On Thursday, McCain's campaign released a one-minute Web ad seeking to burnish his maverick image -- with testimonials from prominent Democrats.
The montage includes Hillary Rodham Clinton's scathing assessment of Obama's readiness to be president: "I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience he will bring to the White House. And Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."
There is footage of Obama defender Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, who reportedly considered McCain as a running mate in 2004, calling McCain "a courageous, patriotic American who stands up for what he believes." Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., a potential vice presidential pick, is shown stating he would be "honored to run with or against John McCain."
Perhaps most embarrassing is a 2003 clip of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean saying he modeled his own presidential bid on McCain's 2000 run because of McCain's direct manner.
Gas prices have fallen about 25 cents in the last two weeks at the pumps around here with the current drop in crude per barrel dropping down to about $115. Wall Street is also rebounding as well as the dollar. Considering the rebounding of the economy and the settling down of Iraq, how is this gonna affect the presidential race since those have, so far, been the key issues?
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
McCain thought he could break Obama and instead he got served AND owned by the Hiltons.
Don't bite off the hand that feeds you.
Are you drunk? Seriously. Because everyone knows that, not only did McCain totally Obama with that ad, but Hilton trying to attention-whore herself into the discussion only served to remind everyone of it again.
on a side not I dont know anyone who didn't find it hilarious when Paris Hilton's mom scolded McCain for his ad being distasteful, as if anyone who raised Paris Hilton knows anything about proper etiquette....
I really want to know how the foreign press is covering this as, just the other day, Dave felt that there was no way for Obama to lose despite the fact that he and McCain are practically neck and neck.
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
I dont know anyone who didn't find it hilarious when Paris Hilton's mom scolded McCain for his ad being distasteful, as if anyone who raised Paris Hilton knows anything about proper etiquette....
Yeah, I'm not sure what genius at the Obama campaign thought having the Hiltons on their side would help Barack. I guess the Democrats are so used to assuming (wrongly) that Hollywood endorsements count for something that they just jumped at the chance to have another celebutard on the team.
McCain thought he could break Obama and instead he got served AND owned by the Hiltons.
Don't bite off the hand that feeds you.
Are you drunk? Seriously. Because everyone knows that, not only did McCain totally Obama with that ad, but Hilton trying to attention-whore herself into the discussion only served to remind everyone of it again.
Announcing a record fund-raising month, John McCain's campaign said yesterday it received a wave of Web donations after airing its controversial TV ad linking rival Barack Obama to airhead celebrities Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.
"We've got a pretty good uptick in Internet fund-raising. We definitely saw an uptick [following release of the ad]," said McCain campaign manager Rick Davis.
Davis also said a backlash against Obama's highly hyped overseas trip last month helped fill campaign coffers.
McCain reported raising a personal best $27 million last month, and the Republican National Committee raised another $26 million.
The McCain campaign had $21.4 million on hand. But with joint funds, Davis said nearly $100 million is available to spend.
I like how even though Obama broke his campaign promise McCain has stuck to his on public campaign financing. It's good to know there is some honesty still around.
Democrat Barack Obama berated his White House rival John McCain Monday as an out-of-touch economic illiterate who would make the rich richer at a time of financial pain for most US voters.
At a rally in a sweltering high school gymnasium here, Obama mocked McCain for remarking at a weekend forum with religious leader Rick Warren that only those earning more than five million dollars a year were really rich.
"This explains why his tax plan gives hundreds of thousands in tax breaks for people earning 2.5 million, because they're only middle class," the Illinois senator told a jeering crowd of 1,800 people.
"Everyone making 2.5 million or more, raise your hands," Obama added to laughter. Nobody in the audience did.
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
I haven't checked out Ray's link yet. However, given his claimed hatred of people who take things out of context I'm sure it's a tough denunciation of Obama, just as BSAMS predicted.
Russia invades Georgia and President Bush goes on vacation. Our president has spent one-third of his entire two terms in office either at Camp David, Maryland, or at Crawford, Texas, on vacation.
His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans.
Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California.
I think he made a big mistake. When he was invited last spring to attend a discussion of the role of faith in his life with Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, McCain didn't bother to show up. Now I know why.
It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries. McCain then retold a story we've all heard a hundred times about a guard in Vietnam drawing a cross in the sand.
Asked about his greatest moral failure, he cited his first marriage, which ended in divorce. While saying it was his greatest moral failing, he offered nothing in the way of explanation. Why not?
Throughout the evening, McCain chose to recite portions of his stump speech as answers to the questions he was being asked. Why? He has lived 71 years. Surely he has some thoughts on what it all means that go beyond canned answers culled from the same speech he delivers every day.
He was asked "if evil exists." His response was to repeat for the umpteenth time that Osama bin Laden is a bad man and he will pursue him to "the gates of hell." That was it.
He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich.
One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.
Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.?
John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet.
He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly.
I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.
George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.
He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.
I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.
'I'm sure that comment will be distorted.' - John McCain
Originally Posted By: Jim Jackson
He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich.
Heh!
I do think a lot of that opinion was very shallow in and of itself. It forgets McCain's answer to what his hardest decision to make was and how shallow and politically motivated Obama's answer was. I agree that this isn't the McCain of 2000 or one even close to being on his game, but a lot of that editorial or whatever is BS.
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
The more I look at Cafferty's editorial, the sillier it looks.
For example:
1. McCain was asked what he considered his greatest moral failing and he said the failure of his first marriage. Cafferty is upset because McCain didn't explain why he considered that a moral failure when the answer is obvious to pretty much every person on earth.
2. Cafferty asks "Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time... his position papers... etc., etc., etc.?" McCain has a twenty-plus year record in the Senate addressing the various issues facing the country. Obama has a speech and a couple self-congratulatory books about himself and his dad. And Cafferty's calling McCain the lightweight?
I think the real problem here for people like Cafferty is that McCain is clearly the most experienced candidate in this race for either party...and has been since day one (the only ones who came close were Thompson on the GOP side and Biden on the Democrat side). Furthermore, even with his move to right on a few issues, it's pretty clear that McCain is still the more moderate candidate in this race (actually, he's still more liberal than I'd prefer). In fact, there are non-partisan polls that show, overall, most people prefer McCain over Obama on the issues.
As a result, the Obama supporters can't attack McCain on his record so they have to rely on made-up attacks on McCain as the second coming of Bush.
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
Holy shit! I was only joking, but now you're saying that you're creeped out because I was right.
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
I guess that that's all you've got to do with your 'free time', huh?
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
