McCain Can't Rally His Own Party 4 Votes

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2008
McCain Can't Rally His Own Party 4 Votes
86
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 4:24pm

McCain's own party doesn't listen to him. How is he supposed to "reach" across the aisle and "work" for the American people? Barack got 2/3 support. Which one has more clout? And once the American people vote out the GOP dead weight, more responsible GoP leadership should come. All McCain wants to do is point fingers, mark down names, and blame, blame, blame.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/14088.html

McCain takes credit for bill before it loses

By MIKE ALLEN | 9/29/08 3:37 PM EDT

“I've never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I'm not going to stop now,” John McCain told a rally in Columbus, Ohio.
Photo: AP




Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition – hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked.

The rush to claim he had engineered a victory now looks like a strategic blunder that will prolong the McCain’s campaign’s difficulty in finding a winning message on the economy.

Shortly before the vote, McCain had bragged about his involvement and mocked Sen. Barack Obama for staying on the sidelines.

“I've never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I'm not going to stop now,” McCain told a rally in Columbus, Ohio. “Sen. Obama took a very different approach to the crisis our country faced. At first he didn't want to get involved. Then he was monitoring the situation.”
McCain, grinning, flashed a sarcastic thumbs up.

“That's not leadership. That's watching from the sidelines,” he added to cheers and applause.

Wisely, in retrospect, McCain initially had been more modest. On Sunday, he said on ABC’s “This Week” that congressional negotiators deserve “great credit” for the bipartisan deal. “"It wasn’t because of me,” McCain said. “They did it themselves.”

But at almost the same time, McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt was saying on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “What Sen. McCain was able to do … was to help get all of the parties to the table. There had been announcements by Senate leaders saying that a deal had been reached earlier in the week. There were no votes for that deal.

“Sen. McCain knew time was short and he came back, he listened and he helped put together the framework of getting everybody to the table, which was necessary to produce a package to avoid a financial catastrophe for this country.”

On Monday morning, McCain campaign communications director Jill Hazelbaker said on Fox News that the deal would not have happened “without Sen. McCain.”

“Sen. McCain interrupted his campaign, suspended his campaign activity to come back to Washington to get Republicans around a table,” Hazelbaker said. “Without Sen. McCain, House Republicans would not have appointed a negotiator, which would not have moved this bill forward.

“It’s really Sen. McCain who got all parties around a table to hammer out a deal that hopefully is in the best interests of the American taxpayer.”

After the vote, commentators were harsh. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said: “He’s like a cavalry commander who said ‘Charge!’ and the Republicans went into retreat.”




Edited 9/29/2008 4:59 pm ET by niteowl08

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2001
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 6:14pm

Nancy Pelosi - not known for her leadership ability having "led" the least effective/least productive

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-03-2008
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 6:17pm

I believe that 95 Democrats also voted against the bill.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2003
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 6:19pm

"Hmmmmm.....are there any OTHER candidates we can choose from?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2008
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 6:19pm

((I agree, McCain and Obama have hijacked this vote and made it campaign fodder. Shame of both of them. ))

I disagree. Barack talked to the democrats, but told McCain he was going to stay out of it. Then, McCain had Bush43 call Barack to DC. Stupid for McCain, especially since he only got a photo op with his lame duck pres.

Oh, and the 95 democrats, along with 150+ GOPers probably didn't like the power given to Paulson.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2006
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 6:21pm

Here's what I'm wondering...is it even McCain's or Obama's place to deal with the House when they are both in the Senate?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 6:22pm
You have hit on the essence of this all.

Sopal

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-03-2008
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 6:26pm

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-15-2008
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 6:33pm

Please listen to the Republican leadership on this issue.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-15-2008
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 6:37pm

Here's what I'm wondering...is it even McCain's or Obama's place to deal with the House when they are both in the Senate?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 7:10pm

<Why do you think 95 Dem's voted against this legislation?

Sopal

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