Anyone think McCain doesn't personally want to go negative on Obama?

[LittleBlue]

I've been wondering this since the debate, where McCain never brought up Ayers. Now he tells a crowd that Obama would basically be an alright President. I realize he probably did this for the media, but one has to wonder: is it Palin and the Bush advisers who are running his campaign? I can definitely see Palin and Rove acolytes pulling the Obama = terrorist thing; but I do recall McCain being smeared horribly by Bush in 2000, and how he wouldn't sink to that level.

Maybe I'm just having pity on Gramps since we're up so far in the polls (Bad LittleBlue! Bad!).

Enlighten me if I'm forgetting something.

[Muttocracy]

1. McCain hasn't been in control of his campaign or his mind for a long time so I don't know...

[msongs]

2. sorry but McCain does not want to lose to a black man or even a 50% black man lol nt

[dkf]

3. He doesn't want to be head of the crazy mob is all.

He's rejecting the crazy talk.

[Bicoastal]

No pity from me.

Well, maybe a little...

[polichick]

4. I think he did it to save his senatorial ass - he could be censured.

[gravity]

5. I don't think he does

he doesn't seem comfortable bringing this up, and it isn't John McCain to go that route.

I bet the Rovian managers and especially Palin were the ones encouraging this.

[Schulzz]

6. Wasn't there a moment in summer where a campaign spokesman said McCain doesn't speak

for the McCain campaign? :wtf: I believe it was about taxes...

But I still believe if he would not want to go negative, he had the power to stop it.

[Lucy Goosey]

7. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he hasn't really done it himself...

I mean, he has gone after Barack's experience and such, but he hasn't (to my knowledge) personally gone after Ayers or ACORN or "Muslim!" or anything like that.

I don't really cut him much slack for letting his surrogates do it, though.

[parasim]

8. My guess is that McCain hates his life right now.

i don't think that he ever really wanted to be told what to do by Kristol and the rest of the neocons, but in order to have any possible means of getting the presidency he knew he had to do what they wanted.

[LittleBlue]

13. I agree

I think McCain ran for President and didn't know what he was getting into. He strikes me as not so much an intellectual guy, so when his handlers tell him "it has to be this way, we must attack... don't you know history?" McCain probably just sits there and nods, not wanting to seem like an idiot.

I feel a little sorry for him, but not very much so since he was partly responsible for the war.

[BklynChick]

9. This is irrelevant to me. Ultimately, you are in charge of your campaign. You are in the driver's

seat. If he didn't like this crap, he could have stopped it. I don't think McCain has any integrity whatsoever and will do anything to win. He was obviously pressured into backtracking.

[Cha]

14. Totally irrelevant.

Can you imagine Obama not being in charge of his campaign?

[iceman66]

10. If that is true it means he has NO control over his campaign whatsoever.

McCain's ads are 100% negative. 100%!

[gravity]

15. He has lost control

but I don't think he wanted to be negative.

[LittleBlue]

16. True. His campaign hasn't been unified since the Palin debacles

[knixphan]

11. He doesn't want to get his ass kicked in public...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. I think he's seeing that the extremely negative stuff is starting to backfire.

But he's a mean bastard, a fact that's been established for a long time, and he's probably racist to boot. We've seen how contemptuous and dismissive he's been toward Obama during the debates; he can barely hide his contempt... "That one."

On the other hand, he's worked very hard to promote a public image of an honorable, decent, honest guy who would never be involved in fomenting hatred. That's why he's been letting Palin do it. I have no doubt that he "defended" Obama only because he's been getting a lot of really bad press and criticism from other Republicans about the fact that his and Palin's campaign appearances have started to look like Klan rallies. He was OK with it as long as there wasn't any blowback -- but now there is.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

17. To be honest I have no idea. He's been swerving around all over the place

to the point where I can't tell what I'm looking at anymore.

[RichardRay]

18. I think 'Say it to my face' worked.

McCain knows he can't do that. Whether it's because he doesn't want to or because he knows it would be disastrous to do so, he knows he can't. The only way out is to try to try to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Good luck with that...

[FLyellowdog]

19. He looks sick at heart.

McCain's whole body language has changed today. His face is less animated and he's not smirking as much. I don't feel sorry for him but I'm glad to see him act a little more honorable than he has been. He's showed his true colors during this campaign and thinking,caring people have seen what he is really about.

He's old and needs to retire. Palin on the other hand, poses more of a problem as she's young and the republicans actually "like" her. She'll be our next battle sometime in the future, probably 2012.

[mdavies013]

20. HE HIRED THE OVER THE TOP RACIST THAT RAND THE HORRIBLE ADS IN SOUTH CAROLINA!!!

You don't do that by accident...you do it by design. There is nothing for him to run on. No one belives the crap about taxes, etc. Also don't forget that McCain was backed into a corner by Obama/Biden...say it to my face you POS bastards (I think that is what I heard).

McCain doesn't want to have to call Obama out at the last debate...because he WILL LOSE BIG. If he did not bring it up at the debate....everyone would say he is a chicken shit coward. This is his way of trying to create an out and look for other ways to do this.

[BlueIdaho]

21. I will not pity this man

He is running for President of the United States. If he can't control his own campaign and doesn't have the judgement to know that stirring up racial hatred in voters is a disaster for our nation - then he deserves his own whirlwind of hatred. I hope his "supporters" scare the living shit out of him. He has no one to blame but himself.

[VoodooGuru]

22. While he has nobody to blame but himself...

... I do wonder. Maybe he's just thinking, "Aw, fuck, I have to go back to Washington when this is all over and work with these guys in the Senate. Better stop burning the bridges.

Or maybe, just maybe, the jar he put his conscience in is leaking.

[ShortnFiery]

23. No, I think some fellow Senators had a quiet word with him.

Either his peers (Senators) or the high echelon of the FBI. :shrug:

[NC_Nurse]

24. I think he probably told himself it was the right thing to do, a means to an

end. He may be truly disturbed by what he's created, but it's his own fault and he deserves to be exposed for the
absolute empty suit he has become. There was a time when he seemed to have some integrity. That was a LONG time ago.
He obviously lost all perspective about the time he started giving Dubya bear hugs. Ugh.

[IsItJustMe]

25. McNasty wants to get nastier. But he knows he has already gone to far. Several people in the news

have statetet that they fear violence. If a violent event does occur because of McCain/Palin rhetoric, you can bet your last dollar if that happened, McNasty would not have a chance in hell of winning. It has gotten that bad and McNasty knows that.

He has opened up Pandorahs box.

[Caretha]

26. Uhhh, NO

Not only NO, but hell NO. Whatever made you think that this man ever had any integrity? Name just one instance, just one. He has always been willing to kiss/suck up to whoever he thought could get him what he wanted. Whether it was the Viet Cong or George FUCKIN' Bush. This man has always been willing to compromise himself for his own self interest. Google Keating 5 - google his first wife - google his b-day & Katrina - google his adopted daughter and what the Right-wing had to say about his own child. You honest to God think this man cares about anyone but himself. Google what he called his 2nd wife, "c**t? Please, let's not put on some sort of rose colored glasses and try to cherry coat this sad sack of a human being. What would you think of Obama if he called Michelle a c**t?

What would you think of Obama if he was willing to rile the bottom 20% of America's ignorant just to get elected. What does that tell you about this buffoon. His base is the bottom feeders. Uneducated, racist, illiterate....truly the very 20% of the unwashed in America. That's not a man of integrity, that is someone who definitely does not put his children first, his wife first or his country first. A sick, mental midget of the first degree. Let us start calling it what it is. Now is not the time to sugar-coat it or make excuses for years and years of consistant bad judgement & behavior.

We knew/have been predicting for the past 7 - 8 years that the ignorant (insert every adjective you can think of to describe the Bush/Cheney admin here) that the policies, the derilection of duty, the absolute greed & criminality or this administration would bring this country to its knees and the unprecidented crisis' we are faced with today.

I PROCLAIM, NO MORE EXCUSES, NO MORE FORGIVENESS, NO MORE! JUST NO GODDAMN MORE!

Now lets start thinking about what we can do to set this country straight again, and take care of our citizens, gain our national respect back. It's going to be very hard, and we will not be able to do it if we do not face up to what a fiasco these right wing nuts and their leaders have caused. In order to make us a truly democratic, prosperous and safe nation again, we have got to hold up that mirror and face/recognize the failures that brought us to this point and totally reject them & scream in our loudest voices, NO MORE, I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!

Then we might have a chance, a slim one, but it is still a chance, and I for one am not willing to compromise anymore. I'm not going to because, I love this country, MY ancestors died & bled and gave everything they had for this country, and most important of all, I told my children...no forget that, I FUCKIN PROMISED my children, that they would have a life and future in this country if they worked & studied hard and did right by their friends, family & neighbors.

Okay, I'm through with my rant, but I mean every DAMN word.

[blitzen]

27. McCain wants whatever will work for McCain..."McCain First"

[chicagoexpat]

28. please... u mean: "Stop me before I kick him in the nuts again!"

No 12-step program for thugs