Chuck Todd et al. wonder if this week is "The Turningpoint"

[BurtWorm]

McCain campaign looked incredibly amateurish this week. Amateurish, boring, backwater, dumb, uninspired and uninspiring... Can it just be the week? Or is this really all they got?

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/25/1221903.aspx

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro

*** The turning point? So was this week a turning point in the presidential race? The Obama campaign certainly believes it was, and that this will be the moment that Obama grabs the lead for good. If McCain never catches up at this point, his campaign's actions this week (its blistering criticism of Obama and the media, the visuals it picked, its body language, its VP games) will get second-guessed for months. We know this was a significant week; the question is was it enough to erase the doubts voters have with Obama about his ability to be commander-in-chief? But just asking: Did this week tell us more about Obama or McCain? Watching McCain chasing the news cycle and his inability to not let Obama get under his skin -- and the campaign's -- suggests that they could be reactive from this day forward. Why, for instance, did the campaign insist on the equal treatment (see network interviews) this week and not simply attempt to create its own week of coverage from the nets? They were second fiddle all week, and seemed to almost demand being highlighted in that way.

[Alter Ego]

1. Surprisingly decent analysis from Chuck Todd? Well I never.

[Colobo]

He finally notices?

[Colobo]

2. He finally notices?

[BurtWorm]

8. Kind of hard not to notice this

[anonymous171]

3. Wow. Even Chuck Todd, McCain's #1 fanboy, noticed.

[bkinsd]

6. Not sure Chuck Todd is a fanboy of McCain

He is pretty much a numbers guy. And remember, it is in the networks best interest to give the appearance of a close election even if it is not.

And, it still appears to be close although like Chuck says this week could be when Obama might start pulling away.

[anonymous171]

7. I didn't mean that he was a McCain supporter.

Just that he is one of those media personalities who has a crush on McCain (personally.)

[On the Road]

4. Obama's Going for the Jugular

Invading GOP voters all over the place -- Montana, NASCAR, conservative Hispanics. He's giving them nothing to make political hay out of. The contrast is becoming obvious to everyone.

[Phx_Dem]

20. Hopefully, the next jugular he goes for

will be McCain's. I'm getting really tired of hearing that angry old man's lies and hateful diatribe. I'm just waiting for him to smack someone with a kane. :popcorn:


(Mrs Phx-Dem)

[Coexist]

5. good analysis.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

9. Yes, but McCain had the mighty cheese and German sausage

McCain's braunschweiger and goudha onslaught was a major international coup!

[bkinsd]

10. Speaking of Cheese

The image of McCain in the cheese section was pathetic enough, but have you listened to what he was saying about the surge while he was standing there? Honestly, I have played it three times now and I still don't have a clue as to what the hell he is talking about.

[Cosmocat]

12. That might have been the most incoherent ...

babbling by a presidential candidate in my life, and that is saying A LOT given the current moron at 1600 Pa ...

Seriously, had BO spun some nonsense like that his campaign would be DEAD in the water now, and for all the mindless mumbles from the MSM about imagery, that he did that with a backdrop of the freakin cheese section ...

Again, had that been BO, it would have been the "Dean Scream" or Dukakus in the tank ...

[Mike Daniels]

13. For all the crap Morning Joe catches here (and some is justfied)

they totally mercilessly ripped into McCain regarding the cheese aisle interview.

Scarborough's a Republican so one has to expect him to carry water for them time to time. But I've seen him call out McCain's ineptitude and he's called McCain's campaign up to date and esp. this week probably one of the worst run campaigns in modern history.

[ErinBerin84]

14. heh. It's so funny that Joe thought the cheese interview was tone deaf

but Sausage and Fudge Hause WAS BRILLIANT! BRILLIANT I TELL YOU! I turned it on for a second to hear that from him this morning, and it really cracked me up. Whatever you say, Joe...

and I didn't see them tearing into the cheese aisle interview the other day, but I read here that he said "Oh, someone in my ear just told me not to make fun of McCain."

[Mike Daniels]

17. Joe revels in the crap he catches from the bloggers and I think he deliberately baits them

From his "cheeto brigade in their parent's basement" comments to reading the more direct "f you Joe" e-mails on-air it's obvious that Scarborough isn't going to restrain his comments to avoid pissing people off.

It's possible that a campaign staffer was scheduled to appear later and the producer may have told Joe to reign it in lest an appearance get cancelled.

However, my guess is Joe was deliberately poking at the "the press is in the tank for McCain so they aren't going to give McCain crap" meme.

[Renew Deal]

11. "They were second fiddle all week, and seemed to almost demand being highlighted in that way."

Very good point.

[Brigid]

15. Why is it . . .

that lately every clip and every sound bite from the McBush camp like it comes straight from "The Daily Show?"

If we can't beat this clown . . . :banghead:

[spinbaby]

16. The jokes just write themselves...

Visiting Schmidt's Sausage Haus as a response to Obama's speech in Berlin was sheer comic genius.

[BurtWorm]

18. Here's more evidence of how loserly McCain has been acting this week

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/25/mccain-blows-off-wsj-repo_n_114955.html

Watch the video!

[Supersedeas]

19. when will the professional political experts finally TAKE NOTICE