From The Left Anchor...
So, Joe Klein visits a focus group of twenty one people assembled by Republican message guru Frank Luntz and comes away with this:
Bad news for both Obama and McCain, but slightly worse--I think--for Obama.
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The Obama ad mocking McCain's seven houses was effective only when it focused on the mortgage crisis.The McCain response, claiming that Antoin Rezco, the corrupt Obama contributor, had helped pay for Obama's house was far more effective--the indpendents hated the (somewhat exaggerated) idea that Obama cut a deal with a sleazeball to buy his house. (And as for McCain's Paris/Britney ad--the key wasn't the charge that Obama was a celebrity, but the sight of him speaking to that vast crowd in Germany, which at least one member of the focus group compared to a Nazi rally.)
More below the fold...
"Change" as a theme is over. Too vague. And Obama's rhetoric has begun to seriously cut against him. "No more oratory," one woman said. "Give us details."
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So this is Obama's task on Thursday: To convince people that he is a man of substance, not empty promises, that he has ideas--despite his lack of experience--about running government in a way that will be more effective. A tall order, I'd say.
Let's note a couple of things real quick. First, a focus group of twenty-one people is absolutely useless as an indicator of what undecided Americans think. You could have asked a single nine year old child what they thought and had just as much relevant information. You cannot make any determinations about the opinions of literally millions of people based on a twenty-one person sample. This is Statistics 101.
Secondly, when you visit a focus group under the guidance of a long-time Republican message and polling operative, and things somehow mysteriously wind up looking bad for the Democratic candidate, that should raise at least some suspicion. Am I seriously supposed to believe a completely undecided voter would have compared Obama's Berlin speech to a fucking Nazi rally? Hell, Klein doesn't even bother to tell us that Frank Luntz is a Republican operative, which seems like a massive journalistic failure to me.
And note the woman who says that she doesn't want pretty speeches. She wants details. Obama may have the most detailed plans of any candidate to run for office in my lifetime, perhaps ever. And they are all available here and nearly all include full fledged pdf files providing every conceivable detail you'd want. All that quote tells me is that the media isn't giving the public what they really want. The media continues to refuse to make this election about issues. They refuse to detail either of the candidates plans, despite the fact that in most cases, where Obama has details coming out of his ears, McCain has vague plans mixed with platitudes and no means for which to even pay for them. Seriously, look over the two candidates' issues pages and tell me which one is "pretty words" and which one is "details."
Keep up the good work, American media. You're making us all so fucking proud. Wanna contact Klein? You can leave feedback for him here.