Anyone else get the feeling McCain regrets going down this road?

[TheGlobalizer]

If McCain wants everybody to be respectful, some people think he ought to start by looking in the mirror and reevaluating what he says on the campaign trail and what he approves to be aired on TV and the Internet.

If something happens to Obama, Biden will be the first nominee in history to win all 50 states.

Alabama would still vote for McCain...

Anyway,I agree about the Secret Service theory.

I doubt the Secret Service theory.  The Secret Service better not be telling political candidates what they can say on the campaign trail.  It's not the Stasi - yet.

If what McCain says is dangerous to Obama's person,then the Secret Service better tell him what he can and cannot say.

No.  Political speech is among the most protected rights under the US Constitution.  Unless McCain specifically calls for Obama to be harmed and Obama is harmed, there's no legal basis for telling him not to talk.  (Incitement to commit criminal acts exception to 1st Amendment protections.)

[BlueSwan]

I genuinely believe that McCain deeply regrets this turn his campaign has taken. He's problems began when he figured that he had to ignite the "base". He may have done so by picking Palin and the Bush campaign team, but in the process he has ignored the fact that what have made him so popular in the past with moderates and independents was something entirely different. McCain was always going to be the underdog in this election, but there is a reason why most people believed him to be the only republican with a real chance of winning and that was the appeal he had to moderates, independents and even a lot of liberals. With his catering to the base, his picking Palin, his sleaze campaign this appeal is all but gone. I believe he had had a pretty good shot at winning the election if he had stayed true to who he really is and he probably thinks to himself these days. Those damned Bush people. They screwed him over in 2000 and they're screwing him over again.

[TheGlobalizer]

I genuinely believe that McCain deeply regrets this turn his campaign has taken. He's problems began when he figured that he had to ignite the "base". He may have done so by picking Palin and the Bush campaign team, but in the process he has ignored the fact that what have made him so popular in the past with moderates and independents was something entirely different. McCain was always going to be the underdog in this election, but there is a reason why most people believed him to be the only republican with a real chance of winning and that was the appeal he had to moderates, independents and even a lot of liberals. With his catering to the base, his picking Palin, his sleaze campaign this appeal is all but gone. I believe he had had a pretty good shot at winning the election if he had stayed true to who he really is and he probably thinks to himself these days. Those damned Bush people. They screwed him over in 2000 and they're screwing him over again.

As for Palin, I think they needed a rockstar to counter how insanely boring McCain is, and she was the best option in town.

[exopolitician]

No. He wanted it.

[daboese]

I think the genie he put out of the bottle was Palin.
She has no problem with those rhetorics, and with the people who call Obama a muslim or a terrorist.
McCain is a decent man, and he is much better than a large part of the right-wing lunatics whom he invoked with choosing Palin as his running mate. This was exactly the problem that the Republicans were in, even in 2000- being torn between a much more liberal McCain (and this part of the party) and the religious right.
If it wasn't a two-party system, these two parts would have divided a long time ago.

[JSojourner]

I think McCain made a bit of a deal with the devil when he brought in some of the Bush team who savaged him in SC in 2000. He saw that these guys got things done and perhaps thought that this is his last chance. But I genuinely believe that he is not comfortable with all of this, certainly not in the same way as Palin. Just watch him take the mic away from the woman who called obama an Arab...he looked pissed.

Bingo, my friend.  The John McCain all decent Republicans AND Democrats admire is the man who referred to the religious right as "agents of intolerance" and who vigorously defended both Max Cleland and John Kerry against the horrendously hateful smears launched against them.

We know he's a pretty conservative guy.  But that fact is, most conservatives are fundamentally decent, honorable people.  It was the lunatics in charge of the asylum from 2000-present and, yes, McCain has flirted with them a bit of late.  He won the primary and is now stuck with them, with only 23 days to prove he ain't one of 'em.  He ISN'T.  But their stink gets on you and it takes more than a shower or two to get you clean.

I suppose that's the thing I am most upset about in this campaign.  Not what has been said about Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.  But how a heroic figure allowed himself to be sullied.  John McCain is so much better than that.

[ChrisFromNJ]

  But that fact is, most conservatives are fundamentally decent, honorable people. 

I beg to differ. That is the exception, not the norm.

[JSojourner]

  But that fact is, most conservatives are fundamentally decent, honorable people. 

I beg to differ. That is the exception, not the norm.

Hi Chris!

We both find conservative ideas and policies to be backward and peculiarly odious.  Which is precisely how they feel about liberal ideas and policies.

The difference, I think, is that I believe they support such policies -- most of them, anyway -- because they sincerely believe those ideas are in the best interest of the country they love.  I hope they say the same about liberals.  I think Ronald Reagan is a wonderful example of this.  That man loved America and loved people.  Tip O'Neil used to say Reagan would veto a bill that helped poor people -- just because he believed (wrongly, we agree) that government should not be in that business.  Then, with the same pen, he'd write a big fat check to help poor people out of his own pocket. 

Of course, I maintain it's not an either-or.  I insist we can only truly help the poor by doing both.  But, it shows where I think most conservatives' heads and hearts are.  They care, just like we do. They just believe we propose going about it the wrong way. 

Please note, though, that I am excluding the purveyors of hate and intolerance from the whole "honorable and decent" thing.  And for me, such miscreants include conservatives and liberals.  When it comes to good intentions, I think both parties have plenty.

[NDN]

Only in that it's backfiring. I haven't thought Mr Rape Joke was a particularly nice guy for a long time. Frankly he comes off as a bit of a bully.

[TheGlobalizer]

  But that fact is, most conservatives are fundamentally decent, honorable people. 

I beg to differ. That is the exception, not the norm.

Selection effect, methinks.

[Smash255]

Quite possible he regrets it, the question though is does he regret it because he truly doesn't like this road, or does he regret it because instead of it helping him it as hurt him to go down this road.

[Mr. Morden]

If McCain wants everybody to be respectful, some people think he ought to start by looking in the mirror and reevaluating what he says on the campaign trail and what he approves to be aired on TV and the Internet.

If something happens to Obama, Biden will be the first nominee in history to win all 50 states.

Alabama would still vote for McCain...

Anyway,I agree about the Secret Service theory.

I doubt the Secret Service theory.  The Secret Service better not be telling political candidates what they can say on the campaign trail.  It's not the Stasi - yet.

I concur.  I think there's almost zero chance that the Secret Service asked him to modulate his political message in any way, as that would be waaaayyyy too controversial, for the Secret Service to be meddling in politics that way.  As long as McCain doesn't issue any actual threats himself, there's no way the Secret Service is going to be telling him what to say.

[exopolitician]

He's in a bind now. He vowed to go after Obama, it went to far and he tried to fix the division he caused which now is pissing off his base. Then he said he will use respect towards Obama, but still calls him a radical and that hes going to "whip his you know what". Back and forth, off message. He's probably feeling some regrets now.

[TheGlobalizer]

Obama's national average has gone from around +11 to around +6, so no, I don't think he regrets it.  It's a calculated move to scare the moderates about Obama -- so what if it pisses off the left, they won't vote for him anyway.

Frankly, if I were him, I'd be talking about all sorts of crazy stuff like reparations and affirmative action, stuff that scares the sh** out of low-income white social conservatives (PA, OH, WI, MI, VA, NC, etc.)  I'd put the words in the media through intimation and let Obama react -- too strong = fears confirmed, too soft = decreased enthusiasm in black voters, reopens the "not black enough" issue.

I readily concede that's a filthy strategy, but with 3 weeks to go and down 5-10 points, there's little left to work with.

[Likely Voter]

Obama's national average has gone from around +11 to around +6....

WTF? when was his national avg 11? Since the Ayers attacks have started Obama's lead has actually increased a bit based on RCP and Pollster.com averages. RCP now has it at 6.8 and Pollster has it at 7.6. Both are pretty close to all time highs.

[TheGlobalizer]

Obama's national average has gone from around +11 to around +6....

WTF? when was his national avg 11? Since the Ayers attacks have started Obama's lead has actually increased a bit based on RCP and Pollster.com averages. RCP now has it at 6.8 and Pollster has it at 7.6. Both are pretty close to all time highs.

A few days ago (Wed-Thurs?), tracking polls.