Comments on: GOP in turmoil: McCain defends Obama, Palin hit by troopergate

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:33:52 +0000

He made a mistake putting her on the ticket. They don’t have the same political values from what I can see. She lit the fire he is now trying to put out.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:09:48 +0000

McSame lost whatever honor he had long ago.(Confederate flag, kissin up to the Falwells, voting for torture, etc.etc.)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:17:40 +0000

I have to agree with Pratagmus and Guy here. I’d believe that McCain let his crowds get out of control and rowdy to the point where the Secret Service had to investigate at one time. The responsibility is with the canidate to urge the crowd to maintain restraint, but both Palin and McCain chose to d absolutely nothing until the press increased its reporting on the hateful, ignorant crowds, making it clear that the campaign was stoking hateful demonstrations.
As a candidate, McCain has the influence to try to rein his crowds in, but he did it only when the press called out on him not because of his desire to preserve what remains of his honor. Because if Palin and he kept feeding the base nasty attack lines like “palling around with terrorists” it subtly confirms for the crowds that Obama may be a terrorist o has been associated with terrorists. The crowd has the right to feel angry when incited by such language palin used, and Palin is entirely responsible for some of the negative energy. And McCain has the authority to control and overrule everything is campaign does, but he chose to let the campaign control him at times.

By: Pragmatus

Pragmatus — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:18:11 +0000

Ooh, I hate to be the one picking the nits–but McCain did not try to “reign” but “rein” the crowd in. Reins are something used to control a horse, thus when one attempts to control something he tries to “rein” it in.

The basic point however is that McCain was thoroughly guilty of trying to whip up the worst kind of frenzy against Obama, and it was only the widespread outrage this provoked that caused him to backpedal so furiously. It can successfully be argued that at one time John McCain stood for a certain kind of honor in politics. That man, sadly, is no more.

By: Guy

Guy — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:12:18 +0000

McCain chose his campaign staff and approved the strategy and ads. He is to blame for the tone of his campaign. His “ambition” is to blame.

By: zoot

zoot — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:33:02 +0000

One of the things that may have affected his campaign strategy is his clear personal dislike for Obama. This goes back at least to the kerfuffle over the governmental ethics reform effort, resulting in his nasty, personalized letter to Obama when he concluded that Obama pulled the rug out from under him. Who knows?

But if you just don’t like the person you’re running against, it becomes a little easier to subordinate your better instincts to the desire to take a whack at him. Had Clinton been the nominee, mcCain likely wouldn’t have authorized these highly personal attacks on her, although the GOP haters would have been sent into a frenzy.

Putting it all together, I feel that he didn’t realize how close to the abyss his personal animus was taking him until someone pulled him up short and told him how dangerous this had become.

By: dsimon

dsimon — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:01:52 +0000

this very negative campaign is not the one McCain wanted to run.

I’m not so sure about that. Among his early commercials were “One,” mocking Obama’s popularity, and “Celebrity,” questioning Obama’s ability to lead with vague innuendos and without any factual support. These were not high-minded discussions of issues; they were personal attacks.

It seems to me that McCain went negative early. I’d like to think that the negative portions of his campaign have unintentionally overwhelmed his planned positive aspects, but I’m not sure that’s the case given the people he hired–the legacies of Atwater and Rove.

He’s John McCain, and he approved those messages.

By: drg3750

drg3750 — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:13:41 +0000

I think it is tragic what has happened to the McCain campaign. He is now trying hard to dial back the hatred before it destroys his candidacy. It is just one more piece of evidence that he has squandered would COULD have been his election. He merely had to find someone who was acceptable to the base, get through the convention, then do a swift move to the center, completely distance himself from Bush, and the election would have been his. Instead, he pandered to the base, then resorted to the meanest tactics to question Obama’s character. We have been led down this road before by Karl Rove. In this financial crisis, it is a political death-wish.

I feel sorry for McCain if he is now finally seeing the light. But my fellow prisoners, it’s too late to see him or Sara bringing badly wounded country together again. He’s toast.

By: fritz

fritz — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:34:51 +0000

I agree with Zoot that this very negative campaign is not the one McCain wanted to run. He can read the polls and see that the odds of him winning are about 5% and dropping and the only thing that can change that fact is an outside event in which a hard negitive campaign will not help him. His honor is everything to him and he may see that post campaign he will only be remembered for these unfare attacks.
Unfortunately his campaign managers are Rovians and there must be a huge conflict within the campaign.
I think Palin is fighting for her own future in 2112 and has no real loyality to McCain or his ideas; thus her unwillingness to conform to the McCain platform on issues she disagrees with. Even if McCain abandons these negitive tactics she may not stay on the new message for her own political advantage, such as it is.
But as Zoot says :
“Probably wishful thinking, however….”

By: zoot

zoot — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:09:55 +0000

I’m not sure we’ll ever know, but McCain has had historical ties to more moderate figures in the GOP - Simpson, Danforth, Rudman, etc. I wonder if they got the word to him that the one worse thing than losing the vote is losing your honor in the process. That’s a major issue for him, as we’ve seen.

The rabble that have shown up at the most recent rallies are not people he’s naturally comfortable with, more like the lineal descendants of the George Wallace campaign. Several commentators have observed that he doesn’t look at all comfortable delivering the garbage that Davis and Schmidt prepare for him. The one good thing about his impetuous personality is that he’s equally willing to lash out at them if he thinks they’re wrong.

Probably wishful thinking, however….