Posted on 02/27/2008 6:16:26 AM PST by jdm
So, John McCain has a conservative supporter warming up the crowd for him who takes some shots at Obama
Bill Cunningham, who hosts “The Big Show” with Bill Cunningham, a local program here that is also syndicated nationally, was part of a line of people lauding Mr. McCain and revving up the crowd before his appearance here before several hundred people at a theater here.
He lambasted the national media, drawing cheers from the audience, for being soft in their coverage of Mr. Obama compared to the Republican candidates, declaring they should “peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama.”
He went on to rail, “at one point, the media will quit taking sides in this thing and start covering Barack Hussein Obama.”
...Mr. Cunningham said:
Only Democrats, Air America, New York Times, talk-show hosts and newspaper reporters have freedom of speech. I have the right to speak my mind any way that I would like. If I consider Obama to be a hack Chicago politician from the Daley political machine, taking money from this Tony Rezko dude under threat of federal indictment, can’t I speak truth to power?
Mr. Cunningham said the media often say “nasty, negative things” about President Bush and Vice President Cheney, and that The Times had “smeared” John McCain on its front page.
Treat all the politicians the same. We’re not dealing with the messiah here. Obama cannot heal the sick and make the blind see. He’s a hack Democratic politician from Chicago, that’s all he is. Let’s treat him like every other hack Democratic or Republican politician.
McCain, being McCain, chose to bury his own supporter and praise Obama to the skies,
Afterward, however, Mr. McCain held a scheduled news conference and immediately addressed the comments, evidently informed by his aides about what had happened.
“It’s my understanding that before I came in here a person who was on the program before I spoke made some disparaging remarks about my two colleagues in the Senate, Senator Obama and Senator Clinton,” he said. “I have repeatedly stated my respect for Senator Obama and Senator Clinton, that I will treat them with respect. I will call them ‘Senator.’ We will have a respectful debate, as I have said on hundreds of occasions. I regret any comments that may have been made about these two individuals who are honorable Americans.”
Responding to questions from reporters, Mr. McCain said he did not hear what Mr. Cunningham said, saying that when he arrived, Mr. Portman was on stage.
“Whatever suggestion that was made that was any way disparaging to the integrity, character, honesty of either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton was wrong,” he said, “I condemn it, and if I have any responsibility, I will take the responsibility, and I apologize for it.”
He called Mr. Obama a “man of integrity” and said he was someone he had come to know “pretty well and I admire.”
He also said that it was not appropriate to invoke Mr. Obama’s middle name in the course of the campaign.
“I absolutely repudiate such comments,” he said. “It will never happen again.”
Oh no! The guy called Barack Obama by his full name! How shocking and shameful -- give me a break. Here's a question: did any Democrat ever complain about liberals calling George "Felix" Allen by his full name? Maybe they did, but I don't recall a single one ever doing so.
Furthermore, it's no secret to anyone who reads RWN that I was never a fan of Mitt Romney, but here's a question: Did John McCain ever show a fellow Republican, Mitt Romney, even half as much respect as he has shown to Hillary and Obama? The answer is of course, "No, he didn't." So what does that say about McCain? A lot, actually.
Incidents like this one are exactly why so many conservatives loathe John McCain: the man is reflexively hostile to conservatives who support him while he bends over backwards to cater to liberals who think he's two steps away from being Hitler merely because he's a Republican.
If you're a conservative, how do you ever trust a man who has made a career out of spitting in the face of his friends while prostrating himself before his political enemies when you know that making nice with people like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the New York Times will always be of a much higher priority to him than defending other Republicans or pursuing a conservative agenda?
You don't.
PS: Yeah, I'm still supporting McCain because he's better than Obama, but honestly, it's a shame that they can't both lose.
PS #2: I know, I know: I said it would be great if they could both lose -- but don't send me email pumping up the Constitution Party, Libertarian Party, Reform Party, or what other hapless third party is going to run and get 1/2% of the vote this year. Third party efforts are little more than time wasters for non-serious people.
Who in his right mind would sign on to be that idiot’s Veep?
McCain is stupider than he looks, and acts. As I remember the hapless Bob Dole chose this ‘High Road’ style of campaigning, going out of his way to avoid criticising the clintoon. Considering that clintoon was quite possibly the most corrupt and compromised politician ever to occupy the Presidency, this was a staggering and utterly ridiculous strategy. Dole was annihilated in the general election.
I remember attending a Dole rally in Houston a few days before the election. Literally thousands of people showed up to hear him, many arriving hours early. I was there about 90 minutes before the speech was to start. It wound up being delayed and by the time the Candidate arrived, the crowd was very packed in. A Dole flack took the stage and asked for the crowd to move back in a particular area, “So that the Media can get to their stands.” The crowd, of course, lustily booed. The flack then said, “No! We need the Media! They help us get out our message!”
There was a fellow connected with the Dole campaigndressed in a nice suit standing behind a barrier near where I was standing. Upon hearing this statement of total idiocy by the flack on stage, I turned to him and said, “You know you guys are doomed, right?”
He simply nodded. At least somebody in that campaign got it.
McCain doesn’t get it. After reading the commentary on another thread that reveals the McCain Campaign instructed Cunningham to give the crowd some “red meat” and then feigned shock, shock (!) at his words to the Media, I am convinced that McCain will be crushed like a bug. He simply does not understand that the Media hates him and will lie about him. If he is that clueless, he has no business being Commander in Chief.
I wavered on voting for him just to avoid the catastrophe of Obama. No more.
I think the unstated point is that McCain’s health is not good and the man looks like he’s on death’s door. There’s probably a chance that he would not survive his first term in office because of his deteriorating health, and that his VP choice is absolutely critical for the future direction of both the GOP and the country.
Neuter-Neuter Land ...
He has one, but it's the MSM. McCain is still living in the days when media support trumped all other considerations -- after all, it's got him this far.
Two flies in the ointment: One, they aren't pushing him because they like him, but because he's the lesser threat to the folks that they do like; and Two, their own influence is on the skids.
McCain is doomed either way it goes. If he avoids getting beaten like a rented mule in the general election, reality will poleax him once he is in office. Consider this: Ronaldus Magnus got all manner of concessions out of the Democratic-controlled Congress because they genuinely feared his ability to bypass the MSM information blockade and go directly to the people. The enemies of our Republic saw this power of his and respected him in their turn.
Question: Who respects John McCain?
Don't everybody answer all at once.
Only the good die young, CGG.
McCain will be with us until the Four Horsemen come over the hill.
Good point. Just another example of why senators generally make lousy presidential candidates. And when that senator is John McCain, it’s a REALLY lousy presidential candidate.
Too many Republicans hate the Clintons with a passion that would never allow them to vote for Hillary.
I suspect most of the crossover vote will vote for Obama just to make sure Hillary's campaign is dead.
So how did we wind up with three miserable Senators still in the contest. This is really a poor collection to pick our next President from.
Headline? "McCain: 'I respect my Senate colleague. He's an honorable man. I will vote for him myself.'"
My sentiments exactly. I was just thinking the same thing. LOL
How did we end up with three senators? The primary system of nomination. It both blows and sucks. :)
Hey, he could be one of them. Probably not #1, though.
I am thinking of doing that, for the simple reason that I believe Obama to be more electable than Monica's ex-boyfriend's wife and that he'll be more dangerous for our country and its interests than her. Clinton is, IMHO, so hated and feared that she'll spike Republican turnout and not only lose herself, but also hurt the Dems in Congress.
Needless to say, based on the above, I will be voting for McStain, whom I despise. Rather, I'll be voting against his opponent, whichever of them is it. Because while I despise McCain for a myriad of reasons, I love my country more than I despise him. Either of the other 2 will denude our defenses, abandon Iraq and the WOT, raise taxes, set up socialized medicine, ban guns and let in every illegal who gets to the border. Yeah, McCain will let in the illegals also, and some of his other positions are nearly identical to Senator Empty Suit and Senator Monica's Ex-Boyfriend's Wife, but he is WAY, WAY different on many critical issues. I'm not sure that we can survive as a leading nation after 8 years of either one (and that's what we're buying into - don't you all remember how Billy Jeff was "guaranteed" to be a one-termer?? That worked out well, didn't it?).
Believe me, I fully understand the conservative dislike for and distrust of McCain - I share it, in spades. The problem is that I fully trust that either of his opponents will do their damnedest to destroy what is great and good about our nation, and to promote that which is dangerous for it. I can't stand by and do nothing about it, not this time - I did that in '92, because I despised Bush 41 (and I still do) - and I won't do it again, not if I want to have any self-respect.
1. The process.
2. An largely uneducated and selfish population.
That our choice has been reduced to these 3 is one of the saddest commentaries about our nation that I can imagine. For me, this election is now about stopping the worst of them first, and the 2nd worst in the election. We'll still end up with a pretty lousy choice any way you turn, but some are worse than others. As I mentioned in another post, I despise McCain, but I love my country more than I despise him, so he'll get my vote. Reluctantly, and I'm likely to get plastered on Election Night, but I cannot stomach the thought of either of the other 2 becoming CINC.
There were plenty of conservatives railing about using "Felix" in Allen's campaign...and criticims over liberals using it was expressed on this same sight many times over. I personally believe McCain was smart in reputiating Mr. Cunningham as it makes him seem more fair minded (besides everyone knows by now that Obama's middle name is Hussein and all it does in repeating it over and over is raise the false red flag again of Republican racism--incidentally, when the Allen campaign hinted that Jim Webb's campaign manager was antisemitic in repeating "Felix" over and over, Webb quickly quelled the usage of it).
Unfortunately, names do matter. Several decades or so ago, there was a great candidate running for chancellor of Germany. He was good in every respect, a fierce defender of the U.S. presence in Germany and a solid anti-communist dedicated to reunification. The only trouble was his first name was "Adolph" so he never got anywhere.
I explained this in the early 2000s about John McCain. He is a man who has been in an environment where he was very hated. This has left him with the compulsion to try a get people to like him. Combined with his straight forward attitude and this need to be like, John McCain is inconsistent in his behavior. He sees the other side of Congress as the enemy but he is compelled to make himself be liked. John McCain is a mental powder keg. He looses his temper when his two worlds collide in his brain. He wants to win but he can not fight for it. The fight in John McCain was left in Hanoi.
Yes, continue to reward the RNC for their leftward gallop. I'm sure they will turn back toward the right any day now.
McCain’s a bum! How come the other GOPs (except for Huckabee) dropped out so fast!
That’s a might big if. FDR lasted for 3 terms; I don’t think McCain is quite as feeble as people wold like to imagine.
True, but his health didn't really start to go until 1943, when his heart disease set in. It was a miracle that he lasted as long as he did. During the 1944 election, the friendly press refrained from publishing the worst images of his decline, using stock photos from 1942 and early 1943, to keep the public in the dark about his true physical condition.
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