This strategy can be summed up by John McCain's campaign advisor, Rick Davis, who said the following: "This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
In an attempt to create this "composite view" of Obama for voters, the McCain campaign has (in some cases repeatedly) pushed false narratives and accusations, some of which are as follows:
1. Obama does not (has not) put America First, questioning Obama's patriotism and insinuating that he is "un-American"
- "It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.” John McCain, 7-22-2008. (Because Obama simply supports a different policy.)
- Sen. Joe Lieberman said the choice was “between one candidate, John McCain, who has always put the country first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not.” The McCain campaign posted Lieberman's entire introduction online. (Obama has worked across Party lines numerous times, in both the IL. State and U.S. Senate.)
3. Obama has close connections with people with Middle Eastern/Arab/Muslim sounding names
- Rashid Khalidi, a highly respected scholar of Middle East politics at Columbia University, was compared to a "neo-Nazi" by John McCain for the sole purpose of trying to smear Obama who was friends with Prof. Khalidi and his wife when the two taught at the University of Chicago (and both lived in Hyde Park).
- Also, it makes little sense that McCain would compare Prof. Khalidi (and his colleagues at the University of Chicago) to "neo-Nazis" when the McCain-chaired International Republican Institute (IRI) provided the organization Khalidi founded (and served on) with $448,873 in funding in 1998.
5. Obama is an "elitist" who looks down on people from small towns and middle or working class
voters.
- Pushing the Hollywood elitist narative in front of a crowd of supporters in Ohio, John McCain stated that,“Just a little while ago, (Obama) flew off to Hollywood for a fund-raiser for Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you, my friends: There’s no place I would rather be than here with the working men and women of Ohio.” Less than one month prior to that speech, Mr. McCain attended a fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton with such celebrities supporters as Angie Harmon, David Zucker, Jon Cryer, Lionel Chetwynd, Craig T. Nelson, Jon Voight, Craig Haffner, and Robert Duvall
- (Note also that Obama was raised by a single mother and his grand-parents, who for a period were forced to use food stamps. Obama worked hard and took out loans to get an education at Columbia and Harvard. He took jobs with less pay to help others when he could have made much more at Corporate law firms. He rose to national fame giving a speech that he himself wrote.)
- Obama wouldn’t make time for wounded troops unless cameras were allowed to follow him, but did make time to work out at a gym. (Blatantly untrue.)
- Obama "tried to prevent funding for the troops who carried out the surge." - John McCain, 8/11/2008. (Not true. Obama did vote (symbolically) against a military spending bill on 5/24/2007 because it DID NOT contain a timeline for withdrawal; and almost every Senate Republican (and Sen. Joe Lieberman) also voted (symbolically) against an almost identical military spending bill on 4/26/2007 when it DID contain a timeline- however, Sen. McCain missed that vote. Also note that the 4/26/2007 military spending bill passed the Senate despite Republican opposition, but was later vetoed by President Bush. So using the same rational that Sen. McCain uses to accuse Obama for not funding our troops, President Bush can be accused of trying to "prevent funding for the troops.")
abortions). (Obviously, not true.)
8. Wants to teach "comprehensive sex education" to kindergartners (No. He does not.)
