Does John McCain know something Democrats don't?

Now that his race is effectively over, Republican Sen. John McCain telegraphed tonight that he thinks the Democratic contest might be, as well.

In his speech celebrating his presidential primary victories in Virginia, Maryland and D.C., McCain clearly had Barack Obama -- not Hillary Clinton -- on his mind. Speaking to his supporters in Alexandria, Va., McCain directed a barb at Obama (who just minutes before had wrapped up his remarks at a raucous rally in Madison, Wis.) and appropriated one of the Illinois senator's best-known lines.

Hope, McCain told his listeners, "is a powerful thing. I can attest to that better than many, for I have seen men's hopes tested in hard and cruel ways that few will ever experience."

After that obvious reference to his travails as a P.O.W. in Vietnam, McCain elaborated for a few sentences on the power of hope, as well as his "faith in the American character."

But then he turned his sights toward Obama, who titled his autobiography ... 

"The Audacity of Hope" and a politician who, as he had jokingly told his Wisconsin crowd, delivers a campaign message that has caused him to be dismissed as a "hope-monger."

Said McCain: "To encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope. It is a platitude."

Be that as it may, he borrowed one of Obama's catch phrases just a few minutes later.

With a sly smile on his face, McCain finished his remarks by promising his audience: "I am fired up and ready to go!"

Obama worked into his speech a direct reference to the presumptive GOP White House nominee, scoffing at the policies of what he called "Bush-McCain Republicans."

-- Don Frederick 

Comments

[Nate]

Obama's reference to "Bush-McCain" Republican is going to ring hollow with swing voters in November. Anyone who has paid the slightest attention to American government in the last 7 years knows that Bush and McCain are not exactly joined at the hip.

Republicans may not be enthused about McCain as their nominee, but the Democrats should be even less excited about the prospect. The President's lack of popularity makes this an election that the Dems should win by double digits. Lo and behold, the Republican nominee is the one person in the party who can legitimately distinguish himself from Bush in the eyes of swing voters. It all means that this is going to be another very close election in November.

[leo]

Yippie! McCain's running on a platform of bitter medicine! This is going to be easier than I imagined.

[nabilelibiary]

I have a quiz for smart people:
Why the states won by Obama did not report their assigned
delegates (not supper delegates) while not vise versa?

The following States won by Obama and did not report D. #:
Iowa(Jan.5), North Dakota, Idaho, CO, Alaska, Washington,
And Main. Total of 7 excluding 3 states of Fen. 12.

The following States won by Clinton and did not report D. #:
Nevada (51/45). Total of 1 state including Feb. 12
Who is holding the real numbers from public?

[Carol]

Conservatives are really frustrated with having to accept McCain and are looking elsewhere. Interestingly enough, Ron Paul's donations continue to rise, and the number of 1sr time contributors is exploding.

People are no longer just using him as a protest vote. Once they start listening, they are getting converted.

[Steve]

Yup, it's official, and out of the little twerp's own mouth - McCain is the Hope-less candidate!

[Tom J]

Obama is fired-up, McCain is just ginned up (in the sense of being overly excited and worked up).

[Jeremy]

I think it's the other way around. When McCain tries to please the right-wing of the right-wing he comes off as a big jerk. And when he tries to counter Obama as he did tonight he comes off as a grumpy old man.

This independent will be voting for Obama this fall.

[Klayton]

nabilelibiary the simple answer to your question is that Iowa, North Dakota, Idaho, Colorado, Alaska, Washington, and Main are all caucuses which are not technically decided on the day of the caucus.

Here in Washington we have one of the weirdest setups in that ther is both a primary and a caucus but Democrats award delegates based only on the caucus while Republicans split their delegates between the primary and the caucus. As if that wasn’t crazy enough the Washington caucus is a three-tiered process that isn’t technically finished until June 15th. Oh wait it gets even more convoluted because there are two different processes at both the second and third tier. At the third tier Congressional District Caucuses 51 National Convention delegates are chosen while the remaining 27 delegates to the National Convention are chosen at the State Convention.

It is a crazy system which is nearly impossible to precisely predict so some news agencies don’t report those results until the process is finished. Most do try to predict the end result but the predictions vary based on who is doing the predicting due to bias and variance in guesstamation. This is why the total delegate counts can be significantly different between news sources.

The Washington Caucus is even much more complicated that I described. If you want to see just how bonkers it is here is a link to a full description (towards the bottom)

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/candidates/#1918

[Fahmi Saied]

McCain is the best to be Commander in Chief.
With his qualifications ,experience , patriotism , his military background which qualifies him to be a true leader and a decision maker , this is what America needs now to fight inside and out side,
Obama could be the one ......after 20 years, politics are for experienced doers not for rookie good speakers , I can claim that I can cross the Atlantic swimming single handed , and I can fly like superman to Mars ., but ...can I really do it ??? .
if Mrs. Clinton will be the front runner for the Dems McCain will be the new Commander in Chief 100 % , but if it is Mr. Obama ...then McCain will get it 10000% .

[James]

So far I'm hearing a lot of wishful thinking on the part of supporters of John McCain which I am not knocking in the least bit. However, if Obama does end being the nominee in November you have to realize the stark contrast that the American people will be confronted with when they compare the 2 candidtates. Although those of us that support Obama appreciate and honor Sen. McCain's decades long service to this nation but when it comes down to it, the choice is clear. Obama is the best choice for leadership for 21st century after the failures of the Republicans leadership for the last 8 years. Although much is said about Obama being an empty suit, which is completely untrue but where does Sen. McCain stand on issues when it comes to Health Care, Global Warming, Iraq, Social Security, Taxes, Education, etc. Those of us who have been following the Dem contest know where Obama stands and his increasingly strong performance in recent primaries is testament to the American people getting to know it as well. I suspect that Sen. McCains position on these issues will not be where the majority of Americans stand on the issues. And who can forget his "Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran" comment and his 100 year Iraq occupation quip as well. (Poison in the General election) Don't believe me, check out this you tube parody of the Yes We Can video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwqEneBKUs

Although the November contest may be tight but the choice is clear what the American people want in their next president. And if the turnout in this primary season is any indication (Dem turnout is at historic highs and most often 2 to 1 compared to Republicans.) Sen. will be the next president of the United States of America. Sorry to say but McCain had his chance back in 2000 but his buddy W. goosed him pretty good in South Carolina. But the thing that would burn me if I was a hard core McCain supporter is that it was exactly W's poor record in office that made an Obama candidacy possible. So on that note I want to thank Bush for the best thing he ever did for America...making an Obama presidency possible. :-)

Obama O8 - Fired Up And Ready To Go! Lets get to work and take back this country!

[Anita]

This family was totally, 200% TURNED OFF by Obama at his speech last night in Wisconsin.

I'm paraphrasing. . .

He said he would repeal the Bush tax cuts. I guess that means everyone will get a tax hike within his first 100 days.

I missed the beginning of this section but he was listing ways people could get involved. . . helping the homeless, joining the peace corp or foreign service- but he never mentions joining our own Military. You know the Military that protects his right to say those ridiculous things. My husband about went through the roof when he mentioned foreign service over our own Military.

We will vote for McCain- for all of his faults at least he has governmental experience. His head is not in the clouds about what he can offer as a president. Obama is offering all this free stuff buy taxing the rich. Don't people realize that when you change our convoluted tax code- all people are taxed not just the rich? The rich know all the loopholes, shelters and tax breaks. That leaves the middle class- me- carrying the burden of Obama's free programs.

Ultimately, we would prefer Mike Huckabee in the Oval Office. I want the Fair Tax and he is the person to educate the United States about it.

[Anita]

OK I went back and listened to Obama's speech again.

He is going to give $4000 yearly tax cuts to those that attend college but they have to earn it- volunteer in the homeless shelter, join the peace corp or foreign service.

Do you think he realizes that if people give four years to our military that they will get several thousand dollars to use for college? Does that mean anyone in the military won't get the tax cut because it doesn't fit his idea of local or national service?

Ugh- I do not like the man. He is a good speaker but his head is in the clouds.

[Dan Campbell]

Huckabee has always been fighting against great odds. What kind of leader would just quit?

Talk radio convinced a lot of voters to not vote Huckabee to vote Romney in order to stop Mccain.

That backfired because the people like Huckabee too much.

Hold a complete National primary now and Huckabee wins by a landslide.

So what do we do? Volunteer for Huckabee, make phone calls, and contribute money. Lets stop Mccain. We need Huckabee now more than ever.

Vote for Governor Huckabee! He is our only hope.

Dan Campbell

[Dan Campbell]

Huckabee has always been fighting against great odds. What kind of leader would just quit?

Talk radio convinced a lot of voters to not vote Huckabee to vote Romney in order to stop Mccain.

That backfired because the people like Huckabee too much.

Hold a complete National primary now and Huckabee wins by a landslide.

So what do we do? Volunteer for Huckabee, make phone calls, and contribute money. Lets stop Mccain. We need Huckabee now more than ever.

Vote for Governor Huckabee! He is our only hope.

Dan Campbell

[B reddy]

Mr. Obama sounds like reincarnation of Karl Marx. Communist philosophy is dead long ago. We do not need any communist socialist to run and ruin this great nation.

[RonM]

Let's see... served in the Illinois legislature and then briefly in Congress. Obviously unqualified. What was Abraham Lincoln thinking, running for president...

[J]

Obama's main point at UMD, which got no applause, was - "We'll have a civil rights division which will actually enforce civil rights! We'll have a justice department that will actually enforce justice! No more Jena justice!" He got applause on many other lines, but none on those. White people were looking at each other going "what does he mean by that?" Particularly that word, enforce. In Jena, a group of blacks beat up an innocent white kid. Would the president get involved? Are white people going to get "payback" now? If a group of blacks beats you up will you be afraid to report it? Will it ever get reported at all? In NYC during the Dinkins (another light-skinned inspiring fellow) administration it got that way. There were crimes every day, all day. Everyone had a mugging story. The crimes weren't reported or counted because nothing would get done. It was almost always black on white crime. Barack Obama knows that it wasn't white people who put him in. "Enforce". Aren't they enforcing already?

[thom]

I don't know why everybody's so concerned about Barack Hussein Obama (what kind of name is THAT for a US president, anyway?) and the democrat party's usual pep rally politics. Bottom line is this: McCain is going to be the next president - it's already a done deal. He's already won, and none of the rest of this hoop-la matters.

[MichIndie]

He is just being smart. Obama is surging right now - go for him. Besides, polls show he would lose to him, but hold his own with Hillary. He needs Hillary to get the Dem. nomination

[cwajga]

First - McCain has not won the Republican nomination. We may very well have a brokered convention and then it's a new ball game.

Second - Obama is garnering support across a lot of boards. I agree that he lacks substance. I agree that he lacks experience. I agree that he lacks a lot of things, but that doesn't seem to matter, people are drawn to him.

Third - Some Republicans are protest voting for Obama, to keep Hillary out of the race. I believe this is a BAD IDEA. It's possible that McCain can beat Hillary. I don't think he has the charisma, and it's clear he doesn't have the passion of a voting base, to beat Obama, who has both.

Fourth - The best Republican candidate is MIKE HUCKABEE! He has a passionate base, he is an excellent speaker/debater, he has comprehensive experience and real plans for real change, responsible change - and he can win against Hillary or Obama.

Conservative and Moderate Republicans - don't settle for McCain - VOTE HUCKABEE!