Desperate McCain Camp Prepares to Play Its Last Slimy Card
Just in from the Huffington Post and (p)Rick Davis:
John McCain's campaign manager says he is reconsidering using Barack Obama's relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright as a campaign issue during the election's closing weeks.
In an appearance on conservative Hugh Hewitt's radio program, Davis said that circumstances had changed since John McCain initially and unilaterally took Obama's former pastor off the table. The Arizona Republican, Davis argued, had been jilted by the remarks of Rep. John Lewis, who compared recent GOP crowds to segregationist George Wallace's rallies. And, as such, the campaign was going to "rethink" what was in and out of political bounds.
"Look, John McCain has told us a long time ago before this campaign ever got started, back in May, I think, that from his perspective, he was not going to have his campaign actively involved in using Jeremiah Wright as a wedge in this campaign," he said late last week. "Now since then, I must say, when Congressman Lewis calls John McCain and Sarah Palin and his entire group of supporters, fifty million people strong around this country, that we're all racists and we should be compared to George Wallace and the kind of horrible segregation and evil and horrible politics that was played at that time, you know, that you've got to rethink all these things. And so I think we're in the process of looking at how we're going to close this campaign. We've got 19 days, and we're taking serious all these issues."
read the entire article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/20/rick-davis-were-rethinkin_n_136173.html
update: Oy...looks like they have another card up their sleeve, the drug card:
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/rudy_pushes_for_probe_of_obama.php
They've always planned to play the Rev. Wright card. Given how they operate, and how many times McCain has flip-flopped, it would be illogical to think otherwise.
In fact, the Ayers thing, I believe, was just laying the ground work.
The whole Pro-America, anti-America rhetoric didn't just come out of nowhere.
October 20, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been thinking this, too. I'm sure that the commercials and mailers are already done, and the last week of the campaign is going to be a non-stop blitz of Rev. Wright clips. One thing we have learned about the McCain camp, they announce their gameplans in advance, in order to start the media buzz.
Get out your excrement-proof raincoats, here comes the final s@%tstorm...
October 20, 2008 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, who could have expected this? Just at the last minute, too! Obama's a goner fer shure . . .
October 20, 2008 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
okay so this blog doesn't end tags where it should (sigh).
October 20, 2008 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder if Wright will crawl out from under whatever rock he has been under and mouth off again?
October 20, 2008 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, this will be interesting. It's all on John McCain now ...... about what sort of reception he wants to receive when he walks back into the Senate, about what he wants to see when he looks in the mirror.
Wright is not a recent discovery, so the only reason to bring it out now is that they are desperate to win, using any means possible. ------ They can't pretend an "obligation to inform the American people" because if that was the case, the obligation would have been even stronger at the beginning of the campaign. ----------- And they can't blame it on John Lewis convincingly, because it was clear that Lewis was referring to the potential for violence that is created wherever there was incitement of hate (of blacks, of terrorists, of any group) by the supposed leaders. He wasn't calling them racist; he was calling them RABBLE-ROUSING!!
John McCain has apparently been powerless to control, or not cared about, how his campaign has been run, or who his vice president pick was, among many other things. But he has managed to impose this one limit of decency.
If Wright comes out now, it may be a big story that hurts Obama with the people who haven't been paying attention (although how many of those are really left?). But the bigger story might well turn out to be:
--- sleaziness of the McCain campaign increasing to the point that no decent, fair-minded Republican will be willing to support him.
--- the total emasculation of John McCain, who simply has no authority or power to control his party (leaving one to wonder who would be running the country if he were elected),
OR
--- actual violence in the streets, something that can be predicted when after a deliberate campaign of rabble-rousing, one tosses a really combustible fireball into the mix.
Whatever the result, the responsibility for what happens next will rest solely on the shoulders of John McCain AND the right-wing ideologues who have taken control of his campaign.
This isn't about race at all --- it's simply about hate and fear and power.
I'm sure the Obama campaign has made plans as to what to do if they come out with a big campaign based on Wright ......... I suspect they hope for but don't entirely trust in the honor or strength of John McCain.
October 20, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama denounced Wright, so maybe Wright will come out now and endorse McCain. That would be fun to watch.
October 20, 2008 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hah!!! Now that's a thought!
October 20, 2008 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Astral66 I like this.. but do not count on it....We need to get the vote out early...The lies will have impact with those that are just now paying attention but they are few now!!! We must not get complacent....lets go...Obama/Biden
October 20, 2008 7:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Every time they announce that they're thinking about playing it, every time they anounce that they've decided not to play it, every time they confide that they think it would be legitimate to play it but their candidate won't let them play it because he's too honorable, they're playing it. They're just not paying to play it.
October 20, 2008 10:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
It was pointed out tonight that McCain may have to tread carefully while Senator Obama is dealing with his ill grandmother who may be dying. His attacks at least while he is off the campaign... may give Obama more sympathy...
It may give Obama more positive press too in talking about is biography and his grandmother a bit.
I hope that she can hang in there until he wins... but he clearly must think she may not make it. We can send him and his family LOTS of LOVE!
October 21, 2008 2:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama has been a master of multi-dimensional messages and tactics. I agree that hitting a man while he is vulnerable is not going to look good at all.
I am surprised, however, that McCain is trying to use the same page as Hillary did during the campaign. Even though I am not closely involved in the Obama campaign, you know they know how to deal with this type of attack -- in fact, they should be even better at it a second time around!
October 21, 2008 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink