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PRESIDENTIAL WATCH
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(caricatures by
Linda Eddy)
Friday, Sept. 12, 2008
GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts
McCain, Obama commemorate 9/11 in NYC
Recalling
the nation's unity in a time of peril seven years ago, presidential
candidates John McCain and Barack Obama placed their partisan contest
on hold Thursday and spoke as one in honoring of the victims of the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Obama and McCain were making ground zero in New York their common ground, joining in homage to the dead from the fallen Twin Towers and the hijacked planes flown into them.
Beforehand, McCain spoke briefly at a simple ceremony in remote, rural western Pennsylvania, held on a large hilly field close to where United Airlines Flight 93, the third of four airliners commandeered by terrorists, crashed. Investigators believe some of the 40 passengers and crew rushed the cockpit and thwarted terrorists' plans to use that plane as a weapon like the ones that hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon. All aboard all planes died.
The Arizona senator said those on the flight might have saved his own life, as some believe the terrorists wanted to slam that plane into the U.S. Capitol. He said the only way to thank those who died on the flight is to "be as good an American as they were."
McCain offers Obama a Cabinet post
When asked by Time's Rick Stengel, moderating the 9/11 anniversary forum on national service here at Columbia University in uptown New York city, whether he would give Barack Obama a cabinet job, he responded that he would.
"Governor Schwarzenegger has made the service czar a cabinet-level
appointment," moderator Rick Stengel said. "Would you, as president, do the
same and would you name Senator Obama to your cabinet for National Service?"
McCain paused for a beat before replying with a smile: "Yes!"
New Obama ad mocks McCain as computer illiterate
John McCain is mocked as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate in a television commercial out Friday from Barack Obama as the Democrat begins his sharpest barrage yet on McCain's long Washington career.
The new fighting spirit comes as McCain has been gaining in the polls and some Democrats have been expressing concern the Obama campaign has not been aggressive enough. Obama's campaign says the escalation will involve advertising and pushes made by the candidate, running mate Joe Biden and other surrogates across the country.
"Today is the first day of the rest of the campaign," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe says in a campaign strategy memo. "We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people."
... The newest ad showcasing their hard line includes unflattering footage of McCain at a hearing in the early '80s, wearing giant glasses and an out-of-style suit, interspersed with shots of a disco ball, a clunky phone, an outdated computer and a Rubix Cube.
"1982, John McCain goes to Washington," an announcer says over chirpy elevator music. "Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn't.
Battle for Congress suddenly looks competitive
A potential shift in fortunes for the Republicans in Congress is seen in the latest USA Today/Gallup survey, with the Democrats now leading the Republicans by just 3 percentage points, 48% to 45%, in voters' "generic ballot" preferences for Congress. This is down from consistent double-digit Democratic leads seen on this measure over the past year.
Dems on Capitol Hill fear Obama fallout
Democratic jitters about the US presidential race have spread to Capitol Hill, where some members of Congress are worried that Barack Obama’s faltering campaign could hurt their chances of re-election.
Party leaders have been hoping to strengthen Democratic control of the House and Senate in November, but John McCain’s jump in the polls has stoked fears of a Republican resurgence.
THE CANDIDATES:
John McCain & Sarah Palin... today's headlines with excerpts
McCain gets grilled on The View
John
McCain's "straight talk" rep took some hits Friday from the ladies of
"The View."
McCain grew defensive when Barbara Walters challenged the reformer credentials of his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), noting that Palin had gobbled up earmarks for her state.
"Not as governor she didn't," McCain said on the ABC-TV daytime program. But government watchdog groups charge that Palin has sought at least $200 million in federal earmarks since becoming governor in 2006...
GIBSON: Governor, let me start by asking you a
question
that I asked John McCain about you, and it is really the central
question. Can you look the country in the eye and say "I have the
experience and I have the ability to be not just vice president, but
perhaps president of the United States of America?"
PALIN: I do, Charlie, and on January 20, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to serve this country, will be ready. I'm ready.
Palin takes hard line on national security, softens stance on global warming
"Do you still believe that global warming is not man made?" Gibson asked Palin.
"I believe that man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming, climate change. Here in Alaska, the only arctic state in our Union, of course, we see the effects of climate change more so than any other area with ice pack melting. Regardless though of the reason for climate change, whether it's entirely, wholly caused by man's activities or is part of the cyclical nature of our planet -- the warming and the cooling trends -- regardless of that, John McCain and I agree that we gotta do something about it and we have to make sure that we're doing all we can to cut down on pollution."
Barack Obama & Joe Biden... today's headlines with excerpts'
Bill Clinton predicts Obama will win handily
"I
predict that Sen. Obama will win and win pretty
handily," said Clinton, who took his wife's primary loss
to Obama particularly hard.
"There you go. You can take it from the President of the United States. He knows a little something about politics," Obama chimed in.
Clinton, like his wife, Hillary Clinton, said he will be doing a "substantial number of things" for Obama in the coming weeks. He's set to stump in Florida on the Democratic nominee's behalf later this month.
Biden living up to his gaffe-prone reputation
A
day on the campaign trail without some cringe-inducing
gaffe is a rare blessing. He has not been too
blessed lately.
Just this week, he mused that Senator Barack Obama might have been better off with Hillary Rodham Clinton as his running mate.
"Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America," Biden said Wednesday in Nashua, New Hampshire. "Quite frankly it might have been a better pick than me."
Earlier in the week, in Columbia, Missouri, Biden urged a paraplegic state official to stand up to be recognized.
"Chuck, stand up, let the people see you," Biden shouted to State Senator Chuck Graham, before realizing, to his horror, that Graham uses a wheelchair. "Oh, God love ya," Biden said. "What am I talking about?"
Polls showing John McCain tied or even
ahead of Barack Obama are stirring angst and
second-guessing among some of the Democratic Party’s
most experienced operatives, who worry that Obama
squandered opportunities over the summer and may still
be underestimating his challenges this fall.
“It’s more than an increased anxiety,” said Doug Schoen, who worked as one of Bill Clinton’s lead pollsters during his 1996 reelection and has worked for both Democrats and independents in recent years. “It’s a palpable frustration. Deep-seated unease in the sense that the message has gotten away from them.”
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