McCain: So a third Bush term is true…
Posted: Monday, September 22, 2008 9:26 AM by Domenico Montanaro
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The Washington Post examines the fact that so many Bush veterans are helping McCain and Palin. "The clutch of Bush veterans helping to coach Palin reflects a larger reality about Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign: Far from being a group of outsiders to the Republican Party power structure, it is now run largely by skilled operatives who learned their crafts in successive Bush campaigns and various jobs across the Bush government over the past eight years."
“Republicans have been heartened by the effectiveness of the new McCain organization, which has helped put McCain back in serious contention for the White House, causing restlessness among Democrats who believed the race was Sen. Barack Obama's to lose. Dana Perino, the White House spokeswoman, expressed pride at what her former colleagues have been able to accomplish… Yet others, including some sympathetic Republicans, have begun to quietly question whether McCain and Palin are well served by strategists so firmly anchored in the Bush establishment when the candidates are presenting themselves as a ‘team of mavericks’ and agents of change. One Republican with long-standing ties to the Bush administration described the situation as a paradox in which Palin is especially vulnerable.”
“‘If the McCain campaign is trying to prop up Palin as its change agent, and its inoculation against the “third Bush term” rap, then why on earth is she surrounded by a cast of Bush advisers?’ said the Republican loyalist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. ‘Since she's been selected, every single one of the senior aides that she's brought on board had prominent roles in Bush's White House or on his campaigns, or both.’”
By the way, far fewer Clinton/Gore/Kerry veterans are with Obama than Bush veterans with McCain.
The McCain camp is up with a new ad today that attempts to paint Chicago's historical political image problem on to Obama. Interesting the folks they choose to highlight vs. the Chicago pols they didn’t.
This car fact isn't great for McCain -- 13 for the McCains versus one for the Obamas. Ouch.
On TODAY, NBC's Meredith Vieira asked McCain, "Does it bother you that you draw the biggest crowds when she's [Palin's] there?" McCain dismissed that, saying, "Oh, it's very exciting."
Al Franken, a former Saturday Night Live performer and currently running for U.S. Senate in Minnesota, "had a phone conversation last week with SNL creator Lorne Michaels, his campaign spokeswoman Colleen Murray said Sunday. She described the talk as two friends of more than 30 years catching up, and she said Franken told Michaels about his experiences on the campaign trail. In relating a story about recording campaign commercials, Franken noted how all political candidates must say they 'approve this message' in their ads -- and editorialized that he thought it must be a difficult task for McCain, whom many Democrats and pundits have accused of leveling dishonest charges against Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama."
Here’s SNL's take on McCain's ads.
