Kleinheider did a fine job tracking the once-again pointless and feeble attempts of the Tennessee Republican party to garner publicity and attention with their slaps at Michelle Obama, and this morning he links to Senator Obama calling out the state's GOP for their lame effort to stir the emotions.
As for the massive negative reactions for their stunt, the GOP shrills out more name calling - "yer just a bunch of whiners."
Yeah, class act there guys. It speaks volumes about how Republicans in the state can't get any traction or mention providing discussion on issues and policies. They apparently despise their own party's nominee, Senator McCain, even with a strong likelihood he'll nab a majority of votes in the fall. What they cannot refute is that most Americans know the Bush administration and its supporters have not only failed at leadership, they will be leaving behind enormous problems in almost every area which will likely take years to correct.
Stuck with not being able to support their current president, not being able to muster support for their current nominee, they have nothing left but snide and empty jabs. All the state Republicans have is a cranky cry of "You kids get offa my lawn!" They need to just go back inside their house, clean it up, and join the rest of us when they decide to be good neighbors.
(See Senator Corker's comments via this Knoxville News Sentinel report: "Our country is, to me, at a point where all of us, on both sides of the aisle, need to begin acting more like adults and making those tough decisions that will cause our country to be stronger for the long haul," said Corker, the only Tennessean in Congress who isn't up for re-election this year.")
The Tennessee GOP has started its Fall campaign on Obama by attacking his wife Michelle for her “proud of America” remarks. They must figure that it’s easier to attack a candidate’s spouse rather than go for the main contender. It’s discourteous and one that is reminiscent of the 1828 attacks against Andy Jackson’s wife Rachel. The Republicans were soundly defeated in that campaign, partly due to Jackson’s immense popularity and the distasteful attacks against his wife.
ReplyDeleteIt remains to be seen if history will repeat itself, but throughout the nomination process, trying to beat Obama with personal attacks instead of policy arguments has all but failed. GOP Tennesseans may feel they were being patriotic in singling out Michelle Obama for their initial attack ads, but this will only increase Obama’s popularity and make Tennessean Republicans look paltry.
If McCain has any spine, he will condemn these spurious attacks and call to make political spousal abuse off limits for both parties. Politics is an ugly business, but drive-by slurs only makes the perpetrators look even uglier in the eyes of voting citizens.