Oh, yes. And how does one get political experience?

Start by returning from war, finding that the wife who stood by you and sent you countless letters and packages during your Vietnam ordeal had been in a terrible accident. Have an affair with a rich blonde about 18 years younger than you. Divorce your wife of 14 years, marry the rich babe 3 months later and use her father's business and political contacts to get a foothold in politics.

It's a good start anyway.

I put it in all caps to differentiate my words from yours, Bro.

Well, since you put it in all caps, I'm convinced.

Put down the Kool-Aid, bro.

"The fact is that Obama has NEVER done anything in his life for ANYONE other than himself. Look at Bill Ayers, Rezko and Jeremiah Wright! Enough Said!"

If Obama has never done anything for ANYONE other than himself, then I guess we don't have to worry about his association with these "bad guys," because he won't do their will. He'll do what he wants.

And as for Jay and his qualification argument:

Which candidates have the most executive experience -- running a company, or a state, a municipality, or a military command? McCAIN'S EXPERIENCE INCLUDES BEING IN LOCKSTEP WITH THE BUSH POLICY THAT HAS RUINED THIS COUNTRY FOR 8 YEARS. AND YOU CALL PALIN'S GAMBIT IN ALASKA EXPERIENCE? LOL!

Which candidates have any foreign relations experience -- either as an executive or a legislator? AGAIN, IF YOU WANT SUPPORT FOR THE CURRENT POLICY OF PI$$ING OFF THE WORLD, VOTE McCAIN AND HIS EXPERIENCE THAT INCLUDES SUPPORTING THE IRAQ INVASION.

Which candidates have a track record of reaching across party lines to get things done, and going against their own party to do what they believe is right? AGAIN, YOU CAN'T SAY McCAIN HAS DECADES OF EXPERIENCE AND NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN SAY THAT -- IN HIS 70s -- HE SUDDENLY GOING TO BE AN OUTSIDER.

Which candidates have a strong body of legislative work, taking a leadership role on major legislation? AGAIN, IF YOU WANT LEADERSHIP IN THE 20TH CENTURY LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY THAT GOT US IN THIS MESS, VOTE McCAIN.

You can't have it both ways, Republicans. You can't say we've got decades of experience in the good old boy network AND say we represent change.

Randy Hagan - Thank you!

" Ragan another mouthpiece for Obama! I'm canceling my subscription. Watch the propaganda. We're sick and tired of McCain being punished because he is old or whatever.

The fact is that Obama has NEVER done anything in his life for ANYONE other than himself. Look at Bill Ayers, Rezko and Jeremiah Wright! Enough Said!

This Hillary supporter is pulling McCain!"

Anonymous, I hate to disappoint you but McCain has never done anything in his life for anyone other than himself either. Calling him an Arizonan is a big, big stretch. Calling him a senator representing Arizona is an even bigger stretch.

Qualifications -- perfect.

Let's try this.

Which candidates have the most executive experience -- running a company, or a state, a municipality, or a military command?

Which candidates have any foreign relations experience -- either as an executive or a legislator?

Which candidates have a track record of reaching across party lines to get things done, and going against their own party to do what they believe is right?

Which candidates have a strong body of legislative work, taking a leadership role on major legislation?

McCain, Palin, Biden hit all or most of those categories.

Obama qualifies on none of them.

Now, which team are YOU going to hire?

Tamar,

Are YOU serious? Aiding and abetting a friend so he can continue making risky investments with depositors' hard-earned money is merely old news? Do you understand the meaning of "relevance"? Give ME a break. Oh, I'm sorry, the fundamentals of the economy are sound. Risky investments facilitated by deregulation, yeah! We care.

Interesting study in cognitive dissonance here. I didn't see ANYTHING about political views in the article. All I read is a piece dissecting communications strategies. But most all of the respondents here are categorizing the writers/editors/site as pro-Obama and/or anti-McCain, and reacting with their own points of view.

Which is a lesson in and of itself. No matter how sophisticated we get in crafting communications messages, when an audience perceives the stakes are high it seems we have little to no ability to really report without "bias." Whether it's intended or not.

These comments don't reflect the perceived "bias" of the writer nearly as much as the true biases of the respondents. That's why, I guess, the difference between "implied" and "inferred" has been lost.

Ragan another mouthpiece for Obama! I'm canceling my subscription. Watch the propaganda. We're sick and tired of McCain being punished because he is old or whatever.

The fact is that Obama has NEVER done anything in his life for ANYONE other than himself. Look at Bill Ayers, Rezko and Jeremiah Wright! Enough Said!

This Hillary supporter is pulling McCain!

I'm not a registered Democrat or Republican. I just vote for the candidate who knows how many houses he owns. Here's a great e-mail I received yesterday:

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she was disfigured in an accident?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama were a member of the Keating-5?
What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

You are The Boss... which team would you hire?

With America facing historic debt, 2 wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc., consider:

Educational Background:

Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journal ism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire ?

"I'd suggest readers look up the definition of racist before throwing it down like a gauntlet. Palin has done nothing but report the facts. I do wish the McCain campaign would hammer the facts about the Obama plan to redistribute our incomes to those whom he feels deserve the fruits of our labors more than we do."

Ah yes, the old bootstraps argument. Now the fruits of your labor are going to Wall Street bankers instead of toward things that might actually improve our infrastructure or our society. Happy now, Mark?

I get the need to attack the areas you think your opponent is vulnerable in, but I wonder how much some of this resonates with those under 40 who mostly weren't even alive to have heard of the Weather Underground and, for all practical purposes, the Vietnam war (of which McCain is considered a hero of) was something from a history book.

If I were running the McCain campaign from here on out it it would be all WAR all the time, as in Wright, Ayers and Rezko, for the remainder of the campaign..

I would continuously hammer those three associations -- with an anti-American racist, a homegrown terrorist and a crook -- to underscore the divide between who Barack Obama says he is and who he really is.

Keating Five? Are they serious? This news is as old as the hills. No one cares, or is paying attention to this. Ayers is another story. The man is a domestic terrorist who bombed US sites.

Not exactly in the same league as a low-level Keating stuff.

Give me a break!

What a waste of space this blog is. As of now, RAGAN is off my email list. Pure junk and propaganda aimed to support Obama.

Enough is enough.

Among the things that remain highly relevant to this campaign, the Keating Five is right up there with McCain's (still elusive) health records, his preposterous advocacy of privatizing Social Security and his even more loony naming of Sarah Palin as his running mate. (No apologies to the governor of Alaska, but Ayres and Wright simply don't meet the relevance standard.)

What all four things have in common is journalistic lassitude. With the Keating site, it fell to the Obama campaign to connect the dots, recalling the last time deregulation zealots ran roughshod over the financial system. Given Palin -- who has yet to do more than three media sit-downs and wink her way through a bogus debate, with scant outcry from the MSM for a proper vetting -- McCain's health status is of more than passing interest. And as Wall Street melts down, are any reporters out there probing that lunatic notion of investing Social Security in the market?

I'm an enthusiastic Obama supporter, and I clearly believe that editorial queries in these four areas will help the campaign I'm backing. But the presidential race is ill-served by a journalistic establishment that leaves to the candidates themselves the raising of actual, relevant issues. Michael's post illuminates this same trend -- one that remains worrisome, whatever the outcome on Nov. 4.

Sue,

Go back and read all of my posts on this subject. I have said many times that I am a card-carrying member of the Liberal Media Elite (LME). I am looking at my card right now.

I am also past chairman of LME, and I am program chair for our upcoming annual meeting in Las Vegas. This is where we get together and decide who to support politically. We also swap tactics on how to bury hidden messages in business-to-business trade publishing sites.

Having confessed my involvement in LME again, I still think Obama's use of the Internet, Web 2.0 and all things social media provides a clinic for PR pros.

Are we clear now?

And, once again, Michael Sebastian is NOT a member of the LME. We would never let him in; he's not pure enough.

I'd suggest readers look up the definition of racist before throwing it down like a gauntlet. Palin has done nothing but report the facts. I do wish the McCain campaign would hammer the facts about the Obama plan to redistribute our incomes to those whom he feels deserve the fruits of our labors more than we do.

You do know that McCain was found not guilty of any wrongdoing, don't you? "Minor" detail.

Yes, Michael, I do mean a separate Political Junkie blog altogether. I fully appreciate the communications aspects of political campaigns. I've worked on them and I watch them as a sort of laboratory for strategies and ideas that can be applied to non-political work. As Mark said, there are lessons for communicators in politics. That said, I'd rather learn those lessons from a separate Political Junkie blog where the partisan battles can rage unfettered and are to be expected, while PR Junkie blog participants can debate communications issues without the distraction of partisan flaming.

Lynne, while technically found to have done nothing illegal, McCain was scorned heavily for using bad judgement.

YOu do know what McCain was found not guilty of any wrongdoing, don't you? Minor detail.

BTW, with all due respect to Mr. Ragan, the real one-two combo here is,

#1- McCain's invovlement and how easy Obama has made it to access this story.

#2- Cindy McCain's drup addiction attributed to the stress of her involvement in the Keating 5 affair.

Its all one wiki-click away.

In my opinion, the Obama campaign has waited too long to discuss the Keating Five. BTW - the Keating Five/RTC are historical events. This is NOT mudslinging but rather a factual reminder of who/what McCain was/is. Mudslinging (IMO) is what the McCain-Palin folks are doing now.

If you think about it, Ragan never promised you PRJunkie would be unbiased. That would be the creation of an expectation and then betrayal. That's Fraud. And there's no assest more effective at destroying...

Anyway, there is about as much bias in this post by Mr Sebastian as me saying John McCain looks like my Grandpa.

And as he liked to say, stop crying. And help me take my boots off.

This is just another example of the Obama campaign's impressive dominance in all things Web 2.0 and social media.

And there ARE lessons for communicators in all of this.

Ask the folks over at United Airlines. They suffer daily from an attack web site set up by their own pilots to pummel the CEO: www.glenntilton.com.

The PR spinmeisters working for Obama know what they're doing. Why limit yourself to a television ad when you can build a site that will pop up on Google whenever the word "Keating" is searched?

Think about this as a one-two punch:

Punch #1: Air a 60-second ad linking campaign to the so-called Keating Five. When millions of viewers mutter to themselves, "what the hell is a 'Keating Five' and type the words into Google....

Punch #2: New ad site pops up explaing it all.

Brilliant.

I reluctantly agree with Tim's suggestion. I don't think anyone that reads this blog wants to see political flaming in the comments, but unfortunately it almost always seems to happen. People just can't seem to remove the politics from the PR. No matter how well something is written, there will always be some perceived bias (especially during this election year).

Can you be a little bit more specific with your proposal Tim? Do you mean a separate blog altogether?

After reading PR Junkie regularly, I'd propose a new feature here called Political Junkie for these types of conversations and then reserving this space for PR Junkie items. Not that I don't like this. Actually, I love reading it, but since the discourse here always becomes political debate, rather than debate/discussion over the PR aspects, it may be worth considering two separate locations. What do you think, Michael?

I think "nards" is one of those, "Tell you when you're older" kind of words.

INTERESTING, isn't it, that ANONYMOUS admonished me for my apparent lack of intestinal fortitude?

And by that I mean cowardly.

As I have said since his 2000 run, if it were not for John McCain, they would have been known as the Keating Four.

I am not sure what 'nards' means, though I could venture a guess. On to your post Michael, at least Obama's attack ads focus on the economy and aren't racists smear campaigns like Palin is doing.

"KeatingEconomics.com is an interesting move ... I wonder if KeatingEconomics.com is a hastily built site ... unearthing McCain's past ... is a bold PR move .... The McCain campaign's reaction will be interesting."

Michael: If you're writing about it, it's obviously INTERESTING. Since you clearly don't have any inside information about the subject, we expect to at least hear your opinion about the godddamn thing.

Don't bother your readers until you have something to say. (Or something you have the nards to say.)