Senator McCain on 'Meet the Press'
 

Meet the Press: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/

Even though McCain supports the bailouts (banks and citizens), Obama is a socialist and McCain isn't! :rolleyes:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...87057#27387099

McCain says "She [Palin] needs no defense"...and brushes off the $150k on clothing expenses. He says Sarah lives a frugal life.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...87057#27387258

John is OK where he is and is proud of his campaign.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...87057#27387092


ETA: I hate when he does that clearing-the-throat stuff... eek! It's gross. Stop it Johnny!

What exactly is he supposed to say? I don't mean to pick on you specifically, but the guy is going to rip his running mate or his party for the amount used on her clothes. I understand quite well that he hasn't run the greatest campaign, and the choice of Palin was a poor one. But, does anyone expect a candidate to say during the campaign "Look, I messed up, I made a mistake." While it would be nice, no candidate with an ounce of sense is going to sit there and criticize himself, while patting the other guy on the back.

It seems like people on this site expect the other candidate to admit the problems with their platforms, or to speak up when they've messed up. That's not going to happen - we may wish for some sort of utopian campaign scheme, with the perfect candidate, but it's not realistic (no matter what people think of Obama and McCain).

The only time you're going to get the real story on the campaign, and the decisions made within the campaign, is when the books start coming out. I'm going to be very interested to read retrospectives by people connected to both campaigns.

And even then, you're going to get a lot of self-serving information shifting the blame onto someone else.

You might be shocked, but I completely agree. No Presidential candidate is in the business to slam their running mate or rally for their opponent. I was just stating the facts about the interview in this thread--nothing more, nothing less.

I'm not that shocked - I think we've agreed on stuff in the past. I'm not really much of a rabble rouser...

..although I didn't see it after the '04 race, usually Newsweek or Time, based on an agreed upon "won't report it until the election is over" agreement, is given unfiltered, behind-the-scenes access to both campaigns. They produce an outsized magazine edition chronicling the behind the scene maneuvering that went on.

For political junkies it's a great read. It gives you sort of a "so, that was the strategy behind why they did that" type of read. Look for it in December/January.

Years ago, Jules Witcover, used to do a 400-600 page book on the behind the scenes type stuff following the presidential elections. Haven't seen that reproduced (in a book) in several years, however.

Thanks for the info - I'm a big fan of "What it Takes" by Richard Ben Cramer, and "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: 72" by Hunter S. Thompson.

Anyone with interest in Biden should read Cramer's book. It talks about the 1988 election, and Biden was a candidate during the primaries before some health issues forced him to withdraw. It goes into quite a bit of detail about him, including his first wife's death, his involvement in the Bork hearings, and his cheating incident in law school.