Too Little, Too Late For McCain?

CBSNews.com Analysis: Front-Running Obama Navigates Around Aggressive McCain Performance In Final Presidential Debate

(CBS)  This analysis was written by CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs.

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“Joe the plumber” achieved sudden national fame in the final presidential debate, but it was John McCain who needed the headlines. Although the Republican nominee was energetic, focused and, at times, emotional in his last on-stage appearance before Election Day, it was likely not enough to change the underlying trajectory of the race.

With Barack Obama by all accounts holding a solid lead and less than three weeks to go, McCain came out aggressive from the very beginning. He grabbed onto a recent exchange Obama had with a small businessman, Joe "the plumber" Wurzelbacher, and used it like a hammer to pound away at the Democrat as a tax-and-spend class warrior. “Hey, Joe, you're rich, congratulations,” McCain said at one point to illustrate a point about the level of taxation in Obama’s plan.

McCain took what many in his own campaign reportedly thought to be a risk by directly raising the issue of Obama’s association with William Ayers, challenging him to describe the fullness of their relationship. He emotionally described how hurt he was by assertions by Rep. John Lewis about some crowd behavior at McCain’s campaign rallies, then turned around and accused Obama of disparaging his supporters. He jumped in at awkward moments, rolled his eyes and demonstrated near-contempt at Obama’s answers.

And he pointedly sought to distance himself from President Bush, both on issues and seemingly personally. As if taking offense to the continued comparison, McCain curtly told his opponent, “Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.”

The kitchen sink was not thrown in but one sensed it was positioned under the table and within reach, just in case it was needed.

What McCain did not manage to do was ruffle the ever-calm, cool and collected Obama. As he has been several times during these debates, the Democrat was on the defensive at several points, especially on taxes. Obama continues to refuse to say which of his big-idea proposals he’d have to shelve because of economic realities, instead choosing to focus on those he won’t put aside. If he’s not a big taxer, as McCain asserts, he certainly has a lot of things he wants to spend on.

But Obama continues to do a masterful job talking directly about and to the middle class. Polls show overwhelmingly that voters trust Obama more on the economy than McCain and he used that as a wedge to keep it that way. “What we haven't yet seen is a rescue package for the middle class,” he said when discussing the Wall Street bailout and John McCain’s mortgage proposal.

The Illinois Senator was clearly prepared for the William Ayers issue and McCain’s attempts to link his campaign to ACORN, the group which has spurred a flood of voter registration controversies. And while he engaged McCain on who’s responsible for the negative tone of the campaign, his heart didn’t seem to be into a prolonged exchange. Obama wanted a quiet, low-key affair and for his part, he pulled it off.

The campaign now moves into its most intense phase, if such a thing is even possible in a campaign that has redefined the concept. With just 20 days to go, there’s no longer any room for error, adjustment or new approaches. Americans have seen these two candidates at three of these debates now and they’ve seen a striking contrast - McCain has been at turns uplifting and irritated, if not flat-out angry, while Obama remains steady and level, almost too cool at times.

Those traits were clearly on display last night in New York. McCain did a better job of explaining his economic philosophy than he has during this entire campaign, and perhaps it's better late than never. If not the inspirational, transformational leader he was billed as over the past year, Obama has gone a long way toward making voters feel comfortable seeing him as a president.

Even though he was uneven at times, McCain likely did himself some good last night, particularly among voters like “Joe the plumber” who worry about Obama’s plans for the country and remain open to the Republican argument. The problem for McCain, less than three weeks from the election, is that there simply might not be enough of those voters left to do him much good.

[xraydude2000]

McCain failed his first executive decision test by choosing Palin. ANYONE who would choose her as their VP and potential successor as President indicates someone of questionable judgement. Believing that she has the intellect and knowledge to be a GOOD president indicates someone of questionable intellect. EVEN THOUGH I FAVOR OBAMA, IF PALIN WAS A DEMOCRAT AND OBAMA HAD CHOSEN HER FOR HIS VP, I''D VOTE FOR MCCAIN. Now that''s straight talk.

[misha128-2009]

The lifespan of McCain lies seems to shrinking at an alarming rate -- I wonder with the quantity of leaks from McCain''s campaign how soon it will be before new lies are refuted immediately after they have been made.

[brucie2006]

Loved the picture of McShame sticking his tongue out at Obama behind his back, after the debate.

Wow...that reverberated and circulated everywhere.

[john43218]

Google this: BARRY SOETORO

[watching_you]

whiner245a:

And who is it that has insisted on near-total governmental regulation of the federal banking system?

That sounds kind commie to me ------- and look who%u2019s doing it? Your very own little cornpone dictator.

[samsel3]

As a retired Oil & Hazardous Chemicals Material Consultant, I am appalled at the deception spread by the McCain Campaign .

Drill here drill now........McCain is not very well informed or he is in the pocket of BIG OIL.

Big Oil wants access to all US land and off-shore sites.

But facts are facts, and the real facts are that there are 1,995 rigs exploring and drilling for oil & natural gas in the USA right now. These rigs are drilling at both on and off-shore sites.

Of the millions of acres currently leased by BIG Oil, 78 million acres are not being drilled. Of these 33 million acres are off-shore sites and do not need any further Government approval for exploration. Eventually Big Oil will get to these sites.

McCain & his Big Oil cronies do not want you to know the truth. Copy and spread the truth

[abbe91]

"Ayers and Obama have moved in some of the same circles. Ayers was a founder of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school-reform group. Obama chaired its board from 1995 to 1999. In 1995, Ayers hosted a brunch for Obama, who was running for the Illinois Senate. In 1997, they were on a juvenile justice panel sponsored by the University of Chicago. Ayers gave $200 to Obama''''s 2001 state Senate campaign, and the two were on a 2002 panel on intellectualism that was co-sponsored by the Chicago Public Library.
Posted by Rocca777 at 02:45 AM : Oct 17, 2008"

Check who is Annenberg and who''s president of the Annenberg foundation. She is in the very top list of McCain endorsers. So, McCain is endorsed by terrorists ?

Now, who said

"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government", "and I won''t be buried under their *** flag." ?

[whatithink10]

"44.Barack Hussein Obama

Who do you want to be the next President of the United States of America?


Posted by Rocca777 at 02:42 AM : Oct 17, 2008"



GO OBAMA!

An average American not needing the family name to get into high places!

Obama is an inspiration to all real Americans!

[rocca777]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-10-15-fact-check_N.htm

Voter-registration fraud

The claim: McCain said the Obama campaign has contributed to an organization that is perpetrating "one of the greatest frauds" in American campaign history.

The facts: The organization %uFFFD the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN %uFFFD says it has registered 1.3 million people this year. Obama''s campaign paid an ACORN affiliate, Citizens Services Inc., $832,000 this year for get-out-the-vote efforts in the Democratic primaries, according to the non-partisan CQ MoneyLine, which tracks campaign spending. Republicans have repeatedly accused the group of submitting fraudulent registrations; Obama said it had hired some people who "just filled out a bunch of names."

[rocca777]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-10-15-fact-check_N.htm

Bill Ayers

The claim: McCain criticized Obama''s association with former Chicago radical Bill Ayers, whom McCain called "a guy who in 2001 said he wished he would have bombed more."

The facts: Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group that engaged in domestic bombings to protest the Vietnam War. He was in hiding for years after three Weathermen died in 1970 when bombs they were making exploded. Federal charges against him for crossing state lines to incite riots and conspiracy were dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct.

In a New York Times story published by coincidence on Sept. 11, 2001, about his memoirs, Fugitive Days, he said, "I don''t regret setting bombs %u2026 I feel we didn''t do enough."

These days, Ayers is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has drawn kind words from the city''s mayor.

Ayers and Obama have moved in some of the same circles. Ayers was a founder of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school-reform group. Obama chaired its board from 1995 to 1999. In 1995, Ayers hosted a brunch for Obama, who was running for the Illinois Senate. In 1997, they were on a juvenile justice panel sponsored by the University of Chicago. Ayers gave $200 to Obama''s 2001 state Senate campaign, and the two were on a 2002 panel on intellectualism that was co-sponsored by the Chicago Public Library.

[rocca777]

Presidents of the United States:
1.George Washington
2.John Adams
3.Thomas Jefferson
4.James Madison
5.James Monroe
6.John Quincy Adams
7.Andrew Jackson
8.Martin Van Buren
9.William Henry Harrison
10.John Tyler
11.James K. Polk
12.Zachary Taylor
13.Millard Fillmore
14.Franklin Pierce
15.James Buchanan
16.Abraham Lincoln
17.Andrew Johnson
18.Ulysses S. Grant
19.Rutherford B. Hayes
20.James A. Garfield
21.Chester A. Arthur
22.Grover Cleveland
23.Benjamin Harrison
24.Grover Cleveland (again)
25.William McKinley
26.Theodore Roosevelt
27.William Howard Taft
28.Woodrow Wilson
29.Warren G. Harding
30.Calvin Coolidge
31.Herbert Hoover
32.Franklin Delano Roosevelt
33.Harry S. Truman
34.Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower
35.John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy
36.Lyndon Baines Johnson
37.Richard Milhous Nixon
38.Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.
39.James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr.
40.Ronald Wilson Reagan
41.George Herbert Walker Bush
42.William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton
43.George Walker Bush
44.Barack Hussein Obama or John Sidney McCain
Who do you want to be the next President of the United States of America?

[stratus666]

Robert 2237

you are misinformed. Economist polled by a 3 to 1 margin favor Obama. Get your facts straight. Oh, I forgot, conservatives do not pay attention to facts.

[popsalot3]

White-Marsh''s article at 10:02 hit the nail on the head. If people don''t wake up to what Mr. Obama has
in store for America we will be living in a Socialist
country. They have got to quit listening to his nice
speeches and check out what he wants to do to this
great country. Obama thinks a majority of the people
don''t have enough sense to check him out, and they
believe his BS. He would not know bipartisan politics
if it hit him in the head. If he becomes Pres., it
would be his way or the highway. I just hope enough
people wake up before Nov. 4th, and vote for McCain
and help keep this the greatest country in the World.

[white-marsh]

"REPUBLICANS LAUNCH WAVE OF CALLS ATTACKING OBAMA"

Posted: 07:02 PM ET

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Republicans launched an enormous wave of phone calls Thursday blasting Barack Obama for "having worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers," party sources said.

The calls are part of a $70 million last Republican push to get out the vote for John McCain on November 4, using calls, mailings and door-knocking in battleground states.

"Hundreds of thousands" of calls are being made in at least half a dozen hard-fought states including Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio, the sources said.

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= = = = = = = =

DON''T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE ''ROBO-PHONE LIES''

The robo-phone lies destroyed John McCain in 2000 Republican Primaries. Just after McCain shocked the nation with his early primary wins in 2000, surrogates for George W. Bush hit South Carolina hard with ''rob-phone lies'' falsely accusing McCain of fathering an illegitimate Black child.

The Bush surrogates knew the Appalachian states were easy marks for racist lies and could be easily bamboozled into believing the lie by voting against Senator McCain. The Bush surrogates guessed correctly that South Carolina was easy prey to racism, and Bush went on to win the Presidency, and the rest is history.

MORAL OF THE STORY - - "ROBO-PHONE LIES" WORK WITH APPALACHIA!!!

[bennettn]

Body language is an interesting way to gauge a person''s true demeanor. About halfway through last night''s debate, I turned off the sound and simply looked at the candidates'' body language. While McCain was speaking, Obama sneered and looked arrogantly bored. In contrast, during Obama''s dialogues, McCain appeared thoughtful, mature and interested. I am disturbed by Obama''s promises that if you elect him, he''ll make sure everyone gets what he thinks they deserve, even if they haven''t worked for it, and he will take it away from those who HAVE worked for it and earned it. Obama is a very angry man with big axe to grind. He will definitely grind it if elected and 4 years from now we''ll wish we''d never heard of Barack Obama.

[iowacotton]

Mccain did fine, but would I put my money on the man to win it all, no. The better odds are in aiding the RNC in preventing a 60 senator democratic advantage.

[robert2237]

lsg1959- If you look at what Obama is wanting to do you will find that if you have any knowledge of the finanical world, that his plan will put us and the world in a much deeper mess. Now he talks a good game but only tells you about 1/10 of what he is really going to do. Anytime you raise taxes on the business and those who own business job creation stops or moves out of the country and then that extra taxes they are paying gets added onto what ever they are selling. So if you raise the taxes on a Oil company profit by 10% guess what your taxes are raised by 10% because they will add it to their price. The other thing some reason people think that some rich guys own the oil companies. That could not be farther from the truth, if you look at your 401K , retirement plan, IRA etc.. You will find you will own part of that oil company and all those other sinful companies. I think less than 1% is owned by the rich. most by the middle class.

[robert2237]

twentysixpt2- Hate to tell you McCain and Palin may take this thing yet. There is a lot of mistrust with Obama and me as a independent could never vote for him. I think some how he forgot that you are expect to tell the truth. Most experts on the ecomony and world affairs will tell you that Obama is going to be the worst thing that could happen to the world. Now if he was becoming the leader of Germany, England, Japan etc. it would not be as big a problem but with him being leader of the US the world has a problem not Only the US. He will kill the ecomony and open us and the rest of the world up for a attach. In fact with him as President we are inviting a attach.

[robert2237]

tannerbird- I would have no problem taking a few to raise but you are missing the point. If parents were to really take a interest in their kids life we could cut the number of abortions. Might be the pill but a least we would cut unweb births and abortions. We seem to think the schools or going to teach this. Well the schools stop teaching anything to do with morals about 20 or 30 years ago since most of those running the schools forgot what they were, and this is coming from a person who has a number of their family in teaching but they will tell you that also. Next it is not the schools responsibility to teach kills morals or ethics that is parents and families job, schools reinforce those values.

[robert2237]

smiley_tech - You are right anyone that says life does not begin at conception is just trying to make themselfs feel good telling themselfs they don''t belive in murder.