Dems Continue Extreme Rhetoric to Campaign in Ohio

David Plouffe, Obama's political adviser, and the winner of the 2009 "Marketer of the Year" award for his role in the 2008 Presidential campaign, was in Ohio on Tuesday to campaign for Governor Ted Strickland. He continued with the same tone that I wrote about a few weeks ago after he appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Plouffe, obviously the White House attack poodle, spoke to a union hall and a "subdued" group of students at the University of Akron. Peter Hamby from CNN interviewed Plouffe during the course of the campaign stops. He writes:

David Plouffe, one of President Obama's top political advisers, said Tuesday that the Republican Party has been overwhelmed by a "Beck-Palin-Limbaugh wing" that will make it impossible for the GOP to nominate a viable general election candidate in 2012.

"If you are a moderate Republican thinking about running in a primary for any office in 2011 and 2012, you are going to have to think twice, because you are going to get the Mike Castle treatment,"

Any republican who takes David Plouffe's advice should be forced to go work the phones for the Mukowski campaign. The man obviously doesn't have the GOP's best interest in mind, so it may be a good idea to do the opposite of whatever he suggests. Hamby continues:

Plouffe insisted that the White House is not preoccupied with Sarah Palin, despite frequent references to her by the president and other top administration officials.

[...]

"We don't spend much time thinking about her," he said. "I think that long term, the more sway and power she has in the Republican Party, the worse off the Republican Party will be."

"If the Republican Party believes that Sarah Palin is their savoir, more power to them," he added. "It will be a fascinating primary because no matter whether she runs or not, that Limbaugh-Palin-Beck wing of their party is going to be the most dominant factor in most primaries and caucuses. In Iowa, in South Carolina, in Nevada, so you are going to have to nominate someone that does well in that wing."

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When Plouffe said "we don't spend much time thinking about her," then couldn't stop talking about her, he shows his hand and destroys any credibility he may have had with an intelligent listener.

That said, repeating his theme from earlier this month, he goes out of his way to try to marginalize Governor Palin and other prominent voices within the conservative movement. So once again, I'll point out that the a majority of the American people actually agree with Governor Palin on the issues, while more often than not, Obama stands with a minority of Americans on things like health care and taxes.

Governor Strickland took part in some "extreme rhetoric" of his own along these stops. Hamby filed a separate report in which he wrote (emphasis mine):

Strickland deemed Ohio a "firewall" for President Obama's re-election hopes, and in Akron, he couldn't resist going on offense against several of the Republicans who might challenge the president in 2012.

"We are coming after you, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty and all of the right-wing extremists," he said, somehow managing to energize a mostly empty room in the University of Akron student union. "We are coming after you in 2012, and we will re-elect Barack Obama to be a second-term president of the United States of America.

That was a pretty ironic thing to read having seen this clip earlier in the day of a Strickland supporter throwing hot coffee on a Republican staffer at a different event. The text posted with the video on Breitbart's site says:

A Republican staffer (and Iraq War vet) has hot coffee poured down his back by a Strickland supporter while trying to videotape Gov. Strickland's remarks at a campaign event. The assailant later returns to make an obscene gesture. Authorities are trying to identify the man in this video. If you can assist, contact the Scioto County Sheriff's Office at 740-355-8245.

Ted Strickland would like the American to believe that Governor Palin and other republicans are the extremists. David Plouffe would like Americans to believe that Governor Palin is out of mainstream, when a review of her positions says the opposite. So, I gather 'don't believe your lying eyes' is the campaign strategy the democrats settled on. Perhaps that was the same meeting they came up with the concept for their new logo.

David Plouffe Trashes Palin, Rush, Beck, and Most Americans

Barack Obama's political adviser, and the winner of the 2009 "Marketer of the Year" award for his role in the 2008 Presidential campaign, David Plouffe, trashed Governor Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck Sunday morning. Politico reports the following, from an interview Plouffe gave to NBC's "Meet the Press" (emphasis mine):

President Barack Obama's political adviser, David Plouffe, on Sunday called Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin the leaders of the Republican Party — and also a "problem" for the GOP in this fall's elections and beyond.

Plouffe emphasized the "intolerance" and "extremism" of the tea party and of the right wing of the Republican Party as both a short-term and long-term electoral problem for the moderate GOP, citing their attacks even on conservative senators such as Tom Coburn of Oklahoma as an example of how narrowly they have tailored their messaging and base.

"Right now — and this is a problem for them — I do think Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, they are the leaders of the party," Plouffe said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "There is an intolerance in that party and an extremism that I think is where the real energy is, and so I think you'll see in '11 and '12 with that presidential primary, those are going to be the people who come

Tea-party-backed candidates — from Sharron Angle in Nevada, Rand Paul in Kentucky and, most recently, Joe Miller in Alaska — have enjoyed high levels of success in primary battles, but Plouffe and the Democrats are banking on the hope that these candidates will alienate independents and more moderate Republicans.

With Limbaugh, Beck and Palin emerging as the leaders of the GOP, and edging out more mainstream Republicans, Plouffe said Democrats could make gains in specific races across the country.

"That's going to be a problem [for them]," Plouffe said.

Considering Plouffe is a message guy, this is clearly going to be the track the White House takes in dealing with their political opposition. What he does in this interview is an attempt to demonize and marginalize the most effective and outspoken leaders in the conservative movement. By doing this, Plouffe is not only trying to taint the perceptions of voters by using such incendiary language as "extremism" and "intolerance." He also attempts to scare the more moderate members of the Republican Party by claiming that the people he just painted as 'extreme' are their leaders too, so they might want to do something about that. Obviously an effort on his part to create division within the GOP.

Just as many others on the left have done in recent days, Plouffe provides no real examples to back up his charge that conservatives are 'extreme' or 'intolerant?' He did say a crowd in Oklahoma "attacked" Senator Coburn for saying that he thought Nancy Pelosi was "nice." However, that crowd did not get violent, and as far as I know Governor Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck were not in attendance there. No, David Plouffe is just throwing those terms out there, providing no real examples, and hoping they stick.

You can bet that we are going to hear a lot more of this kind of thing from the left as they gear up for the upcoming elections in November. Regardless of the fact that this technique backfired on them during the health care debate. You can also be sure that the White House friendly media won't ask any of these people like Plouffe to back up their accusations with any concrete facts.

The Obama Administration are the ones guilty of holding extreme positions, and then forcing them on the American public, against their will. The most recent Rasmussen poll states that only 24% of Americans "strongly approve" of the job Mr. Plouffe's boss is doing. While only a whopping 42% approve at all. Those numbers are very low for the president, so this effort by his staff to demonize his vocal opposition doesn't surprise me in the least.

It should be noted that Governor Palin, someone Plouffe tried to paint as 'extreme,' actually stands with the majority of Americans on the major issues concerning our country. As Sheya pointed out recently, "on abortion 52% agree with Palin; on immigration 55% agree with her; on smaller government 63%; on taxes 66%." She does not hold 'extreme' positions and she is not 'intolerant.' Considering the numbers, I think David Plouffe should look at his own party and his own boss before trashing the views that a clear majority of Americans share with people like Governor Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck.