Remember Sen. John McCain? The guy who handed the election to Obama? After remaining pretty low key in the Senate, he's back in the spotlight for saying the GOP could...hand the election to Obama. He also fears the 'negative tone' between the candidates.
“I think there's reason to be concerned about it,” said McCain on ABC’s This Week.
"I've been in very tough campaigns. I don't think I've seen one that was as personal and as characterized by so many attacks as these are.”
If you'll remember 2008, McCain was anything but tough on Obama. The media refused to scrutinize and look into his past- essentially propelling him to victory with not even a baby scratch on the way to office- during a down time for Republicans as the nation was looking for 'hope' and 'change' and anybody not named 'Bush'.
McCain didn't capitalize on the lack of scrutiny, and even if he would have taken advantage, probably still would have lost given the political climate. The bigger point is that he tried to establish a 'buddy-buddy' system.
Now, it's a whole new story. The 'superman' narrative pushed by the liberal media in '08 is now gone. It's damage control time on their behalf.
It appears what McCain is saying is this time around GOP contenders shouldn't scrutinize each other and shouldn't be tough on: Obamacare, the economy (Remember if the economy isn't fixed in 3 years this is going to be a one-term deal?), the push for Cap and Trade, the BP Oil spill and costly moratorium, Solyndra, Fast and Furious, Keystone XL, gas prices up 83%, all the questionable appointments, the Occupy Movement, labor unions- the list is practically endless. You hit your opponent on why you'd be better to take on those issues. It goes hand in hand.
This is politics, isn't it? That's what happens in politics. Scrutiny, attack ads, and negativity. I don't think anyone actually believes a 'fairydust and unicorn' campaign approach is going to win an election.
A quick reminder: