podesta-emails
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*Main Topics:* McCain's 2013 Speech, Bush's Remarks Before the Knesset, The
Republican Brand*
Summary of Shift:* Bush's speech before the Knesset was a major subject
today. His remarks on appeasement elicited responses from Obama, Clinton and
McCain. McCain's speech in Ohio envisioning a world at the end of his first
term took up the remainder of the media's time drawing commentary from all
sides. Disasters, natural and manmade, received residual attention.
Highlights
1. McCain's vision for the future
a. McCain's speech contains Bush-like optimism
b. Olbermann looks at McCain's speech point-by-point
c. Cafferty refers to McCain's proposals as "political crap," suggests
they're rosy but light on details
d. McCain denies that he's proposing a timeline
e. Speech perhaps an attempt for McCain to minimize the age issue
2. Bush's Knesset appeasement remarks
a. Biden counters Bush and McCain's appeasement attacks
b. Charlie Black discusses Bush-Obama "appeasement" flap
c. Bush doesn't leave politics at the water's edge
d. Zakaria suggests "bellicose" McCain is the same as--if not worse
than--Bush today and in their foreign policy
e. Hume: McCain echoed Bush in swipe at Obama
3. The Republican Brand
a. Republicans on the whole not distancing themselves from Bush
b. McCain should try to separate himself from the brand, not save it
c. Resentment of George Bush bleeds over to McCain
d. McCain finds himself closer to Bush as he pursues the McDifferent
line
e. McCain's attempts to distance himself from Bush are more stylistic
than substantive
4. McCain and Bush raise Obama concerns among Jewish voters
5. McCain's age more of a problem with older voters
6. *Newsweek* runs into trouble for non-pro-McCain articles
7. Hagee apologizes but remarks remain offensive
Clips*
Highlight #1*
*CNN Panel Reacts to McCain's Speech, Discuss Timetables, Bush-like Optimism
* (CNN 05/15/08 8:24pm)
CAMPBELL BROWN: […] McCain has been adamant that there would be no timelines
for getting out of Iraq. But today it basically sounded like troops are out
by 2013. […] How can that not be a timetable?
TARA WILLIAMS: […] Well it's not a timetable. You could argue that it is a
timetable, but that's—I think, he's not putting it down on paper, he's
saying this is a vision of what I see could happen. Look at the tone of his
speech. […] There are a lot of lofty things there that we'd all like to see.
I think it's trying to lift our spirits right now. We're in a down period
right now, lot of frustration. *He's trying to lift the spirit of Americans,
the same way George Bush did when he first came into office, inherited a
recession, 9/11, corporate scandals. And say, listen, we can get through
this, we're gonna push ahead*. And the only thing about whether this will
come back to haunt him is that he hasn't locked down anything concrete, […]
he hasn't said anything tangible. It's a rosy picture of where we'd like to
be.
[…]
MICHAEL CROWLEY: It's a well-worn theory of American politics that optimism
sells, optimism works. […] And look, what other choice does McCain have? He
can't promise to continue Bush's policies, so he's gotta make an omelet out
of broken eggs and say look things are so bad I'm gonna get us back to the
way things were before they were that bad. […] When you look especially at
the domestic agenda, it really does seem like a fantasy because McCain is
not going to have a Republican Congress.
[…]
ED SCHULTZ: Can I play the violin music with John McCain on this? The
country's not with McCain on Iraq! He's got an image problem. He's a
warmonger […] And now he's trying to reinvent himself like hey! We're
actually gonna have a timetable, and 2013 is what we're looking at. The fact
is, this is the same guy that has called Democrats on the carpet for
possible surrender, for cut-and-run, for appeasement—he's gone right down
the list. The problem is you can't trust John McCain. The American people
aren't thinking about 2013, they're thinking about 2009. Theyr'e thinking
about $12billion a month and the loss of life, and he has no end in sight,
he has no plan in sight. It's just a dart board, it's a guessing game. […]
It's a sad foreign policy. It's more Bush.
BROWN: […] More generally, I mean, *the speech was all rhetoric. It's not
like he talked in any detail about how he'd do any of this. And he's always
criticizing Obama for doing nothing but providing rhetoric.*
[…]
SCHULTZ: Then why don't you get us out of it?! *McCain offers no exit
strategy whatsoever to get us out of it. That's the bottom line. It's more
Bush. It's more of the same. There's no getting out of Iraq with John
McCain. You can't trust him on it. He is a warmonger!*
*McCain's 2013 Speech Point-By-Point *(MSNBC 05/15/08 8:50pm)
KEITH OLBERMANN: There will still have been no terrorist attacks since 9/11.
The war in Iraq is won. Osama bin Laden is dead, or in custody. The world
food crisis is over. The economy is growing robustly. Kids are smarter, and
thinner. All over, America's problems are already solved or being solved . .
. Sen. McCain's vision of Bush's third term. I'm sorry, of his first term .
. .
JOHN MCCAIN: It's important that the candidates who seek to lead the country
after the Bush administration to find their objectives and what they plan to
do and what they plan to achieve. Not with vague language but with clarity.
OLBERMANN: What followed from Sen. Dole, I'm sorry, Sen. McCain was a twenty
minute wish-list for the next four years with absolutely no specifics on
just how he might achieve any of it.
[. . .]
OLBERMANN: Maintaining a military presence in Iraq. Meaning permanent bases,
so we could stay there for a hundred years after he spent so much time
insisting that that was not his plan?
[. . .]
OLBERMANN: As to the economy:
JOHN MCCAIN: The alternate minimum tax is being phased out with relief
provided first to middle-income families.
OLBERMANN: That would be the same alternate minimum tax proposal phase out
that *Newsweek* points out would cost as much as $1.6 trillion dollars in
ten years. And those middle class families? To McCain that means people
earning more than $200,000 a year.
[. . .]
JOHN MCCAIN: . . . congress has not sent me an appropriations bill
containing earmarks for the last three years.
OLBERMANN: Those would be the same earmarks that paid for the Jersey City
Liberty Science Center in New Jersey, the Ferry in Gee's Bend, Alabama and
the Naval Air Station Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Florida all stops on Sen.
McCain's current campaign swing.
[. . .]
JOHN MCCAIN: Healthcare has become more accessible to more Americans than at
any time in history. . .
OLBERMANN: Of course the McCain healthcare plan takes away the tax break
given to those who buy insurance from their employer meaning the number of
Americans who might be forced to find new insurance will be 158 million. And
in pushing people towards individual insurance he leaves the 56 million
people who have chronic conditions, like his own, vulnerable to the whims of
the insurance companies.
*In Speech Laying Out Vision for His First Term, McCain Sounds Like McSame,
Lacks Details* (CNN 05/15/08 6:16PM)
WOLF BLITZER: If you listen to his speech, if you read his speech, Jack, he
paints a very beautiful picture in the year 2013.
JACK CAFFERTY: *All we have to do is follow the Yellow Brick Road,
right?*And we'll get to some pla— You know, I hope he can do it.
That'd be great.
I'd love to see Osama bin Laden dead and democracy in Iraq and all the
troops home and the rest of the things he talked about. *The devil, of
course, is in the details. *And he didn'texpel out exactly how we're going
to do that. An earlier piece on this show said that there's been no
actionable intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden since Tora
Bora, which was a number of years ago. But I wish him well. […]
JEFFREY TOOBIN: I think it's an honorable way to run for President. […] *I
think the Iraq stuff is very difficult because if you listen to what he
said, it sounded almost exactly what George Bush has—like what George Bush
said 2 years ago, 3 years ago, 5 years ago; and we appear to be no closer to
that goal*. So it will remind people of how the promises about Iraq have not
been fulfilled. But I think McCain does deserve credit for putting himself
out on the line.
CAFFERTY: […] Political promises are a dime a dozen. […] The public's up to
their eyeballs in broken promises. *This garbage about Iraq is the same bill
of goods that we've been sold by the Bush administration since we invaded
that country*: 'we'll be greeted as liberators,' 'we'll set up a functioning
democracy, all good will come to the Middle East, they'll pay for the war
with their oil. It's garbage! It hasn't happened, it ain't gonna happen. The
tribal animosities that fuel the violence in that part of the world date
back centuries! They are not gonna adopt a Western-style democracy next year
or in 2013 or 100 years from now. *So you know, it's just more political
crap!*
*Cameron Reports: McCain Denies That He's Proposing a Timetable; Shows
Temper, Frustration with Press* (FNC 05/15/08 6:09pm)
CARL CAMERON: On his campaign bus, McCain repeatedly denied that predicting
that most troops will have been welcomed home and the Iraq War will have
been won amounts to a timetable.
[begin video clip]
JOHN MCCAIN: I'm not putting a date on it.
[end clip]
CAMERON: After reporters asked him basically the same question 11 times,
McCain grew impatient.
[begin video clip]
JOHN MCCAIN: I'll try to repeat again exactly what I just said. And I will
repeat it over and over again. I'll be glad to do that for you there. I
believe that the surge is succeeding. I believe that victory is coming
about.
[end video clip]
CAMERON: Behind the scenes, the McCain campaign is becoming increasingly
frustrated with mainstream media coverage. For years, McCain's criticism of
Republicans—and willingness to talk about it with reporters a lot—made him
something of a media darling. But now that he's criticizing Democrats and
principally Barack Obama, the tone has changed dramatically, and Mr.
Straight Talk is no longer finding the press as friendly nor willing to cut
him the slack it once was.
*Krauthammer Suggests Speech Was Attempt to Minimize Age Issue for
McCain*(FNC 05/15/08 6:53pm)
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Look this speech, which was a great speech, is not
about Iraq. It's not about education. It's not about health care. All of
which he summarized well. It's about the age issue. What he did is he frames
it in a way—he speaks about the year 2013. He knows that Americans remember
that Reagan in the second term in the end looked weak—and afterwards he
developed Alzheimers—and McCain […] doesn't want Americans thinking of him
at 80. He wants Americans thinking of him in the first term: he's strong,
vigorous, active right now, and plausibly will be for the next 4 years. So
he frames all of this within the 4 years. He doesn't announce he's only
going to have one term—that would be a disaster, he'd be a lame duck. But
he's implying in that speech—you've got all kinds of hints in that speech
about not worring about reelection. On the day I'm sworn in until the day I
leave office, I want to accomplish all this. He's talking about a frame of
time, which is a way to blunt the age issue, which is a serious issue. It
can't be eliminated, but I think this is a way to at least minimize it.
*Highlight #2*
*Biden and Matthews Deflate McCain and Bush's Double-Team of Barack *(MSNBC
5/15/08 5:10pm)
CHRIS MATTHEWS: [John McCain] responds to what President Bush said, it
sounds like they're doing an alley-oop play . . . they're working together
because here's Sen. McCain basically underlining the shot against Barack.
JOHN MCCAIN: He does bring up an issue we'll be discussing with the American
people. And that is, why does Barack Obama . . . want to sit down with a
state sponsor of terrorism? What does he want to talk about with Ahmadinejad
who said that Israel is a skinking corpse, who said that he wants to wipe
Israel off the map, who's sending the most explosive devices into Iraq,
killing Americans? What does he want to talk about with him?
MATTHEWS: Well it seems like it's alley-oop play in the NBA, Senator, the
president threw the ball up near the basket and John McCain put it in . . .
JOE BIDEN: I'll tell you what he wants to talk about. He wants to talk about
the same thing Secretary of Defense Gates wants to talk about. He wants to
talk about the same thing that Condi Rice wants to talk about. Both of whom
are saying we should be talking. . . and since when does a president or John
McCain think that "no" does not exist in the vocabulary of an American
president. Talking doesn't mean you agree. Why would you talk? You would
talk to enhance America's interest and change behavior. . . the same reason
why the President of the United States is . . . talking with . . . Kim
Jong-Il, the same reason he corresponded with . . . Qaddaffi who we labeled
a terrorist in a terrorist state. Why? To stop their conduct. I find this so
disappointing . . .
MATTHEWS: It seems to me that a couple of times in history we failed to talk
to our enemies and we caused ourselves big trouble. We didn't talk to the
head of North Korea when Atchinson suggested that the line of defense didn't
include North and South Korea. We did make a mistake when April Glasby
talked to Saddam Hussein and didn't tell him we'd fight for Kuwait. It seems
to me that there examples in the past of when you oughta talk to the bad
guys and tell them where the line is drawn.
JOE BIDEN: There's a great quote from . . . President John Kennedy . . . he
said, "We should never negotiate out of fear but we should never fear to
negotiate." . . . tell me how as President of the United States you say we
should be in full-blown direct discussions with North Korea, a proliferator
of nuclear technology . . . , who have missile technology and nuclear
capability, how can we talk with them and negotiate with them and say it is
appeasement to even attempt to broach a discussion with the Iranians . . .
*Charlie Black Discusses Bush-Obama 'Appeasement' Flap, McCain's
"Optimistic" Vision for America* (FNC 05/15/08 5:11pm)
BILL HEMMER: […] Here's the Obama response to McCain backing up George Bush
from earlier today: […] "It is the height of hypocrisy for John McCain to
deliver a lofty speech about civility and bipartisanship in the morning and
then embrace George Bush's disgraceful political attack in the afternoon."
Your chance to react to that now, Charlie.
CHARLIE BLACK: Well you know the Obama campaign is in a bad way today. The
President made a speech, he didn't say anything about Barack Obama. But if
the shoe fits, wear it. *They obviously reacted and said the shoe fit them
and got into a fight with the President. Now of course the President is
right. And of course Senator McCain is right* that when Senator Obama said
that he would meet with Ahmadinejad without pre-conditions, head-of-state to
head-of-state, that that was naive and inexperienced and showed a lack of
judgment about foreign policy. Ms. Rice was just trying to change their
position and say there would be conditions and other preparations made, but
that's not what the candidate said and it's not what's on their website. And
it just shows their lack of judgment and experience, and the more he wants
to talk about it the better.
HEMMER: […] Sen McCain had a 30-minute speech in Columbus, Ohio. Lays out
his vision of what the world would like like after four years in the white
house. Watch here on Iraq, first.
[clip of McCain]
HEMMER: So that's a big list […] Is that a platform or is that what
Democrats call a wish list?
BLACK: Well, here's what it is. Senator McCain believes that candidates for
president should present their vision of the future and then lay out
specific policies of how they would achieve that vision. Senator McCain has
been laying out detail-specific policies for a year and a half: national
security, foreign policy, economic policy, health care. What he did today is
to say: here is my vision, the policies I have outlined if I get cooperation
from congress and we can work in a bipartisan fashion, this will be the
result. this is what America will look like after four years of my
presidency. i think it's exactly the kind of optimistic vision that the
American people are looking for.
HEMMER: You know, when a candidate lays out a speech like this, you hope to
get a lot of air time and a lot of headlines. did the news out of Jerusalem
and what happened within the Democratic Party and Barack Obama knock some of
these headlines off the front pages today, Charlie?
BLACK: Well, I don't think so. Fox and a couple of your competitors covered
the entire speech live this morning, so we're happy about that. And we're
still talking about it. But this vision speech by john McCain will have
lasting effect. Americans will be reading it, thinking about it. They will
understand where he wants to take the country, the hopeful optimistic vision
that he can achieve and they will be comparing it to Senator Obama or
Senator Clinton who only think things are bad and getting worse and are
offering a very cynical pessimistic view of the future. We're optimistic and
hopeful.
*Bush Doesn't Leave Politics at the Water's Edge *(MSNBC 05/15/08 8:30pm)
KEITH OLBERMANN: He'll take Bush at his word that he did not mean Sen.
Obama. That does not mean however that he himself will not attack Sen. Obama
in the exact same way, raising him a Neville Chamberlin.
JOHN MCCAIN: I will debate this issue with Sen. Obama throughout this
campaign. I believe in peace through strength. And, peace through strength
is the way that we have succeeded in the past. And yes there have been
appeasers in the past and the President is exactly right. One of them was
named Neville Chamberlin.
OLBERMANN: Neville Chamberlin, who, like Sen. McCain was a conservative . .
. what happened to the leave your differences at the border US policy that
they threw down on President Carter like a ton of bricks when he went abroad
and criticized the government. Why does Bush get to get away with blatant
partisanship, and historical revisionism by the way, and, I don't know, get
allowed back in the country?
DANA MILBANK: I suspect that the Justice Department has drafted some opinion
saying that just as the president is exempt from the Geneva Accords, he is
exempt from the politics at the water's edge thing.
*Zakaria Suggests "Bellicose" McCain is "Doubling Down on Every Bad Bed that
George Bush Has Made" *(CNN 5/15/08 5:41pm)
WOLF BLITZER: Here's how John McCain reacted today to what the President
said in Jerusalem. [Rolls video clip of McCain on the bus] He was—he minced
no words at all. What do you think about that?
FAREED ZAKARIA: […] It is again ahistorical. […] Most recently, let's
remember that Gen David Petraeus has talked to the Sunni insurgents and
terrorists who were killing Americans only months earlier. And that a large
part of the success of the surge has been the willingness of Petraeus and
the American military to talk to the people who they once called terrorists
and insurgents.
ZAKARIA: McCain gave a speech in which he said that the United States should
mount a campaign to kick Russia out of the G8, to then expand the G8 […] to
include Brazil and India but not China. And it struck me that this policy of
effectively drawing a line and creating a kind of new Cold War—between the
United States on one hand and China and Russia—was really unprecedented. No
had ever proposed something like this before.
[…]
BLITZER: So it would be a resumption of the Cold War, that's what you're
saying?
ZAKARIA: *It would be a resumption of the Cold War, except this time with
the economy that's going 3 times as fast as the United States- in China's
case. *And in Russia's case, with one of the largest oil producers in the
world.
[…]
BLITZER: It sounds like you believe McCain doesn't have—isn't on board this
vision that you have. But the Democratic candidates[…]—do they understand
what's going on?
ZAKARIA: Obama seems to understand what's going on. *[…] McCain, I fear,
while a very intelligent man who I have a lot of respect for, has kind of
reverted to a very bellicose foreign policy that seems to be doubling down
on every bad bet that George Bush has made.*
*Hume: McCain Echoed Bush in Swipe at Obama* (FNC 05/15/08 5:04pm)
BRIT HUME: […] John McCain obviously thought this was a good fight for his
side to have, which is why he, after days of trying to distance himself from
President Bush on a number of issues, jumped in essentially on the same side
as President Bush today.
*Highlight #3*
*Republicans on the Whole not Distancing Themselves from Bush* (MSNBC
05/15/08 8:41pm)
KEITH OLBERMANN: Ok, to the point of McCain . . . Sen. McCain would
presumably be unhappy that he was bigfooted here by President Bush on this
of all topics, then why, you know, sort of, throw your chips in with him,
calling Obama an appeaser and now eliminating any chance that this is not
about Obama by throwing in Neville Freakin' Chamberlin . . . McCain might've
been better served by saying, "I don't know who George Bush is," wouldn't
he?
RACHAEL MADDOW: I think though that the Republicans surprise us over and
over again by the degree that they do not distance themselves from George W.
Bush. It's kind of the constant political common wisdom and it has been
since George Bush's approval ratings went south a very long time ago. That
kind of for other Republicans to succeed they really need to divorce
themselves from George W. Bush and run as an anti-George Bush Republican. We
haven't seen any successful Republican effort to do that. Everybody keeps
saying that they will start doing that but we're only seeing John McCain do
that on things that are essentially style points. Saying, I promise that
I'll have lots of press conferences, I promise I will admit my mistakes, I
promise that you can buy eco-friendly t-shirts from my website. It's style
points. They stick together on the big issues. None of them have yet thrown
Bush under the bus.
*The Struggling Republican Brand *(MSNBC 05/14/08 5:38pm)
DAVID SHUSTER: Today in Columbus Ohio John McCain delivered his latest
effort to rebrand the Republican party and create separation from President
Bush. First, McCain vowed to end the Iraq war in under five years. Under his
vision:
JOHN MCCAIN: By January 2013, Americans welcome home most of the servicemen
and women. The United States maintains a military presence in there, but a
much smaller one and it does not play a direct combat role.
SHUSTER: Gone, of course, was any talk of a hundred year commitment. Second,
McCain promised to change the Republican White House governing style.
MCCAIN: I will ask Democrats to serve in my administration. My
administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability.
I will hold weekly press conferences.
SHUSTER: McCain even pledged to let members of congress question him the
same way the British House of Commons does with Great Britain's Prime
Minister.
[. . .]
MCCAIN: When we make errors, I'll confess them readily and explain what we
intend to do to correct them.
SHUSTER: McCain's efforts to change perceptions about Republican leadership
and acknowledge public concerns about the duration of the Iraq War come at a
crucial time. Thanks largely to voter frustrations over Iraq, fears about
the sputtering US economy and anger over high gas prices. President Bush's
disapproval rating has reached 71%. That's the highest disapproval rating of
any president in modern history. Higher even than Richard Nixon. And
Republicans in congress are getting crushed. Tuesday night marked the third
straight special election where a strong Republican district was won by a
Democrat.
[. . .]
SHUSTER: McCain may find it easier to separate from the Republican brand
than to save it. Still, efforts like today bring their own problems.
McCain's pledged to get out of Iraq by 2013 is the kind of declaration that
he used to attack, raising new questions and putting McCain on the
defensive.
REPORTER: You're not setting a date but, you're predicting it'll be by 2013.
MCCAIN: H-,h-,how many times can I say—
REPORTER: There was a specific date in the speech you just gave.
MCCAIN: I said by the end of my first term.
SHUSTER: Democrats charge that McCain is now engaged in the same kind of
word games as President Bush. It's a reminder that for all the Republican
efforts to create a new image, Democrats are just as focused on trying to
make sure that the current image of a GOP marching in lock-step with
President Bush stays the same . . .
*McCain needs to Distance Himself not only from Bush but the Republican
Brand Also *(MSNBC 05/15/08 5:41pm)
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Bob [Herberts], it seems to me that he was cauterizing the
wound there. Hundred year war? No. We'll end in 2013. Very clearly a
mathematical correction to a mathematical problem.
BOB HERBERTS: I'm getting hints here of a little bit of triangulation going
on with McCain, jumping on some of these Democratic issues, maybe looking
for an end game in terms of the war. He's out there talking about global
warming. He went down south and kicked off a little bit of a poverty tour.
It's very interesting, the way he's running. And probably smart.
[. . .]
TUCKER CARLSON: Nixon '68. Peace with honor. Of course. He's the one guy who
can do it. Look, no one's going to question his patriotism, of course. No
one's going to question his knowledge of military matters. No one's going to
question his commitment to winning the Iraq war. He's the perfect vessel for
this message . . . which is, "Only I can do it in a way which makes you
proud of America." . . .
MATTHEWS: Well, is he going to be like Nixon going to China, DeGaulle ending
up the war in Algeria, is that what he's offering? A dramatic shift? Or is
he offering a pretense of that? Is he going to change Bush policy or not?
CARLSON: He's offering what Nixon offered in 1968 . . . the implied message
was, "You know the war's not going well but you're not with the long haired
freaks who want to embarrass America."
MATTHEWS: Nixon was very smart, he said we need new leadership . . . let me
ask you about this rebrand . . .
HERBERTS: . . . when I was out in Pennsylvania for the primary, I was
really surprised, I was talking about Hillary vs. Obama and talking to these
blue collar workers . . . and spontaneously, this vehement hostility to
George Bush would enter the conversation . . . and what I thought was
especially interesting . . .is that that was bleeding over into McCain and
so many of them said that McCain would just continue Bush's policies. That's
just a knee-jerk feeling that they have and that can't be a good thing.
MATTHEWS: The fact that the President jumped in, apparently on his side
today, with regard to appeasement and dealing with Ahmadinejad. I mean you
don't want to be the Doublemint Twins if you're McCain, do you? With
President Bush?
CARLSON: No. It was actually McCain I believe jumped in and second President
Bush.
MATTHEWS: Yeah, he joined him.
CARSLON: Right. He compared any effort to talk to our enemies abroad to
Chamberlin's efforts to appease Hitler or whatever. Invoking the dread
Hitler analogy which is never appropriate in any circumstance in my view.
*As McCain Persues McDifferent he Finds Himself Closer to Bush* (MSNBC
05/15/08 5:55pm)
CHRIS MATTHEWS: . . . You know, this seems to be working at cross purposes,
the Republicans are generally more organized than the Democrats but today
you have John McCain trying to separate himself from the very unpleas-,
unpopular war in Iraq by saying he'll get us out of there by 2013 in large
part. Obviously trying to get rid of that 100-years comment he made a while
ago. And at the same time he jumps in and supports President Bush's attack
on Barack Obama, sort of creating a Doublemint twin situation on the
Republican side.
*How Can McCain Distance Himself from Bush?* (MSNBC 05/15/08 6:45pm)
DAVID GREGORY: You can tell from McCain's language who he's talking about
when he says he will admit to mistakes readily.
RICHARD WOLFE: Yeah, look, he's obviously got a personal contrast with
President Bush and a tone of speaking which is different that President
Bush's. But if he really does want to go after the national security agenda
as opposed to the economic one, then he's going to have to stress something
different. Not going after Iran, do the warmongering thing, say he's tougher
than Obama on Iran. He's actually got to talk about diplomacy in a way that
Bush never did. If he can tie that to one of his core messages, which is
about national service . . . then he has an agenda on foreign policy which
would sound and look different than President Bush's.
GREGORY: . . . if he can combine stalwart support, even for the war in Iraq
. . . and couple that with the morality stances he took on issues like
torture, that could be a winning combination.
RACHAEL MADDOW: Except he lost . . . the torture argument when he voted for
the CIA being allowed to continue to use those other tactics recently . . .
I tend to agree with Richard on this, I think, but slightly from a different
angle. I think that McCain will not really divorce himself from Bush on
substantive issues. He'll try to make the distinction on style points
essentially . . .
*Highlight #4*
*McCain/Bush Together Raise Concerns about Obama Among Jewish Voters* (CNN
05/15/08
ED HENRY: […] The President's broadside before the Israeli Knesset, in which
he stressed his Administration's close ties to Israel could raise more
concerns about Obama with Jewish-American voters, especially since the
President also used a reference to the Holocaust to suggest some people do
not understand the grave threat posed by Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah […]
Senator McCain already stoked those concerns among Jewish-American voters by
charging that Obama is the favorite candidate of Hamas.
*Highlight #5*
*Older People less Comfortable with McCain's Age* (MSNBC 05/15/08 5:43pm)
BOB HERBERTS: . . . but let me also agree with Tucker on the age issue . . .
when I was out in Pennsylvania that was another thing that came up
spontaneously, I wasn't interested in it, I was not asking about it. And
people would just say again and again, "I think the guy's too old" or "my
mother-in-law thinks the guy's too old."
CHRIS MATTHEWS: How old were they?
HERBERTS: They were middle aged, family people, I'd say they were in there
40s or 50s, most of them.
[. . .]
TUCKER CARLSON: . . . we know that from polling already . . . you look at
the numbers on this, people over 65 . . . the numbers show, old people don't
want an old president.
*Highlight #6*
*Straight Talk Express Unaccepting of Criticism* (MSNBC 05/15/08 8:48)
KEITH OLBERMANN: . . . Mark Salter, emerging as the chief media manipulator
of John McCain's campaign. First he was critical of *Newsweek's* coverage.
It was not pro-McCain, thus, in his opinion, it must have been pro-Obama.
Now, *The Wall Street Journal* reports, Salter quote, "threatened to throw
the campaign reporters off the campaign bus and airplane according to people
familiar with the matter. Mr. Salter says he expressed the campaign's
displeasure and is talking to the publication about future access." Your
Straight Talk Express in action, surpressing freedom of the press.
*Highlight #7*
*Hagee Apologiezes but his Comments Remain Offensive *(CNN 05/15/08 5:32pm)
WOLF BLITZER: Candidates hope endorsements will bring them votes but for
John McCain, one endorsement has brought a lot of headaches . . . that would
be the endorsement of the evangelist Pastor John Hagee. Mary Snow is looking
into the story . . .
MARY SNOW: Well Wolf, John Hagee is here in New York and this afternoon he
held a private meeting. . . in his latest effort to make peace with
catholics.
JOHN MCCAIN: I'm very honored by Pastor John Hagee's endorsement . . .
SNOW: . . . Hagee met today with one of his most vocal Catholic critics . .
. the Catholic league blasted Hagee and put pressure on McCain after the
endorsement. The Catholic League's president called a truce after Hagee
wrote a letter that said, quote, "express my deep regret for any comments
that Catholics have found hurtful." . . .
BILL DONAHUE: Yes, I absolutely accept his apology . . .
SNOW: Sen. McCain called the apology laudable.
[. . .]
SNOW: Another Catholic group says it welcomes Hagee's apology but:
JAMES SALT: The problem is that there has been a longstanding pattern of
offensive and problematic rhetoric from John Hagee.
SNOW: Like suggesting Hurricane Katrina was punishment from god because of a
gay pride parade.
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