John McCain embraces the role he relishes -- and predicted he would be in

It was just four weeks ago that a nip-and-tuck presidential campaign seemed to pivot in the Democratic direction -- in part because of a John McCain miscue.

After a weekend that drove home the fragile state of several leading financial institutions, McCain at a rally in Florida insisted the U.S. economy was fundamentally sound -- a claim that since then has been called into serious question.

Today, at a rally in Virginia, McCain sized up the state of the race, freely acknowledged being behind in the polls, anointed Barack Obama as a front-runner who is "measuring the drapes" at the White House -- and eagerly proclaimed, "My friends, we've got them just where we want them."

The Times' Maeve Reston was at the event and has more from McCain, including the arguments it appears the Republican will focus on during the campaign's remaining three weeks (in summary: Obama is a tax-and-spend liberal who will bend over backwards to help unions and "concede defeat" in Iraq).

As McCain -- with a smile -- cast himself in a beleaguered position and eagerly accepted the challenge, it rang a bell with us. And here's a quote he provided reporters in late June:

I'm the underdog in this race.... I'm behind. I've got to catch up and get ahead. And I expect to do that about 48 hours before the general election.

So partisans on both sides of the battle can take heed -- by his own lights, McCain has plenty of time for a stretch run.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Gail]

Wow. For once, I'm speechless - depressed, but speechless.

[Dave]

Here in Wisconsin all we're seeing from McCain are ads calling Obama's character into question. At least Obama is running a few ads talking about what he intends to do, and one responding to the smear campaign. McCain isn't winning any points, he's just trying to make Obama lose them.

I've decided I don't want that kind of politician in the Whitehouse. Leave Wisconsin, John, we don't like your smell.

[The one]

Why do you think the mainstream media does not discuss Barrack Obama’s New Party ties when he ran for State Senate? (the New Party is a Marxist political coalition whose objective was to endorse and elect leftist public officials—most often Democrats. The New Party’s short-term objective was to move the Democratic Party leftward, thereby setting the stage for the eventual rise of new Marxist third party.)

What about Barrack’s Ties to Dr Khalid al-Mansour? In an Interview of Manhattan Borough Chairman Percy Sutton, he named Dr Khalid al-Mansour as having aided Barrack Obama financially and helped Barrack get into Harvard Law School. Here is the links to the interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8npeYfKI_ns( This is scary)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTx5fZmgwIk (the original cut)

Is anybody concerned that the Nation of Islam leader calls Barrack Obama the Messiah?
I am, that is a little too much power. Here is the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq-tZ4y0NP8 (you should be scared of this)

How many radical ties need to be discovered in order for America to wake up and say no to the media and no thanks to Barrack Obama and his mentor?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZHTICEpMFw (twenty years, but never heard a thing).

Please spread the word to your friends, Neighbors, and family. If you do not trust this email, then check for yourself. I believe the truth lies in the middle of the left and the right, so please read both sides.

[Gary]

Good Luck George...I mean John. Maybe you should try handing out $100 bills in that last 48 hours, you know "to stimulate the economy".

[Beto Clark]

I don't believe there's enough racists in the country to give him that stretch and run 48 hour thing.

[Angelou]

WHAT IS MCCAIN SAYING? That two days before election day he is going to start spreading more smears about Obama? I thought he was already doing that?

By the way, I think he can still drop the CORRUPT Palin and get a better VP.

[Joe]

Looks like Obama is Teflon. No matter what McCain does, it doesn’t seem to take. I really think that McCain ought to get rid of his advisors and just be plain ole McCain. Two of the best political speeches I’ve ever heard were done by McCain. One was on why America should never torture people and the other was what good in the world America could have done with the money it spent on the Iraq war. Both speeches showed a man in touch with reality and a man who was not a “me tooer” for the party apparatchik. Both speeches showed a man worthy of being president of the USA. I’m sure he has many, many more such speeches in him that show why he is the best choice and that destroy the myth that he is the same as Bush. Why he is keeping them secret from the American people is beyond me.

Of course, even if he does this, he still has the problem of Palin. That was simply a disastrous choice. She very well may be able to handle the job of President but has never been tested on any large scale. She ought to go back to Alaska, govern some more and mount her own campaign in 2012. True enough, four of the past five presidents were governors but all four demonstrated their organizational, leadership, and executive abilities by establishing a national campaign to get their party’s nomination then another national campaign to win the presidential election. Even Obama, who has little national experience, has shown the ability to stand the heat and mount two such apparently successful, national campaigns.

One thing, no matter who wins, it will be the first time since Kennedy that a sitting US senator was elected president. However, it also looks like one trend will continue, the man with the least national experience will be president. This has been true since Carter defeated Ford; with the only exception being maybe Bush I.

Oh well, the elections will be soon and then the news media will need to find something else to do for a while. I’m sure the economy will still be there for them. Hopefully the news will be better than now.

[Political Handicapper]

I still think the experience will outweigh intangibles as the election approaches. Look for the underdog to pull it out.

[Bud]

He does love the underdog thing, he plays it well. It ain't over, those of us on the side of HOPE can't let up. Get folks registered, get them to the polls - - - keep a sharp eye out for voter-machine fraud - you know that's how they roll.

MICHELLE 2016

[Caitlin]

Americans love the underdog. It's a joke though, he's playing a role. Just because Obama supporters are vocal doesn't mean McCain is the underdog- the underdog wouldn't have support of the person who currently holds the job position they are vying for (President). Lacking in the polls? Polls don't mean anything- otherwise the last two presidential elections would have ended differently. He's changed dramatically in the past years and has become a puppet for the same people who puppeteer Bush and Co. Anything good I had to say about him was before his campaign came into gear and he chose a pawn to be VP. It's disappointing.

You're willingly ignorant if you vote for this man knowing his record unless you were under a rock the last 8 years.

[tashekor]

How romantic. Imagine running a country with such a pull-it-out-at-the-last-minute belief in yourself...I guess it's never too late -- we can fall in love again.

[andy]

Comments by Conservative Columnist Bill Kristol:

John McCain’s campaign isn’t working, and if he’s smart, he’ll “junk the whole thing and start over,” William Kristol writes in the New York Times. McCain’s current “combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic,” the high-profile conservative argues. McCain should pull all of his attack ads. He should go back to being a "cheerful and open" candidate.

“The American people have by no means turned decisively against McCain and Sarah Palin”, Kristol contends. He then added “Their attacks on Barack Obama and McCain's “gimmicky” economic proposals have failed and are worsening his chances. McCain needs to make his case, and do so as a serious but cheerful candidate for times that need a serious but upbeat leader."

[Jim Sponson]

McCain's playing the "sympathy card"? Sorry, Johnny. It's too late. You could cut off your feet and roll around the stage on one of those little floor dollies and the crowd would just laugh harder. As Bugs would say, "What a maroon!"

[larry clifton]

Barack and the Dimocrats, led by pelosi and reid, now have the lid off the cookie jar. Only problem, they are tossing in IOUs instead of taking out cookies. Remember what the said about Social Security? They never fixed that either. Everything is free in the pelosidom and barack is a communist.
It will be your children and granchildren who pay for it all.
That is where we are today....

[Nadeem Z]

Everything is fine but lynch mobs at his rally are not. The US economy is unlikely to be fixed in one go and its fundamentals are NOT definitely sound. But at least Senator McCain is on the same page (economy, economy, economy) as the people are.

[Bronty]

I don't know what McCain's talking about. That could be my problem, but really I think that's the problem with him.

[Robert Garner]

Win or lose, McCain has lost the respect of this Independent voter, thanks to his dishonest campaign tactics. I can never support him again.

[EMANUEL SFAELOS]

IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT ALL YOU PUNDITS REUSE TO TELL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THE TRUTH. WHETHER YOU ARE A DEMOCRAT OR A REPUBLICAN, IT IS A SAD COMMENTARY ON THE STATE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP TO PRESENT AS A CANDIDATE SUCH AS OBAMA. WITH ALL THE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN AND GOVERNORS YOU PICK AN EMPTY SUIT TO RUN FOR THE HIGHEST OFFICE. GOD FORGIVE YOU AND THE KENNEDYS' WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE.
THE EGO OF THE KENNEDYS' AND THEIR FEAR OF LOSING THE MANTLE OF DEMOCRATIC ICONS TO THE CLINTONS CAUSED THEM TO SUPPORT OBAMA THE MISFIT. MIKE DOUKAKIS WOULD HAVE SERVED US BETTER.
SHAME ON YOU TED AND YOUR EGOTISTICAL CLAN.

[Tom Burnett]

This reminds me of those cartoons where you see the over-matched character about to get his butt whipped in a fight state "now I've gotcha right where I want ya!" shortly after follows a cloud of smoke and sounds of clanking bells and punching bags. After the smoke clears, there's the would-be contender piled in a heap. It makes for good slap stick comedy, but bad politics.

[Germantown, MD]

People want the candidates to stick to the issues. One more thing McCain needs to do to turn this race around: Ditch Palin. Replace her with someone qualified and who isn't such an extremist.

[winemaster2]

McCain/ Palin, as is the usual bona fide of these conservative republicans are whipping up racism, fomenting hate, fear, once again introducing the propaganda of terror hype and republican patriotic feeding frenzy to control the hearts and minds of a misled and gullible nation.

The 72 year old pitbull, with four bouts of cancer and one foot in the grave all warped up in the flag and farting patriotism is doing nothing more then polarizing the country and inciting mobs. just as the Nazis did in Germany under similar economic conditions and circumstances.

[Brianna Shackelford]

i think that obama should win he is a true candidate..

[C.Yee]

Thanks for the warning. As an Obama supporter, I'll pay heed to this impending sprint. (I've circled Nov 2-3 on my calendar just to remind me)

[John in MT]

Over? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! … And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough... the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!

[Annie]

In all the previous "incarnations" of his campaign, Senator McCain has not shown he has the stuff to catch up, much less to reverse Obama's momentum. Changing the tone of his campaign will do nothing but reinforce the message of the Obama campaign: John McCain is an erratic leader.

[sharon]

So, McCain wants to keep the economy going along the way it is right now? Ouch!

[AAmcnay]

America will step up to the plate on Nov. 4th and put Mccain (the man for the job) in the whitehouse....:0)

[Gary]

Obama has certainly played up that "fundamentals" miscue, but isn't he saying the same thing in this exchange from the last debate:

Brokaw: Are you saying to Mr. Clark and to the other members of the American television audience that the American economy is going to get much worse before it gets better and they ought to be prepared for that?

Obama: No, I am confident about the American economy. But we are going to have to have some leadership from Washington that not only sets out much better regulations for the financial system.

[Judy]

In a pig's ear! Too little too late...

[Ed]

Until he gets rid of Palin, the anchor around his neck, he'll go nowhere. She was an irresponsible choice for a man of his age and history. She was his most erratic choice yet.

[olam mundo]

while it may be true that he managed to dig himself out of a hole during the Republican primary. It is also true that he is not running against very unpopular opponents such as Romney, Guliani, etc. Obama is a different cat.

[Richard]

Odd lurches and sudden scrambles as the deadline gets closer. Is that what we're looking for in a President?

[Frank]

He needs to give the "my fellow prisoners..........we need to break out of here" speech.

I don't understand why he keeps being covered in the cloak of some war hero/leader mistique? He's a Goof. This is a guy who graduated last in his class at Annapolis, wrecked two fighter jets and crashed and ended up a prisoner, was incarcerated during the Vietnam war protests and most of the civil rights movement. The real heroes are the one's that never came back or came back with missing body parts, not McCain. And he's still a Goof but a lot angrier and short tempered, too scary to have in the role of a President of the USA.

[Jerry]

I'm a McCain supporter and I believe he had better do something fast. It would appear he lacks the drive to become president. He seemed lethargic at the last debatem if you can actually refer to it as a debate. He was so nice to Obama, I thought they needed to go get a room.

[PuWeiTA]

"My friends, we've got them right where we want them."

McCain is heeding to his buddy Clayton Williams "As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it."

[John]

Underdog = Older Christian white man, part of the establishment, millions in the bank, and whose party in power for the last eight years.

Oh yeah, sure, that makes a lot of sense, just like the rest of his campaign.

B.S.

[edward elliot]

So it's character attacks and almost bordering on racist when McCain calls into question obama's associations.
However Rep. Lewis is given the opportunity by the media to clarify his 'governor wallace' statements.
The media doesn't call into question Biden's no vote on the first gulf war and also his disastrous position on a partioned iraq, which is no longer on his web site. They do not report on Messrs. Dodd, Schumer, Franks, Walters, the primary architects of the fannie and freddie debacle and how local banks were stiff armed into loaning money to minorities who clearly did not have the ability to repay them. In fact the very people who occassioned this financial disaster are now posing as being a major part of the solution, only in washington or disneyland could this happen.

[SAL]

So, let's be clear...

John Mccain is essentially asking Americans to fight Americans.

The GOP has become a domestic terror group.

Tne NEW Radical Extremist REpublican party is going to FIGHT other Americans.

Mccain has gone off the deepest deep end.

[Paul Stewart]

"My friends, we've got them right where we want them."

Right, just like Bin Laden, right where we want him..... Where is he again???

[sanityvoice2]

As the coherence of McCain's campaign falls apart due to too many quick side-steps and face changes, he is being reduced to his lowest common denominator - anger, name-calling, and tactics that are more sleazy even than his old nemisis George Bush used against him. And predictably, sane people haven't liked it.

So, he will now do a quick change into "McUnderdog"!

And, why has he become not an agent for change but a "quick change artist" who wears a new mask almost everyday? Well, my friends, that is because his real face looks so much like George Bush's that he knows he can't show it openly and honestly. So,instead we get a new mask every other day as he constantly tries to disown who and what he is and attempts to hide behind empty slogans and phony maneuvers.

[MutherBear]

Good Lord! Is this nothing more than a game to Senator McCain??? Is he really just playing dress-up, trying on different personas until he finds one that works for him?

ACT I - “I’m the one with all the experience - he just doesn’t have enough experience!”

ACT II - “Let me introduce you to my new running-mate! There are NASA Chimpanzees who are more qualified than her, but hey....she’s a Maverick!!! (She told me so in that ONE meeting we had!)”

ACT III - “I know how to fix this!...and that!....and that!....and that over there, too! Bin Ladin? OH, I”LL GET HIM - I KNOW HOW!! I’m just not sharing ANY of my “know-how” until you cough up the big office!”

ACT IV - “CHANGE IS COMING!” (I think it’s actually pretty healthy that you’re coming to grips with that now - it will make it easier on you when election day rolls around, and you wake up to realize that change did, indeed, come.)

ACT V - “Who IS this Barack Obama, with all his strangeness and differentness, and especially with all those strange and different, American-Hating, Terrorist, Socialist, Muslim, Chicago Politician friends that he’s had all those barbecues and pool parties with?? And, for that matter, if ANY of this crap was true - HOW IN THE HECK DID HE EVER PASS THE “American Senator” Test???? Senator McCain? You weren’t sitting in the Senate with this guy, were you?

ACT VI - “No, no Ma’am. You needn’t fear an Obama Presidency. He’s not an Aye-rab - he’s a decent family guy, who I’ve just been smearing the crap out of to make you afraid so I can win.....did I say that out loud??? I meant, “COUNTRY FIRST!!!”

ACT VII - “THERE’S NO NEED TO FEAR! UNDERDOG IS HERE.” (Feel free to hum that wonderful theme song if you remember it - Damn, I’m Old!)

(Borrowed from “The American President” because it fits): John McCain has been in the Senate for 26 years. I've been operating under the assumption that the reason John devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain (or trying to FIND the rain, even) is that he simply doesn't get it. Well, I am wrong. John's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. John's problem is that he can't sell it!

Keep trying, Senator. No Sale. And, by the way, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” (to paraphrase) seems infinitely more a lesson you yourself are in need of.

[Annie]

No matter how many times he "reinvents" his campaign, John McCain will not be able to catch up. There is no way he can reverse the Obama momentum. Too much of a gap, too late in the election, too many toss-up, leaning Republican states looking blue.

[mark]

John McCain is the underdog because he has not had enough good press. This is a good article and I think a large move of middle class voters will turn out and vote for Republican experince. Barack Heussein Obama just does not have the experience that it takes to lead this nation. When McCain is confronted with being attached to Bush, I think the folks should be reminded that a Democratic House and Senate has ruled for 4 years. WOW!!!

[Emlyn]

Tough ain't enough.

We need a leader, not a hero.

[Lance Newell]

Well,if the united states elects John McCain,the nation gets what it deserves.
if we want more war,tax cuts for the wealthy,less work in the nation,more unemployment,less educational possibilities,and a never ending war in Iraq and probably a war with Iran,heck elect John McCain.
On the other hand...well you know,more green technology,less war,more educational opportunities,less tax cuts for the wealthy,better health care for all,I mean,it is kinda a stark difference.

[steve rodriguez]

Hey John it's tough to be ahead in the polls when your opponents side always plays the Race Card and has the down-stream media on his side!

[steve rodriguez]

Louis Farrakhan, Oprah Winfrey, John Lewis, Jeremiah Wright all these people are so staunch in the Obama camp that they can't think rationally! Obama camp has only one color black! I am Latino, I want a candidate who will look beyong race and color!

McCain - Palin 2008

[John Quimby]

I have the answer to all of the posts that start of with:

Why won't the media cover the fact that...

It's because the issues in this race have been examined over and over again and there's no reason to report something that has no basis in fact.

The outright slander and libel broadcast in paid commercials for McCain (which you and I are paying for my fellow prisoners) doesn't bear examination by actual journalists.

That's why.

[Aimee]

I admire McCain's determination but it's probably too late - it's a shame too because he would have been a fantastic President. Unfortunately, he sold himself to the extreme right and resorted to ridiculous smear campaigns...precisely the kind of politics he always disdained and precisely what will lose him the election after 8 years of Bush fuelling skepticism among the voters about Republican policies. McCain was probably the only man in his party that could have had a chance at winning this because he bears that 'maverick' image and used to stand apart from his party on many issues, but his advisers have grossly mismanaged his campaign.

At this point, the best he can do is try to cut down on the character based smears and address real issues, talk to the people honestly like he used to. Unfortunately, this will probably just play into Obama's accusations of 'erratic behaviour' - and maybe that assessment wouldn't be entirely untrue. This whole election has been a disappointment but maybe that's more of a reflection on the flaws of the Republican party than that of McCain. If Obama becomes Pres in a month, the whacky GOP neo-cons will have nobody to blame but themselves.

[Ken Merowitz]

In 2006, Obama campaigned for a relative in Kenya, who was running for the Presidency. Obama's cousins name is Raila Odinga. Subsequently, Odinga lost by 230,000 or so votes. He did not accept the loss. So he called for demonstrations by his political supporters who in turn committed ethnic cleansing and genocide. Point blank, this guy tried to subvert the election process and use blackmail until he got what he wanted. Here is a video that gives a good accounting of the events along with photo's as proof of Obama and Odinga campaigning together. And Obama, used U.S. taxpayer money for this and his Senatorial position to help this terrorist. Titled: Barack Obama & Raila Odinga - Link: - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=S8QcpdUtxNQ&feature=related