McCain repudiates terrorism remark
His strategist said new attack would be big advantage
His strategist has expressed regret and John McCain has repudiated the aide's statement that another terrorist attack on US soil would be "a big advantage" to McCain's chances in November.
But Democrats refused to let it go yesterday, accusing the presumptive Republican nominee of exploiting fear.
Charlie Black, a top McCain adviser, set off the flare-up by telling Fortune magazine not only that a terrorism attack might help McCain, but also that the political advantage of terrorism was made apparent by the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto last December, just before McCain won the New Hampshire primary and saved his campaign.
Black called Bhutto's death an "unfortunate event," but added that McCain's "knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who's ready to be commander in chief. And it helped us."
The Democratic National Committee yesterday distributed a video showing that McCain had said something similar himself after the assassination, asserting, "I'm the one with the experience, the knowledge, and the judgment."
"Inciting fear as a campaign tactic is not only inconsistent with John McCain's promise to run a different kind of campaign, it doesn't make our country any safer," DNC communications director Karen Finney said in a statement.
Also yesterday, Barack Obama's campaign organized a conference call with a member of the blue-ribbon, bipartisan panel that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Richard Ben-Veniste told reporters that Black's statement was a "very disappointing glimpse into the thinking of one of McCain's closest advisers."
"I think the remarks were so out of place that they call for some recalibration in the thinking and perhaps a greater adherence to principle here in staying away from the politics of fear," he added.
In appearances yesterday afternoon on CNN and MSNBC, former rival Mitt Romney, who has been one of McCain's most active surrogates, defended the Arizona senator and downplayed Black's comments.
"It's an unthinkable scenario," Romney said of a terrorist strike during the heat of presidential campaign.
He said that such strategy talk or political punditry has "very little" to do with McCain's stout anti-terrorism policies, which he said voters want.
A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted last week found that terrorism is the only major issue on which voters say McCain would do a better job than Obama by a significant margin - 52 percent to 33 percent. On that measure, McCain led slightly on illegal immigration, the two were tied on Iraq, and Obama led on health care, the economy, energy, and taxes. 