Will the "Willie Effect" Impact the Election? (McCain's Attack on Cunningham Seriously Risks Ohio)

WLW 700 ^ | 28 Feb 08 | WLW

[roses of sharon]

Absolutely!

Please pass word on on FR, on Tom’s decision to run! And keep everyone informed on others you are aware of around the country.

We will need a Conservative candidate to run against McCain or Hussein in 2012!

[xzins]

The politically expedient thing for McCain to do is to get with Cunningham behind the scenes and have Cunningham say that he and Senator McCain have resolved their differences.

In short, that might involve an apology. He has to work that out with Cunningham.

[JZelle]

It looks like no matter who wins, we will get the “Fairness” Doctrine.

[TinaJeannes]

If you all recall Mccain was told by his aides what cunningham said. And cunningham did put rice down in his speech along with hussein *G*

[LWalk18]

Conservatives won’t be voting for McNasty unless he makes promises that cut against his grain—on Amnesty, especially. Just consider your man “toast” as Obama will grab enough Independent votes away from McLame to win.

McCain is "my man" only by default- the realization that no hero on a white horse is going to come along and save the Republicans from themselves. The only option at this point as an American is to support the candidate who will do the least damage to this country over the next four years- can anyone here honestly say that will be Obama? or Clinton?

Conservatives unfortunately were never able to unite behind a candidate, so a moderate was able to win by appearing to be all things to all people. If we don't unite behind McCain, albeit with serious reservations, Obama will beat McCain with that same abiility in the general election.

[diamond6]

I agree...........McCain was really stupid here.

[jveritas]

Why not a public apology with McCain on his knees in front of this talk radio guy? Will this make you feel better. How about if McCain goes on knees and kiss the feet of every conservative talk radio show in the country? Will this make you very happy?

[r9etb]

Harping on Obama's middle name is really out of line -- it's an innuendo attack that has no merit. Obama's middle name is not a legitimate campaign issue.

As for his other comments -- well, it was McCain's event, after all, and he gets to set the tone. And thus he has the right to object when somebody purporting to speak for him tries to inject a harsher tone than McCain wants to use.

And, fwiw, I think McCain's got a better bead on the mood of the electorate than Cunningham does. Cunningham is a professional loudmouth, who was doing his normal schtick ... but I strongly suspect that the typical talk-radio innuendo attack won't work against Obama. It will cause the middle-ground voters, who are already somewhat attracted by Obama's charisma, to feel like defending him -- to McCain's (and our) detriment.

As to the issues he raised, especially Rezko .... are they legitimate? Sure they are. But if they're going to become campaign issues, they've got to be approached in the right way. You'd have thought the Clinton years would have taught Cunningham a thing or two about that. Apparently not.

[levotb]

There you go again! Say, Dane, are YOU a “mind-numbed robot”? FYI, the conservatives I know (and some are leaders in the Movement) are wise people. They see the landscape and know what’s goin’ down. Right now, they see a “mind-numbed robot” named McAmnesty who is their bitter enemy trying to pull reinvent himself as “a true conservative” when he’s an angry, war-mongering Liberal with a huge chip on his shoulder! They aren’t about to put that creep’s finger on the nuclear button!

[Miss Didi]

RUSH:… Okay, so his name is off limits, can't use Hussein. You can't call him a liberal. What other fact about Obama are we not going to be allowed to talk about? That's right, can't talk about his ears, either, because when Maureen Dowd made some comment about his ears, he went straight into the crowd and said, "I'm very sensitive about my ears." She said, "We're trying to toughen you up." Well, it hasn't worked. Can't use the name Hussein, can't call him a liberal, and this is the kind of thing -- look, it's brilliant on Obama's part. He's setting the rules, and everybody's going to abide by them. Republican National Committee, "Okay, we can't call him a liberal because he's going to tear into us, we don't want him tearing into us." Well, I don't know how you're going to characterize his policies if you don't call him a liberal. And, by the way, what's so bad about being a liberal? How come none of these liberals want to be called liberals?

See, Obama's no different than any of the rest of them, folks. No different at all. Nothing new here. The only thing new is the Democrats have now made it official that their guiding principle is "America sucks." But they have to mask who they are, they have to disguise themselves, camouflage themselves, whatever, you call them a liberal, and it's a personal attack. So Obama's now said liberal is off limits, can't do it. What will Republicans do? Your guess is as good as mine, but I hope they don't shy away from that. This Hussein business, that could backfire. It's so charged. It's almost one of those things that could arouse sympathy for Obama, but regardless, I can't believe that somebody's name is off limits. I just don't believe it.(cont.)

Don't Call Him Hussein or Liberal

RUSH: Can we call him BHO? You know, presidents have initials. W is Dubya, JFK, RFK. We referred to Reagan, President Reagan. Jimmy Carter, we didn't call him Jimmy Earl Carter, but sometimes presidents are known by their three initials. BHO. Are we going to call him BO? I don't think we're going to do that. If he becomes president, we're not going to say, "BO! BO!" We're going to say BH? No, we'll say Barack or Obama. But we're being told can't use Hussein. We're being told we can't talk about his being a liberal. But I want to get Bill Cunningham off the hook here a little bit. Bill, apparently you're not to blame for this; I am. (cont.)

Talk Radio, McCain and BHO

[levotb]

Beautiful, Little Ray! Beautiful!

[babble-on]

here’s how its playing in the media, and seems like a very smart move by McCain. Lose thousands on the far right hand part of the electorate, while becoming acceptable to millions in the center:

McCain denounces racist comments
February 27, 2008 - 1:24am
By LIZ SIDOTI

[bonehead4freedom]

Every time you want to hold your nose and vote McCocaine he’ll do something to show his contempt for conservatives and he can’t wait to scoot across the aisle to his buddies the Dems to the accolades of the media.McCocaine is a drug that will make see you Republican while the liberal agenda is shoved down your throat.He would rather have Wolf Blitzer sings his praises then have any conservative support.I won’t vote for him even if that means we get Obama then it’s 4 years in the wilderness as opposed to 20 with McCocaine.Oh by the way Willie Rocks!

[Hot Tabasco]

They are upset about betrayal.

You are quite correct in that statement. Many conservatives do not like McCain and never have. I'm one of them. But for me, I have already resigned myself to vote for the guy but when he pulls a stunt like he did with Cunningham it just adds fuel to the flames which are trying to convince me to just stay home on election day, not that I actually will.

But there's lots of people who feel as strongly about this as I do who are willing to actually take that step and McCain is doing absolutely nothing to sway their decisions........That is not leadership and if the dems win in November there will be no one to blame but McCain himself......

[Greg F]

That’s a good idea. Do you think McCain and Cunningham are the sorts of fellows that can resolve personal differences though? McCain carried a sort of hatred for Bush for years and hurt his own political interests acting on it in some critical votes and moments. I hope McCain is not as stupid and vain as he seems to be from a distance. Cunningham jumped right on the opportunity to promote himself and attack McCain.

[Richard Kimball]

Remember just last year when we were honoring the late Gerald Ford in part because of his civility

Democrats loved Ford because he lost. McCain shouldn't have had Cunningham as a speaker, as he needs the Dem and crossover votes. Cunningham could have done what he does, while McCain does what he does. As it is, McCain is doing everything he can to make it harder to hold your nose and vote for him.

[Bahbah]

I said early on, having watched John McCain for a long time, that he would run an absolutely terrible campaign. I didn’t think he would start so soon.

He has an advanced case of Senatoritis. He believes in his superiority. He is nasty, snotty and arrogant. This is going to be a tough time for us.

[COBOL2Java]

McCain scored more points with the media and moderates than he will lose with people that didn’t like him anyway.

Well of course! The media and moderates are the two most important constituencies! In that order of course, I mean, let's be real - of what worth are VOTERS if there isn't a fawning media, right?

[BluH2o]

In short, McCain just threw away Southern Ohio. If he loses SW Ohio, then he loses Ohio. If he loses Ohio, then he loses America.

I live in SW Ohio and have never listened to Bill Cunningham, at least his talk show. However, I agree McPain made a huge gaffe by condemning and then apologizing for Cunningham's Hussein remarks. Any conservative that pays attention knows McPain for what he is, essentially a loose cannon RINO that delights in shafting pubbies at every opportunity. McPain wasted his trip to Ohio thinking, I'm sure, that he would win over conservatives. He should have stayed in Texas, or Washington ... he would have been much better off.

[xzins]

I live here. It’s a split state. McCain won’t get democratic votes. Therefore, he can’t afford to throw away conservative votes.

The truth is that no one around here would have cared about Cunningham using Obama’s middle name. Not one soul. For one thing, there’s nothing wrong with using someone’s real middle name. For another, Cunningham is a hometown favorite, everyone knows his style, and they like him. I’d say that market research must show that, because he is spokesperson for a HUGE number of companies who use him in their advertisements....everything from cars to windows to potato chips.