Hard hitting Obama ad: McCain owns SEVEN houses (OMG)

[Sam Spade]

Interesting...  I'm still trying to decide whether this is a good attack method or a real mistake.  Might take a couple of days to feel it out.

One thing's for sure - the race is about to get really ugly - because there is a natural counterattack to this that McCain will likely use.

[Sam Spade]

I don't know how many houses I own  off the top of my head, and as I said, McCain doesn't even own the houses. Obama is nuts if he thinks this will get traction.

I tend to lean towards your opinion, but sometimes I want to get a feeling on how the matter reacts with the mass populace (which takes time).

My only concern is that negativity is usually not a good way to lead in to your convention.

[Sam Spade]

All McCain surrogates have been greenlighted to play the Rezko card anytime houses come up.

Today is going to be a nasty day in politics unless a VP choice arrives.

Wasn't that obvious?

[Sam Spade]

All McCain surrogates have been greenlighted to play the Rezko card anytime houses come up.

Today is going to be a nasty day in politics unless a VP choice arrives.

Wasn't that obvious?

Well, they are basically refusing to defend McCain's comment.  I thought they might try and justify it somehow.  It seems like a very difficult thing to defend and they have decided to use the "change the subject" strategy.  It is also an interesting strategy because the Rezko card, like most cards, can only be played so many times, possessing significantly diminished punch each time.  I think McCain's camp takes this new houses thing very seriously to pull out one of their big guns and then refuse to play any defense.

I wouldn't be playing defense.  You're sure reading a lot into *why* they pull this card, however.  And oddly enough, I don't think Rezko is the strongest card to play here.

As I always say, be patient.

[Sam Spade]

BTW... here is another obvious difference... McCain didn't go head hunting for the story about Obama's brother.  Obama obviously launched this attack on McCain.

And McCain will respond with something Rezko related. Such is politics these days.

Actually, all this type of back-and-forth crap does is excite the bases - which is probably the point.

[Sam Spade]

The Keating 5 thing will go nowhere if it is brought up.  Just FYI.

The "house" thing, as I said earlier, may have some bite, but it is hard for me to tell right now.  The ad is good, not great, but good.  And I agree it is a bit choppy.  But the public reaction to this thing is the key, and it is often tough to tell.  It's less about the package, but rather the message.  My gut says little impact, but I really don't know.

Problem is that the "white powder" thing is eating up the network coverage a bit and once Obama names a VP, it may fall off the radar screen generally.