RUSH: Mark McKinnon is the former adman for George W. Bush. George McKinnon left the Bush administration midway through the second term, after 2006. Mark McKinnon joined McCain. He’s a Democrat — a former Democrat; maybe still a Democrat. I’m not sure about that. But he joined the McCain campaign as its adman, image maker and so forth, and Mark McKinnon has said… Here it is, in his own words. He was on All Things Considered yesterday on NPR talking to the hostette, Michele Norris. She said, ‘You’ve said you would not work in a general election if Barack Obama is the opponent. Why would you sit that out, if you have such strong feelings for John McCain?’
MCKINNON: I would simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be, inevitably, attacking Barack Obama. It would be uncomfortable for me and I think it would be bad for the McCain campaign.
RUSH: Well, this… He needs to be fired. Today! This is mutiny! McCain’s adman says he’s not going to run critical ads of Obama. He just can’t see himself doing it in a presidential race. It doesn’t mean you have to be dirty, but the guy’s got a record you can go after! The guy is an earmark specialist. He and Hillary Clinton have personally set earmarks records. His economic plan? He’s spelling things out now and then. He doesn’t have much of a paper trail, but there are going to be plenty of things to criticize this guy on policy-wise; and McKinnon has just said, as McCain’s adman, he’s not going to do it. You know, I keep changing my tune on the Democrat race anyway. Today, I’m not thinking it’s going to be Obama. Well, gut instincts. It just changes every day with new revelations. Now polls out today in Ohio and Texas taken by Quinnipiac. The margin of error is 2.3%, I think, in both of them; and Hillary is way up in both polls, and she was three weeks ago, too. Two, three weeks ago, both states, Ohio and Texas; she was way up. These are ‘firewalls.’ It’s going to come down to these super delegates, and there’s a big battle there. I’m going to explain that in due course as the program unfolds today, as well as the delegates from Michigan and Florida. The Reverend Sharpton has weighed in and said, ‘There might be fires.’
Bill Clinton might actually see his first black church burn, folks, if they try anything funny on these delegates from Michigan and Florida. Sharpton is coming close now to coming out for Obama. I’m relying more on human nature. Here’s an interesting thing. In ABC’s The Note today, a lot of people have run the math. The Obama people are out there saying there’s no way Hillary can catch up,. There’s just no way. But the math, if she does well in Ohio and Texas, as these polls now indicate, Pennsylvania is on the 22nd, Ohio — no. What’s in March? What’s March 4th? Texas is next, and then Pennsylvania and Ohio. Regardless, they’re all coming up. She’s going to take the month off. She’s going to do a Rudy strategery. She’s going to take this month off. She’s waiting ’til Texas and Ohio. So it says today. But the math works out, in ABC’s The Note today, says, ‘It looks like it’s very likely that neither Obama or Hillary will have the required number of pledged delegates wrapped up by the end of the primaries,’ which is going to throw it, then, to the super delegates and of course the coming or raging debate and argument, over the super delegates. Well, the delegates in Florida and Michigan as well.
Now, if this is true, if that math works out that neither of these two are going to get the required number of delegates by the end of the primaries, then look out, folks. That’s where the Clintons go into gear. The only reason that she has put up with all that she has put up with for the last 35 years, is this! This. She’s not gonna let some upstart that nobody’s got the guts to criticize take it away from her. He’s young. He can have his time down the road. ‘This is mine. It’s mine. It’s all mine!’ And they’re going to do whatever they have to do in order to secure it. We forget who these people are. We’re looking at Obama and we’re seeing this… By the way, we’ve got a new Obama commercial. The Obama people are big spenders here at the EIB Network.
(playing of Obama parody ad)
RUSH: I’ll tell you, these are really effective commercials. They really get to the point of the Obama campaign. Some of the best media supporting a candidacy and a campaign. These ads are just perfect symmetry with the campaign. No slip-ups, like in the Clinton campaign. They’re having arguments in there. There’s a big story today in the Wall Street Journal. You got Mandy Grunwald in there who apparently puts together the ads, and you got Mark Penn who polls things, and then you got some other guy in there, and they’re playing potential television commercials that Hillary can run, and somebody in the room says (paraphrased), ‘That’s horrible. This is just worthless. We can’t run that,’ and then somebody says, ‘Well, it’s never the message, is it? It’s never the message.’ Meaning it’s never our candidate that’s bobbling things up; it’s the ads? ‘Well, I quit. I’m leaving the room.’ They’re having all kinds of arguments in there. There’s a lot of stress inside the Clinton campaign…so we’re told. It’s the Clintons! It’s the Clintons, and how would anybody know what’s going on in these rooms unless Clinton people are yakking about it? If Clinton people are yakking about it, Clinton people lie, right? Exactly right. That’s exactly right.