Entries tagged “John McCain”
"My greatest strength is my humility. My greatest weakness? It's possible that I am a little too awesome." -Barack Obama
By Sarah Scully on 10/17/2008
"It's true that this morning I've dismissed my entire team of advisers. All their positions will be held by a man named Joe the Plumber." -John McCain Last night Barack Obama and John McCain put down the boxing gloves and put on white ties and tails for the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, a bipartisan charity event named after the legendary New York Governor and first Catholic presidential nominee. The evening marked a 63 year-old tradition of politicians joining together to make light of their differences and raise money for underprivileged children. It's a particularly nice break... MORE »
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Behind The Scenes At The Democratic and Republican Conventions
By Sarah Scully on 09/18/2008
2008 Uncut photographs captured at the conventions. Sometimes a picture is worth more than 1,000 words. All Photos: ©Charlotte Rabbe... MORE »
Palin
By William Rabbe on 08/29/2008
After surprising the country with his veep pick, will McCain's choice of Sarah Palin pick up votes from Hillary Democrats, or will this be more akin to the 1984 election? Will gender be a determining factor, over party affiliation? Look for Hillary Clinton's reaction in the coming days.... MORE »
The Obama Strikes Back
By William Rabbe on 08/21/2008
By William Rabbe Having been lambasted by the McCain camp as an out of touch, race-card-playing celebu-tante, Barack Obama is fighting back this week -- and pragmatic Democrats who worried that Obama's "above the fray" non-responsive approach would doom his candidacy are sighing with relief. The cardinal rule of negative campaigning is: "when attacked, attack back," -- or perhaps better summarized by veteran democratic strategist, Paul Begala: "it's hard for your opponent to say bad things about you when your fist is in his mouth." The most classic victims of "refuse-to-fight-back-syndrome" are Michael Dukakis in 1988 and John Kerry in... MORE »
Maureen's McCain/Clinton Alliance
By William Rabbe on 08/19/2008
Although a work of fiction, Maureen Dowd is scathing in her newest piece about Hillary Clinton working with John McCain to defeat Barack Obama -- read it here. The deal? Hillary says, "one term for you, and two for me." And don't miss Barack Obama as "twig legs"... MORE »
Too Far?
By William Rabbe on 07/30/2008
By William Rabbe OMG! The new John McCain ad features Barack Obama amongst celebrities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton! That's hot. But by tapping into popular resentment of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, is McCain's camp grabbing at straws or could this approach be effective (albeit still slightly ridiculous)? Probably both. As the underdog, John McCain can afford some flexibility in shifting tactics -- he's trying nearly every approach to find out what works and what doesn't before the critical post-convention stretch. In this case, he's making a play for free publicity by cooking up a controversial ad that will... MORE »
The Role of Jan Brady Will Be Played by John McCain
By Sarah Scully on 07/21/2008
By Sarah Scully Much like the middle Brady Bunch daughter, John McCain can't seem to get any attention. Everyone is too busy noticing the many accomplishments of Barack Obama, who has taken on the role of Marsha Brady, the cheerleading, straight A, class president who sucks all the oxygen out of the room without even trying, leaving poor sister Jan ( a role previously played by Hillary Clinton) to lament: "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!" Perhaps the McCain campaign hoped that they would get a shot at center stage with Marsha out of town but the media is as fixated as ever... MORE »
Size Isn't Everything
By Sarah Scully on 05/27/2008
By Sarah Scully John McCain is giving a foreign policy speech at the University of Denver's Cable Center. The audience comfortably fits into the lobby of the building. Two miniature risers holding fifteen special guests each, bookend the small stage. McCain is wisely speaking to his greatest strength and potentially Obama's greatest weakness: national security. How much he can speak to this in place of domestic issues (like explaining his much criticized gas tax holiday) remains to be seen. The economy is overtaking the war as the most important issue for voters. As it turns out, a chunk of audience... MORE »
Political Paradigm Shift
By Sarah Scully on 05/15/2008
By Sarah Scully Sure the Democrats have taken the lead in breaking racial and gender boundaries but Republicans are not far behind. Some of the most traditional conservative thinkers are suggesting that John McCain pick from a list including Carly Fiorina, Bobby Jindal, and Condi Rice for his running mate to balance the ticket. Whether any of these ticket combinations happen, this marks a dramatic shift from the conventional wisdom of previous elections that deemed white Christian males as the only safe bets. MORE »
The Democrats Bitter Butter Battle
By Sarah Scully on 04/16/2008
By Sarah Scully Having run out of substantive matters to disagree over, the Democrats have engaged in a battle over minutiae worthy of Dr. Suess. Much like The Butter Battle Book in which two very similar groups start a cold-war-style arms race (that includes a weapon called a "Blue-Gooer") over whether to butter one's bread side-up or side-down, the vitriol within the Democratic party seems to increase in proportion to the triviality of the argument. Obama called Pennsylvanians bitter! Hillary can't remember when she last held a gun! The one person who seems to be benefitting from this war of... MORE »
Raising The Conservative Barr
By Sarah Scully on 04/08/2008
By Sarah Scully The Left may be split right now but the Right could end up fractured down the road if Georgia's former Republican Rep. Bob Barr turns his exploratory committee into a full-blown Libertarian candidacy. With the Democratic bare-knuckle fight in its ninth round, it's been easy to forget about the disgruntled Republicans who were tearing John McCain apart even as he was claiming the nomination. Well before divided Dems threatened to vote for McCain, Republican stalwarts raged against their own frontrunner, citing a dearth of conservative bona fides. Once the dust settled however, in true elephant form, the... MORE »
Ad Wars: Round 2
By William Rabbe on 04/02/2008
By William Rabbe These two ads came out the same day. Clinton's: And John McCain's: And guess what? They're almost the same ad! But who should get the rapid response award? The answer is here and this is probably the reason he looks so happy. Thanks to The Page for breaking the McCain reply. MORE »
Ad Wars: Round 1
By William Rabbe on 03/28/2008
By William Rabbe Everyone knows that John McCain will likely benefit from a protracted Democratic battle, but never was that more apparent than now -- as he begins airing his first general election TV ad in the important swing state of New Mexico. I might also add that the 60 second spot is creatively titled after his navy serial number, 624787 -- a number which America will know by heart by the convention if Republican strategists successfully continue to establish McCain's life story for the American public -- virtually unopposed... The Democrats forfeit round 1 as they carry on through... MORE »
2 Takes on John McCain
By William Rabbe on 03/25/2008
The Wall Street Journal vs. The Financial Times MORE »
Elvis Has Entered The Playlist
By Sarah Scully on 03/03/2008
By Sarah Scully All presidential campaigns have a list of songs they play before events. Music is carefully selected for good beats and inspiring lyrics that speak to the candidates being ready, having vision, skills, drive, magical abilities, etc. The roster is usually updated, (in a few cases because the musician objects, as occurred when John Mellencamp asked McCain to stop using his songs), but usually to keep the staffers from going completely insane. The Clinton campaign has been playing the same six songs (including Mellencamp's) for the last six months. Perhaps they are over-cautious as a result of the... MORE »
Playbook for McCain in the General
By William Rabbe on 02/29/2008
By William Rabbe Take a look at Mark Halperin's potential strategies for McCain against Barack Obama. MORE »
John McCain vs.... Howard Dean?
By William Rabbe on 02/26/2008
By William Rabbe Yes, it is true, Howard Dean has stepped into the fray -- Rarrrrr -- and although he can support neither Democratic candidate, he is going after Sen. John McCain on a rather technical, but important issue that needs clarification: campaign finance. It may be complicated, but the gist is that McCain used a loan to finance his campaign while his coffers were deficient this past summer -- the question is: did he promise matching funds as collateral? Federal matching funds are subsidies given to candidates in primary campaigns if they agree to limit their spending. Recently, due... MORE »
Scandal within scandal: Did the 'Times' withhold a story on McCain's alleged ethical lapses?
By William Rabbe on 02/21/2008
Filed under: ScandalsBy William Rabbe Almost exactly 4 years after similar claims were made against then Presidential Nominee John Kerry, allegations of infidelity and favoritism have surfaced on the campaign trail, linking likely Republican Nominee John McCain to DC lobbyist Vicki Iseman. Part of this strange brew is the question of whether or not the New York Times deliberately withheld the story until after the Senator had secured the nomination. Would he have won New Hampshire if it had it been broken earlier? The piece was going to be released December, but was withheld amid talks between the Times and the campaign.... MORE »
