McCain is Obama's Cash Register

[CatBO]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/2/73017/77330/231/561155

What a wild and wacky week it's been! Even the most dedicated news hounds seem to have lost count of McCain's scurrilous and silly attacks. Posters to Democratic websites have been in full freak out mode, convinced that McCain and his disturbing obsession over Paris, Britney, Moses and Obama has completely tilted the election for good here, 90+ days out.

But don't overlook what may possibly be the most important story in all of this, a message that's getting lost in all the noise and craziness created by the McCain campaign:

This week McCain became Obama's cash register and chief fundraiser.

McCain and his Rove scholars are officially behind the 8 ball. The Rove/Bush playbook just isn't working this time. There are so many reasons: McCain is undisciplined and incapable of staying on message, he simply can't court the evangelical vote, and subtleties that might have been overlooked had they been part of a Bush narrative, are impossible to ignore with grumpy old man McCain as the messenger.

A septuagenarian obsessed with young, promiscuous starlets isn't just "kinda stupid" as even his own mother put it, it's also just a little pervy. And vintage movie footage showing Charlton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea doesn't invoke Obama, so much as it reminds us McCain was plenty old enough to witness the first run of the film. When such a "mature" candidate pushes such juvenile tactics, it only serves to crystallize his age. More than ever, McCain looks like the Presidential candidate who can't program a VCR.

But the best thing about McCain's newfound love of the gutter is that his tactics are helping raise money for Obama. As the media gushes breathlessly over each new low, many Obama supporters panic about the "free advertising" McCain is getting. But in fact, with each and every re-hash of the tactic, McCain is paying a price. Attack ads won't garner McCain the supporters that he so desperately needs. That's not how attack ads work. And far from pushing voters from Obama, his ads and the attention the media has paid these ads, seems to have galvanized the American public into action - to the tune of more than 30,000 new donors to Barack Obama's campaign on July 31st alone!

It is clear that America is tired of having a Republican trivialize their concerns. Here's a newsflash for McCain: When the average American doesn't know how they're going to pay for groceries this month, fill up their tank or cover their mortgage - they do not want to see a Presidential candidate, any Presidential candidate, trivialize their concerns and their vote by calling out Paris and Britney! On a day when we learn that we have lost 51,000 jobs, no one wants to see a Presidential candidate "having a little fun" with Charlton Heston and "the YouTube".

And in this new paradigm, the one that McCain and his Rove scholars just don't get, these Americans will vote early and often, with their checkbooks. They may not have a lot of money to spend, but when they get pissed off, watch out. Because they'll give, in small amounts, to voice their support for the Presidential candidate who seems to care about their concerns.

And they are giving to Barack Obama in droves. David Plouffe even called the numbers "remarkable" in his thank you video posted yesterday, and linked below.

So John McCain, I have to really hand it to you, my friend. After last week's applesauce cleanup in aisle 5, cheese photo op, and your adventures at the "Hauses" of both Sausage and Fudge, I didn't think you could possibly help Obama any more. But this week you came through, with cold hard cash in the form of more than 200,000 donors for Obama. So, Mr. McCain, what are you going to do for us next week?

http://my.barackobama.com/thankyouvideo