First, his suspiciously Barbara Bush-like mother dissed the Mormon folk (a diss to which the Mitt Romney campaign had the world's dumbest response) ... and now, John McCain plays it less than classy when a supporter goes all trailer park on him. The Carpetbagger Report reports it this way:
Obviously, presidential candidates aren’t responsible for comments made by their supporters. Candidates are, however, responsible for showing a little class. It’s apparently something that John McCain has forgotten.
At a campaign event in South Carolina, a McCain backer stood up to ask the senator, “How do we beat the bitch?”
In response, McCain said, “We have our differences with our Democratic rivals, but I believe in treating people with respect. It’s why I don’t refer to women as ‘bitches,’ even when I disagree with them. I’m sure all of us believe we can debate the serious issues of the day without name-calling and degrading language.”
Meanwhile, looks like the other John that isn't going to be president has gotten himself into the middle of a little push polling scandalette in Iowa (where voters like nice, not "not nice.") The calls that have been received by an unknown number of voters sound like traditional polls, and then ask why Hillary Clinton is "such a weak candidate" followed by several choices. The poll then asks why John Edwards is such a weak candidate, and then gives a number of choices including, incredibly, "should be home with his sick wife." Ouch.
On "Morning Joe" this morning, Scarborough said that an MSNBC campaign embed is saying that the firm that has been linked to the push poll is owned by a guy also known as Edwards' pollster. Not a good look, John.
The Edwards camp is claiming that no, no, it's the Obama camp that's push polling against them in that now Iowa-notorious push poll. From the Edwards blog:
Guess what folks, I just got pushed polled by the Obama campaign. The caller asked for either me or my husband by name. First tip off. The poller said they were with Central Research. Asked the requiste who are you supporting? Who is your second choice?
Then why do you think Hillary Clinton is a weak candidate and gives 3 choices. A) Is a weak general election candidate. B)Is too dependent on lobbyist money. C) Won't bring change.
Then why do do think John Edwards is a weak candidate with 2 choices A) a weak general election candidate because his positions are too liberal B) He should be home with his wife who has cancer.
This is the lowest form of paid campaigning. there is only 1 candidate that hopes to benefit from this call. Obama.
I expect this from the Republicans in the general but for a so-called Democrat to do this the primary is unforgiveable.
Obama is showing his real character. He cannot be trusted and it will be a cold day in Hell before I ever caucus for him. He isn't fit to carry John Edwards shoes let alone be President.
Hm. He sounds almost as nasty as ... well ... John Edwards. Of course, a bit further down, "Doridc" posts an "update" admitting that he or she cannot prove that the Obama camp is responsible for the call.
Meanwhile ... on the other side of the two Americas ... the Obama bloggers are doing their own detective work, posting (without linking to) this post by Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic Monthly blog:
... First, don't be so quick to blame (or credit) Barack Obama's campaign.
Campaign often test negative messages against themselves -- they want to poll their negatives.
Come to think of it, the "negatives" cited by the telephone poll-taker are the Edwards campaign version of HRC's negatives, not the Obama campaign's version of negatives. (An Edwards campaign spokesman chastizes me for the speculation and absolutely denies that the campaign has anything to do with the calls). Or maybe Hillary Clinton might want to test the effectiveness of John Edwards's messaging. Both Clinton's campaign spokesman, Phil Singer, and Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton, said their respective campaigns had nothing to do with the calls either.
"Central Research" is the name of the phone farm.
No disbursements have been paid to a firm of that name this cycle or last cycle, so "Central Research" -- a real company based in Arkansas -- is in itself, sort of a front for a front for the guilty campaign.
Here's how it works:
A campaign pays a consulting firm X amount of dollars. It's required to divulge the payment. The consulting firm, in turn, pays Central Research 1/X dollars. Since the consulting firm is a private business, it doesn't have to disclose much about its contracts.
BTW: This might not technically push-polling. Push-polls aren't polls -- they're widely distributed pseudo-polls that are only used to spread negative messages. If these calls turn out to be widely distribured --if, say, 50,000 caucus goers received them -- then, perhaps, they're push-polls. But if only 500 received them, then you're probably looking at a message-testing poll. ...
So who done it, Camp Obama or Camp Clinton? The most interesting analysis so far comes from Taylor Marsh, who traces the origins of the suspect firms to none other than ... Rudy Giuliani. Check it out here.
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%>
Tell a friend
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%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
