McCain: I Can't Stop Outside Groups From Attacking Obama
John McCain has claimed that he doesn't want independent groups to attack Barack Obama, but in a new interview he says that, well, there really isn't anything he can do about it if those groups do decide to swift boat the Democrat:
GOP presidential contender John McCain says he can't control every attack ad aimed at Democrat Barack Obama and fully expects he'll face a similar barrage, sounding the bell for a raucous general election brawl."I can't be a referee of every spot run on television," McCain told the Herald in an exclusive interview. "I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments, but we all know there are groups who want to attack me."
The Arizona senator's hands-off posture on attack ads by now-infamous tax-free and unaccountable political groups called 527s marks a softening of his view on the negative campaign tactic -- and opens the door to a no-holds-barred five-month scramble.
Via The Page. As McCain says, there are in fact groups who want to attack McCain. But guess what -- Obama's finance team has explicitly instructed donors not to give money to those groups. McCain, by contrast, seems to be saying that he can't control the groups on his side.
If McCain can't stand up to the 527s, how is he going to take on Al Qaeda?
"If you can't stand up to the 527s, how are you going to take on Al Qaeda?"
Greg, when I saw that Obama instructed all money to come through his campaign, thus shutting down all outside groups - that was the exact same argument I envisioned Obama making. It's on bitches!
June 12, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for some rare good insight, Greg!
In all seriousness, isn't it amazing how many sad, long faces you see behind McCain every time he speaks? the more you listen to this guy, the more you realize he has NO chance of beating ANY democrat in a general election.
yes, he loses to hillary. he loses to obama. he would lose to richardson, biden, dodd, edwards.
he would have a fighting chance against mike gravel or dennis kucinich.
June 12, 2008 11:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
"McCain: I Can't Stop Outside Groups From Attacking America"
There, I fixed the headline. National security credentials indeed.
PEACE
June 12, 2008 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama apparently does not believe in free speech, just dictatorial control.
Nice.
June 12, 2008 12:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
How is it against free speach for him to ask his donors to refrain from donating to 527's?
June 12, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's called leadership, and it is a welcome relief from the political "anything goes campaign tactics" perfected by Karl Rove.
Obama is confident in the appeal of his policies. He doesn't need the dirty smear machines to win. Do you really think that McCain's willingness to allow swiftboating on his behalf is a voice for freedom of speech?
June 12, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is one thing I'd like to see the Obama team and surrogates hammer McCain on. Its about leadership.
June 12, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
"I have instructed all of our campaign's biggest contributors to refrain from funding 527 attack groups. I believe they are a blight on the election season and destructive to the political process in this country.
As Senator McCain is fond of saying, he intends to run an honorable campaign. If he is indeed serious about doing so, I ask that he, like myself, request his biggest donors to refrain from funding 527 attack groups.
Yes, its true that Senator McCain might not be able to control these groups. But how will he know until he tries? Is this how the McCain White House will operate? Let the special interests run roughshod over his agenda because he can't control them?
Senator McCain, as his campaign is fond of saying, is a candidate people can believe in. If this is true, what does it tell you when his biggest boosters don't believe in his campaign enough to follow Senator McCain's lead? A leader or someone who passes the buck when it suits him politically? We will find out soon enough."
June 12, 2008 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Given McCain attempts to paint himself with a reformist brush, the Dems should tie him to every sleazy 527 that is funded by one of this bundlers. Push this issue hard and force McCain to reject money from such groups engaged in swiftboating. That way, funds are choked off to the 527s or McCain's campaign.
June 12, 2008 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's about free speech.
does Obama believe in that Constitutional right?
Apparently not.
June 12, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
No. Obama hates the Constitution. He wants to terrorist jab it all over the place.
Douche.
June 12, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excuse me, but do you see anyone calling the cops or the military to shut down 527s? Can McCain appeal to his supporter's higher instincts? Last I checked, appealing to the better angels in people's nature wasn't a crime. Of course, I understand that for Clinton folk a campaign without sleaze and deceit isn't worth running.
p.s: Isn't it time you became a Republican already?
June 12, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't even respond to this douchebag. He comes on here with an avatar suggesting that Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate is fake, then expects us to debate him? Bullshit! fogu's a troll. Treat him like one.
June 12, 2008 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
"request"
I do not think that word means what you think it means
June 12, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
flip-flopper
June 12, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Paging Obama campaign. . .
Please have your surrogates ask this:
Classic, Greg.
June 12, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's this kind of no-nonsense stand against sleaze that got him the "Straight Talk" label to begin with! Oh, wait . . .
June 12, 2008 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
And I might add, McCain just provided the Obama campaign with a believable reason for refusing public financing.
"John McCain admits that he's powerless over outside forces, and therefore, we will not unilaterally disarm."
Game, set, match.
Thanks for playing, John, and we have some lovely parting gifts...
June 12, 2008 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
An excellent point.
June 12, 2008 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
My thoughts exactly. If there was any hope Obama would have taken the public financing route, it's dead now.
June 12, 2008 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama has no intention of going the public financing route. He's a poser, a fake.
And now he wants to take away the right of free speech.
June 12, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
what of your pledge to play nice after hillary dropped out. you said you'd only take obama on- on the issues. this crap your spewing- not so much. you're a fucking liar, man. very disappointed.
June 12, 2008 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just have to see if I can stop your nattering .... it is not taking away free speech to ASK people to donate through your organization. It is LEADERSHIP when you convince them that that is a good idea DESPITE THE FACT that they are FREE to do anything they want. What he is achieving is only meaningful BECAUSE free speech exists. No one is trying to take the right away.
June 12, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
STOP FEEDING THE TROLL.
June 12, 2008 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey Jonnie one-note: If, for example, we're speaking of the Swift Boaters, they were financed by a billionare. Is that your idea of free speech, speech affordable by a billionare ? The whole concept that we have free speech if there is no limit on how much it costs is somewhat problematical, don't you think ? Or do you think ?
June 12, 2008 2:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
FukU2? Do you hate Bono that much? Oh - I get it - you're saying Fuck You Too, to us! Charming, and so clever!
I hereby award you 100 bonus McCain TrollPoop Special Deluxe Pinhead Talking Point points. You may redeem them immediately for a pair of black polyester support sox, or keep saving for the 5-pack of poly/spandex chokey-collar t-shirts with "I Can't Referee" logo.
June 12, 2008 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice one, Greg. You've been taking Atrios lessons - that sounded like him.
I'd love to see that in an ad -
June 12, 2008 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Then we'll have to launch Peoples' Fast Boat Songbird for Truth
McShame learned to throw principle under the bus from Uncle HO
June 12, 2008 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
And can I add one more thing? This whole "let's fly around the country together and debate each other" is fine, I guess, but why should Obama make it easier, financially, for McCain?
Make McCain fly on his wife's plane, for Pete's sake. Please avoid mitigating any financial difficulties McCain will face.
Which he will, if he manages his money like he did last summer...
June 12, 2008 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I don't understand that. Part of the argument was that it shows solidarity or something. They work in the same goddamn building - they've got plenty of other opportunities to talk.
June 12, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
THIS is a huge opening for Obama. He can now withdraw from public financing without any fear or hesitation.
Oh, by the way, Mr. McCain, about those 527s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTqjw3ERHz4
June 12, 2008 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain must think we're stupid. Obama just showed leadership by demanding no funds go to these 527s, and McCain throws his hands up. A stark difference, indeed.
And Greg, with the line of the week:
Exactly.
June 12, 2008 11:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
I doubt McCain even knows you obamamite moles exist!
But I DO if its any consolation; I think you're plenty stupid to be supporting obama.
June 12, 2008 11:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Who gives a fuck what you think?
June 12, 2008 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
apparently YOU do! LOL
June 12, 2008 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nice try. I don't care at all. I just wanted to know if could answer the question. Apparently not.
June 12, 2008 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, it's not likely that McCain is aware of much of anything. I for one, have no desire to see this ancient fart in the white house. He's too old, period.
June 12, 2008 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's obama so scared of??
Don't tell me he has anything to hide!! That would be astounding if he did!
June 12, 2008 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Greg...great headline and post here. I guess McFoolish can ask Jindal to do some magic on those 527's if he'd just ask him.
"a leader who fails the leadership test...McFoolish!"
June 12, 2008 11:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've never seen such a political crybaby as obama. What a freakin cry baby!!
and this is the guy who's going to protect us??
June 12, 2008 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes indeed. Well most of us. Perhaps not you. Why should liars be protected from anything?
June 12, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good bye public financing.
Thanks, JSM!
June 12, 2008 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously, this man is scum. He has lost all credibility, he has reversed himself on all the issues he once embraced, and anyone who votes for him, in my humble opinion, is doing so either due to selfishness (I have money, you don't and I am not helping anyone), Supreme Court (abortion - eye roll) or prejudice.
The soldiers, with his careless words last night, have to be totally demoralized with the prospect of this man being Commander in Chief. Their lives will continue to be revolving tours in Iraq.
June 12, 2008 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
i finally figured out that you were speaking about obama. I had to read it twice.
Yes, he is scum. I totally agree with you.
June 12, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
immature troll is immature. When can we expect the "I know obama is, but what am I?" lines to start flowing from your golden keyboard?
June 12, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Also, I did hear, I think on Olbermann, that the only way he probably can win is vicious attacks, as he has no leverage on issues now that he has embraced Bush and Cheney.
Big plans in the works to go after Michelle Obama, and also Hyde Park where they live for being so elite. Never mind McCain's nine homes.
June 12, 2008 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Would love to see Obama mention those 9 homes in a debate. I believe Obama has a roomate in Washington, doesn't he, or at least he did until recently. How about inviting a tv crew in to see his Washington digs? He'll look like a complete outsider to Washington's revolving door and really challenge the elitist tag.
June 12, 2008 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hyde Park, elite? I'd love to see the GOP try to paint it that way. Yes, there are some lovely homes but, for the most part, it's a leafy university enclave plopped among struggling African-American neighborhoods, still battling high unemployment and crime.
The only "elite" you'll find living in Hyde Park have connections to the University of Chicago or are monied African-Americans who don't exactly find a welcome mat in the Chicago burbs.
June 12, 2008 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
So we now have our "tough" Republican revealed as someone who is such a moral coward that he can't even demand that his backers hew to his line. That's plenty rich, let me tell you...
And that's the benevolent interpretation. My darker side tells me that he wants the sort of distance this gives, because somewhere in the back of the "Straight Talk Express" (Has there ever been a less accurate name?) someone is on a "burner*" with several 527s, lining things up...
* It helps if you've watched The Wire.
June 12, 2008 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain is scared that if he strongarms the 527s that there will be fewer neocon lunatics that are convinced he's a muslim.
June 12, 2008 11:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
The headline says it all.... McLame Campaign Stategy 101
June 12, 2008 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain is being-surprise-disingenuous. He could do what Obama has done and tell donors not to give money to those groups. He could exercise, you know, leadership.
But i guess thats too much to ask of the man who wants to be president of the united states.
June 12, 2008 11:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
McFoolish is gonna come hard with the sleaze and the ads. That is all he can really do at this point is let loose the scum 527's. While I'm looking forward to the Obama team responses and smackdowns like they have doing already and they are doing doing a great job, I'm feel we will have to live in the shower to keep clean from all the sleaze and scum coming our way. I especially liked Sen. Durbin's pre-emptive strike yesterday about their special place in hell when they go after Michelle and the family. He is right on!
June 12, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
He Flip-Flopped again!!! When he appeared on Chris Matthews' Hardball College Tour, he said he would do all he could to shut down 527s. McCain's Promise. Now, indifference. Well, I cant stop them really... so I may not try.
June 12, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
well that's not as big a flip flop as Obama's pledge to take public financing!
what freakin hypocrites!
June 12, 2008 11:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
you mean the pledge obama never made?
he said he would "agressively pursue an agreement". he never agreed to public financing. and oh yeah, if his 1.5+ million small donors don't count as "public financing" what does?
June 12, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
That makes $25 for troll responses. Time to send money to Obama. Thanks RaeK.
June 12, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, a flip-flop like when McCain said he was taking public financing to use as loan collateral when it looked like he'd fail in the primary, then getting out when he saw that it would put him at a disadvantage when he got the nomination. Something he could get away with because there were no FEC commissioners to hold him accountable (thanks to Bush).
June 12, 2008 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain needs the 527s to have any chance in November, so this is really the only position he can project to the public.
There is only one problem.
There are far more gaffes and flip-flops out there for McCain than there are for Obama. It's not even close. In a battle of negative advertising, McCain will lose 4 to 1.
June 12, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
"In a battle of negative advertising, McCain will lose 4 to 1."
You're forgetting Obama's big disadvantage. His negative ads will be truthful. The GOP never has and never will operate under such soul-sucking self constraint.
McCain's negative ads will be "Michelle kidnaps white children, chains them up in the basement and tortures them while she plays loud gangsta rap calls them honkeys." And, "Obama has a shrine in the attic where he worships Hamas, and he's already recorded the martyr tape to be played after he suicide-bombs the entire Congress at his first State of the Union."
And one quarter of the country are total morons who believe any crap that shows up on their TV. Which is why McCain will only lose 2 to 1.
June 12, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Grampy McSame is just not strong enough to control anything.
what a pathetic admission.
June 12, 2008 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain took the public money to free up would-be donors to instead donate to 527 groups. If McCain decided to go the public route, then those who were looking to donate would more than likely donate to his campaign. McCain knew exactly what he was doing.
Obama should have never neutered pro-Democrat 527's because you have to fight fire with fire. Now the GOP can smear Obama and McCain can keep his hands clean. The idea that 527's don't coordinate with the campaigns is folly - it's simply impossible to police. Why is Rove only an unofficial adviser?
June 12, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't worry. There'll be plenty of swift boat ads coming from both directions.
June 12, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Would you please define what you think is a "swift boat ad".
I'd just like to have your idea of what constitutes one on record so there will be no confusion during the general.
June 12, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is highly ironic of McLame - this was always Bush's excuse when 527s and outside groups attacked McLame so viciously and it has been the Bush excuse every time one of the Bushes was running for something.
McLame is a sick man - he was tortured and voted in favor of torture; he was smeared unmercifully by outside groups working for Bush, and is doing the same thing to Obama.
He's a very sick person - he really is. No morals at all.
June 12, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fogu2, select all that apply:
I, fogu2, am:
[ ] insane
[ ] disingenuous
[ ] lack basic reading comprehension skills
[ ] just love to fsck around
Where is Obama restricting free speech? He has asked that the big donors not donate to those groups. Nothing is stopping them from doing so. If they donate, and he rebuffs them, that sounds like some solid, conscious decisions all around. If you want to act like a 527 and attack McCain, you are free to do so;but it will be without the backing and auspices of the official Obama campaign.
June 12, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tena...I totally agree with you and feel his "sickness" comes thru w/ his "sickness" smile and laugh!...He is as sick as he is scary...
June 12, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do believe that something has twisted and blackened that man's soul even worse that Bush's soul is twisted and blackened. I half believe that George half-believed he was doing what he thought was best for the world - Democracy in the Middle East - because George is stupid about big issues and bought the PNAC bullshit whole.
McLame, on the other hand, has no excuses. He obviously at one time had tremendous inner resolve and inner reserves - he survived a kind of hell. But now I wonder if he did survive. Something inside that man is dead and he reeks of it.
June 12, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCant is just making it easier for Obama to make his case for opting out of public financing, which he definitely should. A campaign directly going after 527s w/o carrying the baggage of 527s will reverberate through the electorate.
June 12, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain is just plain weak and plus he knows he is going to need those 527s if he has any chance at all in this election.
June 12, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Obama has no intention of going the public financing route. He's a poser, a fake.
And now he wants to take away the right of free speech." (posted by the brilliant fogu2)
Your razor sharp analytical mind has once again carved through Obama's fog of deception, and honed in on his truest intentions. I have been fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have access to one of Senator Obama's recent private calls with three of his biggest supporters (Chavez, Castro, and Satan). He said, unequivocally, that his first order of business once elected will be to veto that cumbersome first amendment, and once and for all do away with free speech. He even laughed maniacally afterward.
I, for one, am heartened to know that you exist, and continue to show the 17 MILLION people that already voted for Obama, and the countless others who will no doubt vote for him, that Senator Obama is really a manchurian candidate- bent on taking away our right to speak (i hear he also wants to take away our constitutional right to think critically- which, luckily for you, won't have an impact).
Thank you dear FOGU. I am indebted.
June 12, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama should have McCain reject and denounce 527's and their current Obama smear of the day with specifics as part of any agreement for joint townhall's that McCain is pushing for.
June 12, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can't stop the terrorists who have hijacked your party, but you want us to believe you can stop Osama bin Laden?
June 12, 2008 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
June 12, 2008 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Swift Boat Obama? Fine, he can handle the heat:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/
Be a real American hero. Swift-Boot McBush's wrinkly Pleistocene Ass!
June 12, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's people like McCain who give cranky old dementia sufferers a bad name.
June 12, 2008 2:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOVE the maniacal photo of McInsane. Could be used in a DNC ad, along with the tagline: "Do you really want this man's finger on the button?"
June 12, 2008 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look. Forget his chronological age. He's too damned old. Got it ? I'm over sixty, and this guy speaks, thinks, and acts like he's eighty years older than me.
June 12, 2008 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
June 12, 2008 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
greg, nice touch - "If McCain can't stand up to the 527s, how is he going to take on Al Qaeda?"
June 12, 2008 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain is a lame duck, thrown out there just like Mondale in 84, Dukakis in 88, Dole in 96 and Kerry in 04. They know it's not gonna work, so why waste a candidate they have future plans for?
June 12, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's because instead of being a maverick, McCain is now a gelding.
June 12, 2008 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yikes!
McCain was a prisoner of North Korea, now he's a prisoner of the neo-fascists in the Republican party right here at home.
At least he was actively serving his country while he was in Vietnam.
June 12, 2008 10:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Translation: I'm not going to try.
June 12, 2008 11:37 PM | Reply | Permalink