McCain rallies start in referring to Obama as Barack Hussein Obama.
Late Update: We’re here at TPM World HQ listening to McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds be interviewed by Andrea Mitchell. And the subtext of even Mitchell’s questions seem to be that McCain is pretty much wall-to-wall sleaze at this point. One interesting thing to consider is that we may be on the verge of seeing McCain not only lose the presidency but his entire reputation as well. He’ll lose everything but the houses and the fancy lifestyle. Joe Klein has a run-down on all McCain’s latest sleaze.
In a little-noticed comment at a Virginia rally over the weekend, John McCain’s brother goofed and said that if elected McCain would chase Osama Bin Laden across international borders — even though McCain has criticized Obama for saying he would do the same thing.
McCain Camp: Keating Five Didn’t Really Happen.
Late Update: Unfortunately for McCain, we’re living in the Google era.
We’ll have the video shortly, but John McCain himself just outlined the broad themes of the remainder of his campaign: Obama is a double-talking, not-to-be-trusted Chicago politician with a mysterious past who came out of nowhere.
Whatever it takes.
Did John McCain really just say that Barack Obama gets “touchy” and “angry” whenever he gets questioned on his credentials or policies? I know that projection is a common psychological phenomenon, especially for those who find themselves in desperate situations. But for a set piece speech that must mean it’s afflicted McCain’s entire campaign.
I mean, you remember McCain’s boil over performance at the Des Moines Register editorial board last week ..
And now a member of the paper’s editorial board, who I assume was in the room, is asking whether McCain is just too touchy and unstable to be a safe person to have as president.
From the weekend column …
John McCain is angry.
You can feel it in the clenched muscles in his throat, the narrowing of his eyes, the controlled tone with which he handles a question he doesn’t like, as if struggling to contain something that might spill out. We’ve seen that body language on TV. But around a Des Moines Register table Tuesday, the anger and tension were palpable. And unsettling.
Eeesh …
I think the lesson is that it’s hard to take potshots about the other guy being ‘angry’ when you’re in the midst of having your own on-air breakdown with fifty years of anger and resentment boiling to the surface.
Late Update: TPM Reader NB chimes in …
What a weird spectacle McCain’s speech was this afternoon. It was as though McCain went out of the way to take every criticism that has come his way and attribute it to Barack Obama. In addition to being jarringly at odds with reality, it also seemed to undermine the larger questions that the campaign seems to want to be raising.
DC Circuit puts entire congressional investigation into U.S. Attorney firings on hold until after the election and swearing in of new Congress and President.
Al Franken seems to be having some luck tying Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) to Sen. McCain’s health care plan. Sounds like something other senate candidates might try.
Here’s Coleman’s spokesman Luke Friedrich repeated ducking questions about whether his boss supports or opposes McCain’s plan …
Tom Frank joins us at TPMCafé for a book club discussion on his latest, The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. Also discussing: Chris Hayes, Dean Baker, Greg Anrig and Danielle Brian.
With 106 days to go, it’s roundly agreed we’re living in a corrupt seething mess. Tom Frank takes a look at how we got here.