The powerless political McCain machine

Old news. The North Carolina Republican Party, a neanderthalic bunch, ran an ad blasting two Democratic candidates for governor. First, the ad smears Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's pastor, and using the old "guilt by association" trick, smears Senator Obama, and finally smears the two Democratic candidates, Bev Perdue and Richard Moore.

The narrator says: "Now Bev Perdue and Richard Moore endorse Barack Obama. They should know better. He's just too extreme for North Carolina."

Notice that there is no discussion of issues or anything of substance. It's all innuendo which panders to the basest political instincts. It's a despicable and irresponsible slam.

The North Carolina GOP Chair is Linda Daves. She is just to the right of Attila the Hun. She claims the ad is just fine because "It is no secret that Barack Obama has also received scrutiny recently for his ties to controversial figures, such as his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and former Weather Underground terrorist, William Ayers."

There's more, but it merely confirms that Ms. Daves and the North Carolina Republican Party are ethically and morally challenged.


John McCain claims he tried to stop the ad. "I'll do everything in my power," he said on CBS's Early Show, "to make sure not only they stop it but that kind of leadership is rejected." He also said that he has told the North Carolina GOP "in every possible way" what he wants them to do: get rid of the ad.

McCain calls the ad "offensive." In an email to Linda Daves, he said "This ad does not live up to the very high standards we should hold ourselves to in this campaign."

But...the North Carolina GOP gave McCain the collective "finger." Another spokesman for North Carolina's GOP basically told McCain they don't give a damn what he thinks. They may support him for president, but "The ad is going to run."


Two things: First of all, this brouhaha gives McCain the opportunity to appear statesmanlike by denouncing those bad, bad Republicans in North Carolina who would dare televise such a despicable political smear. It allows him to make great sounding pronouncements, then step back and say, piously, he did everything he could do to stop it.

Who can argue with that? Good, old upstanding John McCain won't stand for those kind of nasty political shenanigans.

But the ad still runs!

But the second thing this southern tempest shows is that McCain has no power within in his own party. This from Americablog:

"The NC GOP has no fears about pissing off John McCain (unlike the press corps, which lives in fear of his outbursts).

"While this episode demonstrates the GOP gutter politics, it also really says something about McCain's leadership abilities -- or lack thereof. He is the head of the Republican party and can't get some two-bit political hack in the Republican party to heed his words. How is McCain ever going to handle Congress? Even worse, how is McCain ever going to handle our enemies? If people in McCain's own party don't listen to him, why would anyone else?"


Finally, this is, I'm afraid, a sign of things to come as we head to November: a spate of new GOP "swift-boaters" claiming the air waves and talking trash!