Claire McCaskill is such a great spokesperson for Obama

[BklynChick]

On MTP right now, she's smart, nice, clear, knowledgable, and uses clear language. I love her. She seems like such an accessible person too. I don't think she's VP material, at least right now, but I love her stumping for Obama. Best line so far: "If anyone thinks McCain can balance the budget based on his plan, I'd like to introduce them to the tooth fairy."

Go Claire. :rofl: :rofl:

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

1. She has been an asset

to Obama's campaign since she endorsed early on. I can't wait until MTP starts on the west coast.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Wonder why she voted for FISA and for immunity? I can't figure her out.

Edit--FOR immunity, not against. Need coffee.

[babylonsister]

3. I wonder why so many did, like Webb. What didn't we hear or know about

in that conversation? Were they voting on the lesser of two evils?

[stray cat]

4. I suspect the bill was more complicated and broader than a few soundbites

[democrattotheend]

6. That could be

I read somewhere that the House leadership decided to act on the bill because some Blue Dogs were threatening to sign onto a worse version. I think the GI Bill was also related...Bush may have agreed to sign the GI bill in exchange for Congress acting on FISA.

[elocs]

8. That is a key question that certainly may go to the heart of many matters.

What details are our Democratic representative and senators privy to that they cannot or may not tell us? What might they know that we do not. Too often it is easy and simplistic to simply label them as weak or spineless when we do not know all the facts. Do they have a requirement or an obligation to reveal to us everything, even matters of strategy? If they have 3 aces should they publicly announce it, "I've got great cards, so I'm raising". Or if they really have little should they say, "I've got nothing, so I'm really bluffing".

I don't think that everything is as simple, straight up and down as we believe it to be. I think there are times that our members of Congress have to swallow something they do not like in order to not walk away completely empty handed. We are quick to brand somebody as weak and spineless, or strong and patriotic based upon a vote we like or dislike. My own Senator Feingold is a hero of late, but he also has voted as many here do not like (he voted to affirm Roberts for the Supreme Court).

[babylonsister]

9. Yes! Great post. We really don't know - a lot. If we did, we might be

more charitable instead of critical.

[mucifer]

13. I agree. If you watch cspan you see a lot of fight from dems that the press refuses to acknowledge.

[loyalsister]

15. Great analogy

Congress can use strategy here, and would have greater success if we would focus.
If, as democrats we were to focus some energy toward advocacy for a G.I. bill as opposed to focusing on the negative we might be able to get that accomplished.
Focusing some advocacy toward getting positive action as opposed to negative reactions would begin to build a strong relationship with this congress.
I am a proponent of advocacy as opposed to negative reactions that go beyond making a request and expressing an opinion to legislators.
I think it is totally legitimate however, to privately use the electoral process (ie primaries) and one's power to vote in a way that satisfies their discontent.
I only consider vitriolic calls and shouts about it to be counterproductive to ends we have been looking for. I find myself hopefully mostly reformed.
I think of it as an effort toward balance.

[flpoljunkie]

7. Why? McCain beats Obama by 20 points, 53% to 33%, on who's best able to handle terrorism.

It's McCain's 'signature' issue--thanks to his base, the 'lap dog' media. And, don't discount the fact that both McCaskill and Webb come from conservative swing states that Bush won in 2004.

[TwilightGardener]

11. I suppose--I'm not too upset that Obama voted for FISA, because of that poll--

I think he did what he had to do to guard against a "surprise". But at least he voted against immunity on the amendments. Webb and McCaskill voted for it, which doesn't speak well to their ability to withstand constituent pressure or GOP pressure and stick to Dem principles. They're both still freshmen, they don't need to worry about the election impact of this vote --they're YEARS away from running again. Disappointing.

[Peacetrain]

5. She is really good on her feet

I was most impressed

[Colobo]

10. Obama/McCaskill?

[tridim]

12. I just turned it on, and yep she's doing great

Brokaw is doing a good job too, holding the McPain surrogate to the facts.

[csziggy]

14. Yeah, but she did not call Fiorina on the RNC lies

I just sent this to the Obama campaign:

I just watched Senator Claire MacCaskill on Meet the Press today. While the discussion was very informative and she parried most of Carly Fiorina's lies about Senator Obama, I am disappointed in her failure to directly rebut some of the RNC talking points that Fiorina parroted.

Mostly notably in my opinion, Sen. MacCaskill failed to call Fiorina on the RNC talking point that Sen. Obama has "voted to raise taxes 94 times." On July 3, 2008, Factcheck.org laid out how the RNC distorted and lied about Obama's voting record to come up with this figure (http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/tax_tally_trickery.html). But Sen. MacCaskill failed to confront Fiorina about this distorted factoid.

RNC talking points need to be disputed everytime they are parroted by their spokespeople, not passed over. Democrats have not called Republican parrots when they come up with these falsehoods and repeat them ad nauseum. AS a result, many Americans end up believing the lies must be true since they have heard them so often without the lies being challenged.

There are plenty of places on the internet where RNC talking points and the facts that disprove them can be found, packaged nicely to make it easy to dispute them. Your spokespeople need to be ready for the times such as today when these falsehoods are thrown out - be prepared to immediately label them as lies and distortions!