Ohio's GOP Utterly Depressed Over McCain

As the architect of Ohio's ballot measure against gay marriage, Phil Burress helped draw thousands of conservative voters to the polls in 2004, most of whom also cast ballots to reelect President Bush. So Burress was not surprised when two high-level staffers from John McCain's campaign dropped by his office, asking for his help this fall.

What surprised Burress was how badly the meeting went. He says he tried but failed to make the McCain team understand how much work remained to overcome the skepticism of social conservatives. Burress ended up cutting off the campaign officials as they spoke. "He doesn't want to associate with us," Burress now says of McCain, "and we don't want to associate with him."

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[mydogshakespeare]

When supporters tout McCain's "experience", are they talking about "with women"?

Let's ask Carol McCain, his first wife. You know (unless you forgot or never knew), this was the woman who cared for his children and waited patiently for six years while he was tortured in a North Vietnamese prison camp. Oh, she was also in a disfiguring auto crash during that time, and after his fortuitous return, began cheating on her. Then he met Cindy and cavorted with her for 6 months before finally petitioning the courts for a divorce from Carol.

Yes, indeedy! John McCain sure has more "experience" than Barack Obama.

[Troubledwawa]

Yet another example of the devastating split within the RNC.

Think about it for a minute: the "anointed one" can't get a bunch of Fascists to follow orders.

He has to be able to see that. By now there have been too many reports coming back of failure.

I'm beginning to think the that the job of putting the RNC back into some type of an organized party looks like a big mountain to the guy, who is absolutely clueless as to where to begin - which should have been 3 months ago when he clinched the nomination.

A test of leadership in progress...

[boomer1949]

I live in "The Heart of Ohio" and I'm sorry to say prejudice exists.

One really wouldn't know it unless one lived here. My father still uses the n-word and he's 78, my grandmother wouldn't vote for John Kennedy because he was Catholic, I have a 60+ yo cousin who is gay and I believe the family still thinks "he's just different." It was pretty scary growing up, and I'm sure I'm not the only Ohioan who was/is admonished for not following the family drill.

[BLinCincinnati]

My 70+ year old aunt (my grandmother's sister) said she'd "never vote for a black man".

I told her John McCain wanted to privatize social security and let younger people opt out into private accounts.
I told her that Obama wanted to change it so that seniors making under $50k a year paid no taxes, and wanted rich people to pay more social security earnings tax so that benefits didn't have to be reduced.

Took all of 10 mins to get her to say "fine, I'll vote for him, but I don't have to like him!"

[gopindrag]

Hey you punks, get off my campaign trail.

[Bluejay00234]

If McStain were my party's candidate I would be depressed too.

[ZeMongoose]

While it's apparant that the Obama campaign needs to make an all out effort in Ohio, I'll be truly shocked if the average Ohioan values their job and country more than McCain's pasty white skin.

[pbarba1969]

My father was from my Ohio and I had to the privledge to live in Sylvania ( a suburb of Toledo) for a number of years.

I think the folks in Ohio will go Democrat in the fall because like most Americans they are really affaird of losing their jobs and their homes. They are seeing their salary staying level while food and gas are both going up dramatically. And to make matters worse they are seeing foreclosures all around the nation at record levels. Patricularly hard hit are places arounf Cleveland and Toledo.

Come November, Obama will campaign there (hopefully with his VP Hillary Clinton), Ted Strckland and perhaps the greatest living American John Glenn.

Ohio will go blue in November....

[iPolitics]

"Ohio's GOP Utterly Depressed Over McCain"

How do you think the rest of the country feels?

[loax]

Where aren't the Republicans worried about? His campaign is over before it starts!

[ddanaan]

While it's true Strickland is from South-East, Appalachian Ohio, to listen to the pundits you'd think that's the whole state. That is the least populous quarter of the state. The Southwest (Cincinnati) is Red-Republican and if the McClain camp is worried there it's all over for him. The north east is Democrat and the Northwest is a mix of farms and industrial so it tends to swing. There and the center of the state are the places to look for trends, not the southeast.

[BLinCincinnati]

Cincinnati, Hamilton County more specifically, is turning more and more blue every year. Dems control the County commissioner seats and the Dem registration is near or higher than Republican now in nearby counties.

Cincinnati is no longer a deep red area. With a fair sized AA population, 3 major colleges (UC, Xavier, and Miami Univ) in the south west counties, numerous smaller colleges, a higher than average income compared to the nation.... south west Ohio is a viable area for Obama.

[omechengineeru]

Im from West Portsmouth, for those of you familiar with that area, and I will tell you plainly, Obama will not carry our county simply because he has the "misfurtune" to be black. The only way he stands a chance in southern ohio is if he picks up Edwards as Veep and tells people like my family that affirmative action will no longer be race based (many, including me see it as reverse rasism) but instead economic based, or get rid of it all together

[vshdst]

"misfortune" to be black.

Not a misfortune to be black. It is a misfortune to be racist and bigoted and to be narrowminded and just plain dumb.
BTW do your research. Ninty five percent of the recipient of Affirmative Action programs are WHITE WOMEN.
You people are so full of hate so much so that you would vote against your own economic interest. Dick Cheyney was right when he criticized people in your area and their intelligence. You'll probably be stupid enough to vote republican again..

[RTIII]

O just might carry your state after all; even most bigots would probably rather stay home than vote for the wife beater, flip-flopper, pandering a-hole.

[dagnew]

What about the economy, the Iraq occupation, jobs, the mortgage crisis, gas prices, decent schools, etc, etc, and you won't vote for Obama over affirmative action??? Do you really think McCain gives a hoot about affirmative action? I'm lily white, and I'm not favorable to affirmative action as it stands, now, but I'm surely not going to vote for another 4 long years of Bush politics just because of affirmative action. You gotta look at the whole picture! What has Bush done about affirmative action or much of anything else for that matter? NOTHING! McCain isn't going to do anything more either, but keep us in Iraq and keep sending our loved ones over there to die, and for what??????????? You need to get real and look at the whole picture.

[PrdAmerican]

This is McCain's problem:

This weekend, my jaw dropped when my 70 y.o. step father called McCain an A$$hole. Why is this significant? He was about as brainwashed as you can get...after 4 straight years of Michael Savage, he was duped. You couldn't talk to the man. He raved about Bush, called him a patriotic American, and compared democrats to commies at every turn. Red, diaper, doper babies...all of us. He supported the war in Iraq, he supported the tax breaks, he supported anything Bush. Michael Savage was pulled from his time slot...and low and behold...my step dad is coming back around. You can actually have a conversation with him....he will actually discuss how BAD things are. He watched McCain's lime jello speech and cringed....when I mentioned his latest "economy" gaffe...he let loose with his A-hole comment. The veil has been lifted, and he doesn't like what he is seeing.

My friends...McCain has some very serious problems...and I couldn't be happier about them!

[JackND]

My parents have voted for nothing but Republicans since they could first vote in 1968, but are voting for Barack Obama this time.

I said "What about Reverend Wright?" They said Barack Obama isn't Reverend Wright.

I said what about Michelle Obama. There may be more coming out about her.."whitey" and such. They're unfazed...rhetoric is rhetoric.

I said Barack Obama wants to do a whole lot of spending. They said he couldn't top the guy in office now and his war, or the other guy that wants to succeed him. They aren;t concerned about that either.

I say I'm both very shocked and very proud.

Mr. Obama, "yes we can" win North Dakota if you put an effort in.

[blueshield]

You (and everyone) should read

Frank Schaeffer: Why This Fifty-Five Year Old White Lifelong Republican Wants Obama To Win

on HuffPo (use search, it's archived).

And, since it looks like the Repubs are positioning McCain as the "underdog", it's crucial as others have said to gear up for a very hard fight.

[wbramh]

The reaction of people like your step father is encouraging, but what really scares me in Ohio is the historically poor preparation by Democratic officials to help secure a clean election.
I don't want to hear on election night that Cleveland only had 1 working voting booth.
Who's minding the store? We should know that answer now and not in November. I would urge all Democrats in Ohio to press their officials, NOW - know the rules and rights of voters and volunteer to police the polls on election night.
This election is going to be a particularly desperate one for the Republicans.
Mark my words - There Will Be Blood.
This time around, you have an opportunity to make sure it's not your own.

[zanzig]

Indeed, I made this same comment on another thread. Now's the time to check the voting machines, set in place the mechanisms for checking, make sure that the companies who own the equipment are clean, make sure that that the lawyers are lined up for the challenges...

[devil1]

I don't buy it.I'm older than the father in law and as much a republican.The choice is now McCain or the "empty socialist suit"a-hole or not he'll vote McCain.As far as voting problems in Ohio,when the dems got their asses handed to them, oh my GOD thousands of disinfranchised voters,the republicans stole the election.When the dems ran off with the last election,not one word not one from any republican stating any kind of election fraud.The petulant little lib can't come to grasp with rejection but they'll get another taste of it in November,blood indeed!

[thepoliticalcat]

Yes, he does, but the other commenters are correct. We can't afford to be complacent. Those of us who care about the nation and the constitution must do everything we can to elect the Democratic nominee.

[thepoliticalcat]

After all the cheating and vote tampering that they did in Ohio, they ought to be depressed about their behaviour. Instead, they're depressed that they're not going to be able to continue bleeding the nation dry.

[ManyColored]

"Some people are prejudiced." This is news?? That's obviously the reason Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia went for Hillary. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. The way out of this is registration of new voters. They will tend to be less bigoted than their elders, in general. That's why I will be a footsoldier for Obama in this campaign.

[vshdst]

You're right. The MSM is always saying that O has a problem with the white working class. No, it's the other way around. The white working class has a problem with him. They cannot deal with an intelligent black person who cares his country.
Many white people are afraid they're losing control over America. Don't worry, whites are well in control of this country, and will continue to be after O is elected. It's usually the uneducated, poor whites that have a real problem with this. The kind that say, "I may be poor, I may be uneducate, but at least I'm not black."
O lost Pennsylvania, WV, Ohio and Kentucky because of his race. PERIOD! MSM dance around the "problem" but don't have the guts to say what it really is.

[speakingtruth2power]

The forces of corporatism are not near ready to allow a populist victory in November.

They had planned on the GOP and DLC offering US little change from the Crusade

for Muslim Resources being run for the benefit of Big Oil and the MIC. Both HRC &

John McBomb would not have stopped this evil and illegal action and Barack would

only become a target by taking the lead. The GWOT must be ended by Congress!!!

[RTIII]

Overall I agree, but respectfully suggest the following:

You should use the proper word - instead of "corporatism", it's actually fascism.

The Crusade isn't for Muslim resources but ours.