Presidential Counter Programming: GOP Debate or NFL Opening Night

Serious question: could it be because he'd never operated in a contested environment?

The only tough races he ever had were in primaries.

Does coming from a purple state make you a better politician -- able to work with the other side, but also prepared for a fight?

 

Total unforced error.

Carney was mocking the idea that it would interfere with the GOP debate during his briefing today. Said something like, "i don't know what's on the wild animal channel or the cooking channel. If the Republicans would like to move the time of their debate, we invite them to do that."

And then, they back down hours later? Really bad. Stupid bad.

 

The best part about this for Boehner is that he gets to just cite logistical concerns. He doesn't even refer to the debate:

And, he gets to scold Obama for not following protocol:

Plus, Carney comes out of it looking like an idiot:

 

Carney is making Robert Gibbs look like Winston Churchill...and Gibbs was a total load.

 

I'm pretty sure this came up recently, maybe when one of the conventions collided with the Thursday opener in '08. There was doomsday predicted for the pols, but the NFL just rolled back its start a bit, and with all the bullshit opening night stuff they do, nobody missed a play.

 

And, not for once, I'm in complete agreement with YF.

Just beyond stupid by Obama and his team.

The ripple effect of the coverage of how the NFL kicked his ass in the ratings department will continue to make him look stupid.

Unless he comes out in a Bears jersey cheese head or in Saints gear in honor of the Katrina anniversary, then says he'll be brief because he wants to watch the game. That would be about the only thing that would help with most of the population.

 

For a normal speech from the Oval Office I could see this working, but aren't addresses to joint sessions of Congress usually much longer than a typical speech? Plus we will have to sit through the Democrats applauding for 10 minutes every time Obama scratches his ass or cuts a fart. I know both sides do it...and it's a total pain in the ass.

 

Found it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090303255.html

In '08 the opener was moved up an hour so it wouldn't collide with McCain's acceptance speech. I don't imagine that's an option now. But I also don't think this is too big of a problem; if the speech starts at 7 p.m. ET it should be over in plenty of time.

Incidentally, MileHigh, I know you're now a mod and all, but the TV world has operated for 75 years without paying any attention to MDT and we aren't about to start now just for you.

 

MileHigh using MDT is like JR referring to kilometers. What? Do you have a conversion chart for that?

LOL.

The NFL will probably push their kickoff back a little bit.

Still tough for the President. A Joint Session does include a lot of pageantry that makes it hard to do quickly.

And, NFL fans will be watching pre-game activity, ordering wings, making sure they have enough beer on hand, etc.

 

I'm on Obama's side of the aisle -- though not much of a fan right now -- and I wouldn't even think about watching this regardless of what else was on. Who will?