McCain In 2004: "Bin Laden May Have Just Given Us A Little Boost"

[Pirate Smile]

McCain In 2004: "Bin Laden May Have Just Given Us A Little Boost"

By Greg Sargent - June 25, 2008, 2:21PM

This is a live one. John McCain said he strenuously disagrees with top adviser Charlie Black's comment that a terror attack on U.S. soil would help McCain's campaign -- but more evidence has just emerged that McCain does believe this, or a variation of it, anyway.

The latest? Back in 2004, as McCain was stumping in Connecticut on behalf of GOP Rep. Chris Shays, McCain said flatly that the recent release of an Osama Bin Laden tape had likely given the GOP a "little boost."

This is courtesy of The Hour, a daily paper in Norwalk, Connecticut, in November of that year (via Nexis)...

But at one stop, "as McCain greets two breakfast-eating business partners, one from Stamford and the other from Bridgeport, the topic turns to the presidential race. The two men tell the senator they support President George W. Bush, and to that end, McCain says, '(Osama) Bin Laden may have just given us a little boost. Amazing, huh?'

The reference was to a tape of Bin Laden that had emerged a few days earlier. The McCain camp didn't immediately return an email.

Of course, it's perfectly possible that McCain believed that the specter of another terror attack on the U.S. helped the GOP back in 2004, and no longer believes that it would. But clearly, in the past a little light bulb has gone off over McCain's head and he's had the thought that the possibility of an attack would help Republicans. The thought isn't exactly foreign to him.

Black also said that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto had also helped Mccain, something the McCain camp also disavowed. But back in December, when the assassination happened, he said it could "serve to enhance" his "credentials."

The point, again, is that McCain does believe, or has believed, what Black said, even if he's now saying he doesn't. After all, he told us so himself -- twice!


http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/mccain_in_2004_bin_laden_may_h.php

[The Magistrate]

1. People Really Ought To Start Sending Him Flip-Flop Sandals, Ma'am

"More Wars! Less Jobs! McCain '08"

[NewJeffCT]

2. great catch by TPM

kudos to them.

[MaryEllen71]

3. It really makes me sick

that McCain and his ilk would want to see another 4,000 dead americans in a terrorist attack because it will help him get elected.:mad: :puke:

[FrenchieCat]

4. Terrorists endorse John McCain

[NewJeffCT]

7. Ayman al-Zawahiri (Al Qaeda's #2 guy)

endorsed McCain's plan to "bomb bomb bomb" Iran.

[MagickMuffin]

5. I wonder how many NewSpundits will bring this up

I think only think of a couple, Olbermann and perhaps Abrams, other than that WcCain gets a FreePressPass.

:kick: & RRRRRRRR

One thing that I can't understand if there was another attack on our soil, doesn't that mean that the Rethuglicons CAN'T KEEP US SAFE:shrug:

[klyon]

6. What did the Bin Laden tape say?

I heard there a tape but never heard what was said.

[Mz Pip]

8. If I remember correctly

it didn't say much that we haven't heard already. The GOP tried to spin it as an endorsement of Kerry even though it wasn't.

[eridani]

10. The tape was most likely faked

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=358&topic_id=3185

[NewJeffCT]

9. More from the article - McCain also said Bhutto's assassination was good for him

Black also said that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto had also helped McCain, something the McCain camp also disavowed. But back in December, when the assassination happened, he said it could "serve to enhance" his "credentials."