McCain advance teams need a little work
John McCain visited Gee’s Bend, Alabama, yesterday, in order to take a ferry ride across the Alabama river. It was a nice, little photo-op on a key piece of local infrastructure. As a Republican National Committee spokesperson said, “The ferry he will be riding is very important to that community. It’s both a good and terrible symbol. It’s good that it now exists, but it’s terrible it took so long to build it.”
The message started to fall apart, however, when we learned that Gee’s Bend’s ferry was paid for by a congressional earmark. If McCain had his way, the “very important” ferry wouldn’t be there. Oops.
It’s a reminder that McCain’s presidential campaign staff is still a little sloppy. We got another example today when the senator visited Youngstown, Ohio.
Standing before a nearly shuttered factory pocked with broken windows, John McCain on Tuesday urged Americans to reject the “siren song of protectionism” and embrace a future of free trade.
He used his own recent political fortunes — a dramatic fade followed by an unexpected comeback to secure the Republican presidential nomination — to illustrate that depressed Rust Belt cities such as Youngstown can have bright futures.
“A person learns along the way that if you hold on — if you don’t quit no matter what the odds — sometimes life will surprise you,” McCain said.
Did the campaign not appreciate how jarring the juxtaposition would be? He’s talking about the benefits of existing trade policy in front of a factory that’s closing after the implementation of existing trade policy. He’s a multi-millionaire telling factory workers to “hold on” and wait for “surprises,” apparently not aware of the fact that those are the last five employees of a factory that had more than 100 employees a few years ago.
Still, to preach the virtues of free trade in front of a failing plant is a bold move even for a candidate who prides himself on “straight talk,” and who lost the Michigan Republican primary in part because he promised workers there that their “jobs aren’t coming back.”
Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have railed against free trade in their primary, and have promised to re-examine the wisdom of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“Protectionism is a disaster for the economy,” said Steve Schmidt, a McCain adviser. “McCain’s here to talk about hope for the future, not to bring false hope.”
“Hope for the future”? In front of a “nearly shuttered factory pocked with broken windows”? McCain sees a comparison between Youngstown’s plight and that of his own presidential campaign?
I’ve heard rumors that McCain’s a great campaigner. The evidence of this remains thin.
McCain’s right. All those workers need to do is go for a relaxing vacation at one of the eight homes they got when they married their billionaire second wife, and just wait for things to get better.
McCain’s economic policy seems to be “Let them eat community college.”
While McCain spokesman Mark Salter called the Washington Post piece about his candidate’s temper “99% fiction,” one national Republican leader has already taken great pains to back up its account. Mitt Romney, the man who would be John McCain’s running mate, in January decried “the McCain way” of uncontrolled fury towards friends and foes alike.
For the details, see:
“VP Hopeful Mitt Romney Attacked McCain’s Temper.”
the Democrats need to be more in favor of free trade.
Right now, we are importing tons of stuff from China.
Where is the free trade agreement with China?
If all these free trade agreements are so bad then how come we still are losing tons of jobs to China?
“A person learns along the way that if you hold on — if you don’t quit no matter what the odds — sometimes life will surprise you,”
I wonder what kind of surprises that McCain was thinking of…These were the ones that came off the top of my head:
1) Obvious one – Fall in love and marry a extremely wealthy heiress to.
2) Win big at Powerball
3) Get drafted….gotta keep the troop levels up for the 100+ year war in Iraq
4) Get labeled as a terrorist and shipped off to Gitmo
Surprises come in many different forms…not all of them good
McCain was just doing his best Barbara Bush in Youngstown.
Cant we hire the guys who did the old MTV “Pop-Up Videos” to make an attack ad out of the footage of McCain in Youngstown? Or the writers for Colbert’s “The Word”? Cant you just see the little balloons with “Last 5 Employees out of 100” and “Holding On Easier When Holding On to a Rich Heiress” etc.
Who said political ads all have to be so serious?
He means “hang in there and eventually your top two competitors will drop out and become your flunkies.” So watch out you other Rust Belt wannabes, you may be forced to drop out of the rat race entirely so that Youngstown can win.
I think the news media has trained the populace to hear the phrase “cutting earmarks” and translate to “slashing the budget”, or “cutting taxes”. Right now, I want to hear about all the earmarks possible. Correct me if I’m wrong, but at least that way it’s congress and not Bush directing the spending.
Reminds me of that Onion article: Bush tells Homeless: Get a Job
If you make less than $200,000 a year, how can you understand the concerns of the middle class?
Gee’s Bend is one of the poorest towns in one of the poorest counties in Alabama, which mean it is near the bottom of the country. McCain and Gov Riley went in and had a cheerleading session, and then McCain tried to buy some votes: According to the local news, he bought 3 quilts for $14,000! I know Gee’s Bend quilts go for alot these days (and the reporter could be off a decimal), but who but a really rich person with money to throw around spends that much on quilts? The truly funny part was, the reporter interviewed on of the quilters and despite prodding from the reporter would not say she was voting for McCain.
neil wilson (4): Here’s the one Clinton signed in 2000. The word “Free” seldom comes up, because China continues to maintain some restrictions. But this treaty is neither the beginning nor the end of relaxing policies.
A tariff is a hidden tax. A sales tax shows up on your store receipt. You can see exactly how much you paid in taxes. When sales tax is too high, you can complain to your district representative or simply vote the incumbent out of office in favor of the candidate who promises to cut the sales tax. With a tariff you don’t even know you are paying it. It can take as much or more out of your dollar than the sales tax, but you don’t ever see it. Some believe that this lack of transparency is tantamount to taxation without representation. We dumped their tea in the Boston harbor and threw the British out when they tried putting an import tariff on tea. Yet now we absorb these hidden tariff duties as if they didn’t exist.