Well, again, he's right. A pet rock would be better than Bush.

It doesn't mean McCain won't continue Bush's failed policies though.

Hillary is so desperate and power drunk, that if it was sunny outside and Obama said it was, she would say its a cloudy day!

My god, Clinton is ridiculous. At least Obama said Clinton was better than McCain, something Clinton wasn't able to do for Obama. By this logic, Clinton's entire campaign is a gaffe.

Hillbilly:

"We need a nominee who will take on John McCain, not cheer on John McCain."

Hillbilly-Joe:

Calling McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee a good friend and a “distinguished man with a great history of service to our country,” Clinton said, “Both of us will be on that stage having crossed that threshold."

The lady is just ugly.
Dog shit ugly.

Damning with faint praise is not a gaffe. This was about Bush, not McCain.

This is pretty silly. Saying McCain would be better than Bush is virtually the definition of damning with faint praise.

Sure he'd be better than Bush. But he'd still have similar policies and would be awful, and I don't think Obama has spared any effort to remind us of that -- unlike Clinton, with the CiC nonsense, etc.

That said, it's not particularly helpful. It's pretty clear that a big part of either Dems' strategy in the fall will be to tie McCain and Bush as closely together as possible. For him to inject daylight is a little annoying. But still, it's trivial.

Gaffe?

Why are you using the MSM's language about this type of thing? Do you secretly want to be part of the club? What are they called? The Kool Kidz.

The bar Bush set is down in the cellar. A pet monkey would be better than the current occupant of the WH.

McCain, of course, would still be a disaster for the country. I'm quite sure Obama knows that.

Sorry, not a gaffe at all. Just spin.

Obama has taken pains to always say he respects McCain and his service, but that he is disappointed that McCain has embraced Bush's policies.

Interesting the AP piece is from Liz Sidoti, who covered up McCain's response to Bitch-Gate:

In a February 26 article on Sen. John McCain's apology for radio host Bill Cunningham's recent comments at a McCain campaign event in Ohio, Associated Press reporter Liz Sidoti wrote: "Last fall, McCain faced criticism for initially not repudiating a voter in South Carolina who called [Sen. Hillary Rodham] Clinton a 'bitch.' McCain chuckled in response to the voter's question, but didn't embrace the epithet." Sidoti further reported: "A few minutes later, [McCain] said he respected Clinton, a New York senator and colleague." That incident took place during a campaign event in Hilton Head, South Carolina, in which a questioner asked McCain: "How do we beat the bitch?" However, Sidoti made no mention of the fact that McCain first called the question "excellent" and then pointed to a Rasmussen poll that he said showed him beating Clinton in a head-to-head matchup before saying, "I respect Senator Clinton. I respect anyone who gets the nomination of the Democrat [sic] Party." In fact, McCain's first response to the question was: "May I give ... the translation?" He then added: "But that's an excellent question," before mentioning the Rasmussen poll. Only then did McCain state that he had "respect" for Clinton.

This is a statement that I'm willing to bet the majority of folks in this country -- on both sides of the aisle -- know to be true. Obama is at his best when he's speaking what he thinks to be true and avoiding typical Democratic rhetoric.

We're simply not looking at it right if we call it a gaffe every time Obama says something that, say, the Kerry campaign or the Gore campaign would never have said. Let's remember -- they lost.

Obama has made NOT being a party-line Democrat the center of his campaign since day one. So we can hardly call it an error when he makes a statement that's doesn't reflect the party line.

Christ on a pretzel this woman get's on my nerves. Everything she accuses him of she has been there done that and the press let's her get away with it. Didn't she say not too long ago McCain passed the Presidential litmus (rolling eyes) test? Pathetic...

I just found some pita bread in my fridge that's about 2 months old. It would make a better president than Bush. So friggin' what?

I think she must have been joking when she said that. Right? I mean, how could she not have been joking? Right? Am I right? Because if she was serious, that would just be way way too much for us to take after she had told us how awesome McCain was just TWO WEEKS AGO. Right?

Cause these reporters are taking her seriously but I know it can't be serious, it has to be one of those funny politician jokes, right?

Someone tell me she's joking...

I like the troll comments when he screws up.

Been happening too much lately, too much pressure.

Get ready for another meltdown.

Gaffe alert:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/03/clinton-praises.html

Hillary Clinton was quick to pounce, in light of this seeming violation of this standard Dem line that McCain is simply running to carry out Bush's third term: "I need a spouse and surrogate who will take on John McCain, not cheer on John McCain."

Obama was merely being gentlemanly.

Me, I would have said, "I've seen things circling my toilet bowl that would be better than Bush."

Whoops! Obama just gave Clinton one more argument to take to the superdelegates.

No gaffe there. I agree completely with Obama. John McCain would be a better president than George Bush.

Typical Hillary Clinton hypocrisy here -- a few weeks ago she was vigorously championing McCain as having crossed the CIC threshold. Now she jumps all over Obama for saying something positive about McCain. Lady please. She'll really try to use anything. And she counts on our memories being so short!

Not short enough to forget her unethical campaign tactics and vote for her in November! No way.

ummm...gaffe my ass

It's been said way up thread, but how is this any different than when Clinton espoused McCain's credentials for CIC over those of Obama?

Obama: The sky is blue
MSM: Huge gaffe by Obama today
Clinton: Obama cant win the GE because of this gaffe
Clinton trolls: ITS OVER ITS OVER FOR Obama HE MUST CONCEDE

Voters: WTF is wrong with them

I think BHO's new strategy is to have so many gaffes that the media can't focus on any one gaffe for too long.

Risky move, or genius political strategy? Only time will tell.

umm, lucky gaffe?
doesn't McCain have to, in order to use this, be asked, would you be better? can he say yes?

... How is this even news worthy? I thought it was common knowledge that McCain would be better than Bush. I mean, honestly, that's why everyone I've talked to has said "if only McCain had won against Bush in 2000". But McCain being better than Bush does not make him better than either Barack OR Hillary, nor does it suggest that he will not continue the policies that Bush has put forth. Let's be realistic here, people.

What he said is so obviously true I wonder why there is this manufactured controversy. Oh, that's right ... Clinton is getting really desperate. Bush is now widely considered by historians to be the worst president ever. You really can't put the bar any lower.

Seriously, it is good for Obama to show respect for both candidates. He needs Clinton's supporters in November and there are a lot of people with a good opinion of McCain that Obama would lose if he wasn't respectful of McCain.

My family is conservative enough that there will be a lot of them that would struggle in choosing between McCain and Obama. With respect to November it looks like a pretty savy move to me since I suspect people like my family will be tipping the balance one way or another in a lot of states.

Obama is going after the Republican vote. Good move!

And Obama is going after the white males who are considering McCain in November. Some blue collar men might be racist, but most of them will choose a white male over a white female, which means Clinton wouldn't win their vote over McCain. I grew up in a family of blue collar workers, and male chauvinism is extremely strong still. Obama knows what he is doing. It's a soft sell for blue collar male votes.

Yes. Basically if Clinton criticizes Obama, even if it makes her look like a lying hypocrite, the media jumps all over it as a "gaffe".

It actually shows the "journalist's" stupidity if you think about it. More like a stenographer than a truth-finder.

Um, that isn't a gaffe, anyone would be better than Bush, but that doesn't say much. Regardless McCain represents a continuation of Bush's worst policies.

Gaffe? Give me a break.

Wait a minute.. Didn't Clinton AND her husband infer outright that McCain was better than Obama.
Up is down. Black is white. Good is bad in the Clintonian Ministry oof Truth.

Distraction. Break it down and move on.

Both Bush and McCain want policies X, Y and Z. Bad. Bush is also mentally handicapped and clinically insane. This makes him slightly worse than the senile guy whose solution to running out of toilet paper is commanding the 82nd to invade K-Mart.

The nerve of Hillary Clinton, after spending months of campaigning for John McCain. Disgusting.

What a phony.

Just when I think Hillary can't sink any lower, she does. My dog would make a better president than Bush--so what? It's especially rich coming from Hillary who all but endorsed McCain with her commander-in-chief remarks. That anyone in the media actually thinks this is a gaffe, and is making a faux controversy out of it, tells us a lot more how utterly worthless the mainstream media when it comes to reporting anything matters.