What A Bizarre Day For John McCain

(1) He decides to attack Rudy Giuliani in a fairly personal way considering that McCain happens to be Giuliani's close friend and the two have largely eschewed personal attacks.

(1.5) -- The Giuliani campaign brings up McCain's participation in the Keating 5 scandal by way of rebuttal.

(2) McCain's campaign manager sends out a very aggressive statement reinforcing McCain's point about Bernie Kerik, loyalty and judgment.

“Rudy Giuliani’s history with Bernie Kerik is a story of poor judgment. After being briefed on Kerik’s ties to organized crime, Giuliani named him chief of the New York Police Department. Without any further vetting, Giuliani asked him to join his security consulting firm. Despite obvious ethical problems, Giuliani went so far as to personally recommend Kerik for the top job at the Department of Homeland Security. A president’s judgment matters and Rudy Giuliani has repeatedly placed personal loyalty over regard for the facts.”

(3) The AP drops a story confirming this column's reporting about a $3M loan McCain is finalizing to help his campaign... and adds a doozy of twist: an outside group led by former McCain media consultant Rick Reed is running ads on McCain's behalf in South Carolina.

(4) The Giuliani campaign, suitably pissed off, issues a statement from Katie Levinson:

“Is this what desperation looks like? Bernie Kerik’s issues have been known since 2004 and John McCain still had glowing things to say about Rudy Giuliani and his leadership. What, exactly, changed today? Best as I can tell, it’s just John McCain’s pure desperation in the face of a failing and flailing campaign trumping his so-called straight talk. It is truly a shame that John McCain has chosen to stoop this low.”

And another:

Let me get this straight – first, campaign finance crusader John McCain oversees a campaign that spiraled completely out of control and went bankrupt and now he wants a questionable $3 million loan? Doesn’t quite pass the smell test, does it? Americans need someone in the White House who knows how to balance their own checkbook before they try to balance the federal government’s. They don’t need John McCain, they need Rudy Giuliani - who has actually balanced a budget and made a payroll.”

(5) McCain's mother does some Mormon-bashing in New Hampshire.

''As far as the Salt Lake City thing, he's a Mormon and the Mormons of Salt Lake City had caused that scandal. And to clean that up, again, it's not a subject,'' Roberta McCain said. JohnMcCain quickly stepped in: ''The views of my mothers are not necessarily the views of mine.' ''Well, that's my view and you asked me,'' Roberta answered.

(6) McCain issues a statement denouncing third party ads.

"I have always fought for full disclosure of all money spent in federal elections and I have opposed the expenditure of soft money by independent groups trying to influence federal elections. This remains my position and I condemn such spending in this election. To me, the question is not if it's legal but if it's really the best way to conduct a campaign. If anyone considering an outside expenditure thinks they are benefiting me I would prefer they do not air the ads. If there are ads up I believe they should come down."

(7) Jennifer Rubin reminds us that politics ain't beanbag...

but it ain't supposed to be fragmentation bombing either.

Comments

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Posted by Daniel | November 9, 2007 10:37 PM

McCain's Mom is senile. "Utahn" isn't the same thing as "Mormon." In fact, half the state is Non-Mormon. The people that messed up the olympics were Non-Mormon. The people that fixed the mess were Mormon. Those are the facts. Research them out for yourself. She seems like a nice enough lady, but probably willing to say just about anything Mr. McCain asks her to...

Posted by Lars | November 9, 2007 10:39 PM

"but it ain't supposed to be fragmentation bombing either."

Are you new to the Presidential primaries, Marc?

Posted by Petey | November 10, 2007 9:29 AM

It can often be a little revealing to hear the opinions of candidates parents. Whether or not McCain holds any bigotry towards Mormons, it is clear that his mother does. One wonders how much of that bigotry (towards Mormons or other groups) was espoused to him while he was growing up.

Posted by David Glick | November 10, 2007 11:35 AM

Lars, whether the people who messed up the Olympics were Mormon or not is beside the point (some were and some weren't). She's saying that it makes no difference that Romney saved the Olympics, since others of his "kind" messed it up in the first place. Which of course makes no sense at all since "Mormons" as a whole aren't running for president, Romney is. And I am SURE that McCain didn't ask her to say that. (And I am SURE that she won't be in front of another live microphone soon)

Posted by Matthias Cicotte | November 10, 2007 1:20 PM

Wow! This has been quite the day for McCain. One of the problems with making bigoted remarks then quickly retracting them is that the damage is done.

McCain should think twice about getting a loan. He needs to drop out of the race. The Republican nomination is now a two man race: Rudy Giuliani and Romney. Huckabee is a dark horse, but I think he is a niche candidate and will not garner much support in the end when people realize his liberal stance on economic issues and immigration. Tancredo needs to drop out along with Hunter.

Romney or Giuliani will mop the floor with Hillary in the November elections. The only thing that would upset that is if Rue Paul runs as a third party candidate. If he does that, he would be giving the election to the Democrats.

The other scenario that would play well for the Democrats in November is if Barack Obama was the Democratic nominee. I don't care if he is a vacuum of experience, the man has broad appeal.

Posted by Brandon P | November 10, 2007 1:58 PM

McCain's mom is not to blame here. The 800 pound gorilla in the room is the pervasive "Don't confuse me with facts, I have already made up my mind" kind of thinking that exists when it comes to Mormons. All Mrs McCain did was give voice to it.

Posted by JLF | November 10, 2007 2:39 PM

John McCain, nor his mother, are bigots. I don't think her comments were mean-spirited or bigoted. I'm a Mormon and a strong Romney supporter. But we don't have to manufacture an issue here. I think, regardless of her facts or who was to blame in the scandal (Mormon or non-Mormon), what she was trying to say is simply that "Mormons created the scandal, and Mormons cleaned it up. What does being a Mormon have to do with it? Nothing." Like she said, "...it's not a subject."

Gotcha politics cheapens the process for every single one of us. Give her a break.

Posted by Jack Andrews | November 10, 2007 3:54 PM

Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have so far had a pass from the national media as far their true qualifications to be President. Most people from New York that I have spoken to, even Republicans, think that Rudy is temperamentally unsuited for national government. And Mitt Romney has been allowed to reinvent his entire persona without much notice by the media. Romney held the position of governor of Massachusetts for one brief term and did it solely for the purpose of building his resume to run for President. He has no connection to Massachusetts and goes around the country saying bad things about the people of Massachusetts. So now, after campaigning in Massachusetts as a moderate, he is an anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-immigrant conservative? It's funny how those new positions just happen to correspond with polling data about Republican views on the issues. What does it take to get the national news media to look beyond a candidate's bank account and start telling the people who these guys really are?

Posted by David Mirsky | November 11, 2007 2:16 PM

"He has no connection to Massachusetts"
....other than living, working, attending graduate school there and raising his family there for a three decades.

I believe the line from above may apply. "Don't confuse me with facts, I have already made up my mind".

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McCain is strangely holding on in the polls, and I'm not exactly sure how. He doesn't stand out on any one issue. He's been a backstabber on numerous occasions on key issues. He authored the very unpopular immigration bill of 2006. And backed what has been a very bad bill (especially for Republicans) in McCain-Feingold. Perhaps it's all name recognition. Perhaps it's his POW status. Hard to say.

Regardless, I see this race coming down to Giuliani and Romney. I think both could win in the general, but I think Romney would absolutely be Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare.

The female vote tends to be pretty unpredictable, and Hillary Clinton is desparately dependent upon it. Indeed, she is far, far more popular with women than men. Mitt Romney will undoubtedly take from that vote in the same way that John F. Kennedy and Hillary's husband, Bill Clinton did. Looks do and will matter, and that would be to Clinton's detriment.

Posted by CMartel2 | November 12, 2007 11:21 PM

this is an old story but I just found it. The thing with McCain's mother I find very bizarre. It's so weird to think of McCain taking his 95 year old mother around with him while he campaigns... Not sure what the deal is with that.

Posted by weird dude | April 7, 2008 10:06 PM