Earlier today on CNN, Barack Obama essentially called John McCain a loony old man for mentioning that Hamas has endorsed Barack Obama.
Now, of course, Howard Dean and the DNC have said that they won’t make Senator McCain’s age an issue, but we’ve already seen the “ethical bar” that Dean and Obama have, so it isn’t a shock that Senator Obama would try this. It became clear that Barack Obama’s “new politics” are little more than old style Chicago sewer politics.
Anyway, Senator McCain’s Chief of Staff Mark Salter responded with this letter.
To: Interested Parties
From: Mark Salter, Senior Advisor
Date: May 8, 2008
Re: Senator Obama’s Attack Today
First, let us be clear about the nature of Senator Obama’s attack today: He used the words ‘losing his bearings’ intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain’s age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning.
We have all become familiar with Senator Obama’s new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is.
It is important to focus on what Senator Obama is attempting to do here: He is trying desperately to delegitimize the discussion of issues that raise legitimate questions about his judgment and preparedness to be President of the United States.
Through their actions and words, Senator Obama and his supporters have made clear that ANY criticism on ANY issue — from his desire to raise taxes on millions of small investors to his radical plans to sit down face-to-face with Iranian President Ahmadinejad – constitute negative, personal attacks.
Senator Obama is hopeful that the media will continue to form a protective barrier around him, declaring serious limits to the questions, discussion and debate in this race.
Senator Obama has good reason to think this plan will succeed, as serious journalists have written of the need for ‘de-tox’ to cure ’swooning’ over Senator Obama, and others have admitted to losing their objectivity while with him on the campaign trail.
Today, Senator Obama is complaining about comments John McCain made about a senior Hamas advisor stating that Hamas would welcome Senator Obama’s election as president. Indeed, on April 13th, senior Hamas political advisor Ahmed Yousef said, ‘We don’t mind – actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with domination and arrogance.’
The McCain campaign has never suggested that Senator Obama supports Hamas’ agenda, but it is more than fair to raise this quote about Senator Obama because it speaks to the policy implications of his judgment.
Just today, the president of Iran, whom Senator Obama wants to meet with unconditionally, called the state of Israel a ’stinking corpse.’ Iran is the paymaster and state sponsor of Hamas.
In his victory speech this week, Senator Obama stated that ‘wisdom’ is meeting with our enemies, including Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Raul Castro. John McCain couldn’t disagree more. Rather than giving tyrants and dictators the prestige of meeting with an American president, John McCain will instead meet with the champions of human freedom around the world and opposition leaders fighting for liberty .
We understand why Senator Obama doesn’t want to engage in a debate over leadership and judgment with John McCain, but the American people demand that debate take place.
These are serious times that call for a serious debate on the profound issues facing our future. John McCain is ready for that debate and we hope Senator Obama will one day get serious and join it.
Team Hope fired back with their usual line about Hope and Change or something. I see no reason to post it, I’m sure you can all recite it off without having to read it.
Tags: age, Barack Obama, DNC, John McCain, mccain, Obama
May 9th, 2008 at 08:38am
Matt DiBari
The political commentariat is now operating under the assumption that Sen. Obama has at long last clinched the Democratic nomination by his landslide victory in the North Carolina primary and his near upset of Sen. Clinton in Indiana. This is wrong from the standpoint that Sen. Obama was effectively assured of the nomination following his string of victories following Super Tuesday, long before this past Tuesday. Indiana and North Carolina did not change anything except convince many of what was already, for all intents and purposes, inevitable.
Sen. Clinton intends to carry on, of course, because she is Sen. Clinton. As David Kahane writes, “She’s not going to quit because she has nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do. She lives for this, and without it, she has no life. In fact, without it, she doesn’t exist at all.” Since her husband raised his right hand in ‘93 she has been preparing for the day that she could raise hers. Until Sen. Obama’s nomination is official, she is not going to let that go.
Though it is all but inevitable at this point, it is only all but inevitable. That is how she will view the situation at least. She will look forward to large victories in the upcoming Kentucky and West Virginia primaries, hoping significant margins there will stoke further discussion of Sen. Obama’s inability to win over white, blue-collar voters and give Democratic super-delegates further pause as they size up the strength of Sen. Obama as a general election candidate. She will also continue to push for the seating of Michigan’s and Florida’s delegates at the convention (she sent a letter to Sen. Obama today laughably urging him to support that effort), arguing–not without some semblance of a point–that to deny those delegates seats would be to disenfranchise Democratic voters in those respective states and harm Democrats politically in what will be two pivotal battlegrounds in the fall.
Ultimately, these efforts will fail and Sen. Obama, warts and all, will accept the nomination in Denver this August. All that is really left to be decided is whether Sen. Clinton can and even wants to muscle herself onto the ticket and how exactly such a ticket would play in the fall. The race for the Democratic nomination is essentially decided and has been decided for sometime, but the saga and theater shall continue hence.
Tags: Clinton, Democrats, General Election, Obama
May 8th, 2008 at 04:56pm
Geoff
Senator Obama is not happy that Senator McCain pointed out that Hamas stated they would like to see an Obama presidency.
“This is offensive, and I think it’s disappointing,” Obama told Blitzer, when asked his thoughts about McCain’s comments that the terrorist organization Hamas wants Obama to be president. “Because John McCain always says ‘I am not going to run that kind of politics,’ and to engage in that kind of smear is unfortunate, particularly because my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his.
A smear would indicate that comments were either false or misleading, but that is not the case. Hamas made a telling statement and Senator Obama may not want people to know about it, but crying foul over a statement of fact is pretty weak.
Tags: election politics, General Election, glass jaw, Hamas, obama mccain, smear, statements, terrorists, touchy
May 8th, 2008 at 02:53pm
KMorrison
Second only to the role of commander-in-chief, a President’s most solemn and consequential function is to appoint judges to the federal judiciary. Once appointed these jurists serve for life, kept accountable only by the substance of their own jurisprudence and the dictates of their conscience. From behind their august bench it is entirely within their power to willfully manipulate the laws and the Constitution of the United States in all manner of ways which their textual import does not bear.
If privileged to serve as our 44th President, Sens. Clinton and Obama have made it all too clear that this is exactly the type of judge they will appoint to the bench and the Supreme Court. Assuming awesome powers they do not rightfully possess, these judges would continue the federal judiciary’s steady trespass into the provinces and functions of the elected branches of the federal, state, and municipal governments that has been problematic for the past half-century. These are judges who will interpret the Constitution as entirely malleable to the dictates, caprices, and “evolving standards of decency” of themselves and their colleagues.
This is not acceptable. The province of the federal judiciary is to interpret and apply the text of the laws and Constitution of the United States in accordance with the import they carried when they were originally adopted, not to refashion them in a manner they deem appropriate, which is always inappropriate. In a regime based upon popular consent, judicial adventures into the realm of the political branches are intolerable and an absolute anathema to democracy. As President Lincoln so ably put it in his first inaugural, “the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government upon vital questions, affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in ordinary litigation between parties, in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal.”
In his speech on the federal judiciary today Sen. McCain recognized this, pledging to
look for accomplished men and women with a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to judicial restraint. I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late William Rehnquist — jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds, and know the law, and know the difference. My nominees will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power. They will be men and women of experience and wisdom, and the humility that comes with both. They will do their work with impartiality, honor, and humanity, with an alert conscience, immune to flattery and fashionable theory, and faithful in all things to the Constitution of the United States.
Let this sentiment not be once uttered in today’s speech and never again in the campaign. I would urge the senator return to it again and again, creating a clear distinction and choice for the voter between his opponent and himself. He ought to reiterate that whether you are conservative or liberal, those issues of the greatest significance to the republic must be decided the correct way through the legal and Constitutional political processes that have served us as a people throughout our history, whether you agree with the ultimate results or not. The federal judiciary has its place in our Constitutional republic, it should remain within that. This is only achieved by appointing the right type of judges to the bench, the type of judges Sen. McCain now promises to appoint as President.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:31am
Geoff
A few rumors have flown around the web of late that Sen. McCain may be considering adding Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana as his running mate. Gov. Jindal has been my dream candidate for sometime. He is extremely bright, well-spoken, and accomplished for a political leader of only thirty-six years of age. Regardless of whether he ends up on this ticket or not, I have the wishful suspicion that he will be the party’s presidential nominee in the not-too-distant future.
With that said, I fear the time may not be ripe for him. As I just mentioned, he is only 36 years of age and has not even served a year in the Louisiana governor’s mansion, though his other governmental experience is nothing to snub one’s nose at. Ross Douthat makes some solid arguments for him, speculating that his youth “might also highlight Barack Obama’s youth and inexperience, suggesting to voters that perhaps Obama is well suited to be vice president too, but that someone with a little more gravity and experience should sit in the big chair.”
In my mind that is all well and good but it ignores another dynamic that might spring from this scenario. Sen. McCain’s seasoned age is likely to place a special importance in whom he selects as his running mate, for that designee will be only one missed heartbeat away from assuming the helm of the ship of state. If voters do not have confidence that Gov. Jindal would be prepared to do this—though he is eminently more qualified to serve as President at this moment than is Sen. Obama—it will only work to the ticket’s detriment.
Let him serve a couple terms as governor, I say, cleaning up and rebuilding Louisiana and thereby building credibility for himself as a potential President. In 2012 or 2016 he will be a compelling nominee and leader for this party, by which time he might have to clean up another substantial mess created by a President Obama.
May 6th, 2008 at 05:55pm
Geoff
This of course, was said by Senator Barack Obama last Friday in an effort to assure voters that he and his wife are not .
One of two things has happened. Either the United States has suddenly become a country of millionaire Ivy League educated lawyers in the last couple of weeks, or Barack Obama has fallen back on his old stand by.
Lying.
My upbringing was much more reflective of what working class black and whites go through than John McCain’s background being raised as the son of an admiral in boarding schools or Hillary Clinton out in the suburbs of Park Ridge.
(John McCain, Jr, did not become a Rear Admiral until 1958, the year Senator McCain graduated from the Naval Academy. So no, Senator McCain did not grow up the son of an Admiral, but that’s neither here nor there.)
I can only assume he is referring to that brutal time when he was raised by a bank vice president (the typical white racist) and attended an elite prep school in Hawaii.
Oh the humanity of it all.
Barack Obama. He’s just like YOU!
Except for all the money and elite education.
The funny thing is, I don’t even know why Barack Obama is lying about this particular topic. I don’t exactly think positioning yourself as the most hard off of three millionaires is exactly going to endear yourself to the people fighting to pay the bills. Nor do I think Barack Obama really wants to get into a battle with John McCain over who has had a harder life. I think John McCain wins that one pretty easily.
Tags: Barack Obama, elitism, John McCain, mccain
May 6th, 2008 at 03:56pm
Matt DiBari
There has been some debate about whether the extended Democratic Primary is helpful or harmful to either party. Obviously as Senators Clinton and Obama bash each other they do each other no great service in the long run. However, the flip side is that the Democrats have an active and involved electorate that is turning out in large numbers. However, watching cable news this weekend I thought, ‘I can’t be the only one getting sick of this’. The race and the candidates themselves still hold plenty of interest, but the coverage has grown tedious. The endless repetition of delegate counts, the blatantly biased punditry, and endless string of surogates pitching their candidates has become painfully dull. The race itself is incredibly interesting, the analysis of the race and endless ‘my candidate is great’ pitches on the news has to be wearing thin with many. Consequently, the attention being paid to the Dems, certainly a necessity at this point in their race, may have an additional downside besides the nastiness or bitterness they are engendering. There could simply be a ‘Democrat Fatigue’ that effects the eventual nominee.
Tags: 2008 election, Clinton, democrat downside, democrat fatigue, democrat politics, endless race, Obama, political campaigns, surogates, tedious politics
May 5th, 2008 at 09:11am
KMorrison
A Press Release from Senator McCain’s Campaign
For Immediate Release
May 2, 2008
Contact: Press Office
703-650-5550
Statement By John McCain on Today’s Jobs Report
ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement on the jobs report:
“Today’s job numbers are another clear indication of the economic challenges facing our country. With Americans hurting, we must act to strengthen our economy for families and small businesses. We must help Americans now through gas tax relief, which provides immediate relief from rising energy prices. We must also help those facing home foreclosure by enacting a HOME plan. At the same time, we need to act to lower taxes, streamline regulation, lower health care costs, ensure energy independence and open foreign markets. To help those who have lost jobs, we must focus on promoting effective worker re-training programs.
“The wrong course for our country would be to follow Senators Obama and Clinton and their siren songs of higher taxes, bigger government, greater isolationism and a government-run health care system.”
Tags: Jobs, John McCain
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:23am
Matt DiBari
There a couple excellent articles in the Wall Street Journal. The first, Getting to Know John McCain by Karl Rove relates stories of Senator McCain’s character, kindness, and generousity. The second, Messages from John by Ernest C. Brace tells about his experience tapping messages between himself and John McCain when being held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Tags: adoption, cellmate, kindness generousity, mccain character, mccain generousity, mccain kindness, messages from john, prisoner of war, vietnam prisoner, vietnam war, wall tapping
May 2nd, 2008 at 01:31pm
KMorrison
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