Convicted felon Tony Rezko. Unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. And the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It is hard to think of any presidential candidate before Barack Obama sporting associations with three more execrable characters. Yet let the McCain campaign raise the issue, and the mainstream media begin fulminating about dirty campaigning tinged with racism and McCarthyite guilt by association.
But associations are important. They provide a significant insight into character. They are particularly relevant in relation to a potential president as new, unknown, opaque and self-contained as Obama. With the economy overshadowing everything, it may be too late politically to be raising this issue. But that does not make it, as conventional wisdom holds, in any way illegitimate.
McCain has only himself to blame for the bad timing. He should months ago have begun challenging Obama's associations, before the economic meltdown allowed the Obama campaign (and the mainstream media, which is to say the same thing) to dismiss the charges as an act of desperation by the trailing candidate.
McCain had his chance back in April when the North Carolina Republican Party ran a gubernatorial campaign ad that included the linking of Obama with Jeremiah Wright. The ad was duly denounced by The New York Times and other deep thinkers as racist.
This was patently absurd. Racism is treating people differently and invidiously on the basis of race. Had any white presidential candidate had a close 20-year association with a white preacher overtly spreading race hatred from the pulpit, that candidate would have been not just universally denounced and deemed unfit for office but written out of polite society entirely.
Nonetheless, John McCain in his infinite wisdom, and with his overflowing sense of personal rectitude, joined the braying mob in denouncing that perfectly legitimate ad, saying it had no place in any campaign. In doing so, McCain unilaterally disarmed himself, rendering off-limits Obama's associations, an issue that even Hillary Clinton addressed more than once.
Obama's political career was launched with Ayers giving him a fundraiser in his living room. If a Republican candidate had launched his political career at the home of an abortion-clinic bomber -- even a repentant one -- he would not have been able to run for dogcatcher in Podunk. And Ayers shows no remorse. His only regret is that he "didn't do enough."
Why are these associations important? Do I think Obama is as corrupt as Rezko? Or shares Wright's angry racism or Ayers' unreconstructed 1960s radicalism?
No. But that does not make these associations irrelevant. They tell us two important things about Obama.
First, his cynicism and ruthlessness. He found these men useful, and use them he did. Would you attend a church whose pastor was spreading racial animosity from the pulpit? Would you even shake hands with -- let alone serve on two boards with -- an unrepentant terrorist, whether he bombed U.S. military installations or abortion clinics?
Most Americans would not, on the grounds of sheer indecency. Yet Obama did, if not out of conviction then out of expediency. He was a young man on the make, an unknown outsider working his way into Chicago politics. He played the game with everyone, without qualms and with obvious success.
Obama is not the first politician to rise through a corrupt political machine. But he is one of the rare few to then have the audacity to present himself as a transcendent healer, hovering above and bringing redemption to the "old politics" -- of the kind he had enthusiastically embraced in Chicago in the service of his own ambition.
Second, and even more disturbing than the cynicism, is the window these associations give on Obama's core beliefs. He doesn't share Rev. Wright's poisonous views of race nor Ayers' views, past and present, about the evil that is American society. But Obama clearly did not consider these views beyond the pale. For many years he swam easily and without protest in that fetid pond.
Until now. Today, on the threshold of the presidency, Obama concedes the odiousness of these associations, which is why he has severed them. But for the years in which he sat in Wright's pews and shared common purpose on boards with Ayers, Obama considered them a legitimate, indeed unremarkable, part of social discourse.
Do you? Obama is a man of first-class intellect and first-class temperament. But his character remains highly suspect. There is a difference between temperament and character. Equanimity is a virtue. Tolerance of the obscene is not.
I agree with this %100, Obama is a man of poor character, and it should have been pressed sooner. A lot of people are just now finding out about his terrorist ties, it will take mainstream media several months to catch up, by then it will be too late.
The McCain/Palin ticket is the first in American history in which both candidates were found to have violated ethics standards before a national election.
McCain, of course, was admonished by Senate Ethics Committee "for exercising 'poor judgment' for intervening" with federal regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, as part of the infamous Keating Five scandal.
Republicans across America are running for cover. The rats are fleeing the sinking ship and one of the big rats, Bill Kristol, jumped overboard today in his NY Times column. Of course, under the leadership of the GOP brain trust, including Bill Kristol, the whole country has been sinking. But, Kristol isn't doing this to help McCain as it could appear. No, he's really trashing McCain and can then trash him more after McCain doesn't listen to the very wise Bill Kristol:
Quote:
It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign.
He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama’s. The Obama team is well organized, flush with resources, and the candidate and the campaign are in sync. The McCain campaign, once merely problematic, is now close to being out-and-out dysfunctional. Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic. If the race continues over the next three weeks to be a conventional one, McCain is doomed.
He may be anyway. Bush is unpopular. The media is hostile. The financial meltdown has made things tougher. Maybe the situation is hopeless — and if it is, then nothing McCain or his campaign does matters.
But I’m not convinced by such claims of inevitability. McCain isn’t Bush. The media isn’t all-powerful. And the economic crisis still presents an opportunity to show leadership.
Kristol has his own agenda. After November 4th, he'll be on FOX telling all the diehards how he could have saved the McCain campaign if they'd only listen. Then, Kristol can continue to be one of the wise men in a party that has been destroyed in the elections, because of the ideas of people like Bill Kristol.
Also the co-founder of the Conservative blog Redstate refuses to vote for McCain. The cofounder of one of the top conservative blogs, Red State, voted early in California for the bigoted anti-gay proposition rescinding the marriages of gay couples - wonder how he'd feel if someone rescinded his marriage - but in any case, he did vote against McCain. Perhaps McCain isn't anti-gay enough (though he really is). In any case, this is one more sign that McCain is in serious trouble. (Also note that he actually liked Palin at first, and now can't seem to stand her.)
Yesterday, Politico had a hot scoop. John McCain was going to announce new economic plans today. Yep, McCain was going to seize the day by talking about the economic crisis. Wrong.
Despite signals that Senator John McCain would have new prescriptions for the economic crisis after a weekend of meetings, his campaign said Sunday that Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, would not have any more proposals this week unless developments call for some.
The signs of internal confusion came as the campaign was under pressure from state party leaders to sharpen his message on the economy and at least blunt the advantage that Democrats traditionally have on the issue in hard times. Republicans have grown fretful as Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, has edged ahead in polls three weeks before the election, while Mr. McCain has veered between ill-received economic plans and attacks on Mr. Obama’s character.
The McCain campaign is out of control. McCain is increasingly erratic. It's disturbing. These are dangerous times. We need a steady leader.
And, don't forget that McCain doesn't want to talk about the economic crisis or he'll lose. Remember this statement from a "McCain strategist": "If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose."
John McCain is hitting the panic button. John McCain isn't going to talk about the economy today. Too much "internal confusion" in the campaign. Instead, he's got a new speech. Sounds very familiar. Remember how many times Bush was going to win us over with a new speech?
Yesterday, Politico had the scoop that McCain was going to deliver new economic plans. That was wrong. But, Politico got the new scoop about the "more forceful new stump speech:
Quote:
Three weeks before Election Day, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday is unveiling what his aides call a more forceful new stump speech in which he portrays himself as a scrappy fighter on the comeback trail against an opponent who’s already “measuring the drapes” in the Oval Office.
“The national media has written us off.,” McCain says in excerpts released by the campaign. “Senator Obama is measuring the drapes, and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, take away your right to vote by secret ballot in labor elections, and concede defeat in Iraq. But they forgot to let you decide. My friends, we’ve got them just where we want them.”
Allies are calling this “hitting the ‘reset’ button” on the campaign, with McCain reemerging after a long Sunday strategy session with a feisty tack that uses candor and humor, at a time when his rallies have become known for raucous rage and clumsy attacks.
But it’s more like hitting the panic button. McCain is appearing Monday in Virginia and North Carolina – two states that are usually safe for Republicans in presidential races, and that he should have put away long ago. But Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is pouring visits and staff into the former Confederacy, and he has caught McCain in many Southern polls.
Seems we have McCain just where we want him...campaigning in states that he should have wrapped up a long time ago. McCain is hitting the panic button. But, he's always hitting a panic button. He's erratic. And, a new speech isn't going to cut it.
Obama's campaign emailed out an appropriate response to McCain's new ploy:
Quote:
“Less than twelve hours after his campaign announced that Senator McCain would finally have some new ideas on the economy, he decided that it was more important to give a new political speech about where he is in the polls. But the American people know that this election isn’t about who’s up or who’s down, it’s about who will change the disastrous Bush-McCain economic policies of the last eight years. Barack Obama will continue to bring his message of change to every corner of this country, which is why he’s talking today about his new plan to provide immediate relief to struggling families and homeowners, jumpstart job creation in America, and ease the credit crisis that’s hurting too many businesses,” said Obama-Biden Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer.
I wonder when whomod is going to realize that the press doesn't elect the president.
ABC News/Wash. Post: 90% of voters see U.S. on wrong track; Bush at 23% approval; Obama leads 53% - 43%
The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll has some stunning numbers. There is almost a unanimous consensus in this country that we're on the wrong track -- because we are. Only 22 days til we can change the track of the nation:
Quote:
A tornado of economic discontent is buffeting the nation, sending satisfaction with the country's direction to a 35-year low, George W. Bush's approval rating below Richard Nixon's worst and Barack Obama, boosted by economic empathy, to his best-yet advantage in the presidential race.
Given the global economic crisis, a record 90 percent of registered voters say the country is seriously off on the wrong track, the most since this question first was asked in 1973. At 23 percent, Bush's job approval rating has fallen below Nixon's lowest; it's a point away from the lowest in 70 years of polling, set by Harry Truman in early 1952. Bush's disapproval, meanwhile, is at an all-time record 73 percent.
Powered chiefly by the public's economic concerns, Obama leads John McCain by 10 points among likely voters, 53-43 percent, in this ABC News/Washington Post poll. Though every race is different, no presidential candidate has come back from an October deficit this large in pre-election polls dating to 1936....
Obama holds the reins on economic woe. Registered voters trust him over McCain to handle the economy by 53-37 percent. Obama holds his largest lead yet, a remarkable 30-point margin, in better understanding the economic problems Americans are having, 58-28 percent. He leads McCain by about as much, 59-31 percent, in trust to help the middle class, and by 11 points on taxes, two prime points of contention in the last presidential debate....
McCain's receiving blowback for what's perceived as negative campaigning; registered voters by 59-35 percent say he's been mainly attacking Obama rather than addressing the issues. Obama, by contrast, is seen by an even wider margin as issue-focused....
[A] drop in McCain's favorability rating, to 52 percent, a loss of 7 points since the Republican convention; 45 percent now see him unfavorably, a new high for McCain in polls since 1999. Obama's rating, meanwhile, is 64 percent favorable, near its high and up 6 points in the same time frame.
Enthusiasm for McCain's candidacy, never strong, has softened alongside his favorability rating. Just 29 percent of his own supporters are "very enthusiastic" about his campaign, the fewest since August and down a sharp 17 points from his post-convention peak. By contrast, 63 percent of Obama's backers are very enthusiastic, steady since September.
McCain's portrayal of Obama as a risky choice, further, is not resonating, and indeed may be backfiring. By 55-45 percent registered voters see Obama as safe rather than risky; by contrast, they divide 50-50 on whether McCain himself is safe or risky down from 57-41 percent "safe" at McCain's best on this measure in June.
Okay, so after all Bush has put us through, who are the 23% of Americans who still approve of George Bush's job performance? Um.. G-Man? PJP? bsams?
Well... in any case, it's refreshing to see that all those crazed racist nutjobs at McCain rallies now only make up about 23%. That's now 1/4 of the country, down from 1/3rd as recently as last year.
Congratulations, whomod. I hope you get a good job in the Obama regime. Perhaps you can be the Commandant of the camp that BSAMS, PJP and I are sent to and we be like "Hogan's Heroes" with you as our Klink.
Congratulations, whomod. I hope you get a good job in the Obama regime. Perhaps you can be the Commandant of the camp that BSAMS, PJP and I are sent to and we be like "Hogan's Heroes" with you as our Klink.
We be like Hogans Heroes?
I hear you have a nice system already set up for us in Cuba and across the former eastern bloc.
Republicans across America are running for cover. The rats are fleeing the sinking ship and one of the big rats, Bill Kristol, jumped overboard today in his NY Times column. Of course, under the leadership of the GOP brain trust, including Bill Kristol, the whole country has been sinking. But, Kristol isn't doing this to help McCain as it could appear. No, he's really trashing McCain and can then trash him more after McCain doesn't listen to the very wise Bill Kristol:
Quote:
It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign.
He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama’s. The Obama team is well organized, flush with resources, and the candidate and the campaign are in sync. The McCain campaign, once merely problematic, is now close to being out-and-out dysfunctional. Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic. If the race continues over the next three weeks to be a conventional one, McCain is doomed.
He may be anyway. Bush is unpopular. The media is hostile. The financial meltdown has made things tougher. Maybe the situation is hopeless — and if it is, then nothing McCain or his campaign does matters.
But I’m not convinced by such claims of inevitability. McCain isn’t Bush. The media isn’t all-powerful. And the economic crisis still presents an opportunity to show leadership.
Kristol has his own agenda. After November 4th, he'll be on FOX telling all the diehards how he could have saved the McCain campaign if they'd only listen. Then, Kristol can continue to be one of the wise men in a party that has been destroyed in the elections, because of the ideas of people like Bill Kristol.
Also the co-founder of the Conservative blog Redstate refuses to vote for McCain. The cofounder of one of the top conservative blogs, Red State, voted early in California for the bigoted anti-gay proposition rescinding the marriages of gay couples - wonder how he'd feel if someone rescinded his marriage - but in any case, he did vote against McCain. Perhaps McCain isn't anti-gay enough (though he really is). In any case, this is one more sign that McCain is in serious trouble. (Also note that he actually liked Palin at first, and now can't seem to stand her.)
Oh no!
The McCain campaign is now attacking Bill Kristol: ‘He’s bought into the Obama campaign’s party line.’
Yesterday on Fox News Sunday, Bill Kristol said John McCain’s campaign has really become “a pathetic campaign.” In his New York Times op-ed this morning, Kristol went further, suggesting that McCain should “fire his campaign” and “start over.” Asked to respond to Kristol’s criticisms, McCain campaign spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer said on Fox News:
Well, you know Bill is entitled to his perspective. And I used to work for Bill. And I can tell you personally sometimes he’s brilliant and sometimes he’s not. And this is one where it’s the latter category. You know, I think unfortunately he has bought into the Obama campaign’s party line.
Republicans across America are running for cover. The rats are fleeing the sinking ship and one of the big rats, Bill Kristol, jumped overboard today in his NY Times column. Of course, under the leadership of the GOP brain trust, including Bill Kristol, the whole country has been sinking. But, Kristol isn't doing this to help McCain as it could appear. No, he's really trashing McCain and can then trash him more after McCain doesn't listen to the very wise Bill Kristol:
Quote:
It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign.
He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama’s. The Obama team is well organized, flush with resources, and the candidate and the campaign are in sync. The McCain campaign, once merely problematic, is now close to being out-and-out dysfunctional. Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic. If the race continues over the next three weeks to be a conventional one, McCain is doomed.
He may be anyway. Bush is unpopular. The media is hostile. The financial meltdown has made things tougher. Maybe the situation is hopeless — and if it is, then nothing McCain or his campaign does matters.
But I’m not convinced by such claims of inevitability. McCain isn’t Bush. The media isn’t all-powerful. And the economic crisis still presents an opportunity to show leadership.
Kristol has his own agenda. After November 4th, he'll be on FOX telling all the diehards how he could have saved the McCain campaign if they'd only listen. Then, Kristol can continue to be one of the wise men in a party that has been destroyed in the elections, because of the ideas of people like Bill Kristol.
Also the co-founder of the Conservative blog Redstate refuses to vote for McCain. The cofounder of one of the top conservative blogs, Red State, voted early in California for the bigoted anti-gay proposition rescinding the marriages of gay couples - wonder how he'd feel if someone rescinded his marriage - but in any case, he did vote against McCain. Perhaps McCain isn't anti-gay enough (though he really is). In any case, this is one more sign that McCain is in serious trouble. (Also note that he actually liked Palin at first, and now can't seem to stand her.)
Oh no!
The McCain campaign is now attacking Bill Kristol: ‘He’s bought into the Obama campaign’s party line.’
Yesterday on Fox News Sunday, Bill Kristol said John McCain’s campaign has really become “a pathetic campaign.” In his New York Times op-ed this morning, Kristol went further, suggesting that McCain should “fire his campaign” and “start over.” Asked to respond to Kristol’s criticisms, McCain campaign spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer said on Fox News:
Well, you know Bill is entitled to his perspective. And I used to work for Bill. And I can tell you personally sometimes he’s brilliant and sometimes he’s not. And this is one where it’s the latter category. You know, I think unfortunately he has bought into the Obama campaign’s party line.
I think that'll end up being the quintessential McCain moment in this campaign, That Monday when he declared that "the Fundamentals of the Economy were strong". Even as Wall Street took it's first of many nose dives.
McCain: Fundamentals of Economy Are Strong
Followed by many many flip-flops and stunts after that. Starting with being against the AIG bailout before he was for it the next day, to the impetuous call to fire SEC chair Chris Cox, to suspending his campaign (or at least claiming to do so). McCain's move to suspend his campaign probably looked to many independent observers like a desperation move even before David Letterman pulled back the curtain to show how fraudulent the whole effort was.
Here's a compilation of McCain's erratic and at times contradictory statements throughout the crisis.
hey, maybe a couple dancing nanners and a laughing graemlin or five will make it even more true.
yeah. None of that happened.
It was all a liberal media lie. The guy playing John McCain for the past 3 weeks is really a liberal actor from "Hollyweird".
It's actually funny to see just how divorced from reality the far right and their media outlets have made the Republican base these past few years to where they just sound like out of touch conspiratorial fringe crazies.
I think that'll end up being the quintessential McCain moment in this campaign, That Monday when he declared that "the Fundamentals of the Economy were strong". Even as Wall Street took it's first of many nose dives.
McCain: Fundamentals of Economy Are Strong
Followed by many many flip-flops and stunts after that. Starting with being against the AIG bailout before he was for it the next day, to the impetuous call to fire SEC chair Chris Cox, to suspending his campaign (or at least claiming to do so). McCain's move to suspend his campaign probably looked to many independent observers like a desperation move even before David Letterman pulled back the curtain to show how fraudulent the whole effort was.
Here's a compilation of McCain's erratic and at times contradictory statements throughout the crisis.
If both McCain and Obama were saying that along with all our political leaders there may not have been as much panic selling in the stock market these past few days. Obama played on people's fears....typical. The fundamentals of the economy are strong. you're an ignorant person when it comes to economics.....did you go to college?
It's fucking hysterical! A recap of the past couple of weeks written entirely in Latin.
Quote:
Cum Primus Dudus, spousus Palinanus, culpari attemptaret “Centurionem-Gate,” judices Terrae Santae Elvorumque castigat gubernatricem Palinam de abusu auctoritatis per familiam revengendum.
While the First Dude, the husband of Palin, attempted to be blamed for "Centurion-gate", the judges of the land of Santa's Elves chastened the lady-Governor Palin concerning the abuse of authority for the purpose of familial revenge.
I think that'll end up being the quintessential McCain moment in this campaign, That Monday when he declared that "the Fundamentals of the Economy were strong". Even as Wall Street took it's first of many nose dives.
McCain: Fundamentals of Economy Are Strong
Followed by many many flip-flops and stunts after that. Starting with being against the AIG bailout before he was for it the next day, to the impetuous call to fire SEC chair Chris Cox, to suspending his campaign (or at least claiming to do so). McCain's move to suspend his campaign probably looked to many independent observers like a desperation move even before David Letterman pulled back the curtain to show how fraudulent the whole effort was.
Here's a compilation of McCain's erratic and at times contradictory statements throughout the crisis.
If both MkKainslov and Obama were saying that along with all our politikal leaders there may not have been as much panik selling in the stokk market these past few days. Obama played on people's fears....typikal. The fundamentals of the ekonomy are strong. you're an ignorant person when it komes to ekonomiks.....did you go to kollege?
No one is safe from the wrath of the right. Case in point: Christopher Buckley, the son of The National Review founder, William F. Buckley, was recently forced into resigning off his dad's own mag after he made an Obama endorsement in The Daily Beast.
So where does Buckley turn to after his own nepotism fails him? Why, back to Tina Brown's open arms/blog, of course:
The son of William F. Buckley has decided—shock!—to vote for a Democrat.
Let me be the latest conservative/libertarian/whatever to leap onto the Barack Obama bandwagon......
...Dear Pup once said to me sighfully after a right-winger who fancied himself a WFB protégé had said something transcendently and provocatively cretinous, “You know, I’ve spent my entire life time separating the Right from the kooks.” Well, the dear man did his best. At any rate, I don’t have the kidney at the moment for 12,000 emails saying how good it is he’s no longer alive to see his Judas of a son endorse for the presidency a covert Muslim who pals around with the Weather Underground. So, you’re reading it here first....[/b]
The gOP...
In disaray.
Eating their own.....
Led by the crazies.....
again, to quote Barry Goldwater.
Quote:
"Do not associate my name with anything you do. You are extremists, and you've hurt the Republican Party much more than the Democrats have." - Barry Goldwater
....Last week's so-called town-hall event showed Sen. John McCain to be someone suffering from an increasingly obvious and embarrassing deficit, both cognitive and physical. And the only public events that have so far featured his absurd choice of running mate have shown her to be a deceiving and unscrupulous woman utterly unversed in any of the needful political discourses but easily trained to utter preposterous lies and to appeal to the basest element of her audience (that's you guys here on the RKMB's BTW - whomod ). McCain occasionally remembers to stress matters like honor and to disown innuendoes and slanders, but this only makes him look both more senile and more cynical, since it cannot (can it?) be other than his wish and design that he has engaged a deputy who does the innuendoes and slanders for him......
I suppose it could be said, as Michael Gerson has alleged, that the Obama campaign's choice of the word erratic to describe McCain is also an insinuation. But really, it's only a euphemism. Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear had to feel sorry for the old lion on his last outing and wish that he could be taken somewhere soothing and restful before the night was out. The train-wreck sentences, the whistlings in the pipes, the alarming and bewildered handhold phrases—"My friends"—to get him through the next 10 seconds. I haven't felt such pity for anyone since the late Adm. James Stockdale humiliated himself as Ross Perot's running mate. And I am sorry to have to say it, but Stockdale had also distinguished himself in America's most disastrous and shameful war, and it didn't qualify him then and it doesn't qualify McCain now.
The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you to ask yourself: "What does he take me for?" Precisely this question is provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness, but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested rumors about her—her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre religious and political affiliations—were very well-founded, indeed. Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job fringe of the party's right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods about Obama's position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only talent that she apparently possesses.
It therefore seems to me that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators, congressmen, and governors who endorse them. .....
The gOP.
In disarray.
A national disgrace.
Appealing to baser instincts.
Using deceit.
Taking the electorate for fools.
And some of you here just eat that shit up!
so ... Um, you guys would be that wack job fringe that both Hitchens and Buckley describe.
BTW, What does it mean when the Republican governor of Florida decides he is too busy to help the GOP nominee get in the White House?
Charlie Crist now saying, when it comes to getting McCain elected, quote, "When I have time to help, I'll try to do that.
I think McCain has the stink of loserdom already and smart politicians are keeping their distance.
What is he so busy with BTW? On Saturday, the governor cancelled plans to go to a McCain football base rally to instead go to Disneyworld.
). McCain occasionally remembers to stress matters like honor and to disown innuendoes and slanders, but this only makes him look both more senile and more cynical, since it cannot (can it?) be other than his wish and design that he has engaged a deputy who does the innuendoes and slanders for him......