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Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright October 21, 2008<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style4">&nbsp;T</span>wo weeks before Election Day, GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has pulled out all the stops, stooped to new lows and will forever be remembered for his lack of class in the final days of his White House campaign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McCain likes to remind voters he d rather  lose an election than lose a war. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He s done neither in his presidential bid, sinking to the most distasteful behavior, spreading malicious rumors about his Democratic rival, presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McCain s final insult came when fellow Republican, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, endorsed Barack Oct. 19 on NBC s  Meet the Press with Tom Brokaw, telling the venerable 68-year-old baritone newsman that Barack would make a better commander-in-chief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Nothing slapped McCain more than Powell s unequivocal declaration of support for Obama.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Powell expressed his misgivings about the tone of McCain s campaign, following<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>up on former presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton s (D-N.Y.) 16-month long personal assault on Barack s character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While a supporter now, Hillary played hardball, questioning Barack s experience and fitness for the Oval Office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> McCain s campaign borrowed heavily from Hillary s unsuccessful bid to defeat the 47-year-old junior senator from Illinois.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>There s been no originality from McCain s attacks on Barack, questioning his patriotism, his judgment, his contacts with Rev. Jeriamiah Wright Jr., former  60s radical Bill Ayers and sleaze-ball Chicago real estate mogul Tony Rezko.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Powell was especially offended by McCain and his VP Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin s rumors about Barack  palling around with terrorists. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Powell couldn t stomach McCain s intellectual dishonesty.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>During his three debates with Obama, McCain was especially frustrated with his inability to rattle the cool-and-collected Barack, whose responses showed the kind of dignity and grace-under-pressure, considered the hallmark of presidential leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Voters saw firsthand a frustrated and bitter McCain, unable knock Barack out of his rhythm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Misstatement-after-misstatement, distortion-and-distortion and propaganda-after propaganda, Barack patiently presented the facts, leaving McCain looking annoyed and intemperate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Look out for your wallet, McCain said on stump, blasting Obama s plan for raising taxes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Yet there s one small problem:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack s plan lowers taxes for 95% of taxpayers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Attacking Barack s health plan as  a single-payer government program, McCain misled voters, knowing full-well that Obama s plan simply purchased government insurance.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Barack noted that campaigns are  tough, referring to the distortions and outright fabrications.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While McCain hasn t done much different than Hillary, his misleading statements about Barack s tax and health care plans can t pass the fact-checker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McCain calls Barack s tax and health plans socialism yet the 72-year-old Arizona senator collects Social Security and uses Medicare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Seniors have begun to wise up to the hypocrisy that only Obam supports socialism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>What could be more socialism than McCain s plan to let government buy up homeowners bad mortgages?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He proposed taking $300 billion of the recent $750 billion bailout, designed to unfreeze credit markets, to pay-off homeowners bad debts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McCain doesn t mind  socialism when it comes to his ideas, his own health care or government grants to defense contractors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Calling Obama a socialist is pure demagoguery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;</span>Powell was especially critical of McCain s pick of Palin, stating, in no uncertain terms, that she was not qualified for VP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McCain has stubbornly insisted, despite recent polls showing that most voters concur with Powell, that Palin is unsuited to be president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>That belief goes to the heart of Powell s argument that McCain used bad judgment picking Palin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Before the hoopla and temporary euphoria over Palin, many Republicans cringed over his pick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>They felt there were far more qualified Republican men and women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> McCalin s pick belied his slogan of  country first, picking someone to pander to Bush s ever-shrinking base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>With approval ratings of 25%, it s incomprehensible why McCain chose to go after such a narrow group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McCain s chief consultant Steve Schmidt and campaign manager Rick Davis thought Palin would appeal to disgruntled Hillary supporters.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>McCain s 26-year-old reputation as a  maverick in the Senate has been sullied by his shameful behavior running for president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Palin s appeal to  Joe six-pack has backfired, turning off even conservative voters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>She has alienated independents and Reagan Democrats, willing now to gamble on a bold new candidate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> What they wouldn t gamble on in a time of economic crisis and war is someone with such unpopular ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When Palin told a national audience at her Sept. 4 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention that the U.S. should confront Russia over a border dispute with Georgia, it showed how close the world had come to the brink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McCain and Palin also talk tough about Iran.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>With the economy on the ropes, the next president most accept the inescapable challenge to end the Iraq war and avoid future wars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> McCain and Palin have shown no such interest..</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;<bAbout the Author</u><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <i><a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> </i>and <i><a href="books.html"> Operation Charisma</a></i>.</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>