McCain's zinger failed

I think that this dovetails into what Bill (Liberal Oasis) wrote previously about McCain. He is going to have trouble slinging mud at Obama. He is going to have a lot of trouble. I'll try and explain what happened yesterday and I'll try not to mix my metaphors.

In tennis if you have a strong serve you have the advantage. You can ace your opponent. You can smack the ball wide so even if your opponent gets their racket on the ball they are way out of position to make the next shot. Of course, if your serve is weak, you are in trouble.

Yesterday, McCain's zinger was weak. First, he admits that he didn't watch the debate. Okay, if you didn't watch the debate then you need to shut up until have watched it but not McCain. He has to venture out into this fray. He says, "I have some news. Al-Qaeda is in Iraq. Al-Qaeda is called al-Qaeda in Iraq. My friends, if we left, they wouldn't be establishing a base...they would be taking a country. I will not allow that to happen my friends. I will not surrender. I will not surrender to al-Qaeda."

Come on. Is that it? That is what McCain is serving up? Barack Obama masterfully, returned the serve for a winner.

From WaPo:

Speaking to 7,000 voters at Ohio State University, Obama answered McCain's mocking tone with his own. "McCain thought that he could make a clever point by saying , "Well let me give you some news Barack, al-Qaeda IS in Iraq.' Like I wasn't reading the papers, like I didn't know what was going on. I said, 'well first of all I DO know that al-Qaeda is in Iraq , that's why I've said we should continue to strike al-Qaeda targets."

"I have some news for John McCain, and that is that there was no such thing as al-Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq," Obama said, as the crowd roared. "I've got some news for John McCain! He took us into a war along with George Bush that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged. They took their eye off the people who were responsible for 9/11, and that would be al-Qaeda in Afghanistan that is stronger now than at any time since 2001."

"I've been paying attention, John McCain," Obama continued, the cheers growing so loud that the audience could hardly make out the words. "That's the news. So John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but so far all he's done is follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq that's cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars...I respect John McCain but he's tied to the politics of the past -- we are about the policies of the future! Hes the party of yesterday -- we want to be the party of tomorrow."

So, now, what does John McCain do? He goes and gets his the President to fight his fight for him. George Bush jumps into this fight. I find this interesting. Very Interesting. Why did President Bush jump into this fight? Did he think that McCain needed the help? So, the President gets the following question:

Q Mr. President, do you believe if we have the kind of rapid pull-out from Iraq that Democrats are talking about, that we would be at greater risk of a terrorist attack here at home? And when Senator Obama was asked a similar question, he said, "If al Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad." So I'm wondering if --

THE PRESIDENT: That's an interesting comment. If al Qaeda is securing a al Qaeda base -- yes, well, that's exactly what they've been trying to do for the past four years. That's their stated intention, was to create enough chaos and disorder to establish a base from which to either launch attacks or spread a caliphate. And the intent of the surge was to send more Marines into the area that -- where they had proclaimed their desire to set up a base. That was Anbar province. And so, yes, that's one of the challenges we face, is denying al Qaeda a safe haven anywhere. And their intentions -- that's what they said, that they would like to have a base or safe haven in Anbar province.

Oh, that answer wasn't too predictable, was it? The President is a broken record (LP). He hasn't said anything new or innovative about Iraq since 2003. I do find it interesting that the President thought that it was necessary to "help" John McCain. I guess if you see a zinger come back that fast, all Republicans had to jump to McCain's side. I think that it is going to be a long 8 months for McCain if his "zingers" don't get any better.

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