WaPo: Team McCain taking off the gloves
posted at 12:15 pm on October 4, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Republicans frustrated by a perceived lack of fight from the John McCain campaign will find cheer in a Washington Post report this morning. Sources within the campaign say that they will become much more aggressive in exposing Barack Obama’s ties to radicals and his lack of experience and judgment in the final four weeks of the campaign. This strategy entails significant risk, but they need to regain the edge they had before the conventions:
Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama’s character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat’s judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said.
With just a month to go until Election Day, McCain’s team has decided that its emphasis on the senator’s biography as a war hero, experienced lawmaker and straight-talking maverick is insufficient to close a growing gap with Obama. The Arizonan’s campaign is also eager to move the conversation away from the economy, an issue that strongly favors Obama and has helped him to a lead in many recent polls.
“We’re going to get a little tougher,” a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. “We’ve got to question this guy’s associations. Very soon. There’s no question that we have to change the subject here,” said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
As Michael Shear notes, there is some risk in this, although Shear gets another point wrong. The ad “Original Mavericks” is not the only positive ad this campaign has on the air; “Week” is a positive ad, and Team McCain just rolled it out, and “Foundation” is a hybrid, and I believe that’s still on the air as well. Shear also points to “Tax Cutter” as an example of Team McCain’s new attack, but McCain has been hammering Obama on his tax record for weeks, if not months, and it has nothing to do with Obama’s associates.
The risk comes with an imbalanced attack — one that doesn’t talk about McCain nearly as much as it talks about Obama. Nothing in the article indicates that Team McCain plans to stop talking about their own candidates, though. They may run positive ads, such as “Week”, right along with ads focusing on Obama’s political work with William Ayers, and Obama’s lack of any efforts at reforming Chicago politics. They almost certainly will continue to produce and air positive advertising, although it won’t gain anywhere near the attention from the media that sharp new attacks on Obama will. And that’s really the point.
Obama has run on his experience as a community organizer. That makes the Ayers connection through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge relevant. Obama has run as a reformer. That makes his support for Richard Daley, the Strogers, Larry Walsh, and the rest of the corrupt Chicago Machine germane. McCain doesn’t need to focus on Jeremiah Wright, but Hillary Clinton brought it up and Obama made it into a major speech earlier this year, so that’s also on the table. McCain should have been talking about all of this since June, but perhaps it makes more sense to wait until everyone is paying attention to raise these issues.
With the bailout bill behind him, though, McCain has to start talking about the real reasons behind the financial collapse — the perversion of the lending markets through Democratic intervention, and the Democrats who protected Fannie Mae from the OFHEO regulators while they blithely bought billions in bad paper and turned them into bad securities that poisoned the entire investment sector. He may have held his tongue while building bipartisan support for Congressional action, but the time has come to name names, and to point to Obama’s massive fundraising from Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac interests and link it to his complete inaction on the subprime lending crisis.
The gloves have to come off now. Republicans want to see John McCain stand up and fight. They’ll stand up and fight with him, but they’re not going to do that until McCain leads them.
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I’ll believe it when I see it.
Spirit of 1776 on October 4, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Kick them in the groin John . . . then get really tough.
rplat on October 4, 2008 at 12:17 PM
So it’s gonna be weak and ineffective?
lorien1973 on October 4, 2008 at 12:17 PM
What does that mean ‘take the gloves off’? Is McCain capable of ‘taking it to the streets’? Do he have the heart to go for the jugular?
red131 on October 4, 2008 at 12:18 PM
To repost from the Headlines link:
If McCain is going to hit Obama on Ayers, his campaign better visually show the results from archival footage of Ayers’ bombings in the late 1960s, and mention the New York Times interview published on Sept. 11, 2001 when Ayers was unapologetic about his actions. And they better spend money to run in the ad heavily in swing states, and not just stick it on YouTube and then run around bragging about it in hopes it goes viral.
(They can hit him on Rezko and Wright if they want to, but ones just corrupt and the other’s a nut — not that either shines a good light on Barack, but Americans are used to crooks hanging around politicians and Wright’s statements are pretty much in the public consciousness by now. Showing images of what Ayers actually did combined with his lack of remorse and then showing how closely Obama’s career is tied to him is not that well known yet and could have a major impact on undecideds who are still unsure about Barack’s judgment.)
jon1979 on October 4, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Hmmmm… a mother of all bailouts passed with huge opposition by citizens and a promise of even more to come. A political candidate pushed by the establishment and the media with efforts we haven’t seen before. The prospect of our government rapidly changing it’s very form. You have to wonder how far in the future our own Bastille Day lies…
CC
CapedConservative on October 4, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Someone on the team does…
CC
CapedConservative on October 4, 2008 at 12:20 PM
IT IS ABOUT TIME.
FIGHT! FIGHT TO KEEP OBAMA from joing forces with Nancy and Harry
FIGHT! Fight to keep your taxes low!
FIGHT! Fight to get conservative principals BACK.
FIGHT! Fight the forces that want to redistribute WEALTH
I’m ORIGINAL PECHANGA and I APPROVED THIS MESSAGE
originalpechanga on October 4, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Too darned late. He’s squandered the opportunity to link the Dems with the financial crisis. Wright, Ayers are fine but Mccain still has to slam Obama over Fannie/Freddie ties.
promachus on October 4, 2008 at 12:20 PM
If he does not, he is toast.
Borislav on October 4, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Senator Obama, you ask us to notice your experience as a community organize. Alright, then with whom did you organize. Radical anti-American Bill Ayers. Groups like ACORN, who used racist threats to pressure banks to give out loans they knew would never be repaid. You brought up your record, so let’s talk about your record.
Hannibal Smith on October 4, 2008 at 12:21 PM
The real risk comes from the MSM, which (as we see with the HYT’s “coverage of the Ayers connection to Osama Obama) will simply pronounce all McCain’s efforts as untruths or, at best, semi-truths.
In the meantime, the Obama campaign’s organized “protests” of Palin rallies reaches new depths of undemocratic behavior and arrogance.
We are so screwed.
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength.
MrScribbler on October 4, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Honestly, I would prefer if McCain stuck to the issues. Today Obama is hitting him on health care. I would really like to hear McCain’s plan. I know some about Obama’s because every debate he had with Hillary they mainly focused on health care.
terryannonline on October 4, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Well I do see some sense in waiting until the later days of the campaign to start hammering some of these things. There’s definitely some risk to it but it could work.
I expect that about 2 weeks from election day McCain and the RNC will really start hammering every angle. I honestly don’t think McCain is as stupid as everyone thinks but perhaps that is blind optimism on my part.
Kronos on October 4, 2008 at 12:24 PM
There’s no “risk”, as McCain doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning unless he does this.
Mr. Bingley on October 4, 2008 at 12:24 PM
NYT.
Whatever McCain does, it will seem to the sheep like criticism of Jesus Christ.
The deification of Osama Obama has gone too far.
MrScribbler on October 4, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Stand up and fight with me!
I’m ready when you are.
PattyJ on October 4, 2008 at 12:25 PM
They really, really need to tie Obama and the Dems to the mortgage crisis. I know conventional wisdom says that Dems are favored on economic issues, but showing they caused this mess shouldn’t be that hard. Yeah, they should also go after his shady associates, cover his rise through the Chicago political machine, etc. But the Dems getting a pass for causing the mortgage crisis is really sticking in my craw.
Also, he should stop saying he is going to end greed on Wall Street. Does anyone believe that greed will ever be removed from Wall Street? Maybe something like, “prevent greed on Wall Street from affecting Main Street.” But you aren’t ever going to remove greed from Wall Street, and every time I hear a politician say this, my BS detector goes into overdrive making it difficult to take anything else said after that seriously.
Buford on October 4, 2008 at 12:25 PM
This is stupid.
Why announce your plan of attack ahead of time?
Why is McMaverick imitating Barry’s Isotoner strategy?
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 12:30 PM
I’ve been figuring he’s waiting for the right news cycle for this. No good dropping this bomb and both giving the press/Obama campaign time to react and having it overshadowed by the credit crisis.
Sekhmet on October 4, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Sekhmet on October 4, 2008 at 12:30 PM
God I hope you’re right!
red131 on October 4, 2008 at 12:32 PM
So would the democrats because that would mean the MSM biography of Obama would be the accepted one on election day. What Obama wants to do is important, but who he is and why he wants to do is more important, I believe.
Spirit of 1776 on October 4, 2008 at 12:32 PM
I love this announce your strategy to the press strategy… it’s looks to be a sure winner…
ninjapirate on October 4, 2008 at 12:34 PM
The sex-ed backfired because of the MSM water carrying though. No overglossing with these ads please, McCain
lodge on October 4, 2008 at 12:34 PM
I know McCain is a fighter, but he’s also a stubborn old guy. His biggest error — believing in bipartisan efforts. The financial crisis is fair game. Obama’s dirty past and associations is fair game. Obama’s church is fair game. Obama’s left voting is fair game. Trying to be above the noise and not going on the attack has squandered the small lead Mac had coming out of the convention. Pulling punches has kept him from unleashing on Obama. He’s kept Palin under tight wraps. He’s a gentleman. Well great. With the democrats no gentleman is respected. It’s time for McCain to take it to the enemy.
hestrold on October 4, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Our hero’s here, it’s Alec Baldwin? http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/10/04/baldwin-blames-financial-crisis-clinton-dems-barney-frank
Tazz 55 on October 4, 2008 at 12:35 PM
I hope it’s true. Its about damned time.
I hope it’s not “too little, too late.”
Star20 on October 4, 2008 at 12:37 PM
I sense a disturbance in the Force, Master Allah. It appears the Jedi have not all been extinguished.
ManlyRash on October 4, 2008 at 12:38 PM
Was just about to post it but you got it first. As I watched the video, I thought I was in an alternate universe. Baldwin states the case better than we are….sad.
Pianobuff on October 4, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Increasingly desperate and falling in the polls…You pick the rest
It is too late.
tomas on October 4, 2008 at 12:41 PM
Perhaps a campaign of misinformation before the actual attack. Eisenhower had Hitler convinced that we’d be invading France at Calais. We’ll see.
ManlyRash on October 4, 2008 at 12:41 PM
Ed,
I think the root cause of the financial crisis can be communicated, but do you think it can be done in a way that is easily understood by the target group? It’s pretty complicated and I think it’s an all or nothing strategy that will required a tiered approach. 1st to establish that FM and FM are the main culprits and the dems who blocked the efforts to stop it. Then move on to Obama’s associations with FM & FM. A person has to believe the first before he gives the second the attention it needs. I don’t think that can be done with ads over a week of exposure. You’d have to poll to see if a majority have understood the reasons and if so, you could move to stage two of associating Obama to FM & FM.
csdeven on October 4, 2008 at 12:41 PM
I think this phrase represents a problem I have with the McCain camp.
This isn’t a boxing match; this is war.
They need to destroy the enemy.
McCain doesn’t appear to understand how the press, the DNC, and the international socialist movement operates. They intend to completely obliterate the enemy, while he gives the impression that he’s in a friendly game of horseshoes and whoever wins buys the beer.
Saltysam on October 4, 2008 at 12:41 PM
Go after everything …
Go after Obama’s radical and criminal associates
Go after ACORN and tie the democrats to them and the credit fiasco
Go after Obama’s campaign money, up to 200 million in potentailly illegal contributions including foreign money
Go after Obama’s Gestapo tactics in dealing with his critics
Go after everything …
darwin on October 4, 2008 at 12:42 PM
Exactly!
newton on October 4, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Great, NOW McCains imitating Barry’s Isotoner moments.
“Okay, I’m taking the gloves off now! I really mean it! And just to prove it; HERE’S EXACTLY WHAT I’M GOING TO DO. First, I’m going for the right side of your jaw. Then, I’m going to try a series of upper-cuts to your chin. Then I’m going to concentrate on your abs. THEN, I’m going for a round-house to your kidneys. Got that? That’s the plan! I warned ya! Now then, ON-GUARD SIR!”
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Thank God our nation hasn’t had to rely on defeastist p*ssies like tomas and lorien for our survival.
“it’s too late” “if he doesn’t write exactly the ad I would make, he’s toast”
If you guys are such dedicated election experts, why don’t you raise money and produce your perfect ads yourselves?
funky chicken on October 4, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Assigned reading:
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NTRmYzJkMmZkN2U2MDY4NmIwZTdlZTk5YzY5NTU1OTc=
BuckeyeSam on October 4, 2008 at 12:46 PM
OTOH…remember the scene from True Lies where Ahnold and Jamie Curtis are trussed up awaiting torture and Ahnold explains to the guy getting ready to torture him precisely how he is going to kill him and precisely how he is going to escape – and then does precisely that?
Let’s wait and see what happens.
ManlyRash on October 4, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Two options here: either the operative is a mole, or he has been instructed to give erroneous information. O/w, the guy would give his name.
If he is a mole, take him out! F*** your bipartisan credentials, John, this is war!
PattyJ on October 4, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Obama is a lying sack-of-shit, far-left communist scumbag, with a manure pile of criminal connections from one of the most politically corrupt cities in the country. He has lied so often about his ever-changing positions, that no web-site is able to fully compile a comprehensive list of his ever-growing deceptions.
So why is this guy EVEN in the game, much less leading?
Because McMaverick is not serious about his campaign.
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 12:49 PM
It doesn’t matter what McCain does. The RINO wing of the republican party ensured their man would get nominated by front loading open liberal ballot states in the primaries which allowed democrats to pick their opponent. McCain is an ill-tempered old man with one foot in the grave and a legislation record not that much different than Ted Kennedy’s. He is not a conservative and delights in flipping the bird to the conservatives who USED TO BE the backbone of the republican. He has democrats and an infamous Mexican on his campaign staff and says he will have democrats on in his cabinet if elected. I am convinced that some of them are trying to get him to loose. He has not learned any of the lessons of El Presidente Bush. When the person who preceded you loaded up all areas and high positions of the govt with hacks from his own party, you had better clean up that mess or it will bite you in the ass. You can put a rattlesnake in your pocket and expect him to thank you for it.
RINO’s have ruined this election long before this point. “Hold your nose and vote for our guy!” is not an election winning slogan.
Bikerken on October 4, 2008 at 12:50 PM
http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/research/speech%20arena.htm
read the whole speech
funky chicken on October 4, 2008 at 12:50 PM
Actually, I’m not sure that he has. I think that reading represents the McCain campaign’s recasting of his campaign message: “Oh, change? Well, in politics, that’s called ‘reform.’ Sure. let’s talk about reform: we have it in our records, and you don’t.” Really brilliant.
But I don’t think ‘reform’ is what the Big O ever meant by “change.” I think he meant “regime change of the Bush administration,” but said in a less clear way. That reading would also help explain why the Obama campaign clings (heh) to the strategy of painting their opponents as just like George Bush, in the face of massive evidence to the contrary. It’s part of the designed-in narrative of the campaign, almost certainly from long before McCain was nominated, and they’re just not nimble or smart enough to adjust it to a reality they didn’t expect. So you have the gobsmacking specter of O-bots calling McCain “McSame” (witty, they’re not. bitter, yes.), and saying that Palin is “more of the same.”
This analysis is also consistent with the vapid and otherwise meaningless slogan “we are the change we’ve been waiting for.” In other words, the change O offers is that he gets power.
Splunge on October 4, 2008 at 12:50 PM
The media is playing the “name that party” game on a grand scale… notice how few mentions there are of either party in news stories about the credit crisis on NPR, for example. Everything is so bipartisan it is sickening. The public is being allowed to assume blame lies with Bush, and that Congress has ridden to the rescue, lead by Barney Frank. McCain cannot ignore the economy and allow the media and the Democrats control the message on it.
Specifically, Barney Frank has got to be pilloried as the ultimate in Democrat hypocrisy, and the blame for this credit crisis has to be laid where it came from – Democrats trying to buy votes and radicals trying to radicalize society.
drunyan8315 on October 4, 2008 at 12:51 PM
Drinking this early Manly?
I know it’s been rough, but damn……….
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 12:51 PM
Hopefully, its a tactic of initiating an action while observing the enemy’s troop movement reactions, and help them move into the optimal zone and condition for decimation.
Saltysam on October 4, 2008 at 12:51 PM
When I got my ticket to go to the Palin rally today it said the response has been overwhelming and no more than 5 people could go with the invite… That tells me a lot of s are going to be there but so I read the post about the Obama people…and at first I got scared but then I thought if I dont fight, show support and risk unpleasantness for what I believe, who will? So we’re still going…
CCRWM on October 4, 2008 at 12:51 PM
When I see those gloves come off, attack ads playing 24/7 in battleground states and McCain tearing Obama up in campaign speeches then I’ll change my tune.
If McCain demonstrates that he is willing to lead the base into battle and fight like hell to win, then I will push my way up to the front line of the fighting.
OTOH, if there is no fire in his belly and he has no real desire to win, then there is no point in going out to fight. Simple as that.
ManlyRash on October 4, 2008 at 12:52 PM
Given Barry’s performance in the first debate- THAT theory would NOT surprise me.
It’s either THAT, or McCain is trying to sink this.
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 12:53 PM
LOL. I’m either drinking way too much or not enough.
ManlyRash on October 4, 2008 at 12:53 PM
Which would mean that McMaverick is really NOT going to attack?
…..*sigh*……
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 12:54 PM
McCain/Palin need to start hammering both Oblahblah and Biden, on his associations, Biden’s gaffes, their connections to Fannie and Freddie, etc, and it can be done in contrast to McCain’s positions.
Do it now to knock them back on their heels, and keep them there through election day.
This bipartisan crap will only mean Oblahblah in the White House. McCain can tout all he wants how he puts the country first, but if he believes that, he needs to campaign so that he keeps Oblahblah out of the White House. What good is it to run some nicey-nice campaign if you lose, and the country loses by B’HO getting in?
Biden needs to be hammered on his $200 million to Iran thing, and his breaking up of Iraq. B’HO needs to be hammered on his connections to thugs.
Do it now because people are getting PO’d at the lack of fighting back!
91Veteran on October 4, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Thank you so much. I will read it.
terryannonline on October 4, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Hell has frozen over???
HawaiiLwyr on October 4, 2008 at 12:55 PM
Enough is Enough.
JiangxiDad on October 4, 2008 at 12:55 PM
McCain/Palin will win this election.
The polls are always more biased about the first of Oct. and they’re pretty biased the rest of the year.
The GOP better keep in mind though, if they’re not willing to give it their all, nobody else will give it to them.
Speakup on October 4, 2008 at 12:55 PM
Because of the complicity of the press.
Spirit of 1776 on October 4, 2008 at 12:55 PM
I’m glad I got elevated from a concerned christian conservative to a defeatist p*ssy. Thanks for that!
I’ve been making winning ads here for like a month now. I’ve been giving solid campaign advice for a month too.
Some of it, McCain has adopted – such as putting Palin in front of friendlier media, talk radio etc. you know, things they should have done from day 1.
I also called the “bipartisan” ad the mccain released the other day – though my version was like 100x better!
If McCain had followed my advice on the bailout, he’d be leading right now but he didn’t and he isn’t.
Call me defeatist if you want. I call McCain’s campaign incompetent. I just thank god palin rescued her future national career the other night.
If McCain won’t go after washington, attack “the most ethical congress ever” and go after obama on his only experience “community organizing” where he has no accomplishments at all; then he doesn’t deserve to win. And unless he does that, he’s a jerk off – who could have won this, but decided to play nice instead.
lorien1973 on October 4, 2008 at 12:55 PM
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Well, hopefully this is just a 48 hour tactic. Otherwise…the tea leaves seem rather ominous, I agree.
Saltysam on October 4, 2008 at 12:56 PM
I started paying attention to Obama when I first learned of Wright, and I’ve loathed both ever since. But we’re beyond Wright at this point; swing-state voters don’t care.
McCain may get some mileage out of Ayers, but he needs to tie Obama together with the way they blew a $100M grant to improve Chicago schools, and they accomplished nothing. That will hit home with suburban moms.
All the same, if McCain merely offers vague promises of “reforming Warshington,” he’s toast. He needs to create a poster of mugshots of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac enablers and vow, “Never again.” Voters are pissed, and they need a target. McCain was actually on the right side of this issue three years ago, and he’s letting the Dems steamroll him.
I guess he’s now doing whatever he can…to retain his Senate seat.
Poor Palin. She has to waste a month campaigning for this clown.
BuckeyeSam on October 4, 2008 at 12:57 PM
I just broke open my $500 bottle of 25 year old Macallan Scotch last night. This is going to be a very blurry week ahead.
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 12:57 PM
If McCain is trying to tank his own campaign I will spend the rest of my life sh!tting on him at every opportunity.
If he truly intends to win this and comes out fighting, then I will do everything I can to support him.
ManlyRash on October 4, 2008 at 12:58 PM
One thing I would really like to see is for McCain to label Obama a Communist. Explain that when looking at his childhood, friends, his platform, his career the only reasonable conclusion is that he is a Communist. Tie in both is parents were hardline Communists, Ayers maxist background, both as a friend/mentor and the Marxist tendencies of the board they both served on, Rev. Wright’s marxist theology that Obama listened to for 20 years, community organizers as Communist agitators, the fact that pretty much all of Obama’s platform would be part of a Communist Party platform, etc… Obama raised as a Communist, lived as a Communist, running on a Communist platform.
Buford on October 4, 2008 at 12:59 PM
fwiw, I think you get a lot of undeserved flak here.
JiangxiDad on October 4, 2008 at 12:59 PM
I agree.
….*cheers*….
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Well, I sure hope so,,,
There is a good chance in the intensity of the next four weeks we will see a political train wreck in the McCain campaign.
I hope I am wrong!
Yesterday, McCain mentioned, according to Rush, he will consider asking Al Gore to have an important part of his administration.
I guess, maybe,, I am just getting tired. I am tired of all the McCain’s, all the Bush’s and of all the Grahmnesty’s in life!
It is not because I believe John McCain can’t win,, but he will not win because he continues to be who he is. How could McCain have thought it would be a good thing to state four weeks before the election that he is considering placing Al Gore in his administration? Does he actually think such talk would fire up his base? Is he this clueless?
Yes, maybe, I am just weary. I have been doing my best remain positive. Each day after getting home from work,, I pick up my McCain yard sign that has been knocked down in my yard, and put it back up again. And what do I have to look forward to? Al Gore.
The straight talking McCain does not exist. John McCain has proven he will not name any Democrat names in the biggest government scam in the history of the United States. Why? Because there are no Republicans to name! And sadly, by voting for this so called bail out/rescue plan filled with pork,, he has already broken two of his biggest campaign promises before even reaching election day!
Naming names and elimination pork and earmarks!
John McCain also seems to be failing at understanding the serious threat an Obama Presidency would be to the security of America. Sarah Palin seems to understand it all too well.
The war hero,, John McCain,, who’s campaign slogan is “Putting Country First!” in the same kind of stubbornness he criticizes Bush for when he resisted increasing troop sizes in the war in Iraq,,, the same stubbornness he criticizes Obama about for not agreeing the surge worked,,, John McCain stubbornly refuses to argue the many realities, failures and dangers of Obama and the Democrats.
To all our peril!
If John is going to continue to be John by embracing hard core liberals like Al Gore while keeping his VP out of decisions like quiting the campaign in Michigan, Sarah Palin cannot possibly continue to be Sarah Palin without eventually coming head to head at some point with John McCain.
Sarah is out there trying to run the campaign that John McCain will not. The risks this will eventually lead to conflict with the “non-partisan” McCain, like two trains heading in the opposite direction, is very great.
Some party hack posing as a journalist somewhere is going to get a clue and question John about Sarah saying conservative ideal “A” “B” or “C” as he claims to want to reach across the aisle and put party politics aside!
Sarah Palin told the nation Thurs. night that she and John McCain were coming to Washington to get things right,, to do the straight talk,, she told America she was not like the Washington insiders and couldn’t understand the way “they” spoke,, and she stepped out and once again re-energized McCain’s campaign by pledging to America “Never again!”
And how did McCain repay her?? By embracing Al Gore as a possible addition to his administration while pulling resources out of Michigan! All this after Sarah Palin stepped out and told the nation she could not accept the entire “man causes global warming” argument.
Sarah is not only the real maverick on the ticket, she is the only one with real conservative principles. Ones she has said she will not compromise on.
John McCain, though a true war hero, is a compromising half Democrat who’s greatest virtue is his willingness to undercut Republicans and side with Democrats. Compromising with Democrats is his principles!
At some future point, while Sarah is out rallying the base and energizing the campaign, running the campaign he refuses to, speaking conservative principles and naming the Democrat names John won’t,,, John McCain may eventually convince himself before November 4th, that his greatest public act of bipartisanship, equal only to the suspension of his campaign, will be to undercut and correct his own VP publicly on her very real conservative principles!
The inevitable coming wreck of two trains heading in opposite directions!
And yes, I hope I am the one wrong!
I end this large post with this,, after today, I have had my rant. I will forget about this vent and go back to getting fired up! I will plug on replacing my McCain/Palin yard sign back into it’s proper position after punk Obama thugs keep knocking it down!
I pledge to be positive! I’m gonna shout! I’m gonna cheer!
In fact, I’ll even start now! God bless ya, John McCain! And God bless Sarah Palin! And God bless America!
JellyToast on October 4, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Keep the gloves on and cut his nuts off Jesse-style.
People who are shown info about Obama helping to cause the financial crisis are shocked. They had no idea that was even theoretically possible, but when it sinks in they finally have an inkling of what America’s Mystery Man has been up to all the years of his life when nobody was paying attention. Then the thought of rewarding him with the Presidency to do more damage makes them ill.
But the longer McCain waits after calling off his campaign to address the mess, the more it will look desperate and unbelievable. They’ll also wonder why he didn’t say earlier he was returning to D.C. to help clean up the results of Dem corruption.
econavenger on October 4, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Colloquially expressed, but essentially correct.
ManlyRash on October 4, 2008 at 1:00 PM
John McCain: the first presidential candidate more concerned with his Senate seat.
BuckeyeSam on October 4, 2008 at 1:01 PM
Yep. Add it all up, including this Isotoner moment;
McCain’s trying to roll over.
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 1:01 PM
A good way to do this would be to run an ad saying the bailout was needed because of lack of regulation/oversight from Congress, point out Oblahblah’s connections to why Fannie failed, and unless the people want to see bailouts every year, McCain needs to be sent to the White House to fix it.
How will it change if B’HO is hoping to benefit from it?
91Veteran on October 4, 2008 at 1:01 PM
As a political science major at Columbia University, Obama would have been STRONGLY ADVISED to take classes in socioloty. Richard Andrew Cloward was a professor of sociology there until he died. Cloward is the guy who said the way to install communism in America is through agitation leading up to a visible crisis – which Obama started to do from the very beginning, leading right up to the financial crisis now.
Everything this guy has done since his time at Columbia fits the Cloward-Piven model. He doesn’t want to talk about his lawyer experience because it was filing lawsuits for ACORN, to institute widespread voter fraud and affirmative action subprime lending. Voter fraud is the sabotage of democracy, affirmative subprime lending sabotage of the free market – both of which were targets in the Cloward-Piven model for instituting communism.
The path of Obama’s career from the very beginning until now paints a picture just as incriminating as the people he did it with. Once you’ve seen the master plan of Cloward-Piven it all makes sense.
We’ve got to make Cloward-Piven a household word.
justincase on October 4, 2008 at 1:02 PM
Communism. Like socialism. Is just a word.
You have to explain the problem.
If Republicans cannot make a good case against socialist policies; then they have bigger problems than I thought.
lorien1973 on October 4, 2008 at 1:02 PM
..otherwise, he’d be down by 20 points.
It’s Alice in Wonderland.
Saltysam on October 4, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Faster, please.
CP on October 4, 2008 at 1:03 PM
I find it hard to believe that a man who stood up to 5 1/2 years of North Vietnamese cruelty will loose the biggest (and perhaps last) election of his life lying down.
tgharris on October 4, 2008 at 1:04 PM
McCain is trying to give a half-assed impression that he’s going down swinging.
He’s had chance after chance to put this piece of shit away. And no BETTER chance than this DEMOCRAT SCANDAL of a housing crisis.
Think about it; McCain could have easily defeated Barry on his strongest issue- the economy.
Now let that reality set in kids…….and then get back to me.
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 1:05 PM
I haven’t got the slightest idea who is gonna win. It looked bleak for Bush in the final days of 2000. But I will say that if McCain loses as a result of what is characterized as a lackluster campaign loaded with Senatorial good manners, and actually helps usher in an Obama presidency, his name will be mud forever.
He will be forgiven for losing this battle honorably, but he must fight tooth and nail to win it. He owes us that for seeking the nomination.
JiangxiDad on October 4, 2008 at 1:06 PM
I’m also hoping it plays out something like this (the actor even kinda looks like a young McCain, although in real life he was quite a leftist, as I recall):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v325wdgoFH4
I was beginning to think that the Republican Party had decided that holding political power was unimportant. Perhaps I was wrong.
venividivici on October 4, 2008 at 1:06 PM
This is more true than anyone realizes.
Pelosi said there would be no witch hunts about fannie mae. If a republican or republicans were at the heart of this, would she have said this? Of course.
They know its a democrat problem. And a huge democrat problem.
That McCain hasn’t attacked it, is frankly, quite stunning
lorien1973 on October 4, 2008 at 1:06 PM
And last but not least he has to tie it all together with an attack on the earmark sludge that DC has become–both parties. He can have a field day with Obama and cohorts as regards donations from Fannie, Freddie and AIG with Obama’s extraordinary talent to take more money in four years than others have gotten in 30. Which in turn led to lack of or resistance to regulation that McCain wanted.
He must stress that this bailout we all were forced to support and swallow was from the policies championed by Obama and his fellow partisans, Pelosi, Frank and Dodd.
McCain can do all this without being bullying. He is simply restating the facts. He has to do it everyday until the election. On every news show, TV appearance, AD, editorial page. Fox news has got to help him led by Brit Hume. They must run exposes on Obama and friends and all their deeds and votes.
McCain and Palin must run against DC including both parties. They must use this horrible bailout to harness the public outrage. McCain alone can do this because he has the least amount of “stank” on him from the sewer that runs through DC.
Despite his warts McCain is our last hope for any kind of reform in DC. He has to figuratively scream at the US public and ask, “when are you finally going to have had enough”, if not now when?
patrick neid on October 4, 2008 at 1:07 PM
I knew Albert Einstein, McCain’s…
Ahhhh, forget it.
Saltysam on October 4, 2008 at 1:07 PM
No harder to believe than the fact that HE, is the best the Republican Party to do this election.
Now about those Dems who were voting in the Republican Primary…………..does anybody remember that?…….
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 1:07 PM
I agree with everything you said. I too am fed up with hearing its Wall Street’s fault, without any mention of the crap going on at Fannie that caused such destabilization throughout the entire financial sector.
Worried about your 401k? Well, it tanked because lenders were forced into loaning money to people without qualification.
91Veteran on October 4, 2008 at 1:08 PM
There. Fixed it for ya.
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 1:09 PM
Al Gore is the epitome of evil. If McCain evens dares repeat this I will not vote for him. This is ridiculous. AlGore and all the money behind him has unleashed a scam like no other.
No way I’ll vote for McCain.
darwin on October 4, 2008 at 1:09 PM
McCain has to take off his gloves and stop being a “nice” guy. In a street fight, NICE GUYS LOSE”!!!!
bucko36 on October 4, 2008 at 1:10 PM
Excuse me a second… The One was waaaaaay up in the polls and McCain ran the “Paris Hilton” ad… really a nothing, teensy weensy jab and then picked Palin as his running mate. The polls reversed in a week… The One dropped like a rock and McCain rose.
The press has done their best to point out how “Obama is better than McCain on the economy” and have we’ve just had a TRILLION DOLLAR BAILOUT. Which is a bigger event? Paris & Palin or a trillion dollars? Obama’s campaign is a true house of cards. If Paris can blow it over so easily, I suspect that when the heavy duty ads start showing up, you will see the political train wreck you mention, but it won’t be the McCain campaign.
CC
CapedConservative on October 4, 2008 at 1:10 PM
Seriously, can we enlist Romney or even Hillary at this point?
After all, the GOP candidate has always been nothing but an anti-Obama candidate anyway.
Mitt critics can scream all they want. After what he did with the Salt Lake City Olympics, I don’t think there’s any politician Americans would rather see in the driver’s seat of the economy than Mitt aside from, say, Bloomberg. Screw national security credentials, nobody cares about it right now anyway.
At a minimum, announce some cabinet positions. Do something, something other than talk about earmarks and keeping the tax rate down for wealthy people. I understand the argument, but the middle 20% doesn’t.
Again, anyone for Mitt?
BuckeyeSam on October 4, 2008 at 1:10 PM
There’s no way McCain’s TRYING to lose this. Get real, guys. This kind of talk isn’t helping anybody even if it feels good. It won’t feel good when Obama’s in there instituting communism and taking away our guns and free speech. The Islamist (Louis Farrakhan, CAIR, etc) agenda and the communist (Ayers, Alinsky, Cloward-Priven)agenda meet in Barack Obama. If anybody thinks McCain isn’t hitting hard enough, contact his office and remind them (or teach them) what’s at stake here.
A lot of the hard hitting has to come from us. We need to find a voice other than talk radio that will reach the ears of people who don’t listen to talk radio.
justincase on October 4, 2008 at 1:11 PM
I’ve done this. I’ve called the Tampa office of his campaign. They said that McCain plays the bipartisan angle and feels that’s his key to victory.
Isn’t that sweet?
lorien1973 on October 4, 2008 at 1:12 PM
Let’s ask Al Gore what he thinks.
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 1:13 PM
OT
The Daily Show “Senior Black Correspondent“ makes case that McCain is the only black man running for POTUS
Chimpy on October 4, 2008 at 1:13 PM
Ah….so he really doesn’t want us to STAND UP AND FIGHT WITH HIM! STAND UP AND FIGHT! STAND UP!
FiveWays on October 4, 2008 at 1:15 PM
He’s gotta slam Congress, as well as Barry HO.
Iblis on October 4, 2008 at 1:16 PM
WE need to come up with an ad that makes Cloward-Piven a household word. It can’t come from McCain. Anybody know what groups are making ads that could get on top of this?
justincase on October 4, 2008 at 1:16 PM
McCain has to make Fannie and Freddie enablers Public Enemies #1 through #? Name and names and convince the Americans that the only thing stemming the tide is wedging McCain-Palin into the White House. Frank’s district in Massachusetts will return him in January, and Dodd’s Connecticut will return him whenever he’s up for election. And McCain should promise that one of Palin’s primary duties will be to hound these two clowns and their committees and to expose any monkey business.
BuckeyeSam on October 4, 2008 at 1:16 PM
justincase on October 4, 2008 at 1:11 PM
And what do you suggest? I have been contacting McCain, even called my state, county and local R offices and told them the same thing. All they tell me is that I am one of many voicing my concern??
red131 on October 4, 2008 at 1:17 PM
The problem with the McCain campaign is that they’re is no will to action behind his policies… it’s all “Hey, I’m a reformer”…
ninjapirate on October 4, 2008 at 1:18 PM
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