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'Take the Gloves Off' Redux

By Robert Stacy McCain on 9.12.08 @ 10:28AM

There are few harbingers of Democratic defeat more ominous than when liberals begin demanding that Democrats "take the gloves off." The New York Times:

Mr. McCain's choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate and the resulting jolt of energy among Republican voters appear to have caught Mr. Obama and his advisers by surprise and added to concern among some Democrats that the Obama campaign was not pushing back hard enough against Republican attacks in a critical phase of the race.

The Associated Press:

The new fighting spirit comes as McCain has been gaining in the polls and some Democrats have been expressing concern the Obama campaign has not been aggressive enough. Obama's campaign says the escalation will involve advertising and pushes made by the candidate, running mate Joe Biden and other surrogates across the country.

It is a pet conceit of liberalism that the reason Democrats lose elections is because they are insufficiently aggressive. ABC's Jake Tapper notes this is at least the third time Team Obama has vowed to take the gloves off. The problem is that the types of attacks the Left wants to hear -- that Republicans are war-mongering stooges of Corporate America and enemies of A Woman's Right to Choose, etc. -- don't resonate with the independent swing voters who are the decisive demographic in general elections.

topics:
Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, Energy, Alaska