Defiant McCain reads the riot act to defeatist aides
Call: John McCain Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Senator John McCain has read the riot act to members of his own campaign staff for their defeatist attitude, making clear that they must join him in fighting all-out to win the presidential election.
In heated exchanges, the Republican candidate said he would not tolerate the blame game that some of his aides have engaged in over the past week as Senator Barack Obama retained a comfortable lead in the polls. Mr McCain's aides were labelled "incontinent" for leaks last week that exposed falling morale in his inner circle.
Mr McCain responded with a defiant speech in Colorado, where he roused a crowd of 5,000 with a call to arms.
He took the stage on Friday night to the theme from Rocky, a tale of a scrappy underdog, and then pounded his Democratic rival as a tax raiser. But he saved the toughest words for those in his own party who did not think he could win the election.
"I know you're worried. We're at a moment of national crisis. I am an American and I choose to fight. Do not give up hope. Be strong. Nothing is inevitable here. We never give up."
Mr McCain delivered his "fighter" peroration with unusual verve, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet and shouting. A friend said that the message of defiance was one he had already delivered in private to his senior staff. There were reports last week that more than one of his aides had begun making inquiries about private sector jobs after the election -- a clear signal that they expected to lose and a dramatic breach of etiquette.
The friend, who often travels with Mr McCain, said: "There were raised voices. John's whole life has been about the fight. He won't tolerate those who won't fight."
It was a measure of Mr McCain's weakness that a week before the election he was campaigning in Colorado, formerly a Republican state but one where Mr Obama now has a firm lead.
Mr Obama was due to resume campaigning last night in neighbouring Nevada.
With Mr Obama visiting his sick grandmother in Hawaii, Mr McCain had the campaign spotlight to himself. He said that handing Mr Obama undiluted power will lead to a tax raid on the middle class and put America at risk of attacks from terrorists and rogue nations.
"If Obama is elected, the Democrat response to the crises we face is to lower our defences and raise taxes. That's not the vision I have for America. I want to strengthen our defences and lower our taxes."
Mr McCain has been encouraged by a couple of polls which show him closing rapidly. Senior figures in the party believe, however, that he has only three or four days to turn the momentum in his favour. © Telegraph
Palin's push for 2012, Living, page 4
- Tim Shipman in Colorado
