Footage of McCain "defending" Obama

aoa321

Did any of you see the footage taken at a Republican rally in the last few days (hours?) where the Republican audience were asking McCain questions. Television showed a lady (?) with the microphone in her hand basically asking McCain to agree with her that Obama is hanging around with terrorists, McCain seemed taken aback, he politely but very firmly took the microphone from the lady and shook his head and said no he does not. He said he's a decent man who loves his family, and "I have big differences with him".

I thought this was remarkable and I can finally see why McCain is so loved by many of his supporters. It was a moment of true leadership and dignity, a man standing alone and standing up to be counted.

I was really bowled over by this insight past all the marketing, past all the ad-men, spin doctors and image makers, a rare glimpse at the kind of person that one of the candidates actually is.

Galvasean

The video was posted in the 'Barack Osama' thread.

Fair play to McCain BTW

DarkJager

aoa321 wrote: »

Did any of you see the footage taken at a Republican rally in the last few days (hours?) where the Republican audience were asking McCain questions. Television showed a lady (?) with the microphone in her hand basically asking McCain to agree with her that Obama is hanging around with terrorists, McCain seemed taken aback, he politely but very firmly took the microphone from the lady and shook his head and said no he does not. He said he's a decent man who loves his family, and "I have big differences with him".

I thought this was remarkable and I can finally see why McCain is so loved by many of his supporters. It was a moment of true leadership and dignity, a man standing alone and standing up to be counted.

I was really bowled over by this insight past all the marketing, past all the ad-men, spin doctors and image makers, a rare glimpse at the kind of person that one of the candidates actually is.

I saw that as well and have to say fair play to McCain. He looked visibily shaken by the question and quite angered too.

Oshare Bones

That should win him a few votes.

Dave!

You don't think there was anything political about what he did? If the GOP campaign's attacks on Obama were in any way effective, then you betcha they'd gosh darn carry on with them.

I did not see McCain's dignity when his campaign was smearing Obama as a terrorist 10 days ago.

Could those questioners have been plants btw? It certainly won McCain some brownie points, though I don't think his campaign has the guile to think of something like that tbh!

Sand

basically asking McCain to agree with her that Obama is hanging around with terrorists,

If I remember correctly the woman said she didnt trust Obama because he was an Arab. I've not seen any rowing back on the "Obama is matey with unrepentant terrorists" line.

DarkJager

Wasn't it Palin that made the gaff about him "pal-ing around with terrorists"? McCain supposedly tried to play that down as much as possible, it wasn't his comment.

Dave!

DarkJager wrote: »

Wasn't it Palin that made the gaff about him "pal-ing around with terrorists"? McCain supposedly tried to play that down as much as possible, it wasn't his comment.

It's his campaign.

flogen

It's a sad situation when a candidate gets a pat on the back for being respectful to his opponent - kind of like being impressed when they come out with a policy proposal.

As Sand points out the woman said something that McCain could never have agreed with, not unless he wanted to completely sabotage his campaign. I'm not sure how that earns him respect or kudos.

Dodge

Saw a clip of Michelle Obama on the Daily Show the other night where she said that Obama "respects McCain for all he's done" and spoke about Obama hopes he gets the same respect from McCain.

When it boils down to humanity, you know they both do.

Sand

I amnt clear on whats objectionable about pointing out Obamas links with unrepentant terrorists - guys who murdered people, and would have murdered more if they werent so incompetent putting nail bombs together?

I dont think anyones said Obama was helping them out aged 8, but with the benefit of hindsight and knowledge of who Ayers was and his stance on his crimes, he did associate with him, take political donations from him and accept his assistance in arranging political support. The damning condemnation waited until what? 2008?

Now that does indicate some negative things about Obama but seeing as politics is personality and Obama's campaign is based almost entirely on his charisma, then it seems inevitable there will be evidence put forth that perhaps he is too good to be true.

GuanYin

Sand wrote: »

I dont think anyones said Obama was helping them out aged 8, but with the benefit of hindsight and knowledge of who Ayers was and his stance on his crimes, he did associate with him, take political donations from him and accept his assistance in arranging political support. The damning condemnation waited until what? 2008?

Now that does indicate some negative things about Obama but seeing as politics is personality and Obama's campaign is based almost entirely on his charisma, then it seems inevitable there will be evidence put forth that perhaps he is too good to be true.

One could (and some have) made the same association with McCain and Liddy.

In reality, to suggest that there is anything clandestine in either case is grasping.

Hobbes

Oshare Bones wrote: »

That should win him a few votes.

It would if it wasn't his campaign group that are spreading the rumors to begin with. Case in point of Virginia McCain campaigners were caught telling people to equate Obama to Osama (and not just by the letter difference).

Also McCain has only changed his stance recently because it is killing him in the polls. Prior to that you have had similar taunts go unpunished.

Or these stupid Ayers comments of "What is that you think Senator Obama is hiding?". Well Mr McCain why don't you ask him in the debate? Oh wait he won't because he knows its a rumor full of ****.

Latest one now is Obama had ties to a failed coup in Kenya. (still reading up on that one). Oh and another of Obama linked to ACORN voting fraud (something that never happened the way it is explained), which ACORN released a picture of McCain with the ACORN group around that time.

Hobbes

Sand wrote: »

The damning condemnation waited until what? 2008?

Actually Obama had already answered a lot of this previously. I would also recommend you read up on the whole situation.

cooker3

My favourite part of the clip is when McCain starts shaking his head and she replies no in a shock tone. You can almost see her world collapsing around her as this shocking revelation that Obama isn't an arab is revealed to her.

Manic Moran

Latest one now is Obama had ties to a failed coup in Kenya

You missed the ongoing court case in which people are sueing to have Obama produce a birth certificate to prove he's actually eligible for the office. Something to do with his grandmother (She's still alive?!) saying he's born in Kenya. Berg v Obama. Not sure where it stands right now, last I heard the Judge had denied the motion to dismiss it, and was now considering the situation. One must wonder why the Obama camp is spending money on this, would have thought they had more pressing priorities.

NTM

Hobbes

Manic Moran wrote: »

You missed the ongoing court case in which people are sueing to have Obama produce a birth certificate to prove he's actually eligible for the office.

That is an old one. Obama has already released his birth certificate on his website months ago.

http://fightthesmears.com/articles/5/birthcertificate

The truth is, Barack Obama was born in the state of Hawaii in 1961, a native citizen of the United States of America.

and from factcheck.org

“When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4,1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom’s dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.‘s children.

Since Sen. Obama has neither renounced his U.S. citizenship nor sworn an oath of allegiance to Kenya, his Kenyan citizenship automatically expired on Aug. 4,1982.”

Like I said, this was a months old one.

limklad

Here a CNN Video of McCain defence of Obama.

Hobbes

You missed the ongoing court case in which people are sueing to have Obama produce a birth certificate to prove he's actually eligible for the office.

I had a look for this as you raised my interest. I must admit it sounded legit but the fact is that independant groups have checked Obamas birth certificate and it is legit. Even WND (right wing site) verified it as well as factcheck.org.

Also the other claims are tosh. More notes on it at snopes.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/citizen.asp

More here.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/obama.asp

norbert64

Manic Moran wrote: »

You missed the ongoing court case in which people are sueing to have Obama produce a birth certificate to prove he's actually eligible for the office. Something to do with his grandmother (She's still alive?!) saying he's born in Kenya. Berg v Obama. Not sure where it stands right now, last I heard the Judge had denied the motion to dismiss it, and was now considering the situation. One must wonder why the Obama camp is spending money on this, would have thought they had more pressing priorities.

NTM

malkins sister site hotair has info on it. Even they have apparently debunked it, but that still won't stop all the tinfoil hatters.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/12/obama-is-an-american-no-really/

On the McCain supporters issue, sorry, but he and Palin encouraged all this crap last week, and then got royally castigated for it.

He doesn't deserve any props for finally realising that perhaps all this gutter politicking is bad.

Manic Moran

That is an old one. Obama has already released his birth certificate on his website months ago.

It doesn't stop the fact that the case is currently sitting in a Federal court and the Judge last week refused to dismiss it. I'm not saying I believe it, just that it's up there somewhere above 'Supported a coup in Kenya.'

NTM

Hobbes

Manic Moran wrote: »

It doesn't stop the fact that the case is currently sitting in a Federal court and the Judge last week refused to dismiss it.

NTM

Read the previous link.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/12/obama-is-an-american-no-really/

I already know some of the rebuttals that will fly through the comments, so let me address them here:

* A court is hearing this case, so it must be serious — Any fool with a lawyer and a couple of hundred dollars can file a lawsuit. That’s one of the reasons why tort reform is so badly needed. Frivolous lawsuits cost consumers billions of dollars. Conservatives used to make that argument, at least until Phillip Berg filed this lawsuit.
* Why isn’t Obama answering the lawsuit? — Maybe because it’s ridiculous, and Berg has no standing to file it anyway.
* Why not produce the birth certificate? — Obama has … twice now, once on his website and once to Fact Check.

The guy who put the case in is the same guy that claimed that Cheny/Bush orcastrated 9/11.
http://www.rinf.com/columnists/news/philip-berg-seeking-the-truth-of-911

Hobbes

The Kenya coup story is turning out to be BS as well. The original story has already been debunked and the re-write is by a member of the sinclair group (you might remember them helping to kill Kerrys chances in the last election).

Manic Moran

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-paedce/case_no-2:2008cv04083/case_id-281573/, which probably is fairly accurate, indicates that the case is still on Surrick's bench.

Again, I'm not saying that I think anything will come of it, it's just something else for the tin-foil-hat brigade. DNC lawyers are spending some effort on this, they've made a few filings, so I must also echo Factcheck's comment: "Why not just show the thing to the Judge, and get it over with instead of going to the expense of fighting in court?"

NTM

Trojan

To get back to the original topic, Palin is so aggressive at her rallies that she accidentally accused her own supporters of being "protesters":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8csSubZPdY

Hobbes

Manic Moran wrote: »

so I must also echo Factcheck's comment: "Why not just show the thing to the Judge, and get it over with instead of going to the expense of fighting in court?"

He has already shown it to the world. They even gave factcheck the original to review to determine if it was real or not.

[edit] Actually reading the dockets now. I suspect it is more likely being dragged out. Look how long SCO dragged out their case when they had nothing at all early on.

.. found the crux of why its being dragged out.
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/pennsylvania/paedce/2:2008cv04083/281573/17/

Claims of his school roll saying Indonesian (his father put it on the school roll). That has already been debunked by Snopes as well.

Appears to went from "Obama was born in Kenya" to "Ok he was born in the USA but his dad said he was Indonesian". Only being dragged out as more stuff is being added.

The latest response from Obamas lawyers that I can read they also have dragged this out asking that he basically puts up or shuts up. He has filed supeonas on the DNC and Obama campaign asking for "everything" which they have said is unreasonable and should be denied until he shows evidence that he is claiming.

CtrlSource

Dave! wrote: »

You don't think there was anything political about what he did? If the GOP campaign's attacks on Obama were in any way effective, then you betcha they'd gosh darn carry on with them.

I did not see McCain's dignity when his campaign was smearing Obama as a terrorist 10 days ago.

You're basically right - there is little dignity in the McCain campaign. But McCain the main showed basic decency by at least twice defending Obama from the nuts among his own supporters at the weekend. It was a rare glimpse of the old McCain - the man i used to have respect for.

i don't think he was trying to score political points on this occasion

aoa321

CtrlSource wrote: »

You're basically right - there is little dignity in the McCain campaign. But McCain the main showed basic decency by at least twice defending Obama from the nuts among his own supporters at the weekend. It was a rare glimpse of the old McCain - the man i used to have respect for.

i don't think he was trying to score political points on this occasion

Thanks for all the replies, although some of them were a little off-topic for me. I agree with the above, can't see how anybody would think that the incident in the OP was staged or could have been staged. I think McCain showed great decency and dignity and I have heard several commentators say that it was like the old McCain, I'd like to have seen more of that version

herobear

sadly the old version would have never gotten nominated, sure '2008 McCain' only just barely got in.

back on topic though, Obama needs to use this in an tv advert *McCains voice* "I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments....He is a decent person...hes a decent family man"

Sand

One could (and some have) made the same association with McCain and Liddy.

In reality, to suggest that there is anything clandestine in either case is grasping.

Whose suggesting anything clandestine?

I dont think anyones said Obama was helping them out aged 8, but with the benefit of hindsight and knowledge of who Ayers was and his stance on his crimes, he did associate with him, take political donations from him and accept his assistance in arranging political support.

Just demonstrates poor judgement, perhaps a willingess to lower standards if he can get something out of people, and AT WORST....some view that Ayers didnt really do anything terribly bad that would make the US President embarrassed to be associated with him.

And the question I asked was why is it so terrible to note that Obama associated with those people? Why the "How dare he!"? Or that he ought to feel the need to apologise? Obamas presidential bid is based on the backs of the lunatic fringe. Hes abandoning them now he no longer needs them to get his shot, but its on his track record nonetheless.

Its politics, people are linking McCain and Liddy already as you have yourself. The only difference is Liddy is a crank, Ayers murdered and maimed innocent people, and not only that feels he had every right to murder people - most people would view that as sociopathic behaviour.

thebouldwhacker

aoa321 wrote: »

Did any of you see the footage taken at a Republican rally in the last few days (hours?) where the Republican audience were asking McCain questions. Television showed a lady (?) with the microphone in her hand basically asking McCain to agree with her that Obama is hanging around with terrorists, McCain seemed taken aback, he politely but very firmly took the microphone from the lady and shook his head and said no he does not. He said he's a decent man who loves his family, and "I have big differences with him".

I thought this was remarkable and I can finally see why McCain is so loved by many of his supporters. It was a moment of true leadership and dignity, a man standing alone and standing up to be counted.

I was really bowled over by this insight past all the marketing, past all the ad-men, spin doctors and image makers, a rare glimpse at the kind of person that one of the candidates actually is.

I understand what ye are saying about McCain being decent because of his reaction but lets be honest, if any of us here posted that Obama is a terroist we would be banned and put in 'prision' as would anyone agreeing with it (am i right Trojan)
McCain defended Obama on this one because he would be in court for slandar otherwise and that would be pretty much that for the election. I'm quite sure McCain is a decent man and people do love him for the right reasons. I am confident he would make a good president not cos
I agree with his policies but because I think he believes in his policies such as foreign poilicy.
However I do believe if McCain is elected it'll be from the frying pan and into the fire for the USA and the rest of the world.
Thankfully Obama will win and the world freak out meter will fall back to a more normal level of panic :eek::cool::D