Dialing it Down
| Fri Oct. 10, 2008 5:14 PM PDT
DIALING IT DOWN....OK, credit where it's due. After watching his campaign events turn into increasingly ugly free-for-alls, John McCain has apparently decided that enough's enough. Ana Marie Cox reports on his latest rally in Minnesota:
But then something weird happens: He acknowledges the "energy" people have been showing at rallies, and how glad he is that people are excited. But, he says, "I respect Sen. Obama and his accomplishments." People booed at the mention of his name. McCain, visibly angry, stopped them: "I want EVERYONE to be respectful, and lets make sure we are."
The very next questioner tried to push back on this request, noting 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... I don't mean that has to reduce your ferocity, I just mean it has to be respectful."
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.
And he snaps back: "Well, obviously I think I'd be better. "
Of course, this is kind of the best of both world: Crazy base-world gets to bring up Ayers and whatever else, really, and he gets to say, "Be respectful." But I think he means it.
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."
Good for him. Now I wonder if he can get the same message out to Sarah Palin?
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Comments
I agree with others above. Good for him? Credit is due? Mein gott, it's no wonder Democrats lost so many elections for years. This is SOP for the GOP?the campaign opens the sewer to uncork the vilest stench while the candidate projects decency and fairness, standing tall like it's all somehow the work of others. If you're giving McCain credit then you haven't been paying attention, and you've totally forgotten 2000, 2004, and every damn Gooper campaign in between.
Right now, McCain's campaign is running 100% negative ads about Obama and his wife -- all of them designed to gin up fear of an Obama presidency with lies and the worst sort of propaganda smears. They want people afraid, they want to inflame voters' bias and bigotry, they want people to hate Obama. Fer chrissakes, McCain and Palin themselves have stated outright that Obama is an America-hating terrorist-lover, among other insane things.
Credit? You've got to be kidding.
The woman was a typical wingnut, and was just mindlessly repeating a meme started by Rush Limbaugh, who claimed that since Obama's father came from Kenya, he's Arab. It's very loosely based on the fact that the Luo are members of the Nilotic-Saharan group rather than Bantu.
LIMBAUGH: But he's not black. Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood? He doesn't have any African ? that's why when they asked whether he was authentic, whether he's down for the struggle. He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. He's not ? his father was ? he's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American.
I agree with others above. Good for him? Credit is due? Mein gott, it's no wonder Democrats lost so many elections for years. This is SOP for the GOP?the campaign opens the sewer to uncork the vilest stench while the candidate projects decency and fairness, standing tall like it's all somehow the work of others. If you're giving McCain credit then you haven't been paying attention, and you've totally forgotten 2000, 2004, and every damn Gooper campaign in between.
Right now, McCain's campaign is running 100% negative ads about Obama and his wife -- all of them designed to gin up fear of an Obama presidency with lies and the worst sort of propaganda smears. They want people afraid, they want to inflame voters' bias and bigotry, they want people to hate Obama. Fer chrissakes, McCain and Palin themselves have stated outright that Obama is an America-hating terrorist-lover, among other insane things.
Credit? You've got to be kidding.
The woman was a typical wingnut, and was just mindlessly repeating a meme started by Rush Limbaugh, who claimed that since Obama's father came from Kenya, he's Arab. It's very loosely based on the fact that the Luo are members of the Nilotic-Saharan group rather than Bantu.
LIMBAUGH: But he's not black. Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood? He doesn't have any African ? that's why when they asked whether he was authentic, whether he's down for the struggle. He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. He's not ? his father was ? he's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American.
Submitted by Gaucho Politico (not verified) on Fri Oct. 10, 2008 5:22 PM PDT.
i dont know how good it is for mccain. think of the visual, mccain struggling to hold back the rabid gop crowd? what voter wants to put a party into power where the head of that party cant keep the rest of it from going off the deep end. it just makes mccain a more pathetic figure. he unleashed something that he could not control. it is nice to see him trying once he realized the consequences but like david brooks and the rest of the moderates he had a chance to deal with this earlier but they served his purpose.
I don't care if it's good for McCain the candidate, it's the right thing for him to do. I very much want Obama to win, but I McCain's campaign was getting to be like too long a session reading the Darwin Awards -- at first it's funny, then scary, finally sad. Things just shouldn't be that way.
It is an amazing spectacle to watch the video (available at TPM) and consider that this is the scene a month away from an election for President of the United States.
McCain is arguing with his own crowds about whether they need to be afraid of an Obama presidency. Surreal.
Good for him. Still, it reminds me of a Bobby Jones story. Jones, one of the greatest American golfers, said those who praised him for calling a penalty on himself (one that no one else saw), "You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank."
Good for him? I respectfully disagree. He's the one that let it get this bad. He's been allowing this stuff all week, and just when the mainstream media is starting to pick up in it, he decides to yank on the reins. Sorry, it doesn't wash.
Going down this path was his choice, and it didn't have to come to this, but he's the one that's been stoking the flames.
From my eye, it looks like he decided to start tamping this down just before it blew up in his face.
Good for him? No. What a disgrace.
My cynical perspective: This is just another McCain stunt. First, the sleaze wasn't helping him (and was likely hurting), so now he becomes Hero John McCain and graciously acknowledges Obama is a decent family man. Touching. Second, Obama challenged McCain yesterday to say this crap to his face, and McCain is now backpedaling. Hard.
Doesn't matter-- it's definitely a good thing that the hateful rhetoric is finally being tamped down. I'm glad.
It's a telling measure of the zombie stupidity of the McCain campaign that it took McCain this long to figure out that his behavior today will attract a lot more undecideds than what he was doing before. And the stupidity is all McCain's. The campaign's "strategists" are running a generic Republican mudslinger because they figure that's what most potential employers will mostly want in 2010 and 2012. McCain is such a dupe that he thinks of these people as he once thought of Charles Keating, as genuine friends.
Hang on a second. The correct response to "He's an Arab" is not to say "No ma'am, he's a decent family man." After all, it's possible to be both an Arab and a decent family man.
Say it straight out: he's not an Arab. And he's also not a Muslem. [That woman seems to think they're the same thing.] THEN you can say that he's also a decent family man, if you believe he is.
But to see "decent family man" as somehow equivalent to "non-Arab" is just odd. Or perhaps it's just unconscious racism.
On Maddow's show Ana Marie Cox just said she did not see the campaign pulling back on the rhetoric or the ads.
So good for McCain, but it ain't enough.
McCain needs to pull the ads, put the pit bull in the dog house and stop throwing matches at these bitter people who cling to their hatred and bigotry.
Erratic, erratic, erratic.
First he telegraphs his all-Ayers-all-the time schtick last weekend, and launches it. Then his advisers say "well maybe not" and he doesn't go there in the debate.
Then the whip it up something fierce all the rest of the week. THEN McSame tries to dial it down.
He is all over the map and has no idea what the hell he is doing.
Some people over at TPM were suggesting that maybe the good Senator from Arizona had gotten a talking-to from the Secret Service about how much more difficult he was making their jobs, and that he ought to cool the fuck out with the rabble-rousing. Food for thought...
I'm not sure whether Winslow means to hint at this, but isn't it awfully convenient that these particular questioners come to the mike just now? The phrasing of the questions strikes me as distinctively stilted, like what a PR hack would write to make it super-easy for McCain to reject them in the name of civility.
I'd like to hear from other folks about the possibility that the questions were planted for this purpose.
Submitted by Annie (not verified) on Fri Oct. 10, 2008 6:15 PM PDT.
So he says now (wink, wink, nod, nod).
This is closing the barn door after the barn has burned to ashes.
Don't believe this for a minute. The hate machinery is in full gear, and the afterburners are engaged.
We can hope that Johnny Mac's nudge toward decency (such as it is) will cause a backlash. "If Johnny Mac won't do something about the Communist terrorist menace, then I won't vote for anybody!"
The "FOX hounds" already felt betrayed when McCain treated Obama respectfully at Tuesday's debate, and that was after only a couple days after the campaign turned especially vile. By next Wednesday, they won't be able to contain the dissonance if McCain treats Public Enemy #1 like a fellow senator.
Submitted by Jassalasca Jape (not verified) on Fri Oct. 10, 2008 6:29 PM PDT.
It's certainly better to see this than further come-ons to hate speech and revolutionary violence. But it must be said that this is a rerun of the McCain career pattern; overreaching followed by tardy contrition.
To be fair, he lost control of the agenda a long time ago, with the selection of Palin. Reckon he's now less concerned about what happens in the election than in (a) what happens to the country, and (b) what goes next to his name in the history books.
Can't feel pity for the man. But I sure wouldn't want to be in his shoes.
(Palin herself, of course, is a different fish. It's not hard to see her fronting for the paramilitary wing of a "revitalized" Republican Party after spending some time in the, ah, wilderness.)
He doesn't get points for quitting being an irresponsible rabble-rouser.
No, but maybe we can stop deducting points. If he keeps it up. If he can make Palin stop the shit, too.
dr2chase's analogy with the Darwin Awards is brilliant on many levels!
I called Sen. Schumer's office earlier today and told the staff assistant who answered the phone that I'd like Sen. Schumer to express to the Secret Service a constituent's urgent concern that Obama be given adequate security. The staff-asst. at first responded with an "Oh, I'm sure they're doing that already," to which I replied, "Once upon a time I would have automatically assumed that of the Secret Service, but let's face it: it's the Bush Administration." He got the point and promised to pass it on.
Winslow's right on this one.
His surrogates are still doing the SOS on TV. He's still running the same commercials. And my read on McCain comments (I listened to the version on TPM) is that McCain went out today prepared to make these comments.
They've gotten push-back from the press about the unruly and possibly dangerous elements in their crowds. So he's giving the corporate press an "out" on following up on him and on Palin.
Unless he changes the rest of his communications strategy, it's a crock, and we need to treat it as if it was.
Someone else made the point here already, but after a quick read I can't remember who (sorry), but consider this:
The man was being booed by his own whack job supporters at one of his rallies when he called for a modicum of decency. Booed. At your own political rally. It's time for him to own this racist bile.
I'm on vacation in Hawaii and i was just on a bus tour with a very pleasant couple from Oregon -- in their late sixties -- who both said quite calmly that Michelle Obama is not a real American. When a couple of New Zealanders on the tour asked what they meant the husband explained "she's said some things about America that are not as patriotic as they should be."
I think the rabble's already been roused, folks.
And I'm going back to the beach to forget politics for a few more days.
Submitted by Jassalasca Jape (not verified) on Fri Oct. 10, 2008 6:59 PM PDT.
Brian @ 9:42,
You're quoting from the transcript. Watch the vid; she definitely says "He's an Arab", plain and simple. McCain starts shaking his head immediately, and then cuts her off. Granted, she might have wanted to say "Arab Terrorist", for all we know. Or maybe "Arab-influenced patron of wasteful investment in medieval art collections". Or even "Arab-looking man of swarthy complexion and disturbingly handsome demeanour". Just one more of those inscrutable questions that will puzzle historians of later generations.
All of the underlying racism in this election could possibly explode. And if it does, you can than Palin ans McCain for stirring the pot. I once said I was afraid what would happen if Obama didn't win, or if he lost the electoral college as Al Gore did. I feared rebellion, rioting, and acts of civil disobedience from everyone; from the disenchanted youth on college campuses to the inner cities.
Now I'm afarid of what may occur if Obama wins. It may reignite the hatred of our already bigoted nation. There are 26 hate groups in Pennsylvania alone.
Whatever way you swing it- the revolution is coming my friends- and it will make the "culture war" look like elementary fist-to-cuffs.
On a happier note, this is a wonderful video showing just how excited they are in Kenya
I agree with commenters who said this BS should have been stopped the moment it started. McCain let it go on for days and build to the point where his own supporters are booing him! Between this scary shit and the Troopergate report today, you gotta agree ol John McPain has had one horrendous week. What will he do about Palin now? Obama doesn't have to say a word about it!
Credit where its due?!? Are you flippin' kidding me? McCain's whole, "treat Obama with respect" act is nothing but a stunt. He was talking this mess the same day his campaign accused Obama of "attacking" McCain supporters and "regular" Americans by pointing out the undeniably fact that this NOT the time to be divided. AND, he also sent out his blood hounds to make another Ayers connection by pointing out, shock, horror, gasp, Michelle Obama may have worked at the same law firm with Bernandine Dohrn in the 80s.
I swear, all McCain has to do is bat his eye, and the BBQ media is ready to embrace him as the maverick he never was. He's not doing what's right, he's doing what's convenient. Now that even Republicans are calling him out on the tenor of the rallies, and he looked at the polls, he realizes he has to put up this front.
Give me a break.
Submitted by Jassalasca Jape (not verified) on Fri Oct. 10, 2008 7:16 PM PDT.
Elliott,
On a totally non-sequitur note, the city of Obama in Japan is excited as well
Would that be the same Sarah Palin who was just found by the state legislature to have abused her power as Alaska governor? The one who is not only incompetent but now also a crook? I don't think we will be hearing much from her in the future.
Good for him? I'm sorry, but he stoked and flamed this controversy. If he wasn't currently down in the polls, he would continue it. It is his blind ambition and that of his running mate that is the center of this sad episode in politics. The only reason he is starting (and I say starting, no reason for it to continue) is because he is starting to take some flak from the conservative establishment. If his numbers were stable or rising, he would continue the attack. This is a man who does not put "Country First". He named Sarah Palin, who turns out to be the biggest flame thrower out there and then lets his surrogates (including his wife) demean a fellow candidate based on innuendo and stereotype. Until today, he has done nothing to stop this runaway train. Instead of meeting him head on with issues, he chose to question character. This says it all. It is McCain's character that needs questioning and scrutiny. I don't feel sorry for him and I hope he reaps what he sows.
Good for him?
Give me a break...I think he saw what he had wrought and blinked.
No credit to McCain, and certainly none to Palin or the campaign "professionals" doing his dirty work.
This is explained by the fact that McCain is half-assed in whatever he does.
Brian is a fool.
But he is correct to point out that Kevin took AMC's reporting at her word, and it is not correct. There is not mention of "terrorist," so Brian's point (Kevin cannot be trusted) unfortunately has some legs.
You should correct/update the post, Kevin (especially as you got to this later than others who noticed the missing word "terrorist").
This is no way to foment a coup, Johnny Walnuts. Get back on your game.
As well, once president, might I also suggest expelling the Indians/South Asians? Yes.
All that in mind, I think you & I have much in common, John. You just must harness your hatred of & loathing for your enemy. Harness it to that Cerebus, Ms Palin.
Slow & study wins the race? Hah! It's superior firepower.
Signed, cordially...
Idi Amin('s Last Meal)
But then something weird happens: He acknowledges the "energy" people have been showing at rallies, and how glad he is that people are excited. But, he says, "I respect Sen. Obama and his accomplishments."
Well as someone once said, "Anger is an energy!/Anger is an energy!/Anger is an energy!"
And as someone else said, "Americans don't elect angry candidates."
Clear enough why McCain is backing off: this ugly shit is getting a LOT more publicity than they expected and it's hurting him. As well it should. Character counts. And I've never SEEN a campaign that testified more obviously to one man's lack of character.
