Obama Memo: Republicans Respond to McCain

Bumps in the Low Road: Fellow Republicans Condemn McCain's “Celebrity” Ad and Increasing Negativity

Senator McCain decided this week to steer his campaign down the low road, launching a daily litany of false, negative attacks—culminating in an ad comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. But as Senator McCain goes farther and farther negative, fellow Republicans are beginning to speak out.

Allies and supporters from Karl Rove to Pat Buchanan and former McCain strategist John Weaver are criticizing McCain's low-road ads and tactics, worrying that his new negativity undercuts his credibility and his core appeal.

Here's a sampling of this week's Republican criticism of the Low Road Express. We couldn't put it better ourselves.

Republicans on McCain's “Celebrity” Ad

John Weaver, Former McCain Adviser

Called McCain's Ad “Childish”; Said He Was Making A “Mockery” Of The Campaign. “But John Weaver, a former McCain adviser who resigned from the campaign last year, said yesterday that the ad was ‘childish,' that such attacks diminish McCain, and that his campaign is a ‘mockery.' ‘For McCain to win in such troubled times, he needs to begin telling the American people how he intends to lead us. That McCain exists. He can inspire the country to greatness,' Weaver told the Atlantic magazine, in a comment quickly noted by the Obama campaign.” [Boston Globe, 7/31/2008]

Pat Buchanan

Said “Celebrity” is “not an effective ad.” Appearing on MSNBC's Race For The White House, Pat Buchanan said, “Look, this is not an effective ad. ... McCain has two or three problems here. One, McCain is someone who comes deeply to dislike his opponents. He gets very mean. He did that certainly to Mitt Romney. Secondly, to use your candidate for cutting is not a smart thing to do. Third, this ad is not a KO punch at all” [Race for the WH, MSNBC, 7/30/2008]

Prominent Republican Strategist Thinks McCain's Latest Negative Ad Is A Misstep. According to Marc Ambinder's blog, “a prominent republican strategist” said, “Has anybody asked the McCain campaign if they considered Michael Deaver's golden rule of image management -- that the visual images count so much more than the voiceovers?  Deaver famously thanked a network news correspondent (Leslie Stahl, I think) for a hit piece on Reagan, telling her to watch it with the sound off -- which showed a bunch of flattering presidential images with flag-waving supporters.  The McCain ad seems to violate that idea -- the images of Obama smiling and being cheered on by hundreds of thousands of American-flag-waving Europeans are downright inspiring, no matter which side you're on.  Hell, I can't stand Obama at this point and I find those images uplifting.  Yet McCain uses them in his own ad.  Has anybody asked them about the wisdom of that?” [Marc Ambinder, theatlantic.com, 7/31/2008]

Republican Strategist Andrea Tantaros Called McCain's Negative Attack “Absurd And Juvenile.” “The sentiment seeped onto television on Wednesday with Andrea Tantaros, a Republican strategist, saying on MSNBC that the use of Ms. Hilton in Mr. McCain's commercial was ‘absurd and juvenile,' and that he should spend more time promoting his own agenda.” [New York Times, 7/31/2008]

GOP Operative David Winston Criticized McCain's “Negative Personal Attacks.” “David Winston, a GOP operative in Washington, argues that McCain has erred by issuing negative personal attacks. McCain should put Obama on the defensive by highlighting their policy differences on taxes, energy and national security, he said. "He's not emphasizing the contrasts that can actually help him win," Winston said.” [Los Angeles Times, 7/31/2008]

Republicans on McCain's Negativity

Ed Rollins Said McCain Appears “Grumpy” And “Angry.” “Ed Rollins, a longtime Republican strategist, said McCain sometimes appears frustrated and angry when he talks about Obama, especially when complaining that the press does not treat him fairly. ‘John needs to be the deliberate, experienced veteran and not the grumpy old man,' Rollins said. ‘If he's the grumpy old man, angry that the media is not in love with him anymore because they're in love with Barack Obama, that's not going to play well with the public.'” [Chicago Tribune, 7/30/2008]

GOP Media Consultant Alex Castellanos Said McCain Erred In Using Negative Ad.  “Alex Castellanos, one of George W. Bush's media mavens in 2000 and 2004, had a different take: ‘The problem is that ‘advertising', i.e., anything that smells even faintly false, contradicts his persona,' Castellanos said. ‘John McCain is the un-cola of politics, the anti-politician. And few things are more political than negative commercials that draw attention to themselves as ‘advertising' designed to manipulate voters and not as ‘information' designed to inform them. You can't be the un-cola and Coca Cola too.'” [First Read, msnbc.com, 7/31/2008]

Former McCain Campaign Strategist Cautioned McCain Against His Negative Campaign Tactics. “‘The McCain campaign, I think, is being pulled in two directions,' said Todd Harris, a Republican strategist who worked for Mr. McCain in 2000. ‘On the one hand, this race is largely a referendum on Obama, and whether or not he's going to pass the leadership threshold in the eyes of voters. So being aggressive against Obama on questions of leadership and trust and risk are important, but at the same time I think they need to be very careful because McCain is not at his best when he is being overly partisan and negative.'” [New York Times, 7/30/2008]

Media Consultant Mike Murphy Warned McCain Campaign About Negative “Tone.” “Mike Murphy, a Republican media consultant who worked on Mr. McCain's 2000 campaign, said that while the campaign needed to balance positive messages about Mr. McCain with negative ones about Mr. Obama, he thought it should ultimately be more about what Mr. McCain would do than Mr. Obama. ‘I think the campaign does have to be careful about its tone,” Mr. Murphy said. “A pure attack tone could be perilous.'” [New York Times, 7/30/2008]

McCain Advisers Outside Of The Campaign “Very Worried” About McCain's Negative Turn. “The cadre of McCain allies who aren't part of the campaign are very worried. They believe that McCain's current crop of advisers are playing to his worse instincts, particularly his pride and his ego. When McCain is privately content, he comes across publicly as happy-go-lucky and magnanimous; satisfied; when he is combative, he comes off as combative and reactive. They worry that he is obsessed with Obama's character and willing to attribute motives to Obama that are simply unbelievable outside of an echo chamber filled with those who are predisposed to believe Obama's a phony.” [Marc Ambinder, theatlantic.com, 7/29/2008]

McCain Allies Worry Negative Attacks Come “Across As Snark” Not “Substance.” According to CNN's Dana Bash, “The McCain camp says their ad was a buzz-generating attempt at satire, but some McCain allies tell us they worry that it's coming across as snark, instead of substance, and that McCain should be more forceful about talking up his own assets, instead of talking down Obama's.” [AC 360, CNN, 7/30/2008]

Ex-White House Adviser David Gergen Said Negative Atacks “Diminish” John McCain. Appearing on CNN's AC 360, David Gergen said, “But, yes, it does diminish John McCain. He's a much better person than these attack ads have been. ... to go after him and compare him to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, give me a break. This is not the John McCain who Americans have come to love and to respect as an individual..”  [AC 360, CNN, 7/30/2008]

Republicans on McCain's “Troops” Ad

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel Said McCain “Is Treading On Some Very Thin Ground.” “The moves puzzled some GOP strategists, who said McCain would be better off touting a more positive message, and the senator from Arizona drew a strong rebuke from a longtime ally, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), who traveled with Obama last week to Afghanistan and Iraq as part of a congressional delegation. ‘I think John is treading on some very thin ground here when he impugns motives and when we start to get into 'You're less patriotic than me. I'm more patriotic,'' Hagel said on CBS's ‘Face the Nation.'”  [Washington Post, 7/28/08]

Hagel Says McCain Is “Better Than That.” “On Sunday, fellow Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a longtime McCain friend who accompanied Obama to Iraq, urged the Republican candidate to move away from such stridency. ‘John's better than that,' said Hagel, a frequent Iraq war critic. ‘I think John is treading on some very thin ground here when he impugns motives,' Hagel said in a CBS television interview.” [Associated Press Worldstream, 7/28/08]

Rove: McCain Made “A Mistake.”  On an appearance on Fox News Channel's “Hannity & Colmes,” GOP strategist Karl Rove commented on McCain's ads and said, “Yes. Look, I got to tell you, McCain made, I think, a mistake in his television ad in saying that Obama didn't go because he couldn't take cameras. You know, that's arguable.”  [“Hannity & Colmes,” Fox News Channel, 7/30/08]

Republicans on McCain's Scattershot Message

Republican's “Grumbled” Over The Lack  Of  Consistent  Messages >From McCain's Camp. McCain And His Campaign Can't Seem To Find A Common Ground, On On Hot-Button Topics. “Republican faithful have grumbled in recent weeks about the lack of a consistent message from John McCain's campaign on key issues, leading observers to wonder what McCain's top advisers are thinking… Some of McCain's most visible and engaged advisers have advanced positions that appear to conflict with the Arizona senator's stances on hot-button topics ranging from climate change and oil drilling to tax cuts, contraception and education.” [Politico.com, 7/31/08]

GOP Pollster Tony Fabrizio Calls McCain's Campaign “Careening From Message To Message” “Most Concerning.”  “The Iraq ads have received widespread media attention, although they appeared only a handful of times in a few markets. ‘This careening from message to message makes them look like they don't have one specific thing they want to say about this guy and that there is no centralized theme, there is no centralized message,' Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio said. ‘And that is most concerning.'”  [Associated Press State & Local Wire, 7/31/08]

Senior Republican Operatives Called McCain's Ads “One Wild Swing At Obama After Another.”  According to the Washington Post blog, The Fix, an unnamed senior GOP strategist wrote, “‘Sigh,' … ‘Every Obama ad since his announcement has fit nicely into a theme, an argument. McCain ads are just catch as catch can, one wild swing at Obama after another. Their increasing bitterness reflects a campaign that is more about some sort of therapeutic frustration venting for the staff than any coherent strategy to elect McCain. It's unprofessional to the core.' Another high-level party operative grumbled: ‘It seems like they are talking to the press pack, not voters.'” [The Fix, Washingtonpost.com, 7/30/2008]

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