Posted on 07/31/2008 8:05:31 AM PDT by TADSLOS
KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 30 -- Sen. John McCain last week delivered one of his sharpest critiques yet of Sen. Barack Obama's Iraq policies, carefully reading a prepared speech that accused his Democratic rival of failing the commander-in-chief test and promoting ideas that would force American troops to "retreat under fire."
But just hours after his crisp performance, the Republican presidential candidate blurred his own message with an offhand comment to a television interviewer that Obama's proposal for a 16-month time frame for removing combat troops from Iraq might be a "pretty good timetable." That seemed to run counter to his attempts to cast Obama as naive on foreign policy, and it sent his aides scrambling.
As Election Day nears, McCain's campaign is adopting the aggressive, take-no-prisoners style of Karl Rove, the GOP operative who engineered victories for President Bush. The campaign continued the attack Wednesday with a sarcastic television ad deriding Obama as a "celebrity," part of an intensifying effort to cast him as an elitist.
But the sharp-edged approach is being orchestrated for an unpredictable candidate who often chafes at delivering the campaign's message of the day. It is that freewheeling style that has made him popular with voters and cemented his reputation for candor and straight talk.
McCain, who was most comfortable as an underdog in the unscripted environment of the New Hampshire primary, makes his advisers cringe as he delivers the attack line -- and then keeps talking. In that respect, he is no Bush, his handlers say.
The result is a presidential campaign that sometimes rolls between serious policy discussions about the nation's future and gotcha politics aimed at undermining his opponent's character. McCain himself is often caught in the middle, proclaiming his commitment to the former while participating in the latter.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
McCain is just honest, it does look like we can withdraw fairly soon, it’s the timetable set in stone that is a mistake by Obama.
He keeps putting Obomba's face and name in front of the public instead of his own.
Even if he's putting Obomba down it's getting the public to hear his name and see his face again and again.
Hmmm . . .no bias slipped in here, folks! Nope, not at all. We here at WaPo are trying to give you all the information you need to vote for the right person for President. Now step over here to see our falling-down-glowing report on Obama.
I believe you are right. That ad with Paris and Britney wasn’t too good.
I don’t know, I just think McCain isn’t a great campaigner.
Barry does himself most of the damage, mostly by his past associations. He sticks to the script too much and fails at coming off genuine.
McCain gets most of his help from Barry.
Yeah, then he'll be called "the wonderer", as in "I wonder why I got creamed by an empty suited false prophet?"
He keeps putting Obomba’s face and name in front of the public instead of his own.
They are both idiots.
Nothing good could come of his being in the forefront 24/7. His handlers are exactly right to keep Obama in the news while McCain stands back and lets Obama hang himself.
It's the typical, "Don't vote for me, vote against the other guy", strategy.
The only problem with that is the fact that McCain is getting people hearing Obomba's name.
McCain later refuted what he had said and dismissed himself from the campaign citing the fact that he thought he was running an honorable campaign and wouldn’t allow this sort of behaviour from anyone on his staff...including himself.
I liked the ad.
“Hang?” That’s racist. The word will be outlawed by the federal government soon, along with lynch and other words deemed offensive.
Heaven help us.
“McCain Often Steers Off Course (They Call Him the Wanderer)”
We used to have a wanderer in this rest home that I worked in....always having to go find the poor old guy and bring him back to the home.
“He keeps putting Obomba’s face and name in front of the public instead of his own.”
He is continuing the meme, because he knows it is true, that HE doesn’t inspire a fly to eat s**t. OBAMA on the other hand might just inspire enough people to vote for McCain.
“Yeah, then he’ll be called “the wonderer”, as in “I wonder why I got creamed by an empty suited false prophet?”
Do you think that he will figure it out? I’d really like to see him maybe on H & C one night in February next year saying, “Well, I got my ass handed to me because you do NOT spend the previous ten years kicking you base in the crotch and them tell them that they HAVE to vote for you or they are traitors.”
That would pretty much make my year.
Exactly. The enemedia never reports that Obama "carefully read a prepared speech." No, the Chosen One dazzles crowds with soaring oratory that touches upon timeless, universal themes...
LOL! Dream on. McCain will be giving NY Times and ABC/NBS/CBS interviews in November throwing platitudes to his liberal colleagues across the aisle and telling America how much he respects and admires Obamessiah as the President-elect. He'll be damned if he has to concede to conservatives in any form or fashion- he saves that for liberals.
People tend to vote for the name they recognize. Fact.
Fact. McCain has been around the scene for three decades and vitually every voter knows the name.
The MSM has already plastered O’s face and name across every possible platform and will continue to do so.
Ever look at the last 6 issues of TIME magazine?
Dorr, ass, bang. Too late for your idea to have any effect whatsoever.
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