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McCain’s New Message Machine -- Maybe Not ’Til Monday?

July 03, 2008 4:22 PM

FROM GUEST-BLOGGER RICK KLEIN, from ABC's The Note.

So the new structure is in place, and what do we have to show for the final day of Sen. John McCain’s latest foreign trip? A photo op with Jeb Bush? With no disrespect to the former governor of Florida, doesn't he have the wrong last name to be anywhere near McCain these days?

One of the really telling details in today’s coverage of the Steve Schmidt takeover is this quote in The New York Times, from senior McCain adviser Charlie Black, referring to McCain’s current trip to Colombia and Mexico:

“Somebody asked, 'What's the strategy behind this?' " Black said. "It's simple. McCain says he wants to go to these places, and we say, of course."

OK now -- the candidate’s the candidate, and he gets to decide where he wants to go. But isn’t it the job of someone on staff to say no to the candidate from time to time? (Might it have been a start to point out that the media just might mention a meeting with anyone named Bush?)

With the new job report out today, McCain was also left announcing the need for a “jobs first” program while traveling in Mexico -- the country where some Democrats and their allies in Big Labor would argue the lost jobs went.

“Maybe the ‘first’ thing McCain should do to reverse the job losses Americans are suffering under Bush economic policies is to reject those policies instead of vowing to double down on them,” the DNC’s Brad Woodhouse e-mailed around today, sinking the free throw.

But maybe we should cut Schmidt and company some slack. This guidance comes from the McCain campaign, about what to expect when he turns his attention to the economy full-bore starting Monday:

“John McCain will set the stage for the week by announcing his jobs-first economic plan in Colorado, kicking off five days of economic themed activity in critical battleground states. Be on the lookout for local campaign activity in states where Barack Obama is traveling, to highlight Obama’s vote to raise income taxes on people making as little as $32,000 per year. We have learned over the past few weeks that it is important to examine the actions behind Obama’s words, and these events will point out his record on the issue of taxes.”

We’ll be watching . . .

-- Rick Klein

July 3, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (16)

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User Comments

Brilliant!

Posted by: Remco | Jul 7, 2008 4:14:35 PM

You can't fix problems with promises. There has to be a plan that clearly identifies how the problem started in the first place. Many of the problems that our country suffers have their roots in bad government.

McCain and Obama both need to acknowledge that our federal government has been wasteful and mismanaged for decades and that has to change. REAL change, not just playing musical chairs to avoid accountability. They can start with identifying who is responsible for the billions of dollars wasted by the DOD. That money could have helped create jobs, improve our schools and care for our neglected. Instead, it ends up in the pockets of the giant corporations which seems to be the Republican plan.

Posted by: RobertM | Jul 5, 2008 6:35:03 AM

Hobo Joe, I was taught that Jesus Christ claimed to be a Christian, too. But as an American, I know his Daddy wrote a book in which he said his boy was a Jew. Therefore I cannot in good faith vote for Obama either.

Posted by: ricky | Jul 3, 2008 11:11:46 PM

Mr. Rick Klein is so smart and subtle.
Mc Cain has to reorganize his ineffectual campaign staff yet again, cueing Rick to write about how good this is for McCain. Then McCain goes on Robin Robert's show and lies for the second time about having said he was not an expert on the economy, so Rick covers for him by writing that McCain should have been talking about jobs not drugs. Then McCain, despite his good new staff that Rick has praised, has to talk about the American job situation in Mexico, so Rick is forced to print a paragraph from McCain's crack new staff verbatim as a preview of what McCain could have been talking about this week.

Dang it all, those McCain people are making it hard on Rick, but he perseveres and does their job for them anyway without a complaint. What a trooper.

Posted by: ricky | Jul 3, 2008 11:06:30 PM

Bush 'W' was here in Little Rock fundraising for McCain this week, they are still closely connected no matter how 'distant' McCain tries to appear.

Posted by: Clay Rob, Little Rock, AR | Jul 3, 2008 8:20:29 PM

Barack Obama, claims to be a Christian, yet in his book Audacity of Hope says, and I quote:

"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

Americans must judge for themselves, if they want this man who openly states that he will stand with Muslims, as their President and Commander-in-chief of their armed services.

I, for one, can not in all honesty as an American vote for someone who openly makes this statement.

"VOTE NOBAMA IN NOVEMBER"

Posted by: Hobo Joe | Jul 3, 2008 7:43:09 PM

I wouldn't have enough space to tell you what's wrong. WE NEED SOLUTIONS.
*WHAT
*HOW
* and HOW MUCH

Posted by: John.D | Jul 3, 2008 7:09:56 PM

>>>E.W.O. and S.Valenti

You girls are worried about unity and the absent of Obama at the D.L.C meeting in Chicago? What was he doing? CAMPAIGNING LADIES. Everyone says Obama needs this group or that group to win in November. If he was playing golf then I would have a problem. This is simply prioritizing. Stop whining.

Posted by: John D. | Jul 3, 2008 6:52:47 PM

Why would McCain go to Colombia?
What a coincedence. The rescue of hostages after several years,
yeah yeah, what took them so long. McCain is desperate to show the people his experience in foriegn policy.
General Clark said it right, he has no and had no executive positions on any real issues.

Posted by: John .D | Jul 3, 2008 6:34:36 PM

I'm a life long democrat and always supported the party. But if Obama does start to pay attention to his base he may actually lose. He said out of Iraq in 16 months, now it is maybe? What is this "faith-based" stuff? Doesn't sound like something for democrats to be involved in. Thought we believed in freedom of religion, not state sponsored religion.

Posted by: Kit | Jul 3, 2008 6:26:00 PM

*** George W McCain for Senate 2009 ***

Posted by: wilder5121 | Jul 3, 2008 5:57:57 PM

Charlie Black was paid almost $2 million last year as a lobbyist for Columbia's oil and gas company.

When you know that, the trip isn't really all that mysterious.

Posted by: Paul Camp | Jul 3, 2008 5:28:05 PM

>>> S.Valenti

"More telling and honest concerning Obama's true lack of interest or commitment to unity, was his no-show at the annual Democratic Leadership Council's meeting in Chicago
last week" ..
_______________
And even MORE telling... was Obama's ( B O's)? (B H O's)(Barry's)? absence from ALL the BIG and universally noteworthy celebrations earlier this year of Martin Luther King's life and death.

He was too busy campaigning!

Yet neither Mccain and the Clintons were too busy to participate
and honor their fallen friend.

OBAMA IS FOR OBAMA!

HILLARY BEFORE MCCAIN
but

Mccain before B O(?), Obama ?), BHO(?)

COUNTRY BEFORE broken down dnc PARTY!!!

Posted by: eyes wide open | Jul 3, 2008 5:03:27 PM

Mcain's actions show he does not know the enormity of America's problems. What else do you expect from a Man whose only credential for aspiring to be president is the fact the he helped a sick governmnet drop bomb during a sinful vietnamese war and later willing worked as a 'tool' for the vietnamese government after his capture.Americans would do themselves lots of good if they look beyond 'race' and vote Obama.

Posted by: Toshy | Jul 3, 2008 4:54:01 PM

More telling and honest concerning Obama's true lack of interest or commitment to unity, was his no-show at the annual Democratic Leadership Council's meeting in Chicago last weekend. This group represents the centrist democrats - precisely the group Obama needs to win over.

I wonder if it strikes others that his appearance with Clinton last week was 'just going through the motions'. Just another box he needed to check off.

He's taking a lot for granted. More later.

Posted by: s. valenti | Jul 3, 2008 4:52:24 PM

hey cc give it up we dont care vote for mccain for all we care but us hillary supporters here are for obama guess you turned republican thats great hope you dont have family in the military hope you enjoy the 3 wars we will be in oh and its great you support a man that laughed when someone called hillary a rhymes with hitch and the joke he made about chelsea great going!!!!

Posted by: ANGIE | Jul 3, 2008 4:50:35 PM

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