste.
--David Kurtz
Election Central Morning Roundup
Obama will call for an expansion of government support for faith-based programs. That and the day's other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.
--David Kurtz
What Hath Bush Wrought?
Andrew J. Bacevich: "Throughout the long primary season, even as various contenders in both parties argued endlessly about Iraq, they seemed oblivious to the more fundamental questions raised by the Bush years: whether global war makes sense as an antidote to terror, whether preventive war works, whether the costs of 'global leadership' are sustainable, and whether events in Asia rather than the Middle East just might determine the course of the 21st century."
--David Kurtz
Joementum
The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Sen. Joe Lieberman (Party of One) sucking air in Connecticut:
Sen. Joseph Lieberman gets a 45 - 43 percent approval, down from 52 - 35 percent March 27 and his lowest score ever."Sen. Lieberman's approval rating has dropped below 50 percent for the first time in 14 years of polling, with nearly two-thirds of Democrats giving him low marks, probably because he is campaigning for Sen. John McCain," Dr. Schwartz said.
From June 26 - 29, Quinnipiac University surveyed 2,515 Connecticut registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points.
--David Kurtz
Take the Money and Run
The Boston Globe had a great article yesterday about an outfit called BMW Direct Inc. whose business seems to be finding nonsense Republican candidates in hopeless races, raising tons of money for their hopeless campaigns and then funneling all the money back to themselves and sundry contractors and cronies. In 2006, they raised more than $700,000 for Charles Morse's run against Barney Frank in which Morse managed to get only 145 votes in the Republican primary. 96% of that money went back into BMW Direct's coffers and sundry affiliated contractors.
The Globe piece focused on the 2006 races. But today we looked at what BMW Direct is up to in 2008. Pretty much the same thing, it turns out.
In 2006, Deborah Honeycutt (R) ran against Rep. David Scott (D-GA) and lost by 38 points. This year she's trying again. And as in 2006, what she lacks in votes she makes up for in extraordinarily successful fundraising. During the first quarter of 2008, Deborah Honeycutt managed to raise $500,000 -- which would be a decent haul even for a real candidate. So far this cycle she's raised $1.7 million and spent $1.5 million of it. And of that $16,695 has been spent in Georgia. The rest of course got gobbled up by BMW Direct.
It's not clear to me from our reporting or the Globe's whether these candidacies actually exist in any real sense (as in the person actually independently came up with the idea of running for office, however hopeless the odds) or whether BMW creates them. (If you're interested, you can check out Honeycutt's Wikipedia bio, which I have a sneaking suspicion may also tie back in some way to BMW Direct: "Deborah Travis Honeycutt, previously a political unknown, exploded on the congressional campaign scene during the 2006 election cycle." ... ed.note: Alas, editors at Wikipedia have already deep-sixed this sentence since this post first went up and generally pruned it of socket-puppet-like nonsense.) The company's client list does include a handful of actual officeholders -- like Van Hilleary Robin Hayes, David Vitter and Jim Ryun. But most seem more of the Honeycutt variety. In any case, whichever comes first, candidate or BMW, BMW's approach seems to be to find these ersatz candidacies and then harvest the money of right-wing dupes around the country which can then be siphoned back to BMW, its contractors and affiliated companies.
On one level, I guess this is the kind of muck that Democrats should like since in addition to all the other fundraising challenges Republicans have this year they also have to contend with money siphoned off by BMW Direct that otherwise might have gone to buoying up actual Republican candidates. But it really is distressing that outfits like this are allowed to bamboozle people out of their money and face no consequences at all.
Late Update: TPM Readers NA and CS both note, very cleverly and aptly, that this is pretty much the plot line from The Producers.
--Josh Marshall
Selective Hero Worship
TPM Reader BA finds himself befuddled:
Continues to boggle my mind what a difference 4 years can make to the conservatives.1996: Bob Dole is a war hero! Clinton is a draft dodger! WORSHIP THE WAR HERO!
2000: Forget the war! Ignore the potential Vietnam-era AWOL-ness of our candidate, and his complete lack of foreign policy knowledge! He's got integrity!
2004: So what your candidate actually fought and was injured in the same war during which our candidate was so very much NOT AWOL! We mock his service and question the legitimacy of his injuries! Have a purple band-aid to wear at our convention!
2008: Only a certified war hero can lead this country! WORSHIP THE WAR HERO!
--David Kurtz
Once Again
A number of readers have either suggested or explained that what the Obama camp is trying to do is have its cake and eat it too, make sounds of disapproval, such as President Bush did in 2004 with respect to the Swift Boaters, while still gaining advantage from them.
Perhaps. But that's not what I'm seeing.
I've also seen suggestions that Obama must either reject Clark's comments or vehemently restate them. But that's nonsense. There's nothing to be gained for the candidate to be critical of McCain in this regard. He can keep repeating his praise for McCain's service and time as a POW, which he should do and is not in conflict in any way with anything that Clark said.
What his campaign should not be doing is lending its imprimatur to the proposition that because McCain saw combat in Vietnam and suffered as a POW that he has the judgment to be an effective president.
Late Update: As an example, TPM Reader SS writes ...
Am I the only one who thinks that the Obama campaign is winning big here and that the media is being played badly? The conversation has begun - "it's out there" as they say - does McCain's record as a (not-very-good) fighter jock and POW more than thirty years ago in some way qualify him to be Commander-in-Chief? At the same time, Obama "rejects the statement" and "honors and respects Senator McCain's service." How is Obama hurt by this? How is McCain? And now we can let the bloviators compare this honest question to what was done to John Kerry. Remember how Kerry's record was fair game because he brought it up and Bush and Rove pretended like they had nothing to do with the SBVT? Obama seems to have learned the new rules. As a friend of mine likes to say, if I were having any more fun, I'd have to be twins.
As I say above, if they're on this, great. Experience has taught me not to take it for granted.
--Josh Marshall
CNN's Fox Hunt
CNN's Rick Sanchez: Clark, "dissing, some might say swift-boating, John McCain's military record" ...
--Josh Marshall
Pulling No Punches
Among the targets in Obama's patriotism speech today: MoveOn and elements of the '60s counterculture.
--David Kurtz
Reductio Ad Absurdum
To make his case today about why Gen. Clark's comments were out of bounds, the McCain campaign chose an actual member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth bamboozlement squad. Speaking for the McCain campaign, Col. Bud Day actually defended the SBVT's campaign as "the truth."
--Josh Marshall
I Can't See You, I Can't See You
We were just chatting here at the office about what's behind the Obama campaign's rapid rejection of Wes Clark's statements. The read from those in touch with the Obama campaign seemed to be that they don't want to get into a conversation that focuses attention on McCain's war record and/or experience.
If that's the case, it's more troubling than it appears on the surface. I can think of a lot of other reasons why they might not want to get into this. Maybe they think it conflicts with the 'new politics' message they're trying to push. Or perhaps they think the wind's at their back or they don't want the subject to be changed.
But if it really is a fear of getting things focused on McCain's war record or experience it really is the kind of mistake Democrats habitually make. Take a look. McCain's entire campaign is about his time as a POW and the claim that his war service makes him uniquely qualified to be the country's commander-in-chief. They're pushing the fact that he's been on the national stage for four decades, whereas Obama's only been there for four years. That is almost the entirety of his campaign. So it's out there. It's already a key focus of this campaign.
John McCain's claim to experience, based in large part on his military service, is a key issue in this campaign. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away.
--Josh Marshall
Sub-Zero Stupid
Did Wes Clark call into question John McCain's war record? Did he say any element of it wasn't true, honorable, anything? Here's ABC News political director Rick Klein guest blogging at Jake Tapper's ABC blog ...
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark went where no Democrat really truly wants to go on Sunday -- calling into question, in surprisingly sharp language, Sen. John McCain's military record.
--Josh Marshall
Lame
Obama campaign on Clark ...
"As he's said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and of course he rejects yesterday's statement by General Clark," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
Late Update: McCain just made his comments on this, sort of implicitly buying into the lie that Clark was attacking his military service.
--Josh Marshall