Unfortunately, I don’t live in Michigan [!] – but I’m curious on the big vote on Tuesda –
How are the presidential candidates playing the Iraq war issue in the Michigan primary?
Are any candidates running radio or TV ads explicitly opposing or supporting the war?
If so, are the ads on the war resonating?
Does the Iraq war seem to be a major issue for voters?
UPDATE: I posted the same thoughts over at the Antiwar.com blog. It is percolating a bit there…
There seems to be NO INTEREST in the war in Michigan. The election coverage is a joke. Ron Paul information is suppressed as if he were the Libertarian Party candidate. For online polls, he’s listed as “others”. Most coverage is polling data on McCain vs Romney. No one mentions that McCain voted against Bush’s tax cuts or that McCain is a global warming nut intent on killing the auto industry. There is no mention of the various war-mongering statements from last Thursday’s SC debate, or McCain’s statement about staying in the middle east for 100 years. The candidates all go to the auto show to get their picture taken with the new cars. I get the impression that most people think the recession will end soon because it has gone on awhile, and recessions tend to end after a awhile. The dingbat pundits seem to think the Obama independents will all vote for that “moderate/maverick” McCain. Pretty hopeless and disheartening.
The effort by Dailykos voters and (sadly) Josh Marshall to encourage Democratic voters to cross over and vote for Mitt Romney is beyond appalling. After agitating against the Iraq war for years Kossacks now plan to “freep” the Michigan Primary in an effort to cause trouble for the GOP. They could just as easily vote for an anti-war candidate and defender of freedom: Ron Paul. This is just one more step in the path of disillusionment I started after the Congress of 2006 failed to deliver.
Tisk tisk
Original Steve
The House Democrat
Steve – thanks for the insights.
Yes, it is bizarre that Kos & Marshall are tub-thumping for Romney.
I’m disappointed that there is no antiwar ad campaign by any of the candidates there…
The people who post over at the Daily Kos are everybit as brain dead as those over at Town Hall. Once again we see the “Red/Brown alliance” as David Horowitz put it. Funny, the people who make up this group are the same ones accusing other folks of doing this.
I hope the idiots at Kos and Town Hall get conscripted. They deserve it.
All part of my disppointment with Marshall. He is more “evolved” than that.
Any notion that there is a reasoned anti-war block in this country was definitively rebuked in New Hampshire. We have been given a stunning tutorial in the hazards of the Military-Industrial complex over the last several years but it has yet to sink in . Accordingly, it’s safe to say it will not sink in until…well, likely until it’s too late.
Dirk, I think you are right that there is not a huge block of anti-war voters….
But I wonder if a strong ad campaign might have reached & moved more of such potential voters.
I guess we’ll never know if a strong ad campaign against War Statism would work but if any of the ijit networks had the lapse in self-love to actually go with it , we would see an eruption in patriotic jingoism that would be truly and breathtakingly comic……like if one of the networks ran some commercials AGAINST Baseball instead of mining various frustrations through the steriod imbroglio.
A country that will send $20 billion in missiles and other assorted armament to the nation that sponsored the madrassahs that encouraged the destruction of a huge chunk of real etate near wall street while killing off several thousand civilians…….well, this shows a degree of good humor that boggles the mind……particularly when this generosity was announced after the Deecider In Cheef went a falconing with an Arabian Potentate just after touring the holy land with some Christians the afternoon after lunching with the Sauds reputed arch enemies the Israelis.
One is reminded of the pointless Existential Humor of Ernie Kovacs and his Nairobi Trio.
At least George W. did America proud by telling them Sultans about how they need to get democracy.
Analysis of when and by whom the anti-Paul smear campaign propagated on the day of the New Hampshire primary, including its odd association with a Washington, DC subway line:
The Orange Line: anatomy of a smear campaign
formerbeltwaywonk,
Yeah, I’d say that not only is that some good research you did, but some inspired writing as well.
“paycheck vampires” 😀
The talk radio I manage to listen to did its part spreading these lies around. Hannity lived up to his reputation as “a great american.”
I hope all these worthies wind up paying for this in some form or fashion.