The Wright Stuff: McCain goes after Wright
posted at 7:45 am on April 28, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Barack Obama has a rhetorical gift that allows him to convince audiences to believe in him and in his arguments, a blend of charisma, intelligence, and argument. It certainly worked on John McCain. Shortly after Obama declared that Jeremiah Wright was a “legitimate political issue,” McCain started criticizing Wright’s equation between Roman armies in Jerusalem and US Marines in Iraq:
Senator John McCain delved on Sunday into remarks made by Senator Barack Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., saying it was “beyond belief” that Mr. Wright had likened the Romans at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion to the Marines and had suggested that the United States was acting like Al Qaeda under a different color flag.
Up to now, Mr. McCain had largely avoided talking about the incendiary views of Mr. Wright, saying he wanted to run a “respectful” campaign. He has even called on the North Carolina Republican Party to pull an advertisement that focuses on Mr. Wright.
But Mr. McCain took a different approach at a news conference here when he criticized Mr. Wright for, as the senator paraphrased him, “comparing the United States Marine Corps with Roman legionnaires who were responsible for the death of our Savior, I mean being involved in that” and for “saying that Al Qaeda and the American flag were the same flags.” …
Mr. McCain said that he did not believe that Mr. Obama, Democrat of Illinois, shared those views and that he was still against the advertisement in North Carolina. But he suggested that Mr. Obama had made the subject fair play by declaring in an interview shown over the weekend on “Fox News Sunday” that questions about Mr. Wright were “a legitimate political issue.”
This turned into a thing of beauty, politically speaking. McCain had made high-profile arguments against using Wright as a campaign issue, which had annoyed people on the Right but played well with the centrists and independents McCain hopes to woo away from Democrats in the fall. After Obama made the mistake of calling the issue legitimate, McCain had the opening he needed, provided by a neophyte politician who failed to grasp the advantage he had until that moment. Even after that, McCain kept his arguments based on a defense of the Marines and the very obvious differences between the US and al-Qaeda, highlighting Wright’s rabid anti-Americanism while offering a sop to Obama’s patriotism.
Team Obama meanwhile tried to put the genie back in the bottle. They accused McCain of breaking a promise, although McCain’s earlier position hardly amounted to that. Besides, their own candidate acknowledged the legitimacy of the issue. Why shouldn’t McCain talk about legitimate political issues? McCain basically can respond by showing his Barack Obama Legitimacy Card every time the subject comes up — giving him credit for restraining himself and his allies until Obama approved it.
After last night’s NAACP speech, McCain has even more room to maneuver. Wright spent his time talking about differences; McCain can now start talking about what we all have in common. While Obama’s pastor reminds everyone that his Trinity United years, with Obama in attendance, focused on neurological buncombe to divide blacks and whites, McCain can unite Americans based on the American concepts of freedom and liberty. And thanks to Obama, McCain can specifically use Wright and TUCC as examples of the intolerance that holds us back.
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YES!
maverick muse on April 28, 2008 at 7:55 AM
Somebody had better counter that Black racist, separatist because if left unchallenged he will completely obliterate your world. Wake up people.
rplat on April 28, 2008 at 7:56 AM
I do not have time to read HA and a dictionary…
*
Obama opened the door, and look who stepped in…now Obama will look like a whiner along with being an appeaser…I hate that “There are two sides to every issue” wimpy statement that Obama is trying to make…there is only one side, the U.S. side, and how do we move people to that side. Otherwise, Obama, be a pastor, not a leader.
right2bright on April 28, 2008 at 7:58 AM
Cool, I see that Karl Rove is making good use of his demons.
aikidoka on April 28, 2008 at 8:03 AM
This is like having Obama on a rotisserie, Wright is the basting sauce…slowly turning over the hot flame, not enough to burn him but cooking him slowly…McCain approaches, puts a fork in him and proclaims, “Obama’s done”, let’s carve him up.
right2bright on April 28, 2008 at 8:05 AM
not enough.
custer on April 28, 2008 at 8:06 AM
Couple of questions for Mr. Morissey:
Do you have anything to support your allegation that McCain’s early disparagement of the NC GOP ad “played well with centrists and independents?”
And regarding the penultimate sentence of your commentary, have you heard anything from McCain that sounds like he wants to “unite Americans based on the concepts of freedom and liberty?”
I certainly haven’t. Campaign finance reform, anyone?
What I have seen is that McCain wants to run against George Bush and his own Republican party. Problem is, as John Hinderaker so eloquently wrote at Powerline over the weekend, that if McCain thinks he is going to win that way, he is sadly mistaken.
BigD on April 28, 2008 at 8:08 AM
It’s early in the morning to be eating popcorn, I think I’ll have some for breakfast anyway.
Tin Lizzy on April 28, 2008 at 8:13 AM
McCain is banking on Black Liberation Theology to open his way to winning in the Middle, thus allowing him to continue flipping the bird to conservatives, and being his old Maverick Self.
davecatbone on April 28, 2008 at 8:14 AM
McCain continues walking on eggshells, venturing off the path to take a shot at the Left only when he believes it’s safe. Eventually, though, the gloves will come off and his famous temper will flare. He will suddenly no longer be the benign, triangulating candidate above the fray, but a snarling, stray dog wondering which side his allies are on.
whitetop on April 28, 2008 at 8:17 AM
No time for a dictionary?
Open another tab/window and keep it on
dictionary.reference.com
they also have an online thesaurus and encyclopedia.
buncombe
rockhauler on April 28, 2008 at 8:26 AM
Attacking the NC GOP with statements such as “the Republican Party does not approve of these type of racial attacks” was a huge blunder by McCain. Sort of reinforces the fears many of us have with McCain and his seemingly endless need to be fondled by the left. Now that Obama has basically said “bring it on McCain (you pathetic wimp) the Wright issue is fair game for the American people, McCain says “oh shit, the bastard called me on my own phony attempt to be above the frey”.
I guess it’s better late than never for the maverick!
Keemo on April 28, 2008 at 8:29 AM
Meanwhile, this post is about McCain attacking Obama…gee, had a tough time in school did we?
right2bright on April 28, 2008 at 8:36 AM
Proof that some people don’t get it…
right2bright on April 28, 2008 at 8:37 AM
I certainly hope McCain is now ready to do battle . . . because if he persists with this nicey-nice crap he’ll be kicked to the curb and eliminated from the fray.
rplat on April 28, 2008 at 8:39 AM
Obama:
“It is fair to sling this bloviating skunk around my neck.”
McCain:
“Here’s your polecat, Barry. Eau de Humanity.”
profitsbeard on April 28, 2008 at 8:43 AM
right2bright on April 28, 2008 at 8:36 AM
right2bright on April 28, 2008 at 8:37 AM
Back to back insults; rolling out with brilliance this morning.
Keemo on April 28, 2008 at 8:43 AM
As long as the Democrats continue generating their own negative material, and as long as the McCain campaign is sure that Hillary’s people are going to use this stuff for their own purposes against Obama, it’s in McCain’s best interest not to give the media a chance to insert him into the story as the face of “Racist White America” by getting too far into criticizing Wright and Obama over this.
The leftists in the media desperately want to turn McCain into a Grand Kleagle of the GOP by taking some comment out of contest, the way they’re doing right now with the “100 years in Iraq” remark. Bush and Rove understood this too back in 2000 — the playing field may be more even now with Fox News, talk radio and the Internet, but any Republican candidate has to walk on eggshells and take the high road or risk spending weeks trying to put down a phony controversy. So McCain can hit Obama around the edges on things like Wright’s attack on the U.S. military — where if the quote is thrown back at McCain it just reinforces the Democrats’ anti-military position in the public’s eyes — but he’s not going to do anything head-on against the senator while Hillary’s there to do the dirty work for him.
jon1979 on April 28, 2008 at 8:50 AM
The Barack Obama Legitimacy Card may very well have an early expiration date attached. Three quarters of the democratic nomination process over and the man has not been vetted—–glitering generalities are not Presidential qualities.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Dean said, “One of these two wonderful candidates is going to lose with about 49 percent of the delegates, and that person’s going to have to do what’s right for the country” — and drop out of the race.
Dean also said the person who loses with “49 percent of the delegates in Denver…has to believe that they were treated fairly,” or else the Democrats can’t win in November.
Dean said in the next few weeks, it will become clear “that one of these candidates is more likely to win than the other, and I think that’s who’s going to get the nomination.I can’t tell you who that is. I have no idea who it is. But that’s what’s going to happen.”
Pass the crystal ball to Mr. Dean along with the popcorn
Rovin on April 28, 2008 at 8:53 AM
Well, right2bright, I don’t know how “we” did in school, but I did quite well, thank you.
I am hoping Cap’n Ed will answer my questions, though.
BigD on April 28, 2008 at 8:54 AM
Yep, guess you are correct. I didn’t get it.
Oh…wait, it was your intention to insult?
Hah! I missed that also.
rockhauler on April 28, 2008 at 9:09 AM
Whiplash, a common affliction when McCain is in the room. Get used to it.
tarpon on April 28, 2008 at 9:30 AM
buncombe:
1. insincere speechmaking by a politician intended merely to please local constituents.
2. insincere talk; claptrap; humbug.
pseudonominus on April 28, 2008 at 10:19 AM
“Bunk,” for short. However, the definition suggests that it’s probably not quite the right word for Wright’s theories, since he probably means what he says rather sincerely. If you drag out an old Roget’s, I’m sure there are some wonderful obscure old synonyms - along the lines of “balderdash” and “poppycock” - that might make a better fit. I like ‘em even better when combined with some a modifier, Latinate if available, and a bit of alliteration: Pernicious poppycock, baleful balderdash, demented drivel, etc.
CK MacLeod on April 28, 2008 at 10:47 AM
neurological
adjective
of or relating to or used in or practicing neurology; “neurological evidence”
Wasn’t bundcombe I had trouble with, it was the usage of ‘neurological’ next to it. I’m pretty sure that’s not a good modifier for what the Rev was spreading either. Might want to be careful when using the ‘$50 Words to make a simple point’ Thesaurus.
austinnelly on April 28, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Big deal.
News flash for McCain:
YOU AREN’T RUNNING AGAINST JEREMIAH WRIGHT.
Criticizing Wright while defending Obama:
isn’t going to win you any elections Juan.
As usual, McCain defends his Senatorial Frat brother, despite his 20 year close relationship with the guy McCain now has permission to criticize. One more example of his Senators uber alles attitude.
I don’t have a problem with the ‘take the high road’ strategy while the Dems are doing their best to destroy themselves, but why take the cheap, easy shot at Wright at all if you are going to exonerate his disciple Obama for their long relationship?
Wright ain’t running.
Its funny; Wright was saying just last night that the evil white media and politicians are running against him, and he isn’t even in the race… And the very next day, McCain proves Wright’s little quip was accurate.
LegendHasIt on April 28, 2008 at 12:38 PM
It’s a start. He can’t allow BHO to escape the clutches of the people he is associated with. In this case, it is probably the most influential person in his life. Just listen to the wife and tell me she isn’t spewing Wright’s philosophy.
Wright is acting very defiant so BHO is stuck with the connection. No matter how the Lame Stream Media tries to soften this lunatic, the public should won’t buy the excuses completely. That’s a good thing.
libhater on April 28, 2008 at 1:08 PM
Double proof that some don’t get…I knew there were more then one.
right2bright on April 28, 2008 at 1:39 PM
Here, maybe I better explain it to you…see this post was about McCain attacking Wright, then out of the blue, out of nowhere this goof ball states McCain is attacking Bush, so I went back up and re-read it again and I never saw Bush’s name. It only talks about McCain and Wright.
So I said, to someone who was trying to hijack the post, I’m not buying it…apparently you did.
You must have sat behind him in class…
right2bright on April 28, 2008 at 1:43 PM
No, that wasn’t an insult…it was this “some people don’t get it”. That is not an insult. Ed has used about a dozen words that make people look or think, I razed him the other day for a word. The insult was on me, a self-deprecating statement, meaning I do not understand some of the words and I have to look them up.
Like I said “some people don’t get it”, I hope you “get it” now—do you?
Don’t be so sensitive…
right2bright on April 28, 2008 at 1:47 PM
I knew Reagan was really dead when Republicans all-but nominated this Arizona hot head. JM is running as an independent, not a Republican– how did this great party willingly put this self-hating, Co2 manager in charge? God help us.
Republican Presidential Conservatism, RIP: 1980-2008. It was a great run.
leftnomore on April 28, 2008 at 1:54 PM
I know political calculation is never far beneath the surface in a presidential race, bet I suspect McCain’s willingness to react publicly also has a lot to do with the fact that Wright didn’t just attack “white America” or “our racist society,” but specifically went after the military.
tom on April 28, 2008 at 2:52 PM
I’m assuming “freedom of speech” isn’t part of that “freedom and liberty” you’re referring to. At least, not political speech near an election.
Because that sort of speech is outlawed and illegal. You know, under Congress’ required job under the First Amendment to abridge freedom of speech (I may have gotten that wrong, but it seems to be the text McCain works from).
So, when he’s uniting people under freedom and liberty, make sure you and he are working from the same text…
gekkobear on April 30, 2008 at 1:03 PM