Well, well. Well done, John McCain. His standing up to the crazies in the crowd makes me sad for the old John McCain (who may or may not have existed), the one of I said (seems a long time ago now) that of any Republican who ran last cycle, he'd be far and away the best. I wouldn't vote for him, mind you, but I could have respected people who did. Those would be the no doubt alienated Republican moderates who voted for hm.
It's too little and too late maybe, but I'm glad his "base"---the ones Swampland's Ana Marie Cox calls "the pitchfork wavers"--- has started to scare him. Based on her report, he's been pushing back pretty hard. I'm glad he's taken in, as he seems to, the risk of stirring up an angry mob.
The...questioner....not[ed] that he needed to "tell the American the TRUTH about Barack Obama" -- a not very subtle way, I think, to ask John McCain to NOT tell the truth about Barack Obama. McCain told her there's a "difference between record and rhetoric, and I plan to talk about his record, respectfully..."
And then later, again, someone dangled a great big piece of low-hanging fruit in front of McCain: "I'm scared to bring up my child in a world where Barack Obama is president."
McCain replies, "Well, I don't want him to be president, either. I wouldn't be running if I did. But," and he pauses for emphasis, "you don't have to be scared to have him be President of the United States." A round of boos....(Swampland)
Ana Marie concedes that this allows him to let the crowd bring up the "negatives," i.e., the lies, and to play a version of "good cop, bad cop" with them. Yes.
"But I think he means it," she concludes. I want to believe so. And somehow I wouldn't be that surprised if---sick of his campaign's strategy and the damage it's done to the world's image of him---he decided just to stop. That would be the "old McCain" thing to do, wouldn't you? Again from Ana Marie:
UPDATE: Indeed, he just snatched the microphone out the hands of a woman who began her question with, "I'm scared of Barack Obama... he's an Arab terrorist..."
"No, no ma'am," he interrupted. "He's a decent family man with whom I happen to have some disagreements.".(Swampland)
Ambinder thinks so too.
Sen. John McCain, tonight, changing his tone, chastising his angry allies, chastened, it seems, by the criticism. Many Democrats will be skeptical and start to parse; many Republicans will wonder why McCain felt he needed to do this in the first place; the press will go bananas (in a good way for McCain); press critics will sigh and write about pendulum swinging and the cult of fairness; others from both parties will wonder whether there is an appeal to independents in all of this; whatever it is, to me, it seems pretty real.
I wonder.... I can't help noticing that Palin's been found guilty of abusing power in the Troopergate scandal. (Anchorage Daily News) Is it too late for McCain to change his whole game? If he did, would any of the disaffected return? Could he salvage any part of his former reputation for decency if he did? Would Obama's campaign, like one of Ambinder's commenters, call this a "contrived display" and further evidence of McCain being "erratic"?
At Obsidian Wings, Publius---in a post called "Credit where credit's due"--- approves:
McCain finally steps in and tells his audience to be respectful. Good for him. It's not exactly an easy thing to do at a campaign rally, but it's the right thing.
Think Progress says:
Earlier today, McCain’s spokesperson appeared to defend the recent spate of violent remarks made by McCain supporters at campaign events.
Some will say this is the real McCain emerging at last. Again, though---will it matter? I don't know or care---I want it to stop; it makes me frightened for Obama and his supporters.
DWT says:
Hey! That's the Sarah Palin base... and that's all that's left.
Andrew Sullivan grumps:
I guess making it explicit helped goad him back to minimal decency. Now can he stop running ads that imply exactly the same thing?
TPM, which has the videos, similarly says:
That's all fine. But if McCain wants to lower the temperature, how about stopping with the new ad implying that Obama is currently in league with a current terrorist? And if we see Wright come up next week, will this stuff still be operative?
Todd Beeton is only willing to give a certain amount of credit for this. He says:
John McCain seems to be realizing the monster he has created and appears to be trying to undo some of the damage. Let's hope this is the first of many campaign events where McCain and Palin walk back some of their irresponsible fearmongering.
As for McCain's motives for doing the right thing, they may not be entirely selfless in nature. Sure it could be out of a hidden store of decency, or it could simply be political expediency. Take a look at the new Newsweek poll of RVs and you see what his shameful attacks on Obama have gotten him: Obama leads McCain by 11 points, up from a tie a month ago.
Just saw more footage of this on Countdown. It's actually even more dramatic because McCain keeps getting booed at his own events for defending Obama. Reap what you sow, my friend. (emphasis added)
And, finally, Davenoon at Lawyers, Guns, and Money points out that as late as....yesterday, he was still letting the crazies have their say.
At this point, I think it's fair to say that McCain not only can't find his own chair, but he can't even properly inhabit the persona he's created. For the past week, he and Sarah Palin have been working the dark side, as Cheney would have it, whipping their audiences into bilious spasms of ignorance and violent fantasy.
They've nodded, looked the other way or chuckled as a smattering of dipshit troglodytes have denounced Barack Obama as a terrorist or have called for his head on a stick. Just yesterday, McCain himself offered a goofy shrug when one of his audience members choked out a hairball and declared that Obama was a socialist hooligan. These are people who want John McCain to floss his teeth with his opponent's veins. They aren't going to be happy if he suddenly asks them to mind their manners.
He and Sarah Palin have pried open the manhole covers, and these are the people who crawled from the pipes and followed them home. He fed them for a few days. They're his pets now. (emphasis added)
Even so.
But it's sad. Could he ever, ever have envisioned himself going this route back when he won the primaries? Did he himself forget the difference himself between a "tactic" and a "strategy"? Although I'm not convinced of his sincerity, erstwhile McCain admirer Pete Abel at The Moderate Voice speaks for me, I think.
I know some of you won’t be as forgiving, but at this point, I honestly pity the Senator, and I suspect he has learned another in a series of painful life lessons. No matter your party or allegiance, I hope you’ll agree that it’s all such an incredible shame. (TMV)
It is. .
Read more reactions at Memeorandum.
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McCain and Palin will win on this. It will become a left wing smear. No facts required. Palin is a good hockey mom who was moose-collared into a fake controversy. Just wait. The right will be wrong again. And win.
Posted by: Jymn | October 11, 2008 at 12:57 AM
McCain and Palin will win on this. It will become a left wing smear. No facts required. Palin is a good hockey mom who was moose-collared into a fake controversy. Just wait. The right will be wrong again. And win.
Posted by: Jymn | October 11, 2008 at 12:57 AM