McCain's Truth Squad - views from the blogosphere
John McCain is not taking any chances in South Carolina this time around. Haunted by the memory of the vicious smear campaign that lost him the 2000 Republican primary here to George W. Bush and effectively ended his presidential bid, the Vietnam vet has formed the "Truth Squad", a band of tough political operatives tasked with tackling negative attacks. It has already taken on a number of foes, in one instance wheeling out fellow POW Orson Swindle to combat slurs on McCain's Vietnam record.
Here's what the blogs had to say:
Seems pretty clever. Even if the name "Truth Squad" strikes some voters as cheesy, McCain is shrewd to remind the fine folks of South Carolina just what kind of nasty rumor-mongering their friends and neighbors fell for last time around. Plus, when the '08 version of the illegitimate-black-baby smear does indeed surface, McCain will already have a designated team in place to strike back."
"So far they’ve proven to be incredibly adept at snuffing out false rumors and bogus attacks against their candidate."
"Can that group really stave off a sneak attack, if it happens again? Will it happen again? I hope not. Last time was enough of a dark stain on the honor of South Carolina."
"This is the problem with claiming the high ground and attacking others for running negative campaigns: when you indulge in attacks of your own, you're bound to get less attention for the issues you're trying to spotlight than the fact that you're doing that which you criticized your rival(s) for doing.
Such is what is now happening to John McCain."
"It should be noted that McCain, Huckabee, and Romney are all reporting these sorts of nasty attacks in the state... Right now, McCain and Huckabee are running neck-and-neck in the Palmetto state. This will likely continue to be a nasty race ..."
"Here's the member who impresses us: Adjutant Gen. Stan Spears. In his post -- an elected one -- Spears directs the 10,500-member South Carolina Army and Air National Guard.
"Sounds like a good guy to have on your side."
McCain is a mental case.
Only yesterday he told a crowd in South Carolina that the state "was, hands down, the most patriotic in the nation."
First, what does his utterance mean?
Nothing. Empty rhetoric of the worst kind.
Two, keeping Dr Johnson's dictum on patriots in mind, who the hell cares who is most patriotic? It's a characteristic of value only to the brain-washed and feeble-minded.
Three, regardless of the meaning you attribute to his statement, if you account for the historical facts, quite the opposite is true.
South Carolina was the state that started secession from the Union. It was also "hot to trot" back in Adams' day under the promptings of opposition leader Jefferson.
Recently, too, McCain told us he would still have invaded Iraq, even without the excuse of "weapons of mass destruction." He has learned nothing from all that death and misery. Nothing.
McCain undoubtedly suffered brain damage when he was shot down while bombing civilians near Hanoi.
Other brain-dead Americans regard him as a hero for surviving prison in Hanoi. But heroes do not bomb civilians.
And a hero doesn't grovel to the likes of George Bush as McCain has sickeningly done for years.
A hero doesn’t support Bush’s disgusting “torture” legislation, as McCain did.
And a hero doesn't apologize immediately for one of the only unvarnished truths he ever uttered. I refer to his year 2000 remarks about the influence of the Religious Right in American politics.
McCain also a while back made a big joke of the idea of bombing Iran.
His sometimes charm simply does not compensate.
Posted by: John Chuckman, Toronto, Canada | 18 January 2008 at 01:57 PM