Troopergate/Ayers reaction: the old McCain shines through.

[bozothedeathmachine]

Linkeroo

As I'm sure everyone will agree, the McCain seen lately is not the same as the '08 primaries McCain and a far, far cry from 2000 McCain. He seemed to drink the Koolaid a couple of months ago and really go off the tracks. However, in response Palin rolling out the Ayers thing and turning the base Republicans into a (hopefully-not-literal) lynch mob, the old McCain shone through a bit.

After a week in which he and Palin fiercely attacked Obama and inflamed supporters by urging them to question his fitness to be president, McCain switched to a milder tone, calling on frustrated loyalists to respect the Illinois senator.

Supporters appeared surprised by his conciliatory approach, booing at a Minneapolis rally when he told a skeptical backer that Obama was a "decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared (of) as president of the United States."

I'm of the opinion that the more Obama widens the lead the win-at-any-cost mentatlity is going to fade and McCain will realize he turned into something he hates and try to salvage some character.

Note: I am talking of McCain, the man. Not the McCain campaign, who will continue the same tactics until Johnny walks into HQ with a baseball bat commanding them to stop.

 

[Oliver]

Concerning McCain's milder tone and the mob:

Video: McCain booed by rabid supporters for defending Obama as a "decent person"

ETA:

 

[Puppycow]

I basically agree with the OP.

"cohorts with terrorists"

Please learn the English language sir. Must be a foreigner.

And the woman. An arab? I suppose she's conflating arab with muslim. What a peice of work.

Anyway, McCain did a lot to rehabilitate himself there, IMO. He doesn't get my vote, but he does keep my respect.

 

[Oliver]

Concerning the OP's point that Obama widens the lead:
In contrast to McCain self-destructing smears, he's actually doing it with a lot of class...

 

[HereticHulk]

And the woman. An arab? I suppose she's conflating arab with muslim. What a peice of work.

Anyway, McCain did a lot to rehabilitate himself there, IMO. He doesn't get my vote, but he does keep my respect.

I think McCain's response was as good as someone from their generation could be. But the meme was still reinforced, even w/ McCain's attempt to be a statesman.


'No mam, he is not an arab (Muslim), he is a respectful family man.' That basically implies that arab's or muslim's cannot be respectful family men.

Just sayin'.

 

[not_so_new]

I basically agree with the OP.

"cohorts with terrorists"

Please learn the English language sir. Must be a foreigner.

And the woman. An arab? I suppose she's conflating arab with muslim. What a piece of work.

Anyway, McCain did a lot to rehabilitate himself there, IMO. He doesn't get my vote, but he does keep my respect.

Well.... respect is a funny thing with me.

It takes a while to get it. If you have my respect it's going to take a little to lose it. I am wiling to cut you a little slack if you already have my respect but you have to get back to walking the walking pretty quickly.

If you do lose my respect you are going to have to work twice as hard to gain it back a second time.

A few passing sentences at a rally where McCain attempts to back track a few paces on the EXTREMELY negative campaign of the last 4 or 5 months and the especially negative campaign of the last few weeks will not go far enough to win back my respect.

Sorry, I think it is a good start for McCain and I do think that he is NOT happy with this style of campaign (he shows that by not doing a particularly good job of it) but he has a long way to go before he is the McCain of old in my eyes.

Nope, I still do not have respect for McCain. He has lost it and needs to do a WHOLE lot more to gain it back again. I don't see that happening but I would be VERY happy to be wrong.

 

[MattusMaximus]

McCain has finally taken a step in the right direction on this insanity. I think he finally realizes that his campaign's actions are contributing to a dangerous climate - good for him.

However, Sarah Palin is still going on and on about it at her speaking events. He needs to rein her in on this crap. And he needs to keep reinforcing it continually every time he speaks.

Politically though, he's finished. The fact of the matter is that by him coming out and speaking directly against the lies that "Obama is a terrorist/traitor/muslim/arab, etc" it will cost him - the hardcore base of the GOP has eaten this garbage up, and for McCain to openly disagree with them on it will be reflected in the vote on Election Day. His support among the base will likely drop as a result.

I feel that Sarah Palin is trying to throw McCain under the bus, so to speak. She's the real darling of the wingnut GOP crowd, and she's the one they really love to hear throw out this false, red-meat rhetoric. I think that she is trying to whip people up on purpose because she knows her ticket will likely lose in November. I think she's looking ahead - she probably sees herself as the new face of the GOP, and after the election McCain will be marginalized by his own party and she'll be a new rising star. She's thinking already about 2012, as are plenty of the hardcore nutters on the right, imo. And they (Palin and the nutters) will run with the "Obama's a terrorist" meme even after the election is finished - if anything, I think it'll get worse.

But though it is political suicide at this point, props to McCain for stepping up and doing the right thing. I just hope it isn't too little, too late - the "Obama's a terrorist" meme is already out there and evolving, and I fear that McCain has lost control of what is shaping up to be a potentially dangerous situation.

ETA: I still have little respect for McCain, because if he'd had any real sense of responsibility or decency, he never would have even allowed his campaign to contemplate this course of action in the first place. However, what he is doing now to alleviate the situation is a good attempt at redeeming himself - but he has a long way to go.

 

[EGarrett]

I made a post months ago claiming that McCain was the only candidate on either side who didn't give me douche chills...this is the guy who I was talking about. But now, he's made so many bad decisions, and is having the typical cornered-animal response to losing power (see: the left in the last 8 years)...and most of it went out the window.

I'm sorry, but he's run a horrible campaign, made irresponsible decisions and has shown that he's not ready for primetime as a presidential candidate.

 

[varwoche]

However, in response Palin rolling out the Ayers thing and turning the base Republicans into a (hopefully-not-literal) lynch mob, the old McCain shone through a bit.

I'm at a loss to see anything positive in McCain's phony statements which I interpret as damage control. It's the height of hypocrisy, seeing as the campaign is still stoking the same ugly sentiments.

As if Palin made the decision to roll out Ayers. Ya sure.

 

[dudalb]

I made a post months ago claiming that McCain was the only candidate on either side who didn't give me douche chills...this is the guy who I was talking about. But now, he's made so many bad decisions, and is having the typical cornered-animal response to losing power (see: the left in the last 8 years)...and most of it went out the window.

I'm sorry, but he's run a horrible campaign, made irresponsible decisions and has shown that he's not ready for primetime as a presidential candidate.

Sadly, I have to agree.
I think at one time he might have been ready to be President, but the longing for the White House got to him and he made his deal with the devil in the form of the right wing of the Republican Party.
I agree the rheteoric we are hearing at McCain rallies are no worse then what we have been hearing from the Left for the past eight years,but it is scary that the extremists at both end of the spectrum seem to be gaining power.
And some of what I am rading on this very forum makes me afraid;I see everything I disliked about the past eight years.....the arrogance, the total intolerence of the other side;the regarding of the other party not as opponents but as evil infidels to be destroyed by any means necessary...being displayed by the Left.

 

[Skeptic]

(Shrug)

The problem with this analysis is that when your guy says about the other guy that he's a traitor (or a secret Muslim, or whatever), then it's "getting tough" and "telling the truth the media doesn't want you to know"; while if the other guy says about your guy that he's a traitor (or whatever), then he's "desperate" and "out of control".

 

[Ausmerican]

(Shrug)

The problem with this analysis is that when your guy says about the other guy that he's a traitor (or a secret Muslim, or whatever), then it's "getting tough" and "telling the truth the media doesn't want you to know"; while if the other guy says about your guy that he's a traitor (or whatever), then he's "desperate" and "out of control".

Any examples of Obama calling McCain a traitor? Or attacking his character in any way comparably?
I would be honestly interested in hearing them.
Especially since BOTH candidates promised they were not going to run that sort of campaign at the outset.
I remember a lot of people looking forward to a campaign that would be polite and all about the issues because McCain and Obama were both honorable men that wouldn't stoop to Rovian smear tactics. Certainly not McCain who had those tactics used on him in 2000.

Many people here have an over reaction to McCain that is at least in part based on disappointment and disgust at the fall of a man they looked up to and thought honorable.

 

[varwoche]

And some of what I am rading on this very forum makes me afraid;I see everything I disliked about the past eight years.....the arrogance, the total intolerence of the other side;the regarding of the other party not as opponents but as evil infidels to be destroyed by any means necessary...being displayed by the Left.

What with hope springing eternal, I wonder if the day will come when you'll provide equivalent evidence supporting this vague, spam-like "rading" you post in thread after thread.

 

[EGarrett]

Sadly, I have to agree.
I think at one time he might have been ready to be President, but the longing for the White House got to him and he made his deal with the devil in the form of the right wing of the Republican Party.

That's probably true. I got the impression from the beginning of the Republican Primary that McCain's heart wasn't really in this one anyway. I'm not sure why, I think he may have missed several of the republican debates and never seemed to really put himself out there until after he started winning in the actual voting. Now, it looks like he got the nomination and didn't really know what to do. It looks very much like a basketball player choking in the big game...becoming hesitant, going outside his character, making moves that even the people in the 30th row of the stands know are bad...and so on.

I agree the rheteoric we are hearing at McCain rallies are no worse then what we have been hearing from the Left for the past eight years,but it is scary that the extremists at both end of the spectrum seem to be gaining power.

And some of what I am rading on this very forum makes me afraid;I see everything I disliked about the past eight years.....the arrogance, the total intolerence of the other side;the regarding of the other party not as opponents but as evil infidels to be destroyed by any means necessary...being displayed by the Left.

Yup, I hate to say it but I've noticed this same pattern whenever one side gets power for an extended period of time. Reagan is idolized by republicans and viciously hated by democrats (see: the Ronald Reagan death thread from several years ago). Then Clinton took over and we saw the reverse. Now Dubya caused the same thing...and it's already happening towards Obama and it's not even sure that he's going to be President yet.

BOMB OBAMA is the same frighteningly simple-minded partisan hatred as that boy who made a video threatening to kill W (remember that one?). And I think people in both parties owe it to the country to reign in the dangerous, small-minded fools at the extreme ends of their own group. Or, to just leave all political parties and declare themselves a moderate. It worked for me.

 

[Nogbad]

I saw that clip of McCain on the news and respect to the chap - it can't be easy taking boos from your own rallies. However, he did the right thing and if he does lose he at least retains his integrity.

 

[chipmunk stew]

Well.... respect is a funny thing with me.

It takes a while to get it. If you have my respect it's going to take a little to lose it. I am wiling to cut you a little slack if you already have my respect but you have to get back to walking the walking pretty quickly.

If you do lose my respect you are going to have to work twice as hard to gain it back a second time.

A few passing sentences at a rally where McCain attempts to back track a few paces on the EXTREMELY negative campaign of the last 4 or 5 months and the especially negative campaign of the last few weeks will not go far enough to win back my respect.

Sorry, I think it is a good start for McCain and I do think that he is NOT happy with this style of campaign (he shows that by not doing a particularly good job of it) but he has a long way to go before he is the McCain of old in my eyes.

Nope, I still do not have respect for McCain. He has lost it and needs to do a WHOLE lot more to gain it back again. I don't see that happening but I would be VERY happy to be wrong.

I agree. If he sits his campaign team down and tells them flat out that he's going to win with his honor intact or not win at all (and demonstrates his leadership by getting them to go along) then I'll respect him again.

 

[EGarrett]

I only wish we had more people on the other side willing to "take the microphone away" from those on their side when they go insane wishing death upon the President or Dick Cheney...or claiming they're dictators or worse than Hitler/Saddam/Bin Laden.

Anyway...I wonder if McCain's conscience got to him or if people in his campaign told him that he needed to do damage control on the rude curmudgeonism that he showed in the second debate? The first correction seemed like he went slightly out of his way to compliment Obama.

 

[chipmunk stew]

(Shrug)

The problem with this analysis is that when your guy says about the other guy that he's a traitor (or a secret Muslim, or whatever), then it's "getting tough" and "telling the truth the media doesn't want you to know"; while if the other guy says about your guy that he's a traitor (or whatever), then he's "desperate" and "out of control".

Name one Dem or Rep candidate in recent history prior to McCain-Palin who tried to paint his opponent as an enemy of the state. Third parties don't count. This one's coming from the ticket itself.

 

[chipmunk stew]

I only wish we had more people on the other side willing to "take the microphone away" from those on their side when they go insane wishing death upon the President or Dick Cheney...or claiming they're dictators or worse than Hitler/Saddam/Bin Laden.

Anyway...I wonder if McCain's conscience got to him or if people in his campaign told him that he needed to do damage control on the rude curmudgeonism that he showed in the second debate? The first correction seemed like he went slightly out of his way to compliment Obama.

It seemed like an ad-lib to me. I give him the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to conscience. He actually said you don't have to be scared of an Obama presidency. I can't imagine that was a political calculation! To me, it sounded almost like an admission of defeat.

 

[Whiplash]

Name one Dem or Rep candidate in recent history prior to McCain-Palin who tried to paint his opponent as an enemy of the state. Third parties don't count. This one's coming from the ticket itself.

No one on the right is trying to say that he's a an enemy of the state. That's pure spin and exaggeration. The question is whether Obama's actions with Ayres reflect negativley on his judgement, and whether that makes him questionable as a candidate for president.

His judgement in associating with a terrible criminal. Not that he's a terrorist himself. Come on already.

Ayres is a piece of garbage, and anyone with any sense should condemn what he did strongly. I hate to see that so many seem to think he's just not that big of a deal. He's the same as Timothy McVeigh. Just that he's on the left.

If McCain was in any way assocaited with someone who had bombed abortion clinics, even if it was 40 years ago, you guys would be going ape **** crazy about it, and you know it.