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McCain Triangulates
PowerLine ^ | 4/25/08 | Hinderaker

Posted on 04/25/2008 9:37:21 PM PDT by pissant

John McCain is in the midst of a "Time for Action Tour," which could perhaps better be named his "Bash Bush and the Republicans Tour." First came his demand that the North Carolina Republican Party withdraw its ad criticizing Barack Obama's choice of Jeremiah Wright as a spiritual mentor. On NBC this morning, this is how McCain answered questions about the ad:

VIERA: The ad says Obama's, quote, "just too extreme for North Carolina."

Now, you have called this ad degrading, and you've asked the state party to pull it. But so far, they've refused to do that.

Why do you think they're not listening to you, a? And why do you believe they would continue to raise questions about Senator Obama's patriotism?

MCCAIN: They're not listening to me because they're out of touch with reality in the Republican Party. We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, and this kind of campaigning is unacceptable. I have said that. It will harm the Republicans' cause.

It is, however, McCain who is out of touch with reality if he thinks a Presidential candidate's closest personal and ideological associations are somehow off limits to scrutiny.

Next, McCain took up Bush-bashing. Touring New Orleans, he repeated the Democrats' view of Hurricane Katrina as, pre-eminently, a story of Bush administration incompetence. On ABC this morning, Chris Cuomo, of all people, asked McCain about his attack on President Bush:

Chris CUOMO: John McCain is taking direct aim at the Bush administration. The senator toured New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward as part of his "forgotten places" tour and sharply criticized the response to Hurricane Katrina, calling it disgraceful. He said the leadership failure after the disaster could be traced straight to the top, and he told our Claire Shipman it would not have happened on his watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MCCAIN: I've come here and told these people, "Never again. Never again will a disaster, either natural or manmade, be mishandled in this fashion."

It may be that the Hurricane Katrina mythology is so irrevocably fixed that McCain loses little by subscribing to it. More troubling is his willingness to bash the Bush administration's economic record, contrary to his own prior, more reasonable, statements. Once again, from NBC:

VIERA: You know, Senator, the DNC also began running an ad this week that questions your judgment when it comes to the economy. They're beating up on you, sir.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)MCCAIN: We have had a pretty good, prosperous time with low unemployment, low inflation. I think we are better off, overall.(END VIDEO CLIP)

VIERA: We're hearing that the same week that gas prices are inching up to $4 a gallon, food prices through the roof. We're seeing rice now being rationed. So, how is the average American to believe that we are better off?

MCCAIN: Well, I've said repeatedly American families are hurting in America. We're in a recession. I have plan of action and change. And it's not increases in taxes, which is -- which Senator Obama and Senator Clinton want.

VIERA: So, Senator, you do not believe we are better off, by any means, than we were eight years ago?

MCCAIN: Oh, no. No.

The fact is that, as McCain has said, we have enjoyed "a pretty good, prosperous time" during the Bush administration, with low unemployment and low inflation. While the economy is troubled at the moment, it is indeed better off, following a period of sustained growth in GDP and real compensation, than it was eight years ago, when the dot-com bubble was bursting.

It's one thing for McCain to think that he needs to distance himself from the Bush administration, but if he thinks he can win by attacking his own party and out-Bush-bashing the Democrats, he is sadly mistaken.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; dumbnuts; mccain; rino; transcript
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He's sounding more like his "good friend" all the time.
1 posted on 04/25/2008 9:37:22 PM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant
John McCain is a dirigiste Republican. Like Bush, he has no objection per se to Big Government. He isn't proposing to reverse the Bush legacy. He wants to add to it.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

2 posted on 04/25/2008 9:41:56 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: pissant

McCain could walk into a haunted house and come out with a paycheck...


3 posted on 04/25/2008 9:42:07 PM PDT by KoRn (CTHULHU '08 - I won't settle for a lesser evil any longer!)
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To: pissant

Like I said on the Rush thread today, listening to John McCain, and the certainty of listening to one of these three as our president for the next 4-8 years, makes me envy the dead.


4 posted on 04/25/2008 9:43:23 PM PDT by Christian4Bush ("41-David, you are clear for end of watch." Rest in Peace, SWAT Officer Randal Simmons.)
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To: pissant

McCain is nuts.


5 posted on 04/25/2008 9:43:44 PM PDT by devere
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To: pissant
Photobucket
6 posted on 04/25/2008 9:43:58 PM PDT by hercuroc
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To: pissant
"Time for Action Tour,"

Followed closely by the "Time to plead with the Conservatives that I pissed off Tour"...

Soon to be followed by the "Time to go sit on the porch and get pissed at the kids making tracks in my lawn Tour"

7 posted on 04/25/2008 9:52:42 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Globalism is just Socialism in a business suit.)
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To: pissant
McCain's personality, as I can only describe it, is like a "cocklebur" stuck in a dog's ear.
8 posted on 04/25/2008 9:53:09 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
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To: pissant

Well, he’s already won the GOP nomination. Maybe he’s trying to get the Democratic nomination too?

I wish the Dems would take him, and let us pick someone else.


9 posted on 04/25/2008 9:57:18 PM PDT by Wade827 (Job 21:3)
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To: Wade827

LOL!
Amen to that!


10 posted on 04/25/2008 10:01:36 PM PDT by ozark hilljilly
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To: pissant
McLaim is a Vampire.. draining the blood out of the republican party..
The republican party will soon be Zombies..
11 posted on 04/25/2008 10:04:57 PM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
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To: hosepipe

Vampire or vulture. I’m not sure which.


12 posted on 04/25/2008 10:08:21 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: pissant
"He's sounding more like his "good friend" all the time."

I'm afraid so...

13 posted on 04/25/2008 10:26:49 PM PDT by KoRn (McCain Needs To Be Replaced At The Convention)
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To: roamer_1

LOL! I wonder when he finally woke up and realized what an insult to America the name “Straight Talk Express” was?


14 posted on 04/25/2008 10:32:29 PM PDT by Califreak (Hangin' with Hunter-under the bus "Dread and Circuses")
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To: fight_truth_decay
"McCain's personality, as I can only describe it, is like a "cocklebur" stuck in a dog's ear."

More like a fish bone stuck in our throat. No matter who wins in November we are in for a rough ride.

15 posted on 04/25/2008 10:56:36 PM PDT by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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To: pissant
"Vampire or vulture. I’m not sure which."

The vampire and vulture are Obama and Hillary. McCain is a leech.

16 posted on 04/25/2008 11:00:14 PM PDT by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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To: devere
McCain is nuts.

So is anyone who votes for him.

17 posted on 04/25/2008 11:08:04 PM PDT by upsdriver (My kingdom for an acceptable presidential candidate!!)
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To: goldstategop
He isn't proposing to reverse the Bush legacy. He wants to add to it.

So, since McCain says "Oh, no no" we're not better off than eight years ago does that mean Bush had good policies but he just wasn't the right person to implement them?

18 posted on 04/25/2008 11:21:14 PM PDT by TigersEye (Berlin 1936. Olympics for murdering regimes. Beijing 2008.)
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To: pissant

> “Never again. Never again will a disaster, either natural or manmade, be mishandled in this fashion.”

It would be really difficult to argue that the Hurricane Katrina disaster response was one of America’s finest moments. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe FEMA’s response as a disorganized brothel. And the aftermath in New Orleans remains an unacceptable shocking mess.

In these criticisms McCain isn’t revealing anything new or clever: he is merely stating the bleeding obvious.


19 posted on 04/25/2008 11:29:08 PM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: Wade827

John McCain is winning over the middle. By doing so he will finally cut off the Republican Party from its wacko fringe.


20 posted on 04/25/2008 11:43:08 PM PDT by Antonio C (God bless John McCain, George W. Bush, and our troops)
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