NYT: GOP concern after McCain's rough week

by RayBanBro66 | October 12, 2008 at 04:34 am | 45 views | add comment | 0 recommendations

Concern in GOP after rough week for McCain They urge campaign to settle on clear message to use against Obama

After a turbulent week that included disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin and signs that Senator John McCain was struggling to strike the right tone for his campaign, Republican leaders said Saturday that they were worried Mr. McCain was heading for defeat unless he brought stability to his presidential candidacy and settled on a clear message to counter Senator Barack Obama.

Again and again, party leaders said in interviews that while they still believed that Mr. McCain could win over voters in the next 30 days, they were concerned that he and his advisers seemed to be adrift in dealing with an extraordinarily challenging political battleground and a crisis on Wall Street.

The expressions of concern came after a particularly difficult week for Mr. McCain. On Friday night, new questions arose about his choice of Ms. Palin as his running mate after an investigation by the Alaska Legislature concluded that she had abused her power in trying to orchestrate the firing of her former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

“I think you’re seeing a turning point,” said Saul Anuzis, the Republican chairman in Michigan, where Mr. McCain has decided to stop campaigning. “You’re starting to feel real frustration because we are running out of time. Our message, the campaign’s message, isn’t connecting.”

It is interesting to note that the Obama camp is sticking to the issues in the televised ads. And although it's the nature of politics to attack your opponent, his brief attacks have been mostly constructive criticism of the McCain campaign and he quickly gets back to the issues to offer a proposed solution.

Just about every televised ad by McCain seems like a personal attack against Obama, and I haven't seen too many ads within the past week by McCain that sticks to the issues affecting us.

I can't speak for all "independent" undecided voters, but with the world financial crisis we're in, I would prefer to hear some proposed solutions to the problem rather than lengthy attack ads. They personally turn me off .