You betcha! Buzz and I have decided to take a look back at some of our favorite phrases of the 2008 Presidential Election. They are in no particular order. Sarah Palin gave us a bunch, and Tina Fey and SNL gave us a lot more. So let's get mavericky and start this thing.
Maverick, Mavericky, a Couple of Mavericks This was John McCain's calling card, but Sarah Palin took it to a new height. Maverick became the buzz word for many a drinking game. To paraphrase Joe Biden's famous line from a Democratic primary debate, Sarah Palin's sentences consisted of a noun, a verb, and maverick.
Joe the Plumber Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher is the unlicensed plumber from Holland, Ohio, who became McCain's second running mate. Barack Obama encountered "Joe the Plumber" on a campaign stop in Ohio. Joe told Obama he was planning to buy the plumbing business where he worked. He wanted to know how Obama's tax plan would effect him. Obama used the phrase "Spread the Wealth" in his answer to Joe. McCain jumped on this in the 2nd debate and made Joe a part of his campaign. Fox News turned him into a folk hero. Joe hired a publicist and last we heard he was pursuing a country recording contract.
I can see Russia from my House and Putin rears his Head Palin never said these exact words. Tina Fey did on SNL. But when asked about her foreign policy experience, Palin said that "you can see Russia from parts of Alaska." She did however use the phrase "Putin rears his head" when he comes into American airspace.
That One McCain was speaking during the second debate about some legislation and said something to the effect of "guess who voted for that bill." Then pointing to Obama he said, "that one." Buzz and I saw one of our favorite campaign button. It said, "I'm voting for That One, Obama 08"
Spreading the Wealth and Socialism After Joe the Plumber burst onto the national scene, the McCain campaign couldn't get enough of the "spread the wealth" comment. They characterized it as "socialism" and said Obama was a "socialist" because he wanted to "spread the wealth."
Palling Around with Terrorists McCain tried, but with little success to tie Obama to 1960s/1970s terrorist William Ayers. Ayers belonged to a group the Weather Underground and bombed some buildings, including the Pentagon, in the early 1970s. Obama and Ayers served on an educational board in Chicago (funded by former Reagan ambassador Walter Annenberg.) Palin characterized this as "palling around with terrorists. Obama had no association with "a guy from" his "neighborhood besides the board and was eight years old when Ayers was a Weather Underground member. This attack only played with the conservative base, everyone else saw it for the irrelevance that it was.
Three AM Phone Call This is a primary gem. Hillary Clinton tried to say that Obama lacked the experience to take the "3 AM phone call" about some international crisis. Clinton's attack helped her emphasize Obama's thin resume on the national stage. This strategy couldn't be employed by McCain in the general election campaign, because the choice of Palin made this argument hard to make with a straight face.
Clinging to Guns and Religion Obama's only serious blunder was when he referred to rural Pennsylvanians in particular and small town folks in general as "bitter" and "clinging to guns and religion." Obama admitted that his words were poorly chosen. Clinton jumped on this in the primary, and we believe it became the mantra of Sean Hannity, along with Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright, and Socialist. We believe Obama's comments were, perhaps an overarching generalization, but also an accurate social commentary. George W. Bush focused on social issues and ignored everything else when he divided this nation to get re-elected.
Sidekick not a Maverick This was Senator Bob "Cure for Insomnia" Casey's finest moment. When referring to McCain's voting record in the Senate as 90 percent with George Bush, he said, "that's not a Maverick, that's a Sidekick."
This is not an exhaustive list, and we may have some more in the future.
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