Mccain Deserves Some Credit

[shecky]

But could he have gotten nominated?

Probably. He'd been able to milk his largely self anointed maverick image until after he got the nomination.

His problem was a fundamental disappointment among the populace with the GOP overall. He started out behind, and hasn't really caught up. Particularly baffling was his support during the primaries by anti war independents, presumably still a little bit enamored with his maverick image to realize that he was not the anti war candidate. Both these things were bound to conspire against him, the first haunting any GOP candidate, the second haunting him in particular.

As far as deserving credit, I'm pretty cynical about that. Wright was been floated before, and never really gained traction. If McCain were to push that up again, it would only reinforce his negatives and play up his desperation, with a story we've already heard, and largely don't care about. Plus, as mentioned, it would open up the gate to his own and Palin's shaky religious associations.

I think Obama's smartest move has been to keep quiet and let McCain hang himself. McCain has a long history of nastiness and impulsive behavior that was bound to show up under the scrutiny of a Presidential campaign. This allowed Obama to largely stick to the high road, where McCain couldn't quite afford such a luxury. It does appear to me that Obama's confident, yet mild mannered persona is a huge contrast and probably the key to his success as a politician.

 

[Tricky]

He's stuck to his pledge of not brining up Rev Wright. He clearly has nothing to lose at this point, and conservative pundits have been itching for it to be raised (including his "diva" V.P.), but Mccain has stuck to his guns. I give him props for that.

Oh well, I suppose it would have been naive to expect McCain to have stuck to this pledge until the end.

The Republican Party of Pennsylvania launched a last-minute television ad that calls attention to Barack Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Oh yeah. It's not McCain. It's the GOP of Pennsylvania. So he could still disavow the ad. I ain't holdin' my breath.

 

[hgc]

Was that supposed to be combined with the age discrimination memes embedded in the message from the Obama camp?

DR

A candidate's physical fitness for office is a valid campaign issue. Besides the fact that I wouldn't support McCain for the usual political reasons, if I were inclined to support him, I would have concerns about his age. That is severely exacerbated by his selection of a historically unqualified VP running mate.

 

[TheJim]

McCain does not deserves any credit at all. The only reason he has not brought up Wright is it might damage his other message that Obama is a evil mulslin (spelled the McCain supporter way) that pals around with terrorists. To bring up Wright is to remind people that Obama is a Christian.

And this is the real McCain, a vindictive prick it was the 2000 version that was the mirage. The guy holds grudges like no one else in Washington yet is the neediest person to ever run for president. If only his dad gave him a hug.