Rachel Maddow is possibly the smartest person on TV. Sorry, Keith. She combines KO's passion with an electrifying intelligence. There is no sweeter sight than to watch her wipe the floor with Joe Scarborough's sorry ass. No Rhodes scholar, old Joe.
But occasionally, she misses the point. Last night she seemed worried that Obama wasn't pounding Phil Gramm on his asinine remarks that the economic recession is just a mental depression. That Americans are a nation of whiners.But here is the thing: Obama knows just where he wants Phil to be in the Fall. If you make a big thing of it now in the dog days of summer, McCain will fire Gramm and move on. Instead, Gramm is still a cochair of the McCain campaign.
You want the dysfunction in your opponent's campaign to fester. Gramm's words can still be used in a couple of juicy ads in the Fall. Gramm should be given every opportunity to give us a few more money quotes. By hitting him lightly, ridiculing him as the second Dr. Phil, Obama is setting up the next shot. We want Gram's ugly mug to be McCain's face on economics. Not someone hot like Carly Fiorina.
Come on, look at the guy. He is too precious for us to waste in the summer. His ugly words are just a bonus.
Why do you want to help McCain out by providing cover for him to chop off Phil Gramm? Let McCain do it on his own, incurring the wrath of the Right Wing whose darling Gramm is. (Remember Gramm-Rudman?) Or even better, let Phil continue to give him the same idiotic advice that has got McCain into this mess.
If only we can figure out a way to send Mike Stark over to be an activist on the Republican side would be all set. Imagine Alan Keyes and Mike Stark on the same side. Ah.. the sweet dreams of summer.
In the Dem Primary, Sen. Clinton helped Obama by always insisting that people who screw up be fired. Reject Denounce. Wash. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. As a result, Obama emerged relatively clean, just brushing off the dandruff from his lapels. Yet, the team he put together when he was still a long shot is largely intact. Success breeds loyalty; Obama seems good at nurturing competent people. And he has no problem deep sixing those who are a problem. His strategy is to publicly support them and wait for the opposition to scream and holler for their removal. Some people just quit at that point. ( Samantha Powers). Others let the new publicity go to their head and screw up even more. ( Rev. Wright). Perfect opportunity for Obama to lower the axe. A single clean cut and the wound heals fast. Obama moves on, light and lean.
McCain has lurched from one campaign organization to another. Every two weeks he re-re-re-launches his campaign. He fires people because they are lobbyists. Announces a policy that he won't have lobbyists on his staff. Then realizes that his best buddies are lobbyists. They saved his ass when he was down and out in the summer. When he fires people he does not really part with them. Maybe he owes them too much. He just hires another person to do the job and leaves the previous guy in with the same title but no responsibilities. This craetes all sorts of opportunities for idiocy to occur. He campaigns as he would govern, if elected (God forbid): lurching from disaster to disaster, his apparatus getting flabbier and harder to manage each day. And we want it to remain just the way it is until November.
McCain does have a support system in addition to his staff. Not just his wife. His pets. Here is a list:
Two Dogs: Sam the English springer spaniel and Coco the mutt.
One Cat: Oreo, black and white. Does McCain know what Oreo means in slang? Is this a clever dig at his opponent?
Two Turtles: Cuff and Link. Cuff is the spitting image of Phill Gramm.
Three birds: Parakeets. Names not provided.
Two Senators: Liebermann and Graham. Each has its own cage in which it is transported during McCain's foreign travels. They like to sit on either shoulder and whisper in McCain's ear. At home they share a perch with the parakeets. Liebermann also likes to play with McCain's marbles.
One Ferret. Name unknown.
Thirteen Salt water Fish. An odd number of fish to have for a superstitious man.
How many of those pets do you think he has been trying to get rid of but can't?
Obama is lean here too: no pets. But his kids have been promised a dog if he gets elected. Let us see if he follows through on his campaign pledges.
CORRECTION: Apparently Kofinis made the same point with Rachel. Earlier I had said he agreed with her. h/t NHCt
