The Non-Issue Issue

So eloquently stated by Rick Davis on Tuesday, John McCain’s campaign manager.  From the Washington Post:

"This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

In response to Davis' comments, David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager had this to say.

"We appreciate Senator McCain's campaign manager finally admitting that his campaign is not in fact about the issues the American people care about, which is exactly the kind of cynical old politics people are ready to change."

No wonder speakers have been avoiding important issues during the Republican convention. They simply don't believe issues are important.  With regard to key issues, they have no accomplishments to hang their hat on.  As I've said before:

They can't talk about the economy, because Republicans have single-handedly wrecked it.

They can’t talk about healthcare because they’ve fought tooth and nail against every Democratic measure to make it more affordable.

They can't talk about Iraq without flip-flopping on whether or not there should be a "timeline/time horizon" for withdrawing troops.

How about creating jobs in America? Whoa! Because they're more interested in giving tax breaks to corporations who ship American jobs overseas, they better avoid that one.

Accomplishments with regard to energy? You can laugh now (or keep laughing). Now, they say drill, drill, drill. As if all of a sudden Republicans have answers. Imagine a bunch of Republicans wanting to drill for oil. Surprised?

They can't talk about gas prices for obvious reasons. It's still $3.60 a gallon where I live.

They can't talk about education because too many of them are practically against it. Cut funding...lower taxes on the rich...cut funding...lower taxes on the rich.  Where's the priority?

Even the old standby moral values card is off the table. Abortions have not decreased much under Bush’s leadership (they decreased by far greater numbers under Clinton), & the “sanctity of marriage” argument is a hot potato they can’t hold onto after Craig, Vitter and Foley exposed revealed their “holy” practices.

So, there's little wonder why John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, would rather not talk about the issues. Fortunately for him, he’s in good company. So far, not once, have I heard the word “economy” mentioned at the Republican convention. Plenty of attacks on Obama. But where’s the beef?