McCain has put country first by not raising Rev. Wright
James Forsyth 7:39pm
The civility cops have been giving John McCain a hard time for the tone of his campaign. But they are ignoring the fact that McCain has held back from using a political line of attack that could be highly effective because of what it could do to the country.
Obama’s connection to Rev. Wright are, potentially, hugely damaging to his candidacy. It dredges up a whole set of emotive issues surrounding race and brings into question much of his political persona. The attack ad on the issue Tucker Carlson sketches out over at the Daily Beast shows the kind of punch that a spot on it could pack:
McCain, though, had admirably chosen to refrain from raising the issue. Now, there are several possible reasons for this. One is that McCain is uncomfortable attacking a man for the church he attends or fears blowback on Republican politicians who have pastors who make equally incendiary statements. But the most plausible explanation is that McCain knows that it would catapult the issue of race to the top of the agenda and has desisted because of that.“The spot opens with the familiar yet still shocking tape of Wright pounding the pulpit and looking crazy:Wright: “God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."
Narrator: This is the man Barack Obama has called his spiritual mentor. In 2006, Obama gave Wright’s church more than $22,000 as a gift. Here's what Obama's mentor had to say about our country in the days after 9/11.
Wright: "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye…America's chickens are coming home to roost."
Narrator: For 20 years Barack Obama sat in the pews, even brought his family, as Wright preached hate. Obama never said a word, until he was caught. Then he defended Wright. Barack Obama: Divisive. Dishonest. Dangerous.”
McCain, though, does not receive much thanks for this. John Lewis, a Democratic Congressman and civil rights icon, has said “Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire” and compared them to the segregationist George Wallace. While others have claimed that raising Obama’s connection to Bill Ayers—a white unrepentant member of the Weather Underground—is somehow racist.
The McCain campaign has been too negative for my tastes. (Indeed, I think its negativity has been counter-productive because there is no positive message to match it.) Some of its ads have stretched the truth. Clearly some people who attend McCain-Palin rallies are racists, but there is no evidence that they are anything other than a very small minority, and the campaign should do a better job of checking the signs people bring into its rallies. But those who are so quick to call into question McCain’s honour should remember that he has chosen not to go nuclear because of the contaminated ground that it would leave behind.
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John
October 14th, 2008 8:42pm Report this commentAre you having a laugh? Palin and the state Republican parties bring Wright up every fifteen minutes. McCain can look 'above the fray' all he wants, because he has other people doing his dirty work.
David
October 14th, 2008 8:50pm Report this commentMcCain is a far more decent man than his supporters are, as typified by Melanie Phillips and the posters on her blog here.
It's a shame the RNC clearly didn't allow him to run the campaign he was clearly capable of; the sub-Rove style has done for him.
TGF UKIP
October 14th, 2008 8:55pm Report this commentOh, how very, very Speccie. In fact just like over here where Dave operates on LTA rules and Gordon on the Gorbals'.
The Tucker Carlson sketch is directly relevant and informative on Obama's background and who and what he is.
Personally, I hope the third party campaigners have enough funds to flood the TV screen with the Jeremiah Wright question over the next two weeks and leave McCain to take the high road to avoid upsetting James and the New York Times.
PS, James, if it was the other way round do you think the Dems would have had the slightest hesitation in using "the reverend"?
Pete
October 14th, 2008 11:31pm Report this commentWatched the clip and thought that McCain was genuine in thinking that things were going to far.
I may not agree with his politics but I will give him respect for drawing a line, especially when his audience was wanting him to do otherwise.
dexey
October 15th, 2008 12:04am Report this comment"But those who are so quick to call into question McCain’s honour should remember that he has chosen not to go nuclear because of the contaminated ground that it would leave behind."
or he maybe keeping his best powder dry for later. I do hope so.
Ben
October 15th, 2008 1:50am Report this commentObama's lack of judgement in choosing the people he associates with is one of his biggest weaknesses. McCain would be a fool not exploit the issue.
THX1138
October 15th, 2008 10:16am Report this commentI believe that McCain is basically a decent man and is trying to salvage his reputation and also he knows what it's like to be on the other side of the wingnut smear machine. In 2000 the Rove/Bush Campaign accused him amongst other things of being gay, that Cindy was a drug addict; that the Bangladeshi child they had adopted was his love child with a black prostitute and that he shouldn't be let anywhere near the nukes because of his temper and that the years in the Hanoi Hilton had rotted his brain.
That has got to leave a decent man determined not to let that happen to another decent man
The polls are showing some terrible predictions for the GOP 89 % of Americans now say the country has gone off on the wrong direction
A CBS national tracker just gave Obama +14 an outlier maybe but Obama has a double-digit advantage in seven current national trackers: Newsweek (+11), ABC/Post (+10), Democracy Corps (+10), Research 2000 (+10), Battleground (+13), Gallup (+10 using their Likely Voter II model) and now this CBS News poll.
The state polling provides no more cheer for McCain with a Quinnipiac set of polling, showing large leads for Obama in the McCain must win states of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Top GOP strategists have been calling for a new strategy that basically abandons McCain to his fate and moves the money and resources into the Senate races to create a firewall to stop the Dem's reaching a filibuster proof 60 senators.
Doug
October 15th, 2008 10:24am Report this commentMcCain has had a momentary display of sense in not raising Wright but I'm sure he would have used it if Obama hadn't given that speech in Philadelphia that tied race in to controversy. But that doesn't excuse the majority of the time where he is rolling in the mud especially after all his speeches that he was going to run an honourable, clean, issues based campaign.
I'm not sure if you meant to link Lewis's Wallace comment to other race based comments but Lewis wasn't talking about race in mentioning Wallace. He was using Wallace's ability to whip up lynch mob mentality in the crowds he addressed and which was widely seen to be the cause for the fire-bombing of several churches and the death of 4 girls. All that is needed for some nutters is the inspiration of a public figure to put their sick fantasies into practise. The Secret Service said they've started several investigation into these incidents.
You say "civility cops" which seems rather pejorative. But isn't it common decency to call out the people in McCain/Palin crowds who shout "terrorist!" or "kill him!" or "Obama bin Laden" or use the words Arab or Muslim in a pejorative sense. James Zogby himself of Arab origin wrote a scathing rebuttal to McCain's acquiescence over the use of the word Arab. Zogby quote ""Enough is enough! From the beginning of this campaign there have been those who have used 'Muslim' and 'Arab' in an effort to smear Barack Obama. This exploitation of bigotry and the stoking of racist fires to forward an agenda is reprehensible." In fact this is standard practise for Palin who smeared her Mayoral opponent in Wasilla as a Jew despite the fact that she know the man for years and knew that he was Christian. McCain doesn't even disown his own Virginia Chairman who put voice to the same slurs.
Doug
October 15th, 2008 10:31am Report this commentTHX1138 - I would have agreed with you about the infamous South Carolina effect on John McCain that is until he hired for his campaign the Rove deputies who conducted it. That isn't repudiating those tactics it is employing them your benefit.
There is a distinction between what is a smear and what is a fact that shouldn't be used. It is a fact that Cindy McCain was a drug addict but that should never have entered into political discourse. It is also a fact that McCain has a fierce temper which he himself has admitted and talked about extensively but that is fair.
Gray Nixon
October 15th, 2008 1:32pm Report this commentMcCain hasn't raised Rev. Wright because he doesn't think it would work.
That's not honor, that's tactics.
Hal
October 15th, 2008 3:46pm Report this commentWe already had our Rev. Wright flurry last winter, culminating in Obama's speech in Philadelphia. This theme has lost about 1/2 of its value for McCain because it's old news.
In addition, have you heard that the economy is in very bad shape? If McCain makes Rev. Wright central to his campaign, he sends out the message that he doesn't understand the economic distress in the country. As indeed he doesn't, having a rich wife and lots of rich friends.
It's not a promising tactic for McCain.
Matthew Blott
October 15th, 2008 5:30pm Report this commentI heard he was warned off raising Reverend Wright by Colin Powell who said he would publically endorse Obama and campaign vigorously on his behalf if McCain went down that road. I don't know if this is true or not but given the past history of some on McCain's campaign team (i.e. those that destroyed his candidacy on behalf of Bush in 2000) this seems plausible enough.
Kurt
October 15th, 2008 10:01pm Report this commentExcept that by promising not to raise it, the campaign raises it. This is a rather disingenuous campaign where this issue is concerned.
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