McCain Whacks RNC, Defends Obama Over Blagojevich (VIDEO)

John McCain sideswiped the Republican National Committee on Sunday for the intense focus it has placed on Barack Obama's relationship (however thin) to Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Saying he was confident that information would be made public regarding the president-elect's contacts with the embattled Illinois governor -- who is accused of putting up Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder -- McCain urged his Republican colleagues to keep their political priorities in order.

"I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary," said the Arizona Republican. "You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody -- right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary. And so, I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me."

McCain's remarks, delivered during an interview on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, come amidst a blitz of statements, press releases and web videos from the Republican Party on the Blaojevich subject.

On Sunday alone, the Illinois GOP launched a web site that would reportedly link 12 different state Democrats with the scandal-plagued governor. The RNC, meanwhile, released a web video titled, "Questions Remain," highlighting Obama's "evolving explanations" regarding the Blagojevich affair. Last week, RNC Chairman Mike Duncan said Obama was undermining his pledges for transparency and the "moderate-type" campaign that he ran on, by not being forthcoming about his contacts with the Illinois Governor.

For all of this, the complaint issued in the Blagojevich case indicates that Obama had no direct ties to the governor's pay-for-play scheme. The president-elect has said as much. Moreover, Blagojevich is heard in wiretaps repeatedly cursing Obama and complaining that the transition team was offering only "appreciation."

McCain, who has almost never been popular within deeply partisan Republican circles, seemed to acknowledge the notion that this is, at its heart, a tale of a corrupt Illinois pol, not some massive entanglement involving Obama that the RNC is insinuating.

Comments

[jtmoney]

I was wondering where he has been for the past two years...

[NuBar]

Politicians' personalities are not permanent. Why don't you people realize that? They change to fit their practical needs. Now that McCain has lost, there's no point in him trying to be agressive or stubborn. The role of the reconciliator is much better suited for him. It's the same thing with Obama and the Clintons. Very rarely do these people mean anything they say. Remember Obama mocking Clinton's foreign policy experience? It's all a sham.

[Progress08]

I've never believed the BS that he was a "Maverick", but I do believe he's had aspirations of political equality because he's wanted to be pres for so long that he thought it necessary to reach across the aisle. Now that he has lost the only thing left is his legacy which may be permanently blighted by his loss and by the fact that for almost two years he was in bed with the devil. Now he knows the Republican party is fracturing and will separate so his only lifeline now is to try and get rid of his devilherpes and spend the rest of his career working with Obama to get his agenda passed for his legacy. He may very well be the face of the party that represents what the Republicans used to mean. Of course his opponent for control of the brand name Republican will be Anna Nicole Palin and her bible thumping whackjob supporters.

[Ojore]

This is all well and good, but more than anything, this smacks of an old person who's now trying to get into heaven. Too little, too late. You danced with the devil, Senator. Too late to say he's a bad guy.

[provgrays]

This was hardly a spirited defense, but McCain doesn't know all the details either.

[yeswecancan]

Welcome back, Sen. McCain. So glad to see you got the Alien that occupied your body for the last 9 months removed.

[wagthedog1001]

Sick how the RNC occupied his mind and body. For what purpose? For what purpose?

For POWER.

[Obama081216]

Barack Obama"s sudden rise through the Chicago political machine to national prominence, and now the White House, leaves many skeptics scratching their heads as to just how involved Obama may or may not have been in the sleazy dealings of the Chicago political underworld.

Illinois Senator Paul Simon and Governor Adlai Stevenson are two examples of squeaky-clean, 20th century politicians who managed to scrape their way through the machine to the national level without so much as buggering up their bow-ties, so to automatically assume that such a venture is not possible for Obama is a terrible disservice to those gentlemen.

The general consensus is that Obama did just that.

http://contributors.blogsome.com/2008/12/16/chicago-tribune-undermines-feds/

[GlenRast]

McCain has obviously attended the Bush 's "rewrite your legacy at the last minute after being a dick for years" school. If he had any integrity he would have walked away from the GOP after he was swift boated by the neocons in 2000. Nothing he says or does for the rest of his carreer will make up for standing in front of the public and stating that Palin was a qualified VP choice. Anyone who can lie that easily can never be trusted.

[HoraceOvidson]

Thank you, Sir. You are an officer and a gentleman.

[silentknight65]

Does anyone remember "BACK TO THE FUTURE 2", and that scary alternate future that was created by Biff and the sports almanac? Try and imagine, in the same way, the alternate future if McCain & Palin had been elected. Enuff to scare any Republican into a Democrat!

[silentknight65]

If McCain had approached the campaign this way (as he had promised), we would still be counting the ballots because it would have been a lot closer!!! Maybe he should be a Democrat!

[Cybersquirt]

welcome back, McCain. We missed you.

[Saidas]

Has anyone else noticed that the farther McCain gets from the GOP, the better he becomes? I dare say this would be true for everyone. The modern GOP has become poison.

[PoliSci2008]

Some of the media, CNN included, and many of the RNC, all have tried to connect Obama with an accused terrorist, embezzler, and unpatriotic preacher, and now a corrupt governor. This witch hunt is the same crap they pulled on Clinton, but unlike Clinton, Barack knows as a black man, in order to succeed, he can't give (and hasn't given) an inch of controversey to his enemy. So RNC & CNN stop wasting the American public's time with the BS, and allow the investigation and impeachment hearing to reveal the facts.

[Wonderwheel]

Republicans are just plain insane. I thought they were for "law and order", no? Here the RNC chair Duncan is saying that Obama should violate the requests of the federal prosecutor to keep the information secret for now. Why doesn't Stephanopolis point this out? Why doesn't he ask McCain if he agrees with the Federal Prosecutor's request?