JOHN MCCAIN ITS TIME TO TAKE THE GLOVES OFF - THE SUNDAY COMMENTARY

The General Election is less than one month away. The polls though scewed show Barack Obama with a lead and gaining ground if the polls are to be believed. Frankly the only truly accurate poll is the one that takes place on election day as voters enter and exit the polling booth bringing the final results of any election.

Elections are about two things, issues and winning. To date though an American hero who is hailed as a fighter in the political arena known as the United States Senate, John McCain has NOT been a fighter, at least one who fights to win at this point in the Presidential election. In the Primaries McCain did not have a hard fight because candidates dropped like flies and McCain was the only one left with a chance.

Since the primaries, McCain has been in the arena but not at the center fighting with every arsenal available to win this election. Being a bipartisan is well and good on the Senate floor or in trying to pass legislation in order to get the votes necessary to get a bill through Congress, but on the campaign trail partisanship is not only needed but necessary.

While McCain wants and needs to court the Independent and moderate voters, he is NOT going to do this without taking the gloves off and showing these voters why Barack Obama is bad for this country. While hitting themes like ending earmarks and supporting the surge because it was right and is winning the war, having this as the main thrust of his campaign is NOT going to win this election.

During the last two weeks as the country was focused on the mortgage collapse and the bailout bill McCain became a Senator only instead of a Senator running for President. Suspending his campaign may or may not have been a good idea but he failed to use his true actions in getting the Republicans to the negotiating table as a plus in WHY he went to Washington.

While McCain was quietly in the back ground during most of this debacle over the bailout bill, Obama was hammering economics and placing blame on every GOP member of Congress and The White House while taking credit for changes he claims he forced in the bill. McCain came out against Wall Street and let the true blame for this debacle get by without one mention. He never went after the Democrats who time and again stalled or blocked any reform of Fannie and Freddie.

Never did he mention his efforts especially in co-sponsoring legislation three years ago to get a handle on the fuse for this financial powder keg, Freddie and Fannie. In fact had it not been for Sarah Palin his campaign would not have made even the slightest mention of McCain's attempts to stop this before it happened.

Touting the direction that a candidate wants to take the country is great but in the midst of talking policy and ideas that same candidate MUST hit hard against the opposition and tell the American people why the opposition should NOT be elected.

McCain has refused to hit Obama on his associations which are especially in this campaign a very legitimate question about his character. Sarah Palin started attacking Obama about his association with Bill Ayers on Saturday which is the first time other than talk radio and a few mentions on cable news that this particular association that the American people deserve to know has been mentioned.

Until the Vice President debate last Friday the McCain campaign has been reluctant to paint the truth about the tax and spend economic plan of Barack Obama. Sarah Palin did this during the debate and it had a positive affect for the campaign.

The American people want and need to see the policy differences between the two campaigns but they also in that same light need to hear the character differences and the radical liberalism of the record of Obama and nearly as liberal record of his VP. For the rest of the campaign the bipartisan approach must fade and McCain must hammer Obama about his socialist policies and his character. A debate, I might add that has been avoided and must be broached so that America can see the real Obama and not the manufactured one for the cameras.

Governor Palin has obviously taken off the gloves and that will help a great deal in the campaign but unless McCain follows suit and especially in the next debates with a tough hard hitting fighting campaign against Barack Obama, Palin's efforts will fall short because America must see this from McCain more than Palin.

Obama has a considerable amount of vulnerability in this election. His inexperience, his almost invisible record, his very liberal stance on all issues, not the manufactured middle of the road stance that Democrats always show just before an election to get votes. His lack of foreign policy credibility even suggested in a letter from the former Ambassador to The United States for Great Britain as a warning to Prime Minister Gordon Brown before Obama's trip to England during the summer.

While the Ambassador has been removed from his post it was not for the truth in the warning but because with the revelation of the letter is had the appearance of looking as if the Brits were getting into American politics, which they do not want to do and rightfully so. But the warning by the Ambassador is real and justified about Barack Obama.

Obama's association are not only questionable but revealing about someone wanting to be President. John McCain's character is unquestionable and this difference alone is enough for the American people to reject the liberal Democrat as our President. It is time for McCain to hammer this fact and the other Obama vulnerabilities until they ring from the mountain tops.

There are some who are suggesting that the McCain camp believes that the last 72 hours before the election are the key and they are waiting until that time to hit and hit hard. If McCain waits until then Obama will be the next President. The time to hit and hit hard is now and everyday until November 4. The time to take of the gloves is now and never put them back on again. The time to fight for true principles and the American people is now and fight hard and strong until victory is achieved.

Ken Taylor

Writers note: The above post was picked up by CBS News linked with an article about Barack Obama countering the McCain gloves off strategy and CNN with an article where Obama accuses McCain of smear tactics. While I appreciate the exposure from being linked by the CBS and CNN websites, it is also resulting in a considerable amount of left fringe commenting. All comments are accepted at this site as they always have been and will continue to be in the search for intelligent discourse. But I will not engage in an argument with those on the fringe who choose to articulate with angry insults and ridiculous accusations upon me, this site, those who read it and the candidates in whom I have chosen to support which is my right as an American . Many have suggested that I use comment moderation. While I am not opposed to those who use it, it will not be used on this site as these antagonistic comments especially by anonymous commenter's reveals the true angry and irrational attitude by the far left. I also encourage those of you who view this site to ignore these insults as the idiocy that they truly are and engage in the normal intelligent discourse that this site and those who participate on it do on a regular basis. Thank you !