MoveOn Calls On McCain To Fire Charlie Black
The Obama campaign has thus far refrained from calling on McCain to fire Charlie Black, the top adviser who stirred up a big brouhaha the other day by saying that a terror attack on U.S. soil would help McCain's campaign.
But now Obama ally MoveOn is calling for just that. The group blasted out an email to supporters moments ago that echoes some tough language from Change to Win, the coalition of unions backing Obama...
Our allies at Change to Win have called for McCain to fire Charlie Black, saying "the memory of all those who died on 9-11 demand it." We couldn't agree more.
Surely the Obama team is glad to have MoveOn staking out a left flank and keeping the story alive. Full MoveOn email after the jump.
Dear MoveOn member,For the last eight years, George Bush has built power using the politics of fear. Now, John McCain's team is doing the same thing.
On Monday, McCain's top adviser, Charlie Black, said that a terrorist attack will help his candidate win the election.1 This kind of fear-based tactic is straight out of the Bush play book, and it's just plain wrong.
And yes, this is the same Charlie Black who has lobbied the US government on behalf of some of the world's worst dictators--including Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and Jonas Savimbi from Angola. We even made a video about it last month.
Haven't we had enough of this kind of politics? Click here to watch the video. At the end of the video is a phone number to call to urge John McCain to fire Charlie Black once and for all:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VjCYmjjxp8I
Black is becoming McCain's Karl Rove, seeing everything through a lens of how to get elected. He even noted in the same article that while Benazir Bhutto's assassination was "unfortunate", it helped John McCain.2
While McCain has tried to distance himself from Black's statements, he steadfastly refuses to fire Charlie Black.
Richard Ben-Veniste, a member of the bipartisan 9-11 Commission, identified Black's statements for exactly what they are:
"I think the remarks were so out of place that they call for some recalibration in the thinking and perhaps a greater adherence to principle here in staying away from the politics of fear."3
Our allies at Change to Win have called for McCain to fire Charlie Black, saying "the memory of all those who died on 9-11 demand it."4 We couldn't agree more.
Can you watch this video about who Black really is and call the number at the end to demand that he be fired from John McCain's campaign?
Thanks for all you do,
-Eli, Ilyse, Wes, Patrick S. and the rest of the team
I love the call.
BUT, don't take the punching bag out of the gym.
Charlie Black: the gaffe that keeps on giving!
June 25, 2008 1:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
ARE YOU KIDDING? charlie black is the gift that keeps on giving?
why would you want to get rid of him?
June 25, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
scratch that second question mark. that wasn't meant to be a question, but a statement.
June 25, 2008 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
So if Charlie Black stays on and makes additional mistatements, will he become the gift that keeps on gaffing?
June 25, 2008 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
What? I think McCain should keep Charlie Black, since by doing so, he looks like more of a douchebag.
June 25, 2008 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed. Also, he just said what everybody has been saying, including the clintons. Forget it and move on.
June 25, 2008 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Charlie Black, lobbyist extraordinaire, who basically gave voice to what everyone thinks of as "conventional wisdom"? He's too big of a target to remove.
On the other hand, if it causes McCain's campaign to implode a little further, then I'm all for it.
June 25, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't want McCain's campaign to implode....yet. I'd like to see him coronated at the convention so that there won't be a big switcheroo and have us see him replaced with a (more) viable candidate. After the convention, I hope he goes down like the Hindenburg, but not before then.
June 25, 2008 2:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd like a long, slow decline so that no one bothers to watch the Republican convention at all. I don't even want the Hindenburg to get airborne.
June 25, 2008 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dear American Voters, reporters, media. professionals, political parties, and presidential Nominees,
Please plead and request the media, pundits, and politician's to "Compare And Contrast" " Presidential Temperament" of our Presidential presumptive nominees? as we do for the appointments for the Supreme Court Justices of Our Greatgrand Nation.
Our Greatgrand Nation Foundations are as under:
Family, friends, fellows, faith, funds, fun, with fairness & freedom And without fear, favor, and failure.
Yours truly,
COL. [retd] A.M.Khajawall
Disabled American Veteran
Forensic psychiatrist, Las Vegas
PS: Please talk about the " Presidential Temperament, Composer, Consistency And Caliber " is the key for our presumptive presidential Nominees. We do talk about the "Judicial Temperament" of our Supreme Court Justices nominees and so far we have failed to talk about the " Presidential Temperament " of our presumptive presidential nominees. The " Presidential Temperament " is the ultimate and in my opinion only requirement of our president as that effects every living soul here and around the world.
Thanks once again.
June 25, 2008 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Black is no mark Penn. But the principle remains valid. Picking Black as a top adviser causes concern that McCain wilol do a lousy job picking a cabinet.
June 25, 2008 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain won't fire Black because MoveOn demands it. If he did Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh would claim the terrorists have won. McCain would lose 1/2 of the remaining Republican support. He needs that 12% of the electorate if he intends to break 40%
June 25, 2008 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Note that MoveOn has been running a "fire Charlie Black" campaign since at least may.
June 25, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know. I just posted the MoveOn video at the JCDC blog. http://jacksoncountydemocraticcommittee.org/
It is a very effective video.
June 25, 2008 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, I'm so looking forward to a national weenie roast on the flames of the Republican party. I intend to take the day after Election Day off and throw a week long block party! Everyone with a heart will be invited to the Republican bonfire in my back yard. Bring your McCain campaign signs to feed the flames!
June 25, 2008 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Okay, I know I clicked the "Reply To" checkbox....
June 25, 2008 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bad move Move ON!
Nobody likes those holier-than-thou offended demands for apologies right and left.
Just call em names, that's enough. Demand for an apo or resignation just comes out vindictive and prissy!
We Americans like name-calling sessions, woofing is just fine with us. We don't like little goody two shoes always asking for apologies and acting offended. That loses votes!
Bad business, let it drop!
As BTFBN says, keep that guy around..he's like a leaky oil pan on your oppo's street racer! Its broken so don't fix it!!
June 25, 2008 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm glad Obama doesn't call for firing Black. That way, in any debate, he can say, "Regardless of what Senator McCain is saying right now, he continues to choose to make Charlie Black, a foreign lobbyist who believes that terrorist attacks benefit the Republican Party, his top adviser on foreign policy matters."
It's a show-stopper. Let him hang himself. Let him show poor judgment. Don't change a thing.
June 25, 2008 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
There will be a threatening tape of BinLaden shortly before we vote. It will come from an unnamed, untraceable and undateble source. McCain will have his chance to say, "See - I told you so."
You can count on it, though this time, nobody is listening anymore to the party of McChicken Little.
June 25, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dear American Voters, reporters, media. professionals, political parties, and presidential Nominees,
Subject: Presidential Temperament
Please talk about and "Compare And Contrast" the " Presidential Temperament" of our Presidential presumptive nominees. I will also request and plead to the nominees themselves [ Hon. Senator McCain and Obama ].
Our nation has been applying this yard and stick tor the appointments and confirmation process of our Supreme Court Justices nominees.
Our Greatgrand Nation Foundations are as under:
Family, friends, fellows, faith, funds, fun, with fairness & freedom And without fear, favor, and failure.
It will be disgrace and shameful if the nominees and media will not look into this critical and crucial aspect under current challenging times and circumstances facing our country and the Globe.
Please America and citizens USA wake up and ask to compare and contrast the " Presidential Temperament" of our presumptive presidential nominees.
Yours sincerely,
COL. A.M.Khajawall [Ret].
Disabled American Veteran
Forensic psychiatrist, Las Vegas, Nevada.
June 28, 2008 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink