McCain: Al Qaeda May Intervene To Tip Election Towards Dems

"Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday he fears that al Qaeda or another extremist group might attempt spectacular attacks in Iraq to try to tilt the U.S. election against him," Reuters reports.

McCain, at a town hall meeting in this Philadelphia suburb, was asked if he had concerns that anti-American militants in Iraq might ratchet up their activities in Iraq to try to increase casualties in September or October and tip the November election against him.

"Yes, I worry about it," McCain said. "And I know they pay attention because of the intercepts we have of their communications ... The hardest thing in warfare is to counter someone or a group of individuals who are willing to take their own lives in order to take others."

TPM's Greg Sargent notes: "You know, I keep hearing from Republican pundits and operatives that the specter of terrorism inevitably bolsters the electoral prospects of Republicans. But here McCain says that Al Qaeda would amp up their attacks in Iraq to hurt him. Hard to keep track of this stuff sometimes."

Comments

[thegreatgiginthesky]

If Al Qaeda intervenes it will be on John McCain and the Republican party's behalf.

[rollingdivision]

McCain's statement is beyond opinion, remembering their wonderful success in Spain, of course they will make an attempt to influence the US election. And at this point on the surface, the Democrats seem to support the less aggressive tactics against terror. So, they would be trying to help Democrats in the election.

[Emmaboverry]

Oh, come on McCain. You got bigger fish to fry, you and Hillary. Please sign the following thank you note:

Dear Media:

Thank you for your part in creating PASTOR-gate. Our fight against
the insurgent forces of Obama and his ranting Pastor will not be easy.
But with your help, we can do it.

The Clinton-McCain Campaign

[Sundialsvc4]

What is even worse than someone who "would take his own life to take others'" is someone who, sitting in his Congressional command-bunker, would sign legislation that authorizes aggressive military invasion for what are ultimately his own business purposes. A person who is cut of the same cloth as the men which President Eisenhower so clearly foresaw ... willing to repeatedly sacrifice even their own nation and its people in quest of ... money.

I honestly think that these people lost something they don't know how to do without when the Berlin Wall fell... when the other nations of the world just up and decided that there was no good reason to continue with this "I'm a bigger badder super-power than you are" shell game. These people have been dragging bogey-men out of the closet ever since.

But if anyone ever shows up who's actually qualified to be President of the United States, or to sit in Congress in either house, would you please remind him and her that a nation cannot be secure in its own lands if those lands are not independently secure ... not just in a military sense but in every quality of business and of life. This is the nation that the United States of America very-briefly used to be, but is no more.

The Battle of Mobile Bay would have been lost had that Admiral tried to navigate through that mine field using public-opinion polls as his compass. "Damn the Torpedoes!" might have been reckless, but it was also leadership and self-determination. A leader, in any of the Branches of Government, must lead and not be lead. Not by his handlers, not by money, and not by the specter of a convenient booger-man ghost.

[funkalicious]

Voting For Mc Cain is like voting for grandpa Munster. All the wacky stuff that will get blown up, Pratfalls and the shenanigans oh my.
Looks like the old man has gone all Ronald Regan and can't remember where he put his sanity.

[transendentilist]

This is despicable on a level par with bush and cheney and rove. The old politics of fear raises it's ugly head once more. Say whatever you want Mac, nobody believes your lying ass anyway. We all know you will say ANYTHING to get that prize at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
This is definately rove talking here. Didn't he just announce last week that he would be advising the McCain camp from now on???? Well, this must be Karl's first plot to scare the electorate into voting for another blood-thirsty neo-con.
When are we going to put these criminals behind bars...........NANCY PELOSI!!! Stop playing referee for obama and clinton, and do the job you were elected to do. CHECKS and BALANCES!!! IMPEACH, or do you really want a third world war???

[plutorage]

Something doesn't smell right to me about how the republicans keep bringing up Al Qaeda as helping dems win the election.

To me it looks like RNC or somebody associated with republicans is in cahoot with Osama bin Laden or his successors to pull something off that will get the righ man's candidate back in the White House to make the 15% tax rate for rich people permanent.

This first popped into my mind when Congressman King from Iowa began saying that Al Qaeda could take comfort from an Obama victory and that they just had to hang on and continue killing our uniformed forces in Iraq with renewed vigor because a democratic president was going to bail out Al Qaeda. I'll bet if the FBI takes King across the Potomac to the George Bush Jr. House of Screams and waterboards him that he will cough up the names of his associates and we can begin finding out what these people are up to. Getting a signed confession out of King that he is plotting against the United States and giving aid and comfort to the enemy will enable us to put up a united front against the terrorists and that will help us to victory in the Mid East.

Unfortunately, I think Bush just doesn't have the brains to see what is going on and I'm afraid that a cabal of republicans are going to put more and more people in danger with their evil plots. McCain seems to be gpoing in that direction.

[metalpipe]

Good money says that there are a bunch of people in power who regularly call each other at 3am to figure out the next move. Karl Rove doubtless initiates secure voice conference calls on a regular basis; keeping everyone on track. McCain's statement is so blatently obvious in it's attempt to scare that it almost has to suceed given the track record of our assinine US population. I mean, really. It would make a good comic book, as would the trivial pursuits of HRC and BHA. Obama needs to maintain his cool, and not even acknowlege idiocy like this.

[mgloraine]

We have a lot more cause for concern that agents of the Bush Crime Family will illegally manipulate the election in favor of McCain. Why? Because they've cheated at the ballot box twice already!!

McCain demonstrates that there is no limit to how low he is willing to stoop. He's right on board with the lying, cheating, stealing, kidnapping, torturing and murdering of the Cheney/Bush conspiracy. This particular fiction (al Qaeda influencing the election) is intended to distract everyone's attention to somewhere in the hinterlands of Pakistan, so that we're looking the other way while BushCo and their Republican goon-squads rig the 2008 election.

Whatever admirable qualities McCain may have once possessed, they are long gone. His new role model is Dick Cheney.

[wilburbudd]

This guy, McCain, is SUUU-UUCH a putz. He is simply the same sort of adle-brained, narrow minded, paranoid, back stabbing, blood-thirsty, indignant little prick, as GWB. What's the point of even giving him a shot? Let's just keep Georgie for another four.

[batbird]

John McCain says, "Don't forget to be afraid!"

[patianneb]

If we (american people) are so stupid as to fall for this AGAIN then we deserve exactly what we get.
Do they (the fear mongers of any stripe) really think we are this gullible and dumb?
Wake up, folks.
YES THEY DO.
What's scary is, maybe they are right.

[pierce977]

Or worse! They WON'T attack us here thereby depriving John 'Rabid Dog' McCain of the presidency! Those evil Al Qaedians!

[WilliamGossett]

McCain is right (I don't agree with his policies but he is right in his assessment.)

Quit whining about how devious the GOP is. Quit whining.

They play the game better than the Dems do and that's why they will win. If someone plays the game better than you you better learn how to play or get out of the game. Maybe it is time for the Dems to "go away" and let someone else like a Mike Bloomber or Chuck Hagel take up the vacuum (I am talking of the future, too late for this year.) At least you would have conservatives who are rational. Better that than the continuation of doctinaire neo-cons who WILL WIN this year because of Democratic stupidity and incompetence.

[transendentilist]

Using fear as a political tool is also terrorism. So, since we have a rogue, extremely right wing maniac running for president, that makes it justifiable for us???? You MUST be a republican.

[southernfried]

another karl rove's fear playbook of cheap shots...lol

[MACS]

'
Just mre repub-LIE-CON fearmongering. Anything for an advantage!!!
.