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NEWS ABOUT: negative campaigning

After 9/11 Truce, Name-Calling Back On

McCain 'out of touch,' Obama ad charges; Dem 'disrespectful' to Palin, Mac counters

(Newser) - Hours after making a joint appearance at a memorial ceremony for the Sept. 11 attacks, John McCain and Barack Obama unleashed harsh new attacks of their own, reports the Chicago Tribune. With the McCain camp blasting Obama as desperate and “disrespectful” to Sarah Palin, the Obama campaign made a... More »

Obama Steps Up Assault on McCain

Candidate to go on the attack as party frets about Palin

(Newser) - The Barack Obama campaign kicks off its leaner, meaner approach today, reports the New York Times, going on the offensive with a New Hampshire speech and new ads in an attempt to wrest momentum back from the GOP. The candidate's strategists say it has long been the plan to get... More »

Mac Misleads in Obama Sex-Ed Ad

Legislation Republican is criticizing meant to protect kindergartners from pedophiles

(Newser) - John McCain’s new campaign ad accusing Barack Obama of voting to teach kindergarten kids the explicit details of sex, is “deliberately misleading,” Margaret Talev notes for McClatchy. While in the Illinois legislature, Obama voted in favor “age-appropriate” sex ed—which for young kids would primarily consist... More »

Biden & Co. Take Cue From Rove

Dems' new plan of attack follows map left by GOP spinmeister

(Newser) - Joe Biden’s speech last night mapped out the new plan of attack for Democrats against John McCain, and it’s positively Rovian, Walter Shapiro writes on Salon. The Democrats went directly for McCain’s biggest strength—national security—and tried to turn it into a weakness. “These times... More »

McCain Borrows Clinton's '3am' Attack

'Hillary's Right,' new ad proclaims

(Newser) - John McCain has resurrected Hillary Clinton’s “3am” attack ad, and will be running a modified version in several battleground states, USA Today reports. The Republican's ad reruns a portion of Clinton’s, along with clips of Clinton attacking Obama’s experience, and ends with the tag, “Hillary’... More »

GOP Looks to Rain on Convention Parade

Republicans aim to upstage rival; Dems plan to respond in kind

(Newser) - The days of the parties giving each other a breather during convention week are long gone, the New York Times reports. As Democrats reveled in Denver yesterday, the Republicans began popping balloons--launching attack ads, holding press conferences underscoring the Clinton-Obama divide, and trotting their candidate out on the Tonight Show.... More »

GOP Playbook: Find Foe's Strength and Attack It

(Newser) - Republican strategists are as adept as judo masters at turning opponents' strengths against them, Michael Kinsley writes in the Washington Post. With "genius, courage, creativity and utter ruthlessness," they managed to turn John Kerry's Vietnam service into a liability and Michael Dukakis' humble roots into elitism. Now, even... More »

Obama Ads Hone Attack in Key States

Wave of negative ads slams McCain on the economy

(Newser) - Barack Obama has launched a wave of hard-hitting ads attacking John McCain ads in key states, the New York Times reports. The ads, reflecting a new get-tough Obama, lambaste McCain for being out of touch with Americans' economic struggles. Some have criticized the ads for misleading voters, but Democratic strategists... More »

If You're Running on Honor, Don't Tell Lies

GOP falsehoods lead to 'smear gap': Alter

(Newser) - Never mind merely unflattering attacks; Jonathan Alter addresses the issue of outright falsehoods, as measured by an impartial fact-checking organization, in the two presidential campaigns, and finds the McCain camp has issued many more. The "smear gap"  belies John McCain's vision of himself as an honor-first kind of... More »

Obama Nation Author Has Made Career of Wild Claims

Here's a look at some of his most outlandish

(Newser) - Author Jerome Corsi, he of the Kerry Swift Boat book and the new attack tome on Barack Obama, has a long history of, um, provocative theories. For instance: The world's oil supplies are nearly infinite because oil constantly replenishes itself. Politico takes a look at some of his more outlandish... More »

Mac's Preferred Contest: Obama as Incumbent

Republican can't win if debate is about him or Bush: Dionne

(Newser) - John McCain is doing perhaps the only thing he can to win this race—casting Barack Obama as the incumbent and attacking him, writes E.J. Dionne Jr. in the Washington Post. It makes sense: People are tiring of the heavy coverage of Obama, it seems, and McCain knows that... More »

Counterpunch Too Weak for Strategists

Strategists urging Obama to bring tougher attacks on McCain

(Newser) - After weeks of enduring blistering attacks from John McCain, Barack Obama is launching a counter-attack. His new “Maverick” ad is his sharpest yet, calling McCain out on his similarities to George Bush. But Democratic strategists still don’t think Obama is hitting hard enough, the Washington Post reports. “... More »

Obama's Right to Go Negative

Obama stayed cool during primaries, but this is whole new ball game

(Newser) - Barack Obama is going negative on John McCain, something he never did in the primary race against Hillary Clinton. But that doesn’t mean he’s abandoning a winning strategy. The current race is worlds apart from his tête-à-tête with Clinton, Noam Scheiber writes in the New ... More »

Candidates Keen to Quit Bickering

McCain, Obama each blame the other for negative campaign

(Newser) - John McCain and Barack Obama would prefer to steer the White House race out of the gutter and back onto the high road, writes David Broder in the Washington Post reports. In separate interviews, both candidates expressed frustration with the tone and direction of the campaign over the last two... More »

Republicans Scold McCain; Obama Camp Pounces

Negative turn generates anger toward candidate

(Newser) - A new Obama campaign memo obtained by Time documents Republican disapproval of the McCain camp’s recent tactics. Some highlights:
  • Pat Buchanan on the commercial juxtaposing Obama, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton: "Look, this is not an effective ad.”
  • Ed Rollins: “John needs to be the deliberate,
... More »

Rove Legacy Tails McCain's New Top Dog

Schmidt takes the reins

(Newser) - Steve Schmidt is the new captain of the McCain campaign ship, which an ex-operative compares to the "Pirates of the Caribbean." Known as a taskmasker and carrying the seemingly oxymoronic reputation of a moderate Karl Rove protégé, Steve Schmidt isn't showing his hand just yet. The New ... More »

Let's Keep Britney, OJ Out of Campaign

McCain campaign beginning to conjure up racially loaded images of the past

(Newser) - John McCain's lurch into negative campaigning is beginning to echo loaded racial issues of the past, according to the New York Times editorial board. The "celebrity" attack ad against Barack Obama featuring Britney Spears and Paris Hilton recalls a Republican ad—from workers now on the McCain team—that... More »

Neither Side Has Played Race Card

Accusations aside, Obama or McCain aren't guilty—yet

(Newser) - Accusations of "playing the race card" are flying back and forth between the John McCain and Barack Obama camps, but neither is truly guilty, Joan Walsh writes in Salon. McCain has run an "appalling low-road campaign" of late, but not a racist one, while Obama's comment about not... More »

McCain Was Going to Pounce On Obama Either Way

His staff had two ads ready after Europe trip

(Newser) - It's common knowledge by now that a John McCain campaign ad took Barack Obama to task for not visiting wounded US troops in Germany. But David Kiley in BusinessWeek reports that the McCain camp had another ad ready, this one if Obama had visited the troops. It would have charged... More »

McCain Camp: Obama Playing 'Race Card'

Calls Dem's comment that he doesn't look like other prezs 'shameful'

(Newser) - John McCain’s campaign adviser accused Barack Obama today of having “played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck,” reports the New York Daily News. The Dem had yesterday described how opponents would use fear against him, saying, “You know,... More »

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