Troopergate/Ayers reaction: the old McCain shines through.

[EGarrett]

Obama has really poor judgement in the people he associates with, and no-one has ever questioned him on it before.

 

[Upchurch]

FactCheck.org: "He Lied" About Bill Ayers?

In a TV ad, McCain says Obama "lied" about his association with William Ayers, a former bomb-setting, anti-war radical from the 1960s and '70s. We find McCain's claim to be groundless. New details have recently come to light, but nothing Obama said previously has been shown to be false.

In a Web ad and in repeated attacks from the stump, McCain describes the two as associates, and Palin claims they "pal around" together. But so far as is known, their relationship was never very close. An Obama spokesman says they last saw each other in a chance encounter on the street more than a year ago.

Not that it will sway anyone that is convinced McCain's assertion about Obama and Ayers is true, but FWIW.

 

[pgwenthold]

I wonder, how much of this "change of heart" from McCain is coming from Obama and Biden absolutely daring him to bring up Ayers and Wright at the debate? They certainly threw out the challenge. Now it looks like he won't go there. Did he think that he had to defuse the problem before the debate because he knew he couldn't pull it off?

 

[T.A.M.]

IIRC at a recent town hall event, McCain Pledged to the audience to just that (bring it up at the next debate).

We will see if he was telling the truth, or if he lied.

TAM

 

[Magyar]

Quite possible that McCain realizes he's going to lose, and that he really does care about the country. He's right about an Obama Presidency not being something to fear, and I respect him saying it. At this point it's clear to me that Obama's going to win barring something crazy happening. He's going to have a lot of problems to deal with. I certainly don't envy him. I just hope he governs from the center, because if he doesn't the honeymoon may not last long. It may be better for the Republicans if Obama is a disaster as President, but I can't in good conscience hope for that.

You know I was wondering about something. At this point, both candidates have secret service protection. In light of the dingbats comments about "Obama is an Arab" and "not an American" Along with the crap about "kill him" I am wondering if the secret service actually could/would/did step in and tell McCain to stuff it, because I just simply DON'T buy the change of heart routine.

 

[T.A.M.]

Like I have said before, I am far, far from an expert on McCain. I suspect, however, that it may have been done for one or more of many reasons...

1. Fear for his legacy.
2. Genuine Discontent with the tone.
3. Genuine Fear for things getting out of hand
4. Heavyhandedness from the SS
5. No results obtained from it, as seen in polls
6. McCain's continued erratic behavior (which is most likely a result of his campaign people and their erratic behavior)

TAM

 

[MattusMaximus]

Like I have said before, I am far, far from an expert on McCain. I suspect, however, that it may have been done for one or more of many reasons...

1. Fear for his legacy.
2. Genuine Discontent with the tone.
3. Genuine Fear for things getting out of hand
4. Heavyhandedness from the SS
5. No results obtained from it, as seen in polls
6. McCain's continued erratic behavior (which is most likely a result of his campaign people and their erratic behavior)

TAM

I'm going to (perhaps naively) give McCain the benefit of the doubt and go with 1-3 unless I see something which leads me to believe otherwise.