December 2, 2008 7:19:50 PM CST
(Newser) – Between one ad hailing Barack Obama as the Messiah and another comparing him to Paris Hilton, John McCain’s camp might be running the most sarcastic presidential campaign in history, Michael Crowley writes in the New Republic. The tactic is “in stark conflict with his image as a straight-shooting man of noble values,” Crowley writes. “The question is whether he can really be both things at once.”
Campaign ads dripping with sarcasm aren’t anything new, but McCain seems to be laying it on extra-thick. “Up close and personal,” Crowley writes, “he’s the most sarcastic guy Washington has seen since Bob Dole.” Bottom line, though, is that such attacks are getting the desired attention, and perhaps the desired effect.
Source New Republic
Nov 19, 08 1:55 PM CST Missouri, the last state up for grabs, looks to have gone Republican by less than a 1% margin, leaving John McCain with 173 electoral votes to Barack Obama’s 365, the Kansas City Star reports. There are still 3,000 uncounted provisional ballots, but McCain’s margin is large enough to declare him the winner of the state’s 11 electoral votes. More »
Nov 4, 08 11:56 PM CST President-elect Barack Obama addressed the country and the world for the first time tonight, vowing to unite a nation beset by trouble at home and abroad, the Chicago Tribune reports. "Change has come to America," Obama told a crowd of tens of thousands at Chicago's Grant Park and millions more watching around the world. "Our stories are singular, but our destinies are shared." More »
Nov 4, 08 11:55 PM CST John McCain ended his long fight for the presidency with a generous concession speech, warmly congratulating Barack Obama and hailing a historic moment for America. “I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president,” McCain told a crowd of supporters in Arizona, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »
Nov 4, 08 11:01 PM CST Barack Obama won the crucial battleground states of Florida, Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to clinch victory over John McCain and secure his place in history, MSNBC reports. The 47-year-old Illinois senator will become the nation's first black president when he succeeds George W. Bush in January. Obama reached the 270 electoral votes needed at 11pm ET when he won the states of California, Washington, and Oregon. More »
Nov 4, 08 8:56 PM CST Hundreds of thousands of Barack Obama supporters have been collecting in Chicago's Grant Park, watching results come in on a Jumbotron screen while they await the candidate's rally tonight. The Lollapalooza-like atmosphere includes blankets spread out on the grass and vendors offering t-shirts and buttons, reports the Chicago Tribune. Obama is dining at home with his family, who will move to the rally site later tonight. More »
What's interesting here is not that McCain has gone negative against Obama; it's the way he has gone negative, using that special blend of phony sincerity and cutting mockery that constitutes sarcasm. - New Republic editor Michael Crowley
Barack Obama • Election 2008 • John McCain • Obama 2008 • McCain 2008 • Paris Hilton • campaign advertising • campaign tactics
