McCain stoops even lower, accuses Obama of ‘forgetting’ Latin America

August 3, 2008

Two weeks ago, before Barack Obama had even left for his visits to the Middle East and Europe, John McCain had shifted his travel-agent-like attacks. While McCain initially bashed Obama for not having spent enough time in Iraq, by mid-July, McCain was bashing Obama for not having spent time in Latin America.

In a speech to the National Council of La Raza, a leading advocacy group for Hispanic Americans, McCain said, “[W]hile it is surely not my intention to become my opponent’s scheduler, I hope Sen. Obama soon visits some of the other countries of the Americas for the first time.”

Yesterday, the latest in a series of attack videos from the McCain gang picks up on this same criticism. Here’s the script (via TPM):

CHYRON: The World According To Barack Obama

OBAMA: Tonight I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen; a proud citizen of the United States and a fellow citizen of the world.

CHYRON: But Entire Nations Were Forgotten!

OBAMA: France, Berlin, Hamburg, Britain, Kandahar, London, Rwanda, Iran, Bangladesh…

CHYRON: Where Was Latin America Left?

OBAMA: Karachi, Beijing, the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Paris, Bali, Russia, Chad, Zimbabwe…

CHYRON: And Latinos?

OBAMA: Afghanistan, Somalia, Darfur, Belfast, South Africa, Madrid, Europe, Burma, Amman…

CHYRON: Maybe He Forget About Us?

MCCAIN: I’m John McCain and I approve this message.

The ad is being in run in English and Spanish.

McCain seems to be working rather aggressively to be even more inane with each passing day. He told reporters Friday that he’s certain his campaign isn’t “negative in the slightest.” The fact that he was able to say this with a straight face not only raises questions about his elusive integrity, but his twisted frame of mind.

If you watch this new video, you’ll see that the McCain campaign grabs a bunch of references to foreign nations Obama made in his speech in Berlin recently, rearranges the order, and strips them of their context. The point, apparently, is that unless Obama mentions Latin American countries, he must not care about Latin American people.

But this is insane. “The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil,” Obama said. Did he “forget” about Latin America? No, it just wouldn’t have made any sense. “Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris,” Obama said. Does this mean Obama “forgot” about Latin America? Again, no. “The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all,” Obama said. You see where I’m going with this.

Obama didn’t mention Australia, either. Does this mean Obama holds some kind of anti-Aussie animus? Maybe in the bizarre minds of McCain and his thug-like staff, but for grown-ups, the attack is just silly.

Over at Daily Kos, Kagro X asks a very good question of the Sunday gasbags: “Let’s not forget that the media reached a consensus this week: John McCain’s a dishonest campaigner. You’re gonna talk about that, right? Right?”
The piece is replete with examples here:http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/2/173152/6433/986/561425

  • But . . . But . . . McAin’t saved the hostages down in Columbia, didn’t he? that proves that he knows McAin’t knows all, sees all, and respects all in Central and South America. Except Cuba. He hates Cuba (why? tradition). Oh, yeah. He also hates Venezuela (why? their evil president wants oil profits to stay in Venezuela, not in the pockets of Bushes cronies).

    This advert is amazing. Does he have 13 and 14 year olds writing his adverts?

    Remember, folks. You can tell a lot about what kind of a President a candidate will be by looking at who he chooses as campaign managers, and how much control and supervision he maintains over the campaign. McAin’t is George W. Bush without the management experience.

  • So, the next time McLame gives a speech, if he even MENTIONS Mexico, or ANY other country, we can rightfully bash him for NOT mentioning one single country in the world, right? (Political speeches might get a little long-winded if the candidates have to rattle off 300+ countries..)

  • Citizen of the world. That doesn’t include Latin America? Does Obama need to start wearing a “banana” lapel pin?

    If McCain wastes his campaign donor resources on shit like this, what will he do with our tax dollars?

  • Does this mean Obama holds some kind of anti-Aussie animus?

    “Hello, I’m John McCain, wife of Cindy. You may call me the Shrimp on the Barbie.”

  • Latin America is a problem thanks to George Bush. They don’t like the Iraq war and they really don’t like torture rationalizations. Finally many are not all that thrilled about free trade as a way to sell water rights to Bechtel. What I find interesting about McCain is he seems to be unaware of the problems and certainly offers no solutions.

  • This advert is amazing. Does he have 13 and 14 year olds writing his adverts? This advert is amazing.

    No, but he has them covering his campaign — and they’ll tell us what this all means, and why it’s good for McCain, later on this morning…

  • …you’d think that after the success Obama had in the Middle East and Europe, McCain’s people would have the sense to back off from attacks of this sort. What Obama really needs is to start some attacks on McCain and stop answering their idiocy.

  • Doesn’t matter, Denise. If necessary McCain’s corpse is going to be dragged across the finish line by the press. A few grand spent on those bar tabs covered, on that shrimp bought in 2000, is going to pay off now. It’ll be the biggest ROI sincve Peter Minuit bought Manhattan for $24.

    Every classic campaign spawns a good movie. 1992 gave us The War Room, 2000 gave us Farenheit 911.

    This go-round, it’s Weekend at Bernie’s

  • Yeah, there he was, jet setting around Europe and Obama didn’t even visit the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. Ditto, Narnia. I’m voting for McCain.

  • I think this presidential campaign is assinine.
    We have never before been, as a country and as citizens, in such dire straits.
    And, yet, the pettiness and low level campaigning of attack/respond/attack/respond on everything except the issues is insulting.
    It’s great for the MSM; it is really bad for the rest of us who still must make a decision.
    Neither candidate impresses me. One is vacuuous; the other is an idol. I do not vote for vacuums or for idols. I wish we had a Truman today. A plain, simple man or woman, who will just work and work hard for this country; no hype, no crap, just a hard working, common sense person who is not infatuated with himself and who is not dumb.
    It has gone downhill since the primaries when there were policy wonk discussions. It is like one big Republican Campaign instead of a 2-party campaign with issues and clearly defined choices.
    If Obama has those clearly defined issues and presents a clearly defined choice, it has gotten lost for many because of all the hype.
    Somebody needs to get back to basics. And for this, the American people are funding the most obscenely outrageous amounts from their hard earned money that should be used for their daily expenses. There is no way I will send my monies to anyone to support this fiasco. I will be doing good to find someone for whom to cast my vote! This is hard, because I no longer am watching cable news. I just cannot stand it anymore.

  • TJ said:
    …I wish we had a Truman today. A plain, simple man or woman, who will just work and work hard for this country; no hype, no crap, just a hard working, common sense person who is not infatuated with himself and who is not dumb…

    Truman might get elected mayor of Independence, Mo., today. With luck, he’d get as far as the House of Representatives. President? Never.
    He was definitely unappreciated in his time. Until G.W. Bush, he held the record for the lowest public opinion of his presidency. It was only in hindsight that Truman’s virtues were appreciated.

  • gordy said:
    …you’d think that after the success Obama had in the Middle East and Europe, McCain’s people would have the sense to back off from attacks of this sort. What Obama really needs is to start some attacks on McCain and stop answering their idiocy.

    Obama still doesn’t understand — deep down in his gut — how insipid, ignorant and vain the “jounalists” covering the campaign are. Obama doesn’t seem to grasp that facts, logic and honesty are only words to them.

    The Republicans understand. They know that they can offer spin, innuendo and outright lies and the corporate-controlled media will report it all as gospel. Actually checking facts is too much like hard work. “Journalists” won’t call a politician a liar, no matter how outrageous the lie, because they are afraid of losing the “access” that might get them an “exclusive” story one day down the road.” And when a lie is actually demonstrated, irrefutably, to be false the media will downplay the story, if they report it at all, because it makes them look stupid for reporting the lie in the first place.

    gordy’s right, Obama needs to start shaping the debate. Obama needs to make clear, bumper sticker sound bites that are provocative enough to get on the air but difficult for the corporate-controlled media to distort. For example:

    — John McCain is lying to the American people when he says opening new areas offshore for drilling will lower gas prices. Even the Bush administration says that’s not so. John McCain is hoping the American people are stupid.

    — There are 90 thousand acres of offshore leases already there that aren’t being drilled. Let’s make the oil companies use what they have before we give them the waters near beaches and wildlife areas to drill in.

    — John McCain now wants me to go to Latin American but he still can’t be bothered to back to Washington to introduce the legislation needed to implement his so-called “gas tax holiday”. The summer is two thirds over. It looks like John McCain would rather talk about why I’m to blame than actually do anything himself.

    Obama should save the soaring rhetoric for his inaugural address. For now he should forget nuance. What works in a campaign today is:

    Him bad.
    Me good.
    Him soft on terrorists.
    Him not good American.

  • I’m watching and reading all I can, with the intent of making an informed decision next November. My method includes reading several versions of the same event, claim, or attack, and deciding for myself where the truth (or the closest to it) lies. It seems quite clear to me that a vote for McCain is a vote for “the same”, just as his opponent claims. Beyond bigotry or greed, I can’t imagine why anyone would support that silly old man. (oh God, I played the Alzheimer’s card. My apologies to all dinosaurs and political has-beens.)

  • If either McCain or Obama convinces me to vote against the other I should be able to, directly and honestly. The ballot needs to include a NO column and the highest net yes wins so I could do that if that’s my view. Why do I have to vote for a trasher to vote against a trashee. Many comments from those who know more who they oppose than who they support but have no way to express that on a Yes only ballot…a repression of freedom of expression that drives many to not vote at all. The result would be a far more honest reflection of voter sentiment with information beneficial to all, winners, losers as well as the public at large.

  • Beyond bigotry or greed, I can’t imagine why anyone would support that silly old man.

    Bigotry and greed are perfectly adequate support for the lion’s share of a governing coalition. Throw in abject terror, and you’ve got the White House and both Houses of Congress. In evidence I offer the US, from 2002 to 2006.

    On a bet between the national id, and the national superego, take the id and give the points.

  • Those saying they want to find someone other than McCain or Obama to vote for are just avoiding the work of figuring out which one would be better for America. They also underestimate these two. I think Jerry at 11:02 has it figured out right in terms of how to sort this out. You can’t rely on the news or any one source. You have to look at a variety of places and sort it out. You might also use your common sense. What sounds stupid, likely is stupid or is being passed off by one party as what the other party said when in fact it did not. Much as this ad mentioned in this blog. It is, in my view, pretty easy to make a choice. I don’t think either candidate is vacuous or an idol as some have posted here. I think they are both capable and smart men. The difference is that one has better perspective, youth, common sense and an agenda for America in mind. The other is thinking about winning the Presidency to continue the existing legacy. I encourage you all to make a considered opinion that is your own. Not the one being touted or fabricated by the parties or the media. I am confident if all right thinking Americans do this, the outcome is pretty clear already.

  • And Dijibouti, what about them? And Transylvania, and what about Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Iceland, let me see, are there not over 250 countries – my this is going to make it a pretty boring speech. And the religions, don’t we have to give fair play to them all – what about all the languages in the world, we need to mention them all too right? Geez, this is going to be a speech that will last to November election. Oh right that is the plan, keep Obama in Germany, giving a speech for months, that wha, he is neutralized. Stupid, stupid and stupider….

  • As far as hitting back at McCain, me thinks McCain in the end will shoot himself, he is already doing that now. Obama will indeed not back away from going negative on the right stuff, when necessary. It will be like Hillary, when she started to throw the kitchen sink, then Obama hit back aggressively and on target so he had to do it minimally, because he is taking the high road. McCain, unlike Hillary, has said he will run a civil campaign, so he is more vulnerable when he is doing stuff like this ad, and the ad about Paris and Britney, which included the non existent electricity tax. The list will grow and McCain’s credibility will shrink.

  • Paul Stewart:
    Congrats for getting it right. We think back to the sheer awfulness of Hillary’s campaign, and how she defeated herself, without realizing that the reason it WAS so awful was because Obama’s ‘high road’ stance showed it to be so. If he’d run the ads he could have against her, we’d have seen them as ‘the same’ and might be wondering what Candidate Clinton would be doing in the election. Fortunately, Obama’s strategy saved us from that, as certainly as it will save us from President McCain.

  • Obama needs to start shaping the debate.

    End of story.
    If he doesn’t, he’ll lose. It’s becoming alarmingly clear.

  • huh.

    . . . i know I left it right there with the car keys. . .

    HONEY. . . have you seen my Latin America?
    Yes, I know it isn’t your job to keep track of it. But I can’t seem to find it anywhere. I must have forgotten it. . .

    I’ll be out in the garage – maybe I left it in the car. I wish it were bigger, Asia or Rush Limbaugh. I never have this problem with them. *grumble grumble*

    [dunno about you, but this strikes me as much more likely to be McCain than Obama. Except he seems to call his wife something other than honey.]

  • Obama didn’t mention Australia, either. Does this mean Obama holds some kind of anti-Aussie animus?

    If their voting bloc had been big enough… yes, it would have.

    Senor McCain habla caca de la vaca.

  • Excellent article. McCain’s silly, twisted comments and accusations make no sense. I can hardly wait to see McCain standing beside Obama in a town hall or other national debate. I think all American voters, even those who are misguided and wrongly believe that Obama is a Muslim which of course he is NOT, will be able to see through McCain’s undesirable character, his low intelligence, his bad temper, his lack of sense of fairness, his muddled thinking, his aging and confused mind, his silly grin, during the debate. I am sure Obama will do very well. I hope to see a landslide in the November vote in favor of Obama. Currently, I believe in Canada, the vote for Obama is 90% as opposed to 10% for McCain. Worldwide, it is 88% for Obama and 12% for McCain. Wake up America, see the presidential candidates as they really are – their ability to communicate and to judge, their potential, their knowledge base, their character within. Choose wisely.

  • And if I want to vote against one I shouldn’t have to vote for the other…as many claim they will do. The ballot needs a NO column and the highest net yes wins. An honest vote, an honest result. What’s wrong with that?

    • Comments are closed.