Hillary Clinton's words and voice, John McCain's message

If you answer the phone today and it's that familiar voice of Hillary Clinton, don't assume she's calling on behalf of Barack Obama.

Just as the Democrats sought to turn Vice President Dick Cheney's completely shocking endorsement of his party's presidential nominee to their advantage this weekend, the John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign is using some of Clinton's old remarks about Obama against him.

As reported (and predicted) in The Ticket last winter during the long, hard-fought Democratic primary season, Clinton uttered some harsh words about the slim record of actual accomplishment by Obama -- and now those words have returned to the fray in Republican hands.

On that frigid March Monday morning, the day before Clinton clobbered Obama in the Ohio primary, the New York senator rose before dawn to shake hands at a Toledo factory gate. Then, to insert herself in the news cycle, especially in Ohio, before spending the next several daylight hours on a plane enroute to Texas, she held a media availability.

The Times' Louise Roug was there as Clinton got off a fresh 42-word zinger that she would repeat often in various forms the rest of the way until her concession in June:

"I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. Sen. John McCain has a lifetime of experience that he'd bring to the White House. And Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."

As The Ticket reported in June, Clinton and McCain do have a strong, little-noticed friendship, stemming from their common membership on the Armed Services Committee and McCain befriending the former first lady and newly elected senator when she first arrived in that notorious old boys club in 2001. It's a friendship the pair has had to hide for obvious partisan reasons in recent months.

Sunday, however, the McCain campaign unpacked those winter words of Clinton's and began hundreds of thousands of robo-calls to targeted households around the country using the same Clinton thoughts and her own voice:

"In the White House there is no time for speeches and on-the-job training. Sen. McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign and Sen. Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002. I think that is a significant difference."

Of course, Clinton is now thoroughly supporting Obama, as her spokeswoman rushed to point out Sunday. But those words might fall on a few sympathetic ears in some bitter, small-town households across Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Which would be the political point.

Speaking of the Midwest, we have two campaign videos for you this morning, one from Ohio and the other from Pennsylvania. One of McCain, the other of Obama, examining their Sunday campaign remarks and what their plans are for today.

Both are fighting over the region's cruciual electoral votes. Click on the "read more" line below to see the two videos. 

--Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[scootmandubious]

I think we have pretty much heard John McCian's message. It's always been about Obama, never him.

There is actually an anti-Obama ad that even the networks won't run this year.

http://scootmandubious.blogspot.com/2008/11/anti-obama-ad-networks-will-not-run.html

[McCAin IS Bush]

Say anything and do anything to achieve your goal. How is it again that McCain differs from GWB, because I just not seeing any dfference.

[dug]

We really don't need a commander-in-chief....just a great spokesman like O. We really don't need to be standing up to our enemies....just sit with them, like O at the parties. Staying in touch with reality.

[neolink]

"we have pretty much heard John McCian's message. It's always been about Obama, never him."
-So its NOT ok for McCain to speak about his oponent, but its OK for the media to plaster us with Obama? less than a week to the election and Obama couldn't even find a specific number of what yearly income he will raise the taxes on. Is it 250,000 when he spoke to Joe the Plumber? is it 150,000 Like Biden said on October 27th? or is it 200,000 like his 30 minute ad said? Or perhap those who make over a Million like Gaffe prone Biden said once? With that said, and with a Video that the LA times is holding back from us showing a "certain" candidate would it surprise you that McCain talks about where the most controversy comes from?
"Say anything and do anything to achieve your goal. How is it again that McCain differs from GWB, because I just not seeing any dfference."
-Paying 1 million dollar per tv station to broadcast your 30 minute "program" ISN"T doing anything to achieve your goal? Of course NOT! and the Tooth fairy is real! Lets follow the HYPE! Yay!

[Ed Patrick]

I would be ashamed to be a McCain Voter. Why vote for a person that has no ideas just smears.

[Jonathan Miles]

Everyone is in love with Obama...everyone except me, because I actually researched the economic plans of each candidate instead of relying on CNN, NBC, FOX etc. to tell me who to vote for. McCain's economic plan yields higher GDP, produces more jobs and will leave the taxpayer with more disposable income. I could care less about birth certificates, pigs with lipstick and all of this other cannon fodder that is dominating the media. Show me the money. I don't need someone re-distributing my hard earned money to unfortunate souls who choose not to work. Obama's economic plan is nothing more than welfare...

Basic Findiings - Economic plans

Center for Data Analysis (CDA) analysts used an analytical tool that permits taxpayers and policy­makers to see the side-by-side economic effects of the two plans: We used CDA tax models and tax information from other sources as inputs to Global Insight's (GI) U.S. Macroeconomic Model (the ana­lytical tool), one of the most widely respected fore­casting models.[2] Comparison of the likely economic and fiscal effects of these two competing plans is greatly facilitated by using the same eco­nomic model to evaluate both approaches. This report's findings include:

Jobs respond more to McCain's plan than to Obama's. Job growth over the 10-year forecast horizon is more than twice as high under McCain's plan than under Obama's. Total employment grows an average of 915,800 jobs under Obama, and by 2,126,000 under McCain. Both plans encourage job creation in each year of the forecast, but McCain's approach leads to sig­nificantly larger job growth, and sooner. By 2018, McCain's plan, which makes the Bush tax reduc­tions permanent and lowers the tax rate on cor­porate profits, creates an additional 3,426,500 jobs. Senator Obama, however, raises taxes on many of the economy's key investors and busi­ness owners. Job growth under his plan for that same year is lower, at 1,576,200.

Overall economic activity more vigorous under McCain's plan. Senator McCain's plan yields consistently higher forecasts of economic output than does Senator Obama's. Increases in gross domestic product (GDP) under McCain are, on average, nearly three times higher than under Obama. The growth rate of the economy increases a full half percentage point in 2011 and 2012, when taxes will increase under cur­rent law. Under McCain's plan, the average annualized GDP growth rate increases by 0.3 percent. The Obama plan also leads to higher rates of economic growth as a result of making some parts of the Bush tax reductions perma­nent. The economy as measured by GDP grows modestly more than does the CBO baseline: Growth rates are 0.1 percent higher on average for the 10-year period. By 2018, GDP is $320.7 billion (after inflation) higher under the McCain plan than under Obama's.

More after-tax spending potential under McCain than under Obama. Using the same model to evaluate both plans, our analysis shows that a family of four will have an average of $5,138 more in disposable income under McCain's plan, and $3,631 more under Obama's. This average increase in disposable income is the combination of lower taxes on the average family, higher employment, and increased growth under both plans. By 2018, family-of-four disposable income under McCain is forecast to be $9,750 (after infla­tion) higher than baseline. This same family unit would see its inflation-adjusted disposable income surpass the baseline by $5,620 under Senator Obama's plan.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/cda08-09.cfm

[Joe]

I don't care how much McCain talks about Obama, but I do care that he never bothers to address all the real issues. He's out there trying to scare us with all this talk about Obama associating with "terrorists" and "Socialists" (AKA sinners & tax collectors) while ignoring the many problems we face.

I'm glad for McCain's service, but how does being a POW qualify you to do something about the economy, health care, education or jobs? You can't solve all our problems with military force (Bush already tried that). If you truly believe that experience is so fundamental, what's up with Palin? Five years (at 4 or 5 schools) for a journalism degree? That only tells me that McCain doesn't believe the things he's telling me. And that sets off a lot of alarm bells.

I'm glad that he loves our country, but you can't fix it by chanting, "USA! USA! USA!" If you could, I would have voted for McCain.

[Blondshag]

I am a diehard HILLARY RODHAN CLINTON VOTER. I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN AND SARAH PALIN LAST WEDNESDAY WITH HONOR!

ATTENTION - - - ATTENTION - - - ATTENTION - - -
~ALL HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON VOTERS............ VOTE JOHN MCCAIN AND SARAH PALIN!!!!!!!

THE ONLY TRUE HOPE FOR AMERICAL!