Quote
“McCain joked that he had encouraged his wife to enter the annual Sturgis beauty contest, one in which nudity is not uncommon. The engines roared again. ‘I told her with a little luck she could be the only lady to serve as first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip,’ he said with a broad grin.”
Later: These comments are both not as bad and far worse than you think. If you watch the video, it's obvious McCain doesn't know what the hell he's talking about, but, at the same time, be aware that this contest is a couple steps worse than a Spring Break wet t-shirt event.
(Should a possible President be saying stuff like this? If someone else had talked about McCain's wife dancing topless on a bar, how do you think that would go over?
My guess is, this is a staff screwup. Some staffer thought it'd be a cute line, not knowing what the hell he was talking about.)
posted by mikevotes at
10:32 AM
10 Comments:
I figured that McCain was in a bubble of cluelessness regarding the Sturgis "entertainment". The video seems to show McCain in full Teleprompter mode. (Was Cindy a little embarrassed, or was she lovin' the whistles and cat calls? Dunno)
It doesn't matter though. No one cares that he's a prop in someone else's campaign (the Republican machine). He did his pandering bit for the audience -- being the maverick that he is. Just a good ol' boy.
Is this sort of thing presidential? Of course not. But we have a dual standard for what is presidential in this country. This is A-OK stuff for a Republican candidate. Expected even.
By
-epm, at 3:08 PM
I honestly don't know much about Cindy McCain. There are some first ladies I like (Rosalyn Carter and would-be first lady Teresa Heinz) and some I don't (Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton).
But perhaps Cindy has earned a new nickname, from her husband, no less.
Hello, Miss Buffalo Chip.
By
realist, at 3:29 PM
EPM, I understand. It's a gaffe, but you could see how this could happen, so specific to this, I'm not too aghast (although it is pretty denigrating to his wife.)
But, once again, the McCain advance team screws up big time.
If he can't run his campaign......
....
Realist, I don't think that's what they're shouting in the pit as the girls dance topless on the bar.
By
mikevotes, at 4:45 PM
I'm not sure it's a gaffe...I think he wants to show he's one of the guys.
By
Anonymous, at 6:29 PM
I think the gaffe, such as it is, is that he's appearing at this particular venue, in front of this particular audience. He could of hired his own venue in Sturgis and possibly gotten a different/broader crowd. As it is, he's a guest of the event and in the thick of the "best" of the Sturgis mojo, with all that implies.
I think his comments were scripted. From the video he seems to be reading from note cards. I think he's given up going after the independents and working overtime to sure up the frustrated fringe/base of the party (though not the Religious Right, of course... He's probably still hurts in places from the bending over he did for them in the primaries)
But skip all this. To me this whole event seems small potatoes. The stuff of primary season, not the general election. And that's part of the reason he doesn't look presidential. Pissy, hard assed, ready to act on his gut not his head... Yes. But presidential? Only with Bush as a model.
Sad really. 'Cause I liked him eight years ago during the primaries. He simply is not that man anymore.
By
-epm, at 7:40 PM
Bush played good ole boy to the hilt and somebody that voted must have appreciated it...
By
iaviator, at 7:41 PM
Yeah, I think gaffe was the wrong word there.
Anon, If you watch the video, I think you'll agree he probably didn't write that line. The campaign put it in there.
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EPM, Juxtapose this with the "celebrity" and Moses ads, and what they're trying to do is patently clear.
And, the size of the potatoes is really determined by the carriage the images get, and right now, the only flash of the images is coming in stories about how he offered his wife topless in front of 50,000 bikers (even if it was unintentional.)
I think this one was supposed to be about image, and they screwed it up.
...
Iaviator, Agreed, but Bush's "common man" appearances generally worked. He would go to a factory and have he images of workers backslapping, etc.
This came off as awkward and a little forced.
McCain would probably be far better doing "common man" with military folks, but they're trying to downplay those images right now because they don't like the reminders of actual fighting.
By
mikevotes, at 9:30 PM
Ok, I'm starting to lean towards gaffe. Reading the joke was phony. Topless may play well with the bike guys but it looks vulgar in a presidential candidate.
By
Anonymous, at 10:27 PM
Gaffe. And the video was painful to watch.
By
Praguetwin, at 2:57 AM
Anon, That's kinda what I'm saying. Gaffe implies an unintentional statement. This was intentional, written down for McCain to read.
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Praguetwin, yeah. That's why I'm classing it as campaign mistake, not some huge problem for McCain. Obviously, he has no idea.
By
mikevotes, at 1:07 PM
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