Presidential campaign Archives

Now this is more like it!

By michael o. allenHomepageNo Comments

Obama spokesperson Bill Burton today released the following statement:

“We will take no lectures from John McCain who is cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern Presidential campaign history. His discredited ads with disgusting lies are running all over the country today. He runs a campaign not worthy of the office he is seeking,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

John McCain would rather lose his integrity than lose an election. Politico’s Johnathan Martin explains why. Money quote:

McCain seems to have made a choice that many politicians succumb to but that he had always promised to avoid — he appears ready to do whatever it takes to win, even it if soils his reputation.

“We recognize it’s not going to be 2000 again,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said, alluding to the media’s swooning coverage of McCain’s ill-fated crusade against then-Gov. George W. Bush and the GOP establishment. “But he lost then. We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”

Rogers, who hung tough with McCain through the dark days of the primary and has lived through every high and low of this turbulent and unpredictable race, argues that they tried to run a high-ground campaign and sought to keep the candidate in front of the media in the fashion he enjoys. His point: No one paid any attention.

“We ran a different kind of campaign and nobody cared about us. They didn’t cover John McCain. So now you’ve got to be forward-leaning in everything,” he said.

I don’t fault McCain for being negative — even nasty — if he thinks it’s what he needs to do to win. But there’s an ethical way to go negative and an unethical way to go negative. It’s not clear yet which works better, but it’s clear which one McCain has chosen.

Cross-posted from Facebook.

September 13, 2008

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BUCHANAN VISITS NIXON IN N.J.; Sees Former Boss in Woodcliff Lake

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, March 22, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A03

Descending a marble staircase into the galleria of the Perillo Tours Plaza in Woodcliff Lake on Saturday, former President Richard M. Nixon joked that Patrick Buchanan had insisted on standing on the right when the two walked into a room filled with reporters.

Although Nixon favors President Bush over Buchanan, who is presenting himself as the true conservative in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the personal warmth between the two was evident as they stood side by side.

“I appreciated the opportunity to see Pat Buchanan, particularly to see Shelly again after all these years,” Nixon said of Buchanan’s wife. The former president spoke little during the photo opportunity. “We had good conversations with regard to the campaign to date, and what I believe we should do in the future,” Nixon said.

Although Nixon said he and his his onetime speech writer disagree on some issues, he had a good word for Buchanan.

“There’s only one thing in politics that is worse than being wrong, and that’s to be dull. Pat Buchanan is never dull,” he said.

Nixon, who lives in Park Ridge and has offices in Woodcliff Lake, then handed Buchanan a 5-ruble coin from the former Soviet Union.

Buchanan characterized his one-hour, closed-door visit with Nixon as “delightful, pleasant, and constructive.”

Buchanan said Nixon cautioned that if something was not done to help the former Soviet republics, the resulting economic chaos might give rise to new despots.

Buchanan said Nixon advised him to direct “part of my fire” toward Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, and to emphasize Clinton’s lack of foreign policy and national security experience.

“I agree with President Nixon. I don’t think a Clinton administration with a Democratic Congress would be good for America,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan vowed to remain in the race, at least through the June 2 primaries in New Jersey and California.

Although the photo opportunity was attended primarily by reporters, Buchanan supporters appeared at the Nixon offices.

Diane Bollerman, who waited with her son Jeff, 17, almost two hours for Buchanan, was rewarded when he spotted her, walked over, and clasped her hands in a firm shake.

“I’m big supporter of yours. We are hoping that you do well,” she told Buchanan.

March 22, 1992

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