Portable Planet

The following was released today by the Democratic National Committee:

After several false, sputtering starts, including his original “announcement” on the Late Show earlier this year, John McCain is again re- launching his struggling presidential campaign today to try to turn things around. The latest “announcement” also follows dismal results in McCain’s first quarter fundraising, poorly received retooling speeches, and an appearance on the Daily Show last night where McCain was on the defensive and even got booed by the crowd. [The Daily Show, 4/24/07; CNN, 4/25/07; New York Times, 4/4/07 and 4/4/07; washingtonpost.com, 4/24/07]

He returns to New Hampshire, the state he won in the 2000 primary, but this time his do-anything-to-win campaign faces sagging poll numbers across the country and in New Hampshire, where “a CNN/WMUR Granite State poll of likely Republican primary voters” this month showed a doubling of McCain’s unfavorable ratings “from 15 percent to 33 percent — between Republicans and independents.” [The Politico, 4/25/07] In historically independent New Hampshire, this one time “maverick” is clearly struggling now that he’s “running as the candidate of the establishment”. [Washington Post, 4/25/07] All while facing criticism among Republicans who have called McCain’s efforts to woo conservatives “a fascinating case study in how not to reach out to the base.”

“It’s going to take more than a PR product-style re-launch to fix the damage McCain’s do-anything-to-win tactics and staunch support for the President’s Iraq war policies have wrought on his campaign,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda. “From the low energy, nothing-new retooling speeches, to the defensive display on the Daily Show, to trying to have it both ways on everything from Iraq to campaign finance reform, it’s clear that establishment candidate McCain is offering only more of the same failed leadership the American people are already rejecting from the Bush Administration.”

Below is a new fact sheet from DNC Research retracing McCain’s downward spiral:

JOHN MCCAIN 2008 IN A DOWNWARD SPIRAL:

Trailing the Rest Of the Pack, McCain Was Forced to “Overhaul” His Fundraising Operation. After a disappointing first quarter of fundraising, and taking increased criticism for his position on the Iraq war, Senator McCain “overhauled” his campaign finance operation and announced that he would delay “the official announcement of his candidacy.” The campaign said McCain “would adopt the kind of big-donor fund-raising program pioneered by President Bush,” and create “an honorary campaign designation to reward the campaign’s top money raisers. Mr. Bush called his Rangers and Pioneers; Mr. McCain will call his the McCain 100’s, for supporters who collect $100,000 for the campaign, and the McCain 200’s, who collect $200,000.” [New York Times, 4/4/07]

And Fire a Large Chunk of His Campaign Staff, Including His Finance Director. Amid an array of finance concerns, McCain’s “troubled” campaign was forced to eliminate a number of positions from its staff, a number they would not “quantify exactly.” Soon after, McCain also fired his finance director, a “longtime fundraising consultant” to the Senator. [AP, 4/11/07; Washington Post, 4/24/07]

McCain Drew Fire Again When He Sang About Bombing Iran. When asked about sending a message to Iran at a campaign stop in South Carolina, McCain joked about bombing the country, singing the chorus of the Beach Boys classic ‘Barbara Ann.’ ” “That old, eh, that old Beach Boys song, bomb Iran, Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah.” [AP, 4/20/07]

McCain Skips the South Carolina Republican County Conventions and Loses the Straw Polls. South Carolina Republicans were angered when McCain decided to skip the Greenville, Spartanburg and Richland county conventions. “I thought that McCain missing these South Carolina conventions was a major error in his strategy,” said Spartanburg County Republican Party Chairman Rick Beltram. County voters rewarded McCain’s absence with very poor showings in their straw polls. [CNN, 4/23/07]

STUCK IN THE MUD ON IRAQ

McCain’s Latest Iraq Gaffe: Claiming it is Safe to Walk Around Baghdad Neighborhoods. “McCain’s latest problem began before he left for the region, when he told Bill Bennett on the radio that ‘there are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk today.’ After Michael Ware of CNN’s Baghdad bureau accused the senator of living in ‘Neverland,’ McCain charged that it’s reporters who are living in a ‘time warp of three months ago.’” [Newsweek, Alter, 4/16/07 edition]

McCain Was Forced to Admit He “Misspoke” When He Failed to Mention His Massive Security During Baghdad Market Trip. “Wearing a bulletproof vest and surrounded by 100 soldiers in Baghdad’s central market, McCain said: ‘Never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today.’ Headlines soon after called his statements ‘propaganda’ and a ‘magic-carpet ride.’ The Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon, declared: ‘Brainwashed McCain is a straight-talker no more.’” An op-ed in the Rocky Mountain News called McCain’s staged walk through a Baghdad market “a truly Orwellian publicity stunt,” that was turned into a “desperate attempt to give some sliver of credence to claims that the dreaded ‘liberal media’ are failing to report on all the wonderful things happening in Iraq. Chastened, McCain issued a half-hearted apology a few days later, saying he ‘mis-spoke’ when he pointed to his little walk under the protection of several platoons from the world’s most powerful military as evidence of Baghdad’s excellent shopping opportunities.” [Washington Post, 4/7/07; Rocky Mountain News, 4/10/07]

STUCK IN THE MUD ON IMMIGRATION

In 2005 McCain Called For Documenting Illegal Immigrants And Providing Them A Path To Citizenship. McCain, through his Kennedy-McCain immigration reforms, “want[s] to allow undocumented workers who participate in a guest worker program to be able to stay in America and apply for permanent residency or citizenship after paying fines and satisfying other requirements.” [Los Angeles Times, 11/29/05]

Now, in an Effort to Please Conservatives, McCain Abandoning Immigration Reform. “McCain’s hesitancy about joining [Senator] Kennedy on the same issue they worked together on in the previous Congress,” the Boston Globe reported, “speaks to an emerging dynamic in the Republican presidential race. McCain has encountered anger from hard-line immigration foes on the campaign trail, particularly over an aspect in last year’s bill that would have allowed most undocumented immigrants to work toward citizenship.” [Boston Globe, 3/22/07; New York Times, 3/20/07]

STUCK IN THE MUD ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE

McCain Won His Reputation As A Champion Of Campaign Finance Reform. The New York Times described McCain as a “champion of strict government regulation of campaign spending,” and noted that campaign finance reform was “the issue that propelled his presidential campaign in 2000.” [New York Times, 10/22/01]

Now McCain Says He Will Only Accept Public Financing if His Opponent Agrees to do the Same. McCain agreed to “accept the public financing and live within the general election limits if his opponent were to do the same.” [Washington Post, 4/5/07]

STUCK IN THE MUD ON TAXES

McCain Once Opposed the Bush Tax Cuts. In 2001, McCain was one of two Republicans to join “the majority of Democrats against” President Bush’s tax cut package.” And when Senator McCain opposed the Bush tax cuts in 2003, he wrote a letter to the President saying “I would still be open, at some point, to proposals to stimulate the economy with tax cuts. But not now. We should, Mr. President, take a pause in our efforts to increase spending on non-defense needs and to reduce taxes.” On the floor of the Senate, McCain said “no one can be expected to make an informed decision on fiscal policy at this time with so many uncertain contingencies.” McCain called on Congress to pause before passing tax cuts, saying, “Let us wait. It is far sounder statesmanship than cutting taxes in the dark, or running up spending[.]” [McCain Release, March 18, 2003; Senate vote #170, H.R. 1836, 5/26/01, passed 58-33; Baltimore Sun, 5/27/01]

But in 2006 McCain Voted For Bush Tax Cuts And Defended The Flip-Flop As A Legislative Gimmick. John McCain voted to extend tax cuts supported by the president that were set to expire between 2005 and 2010. “The Senate voted 53- 47 in favor of extending the president’s investor tax cuts on dividends and capital gains. Joining in this breakthrough vote was John McCain, the senator who voted against these tax cuts when they were introduced in 2003. This is an important shift for the GOP presidential frontrunner[.]” McCain’s vote was described as “a sharp reversal of his anti-tax-cut posture,” though he defended the shift, saying, “it was a gimmick,” reasoning that “the tax cuts were temporary and then had to be made permanent. The tax cuts are now there and voting to revoke them would have been to–not to extend them would have meant a tax increase. I have never voted for a tax increase in my life.” [Senate vote #10, H.R. 4297, 2/2/06, passed 66-31; New York Times, 2/21/06; Washington Times, 3/6/06; NBC News, 4/2/06]

Union Leader: McCain Tax Cut Vote Was A False Step For McCain. “The one false step in [McCain’s] logical and legitimate courting of Bush voters in anticipation of the 2008 nomination was his explanation for his Senate vote to make permanent the same Bush’s tax cuts on capital gains and dividend income he had earlier voted against. He offered a lame and decidedly un-maverick explanation of, “I have never voted for a tax increase.” McCain has been an authentic hawk on federal spending and deficits. Yet he voted against Bush’s tax cuts when the nation’s debt stood at $5.6 trillion and voted for the same tax cuts after the federal debt had bloated to $8.4 trillion.” [Union Leader, 4/16/06]

Source: DNC