Three Cheers for John McCain

I am sorry, but I can not share in your "three cheers" for this man. Like you, I used to respect him.

But, how can I respect a man who--in close collaboration with his runnhng mate--after having stoked the flames of hate and prejudice, now suddenly sees that the "fruits of his labor" may be damaging his poll standings, and decides to play the "respect your opponent" card..

No way! Too little, too late.



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My first inclination is to give the benefit of the doubt to Senator McCain, but when I think about the way his campaign has been run ever since Steve Schmidt took over, it's just as likely that he's simply turning to the "softer" John McCain in order to win back the moderates who have become disappointed with his rabid, unstable attacks on Senator Obama. I'll be impressed if he fires Steve Schmidt and makes a public apology for what he's done, but otherwise I cannot laud the man for doing what EVERY candidate should do when faced with such hate from their supporters. Obama's been complimenting McCain at almost every rally, so where's the love for him? No, this is just mirrors and smoke until further notice.

His body language at the outset is the opposite of what he's saying, but I think by the time he's been booed several times and is addressing the woman who says she can't trust Obama because "he's an Arab", he's realized that he's utterly lost control. No clue if he's actually revived his sense of ethics & his conscience yet, but I'm glad he has at least tried. The other obvious body language cues towards the end of the video at least suggest that, while he may not respect Obama as a running mate, he is at least disturbed by the energy in that room.

Maybe this begrudging step puts him face-to-face with the paranoia and hatred his campaign has fanned and will be enough of a wakeup call for Sen. McCain to redirect his efforts. I certainly hope so. Politics gets heated enough without injecting racial fears and fanaticism into the mix. :(

Practically every day, I hear very worried people call Obama a Muslim, an Arab, a Terrorist.

They're getting it from somewhere.

I agree McCain deserves credit for pushing back on this.

so does obama's body language indicate he is going to increase my personal income taxes and uncap FICA?

well, one cheer anyway... possibly two. this should've happened some time ago. i agree with groop, above, on that -- NOT demonizing your opponent is pretty basic.

and it means little if he doesn't actually rein in his people, including his wanna-be veep, his wife and the folks running his campaign.

Its funny that the candidate I thought would show much better judgement due to his years of experience, is flubbing key decisions in his campaign, and the rookie is still calm, cool and collected---even appearing presidential.

I look at John McCain and think a man who would ditch his principles and better judgement in order to win is not the man I want in the WH.

BTW- just because he finally decided to be truthful and fair at his campaign rally doesn't mean that he decided to be truthful and fair in his ads or that he told his surrogates to be truthful and fair. Big diff!

LOL casualobserver!