Watch how Rove handles giving "ADVICE" to Obama.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

"
"It's a match-up he'll lose," Rove writes Thursday in his regular Wall Street Journal column. "If Mr. Obama wants to win, he needs to remember he's running against John McCain for president, not Mrs. Palin for vice president."

Rove notes past attempts by Democratic presidential nominees to attack the No. 2 on the GOP ticket have largely fell flat, and says the issues Obama is hitting Palin on are ones the Illinois senator is weak on himself.

"If Mr. Obama keeps attacking Mrs. Palin, he could suffer the fate of his Democratic predecessors. These assaults highlight his own tissue-thin résumé, waste precious time better spent reassuring voters he is up for the job, and diminish him -- not her," Rove writes.
"

Now lets just ask ourselves what exactly did Rove do here?

1)  Rove gave accurate advice and so his personal advice will be more heeded in future

2.  Rove knows giving accurate advice makes it more likely to be ignored by Obama and friends
   
3.  Rove knows he can claim victory if the advice is heeded
   
4.  Rove knows that by giving the advice he lessens Obama as one who needs advice
   
5.  Rove knows that by outlining the arguments against Obama he weakens Obama by restating them eg. thin resume etc
   
6.  Rove is seen by his side as having protected Palin and his credibility goes up.

If you want to be powerful in politics you need to be able to play this game.

If you have an issue and its to your advantage thats like C game.

If you have an issue and its to your advantage and you can reveal its to your advantage in such as was that if your opponent chooses the wisest move (ignoring palin and sticking to McCain) it still enforces your original message (Obama needs advice and is inexperienced).

If you have an issue and its to your advantage and you reveal the best advice to your opponent and your opponent ignores it causing a MASSIVE I told you so moment when it unfolds that you were correct and the alternative was almost as bad for your opponent thats like A game

Many people believe that because they think they have a strong issue that they can play C game and win.  And truth be told if you have an EXCEPTIONAL hand and the other guy has NOTING you can win with C game.  I can beat Michael Jordan at his peak in one on one basket ball provided he has a massive stroke at the tip off but that isn't saying much.

But if you are facing people who know what they are doing and have a reasonable hand you will lose far more than you win unless you can play solid B game politics with at much A game as C game.

Bring your A game people...

There's more...

cross posted from dailykos

There has been a lot of hyperventilating recently with the new Quinnipiac polls showing McCain gaining strength in several key swing states, including surpassing Obama for the first time in my own state of Colorado.

Breathless MSM outlets have siezed upon this one set of polls to push the false meme that McCain is catching up.

But the MSM reality seems to be an alternate reality. If we take a more holistic look at the situation, another side of the story emerges. Even as the Wall Street Journal tries depserately to zero in on statistically insignificant details of their own new poll to spin reality towards some kind of "good news" for their preferred conservative candidate they can not escape their own poll results.

There's more...

(cross posted at Daily Kos)

A simple, straightforward statement by the Obama campaign justifying its decision to forego federal funding for his Presidential campaign could blow his critics out of the water, and actually make John McCain look bad.

The statement after the jump:

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Why is it premature for Obama to look for the best running mate?

Although she may have very well have decided before the primary season even began, as I recall, Clinton was selecting as early as March 8, 2008.  Remember?

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/clinton.oba ma.ticket.2.669799.html

While Clinton continues her scorched earth campaign against Obama (notwithstanding the obvious conclusion that he will be the nominee), she looks to attack his not so secret search as being an example of (1) dismissiveness, (2) arrogance and (3) strong arming. LMAO.  All these things apply to Clinton:

(1) Dismissive:  She dismisses the fact that she agreed to the present Rules and acknowledged that FL and MI would not count.  Remember "It's clear [MI and FL elecetions] aren't going to count for anything?  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yJn4VtgJ 5A&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3_oepXCq DY

She dismisses that her chief delegate strategist, Harold Ickes voted for Democratic Party rules that stripped Michigan and Florida of their delegates!

http://www.sodahead.com/blog/4837/

She dismisses the fact that many FL and MI voters didn't vote because they didn't think that their vote would count.

She dismisses the fact that caucuses count! and on and on and on...

(2) Arrogance: Ummm...how about offering the VP in March 2008 while clearly behind!  Aside from that "minor" display, I shall not bore you with well known examples.

Strong Arming

How about, Bill lobbying for VP slot

http://www.time.com/time/politics/articl e/0,8599,1808470,00.html

And the simultaneous lawsuits?

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/ar ticle.aspx?storyid=81001

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/03/21/ federal-appeals-court-dismisses-challeng e-to-decision-to-strip-florida-of-conven tion-delegates/

And the threats?

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/arch ives/2008/04/donations_to_dccc_spike_aft er.php

and so on and so on, no diarist or reader wants me to recite the obvious but exhaustive list.

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I'm looking at some of the diaries on the rec list, and I'm really discouraged. One of the diaries is titled with a quote that's never put in context within the piece. Another says that Obama has offered "one excuse after another for missteps and mistakes in his campaign." Another says that Obama needs to spend more time in West Virginia.

Folks, you can jump on him all you want (and that is your right), but that doesn't make the logic come into being. Guess what?

There's more...