Last night, someone sent me a link to the following clips on Youtube:
Kudos to John McCain for saying that. It’s important in politics to make sure that the debate about what’s different between different candidates is focussed on policy, and not on dog-whistles. I have been pointed at too many videos of frightened Americans who think Obama is an “A-rab terrist” and it is responsible of McCain to say that he knows that is not the case.
I just hope this means that the McCain campaign will now stop running the terrorist ads.
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11 Comments
This is an interesting development.
McCain has obviously realised that some of the hateful stuff that has been coming out of Republican mouths makes him look awful and deeply unpresidential.
He is now having to rein it in, which itself just looks so messy.
We’re beginning to see clear water between their poll ratings. Let’s just hope that this holds through to Election Day.
Thanks for posting this.
As everyone suspects the Repub vote is split between the real McCainites and the Palinites – either they try and reach out to both and alienate the majority or reach out to just one section and hope for the best. It’s all long shots.
I think it is good to see John McCain dispelling the myths that Barak Obama is an Arab, a Muslim or a danger to America.
But not all terrorists are Arabs, and America had a few pretty nasty and violent political extremists.
I think Obama’s judgement over his friendship for a former member of the Weather Underground is questionable. Victims of Bill Ayres and his terrorist friends certainly think so.
Well of course McCain will say this kind of thing in person; his danger right now, having released the ads about Obama’s “connection” to the Weather Underground guy, is that these obvious racists become the faces of his campaign. He couldn’t possibly have done anything else in the situation he is put in in that video clip.
It doesn’t change the message of the ads he’s been putting out, though:
McCain is basically a decent guy who I admire in a lot of respects. I wouldn’t vote for him because he’s wrong on too many issues. He’s probably going to lose* – and may lose big time but really I can’t imagine any other Republican would have got close.
Worth remembering that McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign was detailed by the South Carolina primary where he was accused (among other things) of fathering a black child out of wedlock (he has an adopted Bangladeshi daughter.
*Other than a major international event there’s the rumblings about ACORN – I’m not sure how big that is going to get.
I think people here are reading this wrong. This in no way suggests any change of heart from the Republican party’s “terrorist link” attack videos, or from the Conservative movement’s “Obama the muslim” insinuation stuff.
You just can’t have your candidate go that publicly negative, as it’ll rebound. McCain had no choice but to disagree – he’s fighting for President after all, a role which isn’t compatible with mud-wrestling in a political campaign.
I think he is being brave, particularly in his answer to the women who argued that Barack Obama is an Arab. I think he has taken the line he has for a long time, it hasn’t just come up now. He will get blamed for getting it wrong as (unless Osama Bin Ladan suddenly gets captured) he will almost certainly lose. But he has done better so far than most of the Republican candidates facing election.
There is an element of self interest. He cannot win via the Republican base alone, he has to win “moderates” as well.
But wouldn’t it be good if all politicians from all parties we to decide that to win elections they have to be respectful?
Of course there is the negative TV adverts that continue to lurk. Maybe that undoes all the good work of what he says in public?
His campaign is all over the place and it will be interesting to see what effect the report on Sarah Palin has. Latest polls has Obama ahead consistently in Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Colorado and edging in to the lead in North Carolina, Nevada and perhaps even West Virginia. If the latter solidify and hold through to election day Obama will get to the 350s in ECVs.
That’s just a charade and everyone knows it. Perhaps McCain really does think that Obama’s a nice guy, but that won’t stop him from running his campaign solely to trash Obama’s image.
Tom Papworth: Fox News is hardly the most objective source. There is no evidence Ayers carried out the attack in question, and even if he did, his connection to Obama is limited to the holding of a fundraiser at his home in the early 1990s, and serving on an education board together. Ayers is now a widely-respected professor of education. Of course, he probably deserved to be in prison for his actions, but it is worth noting that the charges against him were dropped because of gross violations of the law by the law enforcement agencies themselves, so he was not convicted.
If McCain ever stops relying on smears, he’ll have nothing left…
http://dry-valleys.blogspot.com/2008/10/has-mccain-had-it-i-hope-so.html