McCain On Negative Turn: "I'm Very Sorry About It"

The Washington Post's David Broder talks to both candidates about the campaign tone:

The first question I asked John McCain and then Barack Obama was: How do you feel about the tone and direction of the campaign so far?

No surprise. Both men pronounced themselves thoroughly frustrated by the personal bitterness and negativism they have seen in the two months since they learned they would be running against each other.

"I'm very sorry about it," McCain said in a Saturday interview at his Arlington headquarters. "I think we could have avoided at least some of this if we had agreed to do the town hall meetings" together, as he had suggested, during the summer months.

TNR's Chris Orr is impressed that Broder managed to write about negative campaigning without mentioning any of McCain's, well, negative campaigning:

Broder manages the remarkable feat of writing on negativity in the campaign without once mentioning McCain's "troops" smear (which his own paper led the way in declaring untrue), any of his ads deriding Obama as a Paris-Hilton-like celebrity or self-imagined Messiah, or the GOP's hilarious tire-gauge antics. (Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln....) The only actual attacks Broder cites are the charge that Obama was "playing the race card," and McCain's suggestion that Obama would be willing to lose a war in order to win an election. (Moreover, he backs into this latter attack, citing Obama's complaint about it rather than the smear itself.)

But none of that will happen again if Obama agrees to a town hall.

Comments

[Heavy]

I'm so sorry about it we're working on the next negative ad as we speak.

[scorpioleidy]

Aw ... isn't that special that he's sorry? If anybody believes that, I've got a bridge to sell ...

[Dari]

Talk is cheap.....­.......Act­ions speak louder than words, Senator McCain.

[JJ30]

Ok how childish! He went negative because Obama refused to do the town halls??? Did I read that right?????

[helonias]

Almost as sorry as and lying to and cheating on his first wife.

Maybe even more.

[Olerist]

"I am very sorry about it" and added "but it's the only thing I've got"

[scorpioleidy]

Well, with no real plan ... I think that's true --- tearing down Obama is all he can do! But, hopefully, running that tired agenda is not going to work, not this time and not this year!

[tigs]

lets hope your right scorpioleidy, with the repub media covering up for mc cain who knows? it worked last time for bush, if it works this time , God bless america because america will need all the help it can get, lets hope the american public has more brains now ,young people ,new voters ,start making your voices heard, you are the future and the miss speaking media will have to listen to you or lose out big time.