Election '08: Taking Stock of McCain with Three Weeks to Go
With just 21 days until the election (and, incredibly, early voting already begun in many parts of the country), Sarah Palin appears to have hit her stride. Unfortunately, her running mate seems to have stumbled badly.
While the Alaska governor is out there correctly noting that the Democratic nominee has a history of "palling around with terrorists," John McCain is telling his own supporters he doesn't fear an Obama presidency-and getting booed for it. In the polls he's sliding almost as fast as the stock market did last week.
Sen. McCain says not to worry, that he is another "comeback kid" (thanks for the Clinton allusion). Stocks that go down also go up, right? The Arizona senator says he and Palin have team Obama right where they want them: overconfident. Isn't that what losers always say before the end?
McCain famously said once that he'd rather lose an election than a war. Now, however, it appears that he'd rather lose an election than win an election. Let's tick off some of the mistakes: Talking tough in ads but then appearing to weasel out of it in the campaign and during debates; hiding Sarah Palin for too long before sending her out unprepared; failing to put together a coherent economic message (though that hasn't stopped Barack Obama); and failing to challenge Obama's gaseous proposals on the facts.
Yes, he has team Obama right where they want to be: in first place, with McCain receding quickly in the rearview mirror.
Regarding the ethics investigation of Sarah Palin that concluded over the weekend, this appears to have been another trumped up frenzy with little substance. The governor broke no laws but was supposedly guilty of abusing her authority because she pressured an underling to fire a scumbag trooper. The report noted that just firing the official for insubordination would have been fine. So "Sarah Barracuda" appears to have been too nice in this instance.
Memo to Palin: Next time, just fire the guy.
Now that this brouhaha is over, it's time for the MSM to put the same energy and resources they invested into "troopergate" into investigating Obama's ties with Ayers, Wright, ACORN, Rezko, and all the rest. Voters have a right to know. The fact that the media won't do their job is the real scandal.
posted by Stan Guthrie at 5:28 AM
StanGuthrie.com
2 Comments:
Stan,
I agree with much of what you say here: Yes, Team Obama is winning and pulling farther and farther out ahead. Thanks, in large part, to McCain's erratic campaigning and lack of a clear message or "steady hand at the tiller" (to use his old-fashioned terminology).
But yesterday you wrote, "Those cranks on the right who rant about Obama being a terrorist or as someone who should be killed need to get lost." Today you praise Sarah Palin for "correctly noting that the Democratic nominee has a history of 'palling around with terrorists.'" Stan, do you not get the correlation between Sarah Pallin saying "pal around with terrorists" and the rise in "those cranks" calling for Obama to be "killed," "off with his head," etc.??? There's an obvious correlation there that your two statements completely contradict.
I completely disagree that Obama's minor connection to Ayers can possibly be characterized as "palling around." Obama has already denounced Ayers' violent past. The last time they were together was over a year ago when they bumped into each other on the street in Chicago! Hardly "palling around."
You can't chastise "those cranks" in one breath and then praise the rhetoric that incited "those cranks" in the next. Your message is sounding about as off-kilter as McCain's on this point.
As for Palin's Troopergate case, which found she had "broken the state's ethics law," what do you make of her telling reporters, "I’m very, very pleased to be cleared of ... any hint of any kind of unethical activity there." She violated the ethics law, and then claimed to have done nothing "unethical"? Huh?! She should at least admit that much -- as you did in your blog post. I think you are far too forgiving of her obvious flaws and put way too much confidence in her. And the flames of hate she's been fanning over the past week or so do not need more encouragement. Please, if nothing else, reconsider your approval of that hate-inciting rhetoric.
Steve,
You ask too much. Obama has indeed "palled around" with Ayers, and there's nothing wrong in saying so. In fact, to accuse people of inciting violence and hatred when they are just telling the truth is a cheap rhetorical trick and a way to preclude needed discussion--this is unworthy of you.
Ayers hosted Obama's first political fundraiser in his own living room and worked with the young politician for years with the Annenberg foundation. Not until Obama became a serious candidate for the presidency did Obama see fit to denounce the man's terrorism (which Ayers himmself has never apologized for). Doesn't that say something to you?
Sadly, you'd rather get worked up over the comparatively minor mistake of Sarah Palin and this so-called "troopergate" scandal. Where in the world are your priorities?
Stan
P,S. - Again, this will be my only comment on this post.
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