Wilmington, N.C.– John McCain continued to avoid direct attacks on opponent Barack Obama’s unsavory associations Monday at a rally, instead focusing on Obama’s potential to team with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to raise taxes and enact economic “Hooverism” while portraying himself as a “fighter for America.” “The last President to raise taxes and restrict trade in a bad economy as Senator Obama proposes was Herbert Hoover. That didn’t turn out too well. They say those who don’t learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Well, my friends, I know my history lessons, and I sure won’t make the mistakes Senator Obama will,” he said. McCain reiterated the message, delivered in Virginia Beach this morning, that hard times call for an experienced leader with good judgment, who can pick up the baton and run with it without needing time to “get used to the office.” After a very brief introduction by Cindy McCain, the senator appeared without his running mate Sarah Palin, who is campaigning elsewhere. He did not mention ACORN, Bill Ayers, or any of Barack Obama’s other associations. He also refrained from any colorful promises about his debate performance, after recently saying he’d “whip” Obama’s “you-know-what” Wednesday. He suggested before his speech that he might take questions from audience members at what was billed as a town hall, but left without doing so. He ended his speech, delivered to a full gymnasium at the Cape Fear Community College, with a rallying cry tailored to North Carolinians who unexpectedly find themselves living a swing state for the first time in decades. “In the next 22 days, I ask you to get out and do what’s necessary to win in the state of North Carolina…I know very well that we can win this victory,” he said, drawing huge cheers as he asked them to “stand up, stand up, stand up and fight.”
