Monday, April 7, 2008

Presidential Nannying

One thing is clear in this election cycle, trying to reign in all outrageous comments by surrogates and affiliates is becoming a monumental effort on the part of all the Presidential wanna-be's.

In the most recent case, Ed Schultz, a liberal talk radio host, called John McCain a "warmonger" in a warm-up to an Obama event. Obama, as usual and in the tradition of his Jeremiah Wright problem, claimed he didn't hear the comment. (He was probably in the bathroom or something "convenient" like that) Anyway, it is unclear as to whether or not he would have done anything about it, even if he did hear it. Since that comment, John McCain asked for Obama to condemn it in an effort to keep things focused on the issues and to stop the personal attacks. Again, in the tradition of the Jeremiah Wright scandal, an Obama spokesperson didn't condemn Ed Schultz directly. Instead, as to not upset his left-wing base, the spokesperson said that McCain is not a warmonger; but nothing was said about Ed Schultz, directly. I guess Obama couldn't disavow Ed Schultz anymore than he could disavow his own Grandmother! You know, the all-occasion Grandma defense!

So far this year, all three of the candidates have had to act as a "nanny" more than once this year. Of particular note, each of the 3 candidates had these significant events:
  1. John McCain has had to answer for Bill Cunningham, a right wing talk show host who made several comments about Barack Obama's middle name of Hussein.
  2. Hillary had to apologize for a comment by Geraldine Ferraro that Obama wouldn't be doing as well if he wasn't Black.
  3. Finally, Obama has had to retreat on his adviser, Samantha Power, for her calling Hillary Clinton a "monster". And, the list goes on and is sure to get longer as these campaigns get more heated in the Fall.

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