- I don't care that Barack Obama ate dog meat at his stepfather's behest some 40+ years ago.
- Nor do I care that Mitt Romney put his dog in a travel carrier and strapped said carrier to the roof of his vehicle some 30 years ago.
So why do we talk about these things? Because just as the movie "Up" so cleverly pointed out, dogs can be distracted from their duties at the site of a squirrel. And humans can be distracted by news of dogs.
One of the primary goals of the Obama campaign and it surrogates, up to this point, has been to portray Mitt Romney as a strange man who doesn't understand the real world or its concerns. The dog on the roof story had been part of that narrative and it's not surprising that heard it repeatedly. That's why the "Obama eats dog" story is simultaneously cynical and useful. If mistreating a dog is a bad thing, eating one is worse. And now neither side wants to talk about the issue. Score one for Romney and his surrogates.
At bottom, this election is about the same thing as the elections of 1964, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1992, 1996 and 2004: it's going to be a referendum on the performance of the incumbent. If the incumbent's campaign would rather talk about dogs, it tells you something important about the incumbent.
One of the primary goals of the Obama campaign and it surrogates, up to this point, has been to portray Mitt Romney as a strange man who doesn't understand the real world or its concerns. The dog on the roof story had been part of that narrative and it's not surprising that heard it repeatedly. That's why the "Obama eats dog" story is simultaneously cynical and useful. If mistreating a dog is a bad thing, eating one is worse. And now neither side wants to talk about the issue. Score one for Romney and his surrogates.
At bottom, this election is about the same thing as the elections of 1964, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1992, 1996 and 2004: it's going to be a referendum on the performance of the incumbent. If the incumbent's campaign would rather talk about dogs, it tells you something important about the incumbent.
4 comments:
That he's a no-good, low-down, rotten and smelly scoundrel?
Or that he's just lousy at his job? Options!
In reference to this post and the one above it, the Left's response whenever the media starts sniffing around too closely to a real story about the ample failings of this so-called administration, is to shout Squirrel!", I mean, "Koch!"
Yes, they are related tales, NW. No doubt about that.
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