JOHN McCAIN: OCTOBER 10th

October 10th, 2008, 11:24 am · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Lehr

Fighting the Mob Mentality

Quote of the day. I hope it’s not too late to heed this advice [Update: Never mind]:

“John Weaver, McCain’s former top strategist, said top Republicans have a responsibility to temper this behavior.

“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Sen. Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Sen. McCain,” Weaver said. “And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”

“Sen. Obama is a classic liberal with an outdated economic agenda. We should take that agenda on in a robust manner. As a party we should not and must not stand by as the small amount of haters in our society question whether he is as American as the rest of us. Shame on them and shame on us if we allow this to take hold.””

“…we are on the edge of some real serious craziness here and it would be nice if McCain did the right thing and told his more bloodthirsty supporters to go home and take a cold shower. But McCain hasn’t done the right thing all year. His campaign is appalling, as the New York Times editorial board said today–and more, it is a national disgrace.”

FURTHER READING: “the Unthinkable,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates

After the jump: McCain’s plan for 401(K)s… an interview with Charles Gibson of ABC…a new Ayers ad…a McCain aide brings up Obama’s drug use…McCain loses ground with working class voters…a new web ad tying Obama & ACORN.

McCain Proposes Suspending Mandatory Stock Sales

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) - John McCain is proposing a plan that would suspend mandatory sale of stocks in retirement funds.
McCain said Friday that his economic plan would spare investors who have to start selling off their retirement accounts at age 70 and a half. As the economy struggles and Wall Street plunges, the value of these accounts have tanked.
McCain says investors shouldn’t have to sell their accounts as the economy is at the lowest point in years. He says the investment rules should be suspended until the stock market recovers.

Read a speech he gave in Wisconsin today here.

Above: an interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson.\

Below: A new McCain ad featuring that oldie-but-goodie, William Ayers.. again.

Ross Douthat:

“Imagine you’re an undecided voter, turning on the news tonight. You hear about the enormous plunge Wall Street took today. You hear about the U.S. government taking ownership stakes in American banks. You hear about a global economic crisis. You hear about the Great Depression.

Then the subject turns to the Presidential race - and if the news channel behaves the way the McCain campaign clearly hopes it will, the first thing you’ll see is a short feature on how John McCain has cut a new anti-Obama ad featuring Ayers, Ayers and more Ayers. It’s possible that this inspires you to think: Man, that terrorist-sympathizing Obama can’t be trusted in an economic crisis. In that case, Steve Schmidt…& sundry others are political masterminds, and I am a plain fool.

But I don’t think I’m a fool. I think McCain looks, to our hypothetical undecided, utterly disconnected from what’s happening in the world, and the details of the Ayers connection, however troubling they might be in another context, blur away into a broader impression of a flailing, desperate, out-of-touch candidate. At this point, the McCain camp seems to be taking its cues more from the liberal caricature of past conservative campaigns - that they’ve all been fundamentally unserious exercises in culture-war button-pushing - than from the campaigns themselves.”

McCain Aide Blows Hard about Obama’s Youthful Drug Use

NEW YORK (AP) - One of John McCain’s campaign co-chairs is calling Barack Obama “a guy of the street” — while raising the issue of Obama’s teenage drug use.
Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating made the remarks on comedian Dennis Miller’s radio show yesterday while talking about Obama’s record. He calls that record “very extreme” and says Obama ought to be more forthcoming about his past. Keating says Obama should admit he was “way to the left,” “used cocaine” and “voted liberally,” before moving to the political center.
In his memoir “Dreams From My Father,” Obama describes experimenting with marijuana, cocaine and alcohol as a teenager, saying he’d been headed toward becoming a “junkie” before straightening himself out.
McCain aides say Keating had not been asked to bring up Obama’s past drug use and hadn’t cleared his comments with the campaign.

Which Republican, by my reckoning, will not be eager to make this kind of argument?

Zach Wamp. Read why here.

Losing Ground with the Working Class

KITTANNING, Pa. (AP) - John McCain appears to be losing ground with white-working class voters.
Polls show people are moving away from McCain over fears their personal finances could farther deteriorate with him as president. Many are belatedly coming around to Barack Obama who is seen as a leader who cares more about the working class.
In early September, McCain had a 26-point advantage among white voters without a college degree who were likely to vote. By late September, the advantage had dropped to 7 points.
In Pennsylvania, a recent Quinnipiac University poll showed Obama with a double-digit lead over McCain, compared with a close race after the political conventions.
One 64-year-old, lifelong Pennsylvania Republican says it’s not a fondness for Obama, but a dislike of McCain and the way the country is. Ruth Ann Michel says “Republicans need to change.”