Here’s the full transcript:
Interviewer: I just want to know how you feel about the last eight years of George Bush.
Norm Coleman: Well, uh, belehduh belehdudeduh.
I wonder if Coleman would have the same response about his voting record.
In a humorous and very telling video entitled “Proud Bush-McCain Repulicans” by a blip.tv user named “George McCain,” Coleman tells it all:
Aaron - something to consider. If Obama wins the election, we all know what the story will be…the American people have rejected the last 8 years. They are fed up want a different direction for America.
But Aaron - if despite all the bad things happening - if Obama loses…..
What will the message be then?
People want a screwed up economy, badly run wars in two countries of which one is pointless and that the Republicans are right… it isn’t about issues, it is about narratives.
I don’t think George McCain is going to in though… hunger has a way of focussing the mind and this economy sucks for almost everybody.
People want a screwed up economy, badly run wars in two countries of which one is pointless and that the Republicans are right… it isn’t about issues, it is about narratives.
I don’t think George McCain is going to win though… hunger has a way of focussing the mind and this economy sucks for almost everybody.
what the fuck was that?
Amuseinc - I’m asking a serious question. If McCain were to win, what would the Democratic party response by on Nov. 5th? What would they attribute the loss to?
If Obama wins, I (as a Republican) would say they rejected our agenda. What would Democrats say in the case of a McCain victory?
“What would Democrats say in the case of a McCain victory?”
One very successful McCain campaign. Spin it all you want, but the two biggest reasons why people wouldn;t vote for Obama is because of his “lack” of experience and his “celebrity”. It will be because McCain successfuly made it a campaign about personalities. All you have to do is look at the likely further gains in Congress that Democrats will get this year.
I also suggest we cross that bridge when we come to it. All indications are that the Republican leadership of the last eight years doesn’t deserve another four. If the american people think that George McCain is different in focus, policy and will change the status quo… they will vote to continue the Republican failed agenda. If the american people believe that creationism should be taught in public schools, that certain books should be banned from public libraries and that the Iraqi War should continue on… they will vote for the New boss, same as the old boss.
I just do not see that happening… unless this election is not about the issues, leadership and the future of the country.
Interesting that Republicans can view an election loss as being a rejection of their ideas, while Democrats refuse to admit such - even when faced with an election loss.
An Obama victory will properly be framed as a rejection of the Republican party
A McCain victory will wrongly be framed as a racist, poorly informed decision by the uneducated in our society.
Obama will mean a bigger government then McCain. This election is about what size federal government you want.
50% of American citizens do not vote. I am loathe to attribute motives to the American electorate after the last two elections.
I guess if forced, I would attribute a theoretical loss by Obama as successful exploitation of latent fear.
I suspect Obama is going to kick ass in November, though.
But if Obama wins that will be a mandate for more programs from Washington, D.C. Right lojasmo?
Will somebody do an actual count of government employees, budgets and debit during the last 8 Republican years and compare it to the previous 8 Democratic years… because this is complete bullshit that Democrats are enlarging the government. Go to the actual numbers and see that all three of those criteria have increased at alarming rates under Republicans. Democrats didn’t start spying on American citizens without any judicial oversight… Republicans did that.
This election isn’t about size of government, it is about effective government giving a return on the taxpayers investment versus a philosophy of tax the people and then screw them if they need anything. It is about being willing to spend 4 billion tax dollars a month in Iraq while ignoring American education, job losses and infrastructure.
Republicans are incapable of governing in a way that actually benefits American taxpayers… that is unless you are in the top 2% of the wealth index. They will take care of the CEO who moves jobs overseas with tax cuts for his company but ignore the workers looking for a new job. Republicans made torture an American policy so that now George McCain can not even say he was tortured by the North Vietnamese. He was simply made uncomfortable if you believe the Bush Administration.
This election is about failed policies of the past 8 years, supported by John Bush for 4 more years or real change. If the American people believe that these “new” Republicans will change how the “Old” Republicans ran the government, they will believe anything.
“Republicans are incapable of governing in a way that actually benefits American taxpayers…’
Well, the big part of that is Republicans don’t believe in “governing”; they believe in “ruling” - and it’s manifested in many ways.
Start with how they choose a presidential candidate, with their “winner take all” system which is designed to get a candidate picked, picked fast, and get everyone else in line.
This goes back to the core Republican belief that “government doesn’t work” - and when Republicans are in charge, they prove this.
Republicans are simply incapable of governing; they belong in a Permanent Minority Status where they can offer advice and criticism, but never again should Republicans be trusted with control of all of the levers of power.
Due to their proven incompetence and inability to govern, I doubt we’ll see the GOP controlling the Oval Office, Senate, and House at the same time in the next fifty years.
Amuseinc has it correct.
Republicans spend more.
Republicans build bigger governments and government spending increases under republicans.
Republicans have bigger deficits.
Republicans have bigger budgets.
The meme of republicans as fiscally responsible stewards is PURE BULLSHIT.
The one aspect of the gestalt that is correct is that democrats produce more SOCIAL programs than republicans do….and I’m just fine with that.
Yawn
If Mccain were to win would it be because of his agenda; drill here, drill now, more tax cuts for the rich, and a military solution for every problem.
I couldn’t make it through all of the speeches this past week watching the RNC, so I may have missed the parts where they talked about solutions for healthcare, jobs, education, retirement security, trade and budget deficits, environment, ending the war and so on.
Who is the real Mccain anyhow? He has reversed his mavericky positions on immigration, tax cuts, and torture. He has chosen a running mate who, despite her rhetoric, is the queen of pork.
–$50: The amount the average state received in earmarked funds, per capita in 2008
–$506: The amount received by Alaska’s citizen per capita in 2008, represented by the Senate’s earmarker in chief, Ted Stevens, ten times the national average
–Over $1000: The annual amount received per capita in Wasilla between 2000 and 2003, twice the 2008 Alaska state average
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/09/03/palin-earmarks/
Its been well established that a majority thinks the country is off track. What change is Mccain offering us?
well said Amuseinc and lojasmo
“I doubt we’ll see the GOP controlling the Oval Office, Senate, and House at the same time in the next fifty years.” This.
Agreed, I doubt the Republicans will regain control of the house for at least decades from now. Incumbency will prevail for our Democrats and the changing demographics of Democrats from the cities suburbanizing in once Republican terroritory is turning swing and eventually blue leaning. Republicans will not have the house in the forseeable future.
The Senate, that is always more susceptible to swings but with our gains in 06, the ones we appear to get in 08 and if you look 2010 looks to be another good year with a lot of prime Republican targets and possible retirements while Republicans dont have any good shots, maybe some outside shots but nothing to really expect. If the Gov. runs against Boxer, that’s about the extent of their seats to pick-up.
Republicans could win the presidency in 2016 but regardless, they wont have full control in quite some time so at least Republicans wont be able to totally screw up the country again.
And the Franken campaign needs to make this into an attack ad stat.
I just love this. For a couple decades, people have been saying that the reason Democrats can’t seem to capitalize is because they don’t really stand for anything. Or if they do, it is vague. Now, it truly looks like the Democrats will continue the 2006 drubbing and pick up more seats. Why? Because they are effectively rallying against the Republicans “screwing up the country”.
Again, not really standing for anything.
So, as history would indicate, the Democrats will get full and total control for a couple years. They, too, will piss it away by going in many different directions and by taking their newfound power to some extremes. Then, people will say “enough” and hear a Republican message, which will be clear, and swing back toward center.
This has happened throughout the past 150 years. One party gets some power, then lots of power, then they get giddy and take it too far. The voters reprimand them by taking some of their power away, then it shifts to the other party. That party takes it too far, and the voters take some of their power away.
This nation is a nation of Centrists. Neither party gets that.
DanTheMan - excellent comments. The problems our country faces are too big for one party. We need shared government, not one party in control.
Because they are effectively rallying against the Republicans “screwing up the country”.
Umm, how about the Democratic party stands for not fucking over 95% of the country. Fundamentally, in normal circumstances the country does better with a centrist but, because of the rape and pillage extreme right wing that has been in control of the republican party for the last 30 years, we need some real progressive juice to repair the damage. Reagan started this nightmare and finally we are beginning to wake up to it. McCain and his dickless Nixon VP pick are not in any sense of the term centrist. Obama/Biden will begin the process of repair.
richard nailed it. McCain/Palin is extreme right. Obama/Biden, while liberal, is the ticket for a more centrist government. Only progression can undo the last 8 years of pure conservative ideology run government failure. And I agree that we are reaping what we’ve sown for implementing Reaganomics in the early 80s, and having a large section of our governing parties embracing it. Republicans are reaping what they have sown for pandering to the far, far right and the top 5% of the income bracket, while fully screwing over the populace. That middle class couldn’t shrink much further, unless you agree with McCain’s entirely bogus fairytale 5 million dollar mark. No one wants to continue down this rabbithole, except those leading the way. Progression is the only solution, we need to leave these old ideas of government in the trashcan where they belong.
“This election is about what size federal government you want.”
Then how come nobody lists that as a major issue when being polled about why they are voting for McCain or Obama? You keep spinning this yawn. Obama’s most effective attack against McCain is that he’s the same as Bush. McCain’s most effective attack is that Obama is inexperienced. The winner will win because they had the most effective attack. The size of government is an important issue (even though its actually increased more under the GOP), but thats not the primary reason why people will vote for one candidate or another.
Fact: McCain / Palin is a clear step to the center from Bush. They are much closer to the center than Obama / Biden, based on their Senate voting history and Palin’s priorities as Governor.
Richard - do you consider Clinton’s Presidency a success? I do, and I tend to lean Republican. Clinton Presided with true centrisity, and Newt did the same, and we all got something done.
Newt was no centrist and that’s why he was thrown out of his leadership position. McSame and Caribou Barbie are as divisive as the present regime. If you want 4 more years of the last eight, then vote McSame. Me, I’d to have my country back.
Get out there and vote… so Diebold can “count” them…
I have a bad feeling about this.
Palin is a creature of the religious right. She has belonged to a fundamentalist congregation all her adult life and has for years sat and listened to her pastors preach about converting gays, abortion being called murder, teaching creationism in the classroom, and that the Bible should be the basis for government policy and laws.
This is what fundamentalists believe — that they are doing God’s will in all aspect of their lives including when it comes to making decisions that affect the rest of us. Do we know Palin well enough to know that she would reject such ideas? No, none of us does, not even McCain.
To claim that she brings moderation to the McCain ticket is utterly ridiculous.
(Oh, and someone should tell her a little something about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. if she can’t even get the most basic of facts about the current economic crisis right, what makes her qualified to be in the White House?)
Richard -
What possible evidence do we have that Obama / Biden would represent anyone other than the leftmost 10% fringe of our political spectrum? I see none. honestly.
Dantheman I agree 100%,
Everyone knows we Republicans only disagree with this narrow 10% fringe of our political spectrum.
Some people think America has been divided, and they are wrong. America is united against this 10% of our population that is the leftist looney liberal left. They are stupid, lazy, and suck at the Government teat, right, Minnesota Republican blogger DantheMan. They are the only people Barack Obama and Joe Biden represent.
Anyone who dares to claim that they agree with the positions of Barack Obama are a part of this meager 10% of the population, that’s the only explanation that makes any sense.
Great Job Honest Minnesota Republican blogger DantheMan
TFRWG -
Well said.
DantheMan < — PWNED!
TFRWG has the “cast opponent as lunatic fringe” thing down pat. Google “Overton Window” because this is what TFRWG and Republicans do. They continuously make blanket statements like someone is extreme lunatic left, and through the echo chamber of cable news and talk radio, people start to believe it.
This message handling is how Republicans continue to get people to vote for Republican candidates, but if you check out actual opinion polls on issues, most people are democrats on the issues.
Yawn says:
“An Obama victory will properly be framed as a rejection of the Republican party
A McCain victory will wrongly be framed as a racist, poorly informed decision by the uneducated in our society.”
Yawn, yes it will be a rejection of the Democratic Party, largely by racist, poorly informed and homophobic people all over this racist country, but a rejection nonetheless. It’s hard to win elections in this country without pandering to the ignorance of so many. If the Republicans win, how do you frame their victory? Acceptance of George W. Bush (Tell that to McCain, who is running on a platform of “change” and running away from Bush)? Acceptance of the war? (have you seen the polls?) Acceptance of the dead economy?
This is the country we live in. If your premise is that the validity of a political party’s platform is determined by whether they win an election, then you would be right. But a democracy is only as good as the people who show up at the polls and these are the people that have already elected and reelected Bush.
You do realize that TFRWG is being sarcastic, right? You know, joking to get a point across? Dan, if you really believe that he was being serious, you have some problems. I figure you were just joking right back with your reply, though. Anyway - my point: some memes need to go away, as people here have pointed out: (1) Democrats are for BIG government while Republicans are for SMALL government - this is plainly wrong or else some thought would have gone into the whole invading Iraq decision. Also, with the bailouts and decreases of corporate taxes - these are BIG government measures, they just don’t help the same people the Democrats tend to help. Also, Clinton’s government was much smaller and effeciently run than Bush’s has been, even before Newt. (2) Palin being anything other than an extremist - note that Dan’s argument on this board is to ignore Palin’s extremism and make something up about Obama/Biden. This is typical. I neither agree with the Obama/Biden representing the 10% fringe nor do I agree that Palin is a regular old person politically - she is an extremist in her economic views, social views, and how she views her role in policy decisions based on her own fundamentalist beliefs (one can refer to this as “church-state separation” which is a cornerstone of our society and the core of the 1st Amendment). (3) McCain is a maverick - before he ran for president, at times he was, but he has run a right-wing campaign which has not distanced himself from Bush in any meaningful way, appears to be taking on Bush’s policies, and even chose a younger, even more extremist, female version of Bush for his VP.
And here is Sarah Palin telling her church that it was god who made her governor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k84m2orSOaM
Her pastor gets all choked up.
Palin is another George W. Bush: fundamentalist, willfully-ignorant, vindictive, corrupt, imperious, anti-environment, eager to go to war, and, like Bush, in way, way over her head.
Add to that how much McCain resembles Cheney — short-tempered, angry, warmongering — and we’re looking at four years of Bush/Cheney to an even more dangerous level.
Amuseinc: First things first..Capitilize America. It is a special place and deserves capitalization. (telling - don’t you think?)
Second: “George” McCain…really?
God bless this country for all votes counting equally, but I must say, it scares me. It really does.
“And the Franken campaign needs to make this into an attack ad stat.”
Agreed.
The video plays.
Fade to black.
ANNOUNCER: Belehduh belehdudeduh is right, Norm. Too bad you voted with Bush 95% of the time. Isn’t it time for something better than belehduh belehdudeduh?
FRANKEN: I’m Al Franken and I approved this message.
Funny…
I had thought the past eight years of “borrow & spend” economics of socialized corporate losses is the governing philosophy of the republican party. National debt that went from 4 trillion to 10 trillion dollars does not sound like responsible spending or assuming personal responsibility to me. Placing a health insurance bureaucrat between me and my doctor just to enhance republican profit potential does not sound like responsible governance to me.
If George McCain wins in November it will be because folks want more war, more debt and more bank failures that their tax dollars will go to bail out. 50K for Fannie & Freddie for each of us before interest. That is republican fiscal conservatism for ya.
The one fact of life is that fat cat republicans just want their government services for free, charging up the bill so my kids can pay the price, at interest to republican fat cat bankers.
Come on people, FOCUS.
This isn’t as much about McCain/Palin as it is about folks being uninformed and apparently, for a number of women, feeling slighted that the media, and some bloggers, have had a feeding frenzy for almost two weeks as they wait to learn who she really is.
The bigger issues are that Mr. McCain, dropped a bomb when he decided to put up for the second highest office a complete unknown…Sorry, she is known to Alaska..so a 99.8% unknown(100% to the rest of the world) whose views on issues is very different than much of the rest of the country’s. Similarly he could have chosen my plumber Bill…he runs a small business, loves his family, likes to fish and hunt and communicates well.
Mr. McCain and his team have raised a red flag (Mrs. Palin) in front of a bull (the voting public) to distract us from the goal of determining the qualities we want in the next President of the US.
So now that we know that, we need to get back to the game and focus because as much as I don’t like some of what I’ve read, I know that this isn’t about how great Ms. Palin is or how mean some people have been to her. She should have expected to come under this scrutiny just as she said Hillary should have expected it and she shouldn’t be dodging it and hiding from answering the tough questions.
The fact is that she could be intensely qualified, but we don’t know that and the thought that 50million people will vote her into office because they think she’s pretty and a fighter scares the sh*t out of me.
This election is about the future of America and by extension the planet. And if you want to lead the free world you out to be able to speak to it and tell it what you stand for.
“But Aaron - if despite all the bad things happening - if Obama loses…..
What will the message be then?”
The message will be that the politics of lying and smearing work, because that is what McCain is running on. He has nothing else, and he knows it. He is on the wrong side of every issue, supporting Bush at best and even more extreme than Bush at worst. So he is running by trying to tear down Obama rather than elevate himself. It is his only chance and he knows it.
And if you want to know what will happen, just look at 2004. Bush ran against Kerry the same way, with the politics of lying and smearing. And when he won, he had no popular mandate. He tried to privatize Social Security, and got nowhere. He ran Iraq even further into the ground, and his approval rating plummeted. Hurricane Katrina showed how Bush deals with emergencies, and the entire country was horrified. The public had ignored the issues in 2004 and voted on personalities. And when they suddenly saw what kind of issues and policies Bush was pushing, they resoundingly rejected them.
And the same thing will happen to McCain if he wins this November. He will have been elected as the result of a personality contest, not by the issues, and he would have no popular mandate. And when the people realize that he is simply President Bush but even worse, they will resoundingly reject his policies just as they have most of Bush’s.
Really, this isn’t that complicated.