John McCain provides yet another example of his inept campaign and his complete capitulation to leftwing tenets when he said the following earlier today in response to an audience member who'd forcefully pointed out that McCain didn't seem to have much fighting spirit:

"[Obama is a] decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared (of) as president of the United States... We want to fight and I want to fight, but we will be respectful... That doesn't mean you have to reduce your ferocity... It's just got to be respectful..."

The Reuters title to that article (link) isn't "McCain makes diplomatic move", or anything like that. In fact, the title is "Republican anger bubbles up at McCain rally". Now, take a look at some of the other response here and here.

In brief, comments like McCain's are like trying to fight off sharks by cutting yourself in order to cloud the water with your own blood. If you don't get eaten, you'll bleed to death.

McCain has slapped down his own supporters at the same time as he's helped those who've been trying to push the "McCain rallies are like lynch mobs" meme. Even a worthless ditz like Ann Althouse has noticed what the MSM has been trying to do ("McCain/Palin supporters are an angry mob. That's the virulent meme this week", althouse.blogspot.com/2008/10/mccainpalin-supporters-are-angry-mob.html)

It's good that McCain asked people to settle down, but it would have been far, far better if in the same breath he'd pointed out the MSM's attempts to mischaracterize his and Palin's rallies, and called on his supporters to actually work to discredit the Democrats and their friends in the MSM.

UPDATE: A news search for McCain Palin lynching only turned up hits from one major source, but expect to see others use that word. The one source so far is Joe Conason (truthdig.com/report/item/20081008_honor_won_and_lost):

Entering the election's final weeks, the rhetoric of the former maverick and his lipstick-toting pit bull, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has turned so ugly and inflammatory that their rallies have begun to sound like lynch mobs.