Weird news from the McCain campaign:
ABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports: On Wednesday, a top adviser to John McCain said more definitively than he has in the past that he will step down from the Arizona senator’s presidential campaign if the presumed GOP nominee faces Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in the general election.
“I would simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be inevitably attacking Barack Obama,” said McCain adviser Mark McKinnon in an interview with NPR’s “All Things Considered.” “I think it would be uncomfortable for me, and I think it would be bad for the McCain campaign.”
I would fire him. Right now. This is just really, really weird.
VidaLoca
Heard this on the radio driving home yesterday. Sounds like an outbreak of… integrity. Or something.
Must.
Not.
Permit.
Dennis - SGMM
“And so it came to pass that the mere shadow of the Magical Unity Pony, nay even the distant drumming of his glittering hooves, turned the hearts of the evil and so made them good.”
cleek
wow.
an honorable sentiment. but honor’s definitely not what you need in a campaign manager.
cleek
err… s/manager/advisor/
IanY77
I……uhm…..don’t get it.
gypsy howell
Tells you how low they plan to go that even Mark McKinnon, no paragon of principle, can’t lower himself go there against Obama. Interesting that he apparently would have no problem launching a smear campaign against Hillary though.
4tehlulz
Jesus, that’s fine if he feels that way (and I suspect McCain knows this already), but don’t put in on the record in the media.
Doesn’t anyone know when to shut the fuck up anymore?
Elvis Elvisberg
What if he really means it, and he’s acting from sincere and decent motives?
Just wrapping my mind around that possibility is taking quite a bit of effort, much less applying it to this situation and seeing if it might actually be true.
SmilingPolitely
Is McCain planning to have everyone dress up in white robes and ride horses, or what?
Danothebaldyheid
To Dennis – SGMM
Hahahahahahahahaha. I just had to show some appreciation for what is as amusing a cooment as I have read in a long while!
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
My understanding is that McKinnon worked for Democrats until Bush, so it’s not a huge jump.
And no, I seriously doubt this is part of some bizarro coordinated GOP smear plan. Unless they’re even more incompetent that anyone can dream…
Billy K
He loves the MUP!
I Love the MUP!
WE LOVE THE MUP!!!
The MUP can bring even the most hardened, coarsened, heartless creatures known to mankind (e.g. GOP Campaign Managers) to their knees.
All glory to the Magical Unity Pony!
SGEW
Oh noes! I think that the M.U.P. has degenerated my cynical skepticism so much that I might actually believe that Mark “Smear King” McKinnon has found some bastion of decency within himself – but that’s un-possible!
Seriously – this really doesn’t make sense.
W.E.B. Adamant
I was listening when he said that. Don’t forget that he said that he likes Obama, even though he disagrees with him on some major issues. This only underscores the idea that in a McCain/Obama election, there’s going to be a lot of crossover from right to left.
More on why republicans like Obama:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020102663.html?nav=rss_opinions/outlook?nav=slate
D-Chance.
Meanwhile, Hillary is loading up her staff with… “Ms. Williams is running a daily conference on what ads to put up and expanding the inner circle with advisers from the old Clinton White House.”
They still don’t get it, do they? Fear and loathing of the old warhorses from the old administrations is exactly the gas that fuels the Obama MUP fire. Obama is preaching “change”; Hillary is bringing back even more of the same old same old.
That being said, don’t think that there won’t be an all-out war at convention time. The delegate count just isn’t there for Obama, regardless of the outcome of the remaining primaries and caucuses. It’s all going to boil down to super delegates (loaded with Clinton cronies and insiders) and the disputed Fla/Mich delegates. Obama can continue to win the popular vote by more than 2:1 margins, and Hillary can still win the nomination.
And if she does, welcome President McCain. All those young voters who dared to hope for change, all those independents who dreamt of a new kind of politics, all those disenfranchised Republicans… gone. Many of the Democrat loyalists who now claim to be sitting on the fence… gone. The hard right of the Republicans… energized and voting in record numbers.
It all comes down to Hillary. She’s fighting a losing battle for the hearts and minds of her party. And from here on out, she can do one of two things; a) see the big picture, be gracious, bow out, and unify the party for a generation (or more) long rule of the White House by her party, or b) fight to the last drop of political blood, probably win the nomination due the Clintons’ career-long web of networking with the insiders and power brokers who comprise the super delegates AND the ability to use their power and influence to worm and weasel the Fla/Mich delegates into having a full vote despite the sanctions.
It all comes down to Hillary. She can either set up the party for several presidential cycles to come, or she can destroy it in the next six+ months. Her choice, and her choice alone.
Zifnab
I suspect it has more to do with staring into a bear trap as your boss tells you to take a big step forward. Does McKinnon have integrity? Fuck if I know. Does he have a strong sense of self-preservation? I think that’s a given.
McKinnon is looking at the McCain/Obama race and shitting his pants. He knows he can’t win, and he’s ducking out now on “ethical grounds” so his reputation as a campaign manager doesn’t get blown to all hell when McCain is summarily trounced seven ways from Sunday in November. Then he can pick up again in 2010 or 2012, having dodged a bullet.
SGEW
If the M.U.P. can overcome Mark McKinnon’s soured and seething heart, mayhaps it shall overcome Sen. Clinton’s as well?
frankdawg81
After the utter filth that has been tossed at the Clintons, Gore and Kerry over the last 16 years (and McCain by Rove himself) I don’t know if I should be heartened that some of the insiders at least recognize the bottom of the barrel or saddened by his lack of concern for cranking up the slime generator against everyone else.
Buck
According to the interview McCain has always known that McKinnon would not work the general election if Obama was the Democratic nominee. So even though this is weird it is not a surprise to the McCain folks. I don’t expect they will fire the guy. They hired him knowing how he felt. I figure they will drive on with him until the Democratic nominee is chosen and if it is Obama he will then step aside.
ThymeZone
Dems, to Republicans:
All your power is belong to us.
Buh bye, buttheads.
The Other Steve
Several theories:
McKinnon is a Grand Wizard in the Tennessee chapter of the KKK. He knows that if Obama is the nominee, this background will come out and it will devastate McCain.
McKinnon had a gay relationship with Obama in the Larry Craig stall at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport in 1998. He’s afraid this will become public and damage McCain.
McKinnon secretely loves Obama, has contributed $2300 already to his campaign and knows that this will come out.
As part of his community service for his conviction for prostitution, McKinnon worked with Obama as a community organizer in Chicago.
McKinnon has ethics.
I find the last reasoning to be rather hard to believe, considering he worked for Bush.
ThymeZone
OT but …. has our president kissed the Saudi rings lately?
And .. have you heard the latest Clinton speeches?
“We need results, not more promises.”
Oh brother. Make her go away.
ThymeZone
Bernanke, meanwhile, is on tv right now saying that we are up shit creek without a paddle. Or something.
Time to elect a president who claims to know nothing about economics! Yes We McCain! Yes We McCain!
Billy K
I can’t believe you’d even ask this. There is NOTHING the MUP can’t do!
Zifnab
So… vote Obama?
Seriously, if that’s all she’s got left in her ammo bag, I think the war is over.
RareSanity
I don’t like the odds of her making the right decision. Especially when I saw a clip this morning of her screaming about “We need a President with solutions, not promises!!”
Oh Jebus…she just doesn’t get it, I’ll take MUP promises over your “solutions” anyday.
Here’s to hoping that the “super-delegates” say…”You know what, this is our chance to neuter the Clintons forever more. The MUP is good, the MUP is wise, the MUP is just what we need to give the Clintons their gold watches and let them retire in peace.”
Gus
I don’t know if one’s reputation as a campaign manager is enhanced by bowing out for ethical reasons.
mikeyes
This one is easy: The McCain camp expects Hillary to get the nomination by crook and he will look very good if he has already stated that Obama is so honorable that McCain will not go negative against him. It gives an acceptable reason to start out Negative with Hillary.
If by some chance Obama is the opponent, no harm done and McCain can cry foul if there is the first hint of negative advertising. Besides, so far the Obama camp has not indulged in wholesale “did you know he fathered a black child” type of negative advertising and probably will run on hope and charisma if he gets the nomination. Such a statement from someone in McCain’s camp who is not going to be a player in the main election will not harm McCain and will only help, especially if the Swifties get involved. He can disavow himself more readily when that happens.
binzinerator
What Zifnab said. It makes the most sense.
Another thought: Obama actually praised McCain’s service in Madison, and the crowd cheered. He came off as sounding respectfully disagreeing with McCain, yet honoring him for his service. It looks bad to slime a guy who went on record with that for McCain. So maybe McCain crew thinks they can’t get mean and low with Obama because it’d boomerrang back on them worse.
So they let people know they simply can’t stoop that low, in fact just even contemplating it deeply troubles their conscience. So they’re trying to claim some of the moral high ground for not doing what would’ve killed them to do anyway. And that would give them some armor against possible negative attacks from Obama’s outfit. Sorta like rubbing some Obama MUP off on them to ward off evil.
On second thought, what Zifnab said. It makes the most sense.
Jen
The MUP has an immunity cloak. Or Jedi mind tricks. It’s definitely weird. My guess would be that McKinnon knows in advance something about the “inevitable” attacks being planned, and considers them very likely to backfire and take him down with them.
If I were trying to run McCain’s campaign, heaven forbid, I would definitely recommend treading very lightly against Obama, and if I saw it headed elsewhere, I would probably get off, too.
Steven Taylor
Perhaps even weirder is that fact that McKinnon has made this clear from the beginning–indeed, I read this a while back and am not sure why it is news today.
I guess McKinnon (and McCain) thought that Hillary was inevitable, and so there wasn’t an issue initially.
MJ
Neither McCain or Obama will likely get real dirty. They won’t really need to any ways. There will be 527s doing it on both sides that both sides will try and disavow themselves of.
Jamey
Fire him? Maybe McCain could have him tortured.
MJ
So did Hillary. She figured she’d have it all rapped up by Super Tuesday and didn’t have what she needed to have in place to win the later events.
chopper
that explains why she had run dmc play at her super tuesday campaign party…
canuckistani
Maybe he saw how the Che flag scandal was sticking and wants to get out before any more humiliating failures.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Nobody wants to be seen as a racist.
If Obama is the Dem nominee, the Republican base will simply not be able to help themselves (call the chickens born of the Southern Strategy) come home to roost.
I suspect Mark McKinnon just doesn’t want to be associated with it.
And you all know it’s coming.
Xoebe
Yes, self preservation seems the likely reason.
As Ivan points out, the appeal to racism may be irresistable – if not overt, it will be the elephant in the room. Factor in that there is very good chance that McCain will not win in November, and it’s pretty simple. Who wants to be a racist loser?
I am getting the sense that the Republicans see the November election as a lost cause, and they are simply letting McCain throw himself under the bus. Ultra conservative and evangelical elements will of course capitalize on the loss to bolster themselves and damage moderate elements in the GOP.
Splitting Image
Another vote for self-preservation.
As others have pointed out here, Obama proved at the Madison speech that he’s going to be giving the Republicans lessons in how to Swift Boat someone properly. He generated a big round of applause for McCain and then eviscerated the sap. Forget the crap about him being a nice guy. He’s going for the jugular.
Anyone running against him this fall is going under the bus and they know it.
It’s also interesting that he was a Democrat before joining the Bush campaign. Doesn’t that imply he worked for the Clintons? If so, it’s probably revealing that he was willing to go negative on them but not on Obama.
LiberalTarian
MUP
like, em-you-pee?
like, moop, rhymes with goop?
like mup, as in muppet?
sorry, just trying to make sure i have a grip on the jargon.
MJ
I think MUP = Magical Unity Pony but I like what you came up with better.
Larry B
John McCain Talking Points
On Iraq: We will continue to fight the war in Iraq until we defeat our enemy, even if it takes 100 years. But make no mistake, we will continue the fight to keep our nation free of terrorists.
On Illegal Immigrants: We will continue to fight the war against illegal immigrants until we defeat this enemy, even if it takes 100 years. But make no mistake, we will continue the fight to keep our nation free of illegal immigrants.
On The Economy: We will continue to fight the war against recession until we defeat this enemy, even if it takes 100 years. But make no mistake, we will continue the fight to keep our nation free of recession.
On Health Care: We will continue to fight the war against health care until we defeat this enemy, even if it takes 100 years. But make no mistake, we will continue the fight to keep our nation free of universal health care.
On Terrorism: We will continue to fight the war against terrorists until we defeat this enemy, even if it takes 100 years. But make no mistake, we will continue the fight to keep our nation free of terrorists.
On Fiscal Restraint: We will continue to fight the war against Pork until we defeat this enemy, even if it takes 100 years. But make no mistake, we will continue the fight to keep our nation free of Pork.
I wonder who McCain will pick for his wartime Consigliere?
LifeLongDem
I am a life long Democrat–I even worked in teh Carter White House. I’ve supported Democrats forever, and was a huge supporter of Bill Clinton.
I will support the Democratic Party’s nominee, provided that:
1. The Super Delegates do not reverse the winner of a majority of the elected delegates; and
2. The Democratic Convention does not seat the Michigan and Florida delegates elected in the unsupported January primaries. Instead, the DNC should advise MI and FL that their delegates will be seated only if they are selected by a caucus or primary sanctioned by the DNC, and in which both remaining Dem candidates are on the ballot and are permitted to campaign.
IN THE EVENT that the above two conditions are not met–i.e., Hillary gets the nomination notwithstanding democratic principals and following rules, then this would be more of the chicanery, parsing, and slick behavior that I uncomfortably defended for 8 years of Bill and will not defend for Hillary.
Instead, in the event that Hillary wins a technical victory on either of those points, then I will contribute to John McCain and will leave my business and travel at my own expense to work for his campaign.
I don’t like it, but I suspect that I am not alone. I believe I am simply representative of many other Dems who won’t support Hillary if she is so slick as to win on a technicality.
Given that polls show that 47% of American voters “Hate” Hillary (I am NOT among them), by losing me and others of my cohort, there is no way Hillary will get a majority of the vote.
Hillary beware.