McCain=McSame=McDumbya=McBush: Just like Bush, he rigs Town Halls w/supporters

[Heather MC]

Sorry if this was posted already!
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When Bush held Town Hall Meetings, participants would go through screening process. Are you pro-Bush? You could then participate. The reporters would call on certain citizens who asked favorable or leading questions and those questions would be fielded to Bush to make it appear that he had the support of "regular" people. It's no wonder, then why McSame is challenging Obama to 11 of these such Town Halls where he controls the conditions; where there is no moderator; where the questions are controlled and fielded beforehand.

Why? Because it's a set-up...

McDumbya takes a page right out of KKKarl Rove and Dumbya's playbook: have fake Town Hall meetings.

You'll have to go to huffingtonpost.com to view the video below...

JUNE 13, 2008

McCain Stacks Fox News 'Town Hall' With Supporters
The Huffington Post | June 12, 2008 09:49 PM

Tonight was the first in a much-hyped series of 'town hall' forums scheduled by John McCain's campaign, in which Barack Obama had been challenged to show up to discuss the issues directly with the GOP nominee.

Except, as Fox News reported, McCain's campaign misled the public about the nature of the event. The forum was "billed by the McCain campaign as a town hall with independent and Democratic voters," but Fox News noted at the end that the audience was actually "made up of invited guests and supporters," the Democratic National Committee said in a statement.

Here is FNC's Shepard Smith breaking the news:



SMITH: "I reported at the top of this hour that the campaign had told us at Fox News that the audience would be made up of Republicans, Democrats, and independents. We have now received a clarification from the campaign and I feel I should pass it along to you. The McCain campaign distributed tickets to supporters, Mayor Bloomberg, who of course is a registered Republican, and other independent groups."

DNC Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement:

"Once again John McCain's campaign is trying to mislead the American people. Senator McCain should understand that after seven years of a President who has divided Americans and pursued a scorched earth policy full of misleading propaganda campaigns, we need a leader who understands he is the President for all Americans not just his supporters. Copying the Bush campaign model of stacking events with his prescreened supporters is not the transparency Americans are looking for. If that is Senator McCain's idea of straight talk, the American people are in for a long and disappointing campaign season."
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Suggested Reading: "The Real John McCain," by Cliff Shecter and "Free Ride," by David Brock and Sam Waldman

[chelsea0011]

1. Obama should be weary of McCain's offer for 10 town hall meetings

for just this reason. McCain can't draw like Obama and will demand that the audience be 50/50 split. It would give the appearance of all things being equal.

[Heather MC]

2. It will only work if the audience is allowed to be honest

no planned questions, let citzens ask what they want. Otherwise, the Candidates are lying and we have had enough of that BS!

[ashling]

3. and wary

[chelsea0011]

4. LOL thanks!

[Imagevision]

5. McBush thinks copying Bush's campaign strategies will work for him, (been there done that)

[ShadowLiberal]

6. And once again the 'liberal' media makes almost no mention of this potentially embarrassing story

I'm getting sick of the media running over Obama with every negative story they can think of (even pointless ones like flag pins) and making no mention once so ever about stuff like this.

This should be a huge story, 'honorable, maverick' McCain tries to get Obama into town hall meetings for debates, but then everyone is outraged to hear the McCain campaign hand picked the guests to be supporters.

[PermanentRevolution]

7. Not surprising, but...

I would assume that, IF Obama agrees to any of these town-halls, he's not going to let McCain or his campaign determine who gets in and who doesn't. Given the campaign he's run so far, there's no way Obama would let that slide.