did John McCain run a clean campaign

[DesertFlower]

because he didn't bring up reverend wright? i say "no".

[mkultra]

1. counting the frozen retard or not?

[DesertFlower]

3. don't know what you mean.

i think his campaign was sleazy. he and palin brought up bill ayers constantly. i will never forgive john mccain no matter how many times he goes on letterman and acts like a nice guy.

[alsame]

10. Oh, and how could I forget the 'sex ed' ad? It oozed sleaze. n/t

[DesertFlower]

11. yes. it did. nt

[mkultra]

12. he ran a clean campaign for a republican

which deserves some recognition, but it didn't really last long since the bigots and hate-mongers where just bursting at the seems to let their light shine.

[snowbear]

16. Are you SERIOUS !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

.
.

Or as the Freepers would say it. "OMG Our you Series?"



You think that dirtbag "Deserves recognition" !?!?!?!?!?

Sheezuz. I cannot believe anyone ------ ANYONE ----- would come to the conclusion that you just did.

He ran as clean of a campaign as the slaughter going on behind our disgraced governor as she pardoned the turkey in Wasilla.

Deserves recognition my ass!!

[mkultra]

18. well, im refering only to McCain himself

If you take Palin out of the mix, i think you will see that he seemed to try and back down off the bullshit some. The screeching noise coming out of Palin's mouth was as bad as Bush if not worse.

[sohndrsmith]

31. It was HIS campaign. Enough said. n/t

[mkultra]

35. lol, well far be it for me to defend McCain

it was his campaign and he should have exercised some control. Im just saying that i think he was a weak player in a system that overran him. I think he tried to run a clean campaign and his own actions, weren't that bad.


Palin, Limbaugh, GOP , and the am dial went the usual way though.

[Raschel]

36. But McCain said "that one". Can't blame that on his campaign people.

[mkultra]

38. sure, like i said, he ran a clean campaign for a republican

it certainly wasn't plainly clean.

[benddem]

2. He let

what's her name go on about "palling around with terrorists" that ain't clean.

[DesertFlower]

6. exactly.

he also brought ayers up during the debate and said obama needed to explain the relationship.

[uponit7771]

24. nope

[alsame]

4. No. Besides, I saw Wright ads every 10 minutes for the last week

before the election. Yeah, I know, it was a 527, but I didn't hear McCain condemn the ads.

And the venom that Palin and her crowds were spewing was in no way 'clean'.

And I will never forget how the RNC decided to sue Obama for his Hawaii trip just hours before it was annouced that his grandmother had passed.

I think McCain ran one of the more repulsive campaigns I've ever seen (I know 72 was really bad, but I was very young and don't remember much).

[Diamonique]

5. No. He didn't bring up Wright, but he sure threw lots of other nasty and stupid stuff at Obama.

[DesertFlower]

7. so why is he getting

all this praise because he "allegedly" ran a clean campaign?

[elkston]

8. Because certain white people want to get credit for not being racist ...

when they COULD HAVE BEEN. Well, guess what? Some people treat others as they would like to be treated no matter what. They don't expect accolades - just the same degree of human deceny.

[FrenchieCat]

9. John McCain ran a dirty campaign.....

and as SNL lampooned in the skit where he was in the sound booth, he approved the messages.

Period.

[peace13]

13. Someone brought up Rev Wright. Who was it?

because all I heard was RW, RW. In Ohio I think that RW was battered and bruised before McCain came into the picture but hey who's watching?

[Political Tiger]

14. No Way, No How!

McSHAME ran one of these sleaziest campaigns ever as far as I am concerned. Not bringing up Wright doesn't let him off the hook for all the other hateful rhetoric he and PaLIEn engaged in.

[mwei924]

15. They did bring up Wright.

He just let others do his dirty work.

[zulchzulu]

17. McCain ran a despicable, McCarthyistic, jingoistic campaign

I never thought Bob Dole's campaign in 1996 would be topped as a shitty campaign.

Hopefully, McCain will somehow end his final chapter with some level of decency. Oddly, I wish him well.

[DesertFlower]

32. you're kind.

he's my senator and i will always hate him.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

44. What was so bad about Dole in 96? I thought 2004 and Swift Boats was EASILY the worst I'd seen, up

until this year with all the "terrorist!" "kill him!" shit from McCain/Palin, which is now by FAR the worst, in my mind.

I remember 96 as being kind of benign, but perhaps Dole getting his ass stomped just made me forget anything about his campaign.

[Lugnut]

19. Absolutely not.

Just because Michelle Barnard says he did doesn't make it so.

[firedupdem]

20. She's a dumb ass...I scared my poor dog yelling at that stupid

woman!

[Lugnut]

23. She makes my blood boil.

I feat for my TV when she's on Countdown.

[firedupdem]

25. What an idiot! I hate to see people the same brown color I am

defending these fuckers that have no love for black people, gay people, working people and the list goes on. She's disgusting!

[DesertFlower]

33. did you notice

how many african american republicans have popped up in the media since obama decided to run? african american republicans are like jewish and gay republicans. it doesn't make sense.

[firedupdem]

34. exactly...they couldn't offer me enough money...as broke as I am

I couldn't sit on tv and defend those assholes! You know there are maybe 5 black republicans in this country and 200 black republican strategists! LOL!

[AllentownJake]

21. He didn't do it because it wouldn't have worked

not because he had some sense of honor.

[FrenchieCat]

26. But it WAS Done.....at the very end, for like 6 days......on cable....

over and over again.

But yeah, it didn't work, and he knows, it would have made him look even worse, since he had pledged over and over again that he wouldn't do it (guess that was a perfect way to keep reminding us of the fact that there was a Rev. Wright!)

[Lugnut]

29. That's what I remember.

People like Michelle Barnard think they can re-write history.

[IndianaJohn]

22. R U Kidding?

Not a day went by that I didn't think he was running a dirty campaign.

[political_Dem]

27. Far from it. McCain ran a campaign so dirty that it makes the underground sewers almost sanitary.

[Cha]

28. Fuck no.

Fucking sleazeball with no sense of propriety.

[sohndrsmith]

30. Not only did he NOT run a clean campaign by any stretch of the imagination,

but he couldn't even control, manage or much less LEAD it in any way. He was at the helm and he had no idea how to steer or command his crew so that it was functional.

Heck, he couldn't handle a class of 3rd graders who are a little more advanced (cognitively speaking) than his running mate - and he only had one of those...

He did a few things right - very few. Okay maybe one. I think. But the notion of a clean campaign is rhetorical one at best. I find it hard to see a valid defense for it...

[Vinca]

37. I heard Michelle Bernard on MSNBC talking about McCain's

"honorable" campaign. What was honorable about accusing the guy of "not being one of us" and "palling around with terrorists," etc. I hate it when they rewrite history.

[saltpoint]

39. McCain and his staff ran one of the most feeble campaigns in modern

political history.

Giuliani, IMO, takes the cake for Worst Campaign Ever in a Primary Season.

But once McCain secured the nom, the first big story was, "How in God's name did John McCain manage to survive to become the Republican nominee?" Even in a weak field, McCain seemed far less effective than Huck or Willard.

-- and shortly after that and especially from St. Paul forward, McCain and his staff ran a piss-poor excuse for a campaign, comprised as it was of smears on his opponent's character and background. His ads distorted character instead of advancing a point of view on issues of concern to voters. It took something purposeful and noble and cheapened it.

It was disgusting.

If you aren't maverick enough to lend some dignity and clarity to the process, you deserve to get your worthless butt kicked across almost every demographic group.

McCain was out-classed and out-matched from the very beginning, and on election night, he got the ragged stocking he worked so hard to fill with coal.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

40. "Who IS Barack Obama" "Palling around with terrorists" FUCK NO.

[Overseas]

41. No. Yes he was cute on Letterman the other night, but no

he certainly didn't run a clean campaign. Letting a crackpot stir up crowds declaring Obama a friend of terrorists when PROMINENT REPUBLICAN DONORS THE ANNENBERG FAMILY HAD FUNDED AYERS PROJECTS for millions of dollars already is not what I call fair or clean.

If we had diverse media ownership, and not mega conglomerates in Republican hands, several pundits would surely have asked that question-- Are you saying that the Annenberg Family are supporters of a terrorist? Did the many prominent Republicans who received Annenberg money return all those funds?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

42. NO

While it might not have been Bush/Cheney 2004 bad it was still pretty dirty, particularly with McCain's "Pitbull-with-lipstick" running around purposefully riling up crowds against Obama all, seemingly without her batting an eye. I think McCain tried to dial things back a little bit when things really got out of hand and people started yelling "kill him" at their rallies but then he got really nasty and smeared Obama badly at the last Presidential debate which IMHO undercut any real genuine effort to improve the level of discourse in the campaign. I'm frankly amazed that Obama was able to keep his cool with everything going on. I know he "had" to but I'm not sure I would've handled it quite as well. Mostly, though, McCain's campaign was just pretty stupid and poorly managed. Had a more moderate John McCain v.2000 ran and ran a cleaner campaign the race would've been a little closer IMHO but, ultimately, this was Obama's year.

[chrisa]

43. He did bring up Wright...

At a moment of desperation at the end of his campaign. It was too late.

[mr1956]

45. No

John McCain approved his messages therefore he should take credit for the tone they set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0xzsogzAk