Tonight’s Debate: McCain Vs. Palin
John McCain and his running mate are on opposite sides of which direction to take in tonight’s Hofstra University debate. McCain’s advisers and his VP choice are urging him to bring up his ties to Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but according to Mike Allen at Politico, McCain, to his credit, is resisting, fearing this would reek of desperation and racism.
With McCain unlikely to budge, GOP officials are hoping groups outside of the campaign will finance an ad attack on Obama-Wright ties. It is unclear if any conservative group has the cash to bankroll a serious effort, however.
“Wright is off the table,” said one top campaign official. “It’s all McCain. He won’t go there. His advisers would have gone there.”
McCain believes that attacking Obama on this level shows racial insensitivity. However, most prominent in the divide on which direction McCain should take is Sarah Palin, who wouldn’t show the same level of concern in this area. She told Bill Kristol:
“To tell you the truth, Bill, I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that – with, I don’t know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn’t get up and leave – to me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up.”
But McCain had this to say to my television partner, Sean Hannity during a recent interview:
“I think that when people support you, it doesn’t mean that you support everything you say. Obviously, those words and those statements are statements that none of us would associate ourselves with. And I don’t believe that Sen. Obama would support any of those. … I do know Sen. Obama. He does not share those views.”
I’ve always believed that John McCain is a good, decent man. But his campaign isn’t being run that way, given the ads they’ve put out. The campaign is not speaking in McCain’s voice. Perhaps if it did, he’d be doing much better in the polls. When you hear the words, “I’m John McCain and I approve this message,” it’s obvious that, unlike the “Saturday Night Live” skit, he was nowhere near those recording sessions.
“reek” of desperation and racism.
Although it could also wreak havoc.
October 15th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I think we should keep a running list, until election day, of all the people McCain, Palin, his campaign and the right wing media are willing to throw under the bus and then back over them. I can kick it off with number (1)The Republican Party…..I’m a Maverick of my own party. I’m not like the rest of them. I stand up to them. I take on my own party, I’m so much better then the rest of them!
October 15th, 2008 at 11:59 am
I think John can Beat Sarah, he was a POW you know.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
now the American stupidity can be spread around the world to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRqcfqiXCX0
October 15th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Forget all of this.
McCain is not going to improve his poll position by talking to his base by attacking Barack or telling people what they want to hear about domestic issues.
This is what’s gonna happen…
Fox news is gonna start reporting about TERRORISM more and more as the elections get closer in a desperate attempt to frighten people away from the economic issue. So if you don’t want to be frightened by those breaking news announcements every 5 minutes. I suggest you don’t watch Fox.
Sean Hannity will get even nastier with his attempt to paint Obama as Putin,Castro,Chavez,etc.
And finally the McCains hawkish NeoCon foreign policy LOBBYIST may even try to inflame international crisis(See:Iran,Georgia/Russia conflict).
Be on the lookout for all of this…
October 15th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
It seems to me that Sarah Palin has become a liability to Mr. McCain’s campaign. She does not seem to want to work as a team member nor does she like to stay in the background. She likes to be in the middle of everything which is currently proving disastrous for Sen. McCain’s campaign. She seems to be the driving force to the negative campaigning, which is not turning out well at all for them. She needs to learn how to be a VP candidate and be supportive of her runningmate and stand back and allow him to do what he does best. Mr. McCain and his supporters and allies knew what he was about until Ms. Palin entered the picture. I guess you could say the McCain presidential campaign has been impaled.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
That was a really depressing link, WTF.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Second that one WTF, we have certainly turned into an embarrassing nation.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I’ve always believed that John McCain is a good, decent man. But his campaign isn’t being run that way
Then it’s his own fault.
It’s John McCain’s campaign. It gets run the way he wants it run. I’m tired of the MSM giving McCain a de-facto pass on his campaign’s egregious tactics by trying to claim it’s not his fault.
He’s in charge. He “approves this message.”
John McCain will lose on November 4, and it will be because this once “good, decent man” decided to take the cheapest, lowest, most cowardly road possible.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Why is McCain being Deceitful about the fact that William Ayers’ educational foundation was funded by Republicans, not Democrats, Republicans, who are now endorsing him?
The Annenbergs who are Republicans, Bankrolled William Ayers with $50 million dollars. However, Walter and Leonore Annenberg weren’t just giving money to the educational foundation started by William Ayers, they were also giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee and various other Republican groups, as well as to a whole host of Republican candidates, including the following:
George W. Bush $4000 – Mitt Romney $5000
Strom Thurmond $1000 – Fred Thompson $500
Rick Santorum $3000
There are questions that are not being asked or answered such as –why would billionaire Republican philanthropists give millions of dollars to a program that was started by William Ayers, if he is such a scary figure and unrepentant? Why would George W., Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and all those other Republicans accept money from the people who were funding this William Ayers-associated group? And, why won’t McCain discuss these connections between the Republican Party and Ayers?”
Recently, McCain campaign put out a press release bragging about the fact that Leonore Annenberg has endorsed him for president. The very Leonore Annenberg who bankrolled William Ayers with millions of dollars is now backing McCain!
Lastly, Republican Arnold Weber who served on the board of the CAC with Barack, who worked with William Ayers in the 90’s, has also donated at least $1000 to the McCain campaign. So you see, McCain is accepting money from associates of William Ayers, and so far has not given the money back. Why won’t McCain come clean about these facts? Why is he being deceitful about this?
http://www.republicansforobama.org/?q=node/3027
October 15th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I wouldn’t worry about anything in an Al Jazeera vid, any more than I’d worry about a vid from Fox.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
At least we know which candidate Al Jazeera supports.
We know which candidate that anti-government bombers like ayers support.
We know which party ACORN and their fraudulent voter registrations support.
The communist party of USA supports obama.
As far as we know, except for ACORN and ayers, obama has no ties to al jazerra and the communist party.
I wonder what they see in him that would be so helpful for their agenda.
October 15th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Palin’s lies, distortions, and vicious smearing makes her a dangerous person, I think. She showed her bad judgment when, at age 43, as Governor, with 4 other children, she has a baby. McCain flip flops and lacks knowledge, is a War Hawk and seems unstable. In the White House, these two would be really scary.
October 15th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Although I have never agreed with every one of John McCain’s views, I have always admired his character (until this election that is). In fact I have previously thought that if I had a huge problem with the Democratic ticket and John McCain was running, that I may be able to vote Republican for the first time in my life.
I still don’t think that John McCain necessarily agreed with the negative ads, but was basically told by his advisors that this is the only chance he has at beating Obama. In fact, I still don’t think Sarah Palin was his choice for VP – again I think he was basically told this pick would be his best chance.
I’m actually saddened by the aspect that many people (on both parties) have changed their opinion of John McCain’s character based on his behavior during this campaign. In reality, I really don’t think his character has changed that much. But he did unfortunately go along with tactics he never would have agreed with – out of pure desperation.
So in a way, I feel bad for him. Not only does it look like he will lose the election, but even worse he has lost his integrity.
Sarah Palin is a different story. I have absolutely no empathy for her what-so-ever; this woman is a down right embarrassment to American politics. In fact, the mere imagine of her on the TV makes me sick. I think she is a dishonest, ruthless, power hungry, hypocritical, manipulating woman.
October 15th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Geez, poor McCain: he’s between a rock and a hard place. I guess he doesn’t want to be president bad enough to compromise ALL of his principles.
October 15th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
…but maybe he can actually mange to go down with dignity… I guess we’ll find out.
October 15th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Why would the Palins support a group who hate America? I don’t get it.
October 15th, 2008 at 11:23 pm