The wheels haven't come off McCain's Straight Talk Express

Last Modified: 13 Jul 2008
By: Felicity Spector

If the media was not obsessed with Barack Obama, they would be falling over themselves with tales of John McCain's disastrous week.

Prize for the most thoughtless gaffe goes to campaign co-chair Phil Gramm for dismissing America's very real economic troubles as a "mental" recession from a "nation of whiners". Nice. Gramm's refusing to apologise for the remark, insisting "every word I said was true". McCain initially stood by him but he's since been beating a hasty retreat saying "Phil Gramm doesn't speak for me. I speak for me".

Ok then. But exactly how has that speaking for himself been going? It seems McCain has been more than capable of putting his own foot in his mouth, describing the way young people contribute towards social security retirement benefits for the elderly as an "absolute disgrace". The response from the Democrats? That's the way social security's supposed to work, John. Live with it.

And his extremely questionable sense of humour has been running away with him again. Asked about large shipments of US cigarettes to Iran, not the most obvious recipient of American exports, McCain joked "Maybe that's a way of killing them". And this is the guy who expects us to trust him to become commander in chief?

Later in the week McCain was literally lost for words when asked why insurance companies covered Viagra but not contraception. He was forced to admit he hadn't thought about it.

And asked in a Hudson town hall meeting if he would tackle the "socialist, Marxist philosophy" of the Democrats, he replied simply "yes", drawing loud applause from the audience and bewilderment from everyone else.

But exactly how has that speaking for himself been going? It seems McCain has been more than capable of putting his own foot in his mouth.

All this might be described as "refreshingly human" or just an inability to stay on message. As Dartmouth University's professor Linda Fowler told the LA Times: "The message is very confused, and it has been so throughout the campaign... it may send a signal that this is a guy who doesn't really know what he will do if he's president."

And therein lays the paradox at the heart of McCain's very candidacy. He's an essentially conservative politician, waving the flag for Reagan who's also trying to appeal to the centre. A man who courts spontaneity, yet who's now tasked Karl Rove with fashioning a tightly disciplined, flawless operation to revitalise his presidential campaign. He's a maverick with a temper problem who wants to come across as a regular guy who enjoys a joke with the guys.

All this might not be such a problem, after all, nobody's perfect. But without an overarching central theme to his campaign no-one really knows what McCain stands for and it's getting senior Republicans worried.

But maybe McCain isn't bothered. He's still just a few points behind Obama, with favourability ratings a comfortable 20 points ahead of President Bush. He's got plenty of funds in the bank. And he's bounced back from far, far worse before when last year saw him bankrupt, with no staff and his chances totally written off. Gaffes galore notwithstanding, the wheels haven't come off the Straight Talk Express just yet.