The stature of the blogs is a striking feature of the American elections. There are more of them, and some of the best journalists now working exclusively online (which means there are several news cycles in a day, and newspapers are outdated by 9am). Sites like Politico have done a talent swoop; the Drudge Report is checked several times a day by most American journalists, used as a radar. Now there are attack dog sites: scores of them, eager to tear into the other side. The Daily Kos – described as “extreme left” by Fox – is one. But others, less well-known, go even further.
But in going after Palin’s family – with rumours about the parentage of Trig, her youngest child with Down syndrome – the blogs may now be starting to rebound on Obama. The Republicans have a strategy here of the “false proxy” where they say it’s the Democrats – not the blogs – which are mud-raking. Fred Thomson used this trick last night, effectively suggesting Obama is coming after Palin’s family. Obama immediately spotted the potency of this charge and – as James says – elegantly distanced himself from some attacks. But I hear the McCain team’s strategy today is to accuse Obama of a sexist double-standard, calling for peace on the record but sending out the attack dogs meanwhile. Belief in the vicious nature of the other side is a major stirring factor in campaigns. “Remember,” said one (female) strategist at a fringe event I was at, “the left would eat your two eyeballs as grapes if they could. So if you say ‘we can win’ you are complicit in an Obama victory. You must say ‘we will win’”.
In the 2004 presidential campaign it was the 527s, independent attack dogs with websites and TV adverts, which mopped up the attention. Kerry’s biggest single failure was not taking them seriously, specifically the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth. This time, it’s the blogosphere which is doing all the running, and the Republicans see a way of turning the weight and momentum of Democrat-supporting blogs against Obama. The McCain camp will release a new advert at 1pm today, addressing the attacks. Stay tuned.
P.S. Joe Lieberman will today hold a news conference calling on Obama to condemn Robert Wexler, a congressman from Florida, who described the Palin pick as an “affront to all Jewish Americans” because she supported Pat Buchanan for the presidency and “Pat Buchanan is a Nazi sympathiser”. It was a bizarre attack, and one McCain could have happily ignored. But the Republicans will today put Wexley centre stage, seeking to portray him as an Obama proxy and thus the face of Obama’s double standards.
Comments