Missing The Obvious
by Deacon Blues
It’s amazing how much of the initial commentary about the Pence VP selection never mentions the real reason why he was selected over Gingrich and Christie: Pence is a bridge to Koch money and immediately solves the GOP financial disadvantage. Yet you wouldn’t know this by reading the New Republic, Politico, Joan Walsh at the Nation, Buzz Feed, or other outlets.
Yet I can’t blame them: the Clinton campaign dropped the ball also. I mean, how hard is it to start tying Trump and Pence to the Koch Brothers, and destroy Trump’s alleged independence from GOP establishment plutocrats? Apparently it is too difficult for Team Clinton.
As for the recent coverage by mainstream media outlets about a tightening race, remember that the New York Times/CBS News poll was of registered voters, and not likely voters. Because the media wants to cover a horse race, they want to sell their narrative that Hillary was mortally wounded by the FBI conclusions about her email stupidity. Yet you won’t hear the mainstream media cover other polls taken at the same time, of likely voters, that show Clinton not affected by the FBI report, but in fact leading Trump by a good margin.
And that’s before the GOP gives us four days next week of Benghazi, Clinton sex crimes, and laughable Trump surrogates. What you won't hear in Cleveland from Trump's media spectacle are actual solutions to our problems, just attacks.
There's been some talk recently about Team Clinton getting its act together and the candidate finding her voice. I haven't seen it yet, nor have I been impressed with their ability to take what is handed to them and beat Trump over the head with it. Clinton now knows the GOP ticket and the convention agenda: a failed businessman and discriminatory governor, peddling attacks and not a positive vision of solutions to real problems. A smart campaign would spend every day over the next week driving the "Party of Koch" narrative, and blasting Trump for selling out to the plutocrats and extremists who have nothing to offer Main Street.
A smart campaign would do that. Where is that campaign?