Kelli Ward suggests John McCain statement on ending treatment timed to hurt her campaign

KARE 11 ^ | 8/25/2018 | Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Arizona Republic

[jimfree]

While the release may have been politically motivated, she just lost a bunch of votes by blowing up about it. Not a good idea. In the late June Maryland primary, we had only a couple of serious contenders. One campaign brought up a bogus accusation against my favored candidate who did win. The complaining candidate dropped to third. Sad.

[plain talk]

Nah — she made a bonehead comment and deserves criticism. She is not close in the polls and it is easy to see why.

[marktwain]

If it was out of context, then why was Kelli Ward’s comment taken down?

Because it *could* be taken out of context.

That seems obvious to me. A conservative has to be ten times as careful as someone who is "in" the system. The counter-example is Donald Trump, but Kelly Ward does not seem to have the twitter following, the money, or the independent fame that President Trump had going into the election.

When we make much of these little nothing-burgers we play into their hands. It is how the Progressives have manipulated us for decades.

[Hildy]

How do you know that? What polls are you referring to?

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“””Because it *could* be taken out of context.”””

---

Too late to take the Facebook statement down.

Below is but a smattering of the media who have reported the story. Politics is a very brutal sport and unless the politician’s name ends with Clinton, it is game over.

The Washington Post · 3h
USA Today · 19h
Phoenix New Times · 3h
Slate · 6h
Arizona Daily Star · 1h
Talking Points Memo · 7h
Mediaite · 8h
Patheos · 9h
The Washington Examiner · 4h
etc—

[originalbuckeye]

Over the past 2 years, Sinema has moderated her votes and has a 60% record of supporting Trump. Not kidding. She plays the Leftist game well. Liars all of them. She is going for the middle, which keeps getting bigger in Arizona. Does anyone thing Sinema will be supportive of Trump if she wins the Senate seat?? Me, neither. We had all better vote for whichever Republican wins the Primary or Trump may not have a majority in the Senate.

[marktwain]

Politics is a very brutal sport and unless the politician’s name ends with Clinton, it is game over.

Nah. No question that Democrats get a pass far more often than Republicans. Consider Obama. Consider Palin.

The left promoted "errors" of Palin that were spoken by an actress imitating her.

[BobL]

I guess she really didn’t want to win the Primary. In any case, McSally is certainly better than Ward doing something like this and then going down in flames in November.

[RooRoobird20]

I agree, the most important thing is keeping that leftist snake Kirsten Sinema out if the senate. She’s trying to disguise herself as a “moderate”—which she isn’t. I’m voting for Kelli in the primary, she’s 100% pro Trump. Of course I will vote for McSally in the general election if she is the GOP candidate.

[Hugin]

It wasn’t what the staffer said, it was she replied. It’s not a matter of being smart or not. It’s foolishness, the lack of wisdom. The smarter you are, the bigger fool you can be (Karl Marx was a genius and one of the biggest fools ever).

[Figment]

While what she said is likely true, it was stupid of her to say it. It may result in the end of her political career

[Paul R.]

Seems like Republicans quite often lose because they say stupid things.

Yes, I have noticed that for at least 40 years... There's more to it too: Most Pubs are simply not as adept in debates, interviews, and such, as Dems. Why? Because very often the Dem came up as a lawyer and / or with a Poli-Sci background. The Pub politician is more likely to be a business person, Dr., etc., lacking that background, and is also LESS likely to be the sort of person who during at least a portion of their lives spent extensive time in the bars around low-info voters... Part of President Trump's "ability" lies in him just naturally being exceptionally intelligent and fast on his feet, combined with the time he spent in show biz, his experiences in construction (I'll bet he can run a backhoe with the best of 'em), and so on.)

Further, we can complain about the MSM taking advantage every time a Pub says something stupid, and giving Dems and Socialists a pass, but, hell, it's not like our candidates don't know that: Reasonably politically-wise Pub candidates guard their comments very carefully unless (like Trump) they are WELL experienced into turning virtually any seeming disadvantage into advantage, or, rendering it unimportant.

Take Mitch McConnell for example. He's not very well liked, even in KY, but he's politically adept, runs vicious attack ads against opponents (and very "sweet" ads for himself), always manages to be the better of poor choices in the general election, debates reasonably well, and very importantly, makes few big campaign blunders.

I have thought for some time that the Republican Party needs to offer some sort of minimum 2 year training for candidates: Not so much on issues, but on how to present themselves and avoid major campaign blunders, while at the same time not everyone looking and sounding like they came out of a mold...

[TigersEye]

I think you’ve covered it quite well and accounted for the differences in political performance in the majority of cases. This instance isn’t one of them but sometimes their actions or statements are so dumb that background and training shouldn’t even be a factor.