McCain went way too far.
It shows a certain political tone deafness.
I understand him wanting to distance himself from it, say he has no part in it, doesn’t condone it. That is perfectly acceptable.
But when he starts attacking North Carolina Republicans as “out of touch”, he has gone too far. He is just flirting with losing the state of North Carolina. Just who does he think is going to vote for him in NC if not Republicans? It is no different than Obama’s attack on rural voters’ belief in God and the 2nd amendment. It is no different at all, and yet McCain can’t see that.
I think he’s probably been told by advisors that went too far. And I think when Huckabee wins North Carolina in 2 weeks, despite having dropped out, McCain will get that message.
There’s a lot going on here: McCain trying to assert himself as the leader of the Republican party, McCain failing. The GOP has said “we’ll let you be our candidate, but you don’t speak for us.” It is McCain who is on probation, not the state Republican parties. They are raising money, he isn’t. Is it any wonder why?
McCain needs to apologize to North Carolina Republicans, say he misspoke. He should say he hadn’t seen the ad but was told by the media that it was racist. Then he should say after seeing the ad, he sees nothing wrong with it and the media lied about its contents, that it was tame in comparison to what Hillary Clinton’s campaign has been saying. Then he should say he won’t let any of these false charges and double standards against Republicans from the Democrats and news media stand.
Urban whites and non-white middle class will decide the election. That’s what McCain is saying. He’s willing to bet rural whites will come to the polls and vote him as a protest vote out of fear for what the dems will end up running, so the key is to convince the urban folks who want a tolerant secular moderate. They are trying to win. I guess you’ll have to deal with the insults. You’ll still vote against Obama or Hillary so he’s on safe ground.
It is possible that no matter what 'message' is sent to John, he may no longer be capable of 'receiving'! As far as we have seen here, that message has been 'sent to' John many, many times. And yet he continuously attacked 'his Base'! North Carolina WILL be a 'preliminary' for John's November, but the chances of him noticing are nil.