Reply #21: He is one of the very few Democrats who has learned the lesson to fight fire with fire

[MindMatter]

Obama's strategy is to be ultra-hip and therefore ultra-vague. If he is going to stick to that game plan, he is going to need Biden, Kerry, and Clark to be out there taking no prisoners.

While the rest of them are pussying-out because they are afraid of the POW issue, Clark and Kerry have the biography to take that on and break through that first line of defense. It is just like 911. Democrats were pussies for 4 years. But once somebody broke came up with the courage to call out Bush on that, all hell broke loose for Bush

We have to do the same thing with McCain. We have to teach all the commentators to set that aside. Whenever he brings up the POW thing, the correct response is, "We all have the greatest sympathy for Senator McCain's years as a POW and we honor his service. But that's not what we were talking about. Can we get back to the issue at hand, which has nothing to do with POW camps?"

People need to take that path every single day on every single issue. And if we can't engage him face to face, it can still work indirectly, with "John McCain was asked about {{health care for children}} yesterday. Rather than answer the question, he talked about his days 40 years ago as a POW. We all have the greatest sympathy ... but can we get back to the issue of heath care for our children?"

Any Democrat with a microphone needs to memorize that formula. Practice it in front of a mirror. Go with it and keep using it. Eventually the talking heads will start doing it too.