This is Unprecedented Stuff

Dire warnings for John McCain and his campaign!
by Charlie Leck

In all my years watching politics and national elections, I have never seen party leaders step forward, as they are right now, with dire warnings for their candidate – in this case, John McCain. Read some of this stuff below. They are telling McCain, in no uncertain terms, to knock it off.

And, I’m telling you to put this in your memory bank. This is historic stuff and our grandchildren will one day find it all rather bewildering. Most of the following was from the spoken word, so look past the lack of perfect grammar…

David Gergen, writer and Republican advisor, thinks the race is still alive but McCain is falling back quickly.

“Every day that goes by, like today, when McCain doesn’t break through is a bad day for McCain…. And what you do sense is that McCain is losing control over his own destiny. That he’s no longer the man that seems to be in command –he’s thrashing around looking for something that will take hold.”

And Gergen also said something more dire:

“This—I think one of the most striking things we’ve seen now in the last few days. We’ve seen it in a Palin rally. We saw it at the McCain rally today. And we saw it to a considerable degree during the rescue package legislation. There is this free floating sort of whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence. I think we’re not far from that.

“…well, I really worry when we get people—when you get the kind of rhetoric that you’re getting at these rallies now. I think it’s really imperative that the candidates try to calm people down. And that’s why I’ve argued not only because of the question of the ugliness of it."

John Weaver, one of McCain former top advisors, and a very committed Republican, has provided some dire warnings for McCain.

“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Sen. Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Sen. McCain,” Weaver said. “And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”

“Sen. Obama is a classic liberal with an outdated economic agenda. We should take that agenda on in a robust manner. As a party we should not and must not stand by as the small amount of haters in our society question whether he is as American as the rest of us. Shame on them and shame on us if we allow this to take hold.”

Republican Frank Schaefer had similar warnings.

“John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as 'not one of us,' I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence. 'Stop! Think! Your rallies are beginning to look, sound, feel and smell like lynch mobs.'"

Ray LaHood is retiring from Congress. As a Republican, he supports the McCain ticket, but he has strong criticism for Sarah Palin and the way she’s campaigning out on the trail.

"When she mentions Obama’s name she gets people shouting back some awful things. She isn’t dealing with it."

"Look it. This doesn't befit the office that she's running for. And frankly, people don't like it."

Partisan Republican, Ed Rollins, says that the campaign is over – that Obama will win in a landslide.

“The momentum has gone all the other way… Barack has met the threshold where people think he’s going to be a leader. He’s tied McCain to the past and to Bush…. This is going to turn into a landslide.”

If Rollins is right and that’s McCain’s view also, he can do one of two things. He can take the high road and be very diplomatic, pushing the debate on solid and worthy issues; or, he can become deranged and flail around and throw every kind of punch he’s got, including the dirty ones.

John McCain is a tired and bewildered fighter. He honestly doesn’t know what to do.

As I wrote, early this morning, to a very long-time, old friend: “A grand old party has been raped. It is not truly conservative anymore. It is something else that none of us have been quite able to name and John McCain looks out of balance as its head.”

Let’s hope John McCain chooses to save his career and come out of this as a distinguished American.