McCain Adviser Drops Off Campaign Trail After Huge Blunder

By Pamela Mortimer

Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain is under fire again. This time, McCain’s camp is trying hard to do damage control after adviser Charlie Black made a statement to Fortune magazine claiming that a terrorist attack would be a "big advantage" to the Republican Senator’s campaign. As a result, Charlie Black has vanished from political radar, at least for now.

Black, who has been serving as the chief foreign policy strategist for McCain, made a public apology for the comments on Monday. Although Black was on the campaign trail on Monday, Tuesday showed no sign of the controversial adviser.

The comment, which will most likely be taken out of context for years to come, appeared in the June 23rd edition of Fortune magazine. During the course of the interview, Black was questioned about McCain’s national security credentials. Black stated that McCain’s support typically grows when the public’s attention is turned to tragedies such as the December assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December was an "unfortunate event," said Black. "But his 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." Black added that another terrorist attack on U.S. soil would also boost McCain’s popularity. "Certainly it would be a big advantage to him," Black said.

Black may have thought that his sentiment reflected a comment McCain made shortly before an election. McCain was quoted as saying that the most recent Osama bin Laden video message could be "very helpful" to President Bush because it served to focus voters’ attention toward "The War on Terror" which was considered to be the President’s strong suit at that time.

During a press conference held on Monday, McCain condemned Black’s comments by saying, "I cannot imagine why he would say it, it’s not true … I strenuously disagree."

While Barack Obama’s camp continued to ridicule Charlie Black for the astonishing remarks, the Illinois Senator correlated the comments to similar remarks made by McCain during the 2004 election.

On Tuesday, the Obama camp took part in a conference call with former September 11 Commission member Richard Ben Veniste and policy adviser Denis McDonough, who attacked Black for his remarks.

"We’ve seen the political play that was manifest yesterday by Mr. Black’s candid comments, so what we want to do is get back to what will make this country safer," he said. "That has not been the record of this administration or what Senator McCain appears ready to continue for the next four years."

McDonough refrained from stating however, that Black’s comments were an indication of his boss’ views.