McCain: "The Economy Has Hurt Us A Little Bit"

ARLINGTON, Va. — Republican John McCain vowed Sunday to "whip" Democratic rival Barack Obama's "you-know-what" when the two presidential candidates meet Wednesday in their final televised debate.

McCain made that pledge as top advisers said he is weighing new economic proposals to help the nation weather the financial crisis. The Arizona senator refused to answer a reporter's question Sunday about what plans he might be considering.

Addressing several dozen volunteers at his campaign headquarters outside Washington, McCain promised some of his signature "straight talk" about the state of the race. National and many battleground state polls have shown him trailing Obama amid the deepening market crisis.

"We're a couple points down, OK, nationally, but we're right in this game," McCain said to cheers. "The economy has hurt us a little bit in the last week or two, but in the last few days we've seen it come back up because they want experience, they want knowledge and they want vision. We'll give that to America."

McCain said he and running mate Sarah Palin would continue campaigning hard in the three weeks left before Election Day, in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. The two planned a joint appearance Monday in Virginia, a Republican stronghold turned battleground this time.

"We're going to spend a lot of time and after I whip his you-know-what in this debate, we're going to be going out 24/7," McCain said.

The two men will debate Wednesday at Hofstra University on Long Island, N.Y. CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer will moderate the 90-minute forum.

Still, McCain promised to run a "respectful" campaign in the weeks to come.

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"I respect Senator Obama, we will conduct a respectful race and be sure everyone else does too. But there are stark difference between us," McCain said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said McCain was considering policy proposals that would cut taxes on investments.

"I think it goes along the lines of now's the time to lower tax rates for investors, capital gains tax, dividend tax rates, to make sure that we can get the economy jump-started," Graham said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It will be a very comprehensive approach to jump-start the economy by allowing capital to be formed easier in America by lowering taxes."

McCain already has laid out proposals to address the crisis, including a $300 billion plan for the federal government to buy distressed mortgages and renegotiate them at a reduced price.

The Arizona senator has said his plan is necessary to get thousands of bad mortgages off the books in order to stabilize home values and open up credit. But critics said the plan would do little more than reward financial institutions that made the bad loans to in the first place.

On Friday, McCain called for legislation that suspends for one year the requirement that investors age 70 1/2 begin to liquidate their retirement accounts. The Arizona senator said it would be unfair to force seniors to sell their stocks when stock prices have tumbled so severely. Obama aides said the Illinois senator favors a similar effort.

Obama also has offered plans to address the fiscal crisis but nothing as sweeping or controversial as McCain's mortgage proposal. On Friday, the Illinois senator announced a $900 million plan to temporarily extend an expiring tax break that lets small businesses write off investments up to $250,000 immediately, rather than over the course of several years.

Aides said Obama also wants to extend the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program to help small businesses that cannot access other sources of capital, as well as eliminate fees on SBA loan guarantees and increase the size of loans that could be covered. They put the cost at $5 billion.

Both candidates voted for the $700 billion bailout proposal Congress passed and President Bush signed into law earlier this month.

___

On the Net:

McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com

Obama: http://www.barackobama.com

Comments

[VolvoBirkenstock]

Guess pissoir didn't see Hillary blasting McCain today.

He must feel so V I O L A T E D.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

He's having quite the tantrum tonight.

[doug108]

You can't take away people's wages and houses and jobs and retirements and expect them to still vote for you. But, the Republicans have only gone a little too far. All they have to do is give the people their TVs and other toys back, learn to live with a little more regulation and a little less profit, and they'll be right back in the White House.

[bushfocker]

BRING IT ON........­.MCINSAIN!­!

[brownforall]

Its time to kick some JOHN BUSH @SS!

Obama/Biden! 08!
No Other Way! Mccains more of the same!

[jeanrenoir]

McCain's such a pathetic case of adolescent arrested development. So immature compared to Obama. That's the central irony of this race. The childish guy is 72, while the adult is 47. Whip Obama's a**? We'll see whose a** gets whipped, and we'll see how much the women voters like McCain's aggressiveness.

[brownforall]

That guy is so out of touch that the Republicans are jumping ship!

[Carolab]

Just like he did after his plane set it on fire.

[GreenT2]

I'm going to whip his you-know-what? Could you imagine if Obama had said that about McCain?

Obama should definitely mention this, in the comedian mode he has perfected, on the stump on Monday. I hope he does, and I hope he reminds John McCain that he wasn't planning on having a high school debate.

[Happiness4All]

Obama should outsmart McCain and wear a pair of Lederhosen. No whip could hurt him then! This would demonstrate his superiority on defense issues and show up McCain's stupidity about unveiling his plan of attack prematurely.

[StarkRavingNakedEmperor]

You win the prize for the most bizarre and surreal post of the night!

[rmetz74]

Well gosh golly, McCain is setting himself some high standards for Wednesday...

An interesting strategy (or tactic), as he has yet to meet even the low marks he set for himself in the last two debates.

We'll see - you betcha!

[buckygreen]

We are so close to taking back our country from the c ra zy people. They will do anything to steal this election. Massive voter turnout is critical.

Please do not become complacent. Do not rest. Do not even consider this is a done deal, despite how pa th eti c McCain may seem. Find out how you can help. 2-5-10 hours a week will make a difference. $2-$5-$10 will help. 2-5-10 people you talk to will help.

Please do at least one thing every day from now until midnight Nov 4th. Vote, and vote early if possible.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/actioncenter?source=sidenav

http://www.voteforchange.com/

[abby4ever]

***because they want experience, they want knowledge and they want vision. We'll give that to America."*** (McCain)

I saw the above, and burst out laughing...and I am still laughing. This man started out on a platform of experience and knowledge, then swtiched to change and reform when he saw how well that was working for Obama, and now that he's down in the polls and in the b@ttleground states, he's gone back to experience and knowledge! BUT, he now throws 'vision' into the mix, just in case anyone thinks he's stuck in the past! (Being stuck in the past was a criticism levelled at him just this last week.)

These words, experience, knowledge, and vision, are hand-picked by his team to push just the right buttons with the electorate. The McCain team has finally found its feet and is offering us the best of all worlds.

The man has no shame!

[WLA]

You would think if they were scrutinizing his words so closely, they would have told him not to use "whip."

[abby4ever]

I get your point. But these kinds of words and terms are rarely accidental, especially when you start hearing them out of the blue, when you hear them used all together, and from the guy that's losing.

[liseworks]

Pretty sad ain't it ? - to McCain, it's just a bunch of words & the last of his followers are just as empty ....

Only a couple more weeks of this though & then : Obama !
; )

[one4obama]

"The McCain team has finally found its feet . . ."

They have been lookin' in all the wrong places. They have always been in their mouths! Stupid idiots!

[hu.man]

The weeks ahead before the November elections are very crucial not only in that they chart the map for the foreseeable future but also define how we scale the road ahead.

Obama shouldn't just be thinking victory. In American system of political governance, margin of victory is the difference between strong, lukewarm and weak mandates. I firmly believe that Obama has a unique historical opportunity to govern with a very strong mandate. To have that, Obama needs to activate all of his highest possible potential by switching from a conservative approach that will garner him a mere victory to an electrified one that will enable him to simply blow McCain away and consolidate a margin of victory that will enable him to implement a grand strategy for a fundamental shift in our political and economic system.

In an ideal scenario, the Obama team is now formulating an all-out campaign now to be implemented in the last two weeks of the campaign. The "final blow" will catch the McCain campaign off-guard because they will be expecting Obama to play it safe with his lead.

[GreatGoodWill]

"simply blow McCain away and consolidate a margin of victory that will enable him to implement a grand strategy for a fundamental shift in our political and economic system."

Part 1 -

1. The gaps of presumption in this line of thinking are enormous.

a. In short summary, this election has nothing to do with fundamental change in our system.

b. A more detailed summary would reveal that the election is much more personal than most people are comfortable admitting, at least facially. It is a fact that Bush eeked his way into office, twice. The less extreme voters who supported him are a disgusted lot. If you sit down and discuss the real reason most people desire a new party in office, it has been my experience that the controlling concept is "we cannot accept that level of incompetence ever again".

[GreatGoodWill]

Part 2

2. What propels Sen. Obama in this presidential campaign is quite simple. The country has a matured awareness that Bush was a horrible chief executive. For this ELECTION, that has created a perception problem for the GOP candidate. Are we willing to risk more of the same failed policies and practices? (But I dont see how anyone can persuasively contend that this development has turned the public mood so staunchly to pro-Democrats that we will see a shift in "fundamentals" of politics. Indeed, in my life time, it has been relatively easy for Republicans to hold the executive office. Perhaps this country shares more in common with Republican "values" than it does with Democratic principles. We are very much a conservative and individualist society. That explains the frequent measure of success for the GOP. We do not generally want big experiments at the federal level. Incremental change is far more common, and it is used to then embellish accomplishments. Since we haven't seen many "grand" political accomplishments in 25 years, we see both parties generally running on weak and fluffy platforms.)

To entail executive change away from Republican control, there has to be a real scandal (Watergate) or economic discredit of a sitting president (Bush I), and a charismatic Democratic opponent (Carter/Clinton - both were affable and competent public figures from southern regions and/or constituencies growing in power, the southern background lending a moderating edge to the stiff intellectualism of their primary opponents.)

[hu.man]

Republicans lost this election with Iraq war. The rest of it is window dressing. Had Bush achieved the type of victory his father did in Kuwait, we may be looking at the totally different situation here.

[GreatGoodWill]

Part 3

3. Furthermore, Sen. McCain has not distinguished himself in any meaningful respect. Thus, he resorts to gimmicks and gambles, with ample sarcasm. He comes across disoriented, and disingenuous. These two negative elements are reinforced by unavoidable detection of his age, and recognition that he does not stand for true change, and not surprisingly, we see just how much his machinations expose his naked ambition to power. This discredits his uncompelling attacks on "those Washington do-nothings". Unless you are near-impossibly biased, you are most likely not comfortable with the idea of McCain and Palin being in charge. Words to the contrary, they do not represent change from Bush II.

4. US politicians, particularly at the federal level, are tools of industry. This is just a fact. Money runs
for office every election. When the executive office is so badly managed, as it has been under Bush, it creates sufficient backlash to launch a progressive candidate into power, but that power is diffused by
the difficulties of side stepping financed interests who use lawyers and lobbyists to influence outcomes.

5. The work load and cost for election is stupefying and the vast majority of candidates seek to preserve their benefactors' interests. They must, out of concern for alienation of those interests.

[hu.man]

I used to think that Jimmy Carter was a horrible president. But even though the state of affairs were much like they are today under Carter's tenure, history has shown that he got dealt a poor hand. He mishandled the hostage crisis and the blow back from that was just too much for his administration to recover from. The international issues Carter faced were not all of his making. He inherited a lot of those problems from the poor judgment exercised by administrations before him.

I see your point in items 4 and 5 which indeed makes the case for potential of fundamentally new ways of looking at the way business is done in Washington. We don't have to go through the Great Depression again to see that we need change. I believe Obama when he makes "Change" his central theme. Why? Because of his extraordinarily unique background and his demonstrated devotion to public service.

[GreatGoodWill]

Part 4

All of this militates against there being any great fundamental change. Sen. Obama has not promised this, in any enforceable or traceable way. From where I stand, it appears to me that he is going into office as a replacement for a bad (repeated) choice for executive authority. It will be sufficient if he just acts competent and open minded.

And it is this realization that scares the less insightful supporters for McCain.

* They don't want an open minded and balanced leader.

* They prefer a cheerleader who subscribes to the most base individual values that represent their party's interests. (Odd, but McCain didn't play that game until this year, and earned his reputation as a maverick, but he vaporized that reputation in less than 3 months, between June and September.)

* They have a pretty good sense that they are not going to get their way this time. So the hostilities and innuedoes have been fully sprung, flamed by intolerance of intellect (a professor as president. . . what a calamity!) and, sad to say, minorities.

The fears that they presently espouse are rather easily categorized by these differences found in the base values of the two parties.

But it seems wholly mistaken to confuse these differences to suggest there is a probability (or even remote chance) at fundamental changes in our "system".

[hu.man]

Year 2008 will be known as the year of Great Financial Collapse. Things will change fundamentally. Stock market will not look anything like you see it today because people will demand that if they are putting their life savings in the market, which is a relatively new phenomena, they shouldn't be staying up at night wondering if it is going to be there when they wake up in the morning. It is a fair demand and it needs to be respected. McCain represents the past, he has no real vision to present. Obama is the future. He will make change the front and center of his agenda when he takes office in November and for that to be most effective he needs the largest margin of victory that could possibly be attained.

[whizkid]

This economy.
Outspending McCain three to one.
And only up by ten?

[liseworks]

Practical idea : Go vote for the old lying faart & begone !

[AdLib]

"Only" winning the presidency? Only the first black man in history to do it?

Your poor impaired mind amuses me. Dance, clown, dance for me some more.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

LOL TroIIs are so very frightened.

[08Voter]

When he wins it will be money well spent! McCain's done cheese whiz. Barack HUSSEIN Obama will be the next POTUS, accept it.

[betheliza]

you make a good point in simply using obama's middle name. i think barack should take it back. .. "yeah..that's my name. so?"

[21stCenturyMan]

Running against a first term Senator.
Running against first black candidate.

And down by ten???

[teronhussein678]

LOL

[abby4ever]

Oh, whiz, went I went offline about 12 hours ago, you were saying the same thing. I will give you this much: you stick with it.

[Viper]

"The economy has hurt us a little bit in the last week or two."

Its killed the middleclass, so sorry its hurt just a campaign for you!

Regards

[noughtagroos]

So McCain wants to "whip" a black man....

Having faulted Obama for not being careful in choosing his words ("'lipstick' on a pig"), McCain is either stupid or deliberately continuing his campaign's stream of coded race baiting.

I'm beginning to think the comparison to George Wallace is an insult to Wallace.

[DavidGetsInvolved]

I bet his Betamax is on the blink and he probably broke his 8 track player when his Greatest Hits of Mitch Miller tape got warped.

[begabug]

sorry, he's strictly a vinyl guy. has to handcrank the phonograph though.

[AdLib]

You think McCain saying he was going to "whip" the black candidate Obama at the debate was bad?

Good thing he rewrote that line, it originally read, "At the debate on Wednesday night, I am going to own him."

[acslaterson]

LMFAO, I think I just woke up my girlfriend upstairs ;-)

[21stCenturyMan]

Good one!

[bullypulpit]

God help me, that one made me chuckle, too.

[Freakpower]

McCain gives the word "Troll" a bad name!