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October 28, 2008
Posted: 04:40 PM ET

ALT TEXT

Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Speaking Sunday on “Meet the Press,” Senator John McCain guaranteed a win in next Tuesday's election. He said, "We're going to win it, and it's going to be tight, and we're going to be up late." However if the polls are anywhere near accurate it was sort of a "Dewey beats Truman" moment.

In order to make good on his promise, McCain has some heavy lifting to do in a handful of battleground states. Traditional red states like Virginia and Colorado seem to be slipping away. In Pennsylvania, Obama holds a 10-point lead over McCain, 52 percent to 42 percent according to a new CNN Poll of Polls. Those numbers appear to be holding firm despite furious campaigning by Senator McCain. Obama was ahead by that same margin last week. The McCain camp has called Pennsylvania a must-win state….

McCain has made up some ground in Florida. A new CNN Poll of Polls there shows the race is tightening with Obama now holding a single point lead. Last week, Obama was up by 3 in Florida.

Watch: Cafferty: Can McCain win?

But winning Florida won't be enough. He's got to win over North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, and Nevada too. And that's a pretty tall order with just a week to go.

Here’s my question to you: What does John McCain have to do to come from behind and win?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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Filed under: 2008 Election • John McCain


October 27, 2008
Posted: 06:01 PM ET
 Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.

Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Some of John McCain's advisers are not happy that his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, is making a habit of going off-script and off-message with some of her comments... Most recently this weekend when she discussed her wardrobe at a rally in Florida.

So let's play "what if?"

What if John McCain had not picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate?
For one thing, the Republicans probably wouldn't have had to spend $150,000 buying clothes for the candidate.

Seriously. What if McCain had picked Mitt Romney. A self-made man with plenty of clothes and a knowledge of the economy that the current ticket is sorely lacking. And while he probably can't see Russia from his state, he could probably name at least one newspaper that he reads every day. And if he won, he probably wouldn't go to Washington in January thinking he was "in charge of the Senate."

Or what about Tom Ridge. The former Pennsylvania governor and Secretary of Homeland Security? The key to victory for McCain or Obama may well be Pennsylvania, where Obama holds a double-digit lead heading into next Tuesday. Think Tom Ridge might have helped McCain with his "Pennsylvania" problem? Besides, it would have been fun if McCain wins watching Ridge wrap the White House in clear plastic sheeting and duct tape.

Watch: Cafferty: Palin a mistake?

But McCain chose Sarah Palin who immediately became a national joke to everyone except the conservative base of the Republican party. Even some Republicans are convinced the Palin selection showed a total lack of judgment on McCain's part.

Or what about Florida governor Charlie Crist? Would winning Florida help McCain? You get the idea.

Here’s my question to you: Was it a mistake for John McCain to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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Filed under: Governor Sarah Palin • John McCain


Posted: 05:06 PM ET
On NBC's Meet the Press, McCain said, he and the President share the same philosophy of the GOP.
On NBC's Meet the Press, McCain said, he and the President share the same philosophy of the GOP.

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Barack Obama says America is finally getting some straight talk from John McCain. Obama has long sought to tie Senator McCain to President Bush, and yesterday on NBC's Meet the Press, McCain made it easy for him when he said this about President Bush:

"Do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course. But I've stood up against my party-not just President Bush, but others- and I've got the scars to prove it."

Admitting anything "in common" with our current Commander-in-Chief is probably not such a good thing for McCain. President Bush has just a 27 percent approval rating, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll out last week. Seventy-five percent of Americans say they feel bad about how things are going in the country. And over the past eight years, John McCain has supported President Bush 90 percent of the time.

Here’s my question to you: What does John McCain mean when he says he and George W. Bush share a common philosophy of the Republican Party?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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Filed under: John McCain • President George W. Bush


October 23, 2008
Posted: 12:50 PM ET

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A recent CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll found 60 percent think McCain has unfairly attacked Obama. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

John McCain said this on February 3, 2008, when talking about his run for the White House: "We will run an honorable campaign."

McCain made that statement in response to a question about whether his campaign would resemble George Bush's run for the White House in 2000, one of the nastier campaigns on record.

With less than 2 weeks before Election Day, it's very much an open question whether John McCain has kept his word.

In fact, in the last few weeks John McCain has become downright nasty. It started around the time one of his advisers said that if McCain campaigned on the economy, he would lose. And the ugly personal attacks began. Barack Obama's past acquaintance with William Ayers, Barack Obama's economic plan is socialism, Barack Obama will say anything to get elected.

His running mate, Sarah Palin, has chimed in with such gutter-level rhetoric as Obama pals around with terrorists.

The sudden negative tone for the man who vowed to run an honorable campaign is not going unnoticed by the voters. A recent CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll found 60 percent think McCain has unfairly attacked Obama, up from 42 percent in September.

It's sad that an honorable man like John McCain in a desperate struggle to avoid being embarrassed on November 4th has resorted to campaign tactics typically associated with people who can make no legitimate claim to being honorable.

Here’s my question to you: John McCain promised to run an "honorable" campaign. Has he?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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Filed under: John McCain


October 21, 2008
Posted: 01:50 PM ET

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This billboard in Belgrade, Serbia states, 'Change that we can believe in' posted by a group called 'Europe has no alternative' and depicts an image of John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama. (PHOTO CREDIT: AP PHOTO)

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Senator John McCain says when it comes to foreign policy he's light years ahead of Barack Obama. Over and over again, McCain has insisted Obama lacks the necessary experience to conduct business with foreign countries on behalf of the United States.

So how do you explain this?

Citizens of dozens of foreign countries prefer Barack Obama over John McCain as our next president by a margin of almost 4 to 1, according to a massive poll conducted by the Gallup Organization. About 30 percent of those surveyed prefer Obama, while just 8 percent favor McCain.

Watch: Cafferty: Obama favored abroad?

This was no daily tracking poll either. Gallup polled people in 70 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and North and South America, representing nearly half the world's population, between May and September of this year.

Citizens of the Philippines and Georgia were the only ones who preferred McCain to Obama. Not exactly the super-powers we're looking to mend fences with.

Here’s my question to you: Why do citizens in 70 foreign countries prefer Barack Obama to John McCain by a margin of nearly 4-1?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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Filed under: Barack Obama • John McCain


September 30, 2008
Posted: 04:49 PM ET

ALT TEXT

Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

We've never had a situation like this before, where a national crisis has intervened six weeks before a presidential election. So far, despite all the grandstanding, Senators Obama and McCain have had little impact on the debate surrounding the Wall Street rescue plan.

Today, McCain said of the failed bailout package: "We didn't do a good enough job. We'll go at it. I'm glad to stay at it. That's what my job is as an American, not as a candidate for president."

He's said he'll return to Washington to help with negotiations. You remember how well that worked last week when he parachuted into Washington to save the day. He was going to cancel last Friday's debate if there wasn't a deal. But there was no deal and he went anyway. His campaign said he was confident enough there would be a deal. But there was no deal. At the end of the day McCain looked a little silly.

Watch: Cafferty: Bailout Role?

But this was a failure on both parties' part. Two-thirds of Republicans and about one-third of Democrats in the House voted against the bailout plan. Barack Obama supported it. In the wake of yesterday's failure, he has urged calm. He doesn't want Congress to start over on the bill. "Given the progress we have made," Obama said, " I believe we are unlikely to succeed if we start from scratch or reopen negotiations about the core elements of the agreement."

Here’s my question to you: When it comes to the bailout package, what's the proper role for the presidential candidates?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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Filed under: Barack Obama • John McCain


September 29, 2008
Posted: 05:01 PM ET
Palin is being criticized by conservatives and liberals alike on her lack of knowledge on economic and foreign policy.
Palin is being criticized by conservatives and liberals alike on her lack of knowledge on economic and foreign policy.

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

The chorus of calls for Governor Sarah Palin to step aside as John McCain's vice presidential candidate is getting louder in the wake of that disastrous interview Palin did with Katie Couric.

Kathleen Parker, a well-respected conservative columnist writes on The National Review website that, after watching Palin's recent media appearances, her "cringe reflex" is exhausted.

She says that Palin's interviews with ABC's Charles Gibson, Fox News' Sean Hannity and CBS's Katie Couric have, quote, "all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who is clearly out of her league."

Parker admits she'd been pulling for Palin as a woman and as a conservative, but her lack of understanding of economic and foreign policy issues is troubling. Parker now says " If B.S. were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself."

Here’s my question to you: Should John McCain ask Sarah Palin to step aside?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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Filed under: 2008 Election • John McCain


September 25, 2008
Posted: 01:58 PM ET
John McCain announced that he was suspending his campaign and pulling TV ads.
John McCain announced that he was suspending his campaign and pulling TV ads.

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Senators Barack Obama and John McCain are in Washington to meet with President Bush and other lawmakers... After the president summoned them there to help hash out a bipartisan resolution to the big 700 billion dollar financial bailout plan. It's another grand but empty political gesture. But you can't let a good photo-op go to waste.

Hours earlier, Congressional leaders reached an agreement on a bipartisan counter-proposal to the Bush plan... Without the help of either candidate or the president. The lawmakers are hopeful they'll have a vote within days and a bill on the president's desk soon after.

Yesterday John McCain, in a grand gesture, announced he was suspending his campaign and rushing to Washington to save the day. A lot of people saw that as the naked political stunt that it was. House Financial Service Committee Chairman Barney Frank, one of the architects of the bailout plan, said, "We're trying to rescue the economy, not the McCain campaign." McCain's plane had barely touched down when lawmakers announced their deal.

Now presumably he won't have an excuse for not showing up to debate Barack Obama in Mississippi tomorrow night.

Here’s my question to you: Is John McCain playing politics with the nation's deepening financial crisis?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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Filed under: John McCain


September 24, 2008
Posted: 04:59 PM ET
 Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.

Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Senator John McCain suddenly announced this afternoon he is suspending his campaign and returning to Washington to lend a hand in the search for a solution to the nation’s deepening financial crisis.

President Bush is expected to address the nation later this evening and try to convince Americans the situation is so dire that Congress must pass the proposed $700 billion bailout bill. Trouble is, the public isn’t so sure it wants to hand the government another blank check for that much money.

McCain has also called for the postponement of the first presidential debate scheduled for this Friday night in Mississippi.

Watch: Cafferty: Postpone 1st debate?

Barack Obama says the debate should go on as scheduled. It might be helpful, particularly to voters who remain undecided, to hear the two men who want to lead the country for the next four years discuss their ideas for solving what is arguably the worst financial crisis to hit the United States since the Great Depression.

Here’s my question to you: In light of the financial crisis, should the first presidential debate be postponed?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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Filed under: 2008 Election • Barack Obama • John McCain


Posted: 01:50 PM ET

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John McCain won't let Sarah Palin talk to the press. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

John McCain doesn't want reporters talking to his running mate. Why not?

The Straight Talk Express - which, by the way, is an expression you don't hear much from McCain these days - would prefer no talk at all if the conversation is between the news media and Sarah Palin.

Yesterday's photo op at the United Nations between Sarah Palin and Afghan President Hamid Karzai was a joke. The McCain people weren't going to allow any reporters in the room when the two met - just cameras. It was only after the networks threatened to not cover the event at all that the McCain people relented and allowed a pool producer into the room. He was permitted to stay for a total of 29 seconds before being escorted out. And of course, no questions.

This kind of cheap theatrics is beneath someone who wants to be president of the United States. Unless you're John McCain. Then apparently it's ok, and his campaign doesn't think the voters are smart enough to figure out what's going on. I think they're wrong about the voters.

Here’s my question to you: Why won't John McCain allow reporters more access to Sarah Palin?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: John McCain • Press • Sarah Palin



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About this blog

Jack Cafferty sounds off hourly on the Situation Room on the stories crossing his radar. Now, you can check in with Jack online to see what he's thinking and weigh in with your own comments online and on TV.

Send your comments on the "Cafferty File".

Jack's Book

Jack Cafferty: It's Getting Ugly Out ThereJack Cafferty is the author of a new book, "Now or Never: Getting Down to the Business of Saving Our American Dream," now available.

Read excerpts about Jack's battle with alcoholism and Jack's philosophy on parenting.


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