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Stephanopoulos: Why No Ayers Attack?
October 08, 2008 8:52 AM
ABC News' George Stephanopoulos reports: One thing we didn't hear in last night's debate was John McCain launch the kind of personal attacks against Barack Obama that the McCain campaign has been telegraphing would come.
On the campaign trail in recent days Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has sought to tie Obama to 1960s radical William Ayers.
Both campaigns were prepared for a personal attack during the debate from McCain, who is trailing Obama is most national and battleground polls with 27 days to go before Election Day.
But then -- nothing. The worst McCain gave was to reference Obama as "that one" during an exchange over Obama's vote on an energy bill -- not a compelling attack.
This tells us that McCain is worried that if he goes to hard against Obama in the last days before the election, he thinks it might backfire. McCain may be worried about coming off as too bitter or too angry and leaving voters with that lasting impression from the debates.
The fact that McCain's campaign warned reporters to expect McCain to go on the attack, but then he didn't, is an admission that the McCain campaign doesn't really believe it's going to work.
Right now, McCain is in a box. Obama holds the momentum in this race with President George W. Bush's approval ratings at a historic low, people yearning for change, and a fiscal crisis the likes of which Americans haven't seen since the Great Depression. Obama is outspending McCain 3 to 1 in television ads in many of the battleground states.
Obama's calm demeanor in these debates and the way he handled the bailout bill may be helping him solidify his lead, with more Americans now saying he is better able to handle the economic crisis.
There was nothing that McCain said last night that’s going to change the nature of this race.
The Democratic presidential contender has also done a good job in these last two debates of addressing the questions Americans have had with whether or not he's ready to serve as president.
Going forward, McCain has to try to erode Obama's lead in the polls, but he doesn't want to turn off Americans who are genuinely concerned right now about the economy.
So far this is Obama's race to lose if the polls are giving up an accurate picture. However we've learned in recent presidential contests that the polls aren't always right.
Democratic pollster Peter Hart has made perhaps the most compelling point about what we don't know from the polls. He argues the polls may not be accurately capturing the young people that don't reliably show up to vote but may turnout this time for Obama and the expected dramatic gains in African American voter turnout. But the polls may also not be telling us about the voters who will be held back from voting for Obama because of race, but won't admit it.
Go to George's complete presidential debate report card.
October 8, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (537)
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Axelrod Is out overseeing the Acorn Org. to be sure Obama get's elected by hook or crook..now the NAACP has hoped on board. I sure am glad we have FOX NEWS to keep us up on all this.
Posted by: Jeanette | Oct 8, 2008 9:39:35 AM
Maybe watching on Foox noise.
Posted by: kal | Oct 8, 2008 9:40:00 AM
They both shook hands right after the debate when Brokaw asked them to move from in front of the telepromptor.
Posted by: Craig | Oct 8, 2008 9:40:00 AM
The reason noone's reported the Ayers/Rezko crap is because everyone, even Faux News, went over it with a fine-tooth comb during the primary season. If you want a solid answer, go to Factcheck.org. Obama's connection with Ayers is tenuous at best and professional at worst, and the house which Rezko supposedly got him a sweet deal on? Obama's family actually spent MORE on that than they should have, in the long run. No foul play there, either.
Obama didn't do anything drastic because drastic measures are risky. He has a comfortable lead right now, so why do anything to risk that? All he needs to do is be the level-headed statesman and let Biden handle the bombast.
Posted by: Brian | Oct 8, 2008 9:40:11 AM
The damage is done. McCain showed his true self and will go down to defeat as he should. When a stanch McCain supporter writes that it was Obama who refused to shake hands when the camera were right on the scene, we have to wonder what show they were watching. McCain does not seem to be in my world.
Posted by: Jim | Oct 8, 2008 9:41:39 AM
OBUMA IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOBORING! He has to ask Michelle what he does not know.
We all know he knows very little and Michelle has to help him think!
BO is such a spoiled brat. He just loves to hear himself talk. I can’t stand the way he points and uses his hands….very aggressive and controlling….bad demeanor,
Michelle you had better talk to him about that, he also needs to ANSWER THE QUESTIONS! WE do not want his ditto speeches!! WE have heard them all from THATONE!
Posted by: HP Boston | Oct 8, 2008 9:42:18 AM
Well you can bet the rabid dog attacks will be back on their game today. Dante your right McCain is a coward!
Posted by: linda n carolina | Oct 8, 2008 9:42:54 AM
'Ask Mister Language Person' (oh the irony): I get the distinct impression you don't know what the 'net' means in the phrase 'net spending cut'.
Also, increasing taxes while cutting spending is also not illogical - on the contrary, if income was previously less than spending, resulting in a huge deficit (you know, like the one we have), doing both may be necessary.
Posted by: Aengil | Oct 8, 2008 9:42:57 AM
Who cares. BO is winning. That is all that counts !!! Pack ur bags and go back home.
Posted by: kal | Oct 8, 2008 9:44:27 AM
Why doesn't Obama just admit his relationship with Ayers? I think it was the $50 million.
William Ayers is only "a guy I know" says Obama, but according to a late CNN investigative report, Barak Obama received $50 million over 7 years from William Ayers acting as the head of an Annenberg foundation.
With that money, Obama put experimental programs authored by Ayers and his friends into public schools in Chicago. Programs included anti Western civilization, anti-family, anti law enforcement (nearly racist) programs.
Where I come from when a "guy I know" gives you $50 million to distribute, I know the guy quite well.
Posted by: Tim Donovan | Oct 8, 2008 9:45:49 AM
Gov. Palin has been warning us of the danger of electing a President who "Pals around with terrorists..."
Well what about GWB, Who put the Bin Laden family in a private jet out of the US after 9/11. And let's not forget who GWB has been paying off in Iraq to keep the violence down there...It's Muqtada Al-Sader and former Baath party officials and former Al-Qaeda operatives...This was done by this GWB and no one can deny that!! And they said the surge worked to lower violence...Well I got news for you...The greenback worked to keep the violence down and will be until the greenback is cut off.
Posted by: Ed | Oct 8, 2008 9:50:00 AM
McCain would have been taking a serious risk by raising an Ayers/Obama connection when the campaign was told the counter punch by Mr. Obama would be the raising of the McCain/Keating 5 connection.
It would probably hurt Mr. McCain much more to be directly associated with corrupt, highly paid bankers than it would to have Mr. Obama indirectly associated with an aging 60's radical.
Posted by: Larry | Oct 8, 2008 9:50:32 AM
Obama has proposed $800 billion in new spending. No cuts. How will he pay for it? How can anyone propose raising taxes during a recession?
Tax increases--especially on corporations and capital gains--have huge economic impacts: they reduce investment, reduce productivity, reduce jobs, slow the economy, and REDUCE federal revenues by shrinking the business and investment tax bases. Tax increases are NOT the same as spending cuts, morons.
Posted by: Econ 101 | Oct 8, 2008 9:51:08 AM
Lynn wrote: "Someone needs to get Palin to shut up and stop being reckless before she incites a tragedy~~~one that would send this country over the edgE"
-----------------------------------
How convenient, hah?! You want to get Palin to shut up so to avoid taking the mask off Obama? Get real! YOU, left wing liberal Morons have spent weeks on personal attacks against Palin and now all of a sudden you are becoming "testy" because we are determined to get American voters to learn about the "Real Obama" and his "sweet heart deals" with convicted terrorists, drug dealers, and a lunatic anti-American Marxist pastor of 20+ years!
The real tragedy will be to elect Barack Hussein Obama President. The real tragedy will be to elect someone who refuses to place his hand over his heart during our National Anthem and refuses to wear the American flag. But of course, what do you expect from an Un-American, Non-patriot, MARXIST Barack Hussein Obama, who launched his campaign in the livingroom of convicted terrorist Ayers ...
I guess this is what "community organizing" was all about for Mr. Hussein Obama! He was organizing the community spreading his Marxist ideas around in perfect harmony with terorists and other criminal elements of the Chicago underground!
Oh, I know...he speaks well!
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/palin-defends-a.html?cid=133887977
Posted by: Natasha | Oct 8, 2008 9:51:18 AM
The only way McCain could possibly win would be if Osama Bin Laden slammed into the White House driving an Obama campaign bus. The Fat Lady has not sung yet, but she is warming up!
Posted by: William J. LePetomaine | Oct 8, 2008 9:51:43 AM
McCain looked like your old senile uncle that everyone ignores but still dearly love for his past kind deeds. He is out of touch. If Sarah is the face of the new Republican party, Democrats will win without trying. She's so minor league. Stop making excuses for her lack of depth in most important areas. Alaska should get some good auditors into that capital. The hate she spews each day is unpatriotic. These are Christian values? Stand in line in the rain for hate and lies? Wowe. I would stand in line for answers but for that loud mouth nut with no real thoughts on anything??? How can this woman point her finger at anyone. It's sad all the people turning out for an hour of hate and personal attacks when our economy and foreign affairs are in shambles. It's mind bloggingly.
Posted by: Honay Rogers | Oct 8, 2008 9:52:00 AM
the debate was pretty boring. no candidate really stood out, period. The reason Ayers wasnt mentioned is because i'm sure the GOP's plan was to just mention it a few times and get people talking about it again in the media and on the blogs. this is how the message gets out and then people can then make their own decisions. it has worked a treat and i bet most days this will be mentioned now thtat people know the connection between obama and ayers is real and pretty scary.
Posted by: Louise | Oct 8, 2008 9:53:12 AM
Palin is not even a has-been; she is a "never was." We don't need a Joe Six-Pack in the White House. We need someone who UNDERSTANDS Joe Six-Pack and his needs and concerns. We need smart people, not naive, clueless neophytes.
Posted by: William J. LePetomaine | Oct 8, 2008 9:54:21 AM
McCaine looked like a typical politician claiming to know everything from catching Osama to fixing economy. On the other hand Obama proved to be the leader that this great nation needs at this time.
Posted by: Subash Singh | Oct 8, 2008 9:55:02 AM
Does Gang Violence Qualify as Terrorism?
SENATOR OBUMA has been A CANDIDATE FOR President who "Pals around with terrorists..."
I would ask SENATOR OBUMA how HE feels about the military recruiting policies which SENATOR OMUMA actively supported. He might want to consider the experience of parent with a son in our military, Stephanie Cockrell, as reported by CBS News:
(CBS) U.S. Army Sgt. Juwan Johnson got a hero's welcome while home on leave in June of 2004.
"Not only did I love my son - but my god - I liked the man he was becoming," his mother, Stephanie Cockrell, remembers.
But that trip home was the last time his family saw him alive. When Johnson died, he wasn't in a war zone, he was in Germany.
"He had finished his term in Iraq," his mother said. "I talked to him the day before his death. He said, 'Mom, I'm in the process of discharging out. I'll be out in two weeks'."
On July 3, 2005, Sgt. Johnson went to a park not far from his base in Germany to be initiated into the 'Gangster Disciples,' a notorious CHICAGO-based street gang. He was beaten by eight other soldiers in a "jump-in" - an initiation rite common to many gangs.
"My son never spoke of joining a gang," Cockrell told CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras. Johnson died that night from his injuries. His son, Juwan Jr., was born five months later.
(link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/28/eveningnews/main3107316.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3107316)
Since 2003, the military has granted 'moral waivers' to over 125,000 enlistees. Those waivers have been, in most cases, for serious criminal activity, including significant numbers of convicted felons, many of them gang members. The FBI conducted an investigation into this subject, and here are highlights from it's report:
-- Gang-related activity in the US military is increasing and poses a threat to law enforcement officials and national security. Members of nearly every major street gang have been identified on both domestic and international military installations.
-- Some gang members may also enlist to receive weapons, combat, and convoy support training; to obtain access to weapons and explosives; or as an alternative to incarceration. Such military training could ultimately result in more organized, sophisticated, and deadly gangs, as well as an increase in deadly assaults on law enforcement officers.
-- Gang incidents involving active-duty personnel on or near US military bases nationwide include drive-by shootings, assaults, robberies, drug distribution, weapons violations, domestic disturbances, vandalism, extortion, and money laundering.
(http://www.militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/ngic_gangs.pdf)
As I read this body of facts, I wonder about the scope of the damage which has been done to this country since 9/11 by our own ill-considered initiative in Iraq. If the larger goal was to deter terrorism, why are we providing combat training to thousands of gang members, and providing them access to our most sophisticated weaponry? Even more insidious, for any ordinary American contemplating enlisting in the military, the prospect of serving with comrades in arms who are also Crips, Bloods, or members of the 'Gangster Disciples' would, in my opinion, be reason enough to opt out, regardless of any other incentives there might be.
Senator Obama because of his casual association with Mr. Ayers, I think HE owes us an explanation as to why we should support a HIM who's policies over the last 5 years have materially increased the potency of domestic gangs to terrorize neighborhoods all over this country.
Posted by: HP Boston | Oct 8, 2008 9:55:19 AM
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