Great Moments In Republican War Messaging

by Josh Orton [courtesy of MyDD]

You may have already seen the grossly misleading and embarrassingly political smear Bush used against Democrats (and WH aides say Obama) from Israel:

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said at Israel's 60th anniversary celebration in Jerusalem.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to Israel's parliament, the Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

As Singer pointed out, McSame ramped up the charge, perhaps after realizing he had been looped out of a debate between the President and a Democrat running for the job he wants:

"I think [it] is an unacceptable position, and shows that Senator Obama does not have the knowledge, the experience, the background to make the kind of judgments that are necessary to preserve this nation's security."

White flags, surrender, naive, etc..

But let's contrast the responses from two of the surrogates - one Republican and one Democrat.

On the right, a yahoo talk radio host on Hardball in an enormously awkward segment:

On MSNBC's Hardball tonight, right-wing radio host Kevin James attempted to defend President Bush's comments comparing Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to Nazi appeasers because he favors talking with our enemies. James compared Obama to Neville Chamberlain, about whom James could only cry: "He's an appeaser!"

Matthews pressed James at least 19 times over five minutes to simply explain what Chamberlain had done in 1938 and 1939 to make him an "appeaser." James could only shout his talking point over and over, prompting Matthews to threaten to end the interview:

  MATTHEWS: You don't know what you're talking about, Kevin. You don't know what you're talking about. Tell me what Chamberlain did wrong.

  JAMES: Neville Chamberlain was an appeaser, Chris. Neville Chamberlain was an appeaser, all right? [...]

  MATTHEWS: I've been sitting here five minutes asking you to say what the president was referring to in 1938 at Munich.

  JAMES: I don't know.

  MATTHEWS: You don't know, thank you.

   

(If you have a couple minutes, click through and watch the whole video - it's the best TV I've seen in weeks)

And on the left, Joe Biden:

"This is bullshit."

Bingo.

Republicans think they can breathe new life into the strategy of veiled accusations of Dems-as-traitors. But it didn't work in the '06 midterms, and it won't in '08.

It all sounds so ridiculous now. Biden's answer says it all.
 

Update [2008-5-15 20:5:18 by Josh Orton]: YouTube version of the Hardball clip below the fold. The puny conservative host Kevin James is actually a relatively good walking, breathing representation of the charge itself: desperate, dishonest, and ridiculous.