McCain Calls On Supporters To Be Respectful Of Obama, Gets Booed

Wow, talk about a 180. After a few days of wild crowds at his events, including people who yelled out racial slurs, and a week of attacks aimed at linking Obama to terrorism, McCain told his supporters at a Minnesota rally today to be respectful of Obama.

“I want everyone to be respectful. And let’s make sure we are, because that’s the way politics is done in America.”

When a supporter told McCain that he’s scared of an Obama Presidency, McCain said the following.

“I have to tell you, he is a decent person, a person that you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States.”

The crowd booed, and some yelled “Come On, John” after McCain said this. But wait, there is more.

A woman at the town hall asks softly: “I’ve heard that Sen. Obama is an Arab.”

McCain quickly cuts the woman off.

“No, maam. He’s a decent family man and citizen,” McCain says. “He’s not. Thank you.”

Now, first the obvious, good for John McCain. I’m happy that he is trying to put out this fire, because regardless of what side you’re on, I don’t think anyone (well, among the sane) wants to see this election turn to violence, rioting, etc.

But, this begs the question, is McCain in control of his own campaign anymore? Has it come to this? McCain can’t even say a halfway decent thing about Obama without his crowd booing? He can’t point out the truth — that Obama is not an Arab — without his crowd booing? Obama praises McCain’s service in EVERY SPEECH HE GIVES and the crowd cheers. This has gone too far, and McCain now knows it.

McCain’s campaign, for the past week, has tried to tie Obama to terrorists and Sarah Palin said Obama “pals around with terrorists.” How can Obama “pal around with terrorists” and still be a decent person who America doesn’t have to be scared of as President? The whole point of these “Obama is friends with terrorists” attacks are to make people scared of Obama, right? And now McCain says he is a decent person and nobody to be scared of? Huh? Who has been planting the idea in people’s minds that Obama is a terrorist, or a friend of terrorists, or “scary,” or whatever else? McCain essentially has admitted that his campaign’s attacks over the past week were fake outrage over a story he knew was bogus. If he really thought Obama was tied to terrorism, he wouldn’t call Obama a decent person and wouldn’t tell his supporters that they have nothing to be scared of if Obama becomes President.

So can we assume those attacks will now stop? Is this just a public statement by McCain to get the media off his back or does he mean this, meaning he will stop the ridiculous low road attacks of the past week which, by design, were aimed at making people think Obama is tied to terrorism and therefore scare people of him? It’s one or the other. McCain can’t have it both ways. I’m glad he took this first step, but unless he goes all the way, all this amounts to is telling his supporters to do one thing while winking at them to do another. You can’t call someone a “pal of terrorists” in post-9/11 America and not expect some people to get scared of that person being President and react in potentially extreme ways. If McCain says Obama is decent and nobody to be scared of, he is also saying that his attacks of the past week were exaggerated for political gain, because the two don’t add up. You can’t be both. McCain says one thing and his campaign says something totally different. McCain has never made any of these terrorist claims to Obama’s face, and is now saying Obama is a decent family man who is nobody to be scared of as President. So, does McCain believe his campaign’s own attacks against Obama as being a friend of terrorism? Obviously not.

Even FOX News spent a lot of time this afternoon talking about how McCain is now at odds with his own campaign, as his own campaign pursues personal attacks while McCain is now spending time at his own rallies defending Obama and essentially undoing what his own attack ads are trying to do. It’s hard to make the case that people should be scared of an Obama Presidency, which is the goal of McCain’s TV ads, when McCain himself says people have no reason to fear an Obama Presidency. However you want to slice this, McCain’s campaign is obviously confused as to what they want to do.

People will see a lot of different things in this. Some will see this as a ploy where McCain says one thing while his campaign continues to do another. Some will say that this is a response to McCain’s unfavorables skyrocketing since he started these negative attacks. Some will see it as campaign strategy shift #406 for the McCain campaign where he really does stop the low road attacks. Some will see it as McCain finally starting to see the type of people that make up a significant portion of his support and not liking it. Some will say that the Secret Service may have gotten involved. And some will say that McCain, knowing he is unlikely to win this election now, wants to help avoid any radical behavior towards Obama while also trying to repair his damaged reputation. Whatever it is you see here, one thing is for sure, defending Obama from his own campaign’s attacks 25 days before the election isn’t exactly the sign of a well run campaign.

Here are videos of the McCain rally where the above comments were made.