Michael Scherer has a posting at Swampland titled Bad Week for McCain that I think fairly evaluates how badly this week went for John McCain. If anything, Scherer doesn't go far enough in explaining just how bad this week truly was for McCain because, in the end, McCain took a huge dive among his base - the media - when it comes to his supposedly being a straight talker.
First, as Scherer points out, this is what McCain intended to achieve this week:
This was supposed to be John McCain's green week, when he went to the Pacific Northwest, hung out with the forest people, and made clear to America that he is not George Bush. [Thursday's] Back-To-The-Future predictionthat the war in Iraq would be essentially won by 2013 was icing on the cake.
These are the images of himself McCain wanted to give the country:
There are two problems I have with these images. First, McCain's advance team may have wanted to make McCain appear to be an earth-friendly environmentalist with pictures of his walk through the Cedar River watershed near North Bend, Washington, but McCain looks somewhat lost - sort of like a real life version of Abe Simpson:
Second, the narrator of the "2013" ad (once again I think they use Powers Booth. who played the evil VP on last season's 24) sounds like a parody of a typical political ad narrator. When I first saw the ad, I thought it was a spoof, which isn't good because the premise of the whole ad is lousy: it tries to predict what the U.S. would be like after the first McCain term by painting a rosy picture. The combination of the absurdly booming voice and the near Utopian predictions made me think I was watching something from SNL.
Anyway, McCain was trying to separate himself from Bush, but Chimpy McFlightsuit would have none of it. When Bush gave his speech before the Knesset, McCain must have felt like Michael Corleone in Godfather III:
Then George Bush goes to Israel and forces McCain into a shouting match with Obama about whether or not Hitler has anything to do with Hamas. As Marc Ambinder points out,this debate puts McCain on the same side as Bush, drowning out the earlier talking point about being different than Bush.
The biggest problem for McCain with this whole episode was not what Bush said before the Knesset - McCain could have once again differentiated himself from Bush and not indulged in the distortion and hyperbole. But instead McCain decided to run with Bush's "appeasement" accusation. Of course the problem with accusing Obama of wanting to talk to terrorists (which he never said he wanted to) is that McCain is on tape as saying the U.S. should do just that:
Now that McCain is caught on tape saying we should talk to terrorists, his campaign is trying to say, in essence, don't believe your lying eyes:
John McCain's campaign is now accusing Jamie Rubin of lyingabout McCain's position on dealing with Hamas. Fascinating. And I suppose Rubin was manipulating McCain's mouth when, at Davos in 2006, the Arizona Senator said that we would have to "deal with" the new Hamas government, "one way or another." I mean, it's there on tape. Now, perhaps McCain was arguing that "deal with" meant that we should invade Gaza and the West Bank....but I kind of doubt that. More likely, McCain was expressing the exact same sort of sentiments that George W. Bush did when the election results came in. Those were perfectly rational sentiments at the time, but less convenient now that McCain seeks to paint Obama as anti-Israel. A funny thing happened these past few days, though: Now McCain seems more of an "appeaser" than Obama, who has declared--wrongly, I believe--that he won't negotiate with Hamas...
In any case, this response from the McCain campaign is not very presidential. It reeks of panic. After all, he was right when Rubin interviewed him: the Israelis and Hamas are going to have to deal with one another sooner or later. "Our" natural role--the role of the world's most powerful country, so long as we don't have colonial aims in the region--is to mediate the dispute, if asked, and to help make sure that a state of Israel still exists 60 years from now. The only way that happens, as most Israelis know, is if a deal is struck with the Palestinians, sooner rather than later. John McCain--who says that winning an election isn't worth losing a war--should understand that winning Palm Beach County isn't worth what he's doing now.
The above quote comes from Joe Klein, who like David Broder, often articulates the D.C. CW. The fact that this whole "appeasement" episode seems to have started to take much of the shine off the Straight Talk propaganda D.C. insiders have bought from McCain is probably the most damaging thing to happen to McCain this week.
But it doesn't end there:
Then we have the ever-unfolding game of pin the McCain staffer/volunteer on the corrupt foreign regime/527 group. First McCain lost a convention chair and a regional manager for past work with Burma. Then Craig Shirley, who sat on McCain's Virginia Leadership Team, got pinched for his role with an anti-Democrat 527.
Rick Davis, the campaign manager, is apparently trying to stem the bleeding by planning a mass amputation. All staff and volunteers have been requested to report their lobbying/foreign government ties post haste.
Here is the Conflict-of-Interest policy the McCain campaign has had to institute to root out those with unsavory ties to lobbyists:
MCCAIN CAMPAIGN POLICY
The Campaign policy with regard to lobbying by individuals affiliated with the Campaign is as follows:
1.) No person working for the Campaign may be a registered lobbyist or foreign agent, or receive compensation for any such activity.
2.) Part-time volunteers for the Campaign must disclose to the Campaign any status as registered lobbyists or foreign agents. Such persons are prohibited from involvement in any Campaign policy-making on the subjects on which they are registered, including service on policy task forces or participation in policy discussions on those subjects. Such persons are also prohibited from lobbying Senator McCain or his Senate personal office or committee staffs during the period they are volunteering for the campaign.
3.) No person with a McCain Campaign title or position may participate in a 527 or other independent entity that makes public communications that support or oppose any presidential candidate.
4.) No vendor to the McCain Campaign may also be a vendor to a 527 or other independent entity that makes public communications that support or oppose any presidential candidate without a pre-approved firewall pursuant to FEC regulations.
5.) Senator McCain has also announced that it will be his policy that anyone serving in a McCain Administration must commit not to lobby the Administration during his presidency.
IMPLEMENTATION
In order to effectively implement and enforce this policy, please follow these directions:
1.) All personnel must complete the attached questionnaire and return it Ryan Bradel in the Legal Department. It is the personal responsibility of each employee, consultant and volunteer to disclose all previous lobbying employers and clients to the Campaign and to identify issues and clients that could be embarrassing for the Senator and the Campaign.
2.) Division Directors must inform Ryan Bradel in the Legal Department when they have made new hires or assigned titles to outside part-time volunteers (e.g., coalition chairs, policy committee members, etc).
3.) Those staff members who have been registered lobbyists or foreign agents must ensure that their registrations have been formally terminated by asking their former employers to terminate their status and by filing the necessary paperwork with the appropriate authorities. Ryan Bradel in the Legal Department can aid you in filing the appropriate forms.
4.) Those staff members who have been registered lobbyists or foreign agents must certify with their Division Directors that they have given the Campaign a complete and accurate list of former lobbying employers and clients and that they have filed the necessary paperwork to terminate their status.
It tells you a lot about McCain's management skills when, at this late point in a campaign, he has such a huge problem vetting those who work for him.
Anyway, the general consensus I have had from the talking heads has been that the attempt by Bush to paint Obama as a terrorist appeaser has not been good for McCain. Obama's response was strong and McCain has shown he will do and say anything to win - something that is now transparent to Beltway pundits that used to worship him. Pat Buchanan makes a valid point that if the debate of this campaign remains solely on foreign policy and national defense, that is territory within which Republicans - whether rightly or wrongly - are still viewed somewhat positively. However, I think Obama went a long way toward leveling the playing field this week by showing he will not back down from a fight over this. I think Obama will greatly benefit if he takes McCain up on non-moderated debates. Just as he listed off Bush's foreign policy failures and McCain's own contradictions during his response yesterday in Watertown, S.D., he can do that right to McCain's face and force McCain to answer for the demagoguery he is now indulging in.
