John McCain does his own German thing

As the time neared for Barack Obama's speech to a huge crowd massed in Berlin, John McCain paid homage of a sort to Germany -- lunching today at Schmidt’s Restaurant und Sausage Haus in the historic German Village section of Columbus, Ohio.

The eatery choice was the latest in a Republican effort to none-too-subtly turn up its collective nose at Obama's widely anticipated appearance in the city that once personified the Cold War divide.

As the Ticket noted previously, the Republican National Committee bought airtime (which could not have been that expensive) for ads attacking Obama in three U.S. cities named Berlin, and then continued the schtick with broadcast plans for the spots in a trio of U.S. cities named Paris (Obama will be stopping in the French capital as he wraps up his world tour).

McCain ate a bratwurst at Schmidt's -- making a point of noting that the eatery has no link whatsoever to Steve Schmidt, the aide he recently tapped to ride herd over his campaign -- and indulged in a chocolate cream puff for dessert. His dining companions included best pal Lindsey Graham, the GOP senator from South Carolina, and a covey of local businessmen.

As he digested his Teutonic fare, McCain held a brief media availability outside Schmidt's Fudge Haus (it rarely hurts for a business to diversify). He immediately pressed what is becoming one of his party's main narratives in this year's campaign: that Obama is prematurely, and arrogantly, assuming the trappings of the presidency.

Asked about the point he sought to make with his stop at Schmidt's, McCain said, "Well, I’d love to give a speech in Germany ... or a speech that maybe the German people would be interested in. But I would much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for the office of the presidency."

A more barbed reaction to Obama's address came from the communications staff at the Republican National Committee (they, like their counterparts at the Democratic National Committee, get paid to mercilessly needle the other side).

In a release headlined "Ich Bin Ein Hypocrite," the RNC scoffed that while Obama urged Germans to hang tough in the fight against Islamic extremists in Afghanistan, he has failed on that front in the U.S. Senate.

As usual, McCain's face-time before the cameras was less than carefully choreographed. As he responded to a handful of questions, some pesky wind chimes ...

... jangled sporadically in the background.

His restaurant of choice is a Columbus institution; the latest family member to run it is Geoff Schmidt, 58. Given less than an hour's notice, he and his staff handled the sudden intrusion of the McCain campaign entourage with apparent aplomb.

Schmidt told pool reporter Elizabeth Holmes of the Wall Street Journal that although he was not aware of a previous stop by a presidential candidate, lots of personages had frequented his place. Those include California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who helps host an annual bodybuilding and fitness event in Columbus (a city he has called his second home).

Schmidt also showed his own political skills in dealing with the national press.

Holmes reported that when she asked him if he was a Republican or a Democrat, Schmidt "grabbed your pooler by the arm, looked her in the eye and gave her a tight-lipped smile. 'We’re Americans,' he said with a laugh. 'We serve everybody.' "

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Associated Press

Comments

[anonymous]

Somehow its just not the same, McCain. Nice try. C for effort.

[anne]

Who cares about Germany?!!! What about America Obama? O-wait, you're too good for America since you removed the Flag and replaced it with your O Symbol on your plane. You just don't want to be Prez, you want to be World Leader.

[NOT AGAIN]

McCain and his campaign are banking on a flippant, xenophobic electorate to get him into office. Don't give it to him folks.

[Emily Wortham]

Honor, honesty, country, knowledge: all describe Senator McCain.

Liar, arrogant, egotistical, inexperienced, presumptuous, anti-white, a clost Muslim, self serving: all describe Obama. 1. He has his own 'presidential seal' 2. He was to proud to wear a flag pin 3. He has in his mind and in an interview redecorated the Lincoln bedroom 4. He is on a worldwide trip acting as though he is president of the U.S. saying the objective of this trip is to have discussions w/Karzai, Malike, Sarkozy, etc. WHO I EXPECT TO BE DEALING WITH OVER THE NEXT 8 TO 10 YEARS'. 5. He'll say almost anything to get elect, even telling the Israelis yesterday that "we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, WHICH IS MY COMMITTEE, a bill to call for divestment from Iran..." HE IS NOT A MEMBER OF THIS COMMITTEE!! 6. He needs a football stadius for his acceptance speech 7. He encouraged an interview by reporters/media of his daughters then said he regrets doing so (he did this for publicity) 8. He lied when he said he never heard in 20 yrs. the hate from the mouth of Rev. Wright 9. He dislikes whites as does his wife. Read his book Dreams From My Father and his wife's thesis if you can find it; her college hid it and won't release it as it is revolutionary 10. He lied about his stand on gun control, capital punishment, campaign financing, wiretapping, faith based groups (now he's trying to be a conservative Christian) 11. He believes he knows more about the wars than his generals and Chief of Staff and if elected, you know he will not listen to them as he thinks he knows more than they know. 12. Obama is having the DNC clear the streets of Denver during their convention by taking the 4000+ homeless to movies, zoo, museums, bingo games, etc. FREE TO THE HOMELESS SINCE THIS IS BEING PAID FOR BY USING UNITED WAYS MONEY. REMEMBER THIS WHEN THEY ASK YOU FOR A DONATION.

[coolrepublica]

That is the funniest thing ever. I haven't stop laughing since I read this. McCain in a German restaurant while Obama is in Germany.

Before the Obamabots starts saying it's stupid, I have to disagree. I think it's BRILLIANT!!!!!!!

It achieves two things in one shot. First it shows McCain cares more about America than Europe. Second it shows that McCain has a great sense of humor. I bet 1000 bucks that a great deal of people who are not Obama fanatics read this and thought it was very clever and laughed aloud.

[dave]

america has lost its way. many people have been misled to give up their freedom, in blind faith and loyalty to serve and worship anyone presented to them as their lord and master.
many will no longer stand up for their rights and their firm convictions of what is right. both candidates forced on the people as presumptive nominees, do not qualify. it is the constitutional right and duty of the people to defend their iinterests, and to vote their conscience, not be compromised and intimidated to pick a 'lesser evil'. the only sane reason to vote for anyone is to see your principles represented. not to see a political party win, or the pharmaceutical cartel, or the military industrial complex, or the banking cartel... there is no merit in winning an election - but losing your country. there is no merit in winning an election - but losing your freedom. RON PAUL is the candidate who represents the principles and values of the constitution. he calls the people to take back their rights and to reclaim freedom for america.

[Randy]

At least there was a bit of equal press here, unlike that by the NEW YORK TIMES DIVISION of the OBAMA For President CAMPAIGN.

[David Moreno]

This IS hilarious!! Obama speaks in Germany and McCain speaks at a GERMAN RESTAURANT! You can't make this s*** up...

Oh how the high and mighty Republicans have fallen.

What's next? Do they have any clubs at the nursing home McCain could be president of? He could REALLY mock Obama by withdrawing his candidacy and running for one of those.

[ArthurW from VA]

Emily Wortham's over the top post filled with falsehoods and lies (above) couldn't be better advertisement for Obama. If the only way folks think they can beat Obama is to smear our ears with blatant lies and falsehoods under the cover of some patriotic shtick, then Obama has little to fear and such McCain supports make McCain look increasingly like slimy swift boating low life.

On the issue raised at the end of her diatribe on taking the advice of Generals…The irony is that Bush is only taking full political cover in not being “able” to somehow overrule his General’s advice on getting out of Iraq. He sure didn’t take the advice of a number of generals and advisors going into Iraq who told him not to, pushing them into retirement or into a desk, but now he hides in their coattails, waiting out the end of his presidency and the 1 Trillion dollar debacle (do you actually know how many zeros that is and what that sum of money would have meant to energy technology if invested in the USA with all the bright scientists and engineers our country has?) called the Iraq war so that he can leave that and the tanking economy on someone else’s watch? I want a LEADER as president who will take what the generals have to say and evaluate that ALONG with all the other information and constraints involve and then make a decision that is best for the country. Please note, we don’t let our generals decide our foreign policy in this country, thank god!

So the answer is somehow McCain? I find it bewildering just because a senator has been around so long, and accumulated seniority points, finding himself on powerful Foreign Service committees, that he is automatically deemed an expert! It is the experts and long time politicians Cheney and Rumsfeld that got us into this morass along with a willing non-critical-thinking Bush, yet folks still think that more of the same will solve the problems? It also doesn’t stand to reason that someone young and new will automatically do any better. However, if you look at how even Bush is now realizing he has to embrace a time “horizon” ( aka if you look at the horizon you see what… well a “line”) in Iraq, he is now finally negotiating with Iran, and finally negotiating with North Korea, and that the important fight against terrorists in Afghanistan (which hello McCain, check your recent history… it predated the Iraq invasion) has been sorrowfully neglected you will see that these are positions Obama has advocated for the last six years. Even McCain, forced by Bush’s turn around with the time-horizon and public statements of Iraqi leaders statements that they are in line with the thinking of Obama, is now recently mumbling that of course he expects that a significant portion of our troops will be out of Iraq by the end of his first term, if elected. So it is the ‘young’ Obama and his advisors who have been on the right track for the last six years and whose policy even Bush is embracing. We don’t need four more years of the wrong experience at the helm of our great country.

[Person on Internet]

It's funny that McCain didn't think trips abroad were so bad for presidential candidates last month - when he was making them.

[G]

This just show the utter lack of imagination and statesmanship of the McCain clan. A cynical photo-op in front of a German store in Columbus, OH, and whining about how the media is giving him the short shift is, at best, childish and, at worst, churlish.

[Old Democrat]

Heh. Cool and understated. :-)

If Justsaynodeal and such can't get Hillary nominated -- a fair vote August 25 would do it -- then supporting McCain might turn out fun.

[J Rubin]

Despite being an Obama supporter or at least someone who will vote for him with her fingers crossed, I was very embarrassed by his speech in Berlin. Not that I disagreed with anything he said, but I felt that his grandiosity, his tone and his arrogance in making this speech was glaring. He is not yet the President of the US. and the whole world is not his constituency. He reminded me of small children getting up in front of the class and "showing off". I also thought that he might be crazy.

[Lynn]

Why does the national media not explain that Obama's Berlin speech FOLLOWED performances by 2 rock groups and that his groupies distrributed free food and flags? The most infuriating thing about this campaign is that the media does not even TRY to maintain the impression of neutrality. When Chris Mathews said that upon hearing Obama speak, he gets a "tingling up his leg". What is that supposed to mean? Congress people like Maxine Waters have integrity and refuse to be bamboozled by the DNC . . . unfortunately they are far too few of them. Obama's flip-flops, his revision of the Presidential Seal, the slogans on his plane while on a "Congressional Fact Finding Mission", all point to a cult-like figure . . . not MLK ,JFK, or RFK. Think Jim Jones instead. He belongs on "American Idol" NOT as a Presidential candidate.